Triskelion Headquarters, Alexander Pierce's secret command center.
On the screen, the ruins of the viaduct were shrouded in flames and thick smoke.
Pierce clenched his fists tightly, his nails sinking deep into his palms; he didn't even notice the blood seeping out as all his trump cards were flipped over one by one by that damned consultant and torn to shreds in the most humiliating way possible.
His most elite STRIKE Team had been wiped out, and the hellish creations obtained at a great cost hadn't even lasted through a single battle before being dismantled into parts.
Just then, a light and slightly regretful sigh came from the Shadow behind him.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... how truly... disappointing."
Pierce whipped his head around; the old gentleman calling himself Mephisto had reappeared in the room at some unknown point, looking at the carnage on the screen with the eyes of someone appreciating a work of art.
Pierce's voice was hoarse, his anger suppressed: "Is your legion of hell so vulnerable?"
"Oh, no, no, no, my dear Mr. Secretary." Mephisto wagged his finger with a hypocritical smile. "The quality of my goods is absolutely top-notch. They have perfectly fulfilled Article 327, Clause 3 of the contract: At the request of Party A, Party B shall dispatch a legion of hell to surround and effectively restrict the target, the Ghost Rider. You see, they not only surrounded him but also restricted him for... well, quite a few dozen minutes. They almost exceeded the contract and killed the Ghost Rider. My contract has been fulfilled, hasn't it?"
Pierce's face turned pale as he remembered that contract signed in blood.
"But you didn't say..."
"I didn't say they would definitely win, right?" Mephisto interrupted him, smiling like a certain U.S. Shorthair blue cat. "The essence of a contract lies in wordplay, Mr. Secretary. Now, let's look at another clause."
He slowly spread his hands, and that ancient leather scroll appeared out of thin air.
"The final Article 764, Clause 1 of the contract: From the moment Party B's legion is dispatched, Party A must pay twenty million fresh souls filled with fear to Party B within seventy-two hours. If payment is overdue..."
Mephisto's voice was as cold as a whisper: "Party A's soul will be taken by Party B automatically as a penalty for breach of contract."
Pierce felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his whole body turning cold.
"How dare you!"
"Mr. Pierce, I am not one of those Mortals whose contracts you can tear up at will. Think carefully before you speak to me again."
He finally understood that he had been toyed with by this Demon from the very beginning! The other party didn't care about HYDRA's success or failure at all; he just wanted a high-sounding reason to force him to launch the Insight Project as soon as possible to harvest souls for him!
"You..."
"What about me?" Mephisto's figure merged into the Shadow, his voice full of schadenfreude. "Good luck, Mr. Pierce. Your time is running out."
Before he finished speaking, Mephisto's figure completely merged into the Darkness and vanished, leaving only a faint smell of sulfur and Pierce's face, distorted by anger and fear.
Seventy-two hours... there was no time left!
An unprecedented madness, like a bursting flood, instantly collapsed all his reason.
"Since the old World refuses to be decent, then I'll help it be decent!!"
Pierce growled like a Beast, rushed to the console, and smashed the emergency button covered by a red protective shield with all his might!
"Launch the Insight Project! Now! Immediately!!"
"All Helicarriers, take off immediately! Lock targets globally! Cleanse all threats along with this decaying World!!"
"Yes, Officer!" In the command center, all HYDRA Agents responded in unison, their eyes filled with fanaticism... Meanwhile, at the Georgetown safe house.
Lin Huai had just put away the cold [core crystal of the six-winged gargoyle]. Before he could even celebrate, Sam Wilson rushed in with a grave expression.
"Something's happened!!" Falcon projected the tactical computer on his wrist onto the wall. "My informant just sent a high-level alert. Triskelion Headquarters has entered the highest state of combat readiness. Three Helicarriers are starting their takeoff procedures!"
The atmosphere in the room froze instantly.
Natasha hit the nail on the head: "He's cornered and desperate."
Steve stood up and walked to the projection, watching those three prehistoric Beast-like behemoths take off, his eyes cold: "How do we get up there? The outer armor of those things is so thick that even Tony's lasers can't cut through them."
Lin Huai walked to a map of Washington, pulled out a red marker from somewhere, and drew a large 'X' over the location of the Triskelion Headquarters: "Charging in blindly definitely won't work."
"However, every program has a backdoor. Especially when one of the creators of this program is an old friend who once used the backdoor as the front door."
He looked at Bucky, who had been silent in the corner.
Bucky looked up, a hint of complexity flashing in his eyes, then nodded: "I remember their internal communication protocols and the physical locations of the emergency maintenance ports."
Lin Huai smiled: "That's enough."
"I've already sent the underlying vulnerabilities of the Zola Algorithm to our billionaire through an encrypted channel, and he did not disappoint."
Lin Huai took out three chips from his pocket that looked like USB drives, glowing with a faint blue light. "Tony calls these logic override keys. He says these things can tell those big guys' central processors who their real daddy is in the most brutal way."
He gave the three chips to Steve, Natasha, and Sam respectively.
"The plan is simple: split into three groups and infiltrate the server cores of the three Helicarriers. Bucky will tell you the specific physical paths through the comms. Once you find the servers, plug these in."
Lin Huai explained: "This key won't shut down the Helicarriers, but it will reset their Friend-or-Foe identification systems. Simply put, it will make these three big guys treat each other as their top priority targets."
"They'll fight each other?" Sam's eyes lit up.
Lin Huai snapped his fingers: "Exactly. All we need to do is plug these three chips in before Pierce presses the fire button, and then we can pull up a small stool and enjoy the most expensive fireworks show in history."
Bucky stood up, his voice hoarse but firm: "Which one am I responsible for?"
"You?" Lin Huai glanced at him, then at Steve. "You're with the Captain. The two of you together make a complete Alliance of Brothers. You'll be responsible for the toughest nut to crack—the flagship."
Steve glanced at Bucky and nodded heavily.
Natasha took the chip and said decisively: "Sam and I will take one."
"What about the last one?" Sam asked.
"The last one," Lin Huai grinned, revealing a row of White teeth, "is for me and our snake catcher."
He looked out the window, his gaze seemingly piercing through layers of buildings to see the Hellfire speeding down the highway.
Steve looked around at everyone, his voice steady and powerful, dispelling all unease: "Does everyone understand?"
Everyone nodded in unison.
"Good." Steve picked up his shield, the confusion in his eyes gone, replaced only by cold determination. "Then let's... take back the World.