Chapter 177: Two Battlefields
Eastern Europe, Monastery.
The night grew deeper.
The second attack was even more brutal than the first. Three more monks died under the cultists' black magic. When their bodies were carried back, they were charred to a crisp, completely unrecognizable, and a burnt smell filled the air.
Within the ancient stone walls of the Monastery, fear and sorrow spread.
Dean Daniel knelt on the cold stone floor, finishing the final prayer for the deceased disciples. When he stood up tremblingly, the sorrow on his wrinkled face was gone, replaced by a frantic determination.
He found Banner and Johnny.
"Gentlemen." His voice was dry and raspy. "We can't wait any longer. That child... is the source of the disaster. As long as he is here, more innocent people will die. I can no longer watch those young men sacrifice themselves for the offspring of a Demon!"
His voice grew louder as he spoke, until he was almost roaring.
"For the glory of the Lord, for the peace of the holy land, we must... we must do something."
Johnny took a step forward, his face almost touching the Dean's: "Old man, what do you mean?"
Banner pressed Johnny's shoulder and shook his head at the Dean, his tone heavy: "Dean, he's just a child. None of this is his fault."
"I know he's just a child, but he's no ordinary child! He is the offspring of a Demon!" Dean Daniel waved his arms, the bloodshot veins in his eyes making him look a bit terrifying. "I've had enough! I can't just watch anymore!"
After saying that, he stopped looking at the two of them, turned, and walked away quickly, his back hunched and resolute.
Banner and Johnny looked at each other, their expressions darkening... Dean Daniel, accompanied by several solemn Elders, carrying food mixed with a large amount of holy water and sleeping herbs, knocked on Nadia's door.
"Child, eat something. You haven't eaten all day." A kind smile hung on the Dean's face.
Nadia was already exhausted. Without thinking much, she took the food and ate it greedily. Soon, a strong wave of sleepiness hit her. Holding her son Danny, she fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up startled from a nightmare again, her arms were empty.
"Danny! My Danny!"
Nadia screamed and rushed out of the room.
The scream echoed through the deathly silent Monastery.
Banner and Johnny rushed back immediately, only to see Nadia curled up on the cold stone floor, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
"Someone took my child... Danny! My Danny!..."
"What happened?" The Hellfire in Johnny's eyes flared up as he asked in a low voice.
"It was Dean Daniel, yes, it was him! He gave me something to eat, and then I fell asleep!" Nadia cried out incoherently.
The two asked no more questions and rushed straight to Daniel's room.
Just then, even more chaotic noise and shouting came from outside the Monastery.
"Charge in! Bring back the Lord's offspring! Our Master's vessel must not be desecrated by you hypocrites!"
The two suddenly rushed to the Door, finding another group of cultists with even stronger auras appearing outside the Monastery at some point. Leading them was a High Priest holding a human bone staff. They were few in number, but the evil aura on each of them was staggering.
"I smell it!" The High Priest shrieked, pointing in one direction. "The Master's offspring is in the Underground Room!"
The cultists actually bypassed the two and rushed straight into the dark interrogation room deep within the Monastery. Seeing this, Johnny and Banner transformed immediately. Hulk's massive body and Ghost Rider's burning chains blocked most of the enemies, but the leading High Priest chanted a spell, covering several elites as they engaged in a struggle with the two.
"Get lost, hypocrites!"
Not long after, an anxious shout came from the direction of the Underground Room: "My Lord, hurry! These damn hypocrites want to kill the Lord's offspring, we can't break in!"
Hearing this, Hulk and Johnny looked at each other and immediately shook off their opponents, rushing straight for the underground interrogation room.
The two smashed open the heavy stone door, and the scene before them stunned both of them.
In the interrogation room, a group of monks were raising daggers flashing with holy light with pious faces, preparing to kill a child tied to a stone platform.
And between them and the child, another group of cultists were fighting like madmen, using their own flesh and blood to resist desperately to save the child's life.
Hulk looked at this absurd scene, his mind a bit confused. His fists, accustomed to destroying everything, didn't know who to smash first for a moment.
The Hellfire in Johnny's eye sockets flickered wildly. His instinct for Judgement urged him, but his Eye of Judgement scanned back and forth between the two groups, not knowing who to judge first.
* * *
Sokovia, abandoned city hall.
With the experience from the last encounter, Lin Huai formulated a new plan.
He had Tony and Steve attract all of the twins' attention. Meanwhile, he himself activated the ability of the Faceless.
His body and appearance changed rapidly. His bones made slight cracking sounds, his skin sagged, liver spots appeared, and his height decreased by a few inches. Within seconds, he transformed from a young Easterner into a staggering, weather-beaten local old man from Sokovia.
Using a picked-up wooden stick as a cane, he hunched his back and silently approached the twins' hiding place from the other side.
In a dusty, dilapidated office, he saw Wanda.
The girl was looking out the window nervously. Tony's energy cannons and Steve's shield were in a fierce battle with Pietro's high-speed moving figure, with sounds of explosions and metal clashing coming from time to time.
"Child." Lin Huai spoke in old, heavily accented Sokovian.
Wanda turned her head sharply, a red glow flashing in her eyes, but after seeing it was just a staggering, ordinary old man, she lowered her guard.
"What are you doing here? It's dangerous here!" she said, frowning.
"Endless war is making this place worse and worse." Lin Huai walked closer slowly, each step appearing very difficult. "Where can an old bag of bones escape to? Can I rest for a while? I really can't walk anymore."
Wanda looked at him, perhaps reminded of her own grandfather, her gaze softened a bit. She nodded, helped the old man sit down, and even took some food from her pocket and handed it over.
"Little girl, what are you doing?" Lin Huai asked as he struggled to gnaw on the hard, dry bread, his cloudy eyes looking at Bucky, who was bound by red energy nearby. "If it's those American soldiers, you'd better let them go; they're no good."
"It's okay, I'm fine. Once you've rested, find a safe place to hide." Wanda shook her head.
Suddenly, Pietro's figure flashed back at high speed, appearing in the office and looking at Lin Huai warily.
"Sister, Stark and the others are here again!"
Before he could finish, Tony and Steve also appeared at the door, creating a standoff.
The old man suddenly stood up, rushed out tremblingly, and grabbed Stark and Steve. He turned back and shouted at Wanda in a raspy voice: "Run! You guys run! This damn war... why! Sokovia is almost gone! I'll fight you, you damn Yanks!"
With a dull thud, the old man crashed into Stark's armor and then slid powerlessly to the ground, motionless.
Wanda stared blankly at the scene.
She took a deep breath, scarlet energy swirling in her eyes, and tears streamed down uncontrollably.
"Stark!" she screamed, her voice trembling. "You damn Yanks, you hateful capitalists! How much longer are you going to hurt this country! Fine, I can release the Winter Soldier!"
"But you must completely withdraw from Sokovia, and pay with Tony Stark's life!"
Upon hearing this, Tony was stunned for a moment, then burst into a harsh laugh.
"Little girl," he laughed so hard he was doubled over, tears almost coming out. The laughter was full of absurdity and self-deprecation. "If you simply wanted my life, I might be hesitant because I know your parents did indeed die from Stark Industries' weapons. But... do you know? This person you've captured, he killed my parents! You want me to trade my life for the bastard who killed my parents? Little girl, are you telling me a bedtime fairy tale?"
Wanda's expression froze. She slowly looked at Tony, then shifted her gaze to the bound Bucky.
"Since you can't wait for him to die, what are you doing here? To let me watch an innocent old man die?" Wanda's voice was trembling. "Your parents also died by someone else's weapon; justice has been served!"
"You're asking for it!" Tony's voice turned cold.
Steve looked at Tony, then at Bucky, whose eyes were hollow and who was bound by energy chains. His expression changed repeatedly.
He slowly took off his helmet, took a step forward, faced the twins directly, and said in a firm voice:
"I'll trade my life for his."
"Including the old man's life, put it all on me."
"Kill me, and S.H.I.E.L.D. will withdraw from this country, and Tony will lead the team to root out all of HYDRA in Sokovia."
Steve looked at Wanda and said word for word:
"I'll use my life to trade for him to go home."