*Chapter 241: A Furious Pierce*

Ahem, strictly speaking, these couldn’t be called ordinary people.

They were giants in the truest sense of the word.

Taking them on with the strength of the Winter Soldier was almost more brutal than Ultraman beating down small monsters.

Tony’s words weren’t wrong.

The scene was pure chaos. Arriving on the scene as Iron Man, after being alerted early on, Tony couldn’t tell who was Hydra.

Both he and Captain America had the simplest way to distinguish between friend and foe: since they were the ones out in the open, anyone firing at them was the enemy.

Without a word, the Winter Soldier, Bucky, grabbed a heavy machine gun and started shooting at Iron Man. Tony wasn’t about to show Bucky any mercy.

“Pew pew!” Two pulse lasers shot from his hands straight at Bucky’s chest.

In a true battle, Iron Man might only serve as a miserable ADC marksman, but against a super-soldier like the Winter Soldier, Iron Man was absolutely dominant.

Two shots almost knocked the wind out of Bucky and finished him off.

At the last second, Bucky reacted quickly, using his metal arm to block the lasers. Even so, he was sent flying backward, with his left chest scorched black.

The Winter Soldier was designed to be on par with super soldiers like Captain America. He couldn’t fly and lacked ranged attack capabilities, so facing off against Iron Man was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Just when it looked like Captain America was about to say goodbye to his old friend, the first helicarrier finally took off.

Under the control of Hydra agents, the massive cannons on board unleashed a barrage of fire toward Iron Man.

“Crap!” Tony cursed. He had no choice but to leave Bucky and fly toward the new-generation helicarrier, dodging the endless storm of bullets.

It was particularly frustrating for Tony because he had personally designed and improved the engines of this very helicarrier. He never imagined he’d one day have to take down his own creation.

That’s what bothered him the most.

Agent Hill contacted Tony: “Hey, Tony! Don’t act impulsively. We still have a chance to regain control of these big guys. We’ve designed a core override program module specifically for this. They’re located in…”

“No need! JARVIS and I can directly override the core systems.”

“….”

Indeed, a true mechanical and electronics genius could do whatever they wanted in situations like this.

At that moment, Captain America’s voice cut in through the comms: “Perfect timing, Tony. Handle my part for me.”

“What are you going to do?” Tony asked, concerned, noticing something off in Cap’s tone.

“I need to face an old friend who should’ve died long ago.”

That’s right, Cap had found his childhood friend, Bucky Barnes, now standing in front of him as the enemy Winter Soldier.

Through the comms, Falcon (Sam) yelled, “What about the other helicarrier?”

Black Widow interjected, “I’m handling Pierce over here, but I’ll have some old friends helping out.”

“Who?” Several voices in the channel asked at once.

“Ghost-Spider and Starlight!”

Nick Fury, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: “Alright! Since Mr. Stark has taken care of Plan B, let’s notify Mr. CD and ask them to hold off for now. These helicarriers are expensive. Agent Romanoff, can you contact Kratos?”

Superman typically communicated solely through Lois Lane. Kratos, however, lacked a direct contact method.

No one expected what happened next. Kratos’ voice, crossing space, resonated not through their earpieces, but in their minds: “Since you can handle it, I’ll sit back and enjoy this ‘war.’”

Nick Fury, having reached the S.H.I.E.L.D. council with the help of Black Widow and Agent Hill, suddenly felt a twinge of discomfort.

Having such a powerful and influential ally, yet one who was uncontrollable, undoubtedly made the government officials with their strong desire for control feel uneasy.

Everything had its pros and cons.

Not being able to control Kratos was unfortunate, but his immense strength was, at the very least, no good news for Hydra.

Now the only question left was: what price would S.H.I.E.L.D. have to pay to take down these Hydra spies and prevent the situation from escalating further?

In Nick’s mind, he had to at least protect the three helicarriers.

This time, Hydra’s attempt to seize control of the helicarriers had been somewhat rushed. It was evident from the fact that battles had broken out all over the ships, with Hydra agents dressed in assault gear exchanging fire with aircrew and some guards.

In this complex environment, Iron Man’s progress was unquestionably the fastest.

Everyone knew Iron Man; there was no risk of friendly fire. Whoever shot at him was the enemy, and Tony had no qualms about firing back.

Hydra agents using conventional firearms stood no chance against Iron Man’s titanium alloy armor. After piercing through the disorganized anti-aircraft barrage, Tony flew through the battlefield like it was nothing.

Using lasers to cut his way forward, he followed the shortest path possible, making quick work of reaching the core area.

No matter how hard Nick Fury had tried to keep the helicarrier’s blueprints secret, there was no hiding them from a mechanical genius like Tony.

In just five minutes, Tony fought his way to the core area and began hacking into the helicarrier’s control system.

Not only was he doing a great job, but he had attracted a squad of real S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to cover him.

“Mr. Stark! We’ll guard the entrance for you.”

“Alright, thank you!”

The second fastest team was the group of female superhumans under Kratos’ command.

Starlight, Huntress, and Katana were already a formidable trio, and with Gwen added to the mix, the team was even more impressive.

In this chaotic setting, Spider-Gwen’s webbing was the perfect tool for crowd control.

“Hail Hydra!”

Splat!  

Facing a crazed Hydra soldier, Gwen shot a wad of sticky white web onto his face. The force of the webbing even sent the man flying, sticking him to a wall.

One by one, these grown men became helpless prey, trapped in a giant web.

Their bullets couldn’t touch Gwen. After all, Gwen had been greatly enhanced by Atreus. Aside from agility, all of her attributes matched Captain America’s, and her agility was boosted to an absurd level. When she ran at full speed, she left only a trail of afterimages.

The Hydra agents facing Gwen were actually quite lucky.

Katana and Huntress, on the other hand, were ruthless, leaving no survivors. They cut through enemies from the ship’s bow to the control room, taking down everyone in their path.

Out of the three teams, Falcon’s progress was the slowest. After all, he was just a mechanical falcon in the sky, and once inside the helicarrier, he was no different from a large infantryman.

Even so, it was clear to everyone that Hydra was on the verge of defeat.

Unwilling to accept failure, Alexander Pierce screamed, “You think you’ve won? Another cliché where good triumphs over evil? Think again! If Hydra can’t have it, neither will you hypocrites!”

(End of this chapter)