The Hulk roared, launching himself directly at the bizarre floating robot outside.
Sensing the incoming threat, the strange machine instantly shifted into combat mode. Lights pulsed across its sleek surface, and an eerie hum built in the air.
"Danger! Powerful energy signature detected!"
Inside Stark's HUD, J.A.R.V.I.S. was screaming warnings.
A glaring red word—DANGER—flashed on his interface.
"Hulk, wait—don't!" Stark shouted.
But the red-eyed Hulk couldn't hear him.
With a guttural roar, he lunged toward the machine, arms outstretched.
And then—
A blinding blue light burst forth.
It swallowed everything. The office, the windows, the sky—all drowned in glowing blue.
And within that merciless brilliance, the Hulk's roaring figure vanished.
This wasn't just any robot. It was the latest prototype support unit developed by Gene—created to assist the S.W.O.R.D members in their highest-risk missions. The model floating before them wasn't even in mass production yet. This was a cutting-edge verification unit, loaded with Mason Industries' most advanced tech.
In fact, the official production model would be far less powerful—this one had no cost restraints.
Inside the blue light, the Hulk screamed in pain.
His massive green form writhed against the energy, but it was no use. The light pierced deeper than muscle and bone. The force hit something primal.
When the light faded, the savage Hulk was gone.
Lying on the floor was nothing more than a middle-aged man, weak and curled in pain—Dr. Bruce Banner.
The Hulk had been forced to retreat under the overwhelming agony.
"Threat level: Neutralized."
The support robot calmly exited combat mode.
Stark stared at it, face grim. His armor had tried to analyze the machine during the brief fight—but the results were all over the place. Strange readings, bizarre energy patterns—nothing made sense.
"Is this thing even… technological?" Stark muttered.
But there was a reason it didn't make sense.
This robot wasn't pure tech. It had magical formations embedded in its core—something Stark's science couldn't detect or comprehend.
The Avengers exchanged uneasy glances. After what they'd just seen, no one wanted to get on that robot's bad side.
__
Meanwhile, Black Widow had slipped to a terminal and was furiously typing away. Her fingers danced over the keyboard, bypassing firewall after firewall.
The holographic screens around the room flared to life, displaying streams of encrypted data. Names. Files. Codenames. Operations.
Everything.
"Romanoff," Pierce said behind her, voice calm yet edged with threat. "You realize what you're doing, don't you?"
"You expose this… you expose everything."
"Not just Hydra," he continued smoothly. "But yourself. The Red Room's little pet agents. All the buried S.H.I.E.L.D. operations. The blood, the lies, the black bag missions."
"Expose this, and S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't crack—it collapses."
"Do you think the world will forgive? Do you think it will tolerate a monster with secrets like these?"
Black Widow's fingers hesitated, just for a second.
Pierce's words cut deep.
But something inside her—a voice, a conviction—shouted louder.
"Isn't that the point of a purge?" she fired back. "To burn out the poison?"
Pierce blinked, surprised. Then… he laughed.
"Well said. You truly are Nick Fury's right hand. But it's a pity…"
"Pity what?" she asked.
Before he could answer—Nick Fury's voice echoed from the intercoms throughout the building.
"I, Nick Fury, authorize the operation memory."
Black Widow's eyes lit up. She'd already pulled up all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s encrypted archives—now all she needed was final clearance.
In the movies, that required Pierce's biometric approval.
But this wasn't a movie.
Nick Fury had been part of S.H.I.E.L.D. longer than Pierce. His authority over its deepest encryptions was absolute.
And now, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s central command uploaded its vault of dirty secrets to the internet in real-time.
Hydra. Red Room. Black Sites. Mind-control programs. It was all there.
In mere seconds, the entire planet would know what S.H.I.E.L.D. had become.
"Looks like you got what you wanted," Stark said quietly.
But to everyone's shock—Pierce didn't seem angry.
He smiled.
"No," he said softly. "I got what I wanted, too."
Then, without warning, he sprinted toward the floor-to-ceiling window.
For an old man, he moved with unnatural strength and speed.
"He's running!" someone shouted.
Stark immediately fired a repulsor blast, aiming to take him down.
But just as the blast neared Pierce—a flash of gold.
The support robot hovering nearby extended a strange mechanism, drawing mystic runes in the air.
A glowing disc-shaped shield materialized, radiating golden light.
The repulsor hit the shield—
BOOM!
A massive shockwave shook the room.
When the smoke cleared, Pierce was gone.
Escaped.
__
Suddenly, a deep rumbling filled the building.
Everyone turned to the windows.
Above New York, the two S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers were on their last legs. Fire, smoke, and destruction painted the skies.
Then—CRACK!
One helicarrier smashed straight into the Triskelion.
The sound was deafening. The building shuddered from the impact.
Inside his armor, J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke urgently:
"Sir, one of the helicarriers is colliding with the building!"
Stark groaned, eyes rolling behind his helmet. "Yeah, yeah… it's just a perfect day, isn't it."
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