– X-gene Activation Chamber –
Strucker research on the superpower activation had allowed Hydra organisation to be informed about the potential of the X-gene inside the human genome. The unstable gene makeup existed in about 95 out of 100 people in the world, however most of them were idle.
It's as if the concept of mutagenic activation was erased from the world by a mysterious energy on par with an infinity stone.
Slamming the door to the enhancement chamber wide open, Steve entered with his shield wield in front of him. "I'm not too late am I?"
"But you're late. There is no stopping it now Captain America. Or rather, the intruder from the previous day."
Zemo took out his sword to face the super-soldier while Dr. List tried to make his presence as small as possible.
The process to activate the X-gene inside the Hydra army was at 91%. In less than a minute, Hydra would have their own team of superhuman army that could fight off the intruders – the Avengers, and the rest of the world.
"Not if I can do something about it." Steve said and threw his shield toward the energy supply for the experiment – Loki's sceptre container.
Zemo stands in front of Steve and to his surprise, catches the shield using his bare hand.
Raising one of his eyebrows, Steve studied Zemo intently this time. There were some slight changes in Zemo's physical characteristics and Steve could see some reddish skin around his eye region that wasn't covered by his purple mask.
"Thanks to your little stunt yesterday Captain Strucker had given me one of his most prized possessions. The last remaining supersoldier serum from the age of the reich."
"Oh." Steve answered in a flat tone.
Zemo gritted his teeth as he saw no fear inside the Captain's mind. He was actually bluffing to create some time by playing with the Captain's feelings. Hate and nostalgia would allow him to manipulate Steve to his liking in the ongoing battle.
Zemo waited for Steve to mention anything about the super soldier's serum or his reddish skin that would instil some thoughts inside of Steve about the Red Skull. However, Steve wasn't interested in his past – not in the slightest!
The only thought Steve had on Zemo's manipulation was; 'Now everyone could be a super soldier. I guess I am a fossil on that part.'
As Steve worked with Ryan, he was numb to the world shattering revelations that Ryan always did. Fully-functional super soldiers serum, exoskeleton suit, an actual SPACE ARMADA, and Ryan's mathematical ability that could predict the future. Compared to all of that, fighting a Hydra head seemed…inconsequential for him.
"Sir. The lab rats show signs of radiation poisoning. Some of them are in critical states. They will die within a minute. 37 of them show signs of adapting to the energy from Loki's sceptre. By calculation, they will awaken superpowers as the Maximoffs did."
Not-Ryan AI has been scanning the experimental site and conveyed the data to both Steve and Ryan.
"We can't let that happen can we?" Steve smirked and ignored his shield that was within Zemo's grip. He used the shield as a footing to jump toward the core of the enhancement chamber.
Steve got to within inches of Loki's sceptre in one move! The sceptre was within his reach before something got in the way.
'I guess that is why Tony fell in love with his suit.' Steve thought secretly as having the exoskeleton suit and AI support were making his life easier.
Zemo followed suit and used Steve's shield against him, slamming him away when he reached out for the sceptre.
The enhancement progress passed 95%, and Dr. List signalled Zemo using a thumbs up from afar.
"Hahaha. It's done." Zemo said and released the vibranium shield from his hand. The remnant energy inside the system could finish the job even without the source now. Zemo pried the sceptre from the energy supply unit and wielded it on his right hand, while his sword was changed into his left.
"Give me the sceptre Zemo." Steve threatened as he controlled the shield to fly back remotely and catch it.
Zemo smirked and asked in a calm voice, "When the sceptre falls into your hand, what then? Do you think that your government will keep it hidden at the edge of the world? Or would they use it to create your own branch of supersoldiers?
"The world has been moving from manufacturing weapons of mass destruction to individuals of mass destruction. The Avengers are the impetus of the change. Now, every government in the world wants their own Avengers team."
"Admit it, Captain. You want the sceptre… not for the sake of the safety of the world. But to ensure that your own country's military strength is without a rival. Like you always do."
Facing the intense accusation, Captain America didn't reply. However, his silence wasn't from thinking about the truth behind Zemo's words, but instead the AI has been telling him how to stop the enhancement process in the chamber.
"The battery inside your suit can be repurposed as a syphon and contain the excess energy inside the chamber. The suit will lose its flight capabilities after that. You need to connect the battery to the diffusion mechanism of the chamber, near the spot where that baldie is standing."
The AI showed Steve about the location that he needed to go and the risk calculation that he had to take.
"It's simple enough." Steve muttered.
Zemo raised his brow in confusion from his sudden sentence. The bad guy felt that Captain America hadn't been listening to him in the slightest.
AI: 45 seconds. Go now.
Steve closed his distance toward Zemo, trying to knock him out using his shield. Zemo defended with the sceptre, and thrusted his sword toward Steve's undefended torso.
CLANG
A metallic clunk resounded as Zemo's sword bounced backward after clashing with Captain America's metal suit. Zemo's sword hand shivered as he didn't expect the strong backlash from his action. Steve took the chance to hit underneath Zemo's jaw using his palm, knocking Zemo upward a few centimetres before he fell to the ground where he was met with a kick on his chest.
Still holding on to the sceptre, Zemo clutched his chest and groaned in pain.
Although reluctant, Steve had to remove his gaze from Zemo and stop the enhancement process first.
BOOM
He created a hole on the glass walls of the control centre and jumped into the crowd of soldiers. He had to tackle, punch, and kick a few soldiers that were trying to attack him and move toward the diffuser location.
"DONE." Steve said in a huffing breath as he still needed to fight off the soldiers. The batteries did their work and absorbed the mind stone energy greedily.
"NO!!" Dr. List yelled as he watched the energy percentage inside the chamber to diminish. Not only that, the battery also had reversed the charge inside the chamber, prompting the mind stone energy to move backward and enter the battery Ryan had made specially for this situation.
Inside Strucker's Castle a few kilometres away, Ryan mumbled. "Like Batman always said. Contingency. Contingency. Contingency… Wait, that's not it…"
If the batteries didn't work, Ryan had other plans to remove the threat from ever getting out of the chamber. It's a good thing that Steve managed to do what he did as Ryan's other plan wasn't as smooth as the one involving Captain America.
"Nice job Cap. Just leave the battery there. They won't be able to touch it. Now you need to…" The real Ryan Knight ordered through a hidden transmitter where his voice was continued by Steve's helper.
Not-Ryan : Now you need to get out of there and capture Zemo. Failure to recover the sceptre will lead to a catastrophic result.
"I know that." Steve replied to the AI without knowing the true identity of his helper. Breaking against the soldiers' encirclement. Steve jumped toward the first floor through the hole he had created before – albeit barely able to do that.
By the time he got back upstairs, Zemo was already gone. Even Dr. List ran away the moment he knew the enhancement process had failed.
– Outside the castle –
"Bruce. Can you hear me? You need to stop this now. This'll… look bad for your image."
Flying overhead Thor and Hulk battle, Tony tried to intervene in the Hulk's rampage. His distraction allowed Thor to finally take a breath as Hulk turned to look at Tony.
"Oh dear." Tony exclaimed as he watched Hulk assuming a jumping stance, wanting to capture him in the sky. 'But if he jumps in that direction…'
Behind was the Nova Grad city and Tony couldn't let the Hulk go on a rampage there. Not to mention, the Avengers mission was approved by Ryan. Any casualties would fall into his hand.
In the city, several curious citizens were peeking at the city vicinity, trying to find out the source of the loud noises that had been bothering them.
"Ryan, couldn't they be evacuated using the disaster app?" Natasha asked as she finished destroying the 200 strong Hydra army all by herself.
"Sokovia rejected the disaster relief effort and banned the apps from the country. The app is worthless here." Ryan replied.
Inside of Tony's helmet, ULTRON said urgently, "Sir. A direct collision would produce catastrophic results on your body. I recommend waiting for the appropriate countermeasures."
"We don't have time, ULTRON. Put all of my energy in the rocket boots. I don't have to do a direct collision but I can change his direction."
Tony exploded into speed and flew in a low altitude toward Hulk. Seemingly startled, Hulk abandoned his jumping stance and ran toward Tony. 100 metres…50 metres… 10 metres…
"NOW."
The pressure building up inside his rocket boots and flight stabiliser was let out, turning his flight path into a 90 degrees angle back toward Zemo's castle. Hulk took the bait and changed his direction toward where Tony was flying.
"It worked. Now ULTRON, How can I remove a 1 ton tail on my back?"
"I recommend surgery sir. Should I contact Mr. Vera and book an appointment?"
"Sarcasm, Ultron? Really? Don't hang out with Jarvis all the time. He is a bad influence."
The unconscious Karla Sofen finally opened her eyes. She tried to stand up but she found out there's a tree trunk on top of her.
'A tank..? Why is the ground vibrating so much?..' Karla thought groggily as her head was still hurting from the attack.
Startling her, the Iron Man suit passed by directly on top of her at a high speed. Before Karla could recover fully and understand what was happening, the tremors became stronger and the Hulk dashed like a bullet, stomping on the tree trunk that was on top of Karla, pushing her deeper on the ground.
"ARGHH!" Karla screamed in pain as she could feel some of her ribs being fractured.
The Beetle who was following Tony saw Karla being held underneath a tree trunk. He shot a cutting laser blast to split the tree in half, saving Karla Sofen.
Clutching her ribs, Karla turned to look at the green monster with fearful eyes. "We need to leave. Now."
The Beetle replied, "I can't contact Zemo. We should leave. It's highly probable that he is dead."
Although it was the first time ever that the Beetle had answered Karla, she couldn't bask in the feeling of happiness. She was trying to do whatever she could to prevent herself from hurling out her stomach content.
"Hulk. Sooner or later. I will pay you for what you've done to me!" Karla gritted her teeth and shot a hateful glare toward the shaky forest area. The Beetle put her arms around his shoulder and helped her to stand up. As both of them had the ability to fly, they sneaked out of the battlefield without anyone noticing them.
Tony was in a tough spot as the Hulk almost reached him. "Come on.. Come on.." His panels showed that the Hulk Buster suit was only 5 seconds away, but he didn't have that much time.
Suddenly, an arrow flew past Tony and landed on the Hulk's chest, freezing it almost instantly.
"Barton?" Tony asked.
Standing on top of a 50 metre tall tree 500 metres away, Barton replied with a smirk, "I made it in the nick of time huh."
The ice quickly engulfed the Hulk, but it couldn't stop the monster for long. What it could do is to buy Tony some extra time to prepare.
"Thor is on his way to help." Barton said.
"Good." Tony replied. Veronica– The mobile unit module that carried the Hulk Buster unit parts finally arrived. Several parts flew down toward Tony and were equipped on the outer layer of his Mark 9 suit.
"Whew." Barton whistled in awe after seeing the hulking robot. He continues shooting a restraining arrow at the Hulk to buy Tony some time. In 10 seconds, he had shot more than 20 arrows to distract the Hulk.
The Hulk Buster armour was finally ready! Tony said, "That other green man is messing with your mind. You're stronger than him. Smarter than him. You're Bruce Banner."
Hulk roared in objection. He picked up a boulder nearby and threw it at the direction where the arrows were coming from.
"Right right right right. Don't mention the puny Banner. Barton heads up."
"I'd already gone down after he picked up the boulder. Are you kidding me?" Barton said slyly. The boulder hit the top of the tree he was once on and snapped the tree in half.
"Damn Hulk. I will file a formal complaint for this. Breach of workplace ethics and hostile attitude toward another worker." Barton mumbled as he took cover from the falling tree.
The Hulk Buster flew in a short flight to close the distance.
BAM
A massive iron fist slammed on the Hulk's face, making his teeth feel loose.
"Go to sleep buddy. I will count till- '' Before Tony could finish his word, Hulk picked up the HulkBuster armour by the shoulder and threw him inside the forest. The suit acted like a chainsaw, cutting down every tree in its direction before it stopped hundreds of kilometres away.
"Ultron. Damage report."
"Still standing sir."
"Not for long I guess."
Hulk rampaged toward the Hulk Buster, prompting Tony to shoot a high density particle accelerator beam toward the green monster, knocking him backward a few steps.
Hulk swung his right hand while the Hulk Buster did the same. Their fist clashed and produced a shockwave from the impact.
Tony gasped, almost forgetting to breathe in the battle. "Banner. Help me out here." He tried to persuade the monster, but all he got was an animalistic howl and grunt from the Hulk.
"I am here." Thor said and flew at a high speed toward the battlefield. Some of his hair was stuck on his face as his blood dried up.
"On my marks." Tony said as he locked Hulk's hand inside the HulkBuster unit.
Tony swung his giant fist while Thor aimed Mjolnir at Hulk's head.
"Go to sleep!" Thor and Tony said at the same time as they pummelling the Hulk into dreamland.
After beating the Hulk up for a few seconds, finally, Hulk loses his consciousness. Tony and Thor breathed in relief after they saw Hulk turning back into Banner.
Captain America finally got outside the castle grounds and rejoined the communication line.
"Zemo is escaping with the sceptre. Anyone got eyes on him?"
Tony and Thor looked at each other before they replied, "We will go and check." Both of them were extremely tired but they know the importance of the sceptre.
"I got eyes on the doctor." Ayala suddenly said. She was stalking a stubby man in a white coat that exited a secret passageway in the forest.
"That must be List. Don't let him get away." Captain said.
"I will hold the line in the castle." Natasha said. "I will go help Natasha." Barton offered. In the Avengers team, he would be the first one to know of Natasha's ability today.
…
After Zemo exited the castle using a hidden path, he found out that Chen Lu was waiting for him at the exit.
"Why are you here?" Zemo spoke in vigilance.
"I am here for what was promised."
"Don't bother. Until the plan is complete, I won't tell you where your daughter is."
ChenLu gripped Zemo by his throat, pulling him to the air. "There are no longer any deals. Your plans had failed. You can choose. Tell me where my daughter is, or die here."
Zemo tried to attack ChenLu using the sceptre, but ChenLu catched his other hand to block it.
They stared at each other and a moment of silence passed.
"Oh. So he told you that you have a daughter. That's why you're following him." Suddenly, a third voice appeared near the hidden exit. Both ChenLu and Zemo turned to look at the source of the voice.
They saw a blonde man in partial armour walking casually toward them.
"Ryan Knight?" ChenLu muttered. Zemo widened his eyes and said to ChenLu hurriedly. "Kill him now. And I will tell you where your daughter is the moment he is dead!"
"Or…I can just tell him." Ryan said with a sly smirk and used a holographic projection to show ChenLu about the truth behind his words. ChenLu saw his ex-girlfriend picture during the time they were dating.
But after the experiment that caused him to become the Radioactive man, he had to abandon the life he had before. He didn't know that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant at that time with his child.
"What do you want in return?" ChenLu asked.
Zemo tried to interject, but ChenLu put more pressure in his grip.
"Nothing. I just want to talk." Ryan said. He turned his attention toward Zemo and raised his hand. The sceptre flew from Zemo's hand and landed on his.
"Shall we?" Ryan said and opened up a portal toward another location. Chen Lu nodded and walked through the portal with Zemo in his hand. The portal closes after the three people have passed through.
"Did anyone have eyes on Zemo?" Captain America asked after he got out of the castle.
*******************