It's true that taking on Hydra from the top has been effective, but in doing so, they had also chosen the hard mode from the outset and should be prepared for the enemy to be extremely difficult to deal with.
These Hydra leaders are not pushovers. They have a high degree of vigilance. At the slightest hint of trouble, they immediately silence all channels, disappearing along with any evidence.
What's worse, before they disappear, they are sure to trip up Stark. The stock price of Stark Group has taken a hit in these few days, Pepper is facing great pressure, and the public opinion about Stark himself has worsened. Obadiah has been forced to cover for him.
Although the technological means are advanced, the enemy's level is even higher. If they were to fight directly, Stark might be able to deal with them, but these people never confront Stark directly. At the slightest noise, they immediately slip away.
Therefore, Stark finds himself in a catch-22. He wants to catch the rat, but he has to dig into the rat's nest himself. But doesn't that put him right back into Steve's game?
In short, whether it's destroying bases at the lower level or targeting leaders at the upper level, both methods have their drawbacks. Stark realizes this point. Like what Banner said earlier, probably only by joining forces could these problems be truly resolved.
So, although Stark finally sat at a table with Steve, despite pulling a long face, under the mediation of Peter and Matt, the two can finally sit down and have a calm discussion.
In fact, in the original comics, Iron Man and Captain America had a honeymoon period. This indicates that they are compatible in some ways. Therefore the conversation between the two feels a bit awkward.
Their instincts don't want to go along with each other, but their thought processes can't help but follow each other. The more they talk, the smoother their conversation gets, and their thoughts become more and more unified, until at some point they suddenly realize what has happened and stop in their tracks.
Peter doesn't understand what they are doing, but Matt just sighs and shakes his head.
Eventually, Stark holds his nose and says: "Alright, if it's to fight Hydra, I can temporarily cooperate with you. But on strategic issues, you must listen to me..."
Steve also nods and says: "I won't interfere with your decisions, but I also have my own thoughts. If we can't agree, let's vote..."
In the end, they both accepted this agreement. However, Steve is a bit puzzled. He asks, "You're not demanding that we join your Luminous Alliance? Instead, you plan to join the Avengers? This doesn't seem like you, Stark."
Stark gives a speechless expression, he says: "Join the Luminous Alliance? You really don't have a correct understanding of your own moral level..."
"On the contrary, I am most confident about my moral level. Don't you know the origin of Captain America? The bad get worse, the good get better."
"It's exactly why I said so. I am a moral exemplar in the Luminous Alliance and raised the overall average. If it wasn't for me and Charles, their moral bottom line would be vertical."
"Speaking of which, what do you think of the mysterious man codenamed 'Doctor'?"
"What do I think? Just a sneaky Hydra agent...wait, why do you ask? Are you suspecting..."
Seeing Stark about to refute, Steve cuts in: "But it's not groundless, our actions are all confidential. The places we raid would not be known in any circumstances. But every time we enter a base, everyone there has evacuated, and just recently too. Don't you find it strange?"
"That's because you have a mole, what does that have to do with people in the Luminous Alliance? We also have no idea about your plans."
"But you have Professor Charles Xavier."
Stark replies helplessly: "If Professor Charles were Hydra, do you think anyone would still be alive?"
"But it can't be ruled out that Professor X could be used by others. After all, he sticks to his principles and doesn't read minds easily, so he could be fooled."
Stark was about to reason with him when he heard Jarvis say: "Warning! Strange activities detected on the spacecraft docked at the edge of the Solar System!"
"Spacecraft? What's up?"
"Monitoring equipment detected abnormal life fluctuations near spacecraft number 19... Energy readings are too high! Beep beep! Monitoring equipment has been affected by mysterious power, and it has stopped working."
"Someone's after the spacecraft?" Steve asked: "Who is it? They even damaged your surveillance equipment, are they trying to steal the spacecraft?"
Stark holds out a hand, gesturing Steve to wait. He asks Jarvis: "Can you detect what kind of energy damaged the monitoring equipment?"
"Unclear, unable to analyze, but it is speculated to be magic energy."
"Magic..." Stark mutters to himself, he says, "Dr. Strange????"
He instinctively exchanged glances with Steve, and both said in unison: "Doctor!"
A few minutes later, inside Arkham Sanatorium, Dr. Schiller looked solemnly at Dr. Strange across from him, and said: "You're in trouble."
Strange widened his eyes, saying, "Impossible. I was using an invisibility spell the whole time, and even used it to shield the spaceship…"
"But Peter just called me to say that JARVIS issued an alert. It must be your magic energy that disturbed Stark's surveillance equipment around the spacecraft," Said the other.
"Damn, I went out of my way to avoid those monitors. It might have been the one on the right side of the deck that went off, I didn't notice when I passed by..."
Strange helplessly said, "What should I do now? Stark will definitely come looking for me. He might even use this as an excuse to take back the previous spaceship, that cheapskate..."
"Aren't you the Supreme Magician now? Just go back to Kamar-Taj and close yourself off for a while. Would he really chase you all the way to Kamar-Taj? As long as he can't find you, he can't take back the spaceship on proper grounds," suggested his companion.
"That's true. This will allow Loki to take over the work at the Sanctum. I could even take a few days off. I've been wanting to go on vacation..."
With that, Strange left as if being chased by a dog. Clearly, he was still afraid of Stark causing trouble for him, given that he was in the wrong.
Hence, at the next Luminous Alliance meeting, Stark squinted suspiciously at the empty seat that Strange usually occupied. He asked, "Where has Steven gone?"
"He went back to Kamar-Taj for seclusion. It seems most likely that he has had some breakthrough in his magic studies." Shiller repeated Strange's words to Stark and Stark scoffed, "A magic apprentice, and he has the nerve to say he's had a breakthrough?"
After the meeting ended, several members of the Avengers assembled again. Now, Stark had also joined them. Sitting across from Steve, he said, "But I still don't believe Strange is part of Hydra. Keep in mind, he's the Supreme Magician. Do you see a connection between these two identities?"
"Hydra is exactly like that. You probably don't know enough about them," sighed Steve, "They disguise themselves as all sorts of people, from politicians and magistrates to drivers and vendors. You never know which one of them is disguised by Hydra."
"Moreover, high-educated individuals make up a larger demographic of Hydra, based on my experience. Where do you think Hydra got so many researchers?"
"The Supreme Magician is part of Hydra?" Peter said in disbelief, "That's too absurd. That's like saying, Captain, you're part of Hydra..."
Steve, however, wasn't in the mood to joke. With a stern face, he said, "It's not impossible. I mean, it's not impossible that I'm part of Hydra. If one day you all notice some indicators suggesting this, then you must investigate immediately. Don't let your guard down."
Peter's face scrunched up. The thought of Captain America being part of Hydra was too absurd, even to voice.
Steve, however, was serious. He said, "I mean it. Apart from cultivating agents and spies, Hydra also excels at cloning technology. Everyone here could potentially be replaced. Perhaps, the real Supreme Magician isn't part of Hydra, but none of us can guarantee that the person we see is the real Supreme Magician."
Seeing Stark's slightly changing expression, Steve continued, "That's their strategy: to create distrust among humans, which ultimately leads to wars."
"Of course, we can't accuse someone of a crime on unfounded grounds. Everything still needs to be investigated. At least, I am willing to accept an investigation wholeheartedly for now. Since I proposed it, I am willing to be investigated along with Dr. Strange. If there isn't an issue, all the better. If there is, at least we can ensure that the magicians are not tainted by evil," Steve went off in a different direction.
"Er... did we ignore something?" Peter scratched his head, "Aren't there more doctors around us, other than Dr. Steven? Isn't Dr. Shiller a psychologist?"
Stark and Steve exchanged a glance. Steve patted Peter on the shoulder, "I don't remember if I've ever mentioned the greatest characteristic of Hydra agents to you…"
"What's that?" asked Peter, slightly confused.
"Diligence."
Stark added, "You can't expect someone who goes to sleep at 9 p.m. to join Hydra. He'd be screened out in the first round of interviews."
Steve's voice drew Peter back, "Think about the agents you met at S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you think this job can be executed by a regulated, early-to-rise, early-to-bed person?"
Peter opened his mouth, then said, "It doesn't seem like it…"
"Peter, for both agents and spies, even higher-ups, they need to work day and night, exhaustively brainstorming, spending a lot of effort on building their intelligence network and outposts. Anyone who doesn't work hard can't become an infiltrator. This job is much busier than you would think…"
"More importantly, they need to maintain contact with multiple powers at all times. Once their channels become silent, it would result in a headless situation like we have now."
Thinking back to his time living in Dr. Shiller's old clinic, Peter commented, "If we go by that reasoning, Dr. Shiller would be the least likely suspect among us all. His lifestyle is too regulated."
"Plus, he doesn't like answering calls. If he takes more than three calls in a day, he gets annoyed. That includes calls for takeout."
"He also dislikes staying up late and being woken up. If he finds out I'm not in bed asleep by 10 p.m., I'm in big trouble."
"Also, he hates people who only talk halfway." Peter thought for a moment, then added, "…and rats."