69novels Page 23
Page 23
Is this Hawke's trump card?
He felt a little better now, thinking he had completely seen through Hawke. If Hawke were in front of him now, he would mercilessly mock him: "You think you're the only Earthling who's ever come into contact with aliens? Ridiculous!"
Natasha, who was also in the same channel, twitched her lips. This line of thinking was a bit too far off...
"Attention all units!" Fury's voice boomed through the megaphone, cold and undeniably authoritative. "Unidentified personnel below! You are surrounded! Lay down your weapons immediately, surrender, put your hands behind your heads, and kneel down! Repeat, lay down your weapons and surrender immediately! This is your only warning!"
The cleanup operation below has clearly stalled.
Those figures dressed in dark ninja outfits, moving swiftly, and some larger cyborgs with metallic or unnatural skin, appeared somewhat disoriented under the bright light.
Several Quinjet fighters circled at low altitude, their cannons and miniature missile launchers on their weapon pylons unlocked and locked onto targets below.
After a brief standoff, Fury saw the reaction he had anticipated: a small group of ninjas on the periphery hesitantly and slowly dropped their daggers or retrieval tools on the ground, stiffly raised their hands, and slowly knelt down. Their heads were bowed, their posture appearing as one of surrender.
"Sir, some targets have surrendered!" the on-site commander reported.
But Fury's single eye was fixed on his companions around the surrendered, especially the bio-engineered humans who stood silently like steel statues.
The surrenderers' movements were too deliberate and slow, and the surrender area was too concentrated, making it seem more like... a decoy to attract attention!
"Something's wrong!" Fury's intuition and years of experience instantly triggered the highest alarm. "A trap! All hands on deck! Repeat! Fire!"
His orders were given almost simultaneously with the other party's actions!
Those ninjas who had "surrendered" suddenly raised their heads, their eyes showing no fear, only cold killing intent and mockery!
Their kneeling bodies sprang up as if springs had been inserted, their hands tightly gripping sharp shurikens or miniature bombs that they had not actually thrown away!
At the same time, the cyborgs that had been silent let out a low, inhuman roar, and the metal armor on their bodies instantly deformed, revealing energy weapon mouths or biological claws that gleamed with a dangerous light!
Even more terrifying, a pale purple energy shield suddenly appeared around the surface of some of these bio-engineered human bodies!
"Whoosh whoosh-!"
"boom!"
“Da da da da—!”
The ninjas' projectiles and bombs shot towards the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers like a swarm of poisonous bees, while the cyborgs' energy beams and bio-acids fiercely blasted at the Quinjet hovering at low altitude!
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and soldiers were also highly skilled in combat, opening fire the instant Fury gave the warning, with energy weapons and live ammunition intertwined to create a dense net of fire that rained down!
The scene instantly transformed from an eerie calm into a bloody hell!
"Damn it!" Fury roared as he watched a Quinjet being struck on the flank by a dense beam of energy, climbing rapidly in plumes of black smoke.
"Kill them! Dead or alive!"
Amidst the chaos of the battlefield, Natasha's figure moved like a ghost through the flames of explosions.
With precise shots from her dual pistols, she headshot a ninja who attempted to ambush his teammates from behind, while deftly dodging a scorching beam of bio-energy.
Her icy gaze swept over the menacing cyborgs, her mind racing as she assessed this unexpected new enemy: "The Foot Clan... Unexpected... It seems Hawke's troubles are far greater than I imagined."
"Whoosh whoosh-!"
"Boom!"
“Da da da da—!”
Poisoned shurikens and micro-bombs from the Foot Clan clashed with energy pulse guns and armor-piercing rounds from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the air, their explosive flames instantly engulfing corners of the ruins.
The cyborgs let out inhuman roars, their arms splitting open to reveal rotating energy cannons or glands that spray corrosive acid, while pale purple energy shields vibrated and flickered violently amidst the hail of bullets.
At the very start of the battle, the Foot Gang, with their elite ninjas' unpredictable movements and the powerful assault capabilities of their cyborgs, caught S.H.I.E.L.D. off guard.
Those elite ninjas, like venomous snakes slithering into the shadows, moved at high speeds, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, utilizing the complex terrain of the ruins.
Their precise throwing skills and seamless close-quarters assassination coordinated perfectly, instantly wounding and felling several exposed S.H.I.E.L.D. commandos.
The smoke grenades exploded in their hands, further disrupting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vision and formation.
Even more terrifying are those cyborgs.
Braving their energy shields, they launched a fearless, swarming charge. Energy beams ripped through the night sky, easily melting through the weak points of the armored vehicles;
The strong acid sprayed onto the bunker, making a terrible hissing sound and emitting pungent white smoke.
Their physical strength is also astonishing; one cyborg overturned a light armored vehicle, causing the surrounding agents to gasp and retreat.
A Quinjet, hovering too close at low altitude, was unfortunately hit in the side engine by several concentrated energy beams. The alarm sounded shrilly, and it climbed away in a sorry state, trailing thick black smoke.
The pale purple energy shield they used was exceptionally tough; conventional small-caliber weapons and energy pulses only caused ripples when they hit it.
This allowed the core forces of the Foot Gang to advance under heavy fire in the early stages, making the goal of clearing the battlefield seem secondary, and severely damaging S.H.I.E.L.D. the main objective.
Fury saw it clearly from the command aircraft, and the cold light in his single eye intensified.
"Hand! Analyze their energy shield frequency! All units, maintain distance, prioritize fire on the ninjas not protected by shields! Air units, blow up the cover around those metal cans, expose them!"
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of the most powerful intelligence and special operations organizations on Earth. After a brief period of chaos and tactical adjustments, its tight command structure and overwhelming technological advantage quickly became apparent.
42. The Accidental Cylinder [Seeking Flowers]
Ground troops quickly withdrew and regrouped, establishing a defensive line using armored vehicles and more robust bunkers.
Heavy weaponry support teams were deployed to high ground, with shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles and Gauss rifles emitting a dull roar.
The target is no longer precise spot firing, but saturation bombardment of areas where cyborgs are concentrated.
The remaining Quinjet fighters ceased their low-altitude sweep attempts and quickly climbed to a safe altitude.
With the weapons bay door open, more powerful miniature air-to-ground missiles and precisely targeted laser-guided bombs rained down.
Exploding fireballs continued to burst forth in the ranks of the cyborgs charging forward, the shockwaves causing their shields to flicker violently and even tearing some of the outermost cyborgs to shreds.
Victoria Hand's voice came through the channel at the opportune moment: "Shield frequency analysis complete! Connect to target lock system... Now!"
The cannons of several Quinjet fighters instantly adjusted their firing modes, launching energy blasts carrying specific oscillation frequencies.
When these energy projectiles hit the shields, they no longer created ripples, but instead melted the shields like hot butter.
It flickers a few times and then completely stops working.
In response to the android losing its shield, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents threw a specially designed magnetic electric grid and a high-voltage stun baton to restrict its movement.
Powerful neurotoxins, specifically designed to counter biologically enhanced targets, were also cautiously deployed to specific areas.
With the cyborgs no longer drawing the main fire, ninjas exposed in open areas or within range of precision-guided weapons suffer a dramatic increase in casualties when targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. snipers and high-tech reconnaissance equipment.
Natasha's figure moved like a deadly ghost in the chaos, each flash accompanied by the fall of a ninja.
The shield's collapse became the turning point.
Without the protection of their turtle shells, the cyborgs became clumsy targets in the face of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s heavy firepower.
Missiles and bombs shattered their massive bodies, spraying shattered metal parts and disgusting biochemical fluids everywhere.
Even elite ninjas without cover would find it difficult to fight against well-organized, well-equipped, and highly tactically skilled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and soldiers.
The noise of the battle gradually subsided after more than half an hour.
Amidst the smoke-filled ruins, flames still burned, crackling and popping.
The corpses of the Bigfoot Gang lay scattered about, the ninjas' black clothes were soaked in blood, and the remains of the cyborgs were emitting smoke and a mixture of burnt and chemical stench.
S.H.I.E.L.D. also paid a price: more than a dozen agents were killed, more than 30 were injured, two Quinjet fighters were severely damaged and barely managed to return to base, and several light armored vehicles were destroyed or disabled.
Fury appeared at the edge of the ruins, his face ashen.
He clenched his teeth as he looked at the ravaged battlefield and the bodies of the fallen agents.
"Clean up the battlefield! Examine every fragment, every drop of blood, every corpse carefully! I need to know where these bastards came from, and what their relationship is with the Travelers! Operation 'Iron Curtain' Phase One is over, now moving on to 'Evidence Recovery'!"
Over the next three hours, the ruins were transformed into a massive open-air laboratory and morgue.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s professional forensic team, dressed in protective suits, carefully collected all possible information:
Fragments of a ninja weapon, bearing unique forging marks.
Modified bio-human metal skeletons, biological tissue samples, and implanted energy core residues.
Broken communicator fragments, attempting to recover data.
Bullet marks and explosion traces left on the buildings are used to reconstruct the course of the battle.
All bodies were numbered, photographed, and subjected to preliminary autopsies.
Fury personally oversaw the operation on-site, his one-eyed hawk sweeping over every corner.
The air was filled with a nauseating mixture of disinfectant, burnt smells, and the stench of blood.
Exhaustion began to creep onto the agents' faces, but Fury's orders were not to be questioned.
Finally, a tech agent's voice, tinged with weary excitement, crackled through the encrypted channel: "Sir! A damaged recorder embedded in reinforced concrete has been found in Sector B7! Preliminary assessment indicates it was a combat recording device from a ninja or cyborg. The impact damage is severe, but the data storage unit might still be salvageable!"
Fury rushed to the area immediately.
Technicians are carefully using a laser cutter to peel the twisted and deformed metal cube from the hardened cement.
After intensive data extraction and restoration, a very blurry video clip, covered in snowflake patterns and lasting only a few seconds, was restored.
The footage is shaking violently, and the camera angle is very low, as if the person recording is being impacted or moving rapidly.
The background is a chaotic battlefield, with the silhouettes of several... uh... giant turtles and a rapidly moving human figure vaguely visible.
Then, in the last instant before the image was about to cut off, the camera captured the front of the blurry figure, clearly showing two scorching red-gold rays that seemed to be able to ignite the screen, violently erupting from his eyes like angry dragons!
boom! ! !
The video ends here, finally freezing on the shocking scene of heat rays bursting forth, the air in front violently distorting, and the target being instantly destroyed.
The entire temporary command center was deathly silent.
Everyone was stunned by this brief but incredibly impactful scene.
Fury stared intently at the frozen, fiery red light on the screen, the shock in his single eye quickly replaced by deeper doubt.
“Coulson,” Fury’s voice was terrifyingly low, breaking the silence, “extract the core frequency band of this energy waveform and cross-compare it with the energy release data of ‘Cyclops’ Scott Summers at the Xavier’s Institute.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Hawke's blurry silhouette on the screen, and added, "Also... compare it with the physiological and energy signature databases of all documented Kree, Skrull, and other alien species. Especially those related to body modification projects."
Fury turned around and looked out the window at the sky that was gradually turning white, his fingers unconsciously touching an old-fashioned pager clipped to his waist.
“A mutant? Or some kind of more dangerous alien creation?” he muttered to himself, his brow furrowed. “Hawk… what exactly are you? Busan, the Foot Clan, and this power… I’m determined to uncover your secrets.”