"Don't you find yourself contradictory, Captain? You are a product of war, a perfect soldier! You were born in the furnace of order!"
Strucker displayed an extreme level of fanaticism. Mechanical tentacles extended from his prosthetic limb, linking with his arm. He couldn't help but laugh maniacally at the Captain. "And yet, you defend freedom! You defend something that you don't even belong to!"
"Humans are born free, but the extreme freedom of the individual brings conflict between men. Because our pursuits and our ways of life differ, we fight one another."
The Captain slammed his shield into Strucker's arm before a sweeping kick knocked the man down. "Order exists precisely to avoid such strife. Every individual renounces the freedom that would harm others, setting the order of society to safeguard their true liberty!"
True freedom—is it absolute freedom? Never. If it were, Steve Rogers would never have joined the military; he would have joined an anarchist organization.
True freedom is when every individual, out of their own will, proactively gives up the infinite freedoms that would harm others, following a path of ordered liberty.
"People will give up their freedom! When the enemies humanity faces become more and more terrifying, they will proactively surrender their liberty in pursuit of security!" Strucker rolled to dodge the Captain's shield strike, then used his hands to catch the shield as the Captain swung it down with both arms. Strucker's left fist smashed into the Captain's face.
"When their thirst for security outweighs their longing for freedom, they will abandon it themselves, Captain. You cannot stop this."
"Is that so?" The Captain punched his own shield, the sharp vibration forcing Strucker to instinctively release his grip. Immediately, the Captain slammed the edge of the shield hard into Strucker's head. "If people must give up their freedom to pursue so-called security, it never proves that they need to lose their freedom. It only proves that the warriors willing to defend them aren't strong enough yet—that we still need to grow."
"You Hydra lot are no different from the Third Reich. You think yourselves a step ahead, superior. You think so-called freedom is harmful. Let me tell you, no matter what you do, you cannot change one thing: a soldier who voluntarily enlists in war will always have more conviction and a better chance of winning than the draftees forced in by your propaganda and coercion."
His mouth covered in blood and several teeth missing from the impact, Strucker began to laugh.
"No... that's not necessarily true, is it, Captain?"
"When your friend forgets who he is, can you really bring yourself to deal the killing blow?"
The Captain felt a blistering heat. He turned around to see a burning Jim Hammond slowly descending.
The Captain fell silent. He threw his shield, knocking Strucker unconscious, and caught it on the return. He looked up at his old friend as he touched the ground.
"...Are you still in there, Jim?"
Before the mission began, the Captain had told everyone, including Peter, one thing:
"I know that none of you have experienced a real war. Many of you might still think this is just like a normal police action to stop a criminal. But I need to tell you that when fighting Hydra, you absolutely cannot harbor such thoughts. You think you are stopping a crime, but the enemy isn't thinking about stealing more money or killing a specific person."
"They only think about one thing: executing the orders they have received."
For a soldier, executing orders is the only thing that needs to be done. The military is a melting pot that forges everyone into the same thing. What kind of military it becomes depends entirely on what kind of soldier that furnace intends to forge.
The furnace of Hydra undoubtedly forged fanatical warriors. They firmly believed the orders they executed were correct, because the military is the kind of place that tells you the superior is always right.
You cannot think, and you should not think, unless your military itself allows you to think.
"We don't have time to turn the enemy before the battle, nor should you think about trying to persuade them in the heat of combat. All education, judgment, and ideological work are saved for after the war. During the battle, do not hold back. You are facing a war, and you will all become soldiers in the fight against Hydra."
Soldiers are meant to kill.
"Captain is going after Strucker!" Peter shouted to the team as he flung a Hydra soldier into the air. "Someone follow him!"
Logan didn't say a word, but he immediately gave chase. His adamantium claws easily shredded the soldiers' ballistic armor as he cut his way out with frightening speed. Hulk, meanwhile, was having a grand time smashing things in place. Wasp had originally intended to follow the Captain but stopped to scan their surroundings.
With the others gone, only Peter, Wasp, Black Panther, and Hulk remained to face several thousand Hydra soldiers.
Wasp shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll just keep holding back these thousands of men."
Hulk didn't care. He simply grabbed a Hydra soldier in each hand and roared at the thousands before him, completely disregarding the fodder.
"Or maybe Hulk can handle it alone."
Just as Wasp finished speaking with a smile, a commotion echoed from afar. A massive skull-headed robot stood up, sporting eight terrifying mechanical tentacles. After the giant mechanical head looked toward the Pantheon, it launched four massive spheres toward their position.
The spheres quickly transformed into four dark-green robots, nearly as tall as Hulk, emblazoned with the Hydra insignia. Wasp realized she might have spoken too soon.
"Perhaps we won't have to fight alone. Reinforcements have arrived."
Black Panther threw two vibranium daggers and straightened his posture. Above them, wave after wave of Wild Pack special forces personnel, equipped with rocket packs, completed their decelerated descent. They swept through the enemies around them with their weapons while still in mid-air.
Silver Sable and Felicia landed quickly nearby. Peter looked at Felicia in surprise. "You came down too?"
"I have things I need to do."
"...Fine. Take Venom with you."
Peter sighed, separating Venom and handing the symbiote to Felicia. "You haven't had combat training; you need it more than anyone here."
Felicia looked at Silver Sable, who replied expressionlessly, "Why are you looking at me? I don't use any supernatural powers, and I have received combat training."
"By the way, where's Cindy?"
Peter looked around and realized Cindy was gone. Silver Sable shook her head; Silk had said the area below was safe and then vanished.
At that moment, Peter felt it—a violent jolt of his Spider-Sense.
Somewhere in this place, something was calling to him.
What was it?