Ch: 91-100
Chapter 91: A Million Skrulls? Prepare for the Purge!
Karl's single sentence made Peter's pupils tremble in shock twice.
Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei were kidnapped? And by aliens?
Peter jerked off his mask, his eyes visibly bloodshot, looking very much like a man-eating spider demon!
"Who? Who are those aliens? Where did they take Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei?!"
Peter shook Karl's shoulders frantically, nearly losing his mind.
One couldn't blame Peter; after all, having lost his parents at a young age, Ben and Mei were his only remaining family.
For Ben and Mei, he could abandon fame and fortune, remaining the only member of the Justice Leaguewhose identity wasn't registered, all because he feared his status as Spider-Man would bring them trouble.
But now, because of him, Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei were in danger. How could Peter not be agitated?
The others hurried forward to restrain Peter, pulling him away and urging him to calm down.
But immediately, Karl's next words made it impossible for the other Justice League members to stay calm either.
Karl scanned the group and said calmly, "It's not just Peter. Tony, your Pepper and Happy; Gwen's mother and brother; Dr. Banner's girlfriend, Betty; even my family's Butler, my father's Secretary, and the families and friends of you newcomers... they've all been kidnapped and replaced by aliens..."
"What?!"
Everyone cried out in shock. Forgetting about Peter, they all rushed forward to shake Karl's shoulders, demanding to know what was happening.
Even the newly joined members were the same; after all, who didn't have family or friends?
Karl was shaken so much he nearly threw up his dinner from the night before. With an impatient wave of his hand, everyone was sent flying back to their seats.
"Enough, what's the rush? They've only been kidnapped, not killed. I've already found where they're being hidden, and I can rescue them at any time. You don't need to worry about their safety."
"Now, let's get down to business. I'll tell you about this alien race. Get ready; we're about to fight a war that will span the globe."
Hearing this, the others finally breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions turning serious.
As the World's first team of Superheroes, they had indeed handled many supernatural events before, including legendary Vampires, werewolves, and Sea Monsters.
But those were all native Earthling supernatural creatures. Aliens? They had never dealt with those before!
So, with their worries eased, they became somewhat curious about what this alien race was like.
Were they like in the movies, with big eyes, big heads, blue skin, and the stature of children...? Without letting them guess for long, Karl didn't keep them in suspense either. He had the Shadow Ninjas upload the recorded video to Jarvis's cloud, connected it to the jet's projector, and played the entire process of the Skrulls infiltrating the Base.
While the video played, Karl introduced the basic information, origins, and abilities of the Skrulls to everyone.
By the time the video ended, Karl's introduction to the Skrulls was mostly complete, making everyone in the cabin realize just how terrifying a threat this alien race posed to humanity!
Especially upon hearing about the Skrulls' ability to completely replicate a person at the DNA level, even Tony frowned.
He couldn't even guarantee that he could develop a device to identify Skrulls in a short amount of time.
Whether it could even be made was another matter... Tony rubbed his brow with a headache and looked at Karl to ask a crucial question: "Then how many of them are there?"
If there were few, it would be manageable, but if there were too many, it would be much harder... Karlglanced at Tony and said indifferently, "Not many, just less than a million of them..."
"Oh, just a... how many?" Tony was halfway through his sentence when his eyes suddenly widened as he stared at Karl!
"Why the hell did you say a million so calmly? I freaking thought you said a hundred!"
After the others heard clearly, they felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar, their bodies freezing up.
What did a million mean? One had to realize the total human population on Earth was only 7 billion. If there were really a million Skrulls, wouldn't that mean there could be one Skrull for every 7,000 people?
This number might not seem like much, but the population of some small countries was only around a million!
In other words, if they wanted to, they could completely replace an entire small country without anyone noticing!
No, on a larger scale, with their shapeshifting abilities, they could completely replace the high-level officials of countries worldwide and occupy Earth on another level!
Unfortunately, the Skrulls were too ambitious. They weren't content with living under someone else's skin; they wanted to live as themselves on a Planet of their own.
Karl naturally knew what everyone was thinking and shook his head. "Although there are a million of them, it doesn't mean all million can shapeshift perfectly. While their shapeshifting is an innate talent, like superpowers, it requires practice."
"Most of them lack the ability to shapeshift perfectly and easily show flaws—for example, ending up with animal ears. Therefore, most Skrulls who cannot shapeshift perfectly stay in a settlement."
Hearing this, the others breathed a sigh of relief, but Tony's gaze narrowed. "Even if they can't shapeshift perfectly now, they still have that potential. They're a massive latent threat to Earth..."
"Karl, where is their settlement?"
Karl met Tony's gaze and understood his meaning. "In an Abandoned Nuclear Base in Russia."
Tony was planning to wipe them all out in one go!
After all, Tony didn't have a no-kill principle, and because Karl had saved him and Ethan early on, and Ethan hadn't died, Tony didn't have such a deep reverence for life.
Even though he had closed the weapons division, Tony still believed in iron-fisted methods at his core.
Conveniently, after closing the weapons division, Stark Industries still had many undestroyed weapons. This was the perfect chance to put that waste to use.
Listening to the two speak cryptically, some were thoughtful while others were completely bewildered.
Peter scratched his head and asked, "Are we going to the Skrull settlement to catch them first? Shouldn't we rescue the hostages first?"
In Peter's heart, compared to dealing with aliens, he felt that saving people was more important.
Karl glanced at Peter and smiled. "People must be saved, and the Skrull settlement must be visited. So, I will assign different tasks to everyone next."
"First, Tony, Hulk, and I will be the Primary Combat Group One, responsible for going to the Skrull settlement to deal with the main force."
"Second, Gwen, Peter, and the rest of you newly joined partners—I'll give you a list. You'll be the Capture Group Two, responsible for apprehending the Skrulls on the list who are lurking among the human upper echelons."
Tony and Dr. Banner had no objections. Dr. Banner rolled his eyes on the spot, his muscles swelled, and he switched over to Hulk mode.
Combat mode activated!
Now, thanks to Karl's mediation and the grand promises he made to eventually separate them, Dr. Banner and Hulk were able to coexist relatively harmoniously in the same body.
Dr. Banner didn't have to worry about Hulk coming out to cause trouble at any time, and Hulk finally had his own personal freedom.
Under Karl's training, Hulk had also learned to restrain his anger somewhat, at least understanding what could be smashed and what couldn't.
The other newcomers had already prepared themselves for death; it was just that the mission had suddenly shifted from dealing with a god to dealing with aliens.
Chapter 92 – How Terrifying Is Spider-Man Without a No-Kill Rule?
Besides, the Skrulls had taken their loved ones, so naturally they had no objection to hunting them down.
Only Peter, still looking worried, asked, "What about the rescue team? Who's going to save them?"
Peter didn't know about the Shadow Legion, so he had no idea how quickly Karl could actually bring people back when he said "anytime."
Karl had no intention of exposing his shadow powers in front of everyone, so he pointed to Captain America. "I haven't assigned the Captain a job yet. Rescuing hostages is something your Uncle Rogerswas already good at back in World War II—he'll bring everyone back safe.
You can question Captain America's attitude, but never his ability.
Captain America flashed Peter a grin, showing the big white teeth that reassure allies and chill enemies to the bone.
Relax, kid. I'll wipe out every Skrull and wrap your two old fogeys up as a Christmas present for you—good as new!
And of course Grandpa Rogers will bring Christmas gifts for each of you too!
Captain America winked at everyone.
The others' mouths twitched; they didn't know what to say.
Still, Karl sending Captain America to rescue the hostages put them all at ease, and no one objected further.
A moment later the fighter neared the Base. After landing, Karl clapped Peter—who was carrying the hammer—on the shoulder.
Right, that hammer should have given you part of Thor's power. Take it on this mission and flaunt Thor's strength. If a woman shows up to interfere, use that power to keep her busy.
If Captain Marvel returned to stick her nose in, a Spider-Man wielding Thor's power could stall her long enough for him to wipe out the Skrulls.
Peter didn't understand why Karl insisted on using the hammer, but once he lifted it he felt a new, unprecedented strength inside him and nodded firmly.
Karl had to have his reasons.
As soon as they stepped off the plane, the Strike Team guarding the Justice League Base escorted a dozen captives to the rooftop landing pad.
The Justice League members recognized them at a glance as the Skrulls who had infiltrated the Base in the video, and their pupils shrank.
Seeing the Justice League return, the Skrulls tried to argue their way out, accusing the Strike Team of arresting people at random.
But the heroes had already watched them replace the original staff; there was no mercy. They simply stared coldly at the Skrulls' protests.
Karl gestured, and a Strike Team member immediately handed him a suppressed pistol.
Without even aiming, Karl fired four shots, precisely hitting the limbs of the loudest Skrull.
Under the screams, the struck areas reverted to the Skrulls' natural green skin.
Seeing this, the other Skrulls realized their secret was completely exposed; despair filled their eyes.
Yet they had come prepared to die. Instead of begging, they clenched their teeth. "You faithless humans, do what you want. We won't tell you anything!"
Karl nodded calmly. "Got it. Then kill them."
At his order, the Strike Team members raised their suppressed weapons without hesitation and pulled the triggers.
Soft thuds echoed. A moment later the Skrulls collapsed in puddles of blood, faces puzzled, their skin turning green again.
They were… just killed?
Weren't these so-called Superheroes supposed to be overflowing with mercy, locking them up so they could escape and retaliate later, repeating the cycle?
If any hero other than Karl had caught them, that might have been the story.
Unfortunately, they'd run into Karl, who never played by the book.
He didn't leave enemies alive.
Karl looked indifferently at the heroes' varied expressions and gave an on-the-spot lesson.
See? Only injuries or death force a Skrull to drop its disguise; otherwise they're indistinguishable from the person they copied. If they accuse you, you'll never talk your way out.
So in the field you either beat them badly enough to break their disguise, or you kill them outright so they revert after death. There is no third option.
I don't want to spend a day fighting, then have to bail you out of jail tonight. If you can't do either of those things, quit the Justice League now.
Remember: we are justice, not naïveté.
After Karl's words, everyone fell silent.
Only the rookies hesitated; the veterans, even Peter, had no objection.
They had killed super-natural beings before; Peter himself had taken out plenty of Vampires.
It happened during an incident in a European village where Vampires kept humans as livestock for blood.
When Karl led the Justice League there, the villagers had long since been drained, reduced to something neither human nor ghost.
Their eyes were lifeless, bodies like withered trees, dried up and ready to snap.
When the Vampires came to feed, the villagers didn't even resist; they were treated like animals, clothes torn open so the Vampires could drink.
Those who lost too much blood were tossed aside like trash, left to rot and bloat until they became bones on the roadside.
That scene left an indelible mark on Peter's young heart.
He had thought evil meant the rapists, drug dealers, and muggers of New York—until he met the blood-suckers and learned such hell could exist on Earth.
That was the first time Peter abandoned his no-kill rule.
After Karl led them to the Vampire count's castle, Peter showed exactly how terrifying Spider-Mancould be without holding back.
With strength measured in dozens of tons, even super-natural Vampires couldn't withstand a single blow; his fists were less like fists and more like high-explosive bombs, punching bloody holes straight through them.
And even when the Vampires tried to match Peter's speed, they couldn't keep up.
Peter's web-lines were like the arms of the God of Death, snaring every fleeing Vampire, and with monstrous strength he yanked—ripping a dozen guilty heads, spines attached, clean out of their bodies.
Chapter 93 – Shoot First, Global Sanction!
Strictly speaking, what Peter killed that time wasn't human.
Yet it did break the no-kill rule he had always imposed on himself.
After the Vampire incident, Karl didn't let Peter off the hook; instead he deliberately took Peter on several similar missions—hunts for non-human creatures that preyed on humans.
He also had Peter join a few especially vicious super-human crime cases.
These were crimes Karl made Peter investigate from the victims' side, forcing Peter to see the whole picture: how many innocents the super-criminals had slaughtered, what agony they had brought to families, how cruel the murders had been.
The friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man who merely stopped criminals began to evolve into a true dispenser of justice.
After several more hunts of non-humans and after learning the grisly details of super-human crimes, even Peter's heart—pure as gold—underwent a subtle shift.
When facing non-human beings, once Peter confirms they are utterly evil, he shows no mercy; the spider spirit leaves no survivors.
With super-human criminals he still won't kill outright, but he dishes out physical punishment to fit the crime: steal money—snap a few fingers or a wrist; rape—destroy the tool of the crime; murder—shatter all four limbs and one extra!
In short, under Teacher Karl's guidance Peter is no longer the same; he isn't just the friendly neighbor who stops crime—he is now the righteous scourge of evil itself.
So, when it comes to hunting Skrulls, Peter feels no inner resistance.
The non-human creatures Karl had shown him earlier were all so depraved they deserved death; none had left a good impression.
Under Karl's relentless molding, Peter can hardly feel any goodwill toward non-humans—let alone Skrulls, who can shapeshift and have kidnapped Uncle Ben and Aunt May.
Capture? Peter could probably accept straight-up slaughtering Skrulls.
Therefore Peter, assigned to the capture team, was the first to nod. "Understood. I won't let a single Skrull escape—they'll all face Justice League judgment!"
Gwen was the second. She had joined late and hadn't suffered Peter's trials, but she trusted Karlcompletely; whatever he said, she followed.
Next came the mercenary Domino, Gwen's best friend Skye, Shang-Chi, and the rest of the new recruits. Seeing no objections, Karl smiled in satisfaction and snapped his fingers.
Rumlow, who had been waiting, led tactical squads jogging in through the emergency stairs; each soldier carried a black, man-sized long case.
Overhead, row after row of modified quinjets bearing national insignia flew in and landed on the Justice League Base's vast rooftop.
Karl looked at the stunned crowd and said calmly:
"They are special-ops teams dispatched by the U.N. Security Council. Each of you will have a squad backing you while you root out Skrulls hiding in the upper echelons of every nation."
"The arrest warrant was approved by every head of state after I submitted evidence of the Skrulls to the Security Council's Secretary-General, who contacted the leaders. Legality is not an issue."
"In short: shoot first, global sanction. You may expose the operation, you may kill targets in the street, but no Skrull is allowed to escape. Understood?"
The entire Justice League was awed by the scale.
So this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment raid—it had been in the works for months.
And indeed it had.
Although Karl had only decided today to move against the Skrulls, the plan had begun months earlier, laid out by him and Pierce.
Pierce handled contacting the real power brokers of each country, reporting the Skrull threat.
Proving it was easy: eighty percent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was HYDRA, ten percent were national spies, and the final ten percent were Skrulls Nick Fury had planted.
So, knowing most of Fury's people were Skrulls, HYDRA could snatch one without a trace.
Create a fake op, abduct the Skrull-Agent en route, drag him to a HYDRA Base.
File a report: "Killed in action, body unrecoverable."
A S.H.I.E.L.D. internal report— even if the one-eyed man was suspicious, he'd find nothing.
Once the Skrull was in HYDRA custody, Karl used the sheep talisman for interrogation; the captive would say whatever Karl wanted, shapeshift however ordered.
After Karl had that Skrull impersonate every World leader on video, Pierce sent the footage to the heads of state; within an hour the secret capture plan was unanimously approved.
Their only demand: wait for clearer proof that Skrulls endangered humanity before acting.
Throughout history, only one failed art-student dictator dared open genocide; no one else wanted the label.
Even if the targets were aliens, in this peaceful era no leader wished to be branded with racial extermination.
Today, the Skrulls' brazen infiltration of Justice League headquarters gave humanity the perfect excuse.
If they dared enter the League's Base today, tomorrow they might sit in the Oval Office—or any presidential palace.
So the moment the video arrived, every government green-lit the long-prepared clandestine operation.
Using the Skrull-infiltration lists HYDRA had gathered over months, plus the complete roster Karl's Ghost Shadow Ninja had extracted from Talos, every nation already had their Skrulls under secret surveillance.
Chapter 94: Operation Begins, First Kill the Traitors!
Just waiting for the Justice League to set out and make arrests!
As for why all countries have the lists but don't capture the Skrulls themselves, instead waiting for the Justice League to do it, this was also the result of joint discussions among all global nations... The genetic-level transformation is simply too terrifying. If all countries were to capture them themselves, no one could guarantee what would be done with the captured Skrulls, or what would be researched from them!
If one country, or multiple countries, were to Master this transformation ability, its terrifying potential would be comparable to nuclear weapons!
No, in some respects, it's even more terrifying than nuclear weapons!
After all, Skrulls can transform into people with nuclear launch codes at any time!
So, after a month of arguments among global leaders, it was finally decided that, to prevent a global infiltration war more terrifying than a World War, and for the sake of World peace, no country is allowed to privately capture Skrulls or research their abilities. Otherwise, they will face joint sanctions from all other countries!
This sanction was a mandatory joint convention initiated and issued by the Five Great Powers, and no country dared to risk offending the Five Great Powers simultaneously by violating it.
Since all countries cannot privately arrest Skrulls, there naturally needs to be a force that is not a country but possesses the ability to arrest Skrulls to carry out this operation.
Moreover, it must be a force trusted by all countries.
What other force could be more suitable than the currently flourishing Justice League, a Superheroteam that has helped deal with supernatural events globally?
Therefore, this operation had actually been approved by global nations long ago, and the task was internally designated for the Justice League to handle entirely.
However, apart from Karl, who participated in the summit, the other members of the Justice Leaguewere unaware of this top-secret matter.
Originally, Karl planned to recruit a new batch of recruits, train them, and once he had enough manpower, then begin this Skrull eradication operation.
But who knew Nick Fury and the Skrulls were in such a hurry to die?
So the plan was suddenly moved up to start now.
Karl pointed to a man-sized black box carried by each special forces team and said lightly, "This is a special space-teleportation device that Tony and I custom-made. Every Skrull you capture should be placed in this box, and it will transport them to a specially designed prison."
Hearing this, Tony raised an eyebrow. A custom-made space-teleportation device, manufactured by me? How come I don't know about this?
But after looking up and seeing Karl's gaze, Tony immediately understood.
This kid is using him as a cover. This isn't a space-teleportation device; this is clearly something created by Karl's Shadow ability.
And in fact, that was indeed the case. This box was not some black technology; it was simply that each Karl had placed a Ghost Shadow Ninja hidden in the box's shadow, and the Skrulls put inside would be taken to the Shadow World by the Ghost Shadow Ninja.
As for why Tony's name was used, it was, of course, as Tony said, to use him as a cover. Others creating such black technology might arouse suspicion, but Tony Stark creating such black technology seemed very reasonable.
Indeed, when the others heard that Tony was involved in its creation, they didn't suspect a thing, merely sighing that he was truly Tony Stark!
After assigning each Justice League member their respective auxiliary special forces teams and responsible countries, Karl, along with Hulk and Tony, boarded a quinjet bearing the Russia insignia, heading to the gathering point of most Skrulls in a Russia abandoned nuclear Base.
The others, leading their respective special forces teams, boarded quinjets from various countries with their lists.
Starting with the Five Great Powers, they began secretly apprehending Skrulls lurking in high levels of government.
As for whether the new recruits would encounter accidents during the apprehension, Karl was not worried, because in each special forces team, he had arranged a Super Soldier as a backup.
After Karl obtained the super soldier serum from General Ross earlier, he kept a few doses for Tony to research, and the rest were all used to create Super Soldiers.
This added more than a dozen Super Soldiers to HYDRA.
And in fact, Tony has already deciphered the Super Soldier formula and can mass-produce the serum.
But Tony has a bit of an obsessive-compulsive disorder; he insisted on removing all side effects from the serum before agreeing to mass production.
Since Tony was working hard and without complaint, Karl naturally couldn't refuse him on such a small matter, so the mass production of the super soldier serum has not yet begun.
And he himself hadn't injected the serum, thinking that since Tony was going to create a perfect serum anyway, wouldn't it be better to wait for the perfect serum to come out before injecting it?
But even with only a dozen Super Soldiers, it was a significant improvement for HYDRA.
After all, Bucky once said in Captain America 3 that five Super Soldiers were enough to infiltrate a country and carry out assassination operations against it.
And because these dozen Super Soldiers are all controlled by Pierce, the HYDRA faction led by Pierceis now far stronger than other HYDRA branches.
Pierce has recently been contemplating annexing other HYDRA branches.
And when the super soldier serum is mass-produced, Karl estimates that the day HYDRA becomes a single entity won't be far off... Of course, that's another major event for a future timeline.
Currently, the global Skrull eradication operation is the biggest event happening on this timeline.
And when clearing an invading species, often the first to be eliminated are not the invaders themselves, but the traitors!
Because, compared to invaders, traitors are actually more detested by everyone!
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
A seemingly ordinary, but actually multi-functional amphibious bulletproof SUV, a special vehicle, drove out of the Triskelion.
This was a special vehicle exclusively for the Director; only three people in all of S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed a vehicle of this caliber.
One was the current S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Nick Fury.
One was the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, now Security Council Secretary, Alexander Pierce.
Both of them held high positions of power in S.H.I.E.L.D..
And the owner of the last special vehicle, strictly speaking, was not a S.H.I.E.L.D. person, but was under the name of Secretary Pierce's godson, Karl Fisk.
Currently, Karl is on a plane heading to Russia, and Pierce is in a meeting with various national leaders, so the owner of this special vehicle could only be the Director himself, Nick Fury.
But today, he wasn't alone in his car.
His Secretary, a blonde, White, busty woman, was sitting in the passenger seat beside him. However, after driving out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellite monitoring range, Nick Fury pressed a button in the car.
The car's signal was jammed, and all the windows turned opaque black.
When a boss and Secretary are alone in a car, and the windows are turned opaque, the next step usually involves something colorful.
Chapter 95: From Heaven to Hell, It Only Takes One Chapter... But Today Is Really Not That Day.
The skin of the secretary in Nick Fury's passenger seat rippled like waves, and in an instant, she transformed from a sexy secretary into a green-skinned goblin, and a male one at that... and this male Skrull was none other than the current leader of the Skrull race, Talos.
After Talos returned to his original appearance, he took out a USB drive and said calmly:
"The information you wanted—it contains the evidence we've collected over the past month regarding the criminal syndicate of God Karl's father, Kingpin..."
"Although Kingpin has already begun trying to go legitimate, this information on his past crimes is enough to topple the empire he painstakingly built, burying his son, God Karl, along with him in the ruins of public condemnation!"
Nick Fury looked at the USB drive in Talos's hand with burning eyes and was about to reach out for it.
But just as Nick Fury was about to grab the USB drive, Talos clenched it tightly in his palm and said in a heavy voice:
"But you must think this through. Once you use this data, while it can indeed cause the God's social death—stripping him of his status, reputation, and even the Justice League he established—once he loses all that, he will have nothing left to lose."
"You should know better than I do just how terrifying a God with nothing left to lose can be!"
Hearing this, Nick Fury's expression darkened.
But in the next moment, he snatched the USB drive from Talos's hand and said coldly, "I know that, of course. I have no intention of making this information public. I want to use this data to control God Karl, not to completely destroy him—at least, I don't intend to for now!"
Seeing that Nick Fury had some sense of self-awareness, Talos also breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't that he was truly worried about Nick Fury, but rather he feared that if Nick Fury provoked Karl, it would affect the Skrull race.
Then Talos shifted the topic and asked the real purpose of his visit: "I've already handed over part of what you wanted. Now, isn't it time for me to see your sincerity?"
Looking at the sharp gaze Talos directed at him, Nick Fury's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes instinctively darted around as he pondered how to deceive Talos.
After all, he hadn't prepared a damn thing for the Skrulls... But as Nick Fury's eyes darted, before he could think of a solution, he first noticed something unusual in his peripheral vision.
Seeing him frowning and looking out the car window, Talos, who was waiting for Nick Fury's answer, couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Nick Fury didn't answer Talos immediately. Instead, he performed a U-turn on the spot, slammed on the gas, and accelerated against traffic back toward S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters before saying solemnly:
"The surrounding situation isn't right. I'm on the main road of Washington. Logically, the traffic should be heavy at this time, but look—there are hardly any pedestrians or vehicles around. Moreover, the few pedestrians there are are all looking our way, intentionally or not, and the vehicles are also closing in on us. Their target is clearly us!"
It had to be said that as the King of Agents, Nick Fury's observation was indeed very sharp. He spotted the anomaly in just a few glances and immediately rushed toward his own territory.
But unfortunately, no matter how fast Nick Fury reacted, he could not escape the fate that had already been destined for him today.
Just as Nick Fury was about to cross the bridge leading to the Triskelion and enter S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance range, his pupils shrank, and he slammed on the brakes!
Screeech—
Bang—
"Damn it, Fury, what are you doing? Why did you stop suddenly? Aren't we almost back to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Wouldn't we be safe then?"
Caught off guard, Talos slammed his head against the dashboard and cursed while clutching his head.
Nick Fury stared straight ahead without blinking, his face incredibly grim as he gritted his teeth and said, "Because I'm afraid we won't be able to go back!"
Hearing this, Talos looked up abruptly. On the other side of the bridge, directly in front of their vehicle, stood a tall figure that was enough to give Nick Fury nightmares: holding a shield in one hand and a whip in the other, wearing a cowboy hat and leather shoes, waiting in the middle of the bridge.
That person was naturally the former strictest father of HYDRA, and now the current strictest father of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Motherf*cking Captain, Steve Rogers!
That's right, the mission Karl assigned to Captain America wasn't to rescue some hostages. To save hostages, Karl only needed a single thought and the Ghost Shadow Ninjas would have saved them all; there was no need for Captain America to act personally.
Captain America's real mission was to put on his little Rancher vest, take his little whip, and come to harvest the cotton gins!
Captain America looked up at Nick Fury's vehicle and tipped the brim of his hat. The hand holding the whip made a 'you're dead' gesture toward Nick Fury's direction.
"Damn it!!!"
Seeing Captain America's ancient outfit, even the King of Agents, Nick Fury, couldn't help but tremble, as if memories etched into his genes had been violently stirred.
After a sharp curse, Nick Fury immediately tried to reverse and flee.
He would rather jump into a trap than face Captain America, who had nearly beaten him to death a few months ago!
Talos was puzzled and dismissive: "Fury, I think you're living in the past. This is a new era, the era belonging to you cotton gins. Why are you still afraid of a mere white man? Isn't he just a Super Soldier? Who am I? Just drive over; I can handle him alone!"
Nick Fury said nothing, only focusing on reversing the car.
Talos was arrogant, but Nick Fury had a sense of reality.
In World War II, Captain America could break into HYDRA's headquarters alone and fight his way in and out seven times to rescue an entire team of the Howling Commandos. Can you Skrulls do that no matter how strong you are?
"Stop bragging to me!"
But it was already too late for Nick Fury to escape back into the trap.
Behind Nick Fury's reversing car, at the end of the bridge he had come from, a long-haired man in black combat gear with a silver metal arm was blocking the bridge like a ghost, holding a grenade launcher.
"Damn it, you dead one-eye, look behind you in the mirror when you're reversing!"
Nick Fury's entire attention was on Captain America in front. Seeing that Captain America wasn't chasing them, he had just breathed a sigh of relief when Talos suddenly let out a loud shout and lunged over to yank the steering wheel.
The vehicle lost control and veered because of this push. Before Nick Fury could understand what was happening, he felt himself flying!
No, the whole car was flying!
Because of Talos's push, Nick Fury's vehicle wasn't directly hit, but it wasn't much better. It was struck on the side by a grenade, spun 360 degrees several times, and then crashed onto the ground.
With that power, if Nick Fury hadn't been driving a specially modified vehicle, it would have been blown straight into the sky!
As a Skrull, Talos's constitution far exceeded that of an ordinary person. He quickly recovered, shook his head, and cursed:
"Damn it! When did your Earth weapons become so powerful? If I hadn't seen that guy holding a grenade launcher, I would have thought a damn missile was shot at us!"
As the King of Agents, Nick Fury was also a legendary survivor. He had recovered by now and looked back through the rearview mirror, only to see the long-haired man reloading a grenade while walking toward the vehicle. His expression changed again and again!
From bad to even worse!
Because he recognized the male assassin who had just attacked their vehicle, as well as the source of the abnormally powerful weapon in the man's hand.
The male assassin was one of the two killers Natasha had reported attacking her while she was escorting the Nuclear Engineer!
He was also the Silver-armed assassin who killed the Nuclear Engineer!
What made Nick Fury feel a chill all over was that the weapon the assassin was currently holding actually bore the Stark Industries logo!
One must know that Stark Industries' weapons division has already been closed to the outside world, and the only remaining production line only supplies internal members of the Justice League!
And now this assassin has a weapon produced by Stark Industries—doesn't that mean this guy is also part of the Justice League?
Combined with Captain America blocking the road just now, Nick Fury was even more certain of this!
Captain America, the mysterious assassin, Stark weapons... The more Nick Fury thought about it, the more he felt a terrifying chill!
An image of a figure, sometimes a playboy and sometimes sacred and solemn, surfaced in his mind.
And at this moment, Nick Fury could not see the true face beneath the glory of the figure in his head; it was as if the figure bathing in the sunlight always had a layer of impenetrable shadow over his face...
Chapter 95
Fury, Deceased!
Finally, Nick Fury grit his teeth and squeezed out a name: "Karl Fisk!!"
"It's you! As expected, you're the one behind it all! My judgment of you was never wrong!"
At this moment, Nick Fury realized who the mastermind behind everything was!
Hearing Nick Fury's low growl, which sounded like a desperate chimpanzee, Talos's heart skipped a beat as he thought of something.
He immediately turned off the vehicle's signal jamming button. Ignoring Captain America and the Winter Soldier who were closing in from the front and back, he pulled out his phone and dialed one number after another.
But without exception, none of them could get through!
Even the emergency contact number for the Skrulls' gathering place at the abandoned nuclear Base in Russia wouldn't connect!
The phone slipped from Talos's hand, and only one thought remained in his mind: it's over!
Everything is over!
Then, Talos's eyes filled with rage. He looked up at Captain America, slammed the car door open, and rushed toward the leisurely approaching Captain. As he charged, he shouted something in the Skrull language about family, clansmen, friendship, and revenge.
Captain America frowned at the words. He didn't understand a single word of the Green Ghost's gibberish. As Talos drew near, he sent the man flying ten meters away with a World War II Flying Kick!
"Damn it, what is this Green Bastard babbling about? Can't you speak English? Don't you know your daddy can't understand alien languages?"
The Winter Soldier raised his gun and fired a burst into Talos, who was lying on the ground unable to get up. He said indifferently, "I don't know. But the Young Master said that if it's a Skrull, just kill them all. No need to understand what they're saying."
"True..." Captain America shrugged, feeling his best friend's words made a lot of sense.
The farewell Karl arranged for Nick Fury this time was truly grand. Not only did he clear a whole street for him, but he also arranged for two aces, the High-quality Captain and the Winter Soldier, to see him off together.
How many people in the World could receive such treatment?
With both Captain America and the Winter Soldier taking action, Karl didn't believe Nick Fury, the Legendary King of Survival, could still live.
And this time, Nick Fury was indeed doomed.
Seeing Captain America and the Winter Soldier kill Talos without hesitation, Nick Fury knew they didn't intend to leave any witnesses and wanted to escape.
However, although the grenade the Winter Soldier fired earlier didn't hit the vehicle head-on, it hit the side. Given the "Stark-made, must be top-tier" quality of the munitions, that shot still caused a certain amount of damage to the specialized vehicle.
Specifically, the Flight Function. Because the side was hit directly, the Flight Function was completely disabled. He could no longer escape the pincer movement of Captain America and the Winter Soldier!
All he could do now was press the Emergency Distress Button inside the car and wait for S.H.I.E.L.D. to rescue him within this specialized vehicle.
But immediately, Nick Fury's dark face turned pale, because the distress signal he had just sent out was cut off instantly.
It wasn't blocked by signal jamming; it was cut off by someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D.!
And there was only one person currently with the authority to cut off his distress signal!
Karl's godfather, his direct superior, Alexander Pierce!
So even his mentor, Pierce, was involved in this?
It made sense; he was Karl's godfather, so how could he be unrelated... Nick Fury's hand slipped weakly from the steering wheel. Even with his strong mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit of despair at this moment.
Looking around, he was surrounded by enemies. He, the Director of the World's largest spy organization, actually had no one to call for help or trust in this life-or-death moment?!
Was his fate really going to end here?
But immediately, Nick Fury gripped the steering wheel tightly again, his eyes turning sharp as he let out a low growl:
"No! I absolutely cannot die here! I can't let the safety of Earth fall into the hands of a conspirator like Karl Fisk. I still have one last trump card!"
Nick Fury pulled a Pager out from his trench coat. For the first time, it wasn't for psychological comfort, but was actually pressed down.
A star icon with a red and blue background immediately appeared on the Pager!
That was... the symbol of Captain Marvel!
After pressing the Pager to call Captain Marvel, the look in Nick Fury's eyes became confident again. He stepped on the gas and rammed toward Captain America.
As long as he survived until Captain Marvel returned, everything could be overturned!
In the face of absolute strength, whether it was Captain America, God Karl, or the S.H.I.E.L.D. that betrayed him, none were a match for the true god, Captain Marvel!
However, while Nick Fury's imagination was beautiful, reality was cruel.
Whether Captain Marvel could defeat Karl and the members of the Justice League was hard to say since she hadn't returned, but Nick Fury truly wouldn't live to see that day.
Seeing Nick Fury driving the car toward him, Captain America just smiled disdainfully. Instead of dodging, he held his shield in front of him, actually intending to use his physical body to withstand the impact of this metal beast!
And Captain America actually managed to block it!
Although Captain America was being pushed back, plowing the ground as Nick Fury drove the specialized vehicle against him, his legs were like two steel pillars, firmly withstanding the immense pressure!
Under Nick Fury's shocked gaze, Captain America behind the shield grinned at him. Holding the shield with one hand to continue blocking the car, he grabbed the front chassis with the other and slowly exerted force, actually lifting the front of the car!
Is he even human?!Hold
Nick Fury gasped, but he pressed the accelerator even deeper!
He didn't believe that a Super Soldier could really be this ridiculous, able to block his specialized vehicle, which had power no less than a tank, indefinitely!
His car consumed fuel and had plenty of power, but Captain America consumed stamina. He didn't believe Captain America's stamina could outlast his fuel!
But Nick Fury clearly forgot that Captain America didn't come alone this time; he brought his best friend!
Whoosh—
A sound of rushing wind that Nick Fury could hear even through the window approached. Nick Furyturned his head and saw a silver iron fist the size of a casserole dish attacking!
With just one punch, the specialized glass—strong enough to withstand a bomb blast—was shattered, and the iron fist reaching into the car ripped the steering wheel right out from in front of him!
Nick Fury broke into a cold sweat, cursing inwardly. Damn it, this guy is just like Captain America, another Super Soldier!
Where the hell did that bastard Karl get so many Super Soldiers?
Were they bought wholesale from Yiwu, China?
If Karl knew Nick Fury's confusion, he would probably smile disdainfully and say: I have twenty more Super Soldiers like these under my command!
But Nick Fury would have no chance to know.
Just the two Super Soldiers, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, had already driven him into a corner.
After the steering wheel was snatched by the Winter Soldier, Nick Fury reacted quickly and deployed the car's built-in machine guns, firing wildly at the Winter Soldier.
But the Winter Soldier simply extended his five metal fingers and blocked all the incoming bullets. Then he reached into the car again, bent the gun barrels with one hand, and pointed the muzzles at Nick Fury himself.
Looking at the dark muzzles in front of him, Nick Fury swallowed hard, not daring to fire again, or he would blow himself away!
Before he could pull out his pistol, the Winter Soldier grabbed Nick Fury by the collar and forcibly hauled him out through the car window.
"F*** you, nigger! This is a total violation of the natural order! How dare you ram the Master!!"
Before Nick Fury could say anything, Captain America put down the front of the car and, his neck red with rage, raised a whip and lashed out at Nick Fury violently, giving him no chance to speak!
Of course, if screams didn't count as speaking... It wasn't until Nick Fury didn't even have the strength to scream that Captain America stopped. He looped the whip around Nick Fury's neck and hung the mangled, bloody man from the most prominent lamppost at the bridge.
Captain America wanted S.H.I.E.L.D. and everyone else to know that this was the end for Black-hearted Capitalists who betrayed humanity!
Chapter 96: The Power of Three VS Hundreds of Thousands of Skrulls!
However, in truth, there aren't many real S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel left in S.H.I.E.L.D. right now.
While Nick Fury was being intercepted by Captain America and the Winter Soldier, not only was he being dealt with, but the Agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. who were loyal to him were also being purged.
Those Agents who were Skrulls in disguise were shot dead on the spot within the Triskelion by the special operations teams.
As for those wavering'sheep' Agents, they were all suspended and locked away in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prison.
For instance, Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, the Cavalry Melinda May, Mockingbird Barbara Morse, Agent 13 Sharon Carter, and others—these Agents, who originally belonged to Nick Fury's faction but were unaware of his cooperation with the Skrulls, were all taken into custody.
They would have to wait until the Skrull incident concluded for a psychological counselor specially dispatched by the Security Council to perform a deep-level psychological evaluation on them.
If it's confirmed they truly had no involvement in any Skrull-related events, they will be reinstated or reassigned as appropriate.
However, Karl, currently serving as the Security Council's special 'psychological counselor,' is busy orchestrating the Skrull massacre and has no time to 'train' or brainwash these female Agents... By the time Nick Fury was attacked, Karl, Tony, and Hulk had already arrived at the Skrull settlement within Russia aboard a quinjet.
After the rear cargo hatch opened, three figures appeared at the threshold.
Tony looked down at the dense swarm of green-skinned Skrulls in the settlement below, all staring up at their aircraft, and his gaze grew increasingly cold.
Having seen with his own eyes that there were truly so many Skrulls, the last shred of pity for life in Tony's heart vanished instantly.
Ten Skrulls could be wanderers... a hundred could be desperate refugees... a thousand would be a threat that must be monitored... but now, with a full million Skrulls, this is a racial war!
A racial war where either humanity perishes, or the Skrulls do!
There is no third option!
And today, they were going to pit the power of three against the hundreds of thousands of Skrulls in this settlement!
Although the three of them had different expressions... Karl was indifferent, as if he had only come to exterminate a wave of ants.
Tony's gaze was resolute and cold, his sharp eyes filled with killing intent!
Hulk's eyes were full of excitement, his long-suppressed fists unable to stop themselves from grinding together!
But without a doubt, none of the three felt the slightest hint of fear toward the countless little green men below!
Finally, Karl calmly commanded: "Proceed according to the original plan. Tony, you lead the aerial forceand handle the perimeter bombardment; don't let a single Skrull escape."
"I'll take charge of the strangulation operation in the center."
"As for Hulk... go smash to your heart's content. Today, you have no restrictions!"
As Karl finished speaking, he even reached out and tapped Hulk's forehead, adding a bit of rage fuel to his soul~
Hulk's already excited eyes instantly turned blood-red and tyrannical, white steam representing his anger puffing from his nostrils, and his muscles expanded layer by layer under the boost of rage.
Finally, after flashing a terrifying grin of large white teeth at Karl and Tony, Hulk, who had already grown several sizes larger, jumped impatiently from the quinjet.
In the terrified eyes of the Skrulls in the settlement below, Hulk—who was the same color as them—descended like a God of Death!
Upon landing, he crushed a group of little green men playing soccer. Then, with no regard for the elderly or the young, he let out a roar, the massive shockwave sending the surrounding Skrull elders and children flying!
They landed with blood streaming from their orifices, having actually been shaken to death by Hulk's roar!
Subsequently, Hulk, his rage ignited by Karl, began a mindless, violent, and bloody massacre of the Skrulls!
Hearing the screams of the Skrulls being violently slaughtered by Hulk below, Karl and Tony remained expressionless, feeling no pity for them.
Racial wars have always been like this!
Seeing that some were already fleeing the settlement, Tony didn't delay any longer. He nodded to Karl, closed his face armor, and set off.
And it wasn't just Tony who flew out of the cabin; after he took flight, one flying shadow after another, flapping massive white bat wings, followed from the shadows within the cabin.
However, these flying shadows didn't appear in their hideous, monstrous forms; instead, they wore full-coverage silver metal combat suits emblazoned with the Justice League logo.
This was partly to conceal their identities as shadow creatures and partly to provide a layer of protection for their relatively fragile defenses.
These combat suits were high-priced alloy equipment Tony had custom-made for the flying shadows, offering defensive capabilities far beyond the standard ninja attire of the Shadow Ninjas.
Furthermore, these flying shadows hadn't just changed their attire; each held various weapons, and without exception, every weapon was stamped with the Stark Industries logo!
This was the aerial force Karl had Tony lead!
Since Hulk and Tony had both moved, Karl naturally had no reason to just watch.
Karl also crossed his arms and stepped out of the cabin, but he didn't fall. Instead, he walked through the air as if on solid ground until he reached the center of the settlement, then dropped like a sharp sword into the Skrull combat center.
Indeed, in this Skrull settlement, they even had a combat center!
Clearly, the Skrulls had long been unwilling to remain beneath humans and had harbored other ambitions!
Once they were fully prepared, it would have been a catastrophe for humanity!
But on this Earth, the Skrulls' wild ambitions were clearly destined to fail.
This Skrull combat department, originally intended for the final move against humanity, today welcomed an invincible enemy.
When Karl landed in the combat department, he immediately kicked up a massive cloud of dust!
The Skrull guards in the combat department immediately began firing frantically into the smoke.
Bullet after bullet passed through the smoke, but there wasn't the sound of a single one hitting the target. In fact, aside from their gunfire, there wasn't even the sound of bullets striking any other objects!
It wasn't until these Skrull guards had emptied their magazines and the air settled that they realized something was wrong.
The smoke in front of them had been mostly dissipated by the dense gunfire, revealing a miraculous sight.
The countless bullets they had fired were floating densely in front of a man who was also hovering off the ground, as if time had stood still!
Karl reached out his index finger and lightly touched a still-warm, golden bullet floating before him, with a disdainful smile: "Using guns? Aren't you aliens? Your methods of attack are actually this primitive?"
Chapter 97 – The Skrulls' Real Base, a Massive Haul!
And not even a single laser weapon—what a let-down!
He'd hoped to scavenge some alien black-tech from the Skrulls, but seeing them stuck with outdated Earth firearms was downright disappointing.
Looks like these Skrulls are worthless—trash!
Karl flicked his fingers and the bullets hovering in front of him shot back along their original paths with even greater force than when they'd left the gun barrels!
A series of wet thuds followed; the guards weren't simply riddled with holes—Karl's telekinesis punched bowl-sized gaps through their bodies. Nothing left intact.
These Skrulls don't deserve intact corpses.
After wiping out the first wave, Karl pressed deeper into the operations wing.
Drifting inward, he used his mind to fold bulkheads onto Skrull guards hiding behind walls, squashing them into meat-patties, or simply clenched them into clouds of blood-mist.
But when he stepped into the command centre he found it empty—none of the prizes he wanted. His brows knitted.
He closed his eyes; an invisible ripple rolled out in every direction.
A second later Karl opened them, glanced at the floor, and sneered: "Hiding underground—rats in the gutter."
The entrance to the real Skrull Base lay, he sensed, behind a hidden wall in this fake command room.
An obviously non-Earth elevator—step inside without clearance and it becomes a high-tech rat-trap.
Karl had no clearance.
He didn't need any.
Because he was clearance itself—
Universal clearance.
Instead of walking into the trap, he lifted his right foot and stamped.
With a thunderous boom the floor split into a perfect square and plunged straight down.
Below lay the Skrull Fire Base, home to genetically elite Skrulls and the core tech their race needed to rebuild: starships, weapons, equipment—everything.
Its very existence was unknown even to ordinary Skrulls topside; only the leadership had the secret.
It was their capital for resurgence and their insurance against annihilation like the Kree Empire's pursuit.
When the Justice League appeared, the Skrull high command had evacuated here, sealed the sole lift shaft, and gone to maximum alert.
Too bad Karl took the unconventional route. While guards aimed nervously at the sealed elevator, grains of sand began to drift from the trembling ceiling.
The next instant the ceiling shattered. Ding went the elevator—boom went the floor as a God arrived on the battlefield.
Karl rode the descending slab straight down, turning the lift-door guards into strawberry jam.
He adjusted his collar, stepped off without a glance at the red paste, eyes gleaming at the starships ranked beneath the cavern.
Treasures—every last one!
Any one of those ships could make surface nations claw each other's eyes out.
And there were easily a hundred in sight.
Clearly the million Skrull refugees had arrived in them—no wonder the surface stragglers looked so shabby with their Earth guns and cars.
The good stuff had been hoarded up here.
As he admired his spoils, the ships' lights blazed on, searchlights brighter than luxury-car lasers pinning him.
"Damn! If Ultraman Tiga had had this kind of output back then, he'd have used Gatanothor as a drinking cup!"
Karl shielded his eyes and quipped.
Evidently the vessels already had their rightful owners aboard.
A Skrull stepped out, silhouetted against the glare. "God Karl Fisk, we know you—the strongest metahuman on Earth. As fellow higher beings, let's cooperate and conquer this World of lesser humans."
Karl lowered his hand, eyes narrowing, cold light flashing. "Cooperate? You things think you're worthy?"
The Deputy Leader's face darkened. "Karl Fisk, being called a God by primitives doesn't make you one. The cosmos is littered with Planet-Gods who crumble before our fleets. You won't be the exception."
He produced a special handset and sneered: "And Nick Fury's people have already infiltrated your family. One call and your father, stepmother—your whole clan—die for your arrogance."
Karl folded his arms, unimpressed. "Go ahead, dial. I don't mind."
The Deputy Leader jabbed the video-call button, determined to make the cocky human kneel.
The Skrull-encrypted phone rang through even hundreds of metres of rock.
But the face that appeared wasn't a Skrull agent—it was a white-suited, bull-necked bald giant: the underground emperor and Mayor of New York City, Kingpin.
In his hand he held a half-dead Skrull; behind him, crimson-eyed Ghost Shadow Ninjas stood over decapitated alien corpses.
Kingpin lifted the captive into view and, with a sickening crunch, crushed the Skrull's skull.
Grinning into the camera, he growled: "Green-skinned trash, you vermin thought you could wreck my empire?"
Chapter 98 – Global Operation, Long Live Humanity!
Kingpin's aura blasted through the screen so hard that the Deputy Leader on the other end gaped and babbled threats:
"Y-you lowly, backward Earthlings could never spot our infiltrators! Right! There's no way you could pierce our Skrulls' perfect disguise—this is just a coincidence!"
"Don't get cocky! Even if I can't kill you now, I can still end your career—your political life is finished! We've already wormed into your government and compiled every crime you've ever committed. Once our agents release the evidence, you and your son are done for!!"
The Skrull Deputy Leader's tirade only deepened Kingpin's contempt for these green monkeys. He produced a handkerchief, elegantly wiped the dark-green blood from his hands, then took the phone from a Ghost Shadow Ninja, pushed open the city-hall gates, and strode into the square.
On a hastily built platform knelt rows of officials, hands cuffed behind their backs; behind them stood armed SWAT officers.
Around the square milled countless onlookers.
At Kingpin's signal the officers raised their rifles without hesitation and, in full public view, shot the shackled officials dead.
The Skrull Deputy Leader was stunned; so were the New Yorkers witnessing the spectacle.
After all, New York had abolished capital punishment in 2004. For the mayor to flout the law so openly—executing well-known state officials—was tantamount to rebellion.
For a moment the crowd hesitated.
They wavered between following Mayor Fisk into revolt… or following Mayor Fisk into revolt.
After all, the concrete benefits Kingpin had showered on ordinary New Yorkers were simply too good; even if it meant insurrection, they hated to lose such a fine mayor. Besides, U.S. states had declared independence before—why not New York again?
Seeing the astonished yet eager faces below, Kingpin curled a satisfied smile.
Clearly the steady stream of welfare he'd poured into the state, plus his beloved son's reputation, had bought him enough goodwill to step out of line without risking public backlash.
Clad in a white suit, his towering figure bathed in light upon the stage, Kingpin looked as though every trace of darkness had been scoured from him.
He declared in a voice that rang across the square: "From this day forward, as governor and mayor of New York, I officially reinstate the death penalty. Commit a crime in my state and, human or alien, you will face the fullest extent of the law—up to and including execution."
"These infiltrators—aliens who slipped onto our Earth, the shapeshifting Skrulls—are the first convicts to be executed under the restored law. They are also the first extraterrestrial race in human history to be tried and sentenced by our courts."
"Earth belongs to humanity—long live mankind!!!"
With a final cry he thrust his fist skyward.
Most New Yorkers hadn't yet digested the bombshell, but those last two words—"long live mankind"—ignited something primal in their genes; swept up in shared pride, they raised their arms and echoed the shout.
On the other end of the phone the Skrull Deputy Leader felt his blood turn to ice.
The last time he'd seen a species so united against the Skrulls was the Kree Empire—the warrior race that had hunted them to the brink of extinction.
The Deputy Leader forgot about Karl and Kingpin; a foreboding chill in his chest, he linked his phone to Skrull satellites and swept his gaze across city after city.
France, Paris.
Already misty skies now churned with thunderclouds, lightning writhing like dragons.
At the storm's center, Peter—clad in his spider-suit and crimson cloak—held Mjolnir high, hurling bolts of judgment down upon London.
Frankly, though Peter had only recently claimed the hammer, his precision with lightning already outmatched Thor's.
Each strike landed exactly where he willed—Skrulls were blasted while no human was harmed.
In a New Mexico tavern Thor leapt to his feet in outrage while watching the live feed with Jane and the others; only their restraint kept him from diving through the TV to challenge Peter like a cuckolded husband.
"Well, sending Thor to Midgard seems to have been the right call—let him learn there are always bigger fish, and not to grow arrogant just because he's a god…"
In Asgard, at Odin's place of slumber, the All-Father should have been deep in the Odinsleep—but instead he sat across a table from a hooded figure in yellow robes.
The robed guest pushed back his hood, sipped the divine nectar of Asgard, and spoke with cold clarity:
"Oh? Your Majesty, you sent Prince Thor down early—was it truly just for his trial, or… for something else?"
It was the Ancient One.
Odin gazed at the luminous bald pate before him and smiled without answering.
Both were old foxes of a thousand years; there was no need to spell things out.
England, London.
A lithe white figure flipped through the royal palace; silk-thin web-lines shot from Gwen's wrists with pinpoint accuracy, binding Skrulls disguised as royalty and flinging them into coffin-sized black cases carried by Strike Team operatives.
In minutes every Skrull replacement among the highest echelons—including the British Prime Minister—had been captured and cast into the Shadow World, a prison from which none escape.
China, Shanghai.
Shang-Chi, relying on nothing but mortal skill and ancient Chinese martial arts, easily defeated a horde of Skrulls whose physiques far surpassed human limits.
Yet after wiping out every Skrull in Shanghai and contacting teammates cleaning other Chinese cities, he discovered someone had finished even faster than he had.
Chapter 99: Plans! Plans! All Karl's Plans!
The Superhero in question is the one rumored to have luck as her power—Domino. She's simply outrageous. After arriving in her assigned city, she captured every target in less than ten minutes.
According to her, she just raised a tranquilizer gun and fired on instinct, yet every shot struck its mark—or the targets literally ran into the darts themselves!
And even when targets fought back and attacked her, the Skrull infiltrators would somehow botch their own moves, hit their allies, or have the misfortune to trip and knock themselves out at her feet.
So in truth she only fired a few shots; the Skrull agents basically delivered themselves to her.
When Shang-Chi learned the truth, he swore he'd keep far away from this woman—turns out all the luck is hers, and all the bad luck belongs to everyone around her.
Besides Shang-Chi and Domino, other new Justice League recruits—Quake Skye, the psychic Kate, and more—were methodically sweeping the Skrulls hidden in China... which raises the question: why did every other country get only one Justice League hero, waiting in line, while China received so many at once?
The official explanation from Karl was that these rookies' powers weren't yet stable and they lacked the ability to handle an entire country solo, hence the teamwork.
In reality, Karl was simply playing favorites.
After all, he's a textbook case of white skin with a yellow heart~
Yet China could actually eliminate the Skrulls on its own, Justice League or not.
In terms of raw superhuman manpower, China's covert Spear Bureau outnumbers the current Justice League.
However, the Five Great Powers had agreed that no nation could deal with this Skrull incident unilaterally; only the neutral Justice League could act, so China left the Spear Bureau at home.
After this crisis, though, it won't just be New York City working with the Justice League—every country will cooperate closely with them.
In an age of rising superhuman incidents, no one can guarantee another Skrull-like scenario won't arise, one nations can't handle alone and must delegate to the Justice League... which, of course, is part of Karl's plan. While HYDRA reaches across the World in the shadows, the Justice League extends its hand in the open... a-hem, getting ahead of myself—the Skrull crisis is still unfolding, and everything must proceed step by step.
Inside a Skrull underground Base, the Deputy Leader saw that every Skrull sleeper planted in the Five Great Powers had been wiped out and nearly coughed up blood in despair.
Outside their strongholds, the largest number of Skrulls had been embedded within the Five Great Powers.
Now those agents were either captured or dead; the Skrulls' hope of seizing Earth was completely shattered.
The Deputy Leader jerked his head up and glared at Karl. "You! It's all because of you! We could have ruled this planet together, but you destroyed our last hope!"
"Since you want to wipe us out, let's all perish. I may not be able to destroy every human on Earth, but I don't believe your Justice League can protect every country!"
He slammed an emergency button on the screen, ordering every Skrull outside the Five Great Powersto launch suicide strikes on those nations' leaders.
Thus, while the top-tier countries were safe, the second-rank states—especially near-first-tier nations like the island country, the peninsula country, India and the like, where the Skrulls had concentrated—were hit hard.
With so many Skrulls in those countries launching simultaneous suicide attacks, the carnage was terrifying.
Even with the lists provided by the Justice League, keeping every shape-shifting Skrull under watch was impossible.
The frenzied Skrulls morphed, slipped surveillance, and specifically targeted high-level officials, quickly destabilizing those second-tier governments.
And thanks to the global protocol initiated by the Five Great Powers, those countries were barred from carrying out targeted extermination of the Skrulls.
They could only frantically beg the Justice League for help.
But Karl, head of the Justice League, took one look at the pleas from the island, peninsula, and Indian governments and simply switched off his phone.
Other League members stated that without orders from Karl, the decision-maker, they could only stick to the original plan and proceed country by country.
To avoid accusations of favoritism once the purge ended, the League ruled that after clearing the Five Great Powers they would service the remaining nearly two hundred nations by randomized draw.
Whichever nation was drawn would be next in line for Skrull cleanup.
If anyone asked why the Five Great Powers got special treatment, Karl merely shrugged. "Take it up with the Five Great Powers."
The drawing system had been approved unanimously by those five, so protests from anyone else were pointless.
Unfortunately for the island, peninsula, and Indian governments, none of them were chosen in the first round after the Five Great Powers were cleared.
The Justice League could only express regret and advise their leaders to hang on until the next, or next-next, or next-next-next draw... To preempt claims of rigging, the League guaranteed the random selection was completely fair and free of human interference, entirely conducted by the system.
The system's name was Jarvis... and while no human had ever tampered with its drawings, the partially self-aware Jarvis did adjust results based on big-data calculations of League members' preferences toward each country.
Especially toward Karl, the League's leader and a living God—Jarvis paid particular heed to his likes and dislikes, so...
Chapter 100: The Skrulls Who Lost Their Value
The Deputy Leader, who had originally prepared to go down in flames and take a bite out of humanity even in death, wanting Karl—the human hero—to feel the same powerlessness and despair of watching his own race die, was completely stunned when he saw Karl ruthlessly hang up the distress calls from those human nations.
This... this isn't how the story is supposed to go, right?
As a Superhero of the human World, shouldn't you be overflowing with compassion and feeling utterly devastated by this?
At the very least, you should show some grief for your own kind, shouldn't you?
How can he be so heartless in the face of his own kind's plea for help... Karl put away his powered-off phone and, instead of being alarmed, he laughed: "Thanks, buddy. You did something for me that I couldn't easily do myself, but have wanted to do for a long time—you helped me clean out some of the scum among humanity!"
"However, this should be the last bit of value you can contribute to me in my plan..."
"I've spent enough time chatting with you disgusting green-skins; it doesn't fit my impatient style at all. So, farewell~"
That's right, this was all part of Karl's plan.
Using public matters for private gain to satisfy his own desires, and then incidentally letting some HYDRA undercover agents take the places of those high-level officials from quasi-first-rate countries who died in this incident, until he gradually eroded and took control of these nations... At this point, the value of the Skrulls had been almost entirely squeezed dry by Karl.
Therefore, after finishing his sentence, without waiting for the Skrull Deputy Leader to order the activation of the ship's weapon systems for a mutual destruction, Karl raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Behind the Skrull Deputy Leader, all the pilots in the ships, and the'Seed' Skrulls living in the underground Base, Ghost Shadow Ninjas silently emerged from their shadows, pressing cold blades against their necks.
In the same second, the squelching sound of blades slicing through necks rang out in unison, and tens of thousands of Skrulls with high-quality genes in the underground Base all died in unwilling despair.
This is the sense of powerlessness the technological side feels against the supernatural side... And this was the first time Karl had summoned so many Ghost Shadow Ninjas, yet he felt he hadn't reached his limit; he could still summon more... With just a thought, summoning tens of thousands of shadow assassins... Tsk tsk, the Shadow Legion is truly terrifying when it comes to group battles... But fortunately, this power is now in my hands. If it were in someone else's, Karl probably wouldn't even be able to sleep well, constantly worrying if an assassin would suddenly pop out of his shadow... Having cleared out the Skrull trash after utilizing their remaining value, next came Karl's favorite time: packing up the loot!
Karl's eyes sparkled as he rubbed his hands together like a fly!
"Artworks! They are simply pieces of art!"
Looking at these spaceships, which looked nothing like any Earth fighter jet but were full of design aesthetics, Karl couldn't wait to teleport into one of the ships via the shadows.
At this moment, there were no longer any Skrull pilots in the ship.
After the Ghost Shadow Ninjas slit their throats, they had already thrown the corpses directly into the testing grounds of the Shadow World, and even the blood splattered in the ship had been thoughtfully wiped clean.
As for the laboratory, it was the one Karl had previously built in the Shadow World for Big Boss.
Since that guy is very interested in the green-skinned Hulk, and the Skrulls are green just like the Hulk, Karl believed he would be interested in them as well.
So Karl handed the Skrull corpses over to Big Boss for research.
That's right; although he intended to completely exterminate the Skrulls as a shapeshifting race, he actually planned to study their shapeshifting ability.
After all, if mastered well, this thing is a powerful weapon!
Of course, he wouldn't conduct this research out in the open.
On one hand, the whole World has now declared a ban on studying Skrulls; if he were discovered secretly researching their shapeshifting ability, he would truly become the enemy of the World.
At that point, he would turn from the World's most powerful Superhero into the World's most powerful Supervillain... On the other hand, he also didn't want any accidents to happen with this research.
And only in his Shadow World could Karl 100% ensure that the research on Skrulls would not be leaked.
Furthermore, even if Big Boss really did research the Skrulls' shapeshifting ability in the future, unless it was a moment of necessity, Karl would most likely not use this shapeshifting ability on Earth.
After all, this ability affects World peace too much... He didn't want a World War III to break out on Earth... After entering the ship, Karl naturally didn't know how to operate this spaceship.
Moreover, this wasn't a movie; it was a Skrull ship. Even if he knew how to fly a spaceship, it would be locked. It's not like in the movies where anyone can just hop on a spaceship and control it.
Even Tony's Mark series armor requires authorization to use, otherwise his Iron Man armor would have been flown all over the World by others long ago.
And it wouldn't be just Rhodes, the black guy authorized by Tony, who has a modified version of the War Machine.
However, Karl was prepared for this. He took out a USB drive from his pocket and aimed it at something on the console that looked like an interface.
As the USB drive approached the interface, the connector automatically transformed, becoming a perfect match for the port, and Karl easily plugged it in.
After waiting a few seconds, the lights inside the ship suddenly brightened, and a large green face was projected in front of Karl.
Karl smiled slightly at the sight: "Dr. Zola, how do you feel? Can you decipher and take control of these Skrull spaceships?"
That's right, the USB drive in Karl's hand just now contained a subsystem of Dr. Zola.
As HYDRA's highest-level intelligent AI, control over Dr. Zola had also previously been in Pierce's hands.
Furthermore, Dr. Zola was different from ordinary AI; it had its own independent thoughts. Or rather, one shouldn't call Dr. Zola an AI, but should instead call it a true 'digital lifeform'!
So, rather than saying Dr. Zola was held in Pierce's hands, it would be more accurate to say that Dr. Zola himself chose Pierce's faction, which had the most potential among all HYDRA branches.
Since Dr. Zola could choose the target of his loyalty, after Karl showed even greater ability and potential than Pierce, Dr. Zola naturally chose to 'jump ship' again and became loyal to Karl himself.
When Karl watched Captain America 2, he felt it was quite a pity that Dr. Zola, a true digital lifeform, acted as bait to go down in flames just to kill Captain America and Black Widow.
And the key was that he didn't even manage to burn them!
Dr. Zola was destroyed, but neither Captain America nor Black Widow died!