Triskelion Building.
When Nick Fury rushed back, Black Widow and Hawkeye Barton had already settled the quiz takers in the reception room and were chatting idly with everyone.
Another quiz taker, Coulson, also received the notification and arrived early.
Everyone tacitly talked about completely unrelated matters, never mentioning anything about the quiz.
After all, through the quiz system, everyone already knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer S.H.I.E.L.D., but rather H.Y.D.R.A.
No one could guarantee whether there were any secret surveillance cameras or listening devices in the room.
"Sorry, I had a traffic accident on the way, which delayed me a bit."
Nick Fury pushed the door open and said casually to everyone.
No one would have thought that the "traffic accident" Nick Fury mentioned was actually a highly targeted assassination.
"Sir!"
"Sir!"
Everyone in the reception room greeted Nick Fury.
Black Widow then walked to Nick Fury's ear and whispered something to him. Nick Fury's face immediately showed a look of surprise, then returned to normal.
After some contemplation, he made a decision: "Everyone, have you rested enough? How about we go for a drive?"
Immediately after, Nick Fury led the entire "Quiz Taker Alliance" out of the Triskelion Building.
Then, after many twists and turns, they finally arrived at a secret base known only to Nick Fury himself.
"Everyone, although this makes me very embarrassed, S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer trustworthy. For now, let's meet here."
Nick Fury led everyone to the office and said to them.
Everyone present expressed their understanding. They all took their seats, and after a brief exchange of pleasantries, they began to discuss business.
First, of course, was the intelligence sharing for the new round of quizzes. Black Widow, in front of everyone,
recounted the key intelligence revealed by the quiz to Nick Fury and Coulson.
"Secretary Pierce, is he really with Hydra?"
After listening, Nick Fury immediately felt uneasy.
Through the currently known clues and intelligence, Nick Fury had already suspected Pierce, but it had only remained at the suspicion stage.
There had never been any evidence to prove it.
But now, the quiz system had confirmed to him that his suspicion was true, Pierce was indeed with Hydra!
Immediately after, Nick Fury also felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
If even the highest-ranking officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. was with Hydra, how deeply had S.H.I.E.L.D. been infiltrated?
Was S.H.I.E.L.D. still S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Perhaps calling it H.Y.D.R.A. would be more appropriate?
"Nick Fury, the Hydra matter cannot be resolved overnight. What's more important now is to find the whereabouts of the Infinity Stones."
Captain America then said to Nick Fury with a serious expression, "You should know what Red Skull looks like, right? Listen, I need you to use your clairvoyance to try and find Red Skull."
Everyone had already told Nick Fury the relevant quiz intelligence, so Nick Fury naturally had no reason to refuse.
He immediately activated his clairvoyance skill, but he quickly shook his head: "I can't see Red Skull. He's not on Earth."
"It seems that mysterious place is indeed not on Earth," Hawkeye Barton said, looking unsurprised.
The others didn't feel too much surprise either.
Something like the Infinity Stones would likely not be found so easily.
Next, Black Widow asked Nick Fury to confirm whether Hope, Hank Pym's daughter, was a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and received a negative answer.
"Then my previous deduction was correct!" Tony Stark was slightly excited. "The future foreshadowed by the quiz system is indeed the future of other parallel universes!"
The others also breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Since Hope was not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, then the event of the first Ant-Man massacring the Avengers would likely not happen.
"Hank Pym, does he actually possess that kind of power?" Nick Fury expressed considerable surprise at this.
Frankly, he had truly underestimated Ant-Man's abilities before.
Nick Fury then fell into deep thought. Hank Pym was old and a "traitor" to S.H.I.E.L.D., so the possibility of recruiting him back into S.H.I.E.L.D. was small.
Then, Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, must not be missed.
He had already investigated him, but Scott Lang was still an ordinary company employee and had no interaction with Hank Pym at all.
Nick Fury didn't want to interfere easily, lest his interference cause deviations in the future, and if it led to the other party not becoming the second Ant-Man, that would be a bit troublesome.
"Everyone, I still have some matters to attend to, I'll take my leave first!"
After a brief exchange of information, Tony Stark stood up, bid farewell to everyone, and left the secret base.
Everyone present guessed what he was going to do.
Naturally, he was going to take down the mysterious leader of the Ten Rings, the Mandarin, who was Killian.
Everyone guessed correctly. The first thing Tony Stark did upon returning to Stark Tower was to give Jarvis the order: search the entire network for all information about Killian.
Previously, he didn't know the Mandarin's true identity, so he couldn't find any effective information.
But now it was different. With "following the clues," the efficiency was incredibly high.
Everything related to Killian was projected in front of Tony Stark by Jarvis.
Images of Killian using disabled veterans for human experiments, and some of the terrorist attacks he carried out, all appeared before Tony Stark.
"This guy really is a scumbag."
Tony Stark couldn't help but say. Seeing that the other party was such a complete terrorist, Tony Stark had even less psychological burden.
"T1000, I'm entrusting this mission to you."
Tony Stark then instructed the T1000 waiting at his side, "I'll give you a set of battle armor for support. You can take this guy down, right?"
The T1000's system was already networked with Jarvis, so the T1000 knew all the information about Killian perfectly.
No further introduction was needed.
"Enough!" the T1000 replied coldly to Tony Stark.
Although Killian's body had strong self-healing abilities, and the high temperatures he generated were enough to threaten the T1000, don't forget that the T1000's true value was its high intelligence, which was no weaker than a human's!
And its ability to transform into any shape at will!
The T1000 would choose an appropriate strategy to deal with Killian.
Plus, with Jarvis and the Iron Man armor providing support, taking down a mere Killian was not a problem.
And indeed, just as Tony Stark expected, only three days later, the T1000 reported success: Killian had been successfully eliminated.
The process of eliminating him was also very simple.
The T1000 transformed into the appearance of one of Killian's confidants, came before Killian, and while Killian was not paying attention, its arm transformed into a blade, instantly chopping off Killian's head.
Even with Killian's strong self-healing ability, he couldn't regrow a head and died on the spot.
The T1000 then blew up the entire base.
The entire process was very smooth.
It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to describe it as effortless.
After eliminating Killian, Tony Stark breathed a slight sigh of relief. His "number one formidable enemy" was finally dealt with.
However, for Tony Stark, he still couldn't relax, as Killian was actually just a small problem.
He still needed to prepare for bigger troubles.
That's right, the Battle of New York.
In the following days, Tony Stark still worked tirelessly on researching more advanced Iron Man suits, while also having Jarvis continuously mass-produce suits.
To deal with the Chitauri who might descend upon New York in the future.
In just over a year, more than fifty suits had been added to the basement of Stark Tower.
Of course, during this time, Tony Stark wasn't the only one who was busy.
Everyone was busy.
Especially the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Nick Fury.
After receiving a complete set of surveillance drones from Tony Stark, Black Widow, Hawkeye Barton, and Coulson, under the leadership of Captain America, conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation into Hydra.
The results of the investigation were shocking.
Large numbers of undercover agents were unearthed. Among other things, more than half of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-ranking officials were Hydra.
And this was only as of now.
As the subsequent investigation progressed, no one could be sure how much this list would grow.
But one thing could be confirmed: S.H.I.E.L.D. currently truly could no longer be considered S.H.I.E.L.D., after all, more than half of its high-ranking officials were no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel!
This didn't even count the other mid-level leaders and ordinary special agents.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had completely degenerated.
Frankly, how to deal with this mess, Nick Fury was in a desperate situation, but currently there was no good way.
Because there were simply too many Hydra undercover agents.
S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer had anyone trustworthy. Nick Fury's every move, if he wasn't careful, would be known by Hydra. He simply didn't have the power to arrest those Hydra undercover agents.
He was afraid that even the slightest movement would alert the enemy, or even lead to another assassination.
This wasn't even the most fatal part.
The most fatal part was that even if Nick Fury truly had the power to arrest all the Hydra undercover agents, if he did so, S.H.I.E.L.D. would completely collapse.
After all, the current S.H.I.E.L.D. was being run by Hydra!
For now, besides pretending not to know anything and conducting secret investigations, Nick Fury couldn't do much else.
After all, he also had other more important things to do, such as preparing for the impending Chitauri invasion.
Although Thor, a year ago, with everyone's help, through constantly learning from Captain America and even performing related missions with him, finally understood Odin's true intentions and picked up Mjolnir again.
He was then brought back to Asgard by Odin using dark energy, but no one knew whether Thor could prevent Loki from descending and prevent the Battle of New York from happening.
"Sir, the first sample is ready!"
While dealing with some matters in the secret base, Black Widow personally came to report.
Nick Fury's spirits were immediately lifted, and he stood up at once: "Take me to see it!"
With that, Nick Fury followed Black Widow to a secret laboratory, where he saw a long "whip" on a shelf.
Sparks crackled on the whip, dazzling and possessing an indescribable beauty.
Nick Fury grabbed the handle and swung the arc whip, striking a nearby table fiercely.
Crack!
The table was directly split in half, and smoke was still rising from the broken edges.
"Ivan Vanko finally did something good!" Nick Fury put down the whip in his hand and said with great satisfaction.
That's right, the whip was precisely Ivan Vanko's electric whip.
Unlike before, after Ivan Vanko was arrested in Morocco, he never had the chance to be rescued by Justin Hammer.
Because S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly intervened in the matter, transferring Ivan Vanko to S.H.I.E.L.D. for detention.
Firstly, Nick Fury knew that Ivan Vanko would cause quite a headache in the future, so he naturally took precautions early, not giving Hammer Industries the opportunity to rescue him.
Secondly, after learning about the Chitauri invasion, Nick Fury felt that Ivan Vanko's electric whip could still play a certain role.
So, he used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s methods to extract all the technology from Ivan Vanko, and finally secretly executed Ivan Vanko.
This led to the scene before him.
"Sir, the Arc Reactor's efficiency is too low, and the production cost is too high. It still needs to be improved."
A researcher adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said to Nick Fury.
"Then hurry up!" Nick Fury immediately said seriously to the researcher, "Also, I need to produce a batch as soon as possible. This matter cannot be delayed either."
"Sir, I don't have enough manpower."
"Then make one person do the work of two!"
After Nick Fury issued the command firmly, he walked out with Black Widow, asking as they walked, "How are things with the Falcon wings?"
"The wings are not a big problem; it's already a mature and complete technology," Black Widow nodded.
The Falcon wings were also one of Nick Fury's preparations for the Battle of New York.
He had found and recruited the researchers from the military's original Falcon project, and everything had gone quite smoothly.
"How is the special forces team being assembled?" Nick Fury asked again.
"It's rather unsatisfactory, but we'll just have to make do," Black Widow shrugged.
Nick Fury nodded, understanding the situation.
"Sir, we've encountered a problem."
At this moment, Coulson called, making Nick Fury's expression extremely grim: "The Tesseract has activated itself!"
The Tesseract has activated itself!
Is Loki about to come and seize the Tesseract?
"Keep a close eye on the Tesseract. I'm on my way! Report any developments to me immediately!"
Nick Fury solemnly instructed Coulson, then wasted no more words, and immediately took Black Widow, rushing towards the Dark Energy Joint Base.
"Stark, the Tesseract is active!"
"Captain, I need you to come to the Dark Energy Joint Base immediately. Loki might be coming!"
Undoubtedly, Nick Fury, on his way to the Dark Energy Joint Base, also contacted Iron Man and Captain America at the first opportunity.
"Loki? Has he finally arrived?!"
Tony Stark curled his lips into a dismissive smile.
Then he directly put on his armor, and with a whoosh, he transformed into a streak of light, flying towards the Joint Dark Energy Research Facility.
Beside Tony Stark, T-1000, also clad in armor, followed closely like a loyal bodyguard.
"Bucky, I have a job to do!"
Captain America, who was punching a sandbag, called out to Bucky, who was also punching a sandbag nearby.
Bucky now looked no different from a normal person; he had actually recovered a year ago.
He had even carried out many missions with Captain America, having completely returned to Captain America's side.
This greatly relieved Captain America.
However, what Captain America didn't know was that Bucky was still a ticking time bomb; as long as someone uttered that specific phrase near him, Bucky would lose control.
He would transform into that cold-blooded puppet, knowing only slaughter.
"I guess it's another one of those world-saving messes?" Bucky stopped and walked towards Captain America. "Seventy years, and this world still needs you to save it."
"At least it makes me feel alive!" Captain America shrugged, picked up his shield, and slung it onto his back.
He also instructed Bucky, "Stay put, don't go anywhere! You know Hydra's been after you pretty hard lately! Don't do anything foolish until I get back!"
"How could I? You've taken all the foolishness with you!" Bucky chuckled.
Captain America nodded at Bucky and left without looking back.
He rushed non-stop towards the Joint Dark Energy Research Facility.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"All personnel evacuate immediately! Please board designated transport. Repeat, this is not a drill. Evacuate immediately! Evacuate immediately!"
When Captain America arrived, the piercing alarm had already echoed throughout the entire base, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was carrying out a full base evacuation.
A cordon had been set up, and fully armed special agents guarded all key entrances, with strict security.
"Captain, please follow me!"
Agent Hill quickly appeared before Captain America and led him into the base's core laboratory.
They arrived before the Tesseract.
Crackling!
As Nick Fury had said, the Tesseract was in an activated state, occasionally emitting energy fluctuations.
Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and several other S.H.I.E.L.D. bigwigs were all gathered in front of the Tesseract, staring intently at its changes with serious expressions.
Tony Stark, meanwhile, was observing some data on a display screen nearby.
"From the data, the Tesseract's current pulse signal has an overlap of over seventy percent with the pulse signals from the previous times I activated it!"
Tony Stark said seriously to everyone, "So yes... the Tesseract is about to be opened again."
"So Loki is really coming." Captain America walked into the crowd, glanced at everyone, "This time, we'll let him know that Earth isn't to be trifled with!"
"That's without a doubt, Captain!" Nick Fury nodded with a serious expression, then glanced at Tony Stark, "Stark, are the weapon systems in place?"
"Although I don't think we'll need them, everything is ready." Tony Stark nodded.
Everyone present felt relieved.
Through the Q&A system, everyone actually had a considerable understanding of Loki; putting aside his schemes, Loki's personal combat power wasn't actually too strong.
Now, with two Iron Men, Captain America, Black Widow proficient in the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Nick Fury with a lightsaber, and the super archer Hawkeye Barton.
With such a strong lineup, everyone was confident in dealing with Loki.
"For Thor's sake, I think we shouldn't beat Loki too badly." Hawkeye Barton even joked.
"Well." Black Widow shrugged, "That doesn't depend on us, but on Loki!"
"Come on, Loki, I've been waiting for this day for a long time!" Nick Fury also stared at the activated Tesseract with his single eye, muttering.
Crackling!
Crackling!
Under everyone's gaze, the energy fluctuations on the Tesseract grew stronger and stronger, reaching a peak.
Finally!
Boom!
The Tesseract shot out a blue beam of light, and a portal was opened.
When the portal disappeared, a cold-looking man in a robe, with long flowing hair and a scepter in his hand, appeared before everyone.
Undoubtedly, it was the scepter-wielding Loki.
Loki glanced around the scene, feeling a bit surprised.
That tin man?
And that guy who picked up Thor's hammer?
They were both here?
When Loki controlled the Destroyer to assassinate Thor, these two had left a profound impression on him. He hadn't expected to encounter them right after crossing over.
In that case, things might be a little more troublesome.
"Loki! Put down your scepter and surrender immediately!" Tony Stark was the first to speak to Loki, with a very arrogant tone, "Otherwise, we'll beat you so badly here that even Odin won't recognize you!"
"You know me?" Loki was startled at first, then reacted, "My foolish brother, he really tells everyone everything. What else did he tell you?"
"You're very starved for affection!" Tony Stark was as sharp-tongued as ever, "But I didn't need him to tell me that, I could see it myself."
Loki's face began to turn somewhat grim.
Tony Stark's words were like a sharp blade, piercing into Loki's heart.
"Loki! We know your purpose!" Captain America also spoke with a serious expression, "But unfortunately, you won't succeed. You want to take the Tesseract, unless you defeat all of us."
Loki: "..."
What's going on?
Loki was a little confused.
How did these people seem to see right through him, even knowing his purpose for coming this time?
Even Thor couldn't possibly know such a thing, so it certainly wasn't Thor who told them. How then did these people know?
This kind of thing was beyond his control, making him feel a bit unable to see through them, which greatly displeased Loki.
"A soldier?" But then Loki sneered, "Without that hammer, you dare to speak so arrogantly?"
Hiss!
As Loki said this, he suddenly swung the scepter in his hand, and a wave of energy shot towards Captain America.
Captain America held his shield horizontally, blocking it in front of him, instantly deflecting Loki's shot.
Then Captain America swung his shield forcefully, throwing it at Loki, but Loki easily knocked it away with his scepter.
Seeing this, Tony Stark on the side immediately raised his hand, intending to blast Loki away with an energy cannon.
Hiss!
But at this moment, Hawkeye Barton had already shot an arrow first.
Loki, with quick reflexes, suddenly grabbed with his other hand, catching Hawkeye's arrow.
"Is that all?" Loki's face showed an endless sneer, as he glanced at Hawkeye.
"It's coming! It's coming!" Tony Stark suddenly shouted, staring at Loki with anticipation.
These words were naturally nonsensical to Loki, completely baffling him, but everyone else present knew what they meant.
Each of them couldn't help but show a hint of playful amusement on their faces.
Loki immediately felt that something was amiss.
What was with everyone's look, as if they were watching a clown?
But reality didn't allow Loki to think further; the next moment, the arrowhead of the bow he held in his hand suddenly exploded.
In the fierce explosion of flames, Loki was instantly blown backward.
"Nice shot, Barton!" Black Widow couldn't help but praise, "If Thor were here, that would have been truly spectacular."
"A mere trivial trick, you're gloating too soon!" Loki climbed up from the ground, sneering repeatedly.
He plunged his scepter into the ground and began to cast his most proficient magic, and one Loki after another began to appear.
In a short moment, the hall was filled with Lokis.
"Hahaha! You mortals! How do you know the power of a god!"
"Hahaha!"
A group of Lokis began to laugh wildly in front of everyone.
This was magic from Asgard, not some ordinary illusion. Nick Fury, Captain America, Hawkeye, and others were immediately bewildered by the numerous Lokis.
They couldn't distinguish which was an illusion and which was the real body.
"Jarvis, activate thermal scan!"
Tony Stark, however, remained calm, immediately giving Jarvis a command. His visual interface instantly switched to thermal scan mode.
Loki's sole real body was immediately captured.
Swoosh... Bang!
Tony Stark said nothing superfluous, firing a repulsor blast that directly knocked Loki to the ground.
"This is truly surprising, tin man, you can actually see through my magic!" Loki was genuinely surprised this time.
His magic was something even people from Asgard couldn't see through; he hadn't expected it to fail in a place like Midgard.
"Loki, for Thor's sake, we've been very polite to you!" Nick Fury said coldly to Loki at this moment, "Surrender immediately! Otherwise, we'll get serious!"
"For his sake? My brother has made some good friends!" Loki said bitterly, and with a whoosh, he charged at Nick Fury first.
But he didn't even get close to Nick Fury; a shield flew out from the side, instantly knocking Loki to the ground.
"I'm out of patience!" Tony Stark shook his head, and with a whoosh, he flew towards Loki, also calling out to T-1000, "T-1000, take him down immediately!"
"Understood!" T-1000 replied, and the two metal behemoths began to flank Loki.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The two sides then engaged in a fierce battle.
However, Loki's combat power was ultimately a bit weaker. Not long after the exchange, he was knocked to the ground by Tony Stark and T-1000.
Even his scepter was taken away.
"Loki, surrender, you have no other choice!" Nick Fury said to Loki at this moment.
Following Nick Fury's words, Tony Stark and T-1000 each stepped forward, raised their hands, and aimed their repulsor blasts at Loki.
If Loki still didn't cooperate, they would mercilessly blast him.
Hawkeye Barton also nocked another arrow, its tip pointed at Loki.
Captain America and Black Widow both took a step forward, standing ready with everyone else, prepared to act without hesitation when needed.
"It seems I underestimated Midgard before." Loki surveyed the people in front of him and began to raise his hands.
He surrendered.
Loki wasn't a fool; he knew that at present, he had no choice but to surrender.
Nick Fury then finally breathed a sigh of relief. Loki had indeed come, but fortunately, this time, the Tesseract had not been stolen.
Next, Black Widow put the pre-prepared restraints on Loki. Throughout this entire process, Loki offered no resistance.
"Captain, please temporarily take Loki into custody! Romanoff, you go with the Captain." Nick Fury casually gave orders to those present at this time, "I'll try summoning Heimdall now to see if I can call Thor down."
"Heimdall, can you hear me? I'm Thor's friend, Nick Fury! Thor told me I could contact him this way for emergencies!"
Then, Nick Fury instinctively looked up and shouted towards the sky.
"It's no use, the Rainbow Bridge is broken. Even if Heimdall can hear you, he won't be able to transport Thor down."
Loki sneered from the side.
A new round of questions is starting. All respondents, please prepare!
Before Nick Fury could say anything, a familiar synthesized electronic voice suddenly rang out, and at the same time, an equally familiar large screen appeared.
Everyone present, except Loki, was greatly invigorated.
More than a year had passed since the last round of questions, and a new round had finally begun!
"I've already surrendered, what else are you trying to do?" Only Loki asked, looking around at everyone in confusion.
"No way? Are you serious? Loki isn't restrained... he's actually participating in the quiz?" Everyone present was equally confused.
In their eyes, Loki was a standard "villain"!
And until now, the Q&A system had never selected any "villain"!
Please listen to the question: Iron Man Tony Stark's parents died in which of the following ways?
A. Died in a car accident
B. Died from an assassination by Ant-Man (first generation)
C. Died from an assassination by the Winter Soldier
D. Died from an assassination by terrorists
Friendly reminder: Correct answer will be rewarded with five hundred kilograms of Vibranium metal;
Incorrect answer will result in a random deduction of one personal attribute, including but not limited to knowledge, experience, skills, possessions, etc.
...
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