Before long, terrified screams rang out from the sewers. One after another, innocent civilians were forcibly dragged out.
They were in ragged clothes, faces twisted with fear. Their hands and feet were bound tight with rope, and under the lizards' brutal tugging, they could only stumble forward.
Soon, dozens of random bystanders were herded together, surrounded on all sides by more than a dozen lizard-men baring murderous grins.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were in the middle of a fierce fight with the lizard-men, but the moment they saw this, they all froze—movements stalling instantly.
After a brief shock, they realized what this meant: the one behind it all, Dr. Lizard, had finally made his move.
There was no way these green-skinned brutes—empty-headed and only good at charging straight ahead—could come up with something as vicious as taking hostages!
Sure enough, from a narrow, shadowy alley came the sound of heavy, dragging footsteps.
Then an enormous lizard-man slowly emerged.
It was more than twice the size of the others. Its body had completely twisted into something inhuman—arms thick, long, and bent at the elbows, with hands that had evolved into massive claws. Sharp nails like knives slashed lazily through the air, carving out shrill, chilling whistles.
Dr. Lizard stood before them in a filthy, tattered white lab coat.
Staring at the helpless civilians pinned in the lizard-men's grip, he spoke in a venomous, deliberate tone:
"Move aside! Or I'll have my ruthless underlings tear them into pieces while they're still alive!"
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' faces turned ugly, but none of them moved. Nick Fury, in particular, said coldly:
"We have to hold the line! Even if it means sacrificing these civilians, we can't let you succeed.
If you contaminate the water supply, the lightest outcome is total collapse of New York's social order.
And the worst? New York becomes a city overrun by monsters. Tens of millions could be infected and turned into monsters—this crisis would spread like a plague, and it would hit the entire world!"
As if he'd already expected S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't cave easily, Dr. Lizard actually pulled a folded phone tripod out of his lab coat.
He unfolded it, set his phone in place—and smoothly opened the livestream function like he'd done it a hundred times.
Then, right in front of the agents, he straightened his back, faced the camera, and bellowed:
"Hey, friends—watch closely. I am Dr. Lizard, the one who will lead all humanity into a brand-new era of evolution and prosperity.
Today, I'm going to run a fun little test. It'll blow your minds!
Look beside me—these are honest, law-abiding taxpayers. And standing in front of me is the government's mysterious secret department.
Now let's see whether they'll let us walk away for the sake of a few dozen living, breathing people…
Or whether they'll be cold-blooded—watching these hardworking taxpayers die for nothing—just to arrest us.
Come on! Let the show begin! Everyone, witness it for yourselves—see whether our government is actually capable of protecting every single taxpayer!"
The stream had only been live for a moment when dozens of curious viewers poured in.
At first, they thought it was some influencer's elaborate prank. But as the camera swept across trembling hostages, heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and Dr. Lizard's deranged face, they instantly realized something was very, very wrong.
In just a few minutes, the viewer count exploded exponentially—jumping from a few dozen to tens of thousands in the blink of an eye!
Nick Fury paced anxiously in the command room. He looked at Agent Hill, whose expression was just as grim, and barked:
"Hill, do something—shut that stream down, now!"
Hill's face was hard, her eyes full of frustration and helplessness. She answered in a low voice:
"Sorry, Director Fury. Dr. Lizard has a top-tier hacker backing him. YouTube has already intervened at full force, but they can't close the stream.
Even our best S.H.I.E.L.D. tech agents have used every method we have—and it's still useless."
"Damn it… damn it!" Sweat kept beading on Fury's face. His expression was icy, but he forced himself to endure it and think.
Then his eyes lit up. "Contact Tony. JARVIS can definitely shut it down!"
But Tony had already tried. He'd already had JARVIS attempt to kill Dr. Lizard's stream.
To his shock, JARVIS told him there was an artificial intelligence actively fighting back—and in the short term, it couldn't be shut down.
When that news reached them, everyone fell silent.
It was the worst possible outcome.
If they retreated, all of New York would plunge into an unprecedented crisis. If they refused—and dozens of civilians died on camera—then the government's credibility would crater, and massive protests could erupt afterward.
Because ordinary people wouldn't dig into the messy truth behind it all. They only cared about what they saw.
In only a few minutes, Nick Fury received a call from the President ordering him to resolve the situation immediately.
But the reality in front of him had become an unsolvable deadlock. He couldn't think of any perfect way to defuse the crisis.
The atmosphere at the scene was suffocating. Faced with the brutal dilemma, they racked their brains—and still found no way out.
Then, at the very last moment, Harry stepped forward. He raised his wand and brought it down hard on a lizard-man's head.
A dull crack sounded.
The lizard-man's skull burst like a watermelon—green slime and shattered bone spraying everywhere.
After dropping the body, Harry turned back with an easy expression and a casual smile.
"I have a spell that can solve this. But it's my first time using it with this level of precision—and over an area this large. I'll need to draw on a lot more magic.
And when I mobilize that much magic… it might go out of control. You'll have to accept a tiny bit of risk."
Black Widow strode to Harry's side. The usual seductive charm was gone from her face—now she looked cold, focused, and deadly serious.
"It's just a little risk. Can things get any worse than this?" she said firmly. "Don't hesitate. Do it. I'm backing you."
The others nodded repeatedly. But in the crowd, Tony and Peter were unusually quiet.
They knew Harry better than anyone. They understood exactly what "losing control" could mean.
This wasn't "a little risk."
One wrong move, and the planet could go up in smoke.
Tony rushed forward, grabbed Harry's arm, and asked grimly, "Are you sure? Do you actually have this under control?"
Peter, standing a short distance away, looked at Harry with the same dread. He'd seen it once—seen Harry's magic spiral out of control.
That had been the closest Peter had ever come to death.
Even after becoming a superhero, enduring countless battles and dangers, nothing had ever matched that kind of terror—being on the edge of life and death every second.
He didn't want to feel that again.
Seeing Tony and Peter's reactions, the other agents finally realized how serious this was.
Some of them, who hadn't fully grasped the danger, took one look at their faces—and immediately sensed something was off.
Even Black Widow, who had just spoken so decisively in Harry's favor, now wore a deeply suspicious expression.
She narrowed her eyes, a string of ominous possibilities flashing through her mind, and demanded, "Wait—when you said there'd be a price, what exactly did you mean?"
Harry still wore that relaxed smile. He waved a hand like it was nothing, as if they were discussing something trivial.
"Oh, don't listen to those two worrying themselves sick. It's really a very small price. Best-case scenario… New York turns into ashes, that's all."
The words hit like thunder.
The seasoned agents—people who'd survived countless life-and-death missions—were outright shaken.
Their hearts clenched. A chill ran from their feet up their spines.
What?
Best case was New York being destroyed?
Then what was the worst case—half the continent wiped out?
Seeing the horror on everyone's faces as they instinctively backed away, Harry's stomach dropped. He felt profoundly misunderstood—like he'd taken a critical hit to the soul.
He hurriedly waved his hands, speaking fast: "No, no, don't panic! Seriously, don't worry! Even if I accidentally blow up all of New York, it's fine!"
They backed away even faster.
Harry's forehead twitched. He sped up even more: "My teacher—the Sorcerer Supreme—can reverse the timeline. Even if my magic goes out of control, he can rewind time and get you out. So stop worrying!"
"Reverse time?" Crossbones blurted, eyes wide, voice rising with disbelief and alarm. "A sorcerer's power is already that terrifying?"
If that was true, then so what if HYDRA ruled the world? There'd still be a Kamar-Taj hanging over everyone's heads.
Even if HYDRA had another thousand years, they'd never be confident they could invent technology that controlled time!
Hearing that, Harry rolled his eyes, spread his hands, and spoke with lazy confidence: "For Kamar-Taj's enemies, reversing time is easy. It's no big deal."
Crossbones fell silent, thoroughly crushed.
He'd once believed HYDRA's power was enough to dominate the world. Now, facing magic that could turn back time, he realized how laughable that belief had been.
Coulson—the perpetual nice guy—looked worried and asked carefully, "So what exactly happens that the best outcome is still New York being destroyed?"
Harry said flatly, "Nothing crazy. If I draw too much magic, the magic inside me loses control and starts striking everything nearby at random."
Harry didn't tell Coulson that "destroying New York" was only if he managed to hide inside the Mirror Dimension in time.
Even a tiny portion of magic leaking out from the Mirror Dimension would be enough to flatten the entire city into ruins.
And if the Mirror Dimension couldn't withstand that surging, floodlike power and shattered—then the chain reaction wouldn't stop at Earth alone.
But with the Time Stone as a safety net, and Hedwig strengthening his control over magic, Harry was highly confident he could attempt it.
Worst case… he'd have to trouble his teacher.
His teacher had warned him repeatedly not to interfere with time, but Harry believed that if you had the ability, you could manipulate time—especially now that he knew the wizarding world had started secretly researching time as well.
Why talk so much?
Just do it.
Of course, he couldn't say any of that to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents—otherwise, no matter what, they'd refuse.
Nick Fury's voice came through the earpiece, low and stern. Even without seeing him, Harry could picture that sour expression:
"Harry. What are the odds?"
Harry didn't hesitate. "Ninety percent."
That settled it.
If Harry had only been seventy percent sure—or less—Fury would've prioritized all of New York and ordered Dr. Lizard killed, even if it meant abandoning the hostages.
But Harry was claiming ninety percent, and the Sorcerer Supreme was the ultimate backup.
Fury made his decision.
He was ruthless, not reckless.
He said flatly, "Do it."
With everyone nodding agreement, Harry didn't waste a second. The massive orb of light that was Hedwig spun rapidly, analyzing with speed and precision the spatial coordinates of every hostage.
Within those complex spatial dimensions, Hedwig locked onto each coordinate one by one—then cleverly excluded them from the range the Mirror Dimension was about to cover.
Harry took a deep breath. Magic surged around him. He raised his wand high, and with all his strength, smashed it down into the seemingly calm space before him.
The moment wand and space collided, a dull, deafening boom erupted.
The air in front of them cracked like fragile glass—thin fractures spiderwebbing outward instantly.
The spread of those fractures was beyond imagination. In the blink of an eye, they swept across the entire Catskill watershed at a speed beyond sound.
And then—along with the crisp, tinkling sound of glass shattering—everyone involved in the fighting, including all the green-skins, was yanked into the Mirror Dimension!
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