Chapter 366: The Plot Has Strangely Veered Back

Steve stood before Erik. Wearing his uniform and holding his shield, he tapped the shield with his hand and said, "You should know who I am. What is your codename? Which sector are you responsible for? Who is your superior? How long have you been with Hydra? Who is your recruiter?"

Erik had been severely shaken by the Panther God's magic. Both his arms were dislocated, and his ribs seemed broken, so he couldn't crawl up. However, he remained extremely stubborn, constantly cursing T'Challa in the local Wakandan dialect.

Steve struck Erik's shinbone with his shield. Erik let out a death-rattle scream and began rolling on the ground. Seeing this scene, Peter silently took two steps back; he had never seen the Captain so brutal.

Seeing his reaction, Steve said to Peter, "Peter, remember, the first rule when dealing with Hydra is: never go soft on them."

"Don't let his loud screaming fool you; he might have a bomb buried inside him. I've had several comrades die from such despicable tactics."

Upon hearing about the possibility of a bomb, Peter grew anxious. There were many people in the Wakandan building, and if the bomb's power was too great, it could cause the entire structure to collapse.

He stepped forward and said, "How about we open up his chest cavity? That's the only place a bomb could be hidden."

"Isn't Dr. Strange here? He's hailed as God's gift to human medicine, so he should be able to open his chest cavity perfectly without killing him, right?"

Hearing this, even with his broken arms, Erik struggled to wiggle his waist, trying to escape.

"Uh..." Steve hesitated. According to what Strange had just said, when he went to pick up Peter, Peter had been conducting experiments in the biology lab. Peter, coming out of the biology lab, always had a peculiar aura, as if he looked at everyone like a lab rat.

Just then, Stark walked out of a portal. He headed straight for Erik with murderous intent, bumping Steve, who was holding his shield, back two steps.

Steve was about to speak, but Stark turned his head, his faceplate sliding up with a 'click'. Stark stared straight at Steve and said, "Don't provoke me. You only need to consider one thing right now: how to do your old job well and send this bunch of damn Hydra agents to hell."

Steve also stared at Stark, very dissatisfied with his provocative attitude. He said, "When it comes to this, I have much more experience than you. I've sent more Hydra agents to hell than your age multiplied by several hundred."

"Is that so? That's perfect." Strange walked in from outside the room and said, "Mephisto has been working from home lately, and his hell loves souls that are beyond redemption. If you two can bring in a few more, you might even be able to trade them for something good."

In an instant, the tense atmosphere between Iron Man and Captain America was shattered.

It was as if two masters were discussing swordsmanship in a bamboo forest, with one saying, "Flying flowers and plucked leaves can all be blades," and the other saying, "Riding the wind and treading on water, only I am extraordinary."

At this moment, someone else rushed out and said, "When you're done with the swords, remember to cut more bamboo; you can take it to the market and sell it for two-fifty a catty..."

Steve and Stark both turned to look at Strange. Strange, while lowering his head to tidy up his red silk ribbon, said, "A few of this guy's subordinates tried to rush over just now, but I took care of them."

After finishing, he looked up and found both of them staring straight at him. Strange touched his face and said, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Steve put his hands on his hips, turned to Stark, and said, "When it comes to dealing with Hydra, no one in the world is more professional than me."

"Yeah, and you spent 70 years sleeping under an ice sheet just dealing with these little bugs."

"Little bugs??" Steve was clearly a bit angry too. He said, "Those who haven't experienced war can never imagine its cruelty. What do you take the results that countless people sacrificed themselves for?!"

"Only the weak like to talk about sacrifice; I only like to talk about efficiency."

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Peter hurriedly rushed into the middle to stop them. He first said to Steve, "Captain, calm down. We can't have infighting; we have a great enemy before us!"

After finishing, he turned to Stark and said, "Mr. Stark, wouldn't it be better if we found out the cause first?"

At this time, Strange had already walked to the spear that Erik had dropped. He said, "Just now, I saw the Panther God seemed very interested in this thing. There is a very special energy on it, a power I haven't seen before. What is it?"

Stark glared at Steve, walked to Strange's side, took the spear, and said, "The material at the tip is definitely Vibranium, but why is this sharp part discolored?"

Stark continued to analyze, "Vibranium is a metal with excellent properties in all aspects. It is also quite stable in various extreme environments and does not change its form. What exactly caused this discoloration? I need more precise equipment to analyze it..."

At this moment, Steve tapped his shield and said, "There is a living Hydra member right here. We should interrogate him first before considering anything else."

"You completely fail to grasp the point."

"You are the one putting the cart before the horse."

Peter shook his head helplessly; he didn't know why everyone was so hot-tempered today.

Actually, it was quite normal. The upgraded Stark had seen the whole truth, so naturally, he knew that the car accident involving his parents was actually caused by the Winter Soldier, a friend of Captain America, manipulated by Hydra.

But later, he saw more world lines ending in tragedy. The impact of hearsay versus seeing it with his own eyes was tens of thousands of times different. Stark could not accept such things happening at all.

He knew that civil war was no different from adding frost to snow for humanity. To prevent potential tragedies and change the situation where humanity was at the mercy of others, he could temporarily put aside his hatred and stand on the side of the greater good.

But this didn't mean his mood would be good, especially when he ran straight into the mastermind behind it all.

Steve's temper was usually not bad, at least much better than Stark's, but the goal he had pursued his whole life, which had almost become an obsession, was Hydra.

Previously, Nick had hinted to him intentionally or unintentionally about the fact that Hydra still existed, but he was unwilling to accept it from his heart. However, when Strange approached him, he set off immediately. It wasn't until he saw Erik in person that he realized his former nightmare had truly been resurrected.

Countless comrades had fallen under the butcher's knife of this evil organization. Humanity was panicked, fearful, and plunged into war because of it. Countless innocent lives had vanished, yet this organization never repented and had not been completely eradicated at all.

Steve's mood couldn't possibly be good. Anyone would feel somewhat exhausted after experiencing such things. Yet Stark was like a powder keg, ready to ignite at the slightest touch. The two couldn't say two sentences without sparking a fire.

Peter's head was buzzing. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and shouted loudly, "Listen to me!!!"

The two people who were arguing stopped and turned to look at him. Peter felt a bit timid again and stammered, "... Um, I mean, don't argue... why don't you each take responsibility for one part? Mr. Stark goes to study the spear, and the Captain interrogates the murderer. Wouldn't that work?"

The two looked at each other, seeing the fighting spirit in each other's eyes. Stark extended a finger and said, "I will tell you that your years of hard work have been completely in vain. You ignored the most important part, which is why you couldn't eradicate them completely. Now, Stark will demonstrate the correct method to you..."

Steve also said coldly, "Those who haven't experienced the war era are always so arrogant. You don't understand the cruelty of this kind of war, and you will pay the price for your arrogance."

After finishing, both snorted coldly and went about their own business.

But anyone could see that a competition had begun between the two, and soon, the scale grew larger and larger.

Stark quickly gathered all his scientist friends, including Banner, Connors, Charles, Strange, Shiler... wait, did a strange person get mixed in there?

Anyway, Stark contacted every highly educated talent he knew, gathered them together, invited them to Stark's lab, and even created a huge battle plan analysis chart.

"War alone cannot solve fundamental problems. If you want to excise this group of cancers from human society, technical means are indispensable."

"Monitoring, surveillance, aggregation, analysis—this is modern warfare."

Stark's voice echoed in the room. The others sat on the sofa, watching him point at the content on the projection, saying, "I will establish a complete monitoring network to keep watch on all places where Hydra might be active. At the same time, all behavioral data will be analyzed by the master brain, Jarvis."

"Of course, the analysis of an intelligent master brain might have loopholes. At this time, we need you two famous psychologists to help the artificial intelligence establish analytical logic..."

"Wait a minute." Shiler interrupted him. He glanced at Charles, then at Stark, and said, "You invited Professor Charles and me here for the purpose of letting us two perfect your behavioral analysis system?"

"Then do you feel that there is something extra in this step?"

"Are you trying to say that you two are unnecessary? Actually, I also feel that as long as there is enough time..."

"I want to say that you are unnecessary."

Stark glared at Shiler and said, "What do you mean? I am the creator and leader of this plan. You actually want to kick me out??"

"He means that with Charles sitting here, you actually still want to rely on robots to monitor others?" Strange added.

"No, no." Stark shook his head and said, "You don't understand what I mean. This is a competition, understand? It's a competition between Steve and me. He wants to prove to me that empiricism is useful, but I must stop him from continuing on the wrong path."

"He has fought against Hydra for so many years, and what's the result? This damn organization is still alive."

"Listen, I'm not denying the achievements of those veterans, but clinging to past glory without seeking progress is not a solution. The problem is right there; it must be solved thoroughly, right?"

"So, you lead the charge, and we provide support, is that what you mean?" Banner asked.

Stark nodded. He pointed at Banner and said, "Geniuses always have resonance, right?"

Banner sighed and said, "Is it possible that if you two joined forces, the efficiency would be higher?"

"Why don't you understand?" Stark put his hands on his hips, looking a bit angry, and said, "I have to beat him first before I can convince him!... Forget it, I can do it without you guys. You can go do whatever you want."

Stark waved his hand, putting on an expression that said he couldn't communicate with this group of people. Charles's tone, however, remained very gentle. He said, "I don't know if I understood correctly, but in short, Captain America feels that the set of methods he used to deal with Hydra before can continue to be used, and as long as he fights them firmly, he will definitely win."

"But you feel that this set of methods is a bit old-fashioned and outdated, and the efficiency is not high enough, but neither of you can convince the other."

"So, you plan to launch a competition. Whoever has better results is the winner, right?"

"Exactly." Stark covered his forehead and said helplessly, "That kid Peter is actually on his side! It really wastes the effort I usually..."

"Wastes the effort you usually spend keeping him in the lab doing experiments until midnight, to the point where his aunt almost took Stark Industries to the newspaper for child labor exploitation." Connors complained, "And, between the playboy Stark and the American Captain Steve, anyone whose brain isn't broken knows who to choose, right?"

"Yeah, Tony, you have to cherish us." Shiler leaned on the armrest to the side and said with a smile, "We abandoned Captain America and chose you. You have to know, if I chose Steve, he might have given me the last one of that set of figures..."

"What???" Banner widened his eyes and looked at Shiler, saying, "The Captain really said that?? I'm just missing that one hidden version of that set of figures!"

"Hey! Bruce, you can't leave. Damn it, did one figure buy you off?!" Stark shouted.

Seeing the others stand up one after another, looking like they were about to leave, Stark stretched out his hands and said helplessly, "Fine, fine. The great Stark, after completing 99% of the effort, still needs your 1% help. That's okay, right?"

"No sincerity at all." Strange shook his head. Shiler had already walked out of the sofa area. He shrugged and said, "Fine, if we are only worth 1% combined, I'm willing to give the other 0.9% to someone else..."

"Fine! Fine!" Stark rolled his eyes, raised his hand, and said, "Are you willing to join my team and work with me on this plan to deal with Hydra? I'm willing to admit that your level is about the same as mine, which is why I wanted to find you to cooperate. As for the other side..."

Stark "snorted" and said, "They don't even have a single doctoral degree combined."

"We don't even have a single doctoral degree combined." In the new base of the superhero squad, Peter said a bit dejectedly, "The other side has at least a dozen doctoral degrees combined. Dr. Banner alone has 7 doctoral degrees..."

"This world doesn't just look at academic qualifications." Steve patted Peter on the shoulder, looked into his eyes, and said to him, "Just like you, Peter, you are just a high school student, but you have already done better than many adults."

Peter smiled and said, "Captain, you are always so good at comforting people."

"You know, I am an honest person. Only sincerity makes it easier for people to feel comforted."

"Let's not talk about this first. Shouldn't our team have a name?" Ma Te was mixing drinks at the bar counter, and Elektra handed him a cup of ice. Clearly, both of them had joined this superhero squad.

Ma Te had just mixed a drink when Eddie, sitting at the end of the bar, picked up the whole cup and threw it into his mouth. Ma Te glared at him. Eddie said quite innocently, "You know, it wasn't me who did it."

At the same time, Venom's phantom flashed, and with that raspy voice, said, "That's right, it was me. Do you have any opinions?"

Mark "whooshed" and struck Eddie with his cane. Eddie let out a painful cry and said, "He ate it, why are you hitting me?"

"Don't play that game with me."

Blade Eric, who was sitting on a chair nearby wiping his weapon, turned to Steve and said, "Aren't you going to manage him? We've already gone through two sets of cups these past few days."

"Alright, Venom, even if you have good teeth, you can't eat everything."

"And you, Eddie, since he wants to eat chocolate balls, just let him eat them. I heard from Blue Spirit before that Venom is still just a child within their race."

"Although it's not good for children to eat too many snacks, not letting him eat any at all is a bit too harsh. This is not a good educational method..." Steve said earnestly.

"A child? To hell with that!" Eddie widened his eyes and said, "Have you ever seen a child with a net weight of three tons?"

"I am not that heavy! Shut up, you coward!" Venom roared.

"How are you not that heavy? Don't you think you've gotten much fatter lately? Your mucus volume has at least tripled. How much have you eaten?"

"Friends. Let's talk about business." Steve said helplessly. He clapped his hands, attracting the attention of the few, and then said, "I think the previous question is worth discussing. We have to give this team a formal name."

"The previous codename has always been the Superhero Squad Project, but now the scale of the team has expanded."

"Barton and Natasha didn't come because of work reasons. Three mutant students are temporarily in other galaxies because of the symbiote, but they all promised me they would join. We already have quite a few members; it's time to have a name..."

"You are the captain, you decide." Ma Te said indifferently, "I don't have any ideas for naming, especially since I have to make so many people satisfied."

Steve sighed. His deep voice echoed in the somewhat dim underground base: "When I learned that that evil organization had not yet perished, I thought of my comrades at the first moment."

【Small Bookstore】

"They once left their safe homeland to fight against this evil, went to the front line, and gave their lives in the war."

"If this is the destined fate of all those who harbor justice, then we will use our inherent unique power to avenge these ordinary people who knew the danger but still went forward without hesitation..."

Eddie said in his heart, "No, don't..."

"Avengers!!" Venom stood up and shouted, "I am Venom, I am vengeance!!!"

The others all walked over. Steve reached out his hand, and Ma Te was the first to put his hand on it. He said, "Avenging criminals is my creed. Hydra has done many evil deeds, and they should have retribution. I don't mind being the executor and judge, making them pay the price for this."

Elektra also put her hand on it and said, "Count me in. I haven't avenged the Hand yet."

After Peter put his hand on it, he said, "Um, although I don't have any enemies, you are my friends, and the enemy of a friend is my enemy. I will try my best."

"Then, alright..." Steve picked up his shield from the side. He raised the shield, and then with a firm gaze, said:

"Avengers, assemble!"

---Side Note---

I managed to veer it back even from this, hands on hips! ===== CHAPTER 367 =====