Chapter 372

Attacking Hydra from the top ranks was indeed highly effective, but it also meant starting on hard mode—you had to be ready for an enemy that was extremely difficult to handle.

These snake heads weren't fools; their vigilance was extraordinarily high, and any hint of trouble sent them into full-channel silence, vanishing along with all evidence.

Worse still, before disappearing, they made sure to sabotage Stark—over these past few days, Stark Industries' stock had dropped significantly, Pepper was under immense pressure, Stark's public image had worsened further, and Obadiah had to clean up after him.

Though their tech was advanced, the enemy was of a higher tier; if they faced Stark head-on, he could handle them—but these people refused to confront him directly, fleeing at the slightest sound.

Thus, Stark found himself trapped in the frustrating game of catching mice—he had to dig into the nests himself to catch them, but wouldn't that just plunge him back into Steve's Taolu?

In short, whether dismantling bases from below or targeting leaders from above, both methods had flaws, and Stark had realized this—just as Banner had said, only by joining forces could they solve these problems at their root.

So although Stark finally scowled with obvious reluctance, he and Steve sat down at the same table, and under Peter and Matt's mediation, they at last calmed down enough to talk.

In the original comics, Iron Man and Captain America had a honeymoon phase, proving that in certain ways they got along well—so during this conversation, both felt awkward.

They instinctively resisted going along with the other's line of thought, yet their minds unconsciously followed each other's, growing smoother and more aligned until, at some point, they suddenly realized it and froze.

Peter didn't understand what they were doing, but Matt sighed and shook his head.

Finally, Stark pinched his nose and said: "Fine, if it's to take down Hydra, I can temporarily cooperate with you—but on strategy, you'll follow my lead…"

Steve nodded and said: "I won't interfere with your judgment, but I have my own views—if we disagree, we vote…"

In the end, both accepted this arrangement, but Steve found it odd and asked: "You didn't yell about us joining your glorious alliance—you're planning to join the Avengers? That's not like you, Stark."

Stark gave him a look of utter disbelief and said: "Join the Glorious Alliance? You have no proper sense of your own moral standards…"

"On the contrary, I'm the most confident in my own moral standards—don't you know where Captain America comes from? The worse the villain, the better the hero."

"That's exactly my point—I'm the moral exemplar in the Glorious Alliance, raising the overall average; without me and Charles, their moral bottom line would be turned upside down."

"Speaking of which, I was just about to ask—what do you think of that mysterious figure known as 'The Doctor'?"

"What do I think? Just another sneaky Hydra agent… wait, why are you asking that? Are you suspecting someone among us…"

Seeing Stark about to object, Steve spoke first: "But it's not baseless—our operations are all classified, and the locations we raided could never have been known to outsiders—but every time we entered a base, everyone had already evacuated, and only recently. Doesn't that seem strange?"

"That's because there's a mole in your ranks—what does that have to do with the Glorious Alliance? We didn't know your plans."

"But you have Professor Charles Xavier in your ranks."

Stark sighed helplessly: "If Professor Charles were Hydra, who'd still be alive right now?"

"But it's still possible Xavier was manipulated—he sticks to his principles and rarely reads minds, so he could easily be deceived."

Stark was about to argue with facts and logic when JARVIS spoke: "Warning! Anomalous activity detected on a ship parked at the edge of the solar system!"

"A ship? What's going on?"

"Anomalous life signs detected near Ship #19—the energy readings are too high! Beep! Monitoring equipment affected by mysterious forces—now offline."

"Someone's targeting the ship?" Steve asked. "Who? They disabled your surveillance—do they want to steal it?"

Stark raised a hand in a "hold on" gesture and asked JARVIS: "Can you identify what kind of energy disabled the surveillance?"

"Unclear. Cannot analyze—but likely magical energy."

"Magic…" Stark murmured. "Strange???"

Instantly, he and Steve locked eyes and said in unison: "The Doctor!"

Minutes later, in Arkham Sanatorium, Shearer stared solemnly at Strange across from him and said: "You're exposed."

Strange widened his eyes: "Impossible—I kept my invisibility spell active and shielded the ship with a barrier…"

"But Peter just called me—JARVIS issued an alert. Your magical energy must have interfered with Stark's surveillance devices around the ship."

"Damn it—I specifically avoided those cameras. Maybe it was the one on the starboard deck—I didn't notice when I passed by…"

Strange sighed helplessly: "What now? Stark's going to hassle me—he might even use this as an excuse to reclaim that ship. That cheap bastard…"

"You're the Sorcerer Supreme now—go back to Kamar-Taj and meditate for a while. Can he really chase you there? As long as he can't find you, he can't legally reclaim the ship."

"That's true. Perfect—I can dump all that Sanctum work onto Loki and take a few days off. I've been wanting a vacation…"

With that, Strange fled as if chased by dogs—clearly, he still feared Stark's retaliation, since he was in the wrong.

So at the next Glorious Alliance meeting, staring at Strange's empty seat, Stark narrowed his eyes and asked: "Where's Stephen?"

"He returned to Kamar-Taj to meditate—he's recently made some breakthroughs in his magical studies," Shearer repeated Strange's exact words. Stark snorted: "A magic apprentice, and he dares claim 'breakthroughs'?"

After the meeting, the Avengers gathered again. Now that Stark had joined, he sat across from Steve and said: "But I still don't believe Strange is Hydra. He's the Sorcerer Supreme—what possible link could there be between those two identities?"

"Hydra always operates this way—you just don't understand them," Steve sighed. "They disguise themselves as anyone—politicians, senators, drivers, street vendors—you never know which one is Hydra."

"And from my experience, highly educated people are Hydra's hardest-hit group—where do you think all their researchers come from?"