Liberty Island.
At this moment, the agents sealing off Liberty Island had vanished, replaced by heavily armed soldiers encircling the island.
"General Ross, everything's ready," Emil Blonsky reported, standing beside Ross. He glanced at a group of totem families nearby and frowned. "General, why bring them along?"
General Ross stared impassively at the beam of light descending from the Statue of Liberty's torch. "Without them, our soldiers would suffer heavier losses."
Emil nodded thoughtfully. "But with them here, they could disrupt our plans."
"With us in charge, they're no threat," Ross replied, his gaze locking onto a group of vampires dressed like medieval nobles.
Emil, picking up on Ross's thoughts, whispered, "Morlun didn't come. It's just a bunch of Bat totem vampires."
"I know," Ross said, his eyes narrowing. "Pity. Morlun, who single-handedly revived the fallen Inheritor family into totem nobility, would've been interesting."
Emil added, "General, we'll cross paths eventually. Right now, the priority is finding the subterranean civilization and securing the legendary Supreme Totem energy."
"Hm."
Ross shifted his focus. "Tell them we're ready to move."
"Understood."
Emil relayed the order to the totem families, and the group surged into the glowing portal.
…
Meanwhile, deep in the primeval forest, Nick Fury's team faced the subterranean civilization's first wave of danger.
Roar~
BOOM~~
A howling wind swept through the forest canopy as green, winged monsters descended en masse, diving toward the group with frenzied attacks.
"Monsters!"
Hawkeye was the first to spot them. At his warning, the agents drew their weapons and fired at the creatures in the sky.
Rat-a-tat-tat~
Thud thud thud
Standard firearms spat fire, and under a hail of bullets, the monsters wailed and crashed into the forest below.
Hiding behind Professor Connors, Charlie examined the wounds of a fallen green monster, noticing totem energy spreading within.
Evidently, with the S.H.I.E.L.D. totem's boost, even ordinary agents' attacks could channel traces of totem energy to kill enemies.
Roar!
A not-quite-dead monster lunged at Charlie, its greedy eyes chilling as it sensed the immense totem energy within him—an irresistible feast.
Before Charlie could act, a scaly arm pierced the monster's body with ease.
Splat!
Green blood sprayed, and Charlie dodged the mess.
Behind the monster, Connors slowly withdrew the Lizardfolk arm, wielding totem energy to kill without transforming.
"Whoa, Professor, that was badass!" Charlie clapped, grinning.
Connors straightened up. "Something's off here. Don't reveal yourself yet," he whispered.
He turned, slashing with his claws. The air hissed as another attacking monster was torn in half.
Inspecting the dead creature, Charlie crouched down.
It resembled a humanoid lizard with wings, but its intelligence was low, with only faint totem energy.
BOOM!
A sudden explosion sent the monster's corpse flying. Charlie glared at Harry's direction, his face darkening.
"Jerk, throw your bombs farther! Can't you see I'm studying here?" he yelled.
Transformed into the Green Goblin, Harry turned, flashing an awkward yet menacing grin.
"Gah gah gah, sorry, I'll be more careful."
"Ugh, that laugh is hideous," Charlie muttered.
Harry: "…"
Soon, with most monsters slaughtered, the survivors scattered and vanished into the sky.
Hawkeye fired his final arrow and scanned the littered corpses.
"Just Level 1 totem monsters, but what comes next might not be so easy."
Charlie rubbed his temples. "Level 1 monsters? There's a grading system?" He looked at Connors.
Connors nodded. "Forgot to mention. The lowest are Level 1 totem monsters; the highest are Level 5, corresponding to the strongest totem warriors of the totem nobility."
"I'm guessing there's a level above 5," Charlie ventured, sure he was right.
As expected, Connors explained, "Indeed. Above Level 5 are the legendary totem warriors. The King Rat totem's master was one such warrior."
Legendary warriors.
Charlie groaned inwardly. "And above legendary, there's something stronger, right?"
Connors glanced around and whispered, "Few know this, but above legendary is the Supreme—the origin of all totem energies, or close to it. A terrifying existence no one's ever seen. I only learned of it from the Lizardfolk's information."
Charlie's mind sparked. "Only the Lizardfolk know?"
Connors nodded. "Probably, but I can't rule out others knowing."
"Got it."
Charlie glanced at Fury, smirking faintly.
Searching for subterranean power to counter the Inheritor family?
Seems like Fury wasn't being entirely honest.
If the Lizardfolk knew of the Supreme Totem energy, it was likely here in the subterranean world.
As he pondered, his Spider totem stirred, sensing something. He looked back toward their entry point, his smile widening.
Well, well, S.H.I.E.L.D. never could keep a secret operation under wraps.
He'd left a little something behind, letting him sense more totem energies entering this world—including the Bat totem, a lesser branch of the Leech totem tied to the Inheritors.
Suddenly, the connection was severed. Charlie withdrew his gaze.
Only the Leech totem, which countered his Spider totem, could do that. The Morlun family had finally shown up.
He didn't know the specifics but could guess those guys were scheming—easy enough to handle.
Soon, Connors adjusted their course, and the group set off again.
Meanwhile, General Ross rode a makeshift tech motorcycle, trailing Fury's group from a distance.
The portal's range was too small; otherwise, a general like him wouldn't be caught dead on such a comical bike.
Soon, a scout returned.
"General, there are signs of a battle ahead—strange totem monsters."
"Subterranean totem monsters?"
Ross's interest piqued, and he followed to the battle site.
"General, S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't cataloged these totem monsters, so they're definitely native to the subterranean world," Emil said confidently.
"Natives?"
Felicia stepped forward. "Aren't the natives here Lizardfolk? These look more like totem monsters."
Emil, stone-faced, replied, "The subterranean civilization isn't just Lizardfolk. You get my meaning."
Felicia ignored his attitude, but Aleksei couldn't stand it.
"You jerk! How dare you give that stinky face to a cute cat-girl!"
Aleksei was about to lose it when a mechanical octopus arm restrained him.
"Rhino, calm down."
Totem Otto ignored Aleksei's struggles, smiling harmlessly at the cold Emil.
"Sir, we're ready to move out," he said with a grin.
Emil remained icy. "You move when the General says so."
"Of course. The Octopus totem family always respects authority," Otto replied.
His family members immediately backed him up with action.
"Long live General Ross!!"
The Octopus totem warriors shouted in unison, drawing a swarm of unknown totem monsters. Emil cursed the damned fat octopus under his breath.
Having achieved his goal, Otto smiled under his family's protection. Aleksei looked at him with awe.
"Doc Ock, you're amazing."
"Just average," Otto replied.
"I have a request."
"Go ahead."
"Can you use your tentacles to scratch an itch for me?"
Totem Otto: "…"
…
Meanwhile, Fury's team continued racing through the forest on their bikes.
As the team's indispensable human, Hawkeye first noticed something off in the forest behind them.
"Nick, we've got a situation."
He stopped to report to Fury. "I saw and heard totem monsters and gunfire back there," he said, his face serious.
Fury looked back, frowning. "The subterranean world blocks signals. I can't tell what's happening up there."
Natasha chimed in, "But we can guess it's those guys. They're capable of following us here."
"Let me handle them." Totem Steve grabbed his shield and sped off on his bike.
"Steve, stop!" Fury shouted.
Steve laughed loudly. "Forget your orders, Commander. Go play with your cotton balls~~"
He rode farther until he vanished from sight.
Fury's face darkened further.
Natasha and the others stayed silent, wary of worsening his mood.
Charlie, however, clapped in approval. "The Totem Universe has its own honey-tongued Captain. Nice."
"Whoa, Honey-Tongued Captain? Cool name," Harry said, sidling up to continue his charm offensive.
Charlie pushed his face away, earning a resentful look.
"You're too much," Harry muttered.
"You're the one being too flirty," Charlie shot back.
"Am I?" Harry looked confusedly at his father.
Norman sighed at his hopeless son and nodded.
Harry: "…"
No one taught him how to win over a guy!
Men are such complicated creatures.
Well, I'm one too.
After Harry slunk away, Connors spread out a hand-drawn map.
"Based on the totem monsters we've encountered, I'm fairly certain there's a Lizardfolk settlement in the nearby swamp."
"They live in a swamp?" Fury asked, puzzled.
Connors glanced at him. "Even if they don't, we have to cross this swamp. There's no road ahead, and forging one would take too long. Plus, we could get stuck in the mud.
You're not telling me you didn't bring tools for crossing water, are you?" He eyed Fury suspiciously.
Fury thought for a moment. "Nothing can stump our agents."
With that, Hawkeye shot an arrow to blast a tree trunk, and the agents began building rafts.
Natasha glanced back. "Steve hasn't returned. He might be in danger."
"He's fine," Charlie said.
Natasha looked at him oddly. "How do you know?"
Charlie shrugged. "Because he went the wrong way. He's probably lost."
"Forget him," Fury told Natasha. "That guy's a headache. Our mission is to find the Lizardfolk."
He regretted waking up this reckless, planless super-soldier.
How did a guy like that become a national icon seventy years ago?
What a ridiculous world.
As the agents finished the rafts, the group boarded and entered the river.
The swamp's waters weren't deep, and the dense jungle was eerily silent, save for the sound of paddles.
The team's expressions grew tense.
Something was very wrong.
Splash~
A noise came from below, and the raft shook as if it had hit something.
"Oh no!"
"Damn it, something's down there!"
A panicked agent fired into the water, sending up sprays, but the thing below didn't budge. The raft kept shaking but soon stilled.
Whoosh~
A green flare streaked across the sky. Harry, on his glider, shouted, "Don't move—it's a big one!"
From his vantage point, he saw a massive, elongated shadow pass under the raft.
His eyes widened in horror.
"Harry, get down! You're too exposed!" Norman yelled, but Harry was still in shock.
Thankfully, after a moment, Harry landed back on the raft without incident. The dead-silent swamp began to hum with insect and bird calls.
Relieved, the group realized they were drenched in cold sweat.
"What was that?" Fury asked Harry, snapping out of it.
Harry took a deep breath. "If I'm not mistaken, a giant python. Huge. Super huge."
He scanned the river and gestured. "It was almost as wide as the river itself."
"What?"
The group gasped, glancing at the banks and swallowing hard.
"So… this river is actually its… snake path!"
Their faces paled.
Charlie pulled his wrist device from the water, eyeing the murky image of scales as big as a car. He grinned.
"Nice. The Totem Universe has its own kaiju."
With that, he dove into the river, prompting shouts from the group.
"No, he's been dragged under!"
"Oh my gosh, save him!"
"Alert! Alert!"
The team erupted into chaos.
…
Meanwhile, in the sunless dark forest, Totem Steve scanned the chilling surroundings and shivered.
"Anyone here?"
"My God, I'm actually lost! That cotton-playing jerk must've given me the wrong direction. I'm gonna punch your other eye out when I get back!!"
Totem Steve raged helplessly.