----
"Damn it!"
Zola hadn't expected Nolan to be this prepared. How did he even know Zola was still alive? Even within Hydra's inner circle, most assumed Arnim Zola had been eliminated decades ago by Captain America.
In truth, Zola had died or at least his human body did. But his mind? His consciousness had been uploaded and reborn in the data stream. He had become the system.
He didn't need to build artificial intelligence he was the artificial intelligence.
"You guess," Nolan replied coolly, fingers a blur on the keyboard as wave after wave of data crashed into Zola's neural code.
"Stop stop! It's too much! I can't handle it!" Zola's digitized voice grew desperate.
Becoming a digital entity had granted him near-immortality, existing anywhere electricity and magnetic fields could sustain him. But his uploaded mind, for all its genius, was still rooted in human architecture. His magnetic neural grid merely preserved human consciousness it didn't elevate it.
In raw computational terms, Zola was no more efficient than an advanced AI.
He grew fast, swift, but not fast enough.
And now, this insane company had three top-tier artificial intelligences boxing him in like predators circling prey.
"Thanks for the Hydra intel, Doctor Zola," Nolan said icily.
On-screen, the red dots marking Hydra bases on the U.S. East Coast vanished in real-time. Only a handful remained.
"Those are the high-level Hydra outposts," Al confirmed as addresses and coordinates flickered across the screen.
Zola had unknowingly delivered a golden gift.
Perhaps it was his scientist's mind hyperfocused on natural science, blind to the strategic dangers of digital warfare. Even after absorbing petabytes of data, he still lacked street sense. He thought as long as he avoided military servers or Stark's networks, he'd remain invisible.
He'd made one mistake he underestimated Oscorp.
"Damn it!"
Zola retreated forced out, not by logic errors, but by sheer overwhelming force. This wasn't his battlefield. These weren't just servers this was Oscorp's digital fortress.
Back in the lab, Nolan stared at the map. One name caught his attention.
"Strucker. It's time to end this."
---
Somewhere in a forested valley, inside a moving armored vehicle—
"You useless coward!" Baron Strucker slammed a fist against the seatback. "Zola swore there was no risk! And now he's exposed every one of our fallback locations!"
He massaged his temple, fury boiling beneath his usually cold exterior.
Dozens of Hydra outposts were gone. An entire network of operations is up in smoke.
How had Nolan even gathered that level of intel? Oscorp didn't even seem to have embedded agents on the ground.
What the hell was he hiding?
Fortunately, their mobile command centers were designed for such emergencies. Compact. Disposable. Easy to relocate.
Strucker's car sped down a winding mountain road. Around him, decoy vehicles scattered across multiple escape paths.
In the back seat, Strucker grabbed his secure satellite phone.
"Gideon. We can't wait any longer. Can you get Kaecilius to bring Hive back?"
"It's already underway," Gideon responded. "Kaecilius plans to tap into Dormammu's dimensional energy to tear open the gate. I've sent three enhanced operatives to assist. We should have Hive soon."
"Good," Strucker muttered, staring at a digital file. It was Nolan years ago. A different man.
Or was he?
No one else in Hydra knew Nolan's true origin that he'd once been their scientist.
Strucker had kept that secret for himself. He wanted to monopolize the secret to Nolan's rapid evolution.
And now, Nolan was back… and more dangerous than ever.
"Boss! Vehicle One just exploded!"
"Boss, Vehicle Two is gone!"
"Boss, Vehicle Five detonated!"
The Hydra soldier in the front seat was watching the decoy tracker screen. One by one, the icons disappeared.
"Damn it! They're already here!"
Strucker's hand shook as he reached into a locked case and pulled out an injector filled with a glowing orange serum. His jaw clenched.
He stabbed it into his neck.
Fire erupted in his veins. He screamed.
"AAARRRGH!"
His flesh burned from the inside out. His body contorted violently, steam rising from his skin as his cells underwent radical mutation.
It was the Centipede Serum a derivative of Extremis, reengineered from Killian's research. Combined with the Deathspore pathogen in his bloodstream, it gave him monstrous regenerative capabilities.
If Nolan had found him, Strucker knew—he couldn't rely on conventional weapons.
He had to survive.
The serum took hold. His skin darkened and glowed. His clothes incinerated from the heat radiating off his body.
The vehicle roared around a narrow curve—
WHAM!
Something fell from the sky, slamming into the road like a meteorite.
The Hydra driver gasped. "What the hell?!"
There was no time to brake. The figure raised a hand.
BOOM!
The armored SUV collided with what felt like a steel wall. It crumpled on impact, flipping sideways before crashing onto the pavement in a heap of metal.
Everyone inside but Strucker was killed on impact. He tore himself from the wreckage, skin burned, muscles torn but already regenerating.
Deathspore + Centipede he was still standing.
"Damn it," he hissed, glaring through the smoke.
And then he saw him.
Clad in his reinforced battle suit, Nolan stepped forward from the flames like a ghost from the past.
"Strucker," he said. "Long time no see."
----
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