There was no time to think as intense gunfire erupted from both sides of the forest again. Bullets swept toward them like a tide from all directions. However, Cassius simply waved his hand, and a fiery red energy formed a brilliant barrier. When the bullets hit it, it was as if they were suspended in time. Countless bullets were completely stopped in mid-air.
"There are so many more people here!" Gwen instantly sensed the number of people on both sides of the forest, and her expression grew more serious.
These people's movements were very tactical; they would perform alternating reloads. Not only that, but they seemed to be targeting something specific, as they were grouped in teams of six and dispersed in different parts of the forest.
"Do these little cockroaches really think they can deal with us with these toys?" Cassius sighed helplessly. He was already a bit annoyed. The "shura field" was already making him uncomfortable, and now someone had the audacity to provoke them.
He waved his right hand, and a crimson vortex appeared in his palm. Since he had gained his Fire Elemental Power, he hadn't used it, and now was a good time to let them feel some pain. After all, a power like the Phoenix Force was too powerful; making them simply disappear would be too easy.
Whoosh!
Cassius let out a soft breath, and the flame turned into a giant dragon, spiraling around them. In the next second, with Cassius at the center, it turned into a massive crimson whirlwind. Other than where the three of them were standing, the entire area was surrounded by flames. The whole place was instantly engulfed in scorching heat.
"Ahhh!!!"
"What kind of monster is this!"
"It hurts!"
Countless screams of agony instantly rang out from the forest.
Cassius hadn't turned the flames up to their highest temperature. Instead, he made the Hydra agents feel the excruciating pain of being consumed by flames in a slow, agonizing way.
In this situation, the burning flames would not only scorch them. The high temperature would also be inhaled through their airways, causing a painful death from the inside out. They were like they were in hell, constantly wailing and rolling around, but it was all in vain.
Even the trees and plants outside of the fire tornado were scorched and withered by the flames. Many trees even started to burn as the temperature gradually rose.
In just over thirty seconds, all sounds disappeared.
Snap!
Cassius slowly snapped his fingers. The burning flames instantly went out as if they had been deprived of air. All that was left were the charred trees, which were still giving off faint white smoke. The surrounding area became completely silent, with only the sound of trees cracking and collapsing.
Gwen's mouth was slightly open, and her eyes were blank. Although she had seen Cassius's power on the news, seeing it up close filled her eyes with nothing but shock. Even though she was in the center of the fire tornado, she didn't feel any heat. But she could clearly sense the enemies twisting and deforming in pain in the flames.
"It's over." Cassius waved his right hand, and the barrier around them instantly disappeared.
The bullets that had been stopped by the barrier now clattered to the ground. The smell of burnt wood filled the air, mixed with a sickening smell of roasted meat.
Gwen instantly felt an urge to gag. She had defeated many enemies before, but this was the first time she had seen such a gruesome sight. Her stomach was churning, and it felt like she was about to throw up at any moment. After all, she was still just a college student.
"Are you okay?" Wanda walked over and gently rubbed Gwen's back, her voice filled with concern. She didn't feel much, with only a sense of disgust for Hydra left in her heart.
"I'm fine." Gwen bent over and dry-heaved a few times before standing up with a pale face. After all, her adaptability was much better than others.
Wanda looked around and said, "The Hydra people were most likely coming for me." She sounded a bit unsure when she said this.
This was because the memories of the Hydra members had been fragmented due to brainwashing. All they had was the mission they had been given from above. When she read the memories of the Hydra agent just now, she only found out that the person was a Hydra member and that their goal was to intercept and capture the three people in the car.
"You should tell Tony about this," Cassius said. If they were coming for Wanda, it wasn't a good idea for him to get involved. The Avengers would have to clean up the mess in the end.
"Alright." Wanda agreed, pulling out her phone and calling Tony.
"What's up?" Tony and the others had just arrived at the Secretary of State's building. They were a little surprised by Wanda's sudden call. Because of her personality, Wanda wouldn't call him unless it was urgent.
"The Hydra people attacked me," Wanda said in a calm voice.
"Are you okay? What's the situation?" Tony's face instantly turned grim. Because he didn't lower his voice, Steve and the others next to him could hear him clearly. They had no idea that Hydra would go after Wanda at a time like this.
"I'm fine. I've already taken care of all of them," Wanda said, taking all the credit for what happened.
"Send me your location, and I'll notify S.H.I.E.L.D. to take over the situation." Tony said calmly, then hung up the phone. However, his grim expression showed that he was not in a good mood.
"Tony, should we send some people to protect Wanda?" Steve said after a moment of thought. Since they were coming for Wanda, the most important thing right now was her safety.
"There's no need. Wanda has that mysterious guy protecting her." Tony shook his head. With that guy around, there was no way Wanda would be in any danger.
Although Wanda was fine, that didn't mean he was going to let this go. Hydra? They had to go after him of all people. It seemed like he needed to cut off all of Hydra's heads.
....
Meanwhile, in an underground base.
In a beige-walled office, "Reporting!" a voice came from outside the door. As the door opened, a man in a black combat uniform jogged into the office. "Boss, the capture mission failed! Everyone we sent... was completely wiped out!" The man reported the news with a grim voice.
Bang!
"What?" The man in the black leather chair with a mechanical eye on his right side suddenly turned around and slammed his hand on the table, yelling, his face turning red. "They're a bunch of useless fools! Two elite teams, and they couldn't even capture a little girl!"
When he sent out this team, he had specifically calculated the combat power of both sides. Although Ghost-Spider was agile, that didn't mean she was invulnerable to knives and bullets. And with their team's strong organization, there shouldn't have been any accidents! Even if there were some losses, they shouldn't have been this big!
"According to the information we obtained, the Scarlet Witch was also on the scene!" The man lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and continued to report. He paused here and then said, "And there was a man there named Cassius. He's a shareholder of Stark Industries!"
"Oh?" The bald man frowned, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "I never thought that the Scarlet Witch would be with a shareholder of Stark Industries. How interesting!"
If the Scarlet Witch was there, then everything made sense. Two elite teams were no match for the Scarlet Witch. But what he couldn't figure out was why the Scarlet Witch wasn't with Tony and his group. Instead, she was with a Stark Industries shareholder. That made this matter a lot more interesting.
If Cassius were there, he would have recognized this person. This person was none other than Baron Strucker. He was one of the high-ranking members of the Hydra organization. But this was not the movie version of him, but the comic book version.
Baron Strucker slowly stood up and stretched his shoulders. His body was now revealed. His arms were metal, reflecting a silver light, and his chest and back were covered with a lot of steel parts. With just a slight movement, the sound of metal friction rang out from his body.
"Boss, should we organize another team to capture Ghost-Spider?" The man lowered his head and asked with a heavy voice. They had already analyzed the situation. As long as they waited for Ghost-Spider to be alone, they would be able to bring her back.
"Don't be in a hurry. We'll wait for the right time to make a second attempt at the capture." Baron Strucker walked over to the man and patted his shoulder with his metal arm. Although his voice was calm and indifferent, the man still trembled slightly.
Now that the Scarlet Witch was involved, this matter was not so simple. And even if he were to capture her, it definitely wouldn't be now. The current situation had already exceeded his expectations.
"Alright, get out of here," Baron Strucker gave the order with an indifferent expression.
"Yes!" The man quickly lowered his head and carefully backed out of the office.
Heh heh heh... Baron Strucker turned around and went back to his seat with a sinister smile. "Scarlet Witch? I'll get you back sooner or later!"
He had regretted letting the Scarlet Witch get away for a long time. It seemed like it was time to reconsider recapturing the Scarlet Witch. And with Tony and the others having gone to Wakanda recently, he might just find the perfect opportunity.
Just thinking about it made his heart beat a little faster. She was a very wonderful test subject! He casually opened the wooden drawer on his right and pulled out a file.
[Key Test Subject... Wanda Maximoff]
After looking at the file for a few times, he focused on the passport photo.
"Wait for me. You'll be back soon!" As he said this, the expression on his face became more and more twisted. He stood up with the file in his hand and pressed a button on the wall, and a door behind him slowly opened.
As he walked in, his eyes were met with a large number of metal racks. Each rack was filled with various jars and bottles. Inside these jars and bottles were various human tissues. Mutated arms, long tongues, and even a jar filled with eyeballs.
A chilling atmosphere emanated from the room. What was even more terrifying was that in the glass jars in the depths of the room, there were various grotesque heads soaking in liquid.
These were all test subjects. Some of the heads even seemed to still be alive, with their mouths open as if they were letting out a silent cry of pain.
"Wanda, when will you be able to be in here with them?" Baron Strucker picked up a glass jar with a head in it, his eyes staring straight at the jar, his mouth almost splitting open to his ears. His eyes were filled with nothing but desire and an unspeakable excitement.
A harsh, hoarse laugh echoed in the dark room.
....
Since S.H.I.E.L.D. was taking over the matter, Cassius had already returned to the manor with Gwen and Wanda before they arrived.
"..." Cassius stretched after getting out of the car and couldn't help but sigh. "Finally back!"
Although not much had happened on this trip, Cassius was mentally drained. After all, if you wanted excitement, you had to endure some heart-pounding anxiety. As for Hydra? He didn't take it to heart. If those guys really annoyed him, he didn't mind making some time to deal with those annoying little pests.
"I'm going to go take a shower first." Wanda rubbed her sore arms. The scorching air had made her sweat a lot. She felt sticky all over and couldn't wait to go back to the bathroom to take a shower.
"Alright," Cassius nodded and gave her a meaningful smile. "You go shower first, and then we can eat!" Just one sentence was enough for Wanda to know what this guy was thinking.
"You'd better go cook! Stop being so cheeky!" Wanda said, swaying her curvaceous body as she walked upstairs. After all, the sticky feeling from sweating was just too uncomfortable.
After watching Wanda go upstairs, Cassius took the ingredients out of the trunk and walked toward the kitchen.
"Oh, right, Gwen, if you're tired, you can rest on the couch." He didn't forget to tell Gwen to sit on the couch.
"No, I want to go and watch!" Gwen shook her head and jogged to catch up with Cassius. Instead of just sitting there, she wanted to be close to Cassius and chat with him.
"Are you trying to secretly learn my skills?" Cassius took the opportunity while Wanda was gone to pinch her adorable little face. The soft feeling made his heart melt.
"Hmph! Of course!" Gwen said proudly, crossing her arms over her chest and enjoying the feeling of Cassius pinching her face.
After all, she had been craving Cassius's cooking for a long time. The last time she had that breakfast, all she could think about in class was how delicious it was. So now, she naturally wanted to see if she could learn some of his skills.
"Then come on. If you can learn it, I'll be impressed." Cassius smiled, took his hand back, and walked toward the kitchen.
"Oh, right, does Wanda live with you?" Gwen suddenly brought this up. After all, she had noticed that Wanda had gone to a room upstairs. That meant it was very likely that Wanda lived in Cassius's house.
Cassius paused but continued walking forward, saying without turning his head, "Yeah, we've gone through so many life-or-death situations together. She's like family to me."
"Oh." Gwen nodded glumly when she heard that. She didn't think too much of it, she was just a little jealous that Wanda could live with Cassius.
After entering the kitchen, Cassius skillfully began to wash the vegetables and cook. Watching his busy back, Gwen could no longer hold back her emotions and instantly hugged Cassius tightly.
And just at that moment, a voice came from behind them.
"Cassius! What are you doing!"
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