"Cassius!"
Gwen recognized the figure walking in, and the crushing weight on her chest finally lifted. As long as Cassius was here, no one could hurt her. Her eyes might have been a bit blurry, but she would never forget that indistinct figure and his voice.
The moment he entered, Cassius saw Gwen in the lab, looking weak and in pain. He couldn't even begin to imagine how much she had suffered while being held captive here. A spark of fury flashed in his usually calm eyes.
"You guys are eager to die, don't you..." Cassius looked up, his gaze icy.
"Heh heh, I never thought you'd be foolish enough to walk right into your own death!" Strucker sneered. "This isn't America; Stark Industries' reach can't help you here."
So what if he broke through his defenses? The most powerful thing in this entire underground base wasn't the defenses; it was him!
"Is that your last will and testament?" Cassius looked up, murder in his eyes. He didn't wait for Strucker to say another word. In a flash, he vanished from where he stood. He was so fast that the air itself shrieked.
In that instant, he appeared out of thin air right in front of Strucker. The speed was so intense that it created a strong gust of wind inside the compartment.
'How is this po...' Strucker's pupils constricted violently. He didn't even have time to blink. This speed was beyond anything he had ever seen. He could track even Quicksilver, but this man's sudden burst of speed completely eclipsed him. Before he could even raise his hand to fight back, he felt a hand clamp down on his face!
Bang!
He was sent flying like a cannonball, slammed into the wall. The indestructible wall was dented, and Strucker was embedded in it from the sheer force.
After doing that, Cassius didn't continue to deal with Strucker. Instead, he went to the front of the room. The Phoenix Force swirled in his hand, and he disintegrated the wall blocking the way, turning it into black particles.
Although Strucker had turned off the nerve toxin after hearing about the intruder, some of the toxic mist was still floating in the room. With a wave of his hand, the mist instantly vanished.
"Gwen, don't worry. I'm here." Cassius picked up Gwen, and a green glow appeared in his hand. The power of the Horse Talisman quickly removed the toxin from her body. Even so, Gwen was still incredibly weak. The side effects of the nerve toxin had exhausted her mentally.
"Thank you..." Gwen's voice was weak, and her body was completely limp. Seeing Cassius arrive, all the fear in her heart disappeared. She had thought she would become one of the specimens in those jars, but now she didn't have to worry about any of that.
"Don't worry. Rest well. I'll get revenge for you," Cassius said, enveloping Gwen in the Phoenix Force to keep her safe. He then turned his head to look at Strucker, who was struggling to crawl out of the wall. "Are you ready to face despair?"
His tone was incredibly calm, but anyone could hear the anger in his voice. He had never been this angry before, and this time, he could feel the rage constantly spreading within him.
"You damn fool! Do you really think you can deal with me like this?" Strucker gritted his teeth, leaning on the wall to stand up. If his body hadn't been modified, he would have been a pile of meat just from that one hit. Even so, it had caused a lot of damage to his body. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "Come out, all of you! My soldiers!"
As soon as he said that, a row of life pods in the southwest corner of the specimen room slowly opened. The culture fluid used to keep the specimens alive spilled all over the floor. As the life pods opened, the soldiers inside slowly opened their eyes.
Since they weren't wearing shirts, their perfectly sculpted muscles were clearly visible. These were soldiers specially bred for combat. Not only did they have incredible physiques, but they also possessed the most advanced combat instincts.
"My top soldiers! Tear that damn bastard to shreds!" Strucker stared at Cassius with a sinister expression. He couldn't wait to pin this bastard onto his operating table. In all his years, this was the first time he had been pushed to this point!
The moment they walked out of the life pods, Yelena's face changed drastically. She never thought Strucker would have such a secret weapon! With just one look, she recognized who these men were.
"Cassius, be careful! These are Winter Soldiers! Any one of them is strong enough to rival Captain America!" Yelena said, her voice trembling. She was so glad she hadn't tried to take on Strucker herself. Even if she had managed to take him down, she would never have been able to handle these Winter Soldiers.
After all, she was just an agent. While she was agile and skilled, she was not on the same level as these monsters. These were from the same batch as the original Winter Soldier but had definitely been enhanced by Strucker. So they were bound to be even stronger than Bucky.
The only thing she had managed to find out during her three years undercover was that Strucker was researching how to make things stronger. That was also why he had brought in all sorts of people from around the world for his research.
"Yelena, whose side are you on, you damn traitor!" When Strucker heard that, he finally understood that Yelena had betrayed him. He had been suspicious when he saw Yelena enter with the intruder. Now he finally understood. It was exactly what he had suspected!
"Well, I'm definitely not working for you," Yelena said, shrugging her shoulders with a look of disdain. Since her cover was blown, she couldn't continue her mission regardless of the outcome. In that case, she might as well reveal everything.
"Fine!" Strucker was so angry that he laughed, screaming in a sharp voice. "Kill them all!"
Since she was a traitor, he didn't need to hold back. He had been suspicious of Yelena before, but she had been so useful that he had never given up on her. He never thought she would backstab him at a time like this.
Just as he finished speaking, the ceiling suddenly cracked open. A massive black shadow broke through the ceiling and swooped down. It was a giant, humanoid bat with steel-needle-like bristles all over its body. It was like a dark cloud in the room, pouncing directly at Cassius. Its massive wings flapped, creating an ear-piercing shriek, as if countless people were wailing.
"Hiss!" Yelena winced and covered her ears. "That monster turned a person into a monster!"
The sound seemed to affect her soul, and her whole body trembled involuntarily. And what terrified her even more was how insane Strucker was. The more she learned about him, the more she realized that he was a heartless bastard.
"Rest in peace. You must be in so much pain in that body," Cassius said, shaking his head. A red light flashed in his eyes. An invisible force instantly acted on the bat's body. It exploded in the air into a spray of blood, but the blood didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it turned into black particles and floated in the air.
"It's time to wipe all this evil from the world." Cassius's eyes were filled with nothing but coldness. He had no idea how many people these monsters had hurt while they were alive. He could clearly feel that the Winter Soldiers and the bat had lost their minds. They were like controlled robots, only capable of carrying out Strucker's orders unconditionally.
As soon as he finished speaking, the shadow of a phoenix seemed to appear in Cassius's pupils. A murky, dark red glow instantly appeared around Cassius, and the Phoenix Force filled the entire room. A buzzing sound rang in everyone's ears.
A terrifying power gathered in the confined space. This overwhelming energy made the air incredibly heavy. It was an indescribable sense of oppression.
Yelena even fell to her knees, breathing heavily. She could clearly feel that Cassius wasn't targeting her; he was just releasing his power. But even so, she could barely handle it. She could even see the energy causing the air to vibrate violently, creating transparent ripples.
As the Phoenix Force was released, the entire underground lab trembled. It felt as if there was an earthquake. The seemingly indestructible steel walls started to crack under the immense pressure. It was as if something was tearing and stretching them, and everything around them started to change under the effect of this energy.
"Damn it! What is this?! What is this power?!" Strucker's expression became incredibly twisted as he felt the immense pressure.
Fear, dread, and a sense of longing surged within him. This was the power he had always wanted to possess! But this power wasn't his.
At this moment, Strucker could even hear the modified parts on his body creaking in protest. These were modifications that had a small amount of Vibranium integrated into them! But under the overwhelming force of this power, they were completely useless.
The Winter Soldiers finally moved. Because they were being controlled, they couldn't feel fear.
Bang!
With a loud crash, they crouched down and quickly pounced at Cassius. And as they moved, the Winter Soldiers were able to coordinate their actions. Each of them was responsible for a different position, ready to launch a lightning-fast attack once they got close.
But the moment they ran, it was as if they had entered a place where the air was incredibly thick. Their movements seemed to be in slow motion. They began to disintegrate, starting from the ends of their bodies, and slowly turned into black particles.
It wasn't just them; everything in the lab started to change. Anything that the Phoenix Force touched would turn into black particles and fill the air. The lab was now filled with countless black particles, like dense fog.
"You! You're that mysterious person!" Strucker stared at the strange power, his eyes wide. The image from the live broadcast suddenly appeared in his mind.
The things around him then had also slowly started to disintegrate just like this. This power had only appeared at Orchard Beach, but he had never imagined it would belong to a Stark Industries shareholder. At this moment, he finally understood why Cassius knew Wanda and Ghost-Spider.
"Mysterious person?" Yelena had never thought about that before. But when she heard what Strucker said, she froze. In her opinion, this was the most terrifying power in the world. And the person who possessed this power was right beside her. She suddenly felt incredibly lucky.
'Thank God I'm not on his bad side!' If she had been on his bad side, the consequences would have been unimaginable. After all, this power could easily make a person disappear. The power was so terrifying just to look at. If you died this way, you wouldn't even have a body left behind.
"Wait!" Strucker waved his hands, falling to his knees on the steel floor with a bang. "Please spare me! I'll give you anything you want!"
He knew that with his strength, he was no match for Cassius. After all, this power could easily disintegrate anything, even Vibranium!
He was confident in his strength, but he knew that under this power, he wouldn't even be able to struggle.
Facing Cassius's icy eyes, he said, his voice trembling, "Also, my research skills are amazing, and I have a lot of money! I even have a lot of connections..."
His mind raced as he listed all his advantages and most valuable assets. While he was no match for Cassius in terms of strength, he was confident in his research. For one thing, he could continuously produce Winter Soldiers, although the cost was high. But that was nothing to him, and he had a lot of connections. He could even make Cassius a world-famous superstar overnight if he wanted to.
"Are you done with your nonsense?" Cassius's eyes were filled with disgust, as if he were looking at a crawling insect.
Money, power, and strength? He already had all of those. And the moment Strucker tied himself to Gwen, he had sealed his own fate. The only thing he wanted now was for this bastard to die in the most miserable way possible.
Countless black particles swirled around Strucker. The next moment, the steel floor under his feet quickly dissolved. In an instant, it melted into a large hole, and what appeared below was hot magma.
"Ah!" Strucker plummeted. At the last second, he managed to grab onto the edge of the floor. The lava splashed up from below, hitting Strucker's body. He could even see his cybernetic parts melting. The scorching heat surrounded Strucker, and the burning sensation passed through his mechanical enhancements and into his flesh.
"No! No! No!" The pain caused Strucker to cry, snot and tears streaming down his face. They instantly dried up from the high temperature. I can't die yet! I still have so much research...
But just then, his eyes widened in horror! Because he saw that in the room with the specimens, strange figures were starting to appear. These figures had mutilated bodies and were dragging their broken limbs as they moved toward him. A deep, abyssal roar filled the air. They shrieked, wanting to tear Strucker to shreds.
"Strucker, these are the souls of the people you killed. Enjoy." Cassius looked at Strucker with cold eyes and left, holding Gwen.
"No! Don't! Save me! I don't want to die!" The endless vengeful souls swarmed Strucker, tearing at his flesh. The souls vented their hatred and anger. Strucker's proud armor shattered into pieces, leaving only his flesh to be torn apart by the souls!
Strucker's screams echoed through the lab. The horrifying sounds reverberated in the office. As the lab door closed, the screams were cut off.
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