I landed behind an old utility vent. The roof was flat, part metal, part cracked cement, and surrounded by sensor cameras that spun lazily like drunk vultures. Two agents paced the south edge near the delivery dock. Another sat inside a booth pretending not to be half asleep. The place looked like an overfunded warehouse with attitude problems.
[System]: Sugar~ This reeks trouble. The current location, S.H.I.E.L.D. Peripheral Research Node. Security grade: C+. Hackable. Access points available, 3. Nearest: Roof vent connected to third-floor ventilation shaft. We have four crawlers inside. Two in duct system. One under the admin desk. One suspiciously near the vending machine.
I contacted the one in the duct. It crawled forward. I gave it two commands. First, get to the observation room. Second, don't get eaten by rats. Feedback came in clicks. Affirmative.
I pulled out one of the four propane tanks I stole from the Black Tusk raid. They were tagged as faulty, probably destined for disposal, but I kept them for moments like this. I webbed it from the side, swung it back and forth once to build momentum, then launched it straight toward the far end of the facility.
The second it appeared in their vision I heard one of the guards shout. Gunfire followed. Idiots were already spraying bullets before the damn thing even landed.
BOOM!
The explosion cracked loud, fireball blooming near the generator fence. Perfect. Their focus scattered instantly. Some ran toward the blast, others dropped into cover like they thought more were coming.
I pulled the laptop from inventory. Matte black, reinforced shell, clean build, barely used. Fired it up. Wi-Fi monitoring kicked in. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network was supposed to be air-gapped, but the blast scrambled their perimeter detection. I caught a stray handshake from a maintenance relay near the south vent. That was my backdoor.
I slid a tiny adapter into the port, watched the signal decrypt in real time.
[System]: Firewall cracked. Admin portal detected. Three user tiers. Root access: possible with brute force. Estimated time: 20 seconds.
The screen blinked green. I set up a command chain. Dummy pings to mask the intrusion. Packet spoofing initiated. I overrode camera feed for three minutes. Moved them in a slow rotation loop. On the outside, the feed looked normal. Inside, the guards were staring at a fake loop.
[System]: We are in, sugar. Cameras on mute. Motion alerts paused. Internal schematics loaded. Darcy's signal is close. Third floor, southeast corridor. Two locked blast doors. One active camera inside. Vents still viable.
"Hack into Darcy's phone so we can speak to her, create a map for her to escape, make sure Jane meets her midway, then we can focus on Erik."
[System]: On it, sugar. Cracking Darcy's phone. Model: StarkPhone SE-2. Security grade: C-. Lock bypassed. Remote access enabled. Microphone online. GPS synced.
I opened the mic channel, injected a low static buzz to ping her line without drawing attention.
"Darcy," I whispered, changing my voice. "You hear me?"
Her startled gasp crackled in response. "What the hell? Who is this?"
"Tech support. I am getting you out. Listen carefully."
[System]: Uploading facility map to target device. Route optimized. Lock override protocols queued. Jane Foster location synced. She is two floors below, west wing corridor.
"Your phone's going to buzz in ten seconds," I said. "Follow the arrows. Jane is already moving. You will meet midway near the old server core. After that, head for the emergency hatch. Thirty-five meters. You don't stop. You don't talk."
"Wait, how do you..."
"Move, Bitch."
[System]: Cameras near server core set to blackout loop. Environmental sensors spoofed. Elevator overrides in place.
I jumped across the ventilation gap, landing next to the east duct inlet. Bolted the cover off with a silent burst of web, then slipped inside.
The duct sloped downward. I let gravity do the work.
Three levels in, I activated a spider I had left in the hallway. I fed visuals straight to my HUD.
Darcy's face popped up. Phone in one hand, free hand shaking slightly. She was whispering something to herself. Jane came around the corner. Hair tied.
She grabbed Darcy's elbow, said something too low to catch.
Both women bolted together.
[System]: Hatch unlocked. Three-minute window before backup power resets full lockdown. Erik's signal is weak. Traced to sublevel two. Signature erratic. Multiple heat signatures.
I sent the duct-crawler to the sublevel. Air was thicker. Heat fluctuated. One guard passed below. The spider clung to the wall. I marked Erik's cell. One door. No windows. Reinforced lock, heat scanner at top corner.
A blonde man was shouting from the adjacent cell.
"I am THOR! Release me now, Midgardians!"
He sounded like someone who just woke up from a drunken god nap and thought he was still at war with the ice giants. I muted his audio feed. No time for thunder cosplay. He banged the bars like they insulted his honor. The guard nearby didn't even flinch. Probably used to crazy yelling.
[System]: Target confirmed. Subject Identity: Thor Odinson. Power status: Severely nerfed. Current output: 2%. Ego output: 9000%.
"So the himbo's here too," I muttered, sliding farther into the duct.
[System]: Correction. Himbo with lightning trauma. Proceed carefully. Ego may cause dimensional bleed if provoked.
I reached the sublevel cross-vent. Below me was the holding cell hallway. Concrete floors. Steel doors. Standard S.H.I.E.L.D. industrial chic. Two guards. One seated, one pacing. The seated one had earbuds in. Watching a show on his phone. Probably porn. The pacing one kept glancing at his watch.
I called two venomous spiders from the vent shaft, barely the size of a fingernail. They scrambled down the side of the duct, silk trailing behind them. I spun a thin line of web and guided it like thread over a needle, aligning both spiders directly above the guards.
I whispered, "Don't kill."
The spiders responded with a low click. Their fangs were already primed. I tightened the web lines, let them dangle, barely a breath above the skin. The pacing one passed under. The first spider dropped. Fangs sank into his neck. He slapped it immediately. The crunch echoed. Dead spider hit the floor. His neck swelled slightly. He cursed, rubbed the spot.
The other spider dropped toward porn-boy. His eyes were glued to the screen. He jerked his head at the last second. The spider bit the edge of his collarbone, latched, bit, then launched itself back up the thread. Smart bastard. Left no evidence.
He stood up fast, yanked his earpieces out, scanned the hall.
"What was that?"
Pacing one grunted. "Bug, maybe. Felt like a needle."
Porn boy squinted at the ceiling, then back at his screen.
"Better not be bedbugs. I am not itching through another night shift."
"Shut up and get back to your porn."
I climbed lower through the duct. The grille was just above Erik's cell. His silhouette was hunched near the corner. Something was off. He was mumbling, one hand scratching lines into the floor like they meant something. His eyes kept darting around.
Thor's voice boomed from two doors down.
"RELEASE ME! You dare imprison a god?"
The pacing guard rolled his eyes. "Again?"
"Just ignore him."
"I AM THE SON OF ODIN! YOU FACE THE WRATH OF..."
"Mute it."
"On it."
One beep and Thor's cell lit red. Soundproof mode. He kept shouting, but the hallway went blissfully silent. I waited until both guards collapsed. The venom was not lethal, but strong enough to knock them out clean. The pacing one dropped first, his faster blood flow making the venom hit harder. He stumbled, tried to grab the wall, then dropped face-first. Porn guy slumped next. His breathing slowed, hand still hovering over his phone. Dumbass probably thought he was dreaming.
I crawled lower and opened my phone. Remote access was still live. I unlocked Erik's cell with a silent override. Door clicked open.
He flinched, blinked at the noise, then slowly stood. Eyes darted to the hallway, then to the vent above. He looked like someone who had not slept in days. I pinged his phone. It buzzed from the confiscated locker across the room. I had already uploaded the escape map into it.
He ran straight for it. Opened the locker. Grabbed the phone, checked the screen. Arrows loaded. Flashing red line led toward the back exit. No hesitation. He moved. Slower than I liked, but at least moving.
Darcy and Jane were already halfway to the meeting point. My system pinged two more guards at the north corridor, but their patterns were lazy. Break rotation. I spoofed a maintenance ping on the other side of the building to keep them busy.
Erik reached the mid-point and paused. I opened the emergency hatch remotely. It was a maintenance exit disguised as a wiring closet. I marked it with a red pulse on his screen. He saw it. Bolted for it.
Darcy and Jane reached him seconds later. I tracked their signals converging. They didn't speak, just followed the path. Smart. They had at least one brain between the two of them.
[System]: Countdown: 02:13 before system resets full lockdown. Detected signal trace. Encryption bouncing off internal firewall. Surveillance rebooting.
I moved fast. Slid back into the ventilation shaft. Reached the rooftop vent and sealed it behind me. I scaled down the wall on the blind side, webbed myself to a support beam, and shot two lines toward the alley. Landed in silence. The trio came out thirty seconds later. Faces tense. Breathing loud. Darcy looked ready to throw up. Jane clutched Erik like he might tip over. His hand still clutched the phone.
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You can read up to Chapter 95...
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