"A secret flight base…"
Shen He immediately changed direction and flew toward it. "Lelouch, you don't have much combat capability—come slower. Jeanne, did you see anything?"
"I didn't see anything," Jeanne shook her head. "It's just… intuition."
"That's enough. Get ready for combat."
Shen He gradually increased speed.
Fortunately, the people hanging onto the armor weren't ordinary humans; this kind of high-speed travel wasn't uncomfortable for them.
The destination lay roughly fifty kilometers outside New York: a barren mountain range. S.H.I.E.L.D. loved placing secret bases in places like this.
"Jeanne?"
Shen He landed. The armor's scanners detected no trace of a base.
"It's inside the mountain."
As they drew closer, Jeanne's intuition became clearer.
"Shiki—your turn."
Shen He stepped back with Jeanne and Violet.
Ryougi Shiki drew her long blade. In that instant, the world in her eyes filled with deep brown fractures.
With constant training and reinforcement, her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had become increasingly refined.
She could now precisely destroy only what she intended. Like now—the blade swept quickly across the cliff face. The solid stone crumbled like powder, scattering in the wind. A metallic structure appeared beneath. Then the metal door itself broke apart piece by piece, while the surrounding rock remained intact.
A shrill alarm blared.
Shen He immediately stepped forward, prepared for any sudden attack.
But nothing came.
No attack.
No personnel.
It felt like an abandoned base.
"Master…" Jeanne sounded a little dispirited.
"Your intuition isn't wrong." Shen He's voice was firm.
This wasn't empty comfort. As a saint, Jeanne's revelations were her ability—far from a matter of belief or disbelief.
Suddenly, the control interface before Shen He flashed bright red.
"Alert, sir—missiles incoming."
Not that JARVIS had to say it. Shen He already saw the streaking fireballs in the sky.
He leapt instinctively, shielding the girls behind him, activating the absolute defense field.
Boom—!
The massive explosion engulfed them in flames and shockwaves.
This wasn't an ordinary missile.
This was a long-range, high-speed warhead capable of leveling a building in one hit.
"Sir, two more missiles. Launch signal originated from S.H.I.E.L.D." JARVIS continued.
"Everyone, get on!"
At the shout, the others jumped onto the armor. Two more blasts followed. The entire mountain collapsed, burying the base within.
"Sir, energy insufficient. The defense field can withstand only one more strike."
"I know." Shen He shot into the air. "Scan the surroundings at maximum power!"
He'd already figured it out: if Jeanne's revelation was correct, they weren't at the wrong location—they had simply arrived before the enemy.
And within S.H.I.E.L.D., the number of people capable of remotely controlling missiles with this precision was extremely small.
Only one person fit the profile—
Alexander.
"Sir," JARVIS reported, "a convoy southeast of here—approximately forty vehicles. Scans label them as civilian cars."
"Civilians don't form a convoy of forty in the middle of the night out here."
Shen He accelerated toward the coordinates and slammed down onto the road ahead of the convoy. Every weapon on the armor—shoulders, arms, legs, chest—deployed and locked onto the vehicles.
At this distance, the scanners easily detected the heavy weapons hidden inside the cars. Without doubt, anyone staging such a disguise under these circumstances could only be HYDRA—
or S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Alexander. Not planning to come out before you die?" Shen He's gaze locked onto an old man inside one of the central cars.
He had never met him face-to-face, but the instant he saw him, he knew exactly who he was.
He had planned to track John Garrett.
Instead, he had caught an even bigger fish.
Having Jeanne really was convenient.
Alexander stepped slowly out of the opened car.
He looked like a kindly elderly gentleman—neat suit, soft expression, the kind of man anyone would believe doted on his grandchildren. No one would imagine him a HYDRA leader who killed without blinking.
"Shen… He…"
Alexander pronounced the name awkwardly. "I never thought our first meeting would be under circumstances like this."
"I've imagined this scene countless times."
Shen He scanned—no Winter Soldier present.
But he knew the rule: villains die from talking too much.
Without another word, he aimed the armor's wrist-mounted sniper weapon and fired.
A barrage of large-caliber rounds blasted forward—rounds that could shatter boulders.
But they struck an invisible barrier surrounding Alexander, rippling outward before falling harmlessly.
"Sir, that is an unknown defense field."
JARVIS displayed the analysis. The field wrapped solely around Alexander.
Shen He was certain—this thing had never appeared in any movie or TV depiction of HYDRA.
"Young people are always impatient."
Alexander looked perfectly calm. "One must have patience even with enemies. But we needn't be enemies, must we? We are doing the same thing—protecting humanity from outside threats. Only through order and power can this be achieved. Chaldea should understand that."
HYDRA's creed was never simply death and terror—it was building a new world under absolute order.
They believed absolute control strengthened civilization, and that no one besides the rulers needed independent thought.
"You're not wrong."
Shen He slowly lowered the armor's raised hand. He did not deny it.
"Absolute power gathers a civilization's resources and prevents internal conflict. Yes, it is one possible path of evolution. Chaldea's mission is to preserve human order. The form that order takes is none of our concern."
"In that case, why not cooperate?"
Alexander took two steps forward.
"With us, you could rule the world. Then humanity can do anything necessary to face the crisis you speak of."
"It makes sense. However—"
Every weapon on Shen He's armor fired at once.
HYDRA's convoy vanished into a violent inferno.
Shen He's roar thundered louder than the explosions.
"Killing you has nothing to do with Chaldea—
this is personal!"
-----------------------
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