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Under Steve's command, several Agents immediately raised their firearms and fired wildly at Darian!
Da da da da da—!
A dense barrage of bullets instantly poured out!
Darian rolled behind a metal crate, and at the same time, pulled out a Hive tech smoke grenade from his game inventory, accurately throwing it at their feet.
Poof!
A dense white mist instantly erupted, quickly filling the entire corridor, engulfing Hydra Captain and his team.
This smoke was specially made; those inside couldn't see anything at all, and even if Steve vigorously fanned with his shield, he couldn't disperse the smoke in front of him.
After losing their target, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents stopped firing, vigilantly looking around.
"Ah!!"
Suddenly, a hand reached out from the smoke, dragging an Agent away, followed by a brief scream from outside the mist.
The others were startled and quickly looked around.
"Ah!!"
Another scream, and another Agent inexplicably disappeared into the smoke.
Why is this so terrifying?
Even the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, under mental control, couldn't help but feel a wave of panic.
They tried to fight back, but they couldn't find Darian anywhere, only disappearing one after another into the smoke.
Unbeknownst to them, only Steve was left standing.
He wasn't panicked, still holding his shield, calmly and coolly staring at his surroundings.
Bang!!
Suddenly, Steve sharply blocked with his shield to his front right, and a fist just happened to smash heavily onto the shield's surface, emitting a dull thud.
Almost simultaneously, he quickly turned, delivering a fierce sweep kick directly towards where the punch came from!
Darian retreated lightly, avoiding the kick.
At this moment, the smoke also gradually dissipated, and Darian looked at Steve, saying sternly, "Surrender! Evil Captain America!"
"F*** you!"
Steve returned a friendly greeting, while swinging his shield, which flew out with a whistling sound, smashing fiercely towards Darian.
A white light flashed in Darian's hand, instantly condensing into a dazzling magic longsword, which blocked the shield.
"What a hard light tube!"
Steve couldn't help but exclaim in surprise at the sight.
"It's a sword!"
Darian retorted, his wrist quickly twisting, and the magic sword drew several sharp arcs, continuously slashing towards the opponent.
However, Steve raised his shield and steadily blocked Darian's attacks, all the force dissipating instantly upon hitting the shield.
Steve's shield is made of various special materials and has the property of absorbing kinetic energy; even if he jumped from dozens of floors up, the shield could completely absorb all kinetic energy.
As for why Steve didn't jump out of the plane back then, only he knows the reason.
Steve, wielding his specialized weapon, had a significant increase in strength, and he was incredibly skilled with the shield. The shield would fly out, bounce back and forth off walls and the ground, and after being blocked by Darian's magic sword, it would return to his hand with an extremely strange trajectory.
Darian complained, "Who made this broken game? Does this physics engine even make sense?"
Seeing his attacks blocked by Steve, Darian simply switched from offense to defense, gripping the magic sword and beginning to charge power.
Steve saw this and raised his shield to counterattack without hesitation.
Just as the shield was about to descend, Darian suddenly raised his magic sword to block in front of him.
"Parry!"
Bang—!
The magic sword and shield collided violently, erupting in a crisp and peculiar hum.
Steve immediately felt a strange and powerful recoil force transmit through the shield, completely bypassing the shield's kinetic energy absorption property, causing him to stagger backward uncontrollably, his body instantly entering a brief state of rigidity.
How is this possible!?
Isn't my shield supposed to absorb force?
Steve was incredibly shocked; the scene before him truly exceeded his understanding.
Bang!!
Darian seized this opening, delivering a heavy left kick to Steve's chest!
Steve immediately lost his balance, flying backward and tumbling several times on the ground.
As he struggled to get up from his rigid state, he saw Darian had already rushed in front of him, mercilessly swinging his fist down!
Bang!
Steve didn't have time to defend himself and was solidly struck in the face by Darian's fist, instantly seeing black and feeling dizzy.
However, Darian did not stop his assault.
He used his knee to pin Steve's shield-holding arm and raised his fist to strike again.
"Steve, snap out of it!"
Bang!
"Steve, don't let evil overcome you!"
Bang!
"Steve, don't forget the justice in your heart!"
Bang!
"Steve, don't... never mind, I can't make this up anymore!"
Bang!
Darian's continuous dozen punches rained down, and Steve finally couldn't hold on any longer and passed out.
"He just passed out?"
Darian shook his hand, still unsatisfied, with a hint of regret in his tone.
Then, his gaze fell on the round shield with the star emblem in Steve's hand, and he instinctively began to pick it up.
[Captain America's Shield]
[Description: This shield is the symbol of Captain America, imbued with the will of Steve Rogers. Possessing it will make one the embodiment of America's justice, fighting for courage and righteousness. Even those with ill intentions will, through subtle influence, curb their evil thoughts and gradually become Captain America, upholding justice.]
Darian quickly pulled his hand back.
How terrifying, it's actually a mind-corrupting piece of equipment.
Darian found it hard to imagine himself holding this shield, wearing a star-spangled uniform, raising the banner of justice and shouting for freedom.
Never mind, it's better not to touch this thing if possible.
But leaving it like this seemed a bit wasteful.
Darian stared at the prominent star on the shield, and a bold idea suddenly popped into his mind. He casually pulled out a can of spray paint from his game inventory.
Not long after, Steve slowly regained consciousness from his coma.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Darian squatting beside him, staring intently at him.
"Evil Captain America! So you were faking sleep, take this punch!"
Darian wore a righteous expression, clenching his fist and swinging it again.
"Wait, I'm already awake!"
Steve quickly spoke, and the fist stopped precariously before the tip of his nose. If he had spoken even half a second slower, that punch would likely have landed solidly again.
Darian narrowed his eyes, full of suspicion: "How do you prove it? Who knows if you're acting again?"
"It's Nick Fury!"
Steve immediately explained: "He knows all the details of the Avengers Initiative. That day, he brought Loki to me and had Loki control me. They also controlled a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, ordering us to infiltrate the Helicarrier and cause destruction at the right time to buy them time for their next move."
"Furthermore, blowing up the Helicarrier's engines and attacking Dr. Banner to force him to turn into the Hulk to create chaos—these were all Nick Fury's ideas, all to restrict S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobility."
Darian was stunned by the news.
He had originally thought Loki was in charge of everything, but he never expected Nick Fury to be orchestrating it from behind the scenes.
Why does it feel like after Nick Fury was controlled, he completely unleashed himself and went on a rampage towards becoming evil?
Oh, no, he was evil to begin with.
Darian couldn't help but exclaim, "That evil Bald Egg! He really has a lot of bad ideas!"
Steve agreed with this.
If it weren't for Nick Fury, he wouldn't have been so cruelly controlled. He was right back then, that Bald Egg really didn't seem like a good person.
"Alright, I believe you!"
Darian reached out and helped Steve up. In fact, he already knew the other party had sobered up, and explained, "Steve, hitting you just now was due to circumstances, absolutely not personal vendetta, so please don't mind it."
Steve rubbed his still faintly aching cheek, feeling that it was absolutely a personal vendetta.
"By the way, why did you turn out like that after being controlled? Was that also Nick Fury's idea?" Darian asked.
Steve shook his head: "I was constantly resisting Loki's mental control. Precisely because my resistance was too intense, Loki simply twisted part of my personality before exerting control over me. Believe me, those things I said just now were absolutely not my true intentions."
Darian patted his shoulder, comforting him: "It's alright, I've recorded the whole thing for you."
Steve: "..."
After he got up, he suddenly noticed something unusual in his hand.
Looking down, he saw that the prominent star emblem on the shield had completely changed, becoming a red and black color scheme, with a hideous, evil, octopus-like skull symbol in the center.
Steve was incredibly familiar with this image!
It was the symbol of his lifelong enemy, HYDRA!
Steve: "???"
He looked up at Darian, who innocently said, "Don't look at me. I don't know what happened either. It turned into this by itself when you were unconscious. This could very well be another one of Fury's bad ideas, making us mistakenly believe you're the Hydra Captain, so even if you wake up, you can't clear your name."
Steve was half-convinced, but this indeed fit his stereotype of Fury, so he accepted the explanation.
That evil Bald Egg!
Darian said seriously, "Don't worry, I have full confidence in you. I believe you won't be the Hydra Captain."
"Thank you for your trust."
Steve was a little touched; he hadn't expected Darian to trust him so much.
Even as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, he didn't show any suspicion upon seeing the HYDRA symbol. This trust was comparable to Bucky's and Carter's.
Steve vigorously rubbed the glaring symbol with his fingertips, but found the paint was unusually durable and couldn't be wiped off. He had no choice but to find a cloth to cover it.
If others saw it, he really would be unable to clear his name, just as Darian had said.
"Um, is there anything to eat?" Steve asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Darian was puzzled: "You haven't eaten?"
Steve shook his head: "I haven't eaten or drunk for almost two days. Fury was worried that sleeping would affect the control effect and eating/drinking would delay the mission, so he forbade me from any resupply."
Darian listened, dumbfounded.
Now Fury really became a slave owner!
"I have something to eat here, do you want it?"
Darian pulled out a dark, square block and handed it to Steve.
"What is this?" Steve asked curiously.
"Protein energy bar, a specialty of the Snowpiercer. Its protein content is more than ten times that of beef."
Steve didn't think much of it and started gnawing on it as soon as he took it.
"It's quite good, just the texture and taste are a bit strange."
"As long as you like it."
Then, Darian brought a rope and tied Steve up, explaining as he did so, "Don't overthink it, it's just for show, to put the others at ease."
Steve understood this and didn't resist, allowing Darian to tie him up completely. However, he vaguely felt that this tying method looked familiar, as if he had seen it in a magazine on his bedside table many years ago.
Without Steve, the core figure, the chaos inside the Helicarrier was quickly brought under control by S.H.I.E.L.D., and Tony, with Coulson's assistance, successfully repaired the Helicarrier's engine, thus avoiding a crash crisis.
Darian brought Steve back to the command center and reported to Hill, "I have successfully captured Fury's evil subordinate, Captain America."
Steve: "..."
Hill immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Agent Darian, you've done very well."
[Mission 'Loki's Secret Invasion' settlement complete!]
[Rewards obtained: 1500 EXP, 30 S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation, item 'Chocolate', item'S-Bullet']
[Item: Chocolate (Has a certain damage effect against ghost-type targets. Use chocolate to fight ghosts)]
[Item: S-Bullet (For a period of time after use, your firearms can fire bullets simultaneously from multiple angles)]
"Turtle bondage?"
Tony, the seasoned driver, recognized the knot on Steve's body at a glance and quickly pulled out his phone to take a picture.
Although his Iron Man Suit had a recording function, it wasn't as fun as openly mocking the other person.
Steve: "..."
Afterward, Steve voluntarily revealed everything to everyone.
Only then did everyone understand that this was all a conspiracy set up by Fury and others.
Unconsciously, everyone was influenced by Darian, and instinctively regarded Fury as the core of the incident.
There was no other way; Fury's presence was simply too strong.
In contrast, Loki, the true mastermind behind the scenes, seemed like a puppet emperor pushed to the forefront by Fury, with a thin presence.
"Since Fury knows about the Avengers Initiative, does this mean there might still be his people among us?"
Tony's words suddenly tightened the atmosphere.
Everyone subconsciously looked at each other, and silent suspicion permeated the air, as if they had suddenly entered a dark forest.
Clearly, this was also one of Fury's plans.
Even if Steve was controlled, he could still use their mutual distrust to tear the team apart.
That evil Bald Egg!
Darian naturally couldn't let him have his way, and said with certainty, "Don't worry, I've already checked. Besides Steve, there are no other moles among us."
Tony raised an eyebrow and sharply retorted, "What if you yourself are the mole? How do you prove you're not a problem?"
Darian nodded, pulled out a watermelon knife from his in my arms and said, "You're right, I did misjudge. I almost missed you, the mole."
Tony: "..."
Okay, this guy should be fine.
"I think we should focus on Nick... uh, I mean Loki. What exactly is his goal?"
Steve timely brought the topic back on track. Now that he was no longer controlled, he stopped slacking and took on the role of a leader, guiding everyone.
It's just that this leader was currently tied up, which looked a bit strange.
"Loki never told you?" Natasha asked.
"No, he never revealed the complete plan to anyone."
Tony interjected, "It won't be anything good anyway. Regardless, as long as we pinpoint the location of the Tesseract, we can find Loki."
Bruce added from the side, "My algorithm has started to work. It will take some more time to pinpoint the location of the Tesseract."
The few of them spoke one after another, ultimately agreeing that the most crucial task at hand was to first find the whereabouts of the Tesseract.
Darian felt the current atmosphere was good, so he took the opportunity to suggest, "Since that's the case, why don't we just form a new team?"
Bruce was a bit puzzled: "Don't we already have the Avengers?"
Darian shook his head: "No, you are the Avengers, but that doesn't include me. If I'm added, of course we need a new team name. I have a suggestion, how about we call ourselves the Justice League?"
Tony's mouth twitched: "The copyright fee for that name probably isn't cheap, and we don't have a big fool here who likes to wear his underwear on the outside."
In this World, DC Comics was a famous comic company, so Tony naturally knew what the Justice League was.
Darian readily changed his approach: "Then how about the 'Kick the Bald Egg Alliance'?"
"I agree with that."
Tony decisively raised his hand. His impression of Fury was already not very good.
Steve didn't speak, just nodded silently.
On the matter of Fury, he and Tony were in high agreement.
"Uh, I'm fine with anything."
Seeing this, Bruce also expressed his agreement.
As for Natasha's opinion, that was no longer important.
[You have created the 'Kick the Bald Egg Alliance' team]
[NPC Tony Stark has joined your team]
[NPC Steve Rogers has joined your team]
[...]
The next moment, Darian heard the notification sounds of several people joining the team in his mind.
Darian then clicked on each person's individual panel, which, like Blade's earlier, displayed more detailed introductions.
[NPC: Tony Stark (Iron Man)]
[Race: Human]
[Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 11, Constitution 8, Spirit 18 (Basic attributes, not including special attributes like intelligence)]
[Equipment: Mark 7 Iron Man Suit]
[Affection: 80]
Currently, Tony's affection was the highest among everyone, so Darian was able to view his attribute panel.
Teacher Tony's body is a bit weak.
Darian tried to click on the equipment item, but it still showed 'cannot be unequipped', and the system prompted 'insufficient affection'.
It seemed that affection had to be further increased to operate teammates' equipment.
He secretly sighed in regret, then checked the equipment of the others one by one. Besides Steve's shield, most of the equipment didn't have many highlights.
However, Bruce had one piece of equipment that was particularly striking.
[Indestructible Underwear (Limited to Bruce)]
Seeing this piece of equipment, Darian suddenly understood.
No wonder Hulk's pants remained perfectly intact despite such intense battles before. So that was the reason!