Too brutal!
The remaining Skrulls were terrified by the scene before them.
They all knew Darian's identity; he was not only a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent but also a superhero.
But how did he look even more vicious than a supervillain!
Darian didn't care what they thought. The scepter transformed back into the golden desert eagle, and with a lift of his hand, he fired a series of precise shots.
These ordinary Skrulls didn't have any special abilities, and their physical fitness was only slightly better than that of a normal person. They were soon all knocked to the ground.
Darian didn't deliver a fatal blow, only incapacitating the group of Skrulls to leave them for interrogation later.
Immediately after, he looked in Steve's direction and found that two Steves were actually grappling with each other.
One of them was a Skrull in disguise, clearly having copied Steve's physical attributes. The two were fighting on par, and that HYDRA shield had long since flown off to who knows where.
It was unclear whether Steve's 50/50 aura was at work or if the Skrull had copied that aura as well, but the two had been fighting for a long time without a winner.
Seeing Darian look over, one of the Steves immediately shouted, "Darian, this is an Alien! He turned into me! Quick, come help me restrain him!"
The other Steve immediately countered, "Don't listen to him! I'm the real one! He's deceiving you!"
Darian raised the golden desert eagle in his hand, the muzzle moving back and forth between the two. "Don't worry, I have a simple and efficient verification method. A Skrull will reveal their true form as soon as they die. I'll just kill one at random, and I'll know if the other is real or fake."
Steve: "..."
Skrull:"...."
Is this a method a human could come up with!?
Steve and the Skrull glanced at each other, considering whether they should team up to subdue Darian first; otherwise, both of their situations were very dangerous.
Bang!
With a gunshot, the Skrull fell backward and reverted to his original form.
His eyes were still wide open, and he died without peace, clearly unable to figure out how he had been exposed even in death.
Steve breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, you saw through his disguise."
Darian blinked. "I didn't see through it."
Steve: "....."
Darian stepped over the corpse, came to one of the Skrulls, pressed the muzzle against the other's forehead, and questioned, "Who are you people? Why are you here?"
This Skrull was actually quite stubborn, looking at Darian with cold eyes. "I won't say anything."
Bang!
The gunshot rang out abruptly, but the one who fell was another Skrull nearby.
Darian moved the smoking muzzle back, still pressing it against the other's forehead. "Gonna talk?"
The Skrull being pointed at smiled disdainfully. "Even if you kill my companion, I won't talk!"
Darian praised, "Good, quite stubborn! In that case, none of your companions should expect to live!"
Other Skrulls: "???"
Wait, what does his silence have to do with us!?
The stubborn Skrull snorted, "Even if you kill all my companions, I won't tell you..."
Before he could finish, he was knocked unconscious by an elbow strike from a Skrull beside him.
"He won't talk! I will!"
The Skrull who acted quickly raised his hands and spoke rapidly, "We are Skrulls from the Andromeda Galaxy. We've lived on Earth for many years. In the nineties, we were hunted to Earth by the Kree, and it was Nick Fury and Captain Marvel who helped us repel the pursuers."
"Back then, Nick Fury promised us that as long as we worked for him in the shadows, he would help us find a place where we could settle down peacefully. So over the years, we became S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret Agents, not recorded in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archives and never appearing at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters."
Darian raised an eyebrow.
Good heavens, Nick Fury, that Bald Egg, was hiding things quite deeply. Not only did he know Captain Marvel, but he also secretly kept a group of Alien Agents.
Steve realized, "I was wondering where all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funds went; it turns out he was privately supporting so many foreign-born Agents."
Hearing this, the Skrull was overcome with grief and indignation. "No, he never gave us money. Our money was all earned by ourselves."
Darian: "..."
Steve: "..."
What a beast!
The Skrull said angrily, "But Nick Fury violated our agreement. He originally promised to help us find a home belonging to the Skrulls, but decades have passed, and there isn't even a definitive sign of it!"
Hearing this, it was indeed a bit tragic.
It was like a group of people selling themselves to work for a black-hearted middleman, hoping to earn a house to settle down in, only to work hard for decades without even seeing the foundation of the house.
The most infuriating thing was that the black-hearted middleman hadn't given them a single penny; it was pure exploitation!
No one could tolerate this!
Darian had no expression after listening; this operation was very consistent with his stereotypical impression of that Bald Egg.
"Nick Fury betrayed you, but what does that have to do with us? Why attack us?"
These Skrulls held intense hostility toward him and Steve. Because of this, Darian had no qualms about being ruthless.
For players, as long as it's a red dot, it's an enemy!
Regardless of your hardships, kill first and talk later!
The Skrull said without hesitation, "Because you superheroes are the biggest variable in our plan."
Darian raised an eyebrow. "What plan?"
The Skrull hesitated for a moment, but seeing Darian's finger on the trigger, he immediately caved and replied, "We no longer trust Nick Fury, so we plan to create a new home ourselves, and this new home is Earth!"
"Our plan is to gradually replace high-level officials of various countries, using our people to take over the power systems, and... nuclear weapons."
"In this way, we can completely take control of Earth, turning it into a new home for Skrulls and achieving a Secret Invasion."
"However, we anticipated that these superheroes would definitely stop us, so our priority goal is to replace some of you in advance. This way, we can monitor the internal movements of the superheroes at any time. As soon as there's any activity, we can take immediate action."
After hearing the other party's words, Steve's expression was grave.
He had already personally witnessed the Skrulls' ability to mimic others to the point of being indistinguishable from the real thing, even being able to replicate superpowers. If such a race were truly to infiltrate the superhero camp on a large scale, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Countless terrifying images instantly flashed through his mind.
When the Avengers assembled, a teammate beside him would suddenly turn traitor; classified action plans would be leaked repeatedly, leading to ambushes by enemies; the trust of fighting side-by-side would be completely disintegrated, and the look in everyone's eyes would be full of suspicion. The team would begin to collapse from within.
Even more terrifying was that these Skrulls could use their identities to cause trouble at will.
For example, disguising as himself and shouting "Hail HYDRA" in front of the public.
Just thinking about that scene made one's scalp tingle.
Steve took a deep breath. "How many Skrulls are currently on Earth?"
The Skrull confessed honestly, "Originally there were only a few dozen, but recently our people have been transported to Earth one after another. Now there are almost a million."
"What!?"
Steve's pupils shrank suddenly, almost thinking he had misheard.
He hurriedly followed up, "Do all you Skrulls agree with this plan?"
Steve stared fixedly at the Skrull in front of him. If the other party nodded, he would immediately call the Avengers and initiate the highest-level emergency protocol.
One million Skrulls—that number was too terrifying!
One must know that during the Battle of New York, the Chitauri vanguard that came through the portal and actually engaged in ground combat probably numbered less than ten thousand, yet they had already turned New York upside down.
So what about a million Skrulls?
The Skrull replied, "Not all. Most ordinary civilians don't know about this plan, and there are also divisions within the high-level ranks. A group of Conservatives opposes using such a radical method to seize Earth, believing it will bring destruction rather than a home."
"However, those Conservatives have already been controlled by the Radicals. Now Gravik is in power. He is the leader of the Radicals, and the entire plan was masterminded by him. He was also the one who sent us to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., launch attacks on you, and advance the Secret Invasion plan."
Darian then asked, "So, where is Nick Fury now?"
The Skrull shook his head. "I really don't know about that. We just act according to orders."
Darian was also speechless.
Bald Egg, is this what you meant by everything being under control?
Darian asked the question he was most concerned about: "Why were those few Skrulls able to copy the abilities of superpowered individuals, while you have no abilities?"
The Skrull hesitated for a few seconds. "We have a special instrument that, combined with our racial talent, can collect the target's DNA for replication to obtain their abilities."
"However, only powerful Skrulls can use this instrument. General Skrulls can only copy appearance but not abilities. The more powerful the Skrull, the more and stronger the abilities they can copy."
Darian suddenly understood.
No wonder only a few Skrulls showed superpowers, and the intensity was uneven; it turned out that copying abilities had conditions.
Fortunately, if every Skrull had copied the Abomination's power, even he would have a headache.
"How much DNA have you collected?"
"A lot, because we know Nick Fury has been secretly collecting the DNA of all superpowered individuals, so it was very easy to obtain."
"..."
As expected of the evil Bald Egg; the stereotype has deepened again.
"Where are you hiding the real Natasha?"
Steve finally remembered this matter.
This couldn't be blamed on him; the plot jump was truly too exaggerated.
Originally, he wanted to dig out Nick Fury's HYDRA, but as he dug, he actually dug out such a large pile of Goblins.
The Skrull answered honestly, "She has been sent to one of our secret Bases, locked up with some other people who were replaced."
Steve pressed, "Who else has been replaced?"
The Skrull shook his head. "I'm not clear on that. I only know that quite a few of our people have already mixed into S.H.I.E.L.D."
Afterward, Darian and Steve asked a few more questions.
But the intelligence this Skrull knew was indeed not much; for the rest, he basically knew nothing.
Darian was not worried that the other party would lie.
From the beginning of the interrogation, he had already applied hypnotic control to this fellow.
This Skrull didn't have willpower like Victor's; under mental pressure, he involuntarily confessed everything.
After knocking all these Skrulls unconscious, Steve's face was serious. "We must stop the Skrulls' plan. Once their plan succeeds, humanity's situation will become very dangerous!"
He could no longer care about investigating HYDRA.
Compared to HYDRA, the Skrulls at hand were clearly much more dangerous. If things went wrong, even Earth might change hands.
[NPC Steve Rogers has issued you a new quest]
[Quest: Secret Invasion]
[Objective: Completely eliminate the Skrull invasion of Earth]
[Reward: Settlement will be based on mission contribution]
Darian nodded. "Then what should we do next?"
Steve said without hesitation, "Immediately notify the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and the Avengers. Have them all prepared for the response."
He wouldn't say any stupid things like 'we'll handle it ourselves.'
This matter concerned the future of all humanity; of course, he had to call everyone he could.
If we can have a team fight, why go solo?
But Steve then frowned. "But the problem is, now we can't be sure exactly how many Skrulls have already mixed in among us."
He was mainly worried that there would be Skrull spies on their own side, especially within the Avengers.
Natasha and Clint were fine; two gun-slinging and bow-wielding ordinary people wouldn't affect the battle. But if something went wrong with Tony, it would be trouble.
As the person in charge of Stark Industries, the biggest financier and traffic magnet of the Avengers, Tony's influence was simply too great.
Steve wasn't worried about Thor and Banner; one was rarely on Earth, and the other was a Hulk human form. It was almost impossible for Skrulls to capture them.
Darian waved his hand. "Leave this to me to handle."
"Are you sure?"
Steve was somewhat worried.
Could this guy be planning to shoot everyone one by one to verify their identities?
Darian explained, "I know a bit of magic and have a way to confirm their identities."
"Then that's great!"
Steve's expression relaxed, but then he became serious again. "However, we must hurry. The Skrulls outside will soon notice something is wrong. We must act before they do."
After the two planned a bit, they immediately went into action.
They lifted the lockdown protocol of the Strategy Room and first used the communicator to contact the other members of the team, having them gather at the Strategy Room.
Very quickly, the team members arrived.
They were shocked to see the state of the Strategy Room and one after another asked what was going on.
Steve quietly gave Darian a look, and Darian, without a word, stepped forward and grabbed May's neck.
A burly man quickly stepped forward. "What are you doing!?"
His name was Grant Ward, and like May, he was a member of Coulson's team.
They had fought together, bled together, and even slept together...
In short, their emotions were quite deep.
Seeing his f... comrade being held in mid-air by Darian, Ward was about to step forward to stop him.
But before he could take more than a few steps, he saw the May being held by Darian gradually turning green, finally transforming into the appearance of a Goblin.
Um, it was even a male Goblin.
Ward: Σ（°A°;）
Was this the thing I was riding yesterday?