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After saving Natasha and Erica, Darian opened Rhodes's containment pod.
Rhodes opened his eyes suddenly, grabbed the edge of the containment pod with both hands, and clamped his hairy black legs around Darian.
Bang!
A dull thud sounded as Rhodes fell back into the containment pod, stars dancing before his eyes and his head buzzing.
Darian slowly retracted his fist and snorted coldly.
The guy actually tried to use a death-scissor leg on him? Wasn't he asking for a beating?
Natasha knew Rhodes, so she stepped forward to explain the situation to the bewildered Rhodes, who then gradually sorted out the reality.
Just then, Darian heard movement outside.
Clearly, the previous gunshots had attracted other Skrulls, and they were closing in fast.
"I'll leave the remaining prisoners to you. I'm going to take care of those Skrulls first."
Darian walked out of the prison area and ran straight into a group of Skrulls armed with guns.
He wasn't flustered at all and shouted, "Your Captain has already been executed by me! If you want to blame someone, blame him for joining Gravik's Radicals and attempting to enslave humans and seize Earth!"
"We Conservatives will never allow such scum who destroy the peace between our two races to exist!"
"Drop your weapons now, and I might consider leniency. If you persist in your obsession and dare to continue resisting, you will only meet the same fate as him!"
What!?
Officer Layla was actually an undercover Agent planted by the Conservatives!?
Hearing Darian's words, the Skrulls were shocked.
They didn't know the situation underground and thought the Base had been raided by human intruders or that the human prisoners had revolted, never imagining it was just an infighting between Skrull factions.
For a moment, they were at a loss.
However, some loyal Radicals remained unmoved.
They raised their muzzles at Darian and roared, "You traitor! Skrull scum! How dare you help inferior humans deal with your own kin! Go to hell!"
Da da da da da—!
The muzzles blossomed with fire, and countless bullets swept toward Darian's position.
Darian's body shimmered with white light; the Protection Spell blocked all bullets outside his body, and golden bullet casings scattered all over the floor.
"Damn it! She fused with special human genes; ordinary bullets are useless against her!" a Radical Skrull shouted in panic.
"Let me handle this!"
Another Skrull roared, his body suddenly expanding and deforming, instantly switching into a tall, sturdy male human form.
Immediately after, his skin turned crimson, as if lava were flowing beneath his skin, and terrifying high heat radiated outward, causing the surrounding air to distort.
Darian was all too familiar with this image; it was his Extremis Soldier.
The batch of Extremis Soldiers he had cleaned up outside Tony's house earlier had been handled by S.H.I.E.L.D. afterward, and they had taken the opportunity to collect many gene samples of Extremis Soldiers for research.
It was no surprise that the Skrulls had used Nick Fury's authority to obtain these gene samples.
"Burn to ash, traitor!"
The Skrull, transformed into an Extremis Soldier, rushed over with rolling heat waves, his crimson hands reaching directly for Darian, attempting to melt through him.
However, the next second, his offensive came to an abrupt halt.
Darian's hand clamped tightly around his neck, lifting him into the air.
With the Fire-Repelling Bead on his person, the high temperature that could melt gold and iron was no different from normal body temperature to Darian, and there wasn't a trace of burns on his palm.
Crack.
The Skrull's struggle ceased instantly, and then Darian condensed a magic sword in his left hand; with a flash of white light, the head was gone.
Darian threw the body while it was still hot into the firing Skrulls, directly burning several Skrulls until their flesh melted, causing them to scream repeatedly.
Darian didn't stop; holding the magic sword, he charged directly into the densest area of the Skrulls, braving the hail of bullets.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The magic sword turned into a dazzling curtain of light in Darian's hand, and no Skrull within range was spared.
Facing Darian, who was fearless against bullets, the Skrulls had absolutely no power to fight back, falling one after another while clutching wounds spurting green blood, as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
During this, a few Skrulls who had fused with other genes tried to resist.
Their abilities varied, and they might have caused quite a bit of trouble for ordinary superpowered individuals.
But in the face of Darian's absolute stats, their abilities seemed somewhat laughable, and they couldn't last more than two or three rounds before Darian cleared their health bars.
Soon, a large pile of Skrull corpses lay around Darian, the thick smell of blood almost solidifying and rushing into his nasal cavity.
The remaining few Radical Skrulls had their spirits completely crushed by this one-sided slaughter.
"Don't kill me! I surrender! I surrender!"
They screamed in terror, throwing down their weapons one after another, hugging their heads, and kneeling on the ground.
"We surrender too! We are willing to follow the Officer's command!"
Those Skrulls who hadn't resisted from the beginning also threw down their weapons, expressing their stance.
Most of them didn't belong to any firm faction; they were just fence-sitters.
Whichever faction had the upper hand, they would lean toward that side.
"Very good."
Seeing them surrender, Darian stopped and said coldly, "What Gravik has done has severely damaged the harmonious relationship that could have been established between Skrulls and humans. Their methods are extreme and brutal; if this continues, it will only drag our entire race into the abyss of destruction!"
The Skrulls looked at the corpses scattered around and twitched their mouths.
Who exactly had more extreme and brutal methods?
Darian continued, "For the future of our Skrulls, we must eradicate the Radical elements led by Gravik. Are you willing to join our Conservatives and stop Gravik's evil plan together?"
"We are willing! We swear to follow Officer Layla to the death!"
"Down with Gravik! Save the Skrulls!"
"For a peaceful future!"
Under the threat of life and death, these Skrulls shouted their slogans louder than ever.
Natasha happened to poke her head out from the entrance of the prison area, preparing to check the situation outside, and saw this scene, immediately feeling somewhat bewildered.
Wasn't the plan to disguise as Skrulls and infiltrate this Base?
How long had it been, and how did they become their boss while infiltrating?
In the end, Darian successfully incorporated this group of Skrulls under the identity of Skrull Officer Layla.
After interrogation by S.H.I.E.L.D., he knew there was no racial radar among Skrulls to instantly identify compatriots; the only fastest and most effective way to prove it was to transform back into their original form in person.
Precisely because of this, Darian could borrow the identity of Layla without any scruples.
I'm afraid the Skrulls couldn't have imagined even if they racked their brains that someone could perfectly disguise as them, the Skrulls.
Of course, relying solely on the identity of Layla and temporary military deterrence was not reliable.
To prevent these Skrulls from turning to the Radicals again, Darian injected a micro-biological bomb into each of their bodies—over a dozen in total, covering every part of their bodies. If they dared to defect, he guaranteed they would turn into pieces scattered here and there.
If he wasn't worried about them getting metal poisoning, he would have started with at least a hundred per person.
Besides that, there was a series of control measures.
Such methods were plentiful in S.H.I.E.L.D., all developed by the research department in private during Nick Fury's reign, claiming it was for researching countermeasures against such methods, with no other meaning.
Under this loyalty guarantee package, the Skrulls who had transformed into technology soldiers completely extinguished any unwanted thoughts.
Just like that, they were forced to become Darian's most loyal soldiers, wanting to cry but having no tears.
They realized that Gravik's Radicals were still too conservative!
On the other side, Natasha, Erica, and Rhodes also rescued the remaining imprisoned humans one after another.
After understanding the general situation, most of the rescued people were quite cooperative.
However, there was always a small group of people who didn't seem to fully grasp the current situation. Among them, a few politicians who considered themselves important started pointing fingers at everyone after their initial shock subsided, acting like leaders.
Natasha and Rhodes knew the nature of these politicians well and didn't pay much attention, treating it as dogs barking.
Erica, whose personality was always like a powder keg, didn't have such patience. Listening to those guys prattling on endlessly, she almost wanted to take action.
But she didn't know Darian's attitude toward these people and feared being elbowed again if she took action, so she forced herself to endure it.
Soon, Darian got the news and led a group of Skrulls down.
Darian's true identity was known only to Natasha, Erica, and Rhodes.
For the other rescued people, they had already unified their outward story: Darian was a Skrull, a member of the Conservative faction that favored peaceful coexistence with humans, and also the biggest hero who rescued them this time.
Most of the rescued were both grateful and fearful of Darian.
Although Darian had saved them, the other party was a Skrull just like the Aliens who had kidnapped them, so there was inevitably some estrangement.
Darian didn't care about this; anyway, he wasn't a Skrull.
However, those politicians were not afraid at all, instead looking at Darian with their noses in the air.
"Listen, this is Earth for humans. You Alien species invading our Planet without authorization and kidnapping and imprisoning our human citizens is an extremely serious diplomatic incident!"
"If you don't give us a satisfactory explanation and corresponding compensation, this matter will definitely not end easily!"
In their view, since this Skrull Officer was a Conservative and didn't hesitate to fall out with his own kind to save them, the other party must be extremely eager to maintain peace with humans and needed human recognition and support.
As high-level human officials, they suddenly felt they had important negotiation chips in their hands and wanted to use this to control the discourse between the two sides.
After going back, this might become their political capital. If operated properly, their status could even go up a few levels.
Hearing this, Natasha, who understood Darian quite well, immediately covered her face.
These guys were done for!
Sure enough, Darian narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly, "I didn't expect you Radical moles to disguise yourselves as high-level humans, hiding among the crowd, attempting to destroy the peace between our two races!"
"Someone, take them away for interrogation and torture until they transform back into their original form and admit they are Radical moles!"
The politicians: "???"
This wasn't quite what we imagined.
Natasha shook her head at the sight.
If it were other superheroes, they might be easier to talk to, but who was Darian? Someone who almost collapsed the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury just after getting confirmed—how could he care about your status?
If you provoked him, he might even take down the President.
Without giving these politicians a chance to nag again, several Skrulls directly smashed them to the ground with gun butts and dragged them out of the prison area roughly, and soon a series of screams came.
Rhodes saw the plea for help from the politicians before they were dragged away and helplessly came to Darian's side.
"I think..."
Darian glanced at him: "What, are you also a Radical mole?"
Rhodes's expression changed: "No, I mean, I think you did the right thing. When I go back, I will definitely report this situation to Mr. President and award you a World... oh no, Interstellar Peace Special Contribution Medal!"
Darian nodded: "The medal is unnecessary, just cash it out. I'll send you my account later."
Rhodes: "..."
Of course, he didn't dare to report it to the President, so he could only pay for it himself.
Not long after, Darian's encrypted communicator vibrated slightly, receiving good news from other action teams.
Steve and the others had also raided two other secret Skrull Bases and, with the cooperation of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, successfully rescued the imprisoned humans inside.
Almost at the same time, the system's notification sound rang at the right time.
[Mission "Support Authentic" settled]
[Rewards obtained: 2000 EXP, 40 S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation, Equipment "One-Handed Short Sword", Item "Phelps Professional Knockoff Phone", Item "Copy Card"]
[Equipment: One-Handed Short Sword (From a certain killer specializing in hunting Goblins, has a restraint effect on all targets in Goblin form)]
[Item: Phelps Professional Knockoff Phone (Fireproof, waterproof, shockproof, nuke-proof, knockoff phone, just awesome!)]
[Item: Copy Card (After use, can perfectly copy the target's appearance and 100% of their strength, lasting for three minutes; the target's body size must not exceed 50% of the user's body size)]
One-Handed Short Sword, this was a bit like the previous nichirin sword, belonging to a special weapon against specific races, which could just be used to deal with Skrulls in Goblin form.
Phelps Professional Knockoff Phone, this phone is shockproof, so can it still be charged?
As for the Copy Card...
Seeing this, Darian's eyes suddenly lit up.
You know, this wasn't the half-baked imitation of the Skrulls, which could only copy a part of the target's abilities, but a real, perfect copy, even restoring 100% of their strength.
As long as the other party's body size wasn't too exaggerated, he could possess all of the opponent's abilities, talents, and skills for the next three minutes.
This meant that even when facing a strong enemy far exceeding his own strength, he could go head-to-head with them.
Of course, the limitation was also very obvious: the time was too short; he could only be a "three-minute true man," and once the time was up, he would revert to his original form.
However, this wasn't a big problem.
After all, when using the Copy Card, Darian could not only possess all of the opponent's strength but also continue to use his own items, equipment, and skills.
In this way, the worst case was a draw with the opponent.
With proper operation, he could tie with his opponent.