"Steve, are you sure someone disguised as one of our own is trying to steal the nuclear reaction bomb?" Tony, disguised as a passerby, asked Captain America, who was also pretending to be a passerby.
"I'm sure. Those people were clearly prepared and very professional. They've probably already gotten the nuclear reaction bomb by now," Captain America replied, his brow slightly furrowed.
At this point, about a month had passed since Scarlet Witch joined the Avengers for training.
During this time, the girl had gone on many missions with the Avengers members.
This particular mission was a temporary assignment the Avengers received from higher-ups: a small squad, suspected to be remnants of Hydra, intended to steal a nuclear reaction bomb hidden in the Parliament Building.
The nuclear reaction bomb was an extremely dangerous item.
It was a small nuclear weapon developed based on the nuclear reaction formula contributed by Tony.
Its volume was very small, similar to a conventional bomb, but its power was absolutely formidable; one bomb was enough to destroy an entire street block.
Therefore, this powerful and portable nuclear weapon could not fall into the hands of Hydra remnants.
Who knew what those lunatics would do with these nuclear weapons?
Given the seriousness and urgency of the situation, the Avengers members and the four street heroes, including Scarlet Witch, quickly arrived outside the Parliament Building to set up a perimeter.
And because they feared alerting the terrorists prematurely, Captain America and the others chose to go undercover this time.
They hid themselves among the ordinary citizens.
The Parliament Building was not far from the center of New York City, only about two blocks away, and the pedestrian traffic was not small.
This provided excellent cover for Captain America and the others' undercover operation.
However, Captain America's Vibranium shield, Spider-Man's tight-fitting suit, and even Vision's mechanical body, among others, had too obvious features.
It was not easy to hide, and in a short while, some citizens had already recognized their identities and were gradually gathering to watch the excitement.
This situation undoubtedly increased the difficulty of their operation.
Captain America's earlier frown was precisely because he had discovered this.
On the other hand, Tony, who had already developed a nano suit thanks to Scott's nano-technology contribution, and Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and others, who had changed into ordinary clothes, had done an excellent job with their disguises.
Returning to Tony's side, after receiving a confirmed answer from Captain America, he turned to Vision and said, "Keep a close eye on the surveillance inside the building. Once the terrorists come out, remember to notify us in advance."
"Understood," Vision nodded, his eyes transforming into a data network, monitoring the situation inside the Parliament Building.
Compared to his somewhat strained relationship with Captain America, Tony's cooperation with Vision, the super intelligent robot, had become increasingly tacit during this period.
"Captain America, there are too many ordinary citizens around. If a fight breaks out, accidental injuries are inevitable. Do we need to evacuate them in advance?" Black Widow, also noticing the unfavorable situation around them, quietly approached Captain America to ask for his opinion.
Perhaps the Avengers and the street heroes had made too good an impression on people recently.
Even though they knew there would be danger when they went on missions, the citizens who recognized them still couldn't help but gather to watch the excitement, seemingly fearless.
"Let's leave it as is for now," Captain America said, shaking his head slightly after a moment of thought.
Again, Captain America and the others' undercover operation this time was precisely to avoid alerting the enemy prematurely.
A large-scale evacuation of civilians would undoubtedly expose their whereabouts.
Adding more difficulty to this mission.
"Attention, they're coming out now!"
Just then, Vision, who was monitoring the situation inside the building through the virtual network, issued a warning to everyone.
Then, a well-equipped squad, resembling a special forces unit, emerged from the building in an orderly fashion.
If one didn't know the inside story, they would truly think they were an official squad going out on a mission.
"Start the operation, quick and decisive!"
Seeing the enemy appear, Captain America immediately issued the command to act.
Hoping to minimize the impact.
However, he still underestimated the operational capability of this terrorist squad.
Upon realizing that something was amiss, the terrorist squad immediately pulled out their weapons and began indiscriminate firing at the superheroes and civilians.
"Wanda!"
Captain America, suppressed by the firepower, immediately called out to Scarlet Witch, who possessed divine magic.
"Understood!!!"
Scarlet Witch, already accustomed to the operational procedure, waved her hands, summoning crimson Chaos Power, which froze the bullets fired by the terrorists in mid-air.
With the "ding-dong" sound of bullets falling to the ground, the danger heading towards the civilians was temporarily averted.
"Well done!" Captain America shouted, charging towards the terrorists with his shield raised.
At the same time, Tony, equipped with his nano-suit, and Quicksilver, who had activated his super speed, also launched their respective actions.
Soon, the weapons in the hands of the terrorist squad, which numbered less than ten, were shot down by lasers, and then they were one by one knocked to the ground by Quicksilver.
Finally, they were wrapped up like "dumplings" by Spider-Man's webs.
Next to them, "ordinary people" like Hawkeye and Black Widow didn't even have a chance to act.
"You're under arrest. Tell us who ordered you, and your sentence might be lighter," Captain America said, looking at the surrounded terrorists, intending to extract more information.
It was not easy for an ordinary person to enter the Parliament Building, let alone an entire terrorist squad.
Yet, the other party actually succeeded.
Therefore, either this terrorist squad was guided by a mastermind, or there was an insider among the high-ranking officials.
Whichever it was, it was worth Captain America's serious attention.
"Do you think you've won just like this?" The leader of the surrounded terrorist squad took off his mask, revealing a weathered face.
"Crossbones, so it really was you Hydra," Captain America recognized the face.
Crossbones, a former key member of Hydra.
He had previously been operating in the Hydra stronghold of Sokovia. The Avengers members had encountered him during their last mission to eradicate Hydra in Sokovia.
But in the end, that old fox still managed to escape.
He never expected him to appear here, and in this manner.
"Unfortunately, this operation was not led by Hydra. If you want to know the mastermind, you can guess all you want. The result will surely surprise you..." A mysterious smile appeared on Crossbones' face.
He was clearly very pleased to cause trouble for the Avengers.
Then, the smile on his face grew even crazier, and he shouted, "Hail Hydra!!!"
At the same time, Crossbones detonated the nuclear reaction bomb he had just stolen from the Parliament Building.
"Danger!!! Take cover!"
Captain America, who was still pondering the deeper meaning of Crossbones' words, relied on his keen sense of danger and immediately noticed the other party's small action.
However, the bomb had already been detonated, and it was clearly too late to stop it.
Therefore, after a warning, Captain America only had time to tackle Hawkeye next to him.
Then he used his shield to cover both of them.
It was foreseeable that casualties were inevitable with the nuclear reaction bomb's explosion, but reducing them by even a little was better than nothing.
At least, that's what Captain America thought at the moment.
Of course, for Tony, who had a nano-suit, and the street heroes, who had superpowers, the power of the nuclear reaction bomb posed little threat to them.
In fact, their speed in emergency avoidance was even faster than Captain America's.
The truly endangered were only the ordinary citizens gathered around to watch the excitement.
Watching the nuclear reaction bomb instantly blast the closest terrorists into minced meat, followed by the shockwave and fire spreading towards the surrounding civilians.
It was at this critical moment that Scarlet Witch unleashed a powerful burst of Chaos Power, confining the power of the nuclear explosion within a certain range.
Then, she slowly compressed it into a small ball.
The fear on the faces of the surrounding civilians had not yet subsided, but after seeing Scarlet Witch's feat, those who had escaped disaster couldn't help but applaud the girl.
Of course, some clever people were quietly retreating into the distance.
Returning to Scarlet Witch, restraining the power of the nuclear explosion was already very difficult.
Compressing the nuclear energy into a small ball was an extreme maneuver.
To completely resolve the crisis, she needed to find another way to deal with this nuclear energy ball.
However, there were too many civilians around, and the best solution the girl could think of before she lost control of the energy ball was to send it high into the sky to explode.
Although the impact would still be negative, it would at least minimize the losses...