Sokovia was a small landlocked country located in Eastern Europe. Bordering Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it was a mountainous, impoverished, and politically unstable nation.
It was also a nation that existed only in that universe.
At least, Arthur had never found any reference to a place called Sokovia in any other world.
That day, a large-scale operation was underway in one of the country's snow-covered mountain ranges.
Scattered across the slopes were numerous bunkers, along with a massive fortified castle, all equipped with automated machine guns, laser cannons, and various military installations.
At that moment, alarms echoed continuously.
Steel gates opened, and dozens of armed soldiers poured out of the facilities, advancing to intercept the invaders.
And there were plenty of invaders.
The Avengers, accompanied by Arthur, had launched a direct assault on the installation.
It was one of HYDRA's secret bases.
After World War II, the organization had quietly rebuilt part of its infrastructure in that small country, using the region's isolation to conduct numerous biological experiments.
That was precisely why the facility had to disappear.
As long as HYDRA existed, it would continue infiltrating agents into governments, military organizations, and key institutions. Whenever one of its bases was discovered, the response had to be swift and decisive.
Especially a facility like this one, where experiments involving humans and mutants were being conducted.
The offensive began on several fronts simultaneously.
Natasha and Clint advanced in an armored jeep, weaving through barricades while eliminating anyone who stood in their way.
Steve Rogers rode alongside them on a motorcycle, protecting the two with his shield whenever particularly dangerous shots crossed the battlefield.
{"You should start paying more attention to your surroundings."} Arthur warned over the communicator.
Before Steve could react, Natasha sharply turned the wheel, and a laser blast crossed the exact space where the vehicle would have been one second earlier.
"Thanks for the warning," Natasha joked without taking her eyes off the road.
Steve threw his shield at two men trying to fire on the jeep.
"The path is clear!" he shouted.
"Thanks, Cap!" Clint replied as he fired two explosive arrows simultaneously at the tanks.
Thor had already reached the battlefield.
Lightning streaked across the gray sky as the God of Thunder tore through the enemy lines, practically ignoring every attempt to stop him.
Even Banner was participating in the operation.
After much persuasion from Tony, he had finally decided to set aside the hesitation that had accompanied him for so long.
And in this environment, Hulk could fight without any restraints.
There were no civilians nearby. The entire population of the area had already been evacuated and kept safe at the foot of the mountain by a massive contingent of combat drones developed by Tony Stark.
Unfortunately...
Those very drones seemed to be extremely unpopular with the local residents.
Rotten eggs, spoiled fruit, and even pieces of wood constantly flew toward the machines.
Apparently, a large portion of the population believed the Avengers were the true cause of the conflict, while others simply hated Tony with a passion.
{"I don't think they like you very much, Tony."} Arthur commented.
"As long as they don't scratch the paint, they can throw whatever they want," Tony joked.
{"That should be the least of your concerns."} Natasha replied with a faint smile.
"Very funny," Tony answered as he accelerated even more.
Trusting the speed of his armor, Tony flew straight toward the enormous castle built atop the mountain.
His plan was relatively simple.
Get into the castle first, find Strucker, and end everything quickly.
There was just one small problem with that plan.
Someone was simply faster than he was.
This time, Arthur chose not to bring all of his people.
Only Ushiwakamaru.
Ushiwakamaru's strength was more than enough for this specific mission.
Flying several dozen meters above the ground, Arthur fired weapons from the Gate of Babylon at any enemy close enough to pose a threat while coordinating the mission.
If it were up to him, he would be on the ground handling everything himself.
However, he had to accept the rather unexciting role he had been given.
The reason?
Obviously because he had lost a bet.
Below him, Ushiwakamaru moved lightly across the terrain.
["Master, I'm almost there."] she spoke to him mentally.
"I can see that." Arthur nodded.
Ahead of her, the enormous castle now occupied nearly the entire horizon.
She had overtaken Tony before he even had a chance to complain.
{"Hey! That's unfair competition!"} Iron Man protested over the communicator.
"You picked the wrong opponent," Arthur replied calmly.
A few seconds later, Ushiwakamaru arrived before the castle.
That was when they noticed the enormous energy barrier surrounding the entire structure.
Arthur immediately approached and reached out to touch the barrier.
"It's not just durable... it also redistributes impacts."
"Then we simply cut through it before it can redistribute them," Ushiwakamaru replied, already placing a hand on the hilt of her sword.
Before Arthur could answer...
BANG!
A metallic impact echoed above them.
{"Argh! Damn it!"}
Tony's indignant voice immediately came through the communicator.
He had just flown straight into the barrier at full speed.
Arthur could barely hold back his laughter as he watched Tony spinning through the air while trying to regain his balance.
Steve couldn't resist the opportunity.
{"Language."}
Tony remained silent for a few seconds.
{"Language? Seriously? Nobody's going to comment that the Captain still does that?"} he complained.
{"It's become part of the scenery by now."} Clint replied immediately.
{"I still don't understand why he insists on correcting people."} Natasha commented.
Steve merely sighed.
{"Someone has to maintain a minimum level of civility."}
Arthur let out a quiet laugh.
"Good luck with that mission, Captain."
Meanwhile, inside the castle...
Baron Strucker watched the images from the security cameras spread throughout the facility.
"The Americans have sent their monsters to test us... and we'll send their corpses back!"
The soldiers raised their weapons in unison.
"We will never surrender!"
As soon as the shouting subsided, Strucker calmly walked over to an elderly scientist standing before several terminals.
In a low voice, he ordered,
"Erase all the data immediately, and send someone to dispose of the test subjects. If the Avengers and that monster find nothing but our weapons, they may never discover the true extent of our research."
The old man nodded, but soon frowned.
"Wait... where are the twins?"
"They're not ready yet," Strucker replied without taking his eyes off the monitors.
The scientist slowly shook his head.
"No... I mean they've disappeared."
He pointed toward a completely empty corner.
---
At that exact moment...
A silver blur shot through one of the corridors at incredible speed and disappeared from the base like a bolt of lightning.
Outside, Clint was using the cover of a tree to eliminate several soldiers when something rushed past him and struck him with tremendous force.
It happened so fast that he barely had time to register what had occurred.
The next moment, he was lying in the snow.
"What... was that...?"
He quickly raised his bow.
Several meters ahead, a young man appeared, walking calmly.
"Didn't see me coming?" the young man mocked.
Then his entire body turned into a silver blur and vanished once again.
Clint's eyes widened.
"What was tha—"
Before he could finish, a shot fired from a bunker struck him in the abdomen.
"Argh!"
The impact threw him onto the ground, staining the snow with his blood.
Seeing Clint get hit, Natasha immediately ran to him, sliding across the snow before kneeling beside him. Remaining perfectly calm, she opened a small medical kit attached to her belt and began treating the wound.
"The bullet didn't hit any vital organs, but you've lost quite a bit of blood," she assessed.
"You always know how to reassure someone..." he joked.
"Be quiet and save your strength." Natasha rolled her eyes.
Before she could continue treating him, a massive green shadow crashed through the small fortress.
BOOM!
Hulk simply punched straight through the concrete wall, turning the enemy's defensive position into a pile of rubble.
The soldiers still resisting were sent flying together with tons of concrete.
Hulk pounded his chest proudly as he roared.
Clint weakly gave him a thumbs-up.
"Nice job... big guy."
The green giant broke into a huge grin at the compliment before gleefully returning to smashing the enemy.
Natasha activated the communicator.
"Arthur, Tony, Steve... there are still plenty of soldiers outside the castle. Clint's been shot."
Arthur replied almost immediately.
{"How bad is he?"}
"He'll survive, but he needs to be pulled off the front line now," Natasha answered.
{"Thor, can you escort him?"} Arthur asked over the communicator.
{"Naturally."} the God of Thunder replied as he landed beside Natasha.
"Leave him to me."
Natasha nodded and glanced at Clint.
"Can you handle the trip?"
"It's not like I have much of a choice," Clint answered with a grin.
"Excellent spirit." Thor laughed.
Without the slightest effort, he hoisted Clint onto one shoulder.
"I shall take our archer back to the aircraft. Continue the mission without me."
Then Thor raised Mjölnir, and a bolt of lightning struck them both.
The next instant, they disappeared into the sky.
---
Meanwhile...
Tony had finally located the barrier's power source.
"Arthur, I found the barrier's source."
{"I've already sent Ushiwakamaru inside the castle. She can handle it."} Arthur replied while launching a sword at a tank that was about to fire.
"Perfect. I'll send you the coordinates. Destroy it."
A holographic projection appeared above Arthur's wrist device.
"Received. Think you can handle it, Ushiwaka?" Arthur asked as he transmitted the location directly to her.
["It would be my pleasure, Master."] She smiled confidently.
The next moment, she sprinted through the corridors at incredible speed.
HYDRA soldiers tried to block her advance, but none of them could even follow her movements before their weapons were disabled and they were knocked unconscious.
A few seconds later, Ushiwakamaru arrived before the enormous generator powering the castle's entire defensive system.
Numerous agents guarded the machine.
But before they could react, Ushiwakamaru vanished from sight.
SHING!
Her katana sliced through the energy core with a single strike.
At the same time, outside the castle, the massive blue barrier surrounding the fortress flickered several times before disappearing completely.
Moments later, after dealing with the remaining soldiers, Ushiwakamaru spun her sword before sheathing it with an excited smile.
"Hahaha! That was incredibly satisfying!" she laughed.
["You really enjoy this kind of work, don't you?"] Arthur commented mentally.
"Of course!"
She placed her hands on her hips.
"It's always gratifying to destroy something the enemy spent months building."
Shortly afterward, the group entered through the castle's main gate.
"Good work." Arthur said as he gently patted Ushiwakamaru on the head.
"Now comes the difficult part," Tony commented as he landed beside them a few seconds later.
But before doing anything else, he looked at Steve.
"Answer me this. When are you going to stop correcting my language?"
Steve took a deep breath.
"Are you really going to keep bringing that up for the rest of the mission?"
Tony flashed an amused grin.
"Probably."
"Enough fooling around, children. I want to finish this already." Arthur clapped his hands to get both of their attention. "In case you've forgotten, I still have plans for later today."
Without wasting any more time, Tony nodded, crossed the now unprotected corridors, and entered a massive room filled with computers and servers.
The moment he stepped inside, his armor automatically identified dozens of systems that were still active.
"JARVIS."
["Intrusion mode activated, sir."]
Tony partially opened his armor and stepped out.
Typing on terminals while wearing the armor was a complete nightmare.
He sat down at the main console and began accessing HYDRA's databases.
"I know you've hidden much more than simple weapons projects here."
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
"JARVIS, copy everything and send it to Hill at the Tower."
["Understood. Transfer initiated."]
Tony continued searching through the files until he suddenly stopped.
"JARVIS... is there a hidden room in this place?"
The armor's sensors initiated a complete three-dimensional scan of the structure.
A few seconds later, JARVIS replied.
["Yes, sir."]
A wall to Tony's left was highlighted in red on the holographic display.
["There is a secret passage exactly to your left."]
(End of Chapter)