At this moment, Gravik's mood was absolutely terrible.
Just a few days ago, all the Skrulls he had planted inside S.H.I.E.L.D. suddenly lost contact.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was a crucial piece in his layout.
According to the memories of a certain Bald Egg, S.H.I.E.L.D. not only had S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents but also forces from HYDRA.
Because of this, he sent multiple Skrulls to lurk within S.H.I.E.L.D.
This even included several Skrulls who had fused with special genes, as well as Layla, who possessed the abilities of the Abomination, letting them secretly capture and replace important S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, in order to completely control the entire S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hydra.
But what was the result?
First, Layla went and never returned, with no news at all.
Immediately after, those Skrulls lurking in S.H.I.E.L.D. also lost contact one by one, with no response whatsoever.
Because S.H.I.E.L.D. had activated a signal jamming device, all signals could not be sent out; Gravik had no idea what exactly happened at the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters that day, and he was still completely confused.
However, something even worse was yet to come.
Not long after, the three secret Bases he used to imprison humans were also attacked one after another, losing contact completely.
According to the fragmented news transmitted back, two of the secret Bases were taken down by the joint efforts of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., and the imprisoned humans were all rescued.
And the news from the third secret Base was even more outrageous.
It was said that Layla had defected, and that she was actually a mole sent by the Conservatives, taking over the entire Base from the inside.
You have to know, Layla was one of his confidants, a true member of the Radicals, so how could she be one of the Conservatives?
Gravik could not understand it no matter how much he thought about it.
Before he could figure out the reason, S.H.I.E.L.D. used those rescued humans as clues to perform a reverse investigation, almost completely rooting out the Skrulls he had carefully placed everywhere, from low-level personnel to high-level officials.
The trap that Gravik had spent endless effort laying out crumbled in just a few short days.
One can imagine just how devastated he felt at this moment!
"Damn it! Where exactly did things go wrong!?"
Gravik slammed his fist onto the metal tabletop, his face so gloomy that water could drip from it.
He couldn't figure it out no matter what; the Skrulls' replication ability was nearly perfect, so logically, humans shouldn't be able to see through their disguises. How exactly were those lurking Skrulls exposed?
Gravik couldn't help but feel suspicious: "Could it be, did Layla really betray me and then tip off the humans?"
This seemed to be the only explanation.
Just as his suspicions were churning, a Skrull rushed in from outside in a panic.
"My Lord Gravik, it's bad! Outside... outside, we are suddenly under large-scale attack!"
Gravik's pupils constricted: "Who are they?"
The Skrull hesitated for a moment: "Uh, it looks like, it seems to be our own people."
Gravik: "???"
What the heck?
He rushed to the surveillance screen in a few steps and quickly brought up the external footage.
He saw that outside the Base, several Skrull guards were in an intense firefight with another group.
The faces of those attackers were all too familiar to Gravik; they were clearly members of his Radicals.
And in the back, Darian, disguised as Layla, was surrounded by several Skrulls and was clearly the leader of this team.
"Damn it! Layla really betrayed me!"
With the facts before him, Gravik had to believe it, and his rage surged upward.
Just then, another group of people rushed into the surveillance footage; it was the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
Their arrival made the battle instantly one-sided.
The Skrull guards, who were already caught off guard, were beaten back step by step, barely able to organize an effective counterattack.
"The Avengers? This group of traitors actually teamed up with humans!?"
Gravik was shocked and turned to roar at his subordinates beside him: "Send out all the warriors in the Base and kill them!"
Even so, he still felt it wasn't safe enough.
Gravik clenched his fists and gritted his teeth: "No, this isn't enough; I must initiate the final plan..."
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Skrull headquarters.
Several heavy armored vehicles rolled over the defensive barricades, the heavy machine guns on the roofs spitting fire madly, bullets raining down on the Skrull guards along the way as if they were free.
In the air, several armed helicopters circled at low altitude, their onboard Rockets whistling out one after another, blowing up clusters of scorching firelight, suppressing the ground defenders so they couldn't even lift their heads.
"Front line suppressed!"
"Maintain formation and advance, watch for cover on both sides!"
Concise instructions came through the communication channel.
The assault team, composed of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, HYDRA spies, and Skrulls, was tearing through the Base's outer defensive line with astonishing efficiency; many Skrull guards were stunned by this fierce attack and could only rely on cover to fire back intermittently.
However, some Skrull guards gathered together, relying on the high-tech equipment on their bodies to withstand this wave of firepower, and began to organize an orderly counterattack.
"Roar!!"
A massive green figure descended from the sky like a meteorite, slamming heavily into the center of the Skrull guards' formation.
The shockwave, wrapped in debris, exploded outward, and the nearby Skrull guards were instantly thrown into chaos.
Bruce Banner, having transformed into Hulk again, was like a giant, rampaging bowling ball, crushing a path through the crowd, sending Skrull guards flying wherever he passed.
With Natasha, the human Hulkbuster armor, guarding nearby this time, there was no need to worry about Hulk losing control again.
Even if one Natasha wasn't enough, there were so many Skrulls on the scene.
If the situation went wrong, they could all transform into Natasha at any moment, surrounding Hulk three layers deep and shouting that the Sun was going down; that scene would probably calm even the most hot-headed person down.
The U.S.... oh no, Captain Skrull Steve was holding his shield and leading the charge, running faster than the armored vehicles.
The Skrull guards turned into expert marksmen one by one, every shot hitting the shield; not a single bullet missed its mark.
High above, Tony, the pay-to-win player, was unleashing his output to his heart's content, spraying various types of firepower onto the ground; on every rising mushroom cloud, it was as if one could see the "-100w" text popping up.
This wasn't damage output, but the amount of U.S. dollars.
As for Clint, he was on the edge of the battlefield, recovering arrows from the corpses.
No choice, he had run out of arrows again.
Facing the Avengers, these Skrull guards were no match; the outer defensive line was shattered in an instant.
The Avengers charged to the main building with overwhelming force.
Just then, a group of Skrulls suddenly surged out from inside the Base, launching an attack on the Avengers.
They were all Skrulls who had fused with special genes, and among them, one could see many familiar figures, such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Blade...
Seeing this, Tony couldn't help but curse: "Shit! Where on earth did these Aliens get so many gene samples?"
"Don't use profanity, Tony."
Steve raised his shield to block a heavy punch from the Skrull Spider-Man and spoke up to remind him.
Tony curled his lip: "Come on, you cursed much worse than this on the Helicarrier; I still have that video, and I watch it a few times whenever I'm in a bad mood. Do you want to see it?"
Steve: "...I was controlled by Loki at that time."
Tony retorted: "Clint was also controlled, why didn't he use profanity?"
Steve: "..."
Darian shook his head while listening; Steve bickering with Tony, wasn't that just asking for abuse?
Who didn't know that Tony's tongue had been soaked in venom.
Most of the other superheroes' enemies were criminals who wanted to disrupt order.
Only Tony's enemies were basically coming for him personally; each of them had been offended by his sharp tongue and wished they could tear him to pieces.
Darian explained: "As long as a superpowered person has appeared, S.H.I.E.L.D. will collect their gene samples. Previously, a Skrull disguised themselves as Nick Fury to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., so they must have used Nick Fury's authority to obtain these gene samples."
In fact, this type of operation had long been the norm in the shadows.
Superpowered people possessed power far beyond that of ordinary people, naturally attracting the secret covetousness of various forces attempting to copy or analyze the source of their power.
The more powerful the superpowered person, the more sought-after their gene samples were.
Especially after a battle involving superpowered people, various forces would send people to clean up the battlefield, collecting the blood, saliva, hair, etc., left behind by the superpowered people, not letting go of any material that might carry genetic information.
Just like Banner's gene samples, General Ross didn't know how many copies he had stored, not even sparing the underwear he wore and discarded.
Hearing this, Tony suddenly became alert: "Wait, you guys wouldn't have also sent people to sneak into my house and secretly collect my genes, would you?"
Darian chuckled: "Why go through so much trouble to collect them? Every year's cover girl for the playboy has your gene samples in their mouths and on their bodies."
Tony: "..."
Darian added: "By the way, I heard people in the biology department mention before that the activity index of your gene samples is a bit touching; I suggest you leave an heir sooner rather than later, lest you have no successor in the future and your vast family fortune ends up benefiting some unreliable godson, only to be squandered away completely."
Tony: "..."
He's slandering me, he's slandering me!
"I'll leave this to you all."
Darian did not tangle with these special Skrulls any longer; his figure flashed, he bypassed them directly, and charged straight toward the entrance of the Base in the back.
Not long after breaking into the internal passage, he suddenly encountered a team of fully armed Skrull soldiers at a corner; the laser rifles in their hands were raised in unison, and the muzzles instantly locked onto his figure.
"Fire!"
At the leader's command, several blue beams tore through the air and shot towards Darian rapidly.
Darian immediately used an invincible roll, dodging behind a nearby cover, and in his hand appeared a small robot with a wind-up key on its back.
[Item: RX-78 Chaser (a robot that can automatically track enemies, will immediately self-destruct upon contact with the target)]
He casually tightened the wind-up key and tossed it lightly towards the direction of the Skrull soldiers.
The small robot landed on the ground, wobbled in place, its round head tilted to one side, looking silly.
"What is this thing?"
The Skrull soldiers were a bit surprised.
The small robot's round electronic eyes suddenly lit up with red light, and its two short legs moved slowly towards the Skrull soldiers.
"Shoot it down!" the leader commanded sternly.
Several Skrull soldiers immediately turned their guns, and laser beams swept over.
But the shell of the seemingly fragile small robot was unexpectedly sturdy; the laser beams hitting it only splashed out sparse sparks, not even causing it to wobble much, and it continued to move forward unhurriedly.
Just as they were feeling surprised, the small robot suddenly accelerated, bursting out with a speed far exceeding what it had just shown!
Before the Skrull soldiers could react, it rushed into the center of the crowd, and the red light on its shell began to flash rapidly.
"Bad! Scatter!"
Boom!!
Before the leader's warning was finished, a huge explosion roared.
The orange-red firelight, wrapped in a shockwave, spread out.
The few Skrull soldiers closest to it were instantly swallowed up, and the remaining Skrull soldiers were also flipped to the ground, their armor covered in scorch marks, making it difficult for them to get up for a while.
Darian walked up to the leader who still had breath, pulled out the golden desert eagle, and pointed it at the opponent's head.
"Where is Gravik?"
"Cough, cough, I, I will not say."
Bang!
The gunshot was crisp and decisive.
Darian didn't look at it again, turned the muzzle to another surviving Skrull soldier: "Gravik is... forget it, you won't say even if I ask, let's just skip the process."
The Skrull soldier: "???"
You damn well ask!
Bang!
Another Skrull soldier fell.
The remaining few Skrull soldiers who could still move were scared to the point of peeing their pants.
Seeing Darian's gaze about to sweep over, one of them almost cried out: "Don't shoot! My Lord Gravik went to the gene fusion device! Go straight, turn left, and it's at the end!"
Darian heard this, raised his eyebrows slightly: "Who asked you?"
The Skrull soldier: "???"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunshots echoed in the passage for a moment, then it became quiet.
Darian put away the golden desert eagle, stepped over the sprawled corpses, and continued to walk deep into the Base.
Go straight, turn left.
At the end of the corridor, a heavy sealed door blocked the way; the identification panel on the side flashed red, indicating that multi-factor authentication was required.
But this couldn't stump Darian; he pulled out the Master Key from the game inventory and easily opened the sealed door.
Behind the door was a fairly spacious space.
Various precision instruments and equipment were displayed all around, and in the very center of the room, a giant device with a complex structure was particularly eye-catching; on the screen connected to the side, a series of names were scrolling by rapidly.
Darian had good eyesight; one glance over, and he could see many familiar names flashing by.
And right on the central platform of that huge device stood a sturdy green goblin.
This person was none other than the leader of the Radicals, Gravik.
Seeing Darian enter, Gravik's face sank, his voice as cold as ice: "Layla, you traitor, not only did you betray me, but you actually joined forces with humans to deal with your own kind; you are a sinner to all Skrulls!"
Darian said solemnly: "Who said they are humans? They are all our people from the Conservatives, every one of them is a Skrull of pure blood, they just turned into the appearance of humans."
Gravik's mouth twitched: "Bullshit! Your people from the Conservatives were long ago controlled by me, where did you get so many people?"
Darian said righteously: "The partners of justice can never be caught completely; Gravik, surrender now!"