But just as he was about to wave his hand and give the order, a sudden change occurred.
The expected dull thud of bursting flesh and blood did not come; instead, there was a high-frequency, piercing sound of energy oscillation.
Pietro, who had collapsed in pain, instinctively tried to push himself up, but at the moment he exerted force—
"Bang!"
A muffled impact.
One second Pietro was still curled up under the pedestal; the next, he had actually slammed heavily against the blast-proof glass several meters away.
This startled everyone present.
Even he hadn't realized what happened, frantically trying to step back.
He was like an out-of-control marble, bouncing back and forth within the cramped laboratory.
His crisscrossing steps pulled out over a dozen silver-blue afterimages.
With a speed that defied common sense, he seemed to turn into a whirlwind, the airflow he generated directly overturning the heavy monitoring equipment nearby.
On the other side, Wanda tilted her head back in pain and let out a shrill scream.
Accompanied by her roar, a surge of tangible scarlet energy erupted from her fingertips, like living blood, rolling and rising around her body.
As the red light swept past, the blast-proof glass let out an overwhelmed creak, quickly becoming covered in a web of cracks.
Even the Mind Stone, under the resonance of this kindred power, emitted a high-pitched vibration.
List's hand, raised in mid-air, froze.
His mouth hung slightly open as he stared blankly at this supernatural scene, like a statue.
His previous arrogance and disdain had long since been shattered into dross.
This... this is a miracle!
Beside him, Makima stood quietly. Watching the scarlet and silver-blue lights reflecting off the glass, a hint of interest flashed in her eyes, and the corners of her mouth curled into an arc.
It's a success.
The rampaging energy did not last long.
Awakening their superpowers for the first time had nearly drained the last bit of physical strength from the siblings. Before they could even figure out what was happening, their legs gave way, and they collapsed onto the cold, hard floor, losing consciousness.
List's attitude immediately underwent a 180-degree turn.
His eyes shone, looking exactly like a gold prospector who had dug up a priceless treasure in an abandoned coal mine.
With an excited heart and trembling hands, he hurriedly directed the HYDRA Agents under him to enter the lab, repeatedly instructing them to handle with care and take these two precious gems to be properly settled and rested.
But once his excitement subsided, he turned his head and happened to catch Makima's half-smiling gaze.
The ecstasy on List's face suddenly froze, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
As if waking from a dream, he realized a fatal fact.
Right, the person who found and brought back these two perfect test subjects was Makima, not him!
The old doctor's face immediately became a bit strained.
Clearly, he was never the kind of pure scientist who discarded worldly concerns; fame and status were far more important to him than any truth.
But this was reasonable; given his scientific level—only capable of using human lives in a brute-force approach—he was never the type of great figure who placed science above all else.
Feelings of embarrassment and guilt spread through List's heart.
If this were reported truthfully, what would Baron Strucker think of him?
An outsider just takes a stroll and brings back two civilians who succeeded, while he, leading an entire core research team, had been busy for days with nothing to show for it but dozens of piles of minced meat to clean up.
Wouldn't the Baron directly misunderstand that he was actually a useless freeloader?
But Makima was from the U.S. HYDRA after all, and her status might even be higher than his. To openly steal the credit...
Wouldn't that be seeking death?
While Dr. List was thinking.
Coincidentally, a HYDRA soldier rushed over to report that Baron Strucker had just returned to the castle.
List couldn't afford to continue being embarrassed here and hurriedly left the lab with Makima.
In the castle hall at this time, Strucker, who had just returned from outside, was covered in white snow.
He irritably swatted the ice chips off his shoulders, his military boots leaving muddy water stains on the flagstones, as he cursed under his breath.
He didn't know what kind of bad luck he'd hit today; this Sokovian blizzard came out of nowhere, and its intensity was ridiculous!
Even the mountain roads were almost completely blocked.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and immediately told the driver to speed up.
Otherwise, as one of the leaders of the great HYDRA, he might have been buried alive in a snowdrift in the mountains.
Dr. List immediately went forward to meet him, with Makima following behind at an unhurried pace.
When Baron Strucker saw Makima, his face darkened, and he quickly clapped his hands with a cold expression.
With two crisp claps, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses climbed out of the car behind him.
The Baron looked at Makima, his tone icy:
"Years ago, I indeed launched a project to modify human genetic variants. Although there weren't many presentable results in the end, it was a core project I invested a lot of energy and attention into. And this gentleman is Dr. Hoffman, who was in charge of the project back then."
The man named Hoffman stepped forward and unceremoniously pointed a finger at Makima's nose: "You're lying. I don't know you at all, and there has never been a woman as young as you in my core research team."
"There were only two women in our entire department. One died early in a lab accident, and the other is over sixty years old this year!"
Makima's appearance clearly didn't look like someone dead, nor someone nearly sixty.
Hearing this, List's cloudy old eyes suddenly widened.
After all that, this red-haired woman with such a powerful aura was actually a fraud?
She had never worked under the Baron at all?
After a brief moment of shock, a surge of ecstasy rose in List's heart, and his embarrassment vanished instantly. He snatched the opportunity to speak and reported: "My Lord! The experiments with the Mind Stone have made a breakthrough!"
"Just now, my experiment successfully allowed a pair of civilian twins to awaken superpowers!"
In his report, he didn't mention at all that bringing back the twins was Makima's doing.
He was quite good at word games; he didn't deny what Makima had done, he just didn't mention it at all.
After all, in HYDRA's code of survival, allegiance always outweighs the facts.
Since Makima's current identity was that of a deceitful fraud who stood in opposition to them.
Then it no longer mattered who the credit belonged to.
One couldn't expect the Baron to reward a spy with an unknown background and a mouth full of lies, could they?
Upon hearing this, a flash of ecstasy crossed Strucker's eyes, but he suppressed his excitement and ignored List's attempt to take credit.
He slowly reached for the pistol at his waist, his sharp gaze locking onto Makima like a hawk as he demanded coldly:
"Who are you exactly? Why did Pierce send you here to get close to me? What exactly do you want from me?"
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