Chapter 122: A Stand-In? Who Doesn’t Have One!

Bang! In the darkness, a glowing bullet tore straight through the specially made bulletproof helmet, bursting a spray of blood in midair.

A fully armed Hydra operative tilted his head back, staring at the sky, then collapsed to the ground.

“If I’d known this mission was about dealing with Hydra, I would’ve taken it for free,” Frank said, spinning his gun as he stepped out from the side. This was the last Hydra agent in this small base.

“If you don’t want so many points, you can transfer them to me—I’ll pay top dollar,” Natasha’s figure emerged from the shadows nearby. The power had been completely cut off here, and in this environment, Natasha’s agility was greatly enhanced.

Her dagger flicked through the air, shaking off drops of blood onto the floor.

“That’s impossible. By the way, does S.H.I.E.L.D. even have any use? So many Hydras, yet they never caught wind of them?”

Frank gave Natasha a look. When he received the message from Ouroboros, he was stunned—there were three Hydra bases right here in this small city.

“You didn’t notice either while you were there,” Natasha shot back. Frank’s tone made it sound as if he had never actually been with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Beep beep. At that moment, Natasha’s comm device suddenly rang. Glancing down, her expression shifted dramatically—more than when she first learned Hydra still existed in the world.

“What is it? Hydra strike again?” Frank asked. Given the global sweep against Hydra, they should have no resistance left.

“Not Hydra... it’s Nick Fury.” Natasha suddenly looked up. “S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is under attack! Want to come back with me?”

“No problem. But what exactly happened?” Frank didn’t hesitate. Fury had generally treated him well; if he was in trouble, they had to check it out.

Without saying more, Natasha handed Frank her phone. The screen displayed a string of complex characters.

“This is the safe house code. Fury once told me that when this code is activated, it means S.H.I.E.L.D. is at the brink of survival.” Natasha explained quickly.

Frank nodded, saying nothing. He had thought the moment Ouroboros leaked the list of Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., the agency was already at death’s door. Now it seemed this was the true crisis.

Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury shut off his phone, pocketed it, then crouched down, staring at the body before him.

“Doubles again, Pierce. You have more doubles than I do,” Fury murmured softly.

He finally understood why, despite sensing something was wrong inside S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, he had only uncovered minor players. The former director who promoted him was a double agent too!

As Fury rose and stepped over the corpse, a bullet suddenly shot through the window and blew off his head.

Inside the control room of a spaceborne aircraft carrier, Pierce shook his head. “More doubles. How many does this guy have?”

“Sir! We’ve killed thirty Nick Furys already, all doubles. What’s the next step?” an aide asked.

Pierce thought for a moment. “Open the intercontinental missile launch bay, switch to emergency manual launch mode, arm all warheads with nuclear payloads, sever external console connections, and upload the data from the USB drive I brought back. I’ll talk to those people.”

Picking up a highly futuristic communicator, Pierce entered a backroom. He intended to negotiate with the Eagle Nation’s president, hoping to leverage their relationship to get some breathing room from the mysterious faction.

After all, they still possessed some nuclear weapons—these were their bargaining chips.

While Pierce sought reconciliation, or rather a conditional surrender, Natasha and Frank used the quick transport point provided by Ouroboros to return swiftly to New York.

They then ran full speed through the underground sewer system for nearly half an hour, arriving at an unremarkable pipe entrance.

Natasha pulled a card from a gap in her chest armor and swiped it over what looked like a crevice in a stone slab, revealing a small input panel.

Her fingers moved so quickly over the panel that after entering a series of numbers and symbols, the word “Access Granted” flashed, and a simple passageway opened before them.

Natasha didn’t enter immediately but stepped back two paces, raising her hands above her head to fully expose herself to the hidden scanners.

Frank crossed his arms, standing aside. With so many layers of verification, what would he do? Just shoot his way in?

After a hiss of gas, a secondary passage opened next to the original one, marked with a small “2” on its display.

This was the real passage. The first one would have sealed shut upon entry, followed by a barrage of poison gas, bullets, and corrosive liquids.

“Looks like someone’s inside. We can go in together,” Natasha said, glancing at the number and then at Frank.

She had intended to enter alone and then open the door for Frank, but now the manual override had replaced the automated system, granting entry to both of them.

Frank followed Natasha, eyes scanning the surroundings, clutching a random teleportation coin awarded for a previous mission—just in case things went south, activating it would likely save his life.

“This is the most secure safe house. I didn’t even know about it before joining Ouroboros. Fury told me after I joined—he must have trusted that the agency’s double agents couldn’t fool Ouroboros’s vetting system,” Natasha explained as they walked, soon arriving at a large silver door.

“This is a defense base funded with massive embezzled resources. The special walls and gate are embedded with vibranium. A small nuclear blast overhead might barely even be felt here.”

Frank eyed the door, itching to test vibranium’s defensive capabilities with his magic weapons. He longed to pull out his gun and fire a few rounds.

Just then, the door swung open. Natasha pulled Frank through quickly. The door would only remain open for three seconds before closing automatically.

“You’re finally here,” Coulson said anxiously, looking at Natasha and Frank.

“I came as soon as I got the signal. Are you alone?” Natasha asked.

“Hawkeye’s been captured by Hydra. Fury told me to hide here. Outside, it’s an assassination—no, an open kill competition!” Coulson said quickly. “Fury left a video in the system, but it requires at least two people to unlock it. I’ve been waiting for you both for a long time!”

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