Crimson Light, Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood

Chapter 98 Crimson Light, Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood

"The situation is not good."

Marcus stared at Tony warily, his hand secretly reaching towards his lower back.

Logan put away his gun and said, "Mr. Stark, let's talk this over."

At that moment, Tony seemed to remember something. "So it was you. Stealing from the Avengers isn't wise, but now..."

"To be precise, that thing still belongs to Hydra."

Klaus, oblivious to Tony's tact, spoke up and refuted his words.

Tony turned to look at him. "Kid, watch your mouth. That was originally our stuff, it was just stolen by those Hydra guys."

After saying that, he turned his gaze back to Logan. He could tell that Logan was the leader of the team.

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't help you this time."

As he spoke, Tony raised his hands, his palms flashing with a blinding light, the energy gathering within them almost bursting forth. "Everyone, cover your heads and crouch down. I don't want any unnecessary casualties here."

Marcus and the others looked at Tony's mech's palm cannon and couldn't help but take two steps back in fear.

Although this was their first encounter with Iron Man, they had already heard of his power and knew that the power of his palm cannon was not to be underestimated.

"Tony, what's the situation on your end?"

Inside the mech, Steve's voice came through the communicator.

"It's alright. We caught a few illegal immigrants, and they look like they were trying to steal the scepter. I've already taken them into custody."

Tony responded from inside the mech, his tone still very casual, clearly not considering Logan and his group a threat.

"How's it going over there? Have you dealt with the enemies outside?"

He had already noticed that the sounds of gunfire on the battlefield behind him were gradually decreasing, and the fighting was gradually subsiding, as if the war had ended.

"not yet."

Steve's tone was somewhat heavy. "There's a very fast guy blocking our way. He's as fast as a silver streak. We can't lock onto him, and we're currently locked in a stalemate."

Judging from his tone, that guy had clearly caused them a lot of trouble.

Tony was about to respond when he suddenly saw a dark shadow flash past in front of him.

He snapped back to his senses and saw Victor leap up like a tiger, lunging at him, his sharp nails scratching the visor of his armor without hesitation.

Click...

A screeching sound rang out as the paint on the mask was scratched by sharp claws, leaving several clear and deep claw marks.

"Shit!"

The sudden attack made Tony's expression darken. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and fired a dazzling beam of light at Victor's chest.

Victor reacted quickly, dodging to the side.

The palm-sized cannon grazed his clothes and slammed into the wall beside him.

boom!

An explosion followed, and a sizable gap was blasted open in the thick wall, sending debris flying everywhere.

"What's wrong?"

Steve's worried voice rang out again from inside the armor.

"fine."

Tony abandoned his nonchalant attitude and became serious, saying in a deep voice, "You'll probably have to deal with that fast guy yourselves. I need to apprehend these smugglers first!"

Although Victor's attack was ineffective, Tony could tell from his speed and strength that these guys were definitely not ordinary people.

At the same time, Victor turned to Logan and said, "You guys go get the goods first, I'll hold this tin guy off!"

He knew very well that if they didn't complete the mission quickly, they would have no chance of escaping once the other Avengers dealt with the enemies outside and surrounded them.

They are no match for all the Avengers right now.

Logan glanced at Victor, his brow furrowed, but he didn't refuse, only saying, "Okay, be careful, this guy is not easy to deal with."

Although it's risky to let Victor face Iron Man alone, it's the only option at the moment.

After all, they are racing against time. Only if they finish the mission before Steve and the others will they have a chance to escape. Otherwise, they will probably be imprisoned by S.H.I.E.L.D. forever.

Before leaving, Logan glanced at Victor and Tony on the other side, then turned his gaze to John in the group. "John, you stay here to assist Victor. Be careful."

If it were a young Victor, Logan would naturally feel comfortable letting him fight Iron Man alone.

After all, Tony's research on armor has not yet reached its peak, and the Mark 43 he wears still has relatively limited capabilities. In addition, Victor's healing factor is enough to contend with him for a short period of time.

But nowadays Victor is getting old, his healing factor has declined significantly, and his physical strength and power have decreased. Logan is really worried about him fighting Tony alone, so having John assist him can at least relieve some of the pressure on him.

Upon hearing Logan's arrangement, John did not refuse. He nodded and said "Okay." Then he turned to look at Tony, who was confronting Victor. He suddenly lunged behind Tony and hugged him tightly from behind, trying to restrain him with his strength.

But he clearly underestimated Iron Man's power.

Tony glanced at him sideways and said calmly, "I'm not used to such intimate actions with men."

After saying that, he raised his elbow and punched John hard behind him.

puff!

A dull thud rang out; Tony's elbow strike was like a hammer blow, making John's stomach churn and letting out a muffled groan.

But he showed no sign of loosening his grip, intending to lock Tony tightly with all four limbs.

After several unsuccessful elbow strikes, Tony, somewhat exasperated, activated the thrusters on the soles of his feet.

A force shoved his body backward, sending John crashing into the wall behind him.

boom!

The solid wall instantly caved in, forming a dense ring of cracks around it.

The violent impact made John feel his internal organs churning. He grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and his limbs were forced to loosen, releasing Tony.

Tony was about to say a few words to John when another dark shadow flashed before his eyes.

Victor lunged at him, brandishing his long, sharp claws. His powerful fists whistled through the air as he swung them. Tony was caught off guard and struck on the head, the force of the blow making the frame of his armor rattle.

If it were a normal person's skull, this blow would at least result in a fractured skull.

Fortunately, Tony was protected by his armor and did not suffer any damage.

But Victor's attacks continued, and this continuous assault left Tony unable to retaliate for a time. Victor would also notice and dodge the punches Tony threw.

Tony was momentarily annoyed and said, "Jarvis, analyze his moves."

"Yes, sir."

Jarvis, the artificial intelligence, spoke from beneath the mask, and then began scanning and analyzing Victor's attack.

A few seconds later, a plan to deal with Victor was devised.

Tony seemed to have evolved into a fighting master in an instant. He suddenly leaned back to dodge Victor's flying claws, and at the same time, as if he had foreseen it, he raised his leg. Almost at the same time, Victor's whip kick came out, but it was blocked by the mech's calf.

Victor was taken aback, but he refused to believe it and launched another fierce attack, using all the fighting skills he had learned in his life.

But at this moment, Tony was no longer the passive punching bag he had been just moments before. In an instant, he seemed to have become a fighting master on par with Victor, easily blocking no matter how swift Victor's attacks were.

"This...how is this possible!"

During a lull in the attack, Victor couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, momentarily stunned as he looked at his suddenly agile armor.

It should be noted that he spent about half of his two hundred years of life in battle, and at least in terms of fighting skills, he has not encountered an opponent other than Logan.

But now, facing Tony, it seems that all his moves have been deciphered. Not only can Tony easily block them, but he can even deliver a few heavy punches to him from time to time.

On Tony's side, after using Jarvis's plan, his fight with Victor became much easier. Whether it was defense or offense, the mask provided accurate prompts, and he only needed to follow them.

Gradually, he even began to dominate Victor in hand-to-hand combat, his iron fists becoming increasingly unstoppable for Victor.

Taking advantage of a moment when Victor threw a punch, Tony suddenly bent down and swept out with a kick.

Victor couldn't dodge in time; his legs were swept away, and the powerful force caused him to lose his balance and fall heavily to the ground.

Before he could fall to the ground, Tony kicked Victor up like a football, sending him flying again. He then extended both hands, palm cannons condensing, and slammed them into Victor's chest in mid-air without hesitation.

boom!!!

The palm strike hit Victor squarely in the chest, the powerful impact sending him flying and crashing heavily into the wall behind him.

Boom!

The thick wall was instantly smashed open by his impact, creating a huge crater.

Victor fell behind the pit, buried by the broken bricks of the wall, raising clouds of dust.

Tony looked at the pile of rubble amidst the dust, and could vaguely see Victor's blood-stained body beneath the ruins. He let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's finally solved."

Tony couldn't help but mutter to himself. At least in terms of hand-to-hand combat, this guy was indeed a tough opponent, and his strength and agility were not to be underestimated. After a fight, Tony's armor was covered with many terrifying claw marks.

Looking at the claw marks, Tony even felt a lingering fear.

If I hadn't been wearing armor and had fought him hand-to-hand, my chest would probably have been ripped open.

Fortunately, it's finally been resolved.

Just as Tony exhaled and was about to deal with John on the other side, a violent cough suddenly came from the pile of rubble.

"Cough cough cough."

Victor's voice came again, and a hand reached out from the ruins, brushing away the rubble covering him, and he struggled to his feet.

Victor was clearly in bad shape at this moment. The palm cannon had almost blasted all the flesh off his chest, his clothes were completely torn apart, and his chest was a bloody mess with blood dripping down his face. A clear bloodstain also ran down the corner of his mouth.

But as Victor stood still, the blood in his chest visibly returned, and his mangled chest seemed to be slowly repairing itself, as if something was wriggling within it.

"No one's alright?!"

Tony stopped and looked at Victor in disbelief.

His palm strike just now would have wrecked not only a person, but even a car.

But Victor not only endured it, he was also able to stand up, and judging from his appearance, he seemed to still have the ability to continue fighting.

"Who exactly are you people?"

Tony instantly realized that these people could not possibly be ordinary humans. Normal people could not have such strong defenses unless this guy was like Steve, injected with a super serum, or had some kind of defensive means.

call out!

Just as he was pondering, a sharp whooshing sound suddenly came from behind him.

Tony's expression changed, but at Jarvis's prompting, he whirled around and caught the flying object with his palm.

It was a thick steel plate, about the size of a table, made of solid material, and weighed at least several tens of kilograms.

John, gripping the other side of the steel plate and waving it at Tony, gritted his teeth, holding the plate tightly with a look of defiance in his eyes.

"Sneak attacks are not the mark of a good child."

Tony looked at John's gritted teeth and snorted disdainfully.

"Oh shit!"

John's eyes were filled with rage. He suddenly pulled his hands away, and the huge steel plate was momentarily freed from Tony's grasp and pulled back by John.

The steel plate, weighing dozens of kilograms, was swung by John with a sharp, whistling sound as it crashed down on Tony once more.

Tony dodged the impact, but the steel plate grazed his face and slammed heavily to the ground. The force of the impact caused the building to tremble slightly, and dust was kicked up, creating a cloud of dust.

Tony stomped hard on the steel plate, completely eliminating any possibility of John lifting him up to launch another attack.

However, he didn't deal with John immediately, but looked at him with curiosity.

"Your bodies all seem to be quite special."

He stared at John as he spoke, noticing that the man had no obvious wounds and his limbs moved without any restriction.

This is not normal. You should know that the impact just now was enough to cause serious fractures or even fatal injuries to an ordinary person.

But this person was completely unharmed, and even seemed incredibly strong.

Thinking of this, Tony couldn't help but turn and glance at Victor.

Although Victor's injuries had not completely healed, the bleeding had stopped, and the minor abrasions on his arms had also fully recovered.

Recalling Victor's strength and speed just now, Tony had a guess in mind and asked the two, "Are you mutants?"

The only people who can possess such physical resilience, along with immense strength and speed, besides super soldiers like Steve who have been injected with a super serum, are mutants who have undergone mutations.

...

...

...

While the fierce battle raged on, Logan had already led Marcus and Klaus deeper into the castle.

At this point, the entire castle was in complete chaos due to the Avengers' attack.

Some technicians were sitting in front of computers, frantically deleting all kinds of data and throwing paper documents into the fireplace where flames were raging.

Meanwhile, the soldiers inside the castle were in a panic, running around the castle with their rifles in hand.

Logan led his men carefully, avoiding the Hydra agents, down a long, narrow staircase leading deeper into the castle.

"Shh!"

In the castle's basement, Logan suddenly leaned against a corner, put a finger to his lips and shushed, then pointed behind the corner, "Someone's coming."

A moment later, a series of rapid footsteps approached; it was a squad of Hydra soldiers.

As they drew nearer, Logan nodded emphatically to Klaus and Marcus.

The next moment, the three of them pounced out at the same time.

Logan's steel claws easily pierced the heads of two soldiers, while Klaus and Marcus slit the necks of two guards with their daggers.

A Hydra squad had no chance to fight back and was completely wiped out.

This was the fifth squad they had dealt with along the way, and they had all dealt with them cleanly and decisively, without any real danger along the way.

After hiding the bodies, Logan continued to lead the group deeper into the castle.

"This castle is too big. If we keep searching like this, even if there are no guards, we won't find it by tomorrow, let alone if there are guards to stop us."

Klaus looked at the corridors in the basement and felt a headache coming on.

They've been wandering around down there for a long time, and it feels like there's no end in sight.

Logan frowned as he looked at the labyrinthine passageways. It felt like walking through a maze; these Hydra guys had practically dug up the underground for tens of kilometers around them to make it their basement.

Finding a scepter in such a vast place is like finding a needle in a haystack!

"Separately search."

Logan gave the order with a furrowed brow.

Although he had some recollection of the location of the Mind Scepter, he only remembered that it was in the basement, but he didn't know exactly where it was.

After all, the blueprints for the castle weren't revealed in the movie.

"That's the only way we can do it."

Marcos sighed helplessly. Although searching separately was more dangerous, at least the chances of finding the goods were greater.

"Okay, I'll look on the left."

Klaus nodded, then walked to the left, using his invisibility ability to disappear into the passage.

Invisibility would reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble for him, and he could also find people much faster.

"Then I'll go to the right."

After Marcos finished speaking, he also set off cautiously.

Logan, on the other hand, continued walking forward.

As the three dispersed to search on their own, a graceful crimson figure slowly emerged from a dark corner behind them, staring intently in the direction they had gone.

After searching for several tens of minutes, Logan found a laboratory.

Inside, there were many guards and researchers. Even though there was a lot of gunfire outside, these researchers were still busy at their workbenches. It was unclear whether they were destroying experimental results or continuing their research tasks.

Logan wasn't going to waste words with them, so he pulled out a few grenades he'd looted from the guards' corpses and threw them in.

Boom boom boom!!!

As the explosion rang out, the entire laboratory was destroyed, and all the researchers and guards perished in the blast. Even those who were standing further away and did not die immediately, lying in pools of blood and groaning, were not spared by Logan. He pulled out his pistol and decisively ended their lives.

After searching the laboratory, Logan didn't find the scepter, but he unexpectedly discovered a passage leading to a deeper part of the lab.

Logan looked at the passage and carefully walked down it.

Soon, he arrived at a spacious, deserted hall. The Scepter of the Mind was placed in the center of the hall on a shelf, its top emitting a beautiful, faint light.

In addition to the scepter, Logan also found five pale blue super serums in the freezer in the basement.

Logan's eyes lit up. Without even glancing at the scepter, he rushed to the freezer and grabbed all the serum.

Although he knew that the super soldier serums available at this stage couldn't turn someone into a super soldier like Steve with just one dose, they could still slightly enhance human functions.

However, this base obviously only has five; Logan guessed that the others might be hidden inside Strucker's base headquarters.

After carefully putting away the serum, Logan then looked at the Mind Scepter, pondered for a moment, and stepped forward to take it down.

But as soon as he reached out, he felt a flash of scarlet light behind him.

The next second, before he could react, everything in front of him suddenly vanished completely.

What came into view was a gloomy and terrifying mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, with countless corpses floating in the bubbling blood.

As he arrived, the corpses suddenly came to life, and countless eyes belonging to the dead all stared at him.

(End of this chapter)