: Scammed?

When Obadiah stormed into Stark Industries, Rumlow had just received some bad news.

In the central control area of ​​the laboratory, Rumlow stood in front of Dr. Zola's monitor, having just finished reporting Obadiah's situation to Dr. Zola.

As a cybernetic life form, Dr. Zola quickly found the order to freeze Obadiah's account on the network, or more precisely, on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intranet. The order was issued by Nick Fury, and executed by Nick's loyal subordinate, Phil Coulson.

Rumlow, who was waiting for the results, was surprised to find that Zola could change his expression. His big green head turned gray, as if the screen brightness had been turned down.

"Damn it, it was S.H.I.E.L.D. who did it. Nick Fury froze Obadiah's funds."

Rumlow immediately became alert, remembering Pierce's instructions, and immediately pressed for an answer:

"Is it possible they came with us? Have we been exposed?"

Dr. Zola stated definitively, "They couldn't have followed us. I've processed all the relevant information; there's no trace of us. It's a pity, I was planning to get more funding from Obadiah. Now is not the time to expose ourselves; we need to build up our strength. Project Insight is not yet complete."

As Zola's voice faded, the researchers in the lab with metal blocks on their heads stopped what they were doing and stood there blankly.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" The researchers hired by Obadiah were taken aback by the sudden change.

Then the researcher, who had been stunned, suddenly sprang into action, muttering, "Start cleaning up and destroying the experimental records."

Zola's researchers then initiated the self-destruct program for the experimental project.

Each small laboratory was like a smoke sensor that had been activated, and the overhead nozzles started working, but instead of water, they were spraying a highly corrosive solution.

The experimenters and subjects, realizing something was wrong, tried to escape, but all the passages had been blocked, and the iron walls that had once served as barriers and protection had become sealed coffins.

Screams echoed throughout the laboratory. Rumlow stared blankly at the monitor on the screen. Even Rumlow, who had been through countless battles and was later codenamed Crossbones, had never seen such a scene before. He could only sigh that he was still far from being an anti-human scientist.

"Tell your men to take action, erase all traces of us, and retreat immediately," Zola ordered Rumlow.

"I'll organize vehicles to transfer the researchers right away." Rumlow saw that the people in the laboratory didn't need saving, but there were still quite a few people in the control room above.

"No need. Just tell your security personnel to make sure Obadiah's men don't escape."

After executing the self-destruct sequence, all the researchers stopped what they were doing, looked at each other, and then suddenly shouted:

"Hail Hydra, long live Hydra!" Then the metal parts on the heads began to glow red, and soon the entire heads burst into flames, turning each one into a Ghost Rider with only their heads on fire. Soon, they were truly headless; their heads had burned away.

Looking at the headless horseman on the screen, Rumlow couldn't help but shudder, especially when he noticed that Zola's green head showed a hint of enjoyment when shouting "Hail Hydra".

Without daring to think too much, Rumlow immediately prepared to leave, while simultaneously giving orders to his men, fearing that he too would be used as a trace by Zola and disposed of.

However, this is unnecessary worry. After all, Rumlow works under Pierce. To be precise, all the action teams and agents are under Pierce's command. Zola is only responsible for the research personnel of the project.

The two are in a cooperative relationship, and Zola cannot directly deal with Rumlow's people.

As the metal heads spontaneously combusted one by one, the researchers at Obadiah finally realized something was wrong and began to run away.

But it was too late. The security personnel, under orders from Rumlow, began the final cleanup. With Zola's monitoring, they searched the upper area one by one with weapons, then silenced them, shooting them three times in the body and once in the head to ensure they were dead.

With the last person taken care of, Rumlow returned to the control room to report to Zola.

"Cleanup complete, we're ready to retreat. Do we need to deal with the experimental equipment here? Is there a self-destruct mechanism?" Rumlow was referring to the equipment in the upper area used to collect and record data.

Zola on the screen shook his head and explained, "I'll take care of these devices. Once you're done cleaning up, you can leave. I'm leaving too. Oh, and bring over box number seven for today. Throw the rest of the items into the empty lab number six; I'll destroy them."

"Box number seven?" Although Rumlow didn't know what it was, he quickly had his men bring it over. The box was very large and was placed in the center of the monitoring hall, taking up the space of four or five people.

"Open the box," Zora ordered.

Following Zola's command, Rumlow pressed the button to open the box, which opened automatically, revealing its contents.

It was a missile-shaped object with a test tube-like object inserted in the middle, and a small box next to it.

"What is this? Is it a missile to destroy this place?" Rumlow asked curiously.

Zola shook his head and explained, "The finished product from another lab was originally intended to give Obadiah a little something in exchange for more funding, but it's useful to give it to him now. I think he'll use it to collect experimental data. You can leave now; I'll leave Obadiah an instruction manual."

Rumlow quickly led his security team away.

Not long after the evacuation, Obadiah arrived at the laboratory. Before even reaching the laboratory area, he realized something was wrong as soon as he entered the company gate. There was no one there, not even the security guards at the gate.

Obadiah sensed something was wrong, waved for the driver to stop, and then dialed Rumlow's number.

"..." The phone went dead; no one answered.

What's going on? Obadiah was completely bewildered and had no idea what had happened.

But clearly, the H virus was his last resort. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and gave instructions to his bodyguards.

"You'll come in with me in a bit." The bodyguards who came here with Obadiah were naturally the most loyal and obedient, but even so, they hadn't been allowed into the experimental area before.

The situation is unclear, and the only way to ensure safety is to increase the number of people. As long as they can turn the tide, they will naturally continue to be loyal to us.

The bodyguards escorted Obadiah into the experimental area. Although there were no security personnel, the electronic doors to the laboratory were still operational. After Obadiah entered by scanning his face, a mixed and pungent smell hit him.

It smelled of burning protein, the smell of leaked chemicals, and the rusty smell of fresh blood.

Obadiah quickly put on the gas mask at the door and then gritted his teeth and walked forward.

But the further he walked, the more disheartened he became. He kept seeing the corpses of the researchers he had hired, three bullets in the chest and one in the head, the kind of cleanup done by professional agents. And there were no Rumlow's corpses at the door.

An idea popped into Obadiah's mind.

"Was I tricked? Was I scammed?"