The facility was in chaos.
Thick steel blast doors had slammed shut, isolating squads of Hydra agents into separate sections. The emergency klaxons wailed, red lights pulsing along the narrow corridors. Some guards frantically checked their radios, barking for status reports, only to receive static. Others held their rifles tight, scanning the dimly lit hallways with growing paranoia.
Tony walked among them, a phantom clad in stolen Hydra gear, visor down, rifle slung over his shoulder. He moved carefully, never rushing, never hesitating—just another faceless soldier obeying the lockdown protocol. 'To think they built something out in the open.'
No one questioned him.
And that would be their first mistake.
Two Hydra guards stood by a security checkpoint, muttering under their breath. Their fingers rested near their triggers, nerves taut. The sudden lockdown had rattled them.
Tony approached with measured steps, stopping just short of their line of sight. He examined the environment. A large industrial pipe ran along the ceiling, marked with faded yellow warning labels: HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM. A maintenance panel was bolted near the corner.
His nanites shifted into a small multi-tool and he unscrewed the bolts silently. One. Two. Three. The last bolt came loose. He placed a small explosive. It would just make a pop sound, but powerful enough to crack the unstable joint. 'Alrighty.'
The moment the panel shifted, the pipe groaned. Steam hissed from the growing crack, building pressure.
Tony took a step back and waited and threw the bolts on the ground near the pipe.
One of the guards noticed.
"Hey, you hear that?" The taller one turned, brow furrowing. He nudged his partner. "Check it out."
The second guard hesitated, then stepped forward. As soon as he reached the loose panel, Tony activated the explosive.
POP! HISSSSSS—FWWWWOOOSH!
Superheated steam blasted from the fractured pipe, enveloping the guard's face in a scalding cloud. "ARGGGGG!!!!" A garbled scream tore from his throat, skin blistering instantly. He fell to the floor, squirming like a worm.
"What the fuck?!" His partner recoiled, eyes wide in horror.
Tony was already moving.
He walked behind the second guard and wrapped an arm around his throat, cutting off his scream. The man struggled, kicking wildly, but Tony's grip was ironclad. He held firm until the man's body went limp. He then walked to the first one. The guard was still twitching, his face melted beyond recognition, steam still hissing from his ruined skin. well... he died after twitching for a bit.
Tony dragged the dead bodies to the room on his right and dumped them inside a big garbage drum. Then he went back and flicked the loose panel back into place, sealing the breach.
No witnesses. No evidence.
Further down the corridor, another Hydra operative patrolled alone, checking the secured doors. He had his rifle at the ready but was distracted, grumbling about the sudden lockdown.
Tony stalked him from above.
He moved across a maintenance walkway, silent as a shadow. Every step was calculated. The metal grates beneath him barely made any sound under his weight. He watched the guard's movements, analyzing his route.
The timing had to be perfect.
As the guard stopped beneath an overhead support beam, Tony activated his invisible mode and flew down behind the guard. Then he reached carefully unclipped the man's holster. The guard stiffened.
Tony didn't let him finish. He punched the guard's throat to stop him from making noise. Then he grabbed the guard's throat and flew up. Tony hovered in the air. The man's boots scraped against the floor as he was lifted off his feet, hands clawing at Tony's arms, but all his nails scratched was the armor on his hand.
The neck snapped clean.
Tony took the body and shoved it into a maintenance alcove. The shadows swallowed it whole.
No alarms. No blood. Just another missing agent.
'Time to hunt my next target.'
Two more guards were stationed in a narrow corridor, standing near an exposed electrical junction box. They were deep in conversation, oblivious.
Tony crouched near the edge of the hallway, eyes scanning the area. The junction box was old, covered in layers of dust and rust, with thick cables snaking out of it.
A quick scan with his HUD showed high voltage.
Tony unslung his rifle and took aim—not at the guards, but at the ceiling above them. A single suppressed shot rang out, striking a loose ventilation grate.
The guards snapped their heads up.
One stepped forward cautiously. The other reached for his radio.
He lunged from the shadows, grabbing the first guard and shoving him violently against the exposed junction box. His body seized as thousands of volts surged through him. His partner barely had time to react before Tony punched his throat, breaking his windpipe, and kicked his knee out, forcing him down.
The he grabbed the second guard's face and slammed it against the crackling wires. Sparks danced. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
'Wow! Roasted meat... Argg! Now, burnt meat.'
Their bodies jerked, then fell still.
Tony stepped back, watching the lights flicker for a brief moment before stabilizing.
Once again, no alarms.
A lone officer hurried through a side passage, likely heading for the command center. Unlike the others, this one had rank—Tony could tell by the insignia on his uniform.
That made him valuable.
Tony moved fast, trailing him through the dim corridors. His nanites shifted and formed a knife. The officer didn't sense the danger until it was too late.
A firm grip on his shoulder. A knife to his throat.
The officer choked, hands clawing at the blade pressing against his jugular.
"Shhh," Tony whispered in his ear. "You make a sound, and you die painfully."
The officer whimpered.
The officer hesitated. Tony pressed the blade deeper. A bead of blood trickled down his neck.
"L-Level three," he stammered. "Security w-wing."
Tony exhaled. "Good boy."
Then he twisted the knife.
The officer's body slumped into the shadows.
Tony decided to kill all the Hydra agents first, so he just did that. He was stealthy about it too. He killed all the guards on the first two levels with environmental accidents and stealth takedown and hid the bodies all over the base.
Then he made his way to the third level.
The security wing was close now. He could see it—reinforced doors, an additional squad of Hydra operatives stationed nearby.
Viper was inside. Tony tried to check through the wall, but couldn't. It was made of special material. 'Tsk. Gotta tweak the visor later...'
He needed one last play.
Tony spotted a fire suppression system near the ceiling. It was one of the few systems still operational. He simply shot at the sensor from the shadows.
The fire alarm shrieked.
Panic. The guards flinched, distracted by the sudden blare.
That was all he needed.
Tony moved like a ghost, gliding through the chaos, silencing each guard before they even realized what was happening. A knife to the throat. A snapped neck. A precise strike to the temple.
By the time the alarm died down, the security wing was drenched in silence.
Tony stepped toward the door and placed his palm against the control panel. His suit's interface worked its magic.
The security wing was eerily silent. The heavy blast door hissed open, revealing a scene Tony hadn't expected. Bodies littered the floor, contorted in ways that told of brutal efficiency. Limbs bent at unnatural angles. Necks twisted sharply. Some corpses bore scorch marks from electrified weapons, while others had crushed throats, their faces frozen in mid-scream.
Tony stepped inside cautiously, his visor scanning the room. No gunfire residue. No spent casings. No alarms were triggered during the fight. These people never had a chance to shoot back.
His gaze landed on the centerpiece of the massacre—Madame Viper.
She sat slumped against the far wall. She was wearing her black leather outfit. A whip dangled from her stiff fingers, coiled uselessly. But it was her face that drew Tony's attention.
Tony exhaled sharply. "Interesting."
He crouched beside her body, his HUD running a forensic scan. No sign of hesitation wounds. Whoever did this went for maximum efficiency... quick, brutal takedowns, no wasted movements. The patterns were too familiar. He'd seen this before.
He turned to the nearest dead operative, rolling the body slightly. Burn marks on the chest. Small, circular entry points... High-voltage electric darts. And the joint breaks…
Tony's lips pressed into a thin line. "Baton strikes. Classic."
His fingers tapped against his thigh as the realization settled in. The crushed windpipes, the broken clavicles, the calculated brutality... This was a very particular kind of fight. One that only a handful of people in the world could execute with such ruthless precision.
And he knew one of them very well.
It had to be her. No one else had this exact blend of skills. Fast. Precise. Overwhelming in close quarters. She hadn't just killed them; she had humiliated them. None of these guys even got a shot off.
But why take Viper's eyes?
Tony frowned, standing up and scanning the rest of the room. If it was Natasha, she was already gone. No lingering traces, no accidental footprints. Nothing. She had come, done her job, and disappeared like a ghost.
He looked up and saw a broken vent, "Hahahaha... Dang! Well... A pro is a pro. I'll give her that. She must have seen the car and followed me here or she was on a side mission. And the eyes... If I were to guess, her eyes must open something good... Something like a vault or doors and whatever lies beyond that must be very valuable. Now what does Hydra have that's so valuable that the Black Widow would risk infiltrating an enemy base? A new strain of SSS? Tesseract? Or... Zola AI?!"
Tony quickly did another scan of the room. He wanted to extract some data but he noticed that everything was wiped clean. So, without wasting any time he went to the armory and placed a nanite bomb. Then he went out of the base and flew high up in the air and activated the bomb.
The ground shook from the blast as the facility was engulfed in a fiery explosion. The flames roared, swallowing anything in their path, metal bending and melting under the extreme heat. Debris flew everywhere, crashing through the surrounding forest.
Tony watched it all burn, then flew away.
A woman in a black suit watched as the base exploded. Her long hair fluttered in the breeze. Her face was covered by a black mask, leaving only her piercing green eyes exposed. Her phone rang.
She took the call, "Mission successful. But there was someone other than me who was after Viper. Whoever that was, blew up the base."
"Good job," a male voice said on the other end of the line. "Now go back to your previous assignment. We'll send another Widow to check up on our unknown friend."
The woman lowered her phone and walked away from the burning base. She vanished into the night.
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