Identity

Late at night, at a Hydra facility.

The searchlights were like radiant swords, sweeping back and forth around the base, slicing through the deep darkness.

The outer perimeter was surrounded by an electrified iron fence nearly three meters high. Under normal circumstances, no one could possibly leap over it while it was live. Yet someone had done exactly that. He wore a black uniform suited for nighttime operations, black goggles and a mask, with a silver-white mechanical arm exposed. With a single leap, he flipped over the more-than-three-meter-high electrified fence, as light as a swallow in flight.

The Winter Soldier. He had once been a sharp blade controlled by Hydra, but now that blade had regained its will and turned on its master.

There were roughly one hundred and fifty meters between his landing point and the watchtower. Based on the searchlights' sweeping pattern, it would be at least seven seconds before the lights passed over this area again. One hundred and fifty meters in seven seconds was a bit extreme even for a world record holder, but not impossible for a super soldier.

He successfully avoided the searchlights and reached the watchtower. He charged up the tower and took down the two Hydra soldiers playing cards in the duty room. He infiltrated like a ghost—precise, lethal, and utterly silent.

Two flashbangs shattered the third-floor windows and flew inside, catching the soldiers in the room off guard and robbing them of their sight. The Winter Soldier followed immediately after. He held a gun in his right hand, while his left mechanical arm gripped a customized combat knife in reverse, its blade gleaming coldly.

The alarm was triggered, and the entire base instantly entered high alert—but it no longer mattered. The deadliest assassin had already infiltrated the interior. It took him less than three seconds to deal with the three Hydra soldiers in the room. He stepped into the corridor and strode forward, casually shooting down every enemy who appeared along the way.

The Winter Soldier killed anyone who stood in his way; it seemed no one in the entire building could halt his advance. He left corpses strewn across the floor as he made his way straight to the office at the end of the third-floor corridor. He kicked open the door, and the bald Hydra agent with glasses was already inside, hands raised in a surrender pose.

"Wait! Wait!" Sitwell shouted, cold sweat covering his shiny bald head. "I surrender, all right? I'll cooperate. I'll tell you everything."

The Winter Soldier tilted his head slightly.

"Thanks," he said hoarsely. But before the bald traitor could breathe a sigh of relief, he pulled the trigger. The Colt pistol spat out a long burst of flame, and the spinning bullet pierced the bald man's forehead, taking his life before he could even realize what had happened.

The Winter Soldier lowered his gun and looked down at Sitwell's fallen body.

"But I don't care."

S.H.I.E.L.D., Tri-Wing Building, Director's Office.

Nick Fury stared grimly at the 3D-projected map before him. More than a dozen red points had been marked across the vast blue map. Some were hidden in the mountains, some beneath the water, and some were even buried directly beneath S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities.

Fury raised his head, his single eye fixing a sharp, suspicious gaze on the mysterious man in high-tech armor standing before the floor-to-ceiling window. Over the past month and a half, he had gradually grown used to this guy appearing in his office whenever he pleased.

"You're saying all of these are Hydra strongholds." Fury looked at him and spoke in a low voice. "How certain are you?"

"One hundred percent," Michael said. "You should know that, so far, not a single piece of intelligence I've given you has been wrong."

"We had a chance to verify every piece of intelligence you provided before. But this?" Fury pointed at the map floating above his desk, covered in red dots. "This is different."

Michael said evenly, "I wouldn't say it if I weren't absolutely certain. But this war has indeed reached a critical point, Director Fury. Every location I listed for you is one of Hydra's hearts, contingency measures they prepared to preserve their strength even after their infiltration was exposed—and that means far more than simply defenses several times stronger than the Hydra bases S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken down before.

All of these bases are in contact with one another, connected to one another. Together, they form a massive, sensitive network. If even one falls, every other part will immediately enact its contingency protocol and relocate, while all intelligence within them will be destroyed. It took me a great deal of effort to uncover all their locations. One mistake, and all of it will have been for nothing."

Fury lightly tapped the glass desktop. "You're saying we have to take them all out at once, at the same time."

Michael nodded.

Hydra was an unimaginably vast organization, its roots tangled through every corner of the Earth. Michael could fight his way through an army head-on, but if he wanted to eradicate a behemoth like Hydra, he did not have enough manpower or resources.

That was why he needed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s involvement.

"'Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place.'" Michael repeated Hydra's well-known motto. "There's a reason for that saying. Hydra is like an unkillable cockroach. Every time you think you've wiped them out completely, they always find a chance to lie low, gather strength, and rise again when you least expect it. Unless we deny them the chance to grow new heads."

Fury leaned back slightly, his hands clasped beneath his chin.

"Not long ago, you proved to me that my former superior, Alexander Pierce—the man who personally handed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command to me—was actually a Hydra spy," Fury said. "I still haven't figured out how to answer to the World Security Council about that. And now you want me to launch the final battle against Hydra. An operation this large cannot be hidden from the Council. I need approval."

"In theory, yes." Michael sounded unconcerned. "But you're Nick Fury. Don't tell me you can't handle a few old men sitting behind desks."

"Maybe I can, but you still haven't given me sufficient reason." Fury's gaze pierced his visor. "When you first proposed cooperation, you said I didn't need to give you any trust. You left the intelligence, I verified whether it was true, and then I decided for myself whether to act—that's how this has always worked.

But things are different now. You're saying we need to take more than a dozen bases in one sweep. There's no way we can verify them one by one before acting. And so far, we haven't built enough trust to make this operation happen. I'm sure you understand that I cannot risk sending all my agents into a trap."

"That's reasonable." Michael nodded, not the least bit surprised. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. still knew nothing about him, and as commander, Nick Fury had to consider every risk.

But before making this proposal, Michael had already prepared a response.

"If the operation succeeds, this may also be our last cooperation, Director Fury. If it succeeds, Hydra will be erased from human history forever and cease to exist. That matters greatly to both of us."

As Michael spoke, seams began appearing across the armor's limbs and chest. Countless screws at its joints started to turn, and the components separated from one another.

"So, to ensure this succeeds, trust is naturally indispensable." Michael continued without waiting for a response. "And I'm willing to take the first step."

Nick Fury stared wide-eyed as the black armor opened down the middle, and the man who had been hidden inside it for the past month and a half stepped out and adjusted his collar.

"Let's get acquainted again, Director Fury." He extended his hand. "I'm glad we've finally met properly."

(Thanks to reader q Model Competition p for the 100 Qidian Coins reward!)