The Hibernation Plan

The helicopter roared down through the night sky and settled firmly on the helipad marked with an "H." A uniformed deputy pulled the cabin door open from the inside, and Wolfgang von Strucker stepped off the plane with his hands clasped behind his back, the monocle on his right eye glinting coldly under the harsh lights.

Hours earlier, news of multiple key Hydra strongholds falling had spread throughout the organization, and almost everyone realized that this supposedly indestructible group might finally be facing its final chapter. But Baron Strucker had grasped this truth sooner than most—which was why, before Fury's all-out war erupted, he had already slipped away unnoticed across the ocean, taking with him everything of value from the branch under his command.

To be honest, Strucker had never cared about the ultimate fate of the other Hydra division leaders. He was a top-ranking Hydra officer, but he was also an ambitious schemer. Even now, he had never abandoned the idea of seizing total power and leading Hydra to realize its founder's ambition—conquering the world.

So when he foresaw the organization's imminent collapse, he didn't hesitate to cut ties with all other divisions and go on the run.

Not only that, but Strucker was also calculating which Hydra-affiliated institutions and departments could be thrown under the bus as decoys. With Hydra's exposure now a foregone conclusion and its core strength largely dismantled, S.H.I.E.L.D. would surely follow up with a series of cleanup operations to root out the remnants. In this situation, pushing out a few scapegoats might divert everyone's attention, giving him enough room to rebuild his power.

Strucker's current base was located deep in a remote, dense forest. This facility was entirely his own secret, unknown even to the heads of other Hydra divisions.

He had long sensed that this place would come in handy someday, but he hadn't expected it to be now, or in this form.

Baron Strucker strode into the base, flanked by his trusted confidants and personal guards. Ignoring all the subordinates who respectfully greeted him along the way, he hurried to the door of a laboratory.

"Sir," the guard at the door saluted him with textbook precision, then turned and tapped a few keys on the control panel to open the door. The moment the metal door slid aside, the piercing sound of welding burst through the gap. A burly, broad-shouldered man was welding a complex metal device with his back to them.

The man stopped working when he sensed someone entering and turned around. He pulled off his black goggles, revealing a rough, rugged Russian face covered in stubble. He wore a shabby-looking coat that seemed like it came from a street stall, clashing with the militarized facility's aesthetic.

Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist. His father, Anton Vanko, had once worked with Howard Stark on the Ark Reactor. But Howard discovered Anton Vanko's ulterior motives and expelled him from the United States. Anton Vanko spent his later years in poverty and bitterness, eventually dying with a deep hatred for the Stark family.

Though Anton Vanko was dead, his hatred was inherited by Ivan Vanko. And unfortunately for everyone, Ivan Vanko was also a super-genius in mechanical engineering. Using only a rough sketch of the Ark Reactor left by his father, he managed to build a prototype and used it to create a whip-like energy weapon to seek revenge on Tony Stark.

Of course, as everyone knew, Anton Vanko's revenge ultimately failed. But the Iron Man-like armor and arc reactor he designed during the process proved his brilliance and caught Hydra's attention. Hydra quickly recruited him, and he was now under Baron Strucker's command.

Baron Strucker waved his hand, signaling his trusted aide to stay at the door, and walked in himself. He skirted around the cluttered equipment and half-finished components scattered across the lab, picking up the object Ivan Vanko had just been working on to examine it.

"What's this?"

"An energy exciter," Ivan replied in heavily accented English. "As requested, it's designed in the shape of a sword hilt. Once connected to a reactor and the switch is pressed, it releases a stable plasma blade."

Strucker weighed it in his hand a couple of times, seeming satisfied. "Looks like you've been speeding up your progress lately."

"Trying not to disappoint," Ivan said stiffly.

This unruly, rough man clearly understood that his new boss was a very dangerous figure. If Ivan Vanko were compared to a fierce, deadly beast, then Strucker was a top-tier tamer. He had taught this beast when to bare its fangs and when to hold back.

Baron Strucker placed the sword hilt back where it was.

"What about the other item?" he asked. "The one I mentioned during my last visit."

"This way, sir."

Ivan kicked aside the failed projects littering the floor and led Strucker through the messy room to the other end of the lab. He pushed aside a pile of circuit boards on a table, found a remote, and pressed a button aimed at the wall.

The lab wall received the signal and slowly retracted, rising into the ceiling. A three-meter-tall iron-silver cabinet rose from beneath the floor tiles, and a set of gray-black armor stood upright inside. Its exterior bore red paint, with bold, aggressive lines that exuded a sharp, restless industrial aesthetic.

The armor's right arm, from the elbow down, had been replaced with a blood-red mechanical arm, its fingers as sharp as blades. That was the "Satan's Claw," Baron Strucker's signature weapon—a technological marvel forged by countless Hydra scientists. Its fingers could cut through metal like mud, provided astonishing power, could discharge high-voltage electricity, and could be fitted with weapons like a Gatling gun.

Baron Strucker looked at his personal battle armor and couldn't help but curl his lips into a sinister smile.

Hydra might be on the verge of collapse, but the strength of the branch under his command had been preserved. Now, he not only possessed top-tier individual combat armor comparable to Iron Man's but also controlled a pair of exceptionally gifted super-powered twins. All he had to do was retreat back into the shadows, patiently build up his strength, and when the time was right, he would lead Hydra to rise again from the ruins! He would return in a form far greater than any previous era, achieving what even their founder, the Red Skull, had failed to accomplish.

Before Baron Strucker could finish envisioning his grand blueprint, a sharp, piercing alarm blared throughout the entire base.

The baron's expression froze instantly. His face turned cold as he left the lab and rushed to the base's control center at top speed.

"What's going on?" he barked.

A communications officer wearing a headset at a computer shouted back, "We're under attack!"

"Attack from whom?" Strucker frowned. "Did S.H.I.E.L.D. really chase us all the way here without giving up?"

"No, not S.H.I.E.L.D. The enemy seems to be... just one person??"

(Thanks to fellow reader Zi Yu Mo for the 2000 Qidian coin tip, fellow reader Lang Zi Xiao Diao for the 500 Qidian coin tip, and fellow reader Fei Niao Feng Yu for the 100 Qidian coin tip!)

The new book is on promotion—please support with collections, recommendation tickets, and book lists!