Entering the Base

"Transformation Jutsu!"

After quickly cleaning up the traces, Li Chuan formed hand seals. With a poof, he shifted from the young driver back into the portly Hades.

"Sometimes these support ninjutsu are handier than attack techniques."

Driving Hades' red sedan, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Though the Transformation Jutsu was just an E-rank technique that all beginners learned, in this Marvel World where no one could detect Chakra, it proved exceptionally useful.

Without it, he'd never have been able to kidnap Hades to the outskirts for interrogation without leaving a trail.

After all, whether he acted himself or sent his men, in a city full of cameras, traces were inevitable.

Once it was over, if someone investigated, they could track those clues back to his group and him.

Besides, even with Chakra enhancement and some offensive jutsu under his belt, storming the Hydra Base alone to rescue Dr. Smith was basically impossible.

Let alone killing Baron Strucker and destroying the entire base.

At this point, the Hydra Base hadn't yet acquired the Mind Stone Scepter, nor had it developed high-tech energy shields from studying the Mind Stone and Chitauri ships.

But even ordinary guns and cannons packed more punch than his D-rank fireball jutsu.

So a head-on fight was out of the question. Only by infiltrating and leveraging his individual strength could he complete all three missions and escape cleanly.

And without the Transformation Jutsu, sneaking into a Hydra Base covered by surveillance from every angle would be hellish difficulty.

As it stood, his Transformation Jutsu wasn't fully mastered yet due to time constraints.

At its peak, it could not only mimic other people's appearances but also turn into animals, or even inanimate objects—a boulder, a vase, a weapon, and so on.

Of course, there were limits and caveats.

First, no matter what you turned into, if you couldn't hide your Chakra well, other ninja—especially sensory types—would see right through it.

That was much easier in Marvel, since there were no ninja here.

Second, turning into something didn't grant its properties. If you became an Explosive Tag, you couldn't actually explode; you just looked like one.

Third, taking damage made it hard to maintain Chakra stability, reverting you to your original form. So you couldn't turn into a sword and actually clash with a real one, or become a shield and block bullets.

Still, with the Transformation Jutsu pushed to its limits, you could develop many advanced techniques from it.

Like Konan's "Dance of the Shikigami," which turned her body into countless paper shreds to dodge physical attacks, or Jiraiya's "Frog Transformation Jutsu," used to forcibly turn enemies into frogs for interrogation.

Many high-level jutsu were built on low-level foundations.

All this knowledge about the Transformation Jutsu came from Chiriku at the Fire Temple.

"Mr. Hades, what brings you here? Didn't you just deliver supplies last week?"

At the first checkpoint outside the base, a squad of soldiers stopped Li Chuan's car. The squad leader, clearly familiar with Hades' vehicle, stepped up and tapped on the window.

Li Chuan took a deep breath. He didn't recognize this squad leader.

Though he'd extracted plenty of intel from Hades, as a longtime Hydra member, Hades knew almost everyone in the base. There was no way to match faces to descriptions for all of them.

So if he talked too much along the way, he'd likely slip up before meeting Baron Strucker.

With that in mind, he shoved the door open, tumbled to the ground, and with a face full of panic and terror, said to the squad leader:

"Hurry... take me to the Baron. The Baron's in danger—the base has a... a traitor. He is... is."

Before finishing, he shut his eyes and passed out, using his martial arts control to slow his heartbeat and breathing.

The squad leader was startled by Li Chuan's act.

"Mr. Hades! Mr. Hades!"

He leaned down to check Li Chuan's breath and pulse, then barked orders to his men:

"Quick, get Mr. Hades back to the base for treatment."

Hades had only managed one sentence before collapsing, but if the information in it was true, it was terrifying. The squad leader didn't dare delay and immediately reported the situation to his superiors.

Feeling himself being transported toward the base, Li Chuan, feigning unconsciousness, breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

According to Hades' intel, the Hydra Base had six checkpoints outside.

Even if he showed up as Hades wanting to see Baron Strucker, arriving off-schedule would mean endless questioning along the way.

By pulling this stunt, he could bypass all checkpoints legitimately and reach his target as fast as possible.

Who would suspect an unarmed, dying old Hydra member carrying vital intel?

The only downside was that his acting might've been a bit over-the-top—he wasn't a professional, after all—but his physical control sold it, and no one caught on.

Racing along, transported by a patrol jeep, Li Chuan passed five checkpoints and stopped right at the base entrance, where white-clad medical staff carried him in on a stretcher.

Inside the base's medical bay, Li Chuan was laid on a bed. A scientist usually conducting Hydra's human experiments now played the role of a temporary doctor, performing a preliminary check.

"Dr. List, how is Hades?"

Soon after, Baron Strucker, clad in leather with a monocle, entered the medical bay with two subordinates.

Dr. List, the head of all base experiments and the second-in-command, shook his head.

"Strange—his body doesn't seem injured, but his heartbeat and breathing are extremely faint. He may have been hit by some kind of special weapon or ability."

"I'm going to try the defibrillator next, to see if it can help restore his heartbeat."

"He must be saved."

Baron Strucker gave the order with a grave expression.

Under normal circumstances, if Hades died, he died—he wasn't exactly a critical figure, and plenty of people could replace him.

But the situation was different now. Without clarifying what Hades had said before losing consciousness, he absolutely could not be allowed to die.

Who had attacked Hades? What was the danger Hades had spoken of? And what about the traitor in the base?