Secret Base
While Bartender Lady and the eleven uninvited guests fought fiercely in the City of Desire bar,
on the other side of the city, a group of people was also busy searching for another uninvited guest in a plastic mold factory.
"Why... Hydra?" A woman who looked like a secretary stared at the name on the whiteboard, deep in thought.
This plastic mold factory had been operating for three years. Business was not especially thriving, but it had remained modestly profitable. Four months ago, however, faced with an offer too good to refuse, the owner reluctantly sold the factory. The new owners kept its exterior unchanged and merely carried out secret renovations on the workshop.
The old machinery had vanished, replaced by rows of filing cabinets and weapon racks. It looked like a secret military base, and there was not a single network-connected electronic device inside. It had something of a Cold War feel from the sixties and seventies.
As soon as the secretary-like woman finished speaking, another voice chimed in. "Things are really getting lively now. Lox, who was rumored never to show his face... he had only ever provided us with technical support through email before, yet now he suddenly appeared in person and forcibly poached three elite squads from us. Tsk, tsk, that guy is really sly."
"This is my fault." A refined-looking man of around thirty took the initiative to accept responsibility. "I was the one who persuaded Roger to keep using Lox's reputation to recruit new members. I even deliberately packaged and promoted Lox, setting him up as the spiritual icon of the Guardians. I never expected it would come back to bite us."
"This isn't your fault." The secretary-like woman quickly shook her head. "Everyone knew what things were like back then. We