Negotiations

At the crack of dawn, with the support of powerful network technology, Steve and Sam donned their gear and successfully infiltrated the perimeter of the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

The James Squad and Natasha, who were participating in the operation, circled to the other side; their mission was to plant bombs on the vital parts of the three Helicarriers.

Tony's voice came through the micro-earpiece; he was remotely controlling everything from the top floor of Stark Tower. "Alright, the cameras ahead are beyond my reach. Just plug the signal receiver into the server room, and I can temporarily paralyze all equipment. You'll have about 60 minutes to finish planting the bombs."

After saying this, Tony waved his hand, replacing the flickering information before him with a person's face.

"Where were we?"

Duncan, on the other side of the screen, said quite pleasantly, "Cooperation, mutual benefit. Stark Tower already has sufficient scale, and the Umbrella Corporation is equally powerful!"

When Tony sent the equipment to the farm, a communication device was sent along with it. Before leaving, Natasha woke Duncan up and introduced him to Tony.

The two reached many consensuses regarding cooperation and fully exchanged opinions, laying the groundwork for in-depth cooperation in the future.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "But it sounds to me like Umbrella is an evil corporation, and your proposal looks more like a 'get-rich-quick' scheme to me?"

"How could it be!" Duncan wasn't embarrassed by having his intentions exposed; instead, he said earnestly, "You provide the effort, I provide the portals. Just like some investors say, if it weren't for me, you couldn't make so much money. If it weren't for me, the Umbrella Corporation wouldn't exist in your world."

Tony wasn't so easily persuaded. No matter how unconventional he was, he was still a major capitalist, and besides, Pepper Potts, the strong woman who controlled the entire Stark Industries, was sitting right next to him.

"Fine, let's assume everything you're saying right now is true. How do you want to cooperate with Stark Industries? Talk to her about it, Pepper; you're better at these things."

Pepper, sitting to the side, rolled her eyes. It was one thing to sacrifice her off-duty time to accompany Tony, but to have to work overtime—exploiting labor like this was grounds for a lawsuit!

The original Duncan didn't know much about the Umbrella Corporation, but writing a few blank checks was more than enough. Besides, he imagined no one could refuse such a temptation.

After realizing he had come to the Marvel world, he no longer worried about the Umbrella Corporation's conspiracies. He only needed to lead the superheroes to storm the underground Hive and drag Isaac out of his popsicle coffin to beat him to death.

After getting rid of all the shareholders, his equity would be the highest, and the Umbrella Corporation would naturally become his property.

It was truly a step to the sky!

Thinking of the future, Duncan's smile grew brighter. "What I am most interested in regarding Stark Industries is the cold fusion reactor technology, as well as the shock-absorption technology of the Iron Man Armor."

Good grief!

Tony exclaimed "good grief." Right off the bat, he was being asked for his two most core technologies. He went numb, and he questioned with a sour tone, "So? You want to take these two technologies from my hands?"

If he weren't also very interested in the other world, he probably would have just shut the door in his face with a foul look.

"We have a lot of room for cooperation, Tony."

Duncan smiled craftily. He had watched the movies and roughly understood what kind of person Tony was and what he cared about, so he spoke with full confidence, possessing a very intimidating sense of self-assurance.

"Umbrella is a monopoly enterprise with businesses involving pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, defense industry, computer information, and many other high-tech industries. If calculated by market value, the Umbrella Corporation is several times that of Stark Industries."

Tony still had a sour face. "Then I guess your world doesn't have antitrust laws."

"Alright, Tony, let me handle this." Seeing Tony losing the upper hand, Pepper immediately took over. "Mr. Duncan, value cannot be simply measured by market capitalization. Let's talk about practical cooperation!"

Watching the poised Pepper, Duncan couldn't help but turn his head to look at Susan, who was sitting beside him with no merits other than a pretty face and a good figure, and shook his head in disdain.

There really is no harm without comparison!

While Duncan and Pepper were discussing cooperation, the battle inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters had also begun.

Relying on their familiarity with the terrain, Steve and Falcon silently knocked out several people and successfully infiltrated the interior of the Triskelion.

With their outstanding skills and the superior physical qualities brought by the Super Soldier Serum, Steve dodged countless cameras along the way, knocked out numerous guards, and finally arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D. main server room.

Sam cut off the communication system according to Tony's instructions, and when the personnel left in the server room went out to check, they successfully entered the room.

After seizing control of the server room, Steve plugged in the signal receiver he had brought.

The satellite from Stark Industries received the signal, and the artificial intelligence Jarvis immediately began to hack the S.H.I.E.L.D. mainframe. In the invisible world of information, a hard-fought battle quickly broke out.

Ten minutes later, Jarvis gained partial control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer system.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information security technology wasn't easy to crack. Although Tony could solve it if given some time, what they lacked most right now was time.

Tony had only seized control of the basic equipment connected to the network that required manipulation, such as electronic doors, display systems, water dispensers, and coffee machines; the encrypted information had not been deciphered.

Beep!

At the entrance of the S.H.I.E.L.D. underground workshop, an electronic door opened abruptly. Natasha, waiting behind the door, immediately raised her pistol and gestured with her head to the James Squad members behind her.

At once, the James Squad filed in.

The lights throughout the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters were controlled by Jarvis. Without the help of night-vision equipment, most people were paralyzed by the darkness, not daring to move around without lighting.

The heads of various departments used communication equipment that hadn't been affected to inquire about the situation. Alexander Pierce, who hadn't returned to his villa, was also awakened at this time.

Looking at the pitch-black environment around him, the first thing he thought of was the intrusion of Steve Rogers. He didn't hesitate and immediately called Rumlow to lead the Hydra strike team to the vicinity of the power distribution room to investigate the situation, insisting that Captain America must be captured.

After thinking about it and feeling it wasn't safe enough, Alexander Pierce made another call to summon the Winter Soldier. In this dark, narrow environment with many obstacles, ordinary people were simply no match for a super soldier. He had to use a super soldier to defeat a super soldier!

Switching perspectives, inside the giant underground dry dock hidden beneath the artificial lake, three massive Helicarriers stood quietly on giant metal supports, like three sleeping behemoths.

After the James Squad, wearing night-vision goggles, entered, they quickly split into three groups with Natasha to infiltrate the interior of the Helicarriers, preparing to plant explosives at key locations such as the engines, control systems, and energy cores.

Machines always have their vulnerable parts. These sky-high aircraft carriers had no strategic necessity as weapons; other than being able to fly, they were almost entirely flaws.

The massive engines were exposed on the outside, their enormous size was no less than a super bomb when crashing, and their clumsy flight state gave people the feeling of a moving target.

If they couldn't reach a sufficient flight altitude or have sufficient energy support, these Helicarriers were just oversized toys with a psychological comfort factor.

The level of security inside the three Helicarriers was much higher than they had imagined. After all, they were the key props of the plan, so it was normal for Alexander Pierce to value them.