The Final Boss

The Hive base was nearly cleared. Once they reached the Red Queen's mainboard, the little girl's stubborn attempt to cut off the network was finally put to a stop.

"Uncle Tony's teaching a naughty little girl a lesson!"

Natasha rolled her eyes at the childish Tony, then quietly reloaded the magazine of the pistol she'd emptied earlier.

Steve glanced at the code flashing across the computer beside them, then looked away. It wasn't something he could make sense of. The jumbled characters gave him an even bigger headache than Hydra.

Clang!

With the sound of heavy machinery starting up and the floor trembling beneath them, Tony snapped his fingers. "Done!"

Steve and Natasha steadied themselves. Below the platform lay the hibernation area hidden beneath the Hive. Most of the Umbrella Corporation's senior employees and shareholders, great and small, were asleep here.

The machinery was still running. Bright lights illuminated the enormous cylindrical space around them. The hibernation pods were arranged like seats in an opera house, each occupant a spectator watching a clown perform with wild abandon onstage, laughing cruelly from the depths of their soul.

Steve, Natasha, and Tony kept turning to look at the pods. The people inside seemed less like human beings than demons lying in wait.

They finally believed everything Duncan had told them. At first, the idea that someone could travel through time had made his words seem hardly credible to any of them.

But they had all received professional training. Steve knew a thing or two about acting, Natasha was meticulous and had spent years on infiltration and espionage missions, and Tony had at least spent some time learning the ways of the world of capital.

Their dealings with Duncan had largely been based on mutual use.

At first, Natasha had been too busy dealing with Hydra to dig into Duncan's background. And even after Hydra was dealt with, there would still be a mountain of problems to clean up. Exhausted in both body and mind, she'd kept her distance from the stranger whose intentions were unclear.

Steve had felt much the same, though his reasons were simpler. He just hoped Duncan would help them take on Hydra, and then he'd help Duncan in return.

Then there was Tony. His motives were more practical. He wanted to study Duncan's ability to travel between worlds, and he was also interested in the T-virus-based serum.

As for Duncan's claim that Umbrella's leadership planned to destroy the world, and his request for the Avengers' help in taking back control of the corporation in exchange for a generous reward, Tony only believed half of it.

He knew what capitalists were like. Duncan's barely contained excitement had led Tony to assume that his real goal was to use the Avengers to help him seize control of the Umbrella Corporation.

As a result, Tony had treated Duncan as no more than a business partner on a contract.

But after fighting their way down from the Hive and seeing the cold hibernation pods around them, Tony's perspective began to shift.

What had seemed like self-interest now felt like grasping at a lifeline, driven by a desperate desire to save his own world.

The promised partnership would make them more eager to save the world. That gave it a touch of nobility.

Tony took a deep breath and focused on the results of his suit's scans, guarding against an ambush.

The platform finally descended to the bottom. The Red Queen's control was now completely in Tony's hands, and the layout of Sanctuary was crystal clear.

At the lowest level, the three headed straight for a heavy metal door. As they approached, it rose automatically, revealing a vast underground lake.

They only had to cross the hidden bridge over the lake and pass through another iron door to reach the deepest part of the Hive.

Dr. Isaac sat behind his desk. His black suit lay carelessly on the floor, and two metal injectors were stacked on the desktop.

Seeing the three uninvited guests come through the rising door, he gave a soft laugh. "I calculated so many things. I calculated everything. The one thing I didn't expect was that a little mouse who slipped away would cause me this much trouble."

"Oh, is this the final level?" Tony stepped forward. He didn't rush to attack; he even felt like making small talk. "Hey, how did you come up with the stupid plan to destroy the world with a virus?"

Natasha raised her pistol and aimed at Isaac, a dozen yards away. She was confident she could put every bullet in his head within two seconds, and she wasn't particularly tense.

Besides, Steve stood in front of her. All he had to do was raise his shield, and he'd make a reliable support, letting her fire without worry.

Isaac rose lazily from his chair and slowly lifted his right hand to study it. Green veins bulged beneath the lights. His voice sounded as if he were holding something back. "You can think I'm doing this out of ambition, or call me a lunatic. It doesn't matter, because you can't stop me anymore. The virus will mutate in the environment. It'll spread through bodily fluids, then become airborne. Three months will be enough to infect eighty percent of the world's population. And I'll return to the surface and become the god of a new world."

He delivered the speech as casually as if he were deciding what to eat for lunch, showing no regard at all for the lives at stake.

The cold, precise number he named finally became too much for Steve.

"Take him down!"

Steve twisted at the waist and hurled his Vibranium Shield with the fury of a discus thrower.

He was a soldier from the Second World War. To him, every number representing human life conjured images of bloodshed. No matter how enormous the figure, anyone who had never seen countless lives cut down could never understand what it felt like to watch their fellow human beings die horribly.

Isaac's disregard for life infuriated Steve.

The spinning shield shot straight toward Isaac's chest. But the sight of Isaac being knocked backward never came. With a muffled thud, Isaac simply reached out with his left hand and caught the incoming shield.

He raised his slightly bowed head. His left eye had turned completely white, while the muscles in his right arm contorted irregularly and his knuckles bulged. Huge claws burst through the sleeve of his white shirt, and he suddenly grew taller.

His voice became deep, hoarse, and unpleasant.

"You can't stop this world from being destroyed! I—hmm?"

After injecting two special viral serums, Isaac's strength had surged, and so had his confidence. He squeezed the shield in his left hand, trying to crush it, but the moment he exerted himself, he discovered that the thin shield was terrifyingly hard!

"Interesting. A shield made from some special material!"

Realizing how tough Steve's Vibranium Shield was, clever Isaac slipped it over his left hand. His face, which was gradually becoming less human, twisted into a ferocious grin.

Bang, bang, bang!

A rapid burst of gunfire shattered the quiet once more. Natasha emptied her magazine in two seconds, but her eyes widened as she stared ahead in disbelief.

Isaac's figure flashed about like a ghost. He easily dodged the incoming bullets with a few movements, never losing the mocking smile of a cat playing with a mouse.

Tony, who'd been watching the show, controlled his suit and flew forward. Together with Steve, who was charging at Isaac, he attacked the final boss.