Wrong Set?

Bex Waterworks.

Grant Ward led a S.H.I.E.L.D. assault squad cautiously through the dark, silent factory.

There were no voices anywhere, only water flowing through metal pipes and the occasional soft drip against the floor. The air was highly humid, thick with a salty, damp smell. It felt as though countless malicious eyes lurked within the omnipresent darkness, coldly watching everyone who dared intrude.

The waterworks' cold metal installations resembled jagged ghosts in the darkness, baring their hideous faces, ready at any moment to turn this place into the agents' graveyard.

This place made Ward feel profoundly uneasy, an ominous premonition unlike anything he had experienced during countless missions on the brink of life and death. As mentioned before, Grant Ward was not truly a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. His real identity was a Hydra mole hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.

If he screwed up and got himself killed on this mission, it would be hilarious. He was clearly an infiltrator, yet before he had even managed to do anything while embedded in their organization, he would suddenly become a S.H.I.E.L.D. martyr. S.H.I.E.L.D. might even award him a medal and put his photo on the wall of honor. That would be the greatest mockery possible for a spy.

A low, strange cry came from the depths of the darkness, accompanied by the creaking sound of something seemingly coming loose.

Ward stopped and raised a fist, signaling everyone to halt.

Everyone held their breath and took up formation. Each agent leveled their weapon, waiting silently for the thing in the darkness to reveal itself.

In an instant that no one had anticipated, the thing struck.

Tentacles like vine whips pierced through the solid wall and coiled around an agent's waist like a venomous python. The agent let out an instinctive cry, but before he could even pull the trigger, he was dragged into the darkness and fell silent in the blink of an eye.

"Open fire!" Ward shouted, pulling the trigger into the darkness first.

From the moment he had been dragged into the darkness, that agent's fate had already been sealed. They had no time to worry about anything else. If they hesitated to fire out of concern for their comrade and missed their best chance to strike back, their only outcome would be total annihilation.

Muzzle flashes flickered in succession as steel bullets poured into the boundless darkness like scorching raindrops. Another brief series of dull, strange sounds came from the darkness, and then silence returned.

No one spoke, but fear hung in the black air like an inescapable storm cloud.

Lovecraft had once said that humanity's oldest and strongest emotion was fear; and its oldest and strongest fear came from the unknown. That was indeed true.

These agents, who lived alongside life and death year-round, did not fear death. But they feared the darkness. They feared being dragged into it by that unknown enemy, facing a death whose form they could not foresee.

Ten seconds later, the attack came again—this time from underground. The concrete floor was pierced as easily as thin paper, and two long whip-like appendages wrapped around two agents, dragging them into the darkness before they could react.

But Ward had already been fully on guard. The instant the two agents were dragged away, he threw a S.H.I.E.L.D.-made high-explosive grenade and an incendiary grenade into the hole in the floor. A violent boom erupted beneath their feet, making the ground tremble faintly. Flames burst from below like a twisting dragon, a pillar of fire over a thousand degrees slamming into the ceiling and nearly melting through the metal.

The explosion ended, but the trembling beneath their feet suddenly intensified instead. The dull growls rose sharply in volume, as though something beneath them were violently pushing against the floor. The entire waterworks began to shake violently!

Ward realized something was wrong and hurriedly shouted, "Retreat! Retreat!"

But perhaps it was already too late. Whip-like appendages stabbed out from the walls one after another. Agent after agent was seized and dragged into the darkness, vanishing without a trace. Cracks spread wildly through the walls and floor, while rubble and dust rained down from the ceiling. The floor was like a shattered eggshell, splitting apart with loud cracks.

Tentacle after tentacle thrust out, and a massive black shape burst through the ground, rising like a giant whale breaking the surface. Pipes ruptured, everything in the factory fell apart, as if struck by a powerful earthquake.

The waterworks' foundation collapsed, as though a massive mouth had opened and swallowed the entire building. Grant Ward ran for his life and narrowly escaped being buried alive. When he looked back, only two of the agents who had entered with him had survived and fled alongside him. Their losses were devastating.

Coulson hurried over. The S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor stood nearby clutching a tablet and shouting at the top of his lungs, "It's coming! That thing is coming! It's started moving—it's about to come up..."

Before he could finish, dust erupted from the enormous pit. The giant shadow rose from underground, finally revealing its true form before everyone.

Judging from its appearance, it should have been a red insect. It had a sickening shape, a long tail, sharp mouthparts, and long red feelers where its hands should have been—clearly, those were the true forms of the whip-like appendages from before.

But the insect stood nearly fifty meters tall.

"My God." The doctor clutched his tablet and stared blankly up at the enormous insect, as though witnessing a miracle.

Coulson and Ward were stunned as well. Even as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who dealt with extraordinary incidents year-round, they had never seen anything like this.

Coulson was a veteran agent, after all. He quickly forced himself out of his shock and pressed his earpiece as he ordered, "Attack that thing! Maximum firepower!"

"Copy."

The Quinjet that had been standing by in the air slowly descended, deploying its onboard large-caliber Gatling gun. The barrels spun rapidly, flames spewing out like a long tongue as a rain of bullets clattered against the giant insect's shell, seemingly without effect.

A missile rack extended from the underside of the Quinjet. A pair of missiles ignited with a roar, streaking straight through the night sky with burning trails before exploding in an ear-splitting blast into a brilliant fireball...

Not far outside the sealed-off area, Richard had just arrived. Watching the S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter exchange fire with the giant insect, his mind was like a stampede of ten thousand alpacas...

Had he somehow wandered back onto a Tsuburaya set without realizing it?