Pierce's escape: the Hydra leader reduced to a laughingstock

"The bookshelf! Quick! Go to the bookshelf!"

Alexander Pierce's voice had completely changed, becoming sharp and hoarse, as if it had been sanded. He scrambled out from behind a pile of burning desk wreckage, his once expensive and impeccably tailored suit now torn to shreds like a beggar's rag, stained with dust and bloodstains of unknown origin.

His once shrewd and insightful eyes, capable of seeing into people's hearts, now held only the most primal and pure animalistic fear.

He didn't even glance at the apocalyptic sky outside the window, where three colors of energy intertwined, nor did he pay any attention to the Winter Soldier on the ground, who was simultaneously locked by three divine forces and whose fate was unknown.

In his world, all that remained was the wall at the far end of the office, disguised as a high-end bookshelf.

That was his last chance to survive.

"Protect me! Stop them!" Pierce roared at the two remaining trusted agents beside him.

The two Hydra assassins, with a resolute glint in their eyes, turned around without hesitation, raised their weapons, and aimed them at the huge hole in the ceiling from which energy was pouring down, assuming a defensive stance as if certain to die.

However, Pierce didn't expect them to be able to stop anything at all.

The instant they turned around, he mustered all his strength and shoved the agent blocking his way aside. He then scrambled towards the wall like a frightened mouse.

"Sir..." The agent who had been pushed down turned around in disbelief, only to see Pierce's unwavering back.

Loyalty is worthless in the face of absolute death.

Pierce rushed to the bookshelf, his trembling fingers frantically pressing on a hidden compartment disguised as a book spine.

"Buzz--"

With a low, mechanical hum, the heavy bookcase slid silently to one side, revealing a futuristic metal passageway with a glowing blue indicator light.

Emergency escape pod.

The highest security board of S.H.I.E.L.D.., and also the highest leader of Hydra, prepared for himself the most advanced and absolutely secret escape route. It can ignore any physical blockade, directly ejecting from the atmosphere at sub-light speed and docking with the stealth spacecraft lurking in near-Earth orbit.

This is his last trump card.

Looking at the open hatch, a glimmer of hope finally rekindled in Pierce's unfocused eyes.

He scrambled inside, not even having time to glance back at his two loyal subordinates who were about to be swallowed by the energy torrent.

"Shut down! Shut down! Launch!"

He lunged at the control panel and frantically pounded on the bright red button.

"Identity confirmed... Alexander Pierce... highest authority."

"Escape procedures initiated."

A cold, mechanical sound rang out, and the heavy alloy hatch slammed shut, completely isolating the Hell roar and screams from the outside world.

Dead silence.

In the cramped space, only Pierce's own heavy, bellows-like breathing could be heard.

He slumped in the driver's seat, his body drenched in cold sweat.

Immediately afterwards, a strong feeling of being pushed back came!

Boom!

The escape pod's engine unleashed a surge of power, the entire pod jolted violently, and began to accelerate rapidly!

Through the small, round porthole, he saw the dilapidated rooftop of the Triskelion rapidly receding into the distance, and the terrifying sky, a tapestry of three colors, seemed to be left behind as well.

"Ha... haha... hahahaha!"

Overwhelmed by the ecstasy of surviving the ordeal, Pierce burst into maniacal laughter, his face streaked with tears and snot.

"Monster! Bitch! Madman! You want to kill me? Dream on!"

"Lynn... you bastard! Once I'm back on track, I'll detonate all the nuclear weapons here! I'll make sure all of Washington, D.C., no, the entire North America continent, dies with you!!"

He cursed, vented his anger, and reveled in the immense pleasure of returning from Hell to earth.

He won.

He escaped from the Deity ' hunting grounds!

However, his laughter lasted for less than three seconds.

Just as the escape pod was about to break through the energy Bastion—

Thump!

A sudden, abrupt metallic groan, as if all the parts had snapped shut in an instant, echoed throughout the cabin.

The strong, reassuring push against his back came to an abrupt end.

The inertia caused Pierce's body to lurch forward, slamming his head against the control panel, and blood instantly streamed down his forehead.

"Warning! Warning! Engine overload! Power system... locked by unknown energy!"

"Warning! Escape pods have ceased operation!"

The piercing alarm blared wildly, and the red light made Pierce's pale face look like a demon.

He suddenly raised his head and stared intently at the porthole.

Outside the window, the burning rooftop of the Triskelion did not continue to shrink.

It hovered there, neither too close nor too far.

His escape pod, like a fly stuck in an invisible Silk, hung awkwardly and ridiculously in mid-air less than 100 meters from the building.

dilemma.

"No... no... move! Move it, you bastard!!"

Pierce pounded on the control panel frantically, but the buttons and screens had long since turned gray and were unresponsive.

He saw it.

Through the porthole, he saw a thin, almost imperceptible wisp of Scarlet mist, like a venomous snake, silently coiling around the exhaust nozzle of his escape pod's engine.

That wisp of mist was so elegant, so understated.

It was as if a mischievous child had casually pinched the wing of a buzzing beetle.

High above, within the Crimson Barrier, Wanda didn't even glance in their direction.

She simply turned her head slightly, looked at the bouncing "little iron bean," and, utterly bored, gently beckoned with her finger.

For her, this wasn't even a battle.

It was just a... whimsical, pointless pastime.

"Oh..."

Under the blast-proof table, Nick Fury stared at the motionless dot of light on the monitor screen, letting out a dry laugh that was both self-deprecating and relieved.

He smiled.

In this Shura Field of gods and corpses, he watched as his greatest enemy, the Hydra leader who had driven him to the Extremis, put on this farcical, absurd, and pathetic one-man show, and he actually laughed.

escape?

Where can we escape to?

When the Deity decide to turn your world into a playground, where can you escape to?

In Fury's single eye, Pierce's face, utterly distorted by extreme fear, was reflected.

He understood deeply that from this moment on, Alexander Pierce, the former schemer and ruler, was no longer a "person".

He became a laughing stock.

A living joke, manipulated at will and used to demonstrate the power of the Deity.

And this laughingstock is about to reach its final "show effect".

Pierce saw it too.

He saw that, high above, the dark gold representing Jean Grey and the pitch black representing Hela, after a brief pause, slowly changed direction.

Three lines of sight.

Three pairs of gazes, filled with mockery, cruelty, and... intense interest, simultaneously focused on him, the metal can suspended in mid-air with nowhere to escape.

It's like three cats who have eaten their fill suddenly discovering a mouse trapped in a glass bottle, struggling desperately.

Their competition is not over yet.

And he, Alexander Pierce, was the last toy they were fighting over.

"No... don't come any closer..."

Pierce huddled in the corner of the driver's seat, muttering to himself like a frightened child, his body trembling violently.

Through the porthole, he saw three streaks of light of different colors slowly approaching him in a slow but oppressive manner.

They are waiting.

We await Lynn's verdict.

They await their master to decide who will personally "judge" this ridiculous mortal who is trying to escape.