The four immediately plunged into the surging crowd in four different directions, completely disrupting the S.H.I.E.L.D.. pursuit line.
Groups of agents in black suits flooded into the mall, sealing off floor passages, escalators, and elevators, instantly transforming the bustling shopping district into an impenetrable hunting cage.
The four people escaped in completely different ways, their skill levels and styles clearly distinguishable.
Natasha excelled at stealth and concealment; as a top agent, evading detection was her forte. She lowered her profile, quickly retreating through gaps in the crowd, using the bodies of passing customers as cover, and swiftly slipped into a narrow staff support passage. Avoiding blind spots of the surveillance cameras along the way, she casually adjusted junction boxes to interfere with localized surveillance footage. The entire process was silent, without a direct confrontation with any of the agents. Like a shadowless figure, she easily evaded the meticulously checked field teams, calmly exiting the mall through the side support entrance—clean, efficient, and without causing a ripple.
Having worked within S.H.I.E.L.D..'s command system for many years, Hill was intimately familiar with all the investigative logic and tactical habits of her own field teams. Instead of forcing her way in or simply hiding, she quietly approached the mall's central security room. Taking advantage of a moment when security personnel were out observing the chaotic scene, she quickly hacked into the local security mainframe and briefly altered the floor's surveillance footage. Having done all this, she blended into the crowd of ordinary customers, slowly making her way out through the main entrance, using the intelligence and strategic planning to escape safely.
Coulson was calm and experienced, adept at maneuvering and circumventing the situation. He deliberately slowed his pace, pretending to be an ordinary office worker disturbed by the clearing of the scene. When faced with the approaching agents who came to question him, he calmly presented his pre-prepared temporary field credentials, his words flawless, dispelling any suspicion. Relying on the adaptability he had accumulated from years of working at S.H.I.E.L.D.., he smoothly passed through layers of checkpoints and left the encirclement at a leisurely pace.
Steve Rogers, however, broke through in an extremely brutal way, completely catching everyone off guard.
He didn't try to hide, avoid surveillance, or use the crowd for cover. He simply abandoned all stealth methods and headed straight for the escalator to break through. Two armed agents rushed forward to intercept him. Before the gun barrels were fully raised, Steve flicked his wrist and deftly raised his hand to block, his control of force precise yet ruthless.
Dull thuds echoed one after another. He didn't use any weapons, relying solely on his super soldier physique to break through the agents' defenses head-on. His punches and kicks were crisp and powerful, each strike precisely disarming the opponents. He subdued the pursuers but didn't kill them, charging ahead like an unstoppable bull, forcefully carving a path through the tightly packed agents to the main entrance on the first floor.
The alarms from the pursuers blared furiously on the walkie-talkie, and a large number of agents rushed back to defend and surround them. However, the combat power of ordinary S.H.I.E.L.D. agents was simply no match for Captain America's combat power.
Natasha, Hill, and Coulson, who had already successfully evacuated and were observing the battle from behind their vehicles on the street, all felt their eyelids twitch and their expressions filled with helplessness as they watched the tall figure charging forward at the mall entrance, directly confronting the entire pursuit team.
Natasha lightly tapped her brow with her fingertip and muttered under her breath, "This isn't a breakout; he's clearly afraid the pursuers won't know where he is."
Hill watched as the pursuers were drawn in one after another and sighed helplessly, "The captain's combat thinking is still stuck in frontal battlefield charges. He doesn't understand the logic of covert evacuation in modern cities at all. A head-on breakout will only draw all the firepower to himself."
Coulson watched Steve, who was unstoppable and calmly walked out of the mall, and couldn't help but laugh and cry, "Fortunately, his physical abilities are enough to overwhelm his pursuers, and even with his brutal fighting style, no one can really stop him."
Fortunately, Steve's combat strength was far superior, and even with his flamboyant and straightforward fighting style, he still managed to escape the pursuit without any serious danger. The four of them moved away from the shopping mall area and repeatedly circled back along the way, clearing away any possible traces of their pursuers, not daring to relax their guard for a moment.
For two whole hours, the group changed three civilian vehicles to make sure that no S.H.I.E.L.D.. agents were following them and that they had completely shaken off all informants before finally arriving at the entrance of the top-secret safe house hidden on the outskirts of the city.
As dusk settled over the outskirts of the city, the surrounding old residential areas were sparsely populated, quiet, and secluded.
Steve, arriving last, walked slowly, his clothes slightly disheveled and a little dusty, but otherwise unharmed. The fatigue from the fierce frontal assault and breakout hadn't diminished the super soldier's formidable stamina.
Coulson stepped forward, entered the password, and pushed open the heavy alloy safe house door. The shielding equipment inside was still operating smoothly, isolating all external signals. He walked to the corner locker, took out four bottles of room temperature mineral water, and handed them to everyone present to relieve their thirst and fatigue from their escape.
The room fell silent again, save for the soft rustling of people drinking water and the persistent low hum of the jamming device.
Natasha, who had been reviewing the clues the whole time, finally put down her water bottle, turned to look directly at Steve beside her, whose expression remained calm, and spoke with certainty, directly puncturing the anomaly she had just witnessed:
"Just now at the computer display case in the mall, when I read out the address in Wheaton New Jersey, you looked a little off."
"You know this place?"
The air fell silent for a moment. Steve's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the water bottle. A complex and unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes—a mixture of nostalgia, bitterness, and the heavy weight of the past buried deep within his heart.
He didn't choose to hide it; now everyone was on the same side, and concealing the address was pointless. Steve nodded slightly and replied truthfully in a deep voice:
"That's right, I used to know that place very well."
In just one short sentence, without any extra background or recounting of the long-buried past, he clearly had no intention of going into detail about this memory for the time being.
Hill and Coulson exchanged a glance, tacitly refraining from pressing for details. Everyone has past issues they'd rather not touch, and since Rogers didn't want to elaborate, there was no need to forcefully reopen his wounds.
After a moment of silence, Steve looked up at the group and said, "Let's rest for a bit, get our gear ready, and then head to Wheaton to find out what's going on."
No one objected; this was the only clue the USB drive had provided, and there was no other option.
Everyone stood up and walked together toward the standard weapons rack placed against the wall in the safe house.
There is a reserved emergency ammunition depot here. The cold metal gleams faintly under the dim light, and lightweight combat pistols, tactical knives, bulletproof protective gear, stun grenades, and short submachine guns suitable for close-range assaults are neatly arranged, enough to support a raid on a covert stronghold.
Everyone fell silent and began to prepare, the atmosphere inside the room becoming heavy once again.
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Please, everyone who's been following the updates, give me some encouragement! The update numbers are absolutely terrible. Thank you so much!