The setting sun cast a reddish glow on the ruins, and the five men remained seated. Their water bottles were mostly empty, and their sweat had almost dried, but none of them were in a hurry to leave. The training session they had just completed had been incredibly exhausting, but even more tiring than their physical lives was their mental state—now they had to dissect and re-examine the battles they had fought.
Captain America leaned his shield against the wall, unscrewed a new bottle of water, took a sip, and before swallowing, spoke, "Those few rounds of sparring just now reminded me of the rhythm of last night's battle. The enemy changed tactics three times, each time faster than the last, but it wasn't random; it was methodical."
He drew three lines in the air. "The first is a probe, a frontal assault; the second is a flanking maneuver to force us to split our forces; the third is a suicidal charge, with a clear objective—Terminal, Emma Frost, and Ye Mo, pressuring all three simultaneously."
Bucky opened his eyes, and the robotic arm emitted a soft starting sound, "They know our location distribution, and they know who is in charge of the key nodes."
"Not only that," Ye Mo continued, unconsciously tapping his temple with his fingers. "I 'heard' their signal fluctuations. Before the second attack, the energy frequency changed by 0.3 Hz, like a remote command update. This indicates that someone is adjusting tactics in real time."
Emma Frost opened her eyes, her eyelids heavy, but her gaze clear. "You mean... they have outside support?"
"It's not the systematic command structure of S.H.I.E.L.D.." Ye Mo shook his head. "It's more like a relay point, pushing the data flow from behind. Like that technician in the L-7 position, even if he's 'killed,' he can still be used as a living repeater."
Black Widow toyed with the dagger, the blade sliding between her knuckles. "So the problem isn't how fiercely we attacked, but that we reacted too slowly. By the time we realized something was wrong, they had already switched to their second plan."
"That's what I wanted to say." Captain America straightened up. "We can each fight individually, but our coordination is lacking. If no one had reminded us yesterday, Ye Mo wouldn't have passed through the Wall Phasing prematurely, and Black Widow wouldn't have been able to defuse the bomb so quickly. But there won't always be someone shouting 'Watch out on the left!' on the battlefield."
He looked around. "Next, we need to develop a tacit understanding that becomes muscle memory. It's not about yelling, it's about feeling."
No one objected. The training just now had already proven that individual ability alone couldn't withstand a series of coordinated attacks.
Emma Frost took a soft breath and spoke in a clear, albeit soft, voice. "In the data I've been monitoring, Bucky experiences a 0.4-second delay in commands under high pressure. It's not a problem with his movements; it's that his neural signals are being interfered with by the old program."
Bucky frowned, but didn't deny it.
"And me," Emma Frost continued, "Last night, when I was reading the assassin's brainwaves, I went too deep and almost got knocked unconscious by the backlash. This shows I'm not invincible; my mental strength has its limits."
She paused, then said, "I shouldn't only criticize others and not myself."
Ye Mo grinned. "I like hearing that. If you ask me, let's stop pretending to be perfect. When I switch between Regeneration and Wall Phasing, there's at least a 0.2-second delay. Last time I tried 'touching the bridge of my nose = Wall Phasing,' I sneezed, and Emma Frost thought I was going to set things on fire, almost casting a nightmare on me."
"You really should let go," Emma Frost said calmly. "I haven't finished getting my revenge for that time I dreamt about dancing in the square."
"Stop!" Captain America raised his hand. "You can expose each other's weaknesses, but it has to be effective."
Ye Mo stopped laughing, "It's useful. My problem is that the judgment cost is too high. Every time I use my ability, I have to think 'Is this a real attack or Feint?' before deciding how to defend. Who has time to calculate that on the battlefield?"
"Then reduce the options," Black Widow interjected, "And establish a fixed reaction pattern. For example, when you hear a specific syllable, you'll know which direction I should attack from."
"But the enemy can learn that too," Bucky said. "We set codes, and it won't be difficult for them to crack them."
"So we can't rely on language alone," Emma Frost suddenly said. "We can use environmental signals. For example, after Ye Mo senses the direction of a threat, I can simultaneously transmit an information stream, and others can automatically receive the warning without having to speak."
"Like the test we just did?" Captain America asked.
"Yes. But it takes time to get used to each other." Emma Frost looked at Ye Mo. "The more accurate your perception, the more reliable my push will be. The prerequisite is that you need to clearly classify the threat—is it a physical attack, energy fluctuation, or mental interference?"
"I can practice this." Ye Mo nodded. "Anyway, I'm just idling around now, so I might as well 'listen' to more data."
"Speaking of which," Captain America turned to him, "You keep mentioning anomalies at the cosmic level. It's not that I don't believe you, but you need to be more specific. We can't just send the main force to monitor the stars because of a simple 'I don't think something'."
Ye Mo took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "I'm not telling everyone to look up at the sky. I mean, the background noise I've been 'hearing' lately has changed when I use my abilities. Before, it was scattered fluctuations, but now it's more like... some kind of low-frequency resonance, as if it's coming from a very far place."
He paused, then said, "I don't know what it is, but the system gave me a notification once saying 'Unknown Gene Resonance source is approaching,' and then it stopped. We can't pretend this didn't happen."
There was a few seconds of silence.
"You mean, there might be a new threat?" Bucky asked.
"It's not a possibility, it's a certainty." Ye Mo put on his glasses. " Hydra won't just send one wave. The Scavengers Protocol failed, but the people behind them are still there. And..." He glanced at Emma Frost, "Our current adversaries aren't necessarily all from Earth."
Captain America didn't respond immediately. He looked down to examine the wear and tear on the edge of his shield, running his fingers along a crack before speaking, "Ground coordination is fundamental and cannot be neglected. But starting tomorrow, two days a week will be dedicated to double-person shift monitoring."
He looked at Ye Mo and Emma Frost: "You two are in charge. Using her Mental Scan and your perception abilities, establish an abnormal fluctuation recording mechanism. Set trigger thresholds, and report any anomalies you detect. Don't try to handle it yourselves."
"Okay." Ye Mo nodded. "I can set a warning line, such as when energy fluctuations exceed twice the normal value, or when non-local gene frequencies appear."
"The report format also needs to be standardized," Black Widow added. "Don't write lengthy reports, just use numbers. Category A: Urgent, Category B: To be investigated, Category C: Observation. Saves time."
"We have to work in shifts," Emma Frost said. "I can't scan for more than four hours straight, otherwise the risk of mental backlash is too high."
"Then two people per group, six hours per shift," Captain America decided. "You guys draft a schedule and hand it to me tomorrow."
No one objected. This arrangement neither disrupted the daily training rhythm nor prevented unforeseen circumstances.
Bucky leaned back against the wall, and the robotic arm's cooling fan restarted. "What about my latency issue?"
"You're under my control," Captain America said. "Practice 30 minutes of combat transitions every day, combined with Emma Frost's advance warnings. Once you can anticipate the rhythm of her moves, you won't have to worry about program remnants."
"What about Black Widow?" Ye Mo grinned mischievously. "Should we also make a psychological fluctuation monitoring chart for her? For example, if her heart rate exceeds a certain level, she'll have to take mandatory rest?"
"If you bring this up again," Black Widow slammed her dagger into the ground, "I'll show you what a real heart attack feels like."
"I was just kidding," Ye Mo raised his hand. "It's just that the atmosphere was too serious, we needed to lighten it up."
"Adjustments are fine." Captain America stood up, stretching his shoulders and neck. "But remember, we're not gathered here to win one battle. We're here to prepare for the next battle that's yet to come."
He looked around at everyone. "The enemy will change, and tactics will evolve. But we must adapt faster than them. What we've discussed today, we'll begin implementing tomorrow."
After saying that, he picked up his shield, stood against the wall, and neither left nor spoke again.
No one else moved.
Emma Frost closed her eyes and regulated her breathing, which gradually became steady; Bucky sat quietly against the wall, his robotic arm entering low-power mode; Black Widow pulled out her dagger, flicked it back to her waist, and continued drinking water; Ye Mo looked down at his palm, his old wounds long since healed, his skin smooth as ever.
The room was quiet, with only the whistling of the wind through the cracks.
A few minutes later, Ye Mo said softly, "Then I'll start monitoring the first round tonight."