Ice and fire clash
The metal door screeched as it tore, its edges twisting and warping, as a hydraulic system slowly pushed the heavy alloy plate inward. Dust cascaded down from the cracks. Ye Mo's eyes narrowed, and with a light touch of his toes, he dashed out.
He slammed his hands on the ground, and the chill instantly spread along the floor, rushing forward like an electric current. An arc-shaped ice wall rose from the ground, half a meter thick, its surface covered with dense frost patterns, gleaming coldly in the dim light. Embedded inside the ice layer was a warning network he had woven with Telepathy; as soon as someone touched it, the nerve ending-like feedback would immediately send a message back to the brain.
Taking advantage of the moment, Tony leaped into the air, his palm cannon humming as it charged, unleashing a beam of intense heat that shot directly behind the ice wall. With a deafening boom, the ice exploded, releasing a cloud of steam, and several enemies who had just charged in were thrown to the ground by the heatwave. He immediately switched to his shoulder-mounted flamethrower, the flames sweeping across the icy ground with sizzling sounds. Ice and fire clashed, mist filled the air, some slipped, others had their joints frozen and were unable to move, and the formation was completely thrown into chaos.
Using the rebound force of the ice wall Ye Mo leaped into the air and landed on the high platform of the side corridor. He flicked his fingertips, and several ice spikes shot out, accurately blocking the enemy's reinforcement route. At the same time, his mental energy spread, and the enemy's positional changes were transmitted to his consciousness in real time. The HUD on Tony's helmet refreshed the markers in sync. The two did not say a word, but their coordination was as if they had practiced it a thousand times.
Suddenly, a metallic scraping sound came from the right-hand pipe opening in the main hall. Three men in black were crawling out from underground, carrying electromagnetic rifles. Ye Mo closed his eyes, his senses penetrating the ground, and the next second he suddenly waved his hand. The entire floor froze instantly, and icicles shot out from the pipe opening, directly locking the ankles of the three men. Those behind were blocked in the passage, unable to move forward or backward.
Tony flew low, the laser beam slicing through the metal plate at the ventilation shaft entrance, slamming it to the ground with a clang. He turned and flew back to the main hall, aiming his palm-sized cannon at a shadowy corner, shouting, "Is your boss hiding there? The signal's practically blasting my headphones off!"
The shadow flickered slightly, clearly indicating that the people inside were panicked.
Ye Mo stood on the edge of the platform, slowly raising his right hand. A giant ice cone condensed above his head, growing larger and larger, emanating a chilling aura. Tony understood, and with a flick of his wrist, fired a stun grenade in front of the enemy's cover. A loud explosion erupted, sending debris flying, and a figure wearing tactical gloves leaped out to take cover.
The moment the person landed, Ye Mo pressed down with his palm.
The ice spike fell like a meteorite, embedding itself three inches in front of the opponent's feet with a thud, the splashing ice shards tearing through his combat uniform. The chill spread along the ground, forcing him into a corner, where he dared not move.
A furious roar came through the communicator, "Withdraw! Everyone withdraw!"
The remaining Hydra members retreated quickly, and someone detonated a smoke grenade, instantly enveloping the hall in a thick, grayish-white fog. Several fallen enemies were dragged away, their footsteps disordered, no longer displaying their previous uniformity.
Ye Mo slowly walked down the platform, scanning each unconscious body with his Telepathy to confirm that no one was dead. He found a data chip on the belt of a prisoner, took it out and looked at it. It was engraved with the Hydra emblem, and there was a very fine snake-shaped pattern around the edge - that was the secret mark of the Hellfire Club.
He stuffed the chip into the inside pocket of his tactical vest and looked up at Tony.
Tony was removing some armor modules, his helmet off, sweat dripping down his temples. He sat on the edge of the broken control panel, panting and laughing, "This ice wall of yours... is even stronger than the firewall in my lab."
Ye Mo took off his glasses and wiped them, then casually tossed him a bottle of water. "Next time, add a 'freeze protection' option to the armor."
Tony caught the water bottle, unscrewed it, took a sip, and grinned. "Great! I'll write on the MK-IV: Supports stable operation at minus fifty degrees Celsius, includes a hand warmer interface."
The two exchanged a smile and gave each other a high five.
Just then, a long-forgotten voice rang in my mind:
"High-intensity combat coordination detected; combat cooperation significantly improved; fifth level of the Gene Spiral Tower unlocked."
Ye Mo paused for a moment, then a slight smile appeared on his lips. He didn't speak, but simply took a deep breath, his gaze falling on the still-unrecovered monitoring screen. The image was still flickering, and the red light kept flashing; the power system was clearly not fully stable yet.
Tony crushed the empty bottle and tossed it aside. "Do you think these people outside are here for the information, or for you?"
"Anything is possible." Ye Mo flexed his wrists. "But they know I can Ice Manipulation."
How can you be so sure?
"The early warning network inside the ice wall records their command frequency," Ye Mo, staring at his palm. "It's the same protocol used by those three outside the bar last time."
Tony narrowed his eyes. "So they deliberately exposed themselves? To lure you into using your abilities?"
"It's not to lure me in," Ye Mo said in a low voice, "It's to confirm that ' Mr. X ' really exists."
Tony paused for two seconds, then suddenly laughed, "So now they know, and then what?"
"Then we need to figure out who gave them the intelligence." Ye Mo looked up and surveyed the battlefield. "The man in the trench coat, the bar's thief, the underground base... the clues are connecting."
You mean the mole?
"It doesn't necessarily have to be someone from S.H.I.E.L.D.." Ye Mo walked towards the nearest damaged terminal. "It could also be that some unnoticed node around us has been tampered with."
Tony stood up and patted the remaining armor modules. "We need to hurry if we're going to investigate. By the time they react, the traces will be wiped clean."
Ye Mo was already crouching in front of the terminal, his fingers rapidly tapping the keyboard. The screen flashed a few times, bringing up an encrypted log. He entered a string of code, and the screen suddenly changed, displaying a blurry image—a figure in a gray robe standing on a distant rooftop, holding some kind of signal transmitter. The camera only captured the back of the figure, but a silver ring was visible on the little finger of the left hand, with subtle snake-shaped engravings on it.
"This is..." Tony leaned closer to take a look.
"The insignia of a high-ranking deacon of Hellfire." Ye Mo zoomed in on the image. "They've been watching this place for a while now."
"So, when you saved Emma Frost before, was that also...?"
Before he could finish speaking, the terminal suddenly issued an alarm. Red text scrolled across the screen. "[Local storage logs are being remotely erased]".
Ye Mo immediately cut off the power, pulled out the hard drive module, and stuffed it into his pocket. "Too late, but at least they left traces of access."
Tony frowned. "Can you trace it back to the source?"
"It will take some time." Ye Mo stood up and glanced around. "Let's clean up the scene first, and prevent any remaining signals from leaking out."
"Wait a minute." Tony pointed to the corner of the screen, "The timestamp of this video matches the day of the press conference."
Ye Mo's pupils contracted.
That was the moment he first made a public appearance, appearing in the media spotlight as "Mr. X".
In other words, they already knew from that moment on.
He looked down at the hard drive in his hand, then touched the chip in his inner pocket. Two clues: one pointing to internal infiltration, the other to external surveillance. The only point of convergence between them In-Betweener in the information transmission.
The problem is, who can transmit intelligence in real time in such a situation?
He suddenly remembered the most inconspicuous staff member in the crowd on the day of the press conference. Carrying a coffee tray, head down, he walked through the security area without any unusual reaction. But he remembered that the person was not wearing a hearing aid in his right ear, but some kind of miniature communication device.
At the time, he thought it was just ordinary equipment.
Looking back now, those were probably anti-detection headphones designed to block Telepathy.
"Tony," Ye Mo began, "Do you remember that support staff member who handed coffee to the reporter that day?"
Tony paused, then asked, "Which one?"
"The one with the black round earring."
"Oh, that one." Tony recalled for a moment, "I remember he was later transferred to the logistics support center, and they said he did a good job."
Ye Mo's eyes darkened.
Logistics Support Center.
This was the very place where he had previously discovered the encrypted signal using the Vibranium fragments.
It is also the source of the overlap in communication frequency bands between Hydra and Hellfire.
He gripped the hard drive tightly, his knuckles turning white.
This was not a surprise attack.
It was a pre-arranged chess game.
They weren't there to steal the information.
They came to conduct a live test to verify whether "Mr. X" truly exists.
The test results have now been released.
He looked up at the still-unrepaired main control screen. The screen flickered, reflecting half of his face.
Just then, a backup terminal in the corner automatically lit up.
The password screen was not triggered.
The startup program was not loaded either.
Only one line of text appeared on the screen:
Welcome back, Test Subject 07