Pledge of Allegiance

Half an hour later, Strucker couldn't help but beg for mercy. Falling from high altitude again and again, only appearing at the last moment, was truly a strain on the heart.

"Begging for mercy?" Alex snorted coldly, clearly displeased. "I haven't had enough fun yet!" With that, Alex once again lifted Strucker to a high altitude, then unhesitatingly dropped him, vanishing immediately.

Strucker truly wanted to cry. Because of this "game," one of his arms was already ruined. During a previous fall, he had braced himself with his hand the moment he landed, and his entire arm had been pulverized. Besides his completely ruined arm, both his legs were broken, and his neck had suffered severe trauma. If this continued, Strucker suspected he wouldn't even be able to keep a whole body.

As the ground loomed closer, Strucker was terrified because he had no idea when that demon would appear! Would he be brought back to high altitude before hitting the ground? Or would he appear after some part of his body made "intimate contact" with the earth?

Anticipation and dread swirled in Strucker's heart, slowly eroding his will. At times, Strucker even thought it would be better to hit the ground headfirst and die. Death itself wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying was the endless torment of fear, which could drive one mad!

Unfortunately, Alex appeared at the last possible moment, just as Strucker's head was about to crush a small patch of snow, and Strucker could feel the hard rock surface touching his head.

"Demon, what exactly do you want?" Strucker, showing no relief from his near-death experience, looked at Alex with a cold expression and said weakly, "Whatever you want, I'll give it to you!"

"All of Hydra's data, personnel files, research data, everything!" After Bucky's incident, Alex had decided to uproot Hydra completely. Merely eliminating a few leaders was clearly not enough.

Strucker was a smart man and quickly understood Alex's intentions. He let out a cold laugh and actually shouted a slogan: "Cut off one head, two more will grow! Long live Hydra!"

Alex let out a cold laugh, grabbed Strucker, and returned to high altitude. He said nonchalantly, "Then let's cut off those two heads as well!"

Seeing Alex preparing to throw him down again, Strucker chose to submit, speaking in a voice filled with desperation, "Instead of exhausting ourselves trying to destroy Hydra, why not control it and become its master? Wouldn't that be better?"

Alex glanced at Strucker, "You want me to help you deal with Red Skull?" Alex still remembered something Natasha had mentioned: Hydra used to belong to Strucker, but Red Skull later seized power.

Upon hearing this, Strucker didn't hesitate at all. He immediately began to pledge his loyalty, "As long as you help me kill Red Skull, I will serve you my entire life, and Hydra will always be at your command!"

"If I told you to kill Hitler, would you do it?"

Strucker paused slightly, then uttered a single word with a firm expression: "Kill!"

"Then I won't believe you either!" Alex chuckled and released his hands. Strucker plummeted rapidly, his curses still audible from afar.

On the train, Steve waited for a long time, but Alex didn't return. He could only see black dots falling from the sky. Finally, he couldn't help but contact Alex: "Alex, the mission is over, we should head back!"

"Okay, coming back right away!" Alex suddenly appeared beside the rapidly descending Strucker and whispered, "Remember your words!"

Strucker naturally had no objections and quickly nodded, "I swear to be loyal to you, my master!"

"Remember that, or you'll have a very unpleasant death!" Alex snorted coldly, picked up Strucker, and returned him to the ground. "Let's go, I'll contact you if anything comes up!"

Strucker hesitated for a moment, enduring the pain of his broken legs, and scurried away.

Watching Strucker gradually disappear into the wind and snow, Alex fell into thought.

In fact, when Strucker had said those words, Alex had already been swayed. Just as Strucker had said, instead of destroying Hydra, it would be better to control it, make it his own force, and have it serve him. After all, the Marvel Universe was not a safe place, and having a powerful force as a backing would make him much safer.

Moreover, with the Mind Mark, Alex could find Strucker anytime, anywhere, and didn't have to worry about Strucker escaping his control.

The so-called Mind Mark allowed Alex to mark a person or object, enabling him to use Teleportation to appear near that person or object at any time. This was an ability Alex didn't have in his previous life. Alex suspected it was granted when the Tesseract enhanced his Teleportation abilities.

Returning to the train, seeing everyone present, Alex didn't say much. He scooped everyone up and returned directly to the camp.

Seeing Carter leave the camp with Zola, Steve finally couldn't contain his curiosity and turned to Alex: "Alex, where's Strucker?"

Alex shrugged, feigning indifference, "Dead. Just like Zemo, smashed to pieces, couldn't be deader!"

Steve's mouth fell slightly open. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "If he's dead, he's dead. He was already a dead man anyway." Under Alex's influence, Steve had changed a lot, no longer being so "pedantic" about being a good person.

"I think we should get some rest. We have a tough battle ahead!" Seeing that no one seemed to be leaving, Alex stood up and said, his expression somewhat serious.

If his predictions were correct, Zola would confess next, revealing Red Skull's plan to bomb the entire world. To stop Red Skull's mad actions, the Howling Commandos would inevitably be sent out as vanguards. Furthermore, during this operation, Steve would fall into the Arctic and be frozen, something Alex absolutely had to prevent.

Everyone exchanged glances, offering no comment, and turned to leave. Alex instantly vanished. The others thought he had returned to his room, but in reality, Alex had sought out Strucker.

At that moment, Strucker was leaning behind a wind-sheltered rock, trying to avoid the increasingly heavy wind and snow. Seeing Alex suddenly appear beside him, Strucker was startled but quickly regained his composure, calling out respectfully, "Master!"

Alex had been watching Strucker the whole time and was very satisfied with his demeanor. He nodded and said, "I told you, I would find you, no matter where you were." This was the effect Alex wanted: mysterious and powerful, making Strucker dare not have the slightest thought of rebellion.

Strucker truly feared him. He felt that the master before him was truly a devil, a devil clinging to his bones!

"In the next few days, Red Skull will die. After his death, you need to take over Hydra as soon as possible." Without paying attention to the astonished Strucker, Alex continued speaking to himself, "After taking over Hydra, immediately get rid of the ** and go into hiding. Don't let anyone discover you."

After thinking carefully, Alex turned to Strucker and asked, "Does Hydra have any people in China and Japan? If not, send some people there quickly, I'll need them then." After dealing with Red Skull, Alex planned to visit China. Both in his past and present life, he was Chinese. If China was in trouble, he couldn't stand idly by.

Strucker lowered his head and replied in a deep voice, "Hydra's influence spans the globe. We have people in both China and Japan."

"That's good!" Alex left that sentence and immediately disappeared.

Returning to his room, Alex lay on his back on the bed, thinking with no small amount of pride, "If I call up all the Howling Commandos, plus Hydra's people, taking down the Japanese will be a matter of minutes!"

ps: Scorpion has never asked for much. Today, I'm rolling around begging for collections and recommendations. The recommendations are really few!