Downfall(chapter 53)

prevously in chapter 52

Henry wasted no time, grinding from ear to ear. He darted forward with inhuman speed, his movements a blur. He ducked under the Winter Soldier's next swing, delivering a punishing uppercut that lifted the assassin off his feet and sent him crashing into a nearby car.

"Holy shit," Sam whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the fight.

The Winter Soldier struggled to his feet, only to be met by a rapid series of jabs from Henry, each one landing with precision and power. Henry's fists moved like piston rods, unrelenting and devastating. He followed up with a spinning kick that caught the Winter Soldier in the side, sending him sprawling across the asphalt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 53

"He's not holding back," Steve observed, his expression grim.

Henry pressed his advantage, his movements a blend of grace and brutality. He grabbed the Winter Soldier by the collar, lifting him effortlessly and slamming him into the side of a truck with enough force to dent the metal. The Winter Soldier tried to retaliate, but Henry was always a step ahead, dodging and weaving with fluid ease.

Natasha couldn't believe her eyes. "I've never seen him fight like this."

Henry used the environment to his advantage, constantly maneuvering to keep the Winter Soldier off balance. He slammed the assassin's head against the hood of a car, then spun and kicked him through the windshield. Glass shattered, and the Winter Soldier tumbled inside, dazed and bleeding.

"Damn, he's tearing him apart," Sam said, shaking his head in disbelief.

The Winter Soldier staggered out of the wreckage, barely able to stand. Henry didn't let up. He launched himself at the assassin, driving his knee into the Winter Soldier's stomach with enough force to lift him off the ground again. The Winter Soldier collapsed, gasping for breath.

"Is he gonna kill him?" Sitwell asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Henry's eyes were cold and focused as he grabbed the Winter Soldier by the throat, lifting him effortlessly before tearing off his metal arm. He didn't stop there; he broke several ribs of the Winter Soldier, then slammed him down onto the concrete road, which caused the mask on 

the Winter Soldier to fall off. "Bucky," the moment the mask fell off, Steve immediately recognized the Winter Soldier. Natasha snapped her head towards him as Steve broke the door of the car and then threw his shield at Henry, who wanted to break the neck of the Winter Soldier.

But he obviously felt the shield coming, so he let go of the nearly dead winter soldier as he caught the shield, which was thrown at an incredible speed. That is when suddenly, a small bomb on the Winter Soldier went off, which was actually big enough to stun everyone within a 50-foot radius as it explode with an incredible force. Henry was the first to recover from the stun as he looked at where the Winter Soldier was.

However, he was nowhere to be seen, but Henry didn't seem frustrated or angry. "Kai, get ARD-11 and 12 to scout the area and tail him," he commanded before turning his attention to Captain America, who finally got out of the stun. Steve looked for the Winter Soldier but he was nowhere to be seen. All he saw was the dead, emotionless face of Henry, who didn't seem amused.

Henry looked at him for a minute before walking towards him. Steve immediately prepared himself for a battle, but Henry didn't attack him, and that was due to one simple reason: after the data he got from the Lemurian Star, he gained some insight into a project called Insight, which was Hydra's way of ensuring nothing threatened it by analyzing the target's past behavior. Henry's past behavior wouldn't allow him to be left alone, so his first thought was to attack Project Insight, which involved three helicarriers equipped with greatly advanced weapons, capable of taking out millions at once.

He thought to himself, "They are currently heading for Project Insight, and since they are heroes, they will always win, so why should waste my time when I can have them do all the work for me" he sighed as he then looked at the shield, "this thing is made out of vibranium," before he then threw the shield back to Steve, "i will come back for it soon" before left.

-scene change-

Still in DC the next day, at a SHIELD base called the Triskelion, Henry, in normal clothing, could be seen holding a laptop as he watched footage from his winged ant drone that showed a video of the Winter Soldier and Captain America fighting. The Winter Soldier was back in tip-top shape. "Hmm, looks like Hydra cleaned up good, i need to get my hands on that formula" he mused, but he wasn't angry. In fact, the humiliation he gave the Winter Soldier did wonders for his self-esteem, which had taken a huge dent after the beating he had received. "Hmm, maybe I should intervene?" he asked himself as he watched the fight scene before smiling softly. "Nah, just watching is entertaining enough."

It didn't take long before the three helicarriers were down. They shot each other down as a result of Captain America and Sam Wilson, who was actually flying on a mechanical wingsuit. They inserted a device that let them override the commands on the helicarriers, allowing SHIELD to take down the helicarriers with Captain America still on one, who was still fighting the Winter Soldier.

"Well, put Hydra on the list of enemies I need to wipe out, along with SHIELD, but before that, i need to make shield weaken Hydra" he thought Yes, just because Henry hated them didn't mean he didn't want to use them. He might even help them if he had to. "Well, this was enough for this week," he sighed as he walked away while one of the helicarriers fell behind, crashing into buildings, and exploding into chunks, and so did the others.

-scene change-

Back in his hideout, a momentous sight was happening. Henry, who was wearing relaxing clothes, was currently creating a potion. The potion itself wasn't important, but the XP it was going to give him was. Once he finished the potion, he got the remaining XP he needed to reach level 5 in alchemy, which he just did. After opening his eyes and putting the new potion in a vial, he summoned his floating interface where the new skill could be seen. If the raised eyebrow and slight smirk of Henry was anything to go by, then the skill was overpowered. He didn't say anything though; he just got up and looked for something, which was a vial containing liquid lightning essence, which he then activated his state of matter skill.

Turning the liquid lightning essence into a solid pearl, Henry then took a deep breath as he activated his new skill. He held another small lightning essence in his hand and activated the skill, which caused a keyboard to appear in front of him. That's right, a keyboard. "Interesting," he smiled to himself as he started to type. What he wrote was [grant the ability to power machinery wirelessly] before he took a luck potion. He then clicked enter, causing the pearl to glow for a minute before it broke. "Hmm," he frowned as he tried again, and again, and again, until he finally got it. Floating in front of him was a pearl, a lightning pearl, which had the following status.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N Well, another chapter and ah, yes, after the rebirth, I wanted Henry to think before he took actions. I want him to be the one in the dark, pulling the strings. I want him to have plans upon plans. Trust me, the next chapter will introduce one of the most overpowered skills he has, which will allow him to create overpowered items. So stay tuned.