Chapter 270: The Battle of Sokovia

Sokovia, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a rather unique location. Aside from the infamous "Sokovia Accords," it is also the site of one of HYDRA's key leader Baron Strucker's secret bases.

A month ago, the Avengers, with the support of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence, seized the place and captured Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, who had been transformed by the Terrigen Crystals under Baron Strucker's manipulation.

During this time, after various incidents, the siblings abandoned their plans for revenge against Tony Stark and even joined S.H.I.E.L.D.

Of course, since their parents were killed by weapons manufactured by Stark Industries, even after joining the Avengers, the siblings maintained a subtle distance from Tony. This led them to become strong supporters of Captain America, increasing his influence within the Avengers.

Eris reported that Ultron was in control of a massive mechanical production base here in Sokovia, obviously a legacy left by HYDRA.

Even as the Avengers were planning to attack Sokovia to completely destroy Ultron's arms factory, they received a phone call from Egghead, providing evidence supporting this conjecture.

One of HYDRA's leaders, Baron Strucker, recently captured by the Avengers, was assassinated in prison. Written in blood on the prison wall was "The killer is Ultron!" This was confirmed by surveillance footage showing the murder carried out by a suit of armor secretly infiltrated using Pym Particles.

"From the current situation, Sokovia is not only Ultron's secret arms factory, but perhaps the most important one of all," Captain America analyzed after receiving the intelligence. "And Ultron's reason for killing Strucker is likely to hide this secret."

Clark frowned slightly upon hearing this, looking thoughtful.

Steve Rogers quickly asked, "What's wrong, Clark? Is there a problem?"

Clark shook his head gravely, "It seems we need to accelerate our plan to eliminate Ultron. He's starting to understand military tactics."

Mindy was puzzled, "Military tactics?"

Clark nodded, "One of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: To conceal the faults with a cover-up."

Seeing Clark's serious manner, everyone, though not voicing it, somewhat doubted his interpretation. It seemed to them just a tactic of killing to hide secrets, but to them, Clark made it sound profoundly scholarly.

Clark didn't bother to correct their misunderstanding.

Looking around, Clark said to Captain America, "Captain, let's formulate our combat plan."

This time, Captain America didn't irresponsibly say something like "the plan is to fight." Instead, he started assigning detailed tasks to each member, aiming to ensure victory while minimizing civilian casualties.

Compared to Clark, who was more focused on enhancing his own power, Captain America's tactical leadership skills were commendable.

After deciding that he would not often cooperate with the Avengers in future operations, Clark increasingly focused on enhancing the abilities of others.

For instance, Tony's crisis awareness and Captain America's leadership skills.

While Captain America was assigning tasks, Clark also contacted his other self at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, asking him to communicate with national leaders to secure an operation order from the United Nations before the action began.

He did this not to put the Avengers' actions under control, but rather to find someone to take the blame in case of collateral damage or civilian casualties. And the United Nations, with its large "head," was the perfect candidate to bear this "big black pot."

If not for Ultron previously using indiscriminate attacks, causing severe threats to political leaders, they might have opposed Clark's plan under the guise of diminishing the Avengers' reputation for their gain.

But under the current circumstances, this did not happen.

Compared to potential benefits, they feared losing everything they had!

From this perspective, Ultron wasn't troublesome enough yet. But if left to evolve...

As soon as the threat at the military base was neutralized, the Avengers didn't even return to their headquarters but directly boarded a Quinjet to Sokovia.

Half an hour later, the total assault began!

The Avengers' tactical arrangement was simple: men were responsible for assault, and women for evacuation and rescue.

Unlike the original timeline where the Avengers' combat abilities were generally not high, under Clark's influence and training, their power, especially the male Avengers, had significantly increased.

The battle started one-sidedly. Captain America and Thor led the way with their hammers, followed by the other Avengers charging through. Yilong, following the two hammer-wielders, shattered ordinary armor suits into pieces with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

For those armor suits equipped with Pym Particles, heroes like Ant-Man and Daredevil dealt with them slowly but with an absolute advantage.

Clark, the most powerful Avenger, along with Hawkeye, entered the base's side and began destroying internal machinery.

Inside, they encountered more numerous and powerful armor suits, most enhanced with Pym Particles. However, they were no match for Clark, who obliterated them with the Power Stone, turning them into worthless scrap metal.

After quickly dealing with all enemies in the base and smashing the machinery, the battle outside continued.

Clark advised everyone to avoid civilian casualties before pushing open the secret base's underground door.

Clark entered first, followed by Hawkeye. They discovered no manufacturing equipment but a supercomputer and some paper documents.

Clark destroyed the supercomputer with the Power Stone's energy. Meanwhile, Hawkeye approached a hanging clock, noticing two differently colored spots on it, indicating frequent movement.

He twisted those spots, revealing a secret door.

Clark entered first, cautious of hidden traps. Despite his Asgardian strength, he knew Hawkeye lacked such protection.

The room contained only some file cabinets. Clark found a list of HYDRA members, their positions in society, and contact information. It seemed to be Strucker's collection of important files, possibly unknown even to Ultron.

Hawkeye found a document about HYDRA's failed attempts to develop an AI for world domination, interestingly named Ultron. Clark, examining the document, noted that their progress was far behind even the early stages of the sentient AI, J.A.R.V.I.S.

Hawkeye commented on the irony that the plan HYDRA couldn't achieve was inadvertently completed by their scientists, with far worse consequences.

As Hawkeye spoke, Clark discreetly made the document disappear.

Clark then smiled enigmatically, "This Ultron is not so simple after all. Is he employing a strategy of open deceit and secret maneuvering?"

"Quite interesting!"

___________________

(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)

If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters

Read Ahead

Patreon.com/INNIT