Chapter 183: The Gap Between Friends and Foes

The super soldiers leading the way showed no signs of fleeing. They earnestly led the way, seemingly harboring deep hatred against HYDRA. When they noticed that Steve and Bucky were also following, their eyes brightened, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Bringing Steve and Bucky to the destination was their initial task, of course, under the condition that they couldn't kill them.

Meanwhile, they also regretted that they almost completed the task of killing Steve and Bucky, almost gaining fame, had Robert not intervened. But it was all the same now, though Robert's true strength was unknown, they weren't heading to their real base, so what was there to fear?

Varon's secret base, in fact, wasn't far from here. These super soldiers were initially moving towards this base quietly.

Meanwhile, HYDRA agent Hitwell, unaware of the change in the super soldiers' plan, thought their plan succeeded. He quickly passed the information to Nick Fury, hoping to completely stir up the waters.

Alexander Pierce's HYDRA aimed first to avenge Varon's offense. Despite being from the same organization, the different HYDRA heads cooperated and competed with each other, which everyone knew. Secondly, the HYDRA of this era had grown immensely but lacked a supreme leader, a role Alexander Pierce aspired to. Lastly, it was to divert Fury's suspicion and attention. After being attacked and losing the Dog Symbol Spell, Fury became more anxious and began investigating within SHIELD, but without finding anything significant.

Therefore, bringing Varon and the Spell into play could divert Fury's attention from investigating SHIELD's internal matters. This move could solve Varon and maybe even the old nemesis, Steve, achieving multiple objectives!

"Varon? Found him?!" Nick Fury brightened up upon receiving the news. Ever since the attack and losing the Dog Symbol Spell, he felt more anxious, hardly sleeping, even joking that if he had any hair left, he would have lost it from stress.

Despite preparing to form the Avengers, his stress hadn't eased, given the difficulty in gathering members. Hawkeye and Black Widow were backup, and Tony Stark was his first target, followed by Superman, Hulk, Batman, Energy Kid, and the giant ape outside New York City...

Fury wasn't greedy; he wanted every powerful individual under his command to maintain world peace and let him sleep well. But unfortunately, only Tony Stark was persuaded, and even he seemed to maintain a distant attitude, more like a cooperative partnership than truly joining the Avengers.

"Natasha, Barton, get ready. Contact Tony Stark and have him join you. I've sent you the address. This is your first mission together; don't mess up!" Fury quickly contacted Black Widow and Hawkeye with orders.

"And be careful! The Spell is not simple; I don't want your first mission together to fail..."

"The Spell?" Tony Stark, at home, received Fury's message and glanced at his armory of over a hundred armor suits. "Jarvis! Control the armors, be ready to back me up!"

"Right away, sir!" Jarvis responded.

Even with a new element and arc reactor, Stark didn't feel invincible. He failed to create anti-Robert or Superman armors and realized he needed better materials and technology to build armors with speed, strength, defense, and firepower.

Meanwhile, Robert, following the super soldiers, noticed something unusual. There was no energy here, but his perception was suddenly blocked, a clear sign of HYDRA's secret base!

"Boss! There's a group approaching our base!" As Robert and the others neared the base, HYDRA soldiers inside quickly noticed.

"Who are these people?" Varon swiftly turned to the monitors, recognizing the super soldiers but not their specific identities. He knew the style and aura of these soldiers.

"Our people? No! They're from another HYDRA branch! Damn Alexander Pierce! Winter Soldier? Captain America? Wait, is this the terror who stole the Spell, as described by the Black Shadow Ninja?"

Varon was shocked, knowing of Robert but not his name or exact appearance. When he saw Robert, he guessed his identity and his formidable record...

"Damn Alexander Pierce!" Varon instantly guessed what had happened. His base's exposure led Pierce not to confront him directly but cunningly lead the enemies to him.

While unclear how Pierce led Robert here, it didn't stop Varon's caution. He already knew Robert had stolen previous Spells, with Jackie Chan being just a decoy.

"All departments assemble! Release the animal warriors! Deploy the statue army! Have the super soldiers act, and give me all Spells except the Rat Symbol Spell!" Varon swiftly ordered, unaware that the Holy Lord Panlong Statue in the secret room flashed red in the eyes momentarily.

Soon, all combat-capable departments in the base assembled, while non-combat personnel evacuated.

"Roar!"

"Thud thud thud!"

Varon's research, more comprehensive than Baron Strucker's, had produced animal warriors and a bizarre statue army. The newly developed animal warriors weren't much different from what Robert first encountered. However, Varon realized the Rat and Monkey Symbol Spells weren't connected, with the Rat Symbol Spell unable to grant new powers to the animal warriors.

Yet, his subordinates discovered the Rat Symbol Spell's ability to animate a special statue with divine strength. But without the Rat Symbol Spell, the rest of the statue army wasn't as formidable.

"Here it is!" The super soldiers pointed at the base's gate, "This is HYDRA's location. We've brought you here..."

"Ro?" Steve cautiously approached, wanting to warn Robert, but at that moment, Robert punched out, targeting the base's gate.

"Boom!" With the explosion, the gate shattered. The super soldiers, eyes flickering with surprise, then excitement, felt they had completed their mission.

"Hm?" After breaking the gate, Robert frowned slightly, sensing a mix of energies and twelve Spells inside!

"Holy crap?!" As the dust cleared, a group inside stared menacingly at Robert and the others. The super soldiers, despite having witnessed Robert's strength, chose to align with Varon, overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies.

"Wait! Boss, we're on your side! We led the enemies here!" Realizing this, the super soldiers quickly revealed their identities, running towards the base. Unaware their plan was already seen through by Varon...

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

But just then, two energy blasts from both sides took the lives of the super soldiers, making it unclear who exactly killed them.

"Did we overestimate ourselves?" Bucky's mouth twitched slightly, looking at the dense enemy crowd inside, asking Steve softly.

"We're here now, what's the use of saying this? Fight one at a time, I guess. Just don't know how many of these guys are truly alive!" Steve shook his head, sighing softly.

"Hm?" Just as Robert was about to ask Steve and Bucky to back off, he suddenly raised his eyebrows, looking up at the sky, where a warplane and mech approached.

"Ah! Looks like we arrived just in time..." Tony Stark's chuckling voice echoed from the sky.

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