When the second Hydra Agent hurriedly opened the door, preparing to leave through the emergency escape route.
In the instant he opened the door, his body stiffened, and then he saw Hawk, who was already standing in front of him, his eyes widening at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Hawk was smiling politely.
"Hello, I'm looking for Dr. Merrick!"
"..."
Facing Hawk's smiling face, the Hydra Agent standing before him forced down the rising fear in his heart and swallowed hard.
"Fei..."
"Pfft!"
The Hydra Agent vaporized on the spot.
Immediately following him, the other Hydra Agents who were ready to escape did not have time to react as to why the person in front wasn't moving. As they were anxiously about to stir, they saw a blazing crimson light suddenly appear, and then, one by one, the Hydra Agents crowding the doorway, ready to flee, vaporized into white smoke.
In just a moment, the once crowded entrance of the command center was completely clear.
Clean as if it had never been blocked.
But Dr. Merrick had already fled.
As most of the Hydra Agents were in a frenzy to escape through the main entrance, he had already taken his subordinates and quickly descended to the lowest level using the secret elevator of the command center.
As the elevator doors camouflaged as a mountainside opened to both sides, a speedboat lay quietly in the backflow bay of the sea.
Dr. Merrick and his subordinates moved in a line.
"Eli, untie the safety rope."
"Understood."
Eli, the assistant who had been rescued from the S.H.I.E.L.D Prison by Hydra along with Dr. Merrick, nodded and quickly headed to the safety rope that was holding the speedboat, preventing it from being swept away by the sea.
With a thud, Dr. Merrick jumped into the backflow bay, without caring about any image, and then climbed onto the speedboat in just a few steps.
After all, at this moment, image was irrelevant.
Choosing between image and life was never a problem for Dr. Merrick.
Just like Dr. Merrick always knew one thing.
When escaping, be quick, precise, and ruthless, don't bring any burdens.
Eli, who had already untied the safety rope, looked up joyfully.
"Doctor, we can..."
"Bang!"
Assistant Eli's eyes widened, his right hand instinctively covering his chest, looking down at his chest where blood was seeping out, then looking up at Dr. Merrick, standing on the speedboat, aiming a gun at him.
"Doctor..."
"Sorry, bang!"
"Thud!"
Assistant Eli was shot in the forehead and instantly fell backward.
Dr. Merrick, a man of few words and ruthless action, started the speedboat, blasting out of the cave behind with rapid speed, and just at the moment of exiting the cave, he pulled out a button from his pocket, and pressed it fiercely.
Boom!
The cave exploded with a roar.
Not just the cave!
At the moment Dr. Merrick pressed the button, the entire mountainside seemed to come alive.
It first shuddered violently, like a person suddenly feeling cold and involuntarily shivering.
The next second!
Explosion!
Boom!
The first deafening roar, accompanied by a force strong enough to tear the heavens, the mountainside burst open, resembling a volcanic eruption.
But what erupted was not lava, but trees and rocks.
Everything on the mountainside was flung into the sky by the outward explosion like a reverse downpour.
Immediately after—
Boom!!!
A second deafening roar followed, accompanied by the complete collapse of the internal base of the mountainside, and at this moment, the external structure of the mountainside was dismantled, collapsing and restructuring, massive shockwaves sweeping out in a ring...
The gray whirlwind also ravaged the sea surface.
Dr. Merrick, steering the speedboat, escaped swiftly toward the open sea, without looking back, as if embodying a true man's demeanor of never looking back at explosions.
Of course.
The reason Merrick dared not look back was not because he was a true man but because he feared turning back would reveal Hawk, unscathed and pursuing him in terror.
So...
Merrick did not dare to look back, with only one thought in his mind.
Go faster, faster.
Just like that.
Under Merrick's full throttle, the speedboat, like an untamed horse, galloped toward the boundless sea.
Not until the sun set, until Molokai Island disappeared behind, until the last barrel of spare fuel was entirely used up, and the speedboat lost power, did Dr. Merrick, feeling utterly drained, collapse on the deck without any poise.
Dr. Merrick turned his head, glancing behind by the moonlight.
After confirming that Molokai Island was not visible and Hawk was nowhere in sight, he breathed a complete sigh of relief.
The next moment.
Dr. Merrick's right hand formed a fist, slamming the deck, venting his emotions.
"Fuck!"
"Fuck!"
"Fuck, my calculations can't be wrong."
Dr. Merrick could not understand why his most powerful clone to date, the Hydra Captain, which was born from six micro-adjustment processes, failed to even have the chance to make a move before being taken down by Hawk.
This was without reason, and without logic.
Before the London incident, Hydra's data on Hawk was very detailed, but after London, their information was no longer as complete.