Peggy opened her mouth to protest, but Chen Mo lifted a hand, cutting her off.
"It's settled," he said simply. "From here on, there's nothing difficult for us. No need to risk the whole crew just to get closer."
Realizing she couldn't change his mind, Peggy nodded silently. After all, Chen Mo wasn't just another soldier — he was the commander of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s special operations unit. In battle, his word was law. Even Colonel Phillips rarely intervened in his missions.
The HYDRA base lay barely thirty miles behind the front line. At the plane's speed, it wasn't long before they reached the mountainous region surrounding it.
Chen Mo pretended to rummage through the cargo compartment, retrieving his gear — his gleaming vibranium shield and the King's Sword now strapped to his back, twin black M1911 pistols holstered on his thighs, and a belt lined with twenty razor-sharp adamantium throwing knives.
After confirming the location of the base, he and Steve leapt from the plane two ridges away from their target.
"Be careful!" Peggy shouted after them from the open hatch, her voice nearly lost in the rush of wind. Chen Mo didn't flatter himself — she was obviously talking to Steve… though maybe she meant both of them.
Under cover of night, the two super soldiers drifted silently down through the trees. Once on the ground, they checked their gear, got their bearings, and moved swiftly toward the HYDRA base.
At their enhanced pace, the distance vanished quickly. Within minutes, they crouched in the shadows of a dense forest overlooking the base's main gate.
Before them loomed a monstrous structure — a dark, metallic giant crouching in the mountains. The massive concrete complex rose tens of meters high, spanning the width of the valley like a fortress wall. The glow of floodlights cut through the night, sweeping across the perimeter in restless arcs.
A web of steel fences and concrete pillars enclosed the entire facility. Only one heavily guarded gate, connected to a forest road, allowed passage in or out.
Dozens of searchlights combed the darkness with relentless precision. Getting in unnoticed would be difficult.
The walls themselves weren't the problem — Chen Mo's King's Sword could slice through them like paper, and both men were more than strong enough to vault over. But between the walls and the main buildings lay a wide, exposed stretch of ground. Even at full speed, crossing it would risk detection.
So they waited. Hidden among the trees, eyes sharp, breaths steady.
Minutes crawled by. Steve began to fidget when Chen Mo suddenly murmured, "They're coming."
Steve followed his gaze toward the far end of the road — a path three or four meters wide, carved straight through the forest. A low rumble echoed faintly, growing louder by the second. Two beams of light pierced the dark — headlights.
Engines. Trucks approaching.
Chen Mo's eyes gleamed. "Stay close to me," he whispered.
Steve nodded, falling in behind him as they crept to the roadside.
As the convoy rumbled past, Chen Mo sprang forward, a blur in the darkness. In one smooth motion, he leapt up and disappeared into the rear truck's cargo hold.
Steve followed a heartbeat later.
By the time he steadied himself inside, Chen Mo was already sitting calmly atop a wooden crate. Two HYDRA soldiers lay sprawled on the floor, motionless — each with a throwing knife buried cleanly between the eyes.
"Retrieve the knives," Chen Mo ordered without looking up. "Dump the bodies."
"Yes, Master."
Steve obeyed immediately, pulling the knives free, wiping the blood, and handing them back. Then, with casual ease, he lifted each corpse and tossed them out the back.
Being the last truck in the convoy, the darkness behind them swallowed everything whole. No lights, no sound — no witnesses.
Moments later, the convoy passed through the main gate and entered the base. Trucks rolled in line to a warehouse on one side, parking neatly for unloading.
Armed HYDRA guards patrolled the area while a crew of ragged workers began hauling crates off the trucks.
Under the cover of that bustle, Chen Mo and Steve slipped silently out of the truck, keeping low behind its metal bulk.
Ahead of them stretched a wide open yard separating the warehouses from the main facility — and parked across that yard was an armored army fit for war.
Dozens of black heavy tanks and assault vehicles sat in precise rows, their hulls stamped with the white skull-and-tentacle insignia of HYDRA — gleaming coldly in the floodlights.
Steve's jaw tightened. The scale of it was staggering.
If they triggered an alarm now, there'd be no escape.
But one look at Chen Mo's steady, unhurried stride calmed him. Whatever fear he'd felt evaporated. He followed without hesitation.
Using the tanks and vehicles for cover, they crossed the yard unseen, weaving between steel giants and slipping past patrol routes with practiced precision.
At the far end stood a row of long, low buildings adjoining the main structure — utilitarian, featureless, industrial. A massive armored truck, nearly three meters tall, was parked tight against one wall.
Chen Mo sprang up onto its roof, climbed, and vanished over the ledge above. Steve followed suit. Within seconds, both men had disappeared from the guards' line of sight.
They dashed across the rooftops, leaping lightly from one building to the next. Height made no difference — a three-meter drop was nothing to them. Silent as shadows, they scaled walls and crossed gaps until the towering central building loomed ahead.
Through an open window, they slipped inside.
Chen Mo knew this base well — its layout, its patrols, even its weak points. Still, he moved cautiously, sensing for movement, guiding Steve through dim corridors and past guard posts with perfect timing.
Before long, they emerged into the heart of the complex — a cavernous manufacturing hall that stretched the full height of the building.
The "factory" at the center of the base was enormous, occupying nearly half the entire structure. The space was open from floor to ceiling — dozens of meters high — filled with the mechanical thunder of production lines and the gleam of molten metal.
The HYDRA super-weapons assembly floor lay before them in all its terrifying glory.