"Missiles? Is this really how you welcome your guests?"
Clark rose to his feet and tapped his chest. An Iron Man suit instantly deployed around him.
Nick Fury stared in surprise.
"Does Superman really need to wear that thing?"
"This isn't the time for that," Bruce snapped as he equipped his own armor. "Your S.H.I.E.L.D. is a complete sieve, Fury, a massive one.
Who do you think fired those missiles? Don't tell me you secretly ordered your own people to kill you.
You're an utterly incompetent director. You're always looking in the wrong places, yet you can't even see the traitors standing beside you."
The two armored suits blasted through the Burger King wall and shot into the sky, racing toward the hundreds of incoming missiles.
Tony Stark watched them leave in stunned silence before instinctively tapping his own chest.
Nothing happened.
With an irritated sigh, he flipped open the watch on his wrist and activated the signal to summon his Mark armor.
As he waited, he muttered to himself.
"Am I Iron Man, or are you? Are knockoffs really this shameless now? You're putting the original out of business."
Seconds later, armor components crashed through the restaurant windows and locked onto his body one piece at a time.
Lex calmly stood up, still holding his cola.
"Axel, I'll help them. This is New York. The population density is far too high.
Besides, since our Marvel friends couldn't manage their own world, it's a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the Human Federation."
His armor assembled around him as he turned toward Nick Fury with an amused smile.
"And you... what a pathetic director.
We were sitting in Burger King discussing Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., and your response was to have missiles rain down on us.
This is the organization you claimed protects your world?
Honestly, I feel sorry for the people depending on you.
Instead of practicing your dry jokes, you should spend that time conducting proper background investigations inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
You're the real Joke King."
His helmet sealed shut before he blasted through the hole Clark and Bruce had created.
After catching up with them, Lex raised both arms while shoulder compartments unfolded.
Hundreds of miniature missiles emerged from launch bays across his armor.
Bruce exhaled in relief.
"Your armor really is perfect for situations like this."
"Of course. Mine has advanced AI support and enough long-range weapons to fight an army.
Unlike yours, which focuses mostly on close combat, and unlike Clark's, which has almost no weapons beyond flight and transformation."
The missile pods fired.
Hundreds of white trails streaked across the sky.
Every incoming missile found a matching interceptor before exploding in brilliant fireballs high above New York.
Below, civilians screamed and scattered before quickly organizing themselves into orderly evacuation lines.
Bruce watched the scene and rolled his eyes.
"I used to think Gotham citizens had it rough.
Apparently New Yorkers have even more practice.
Look at them. They're evacuating like they've rehearsed this dozens of times.
Life in this universe really is miserable."
Clark hovered overhead, watching the falling debris to ensure none of it endangered civilians.
"So... who attacked us? Hydra?"
Bruce chuckled.
"Who else?
S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't some small organization.
In the comics they casually field multiple Helicarriers. Do you realize what kind of budget that requires? Their military spending probably rivals or exceeds the U.S. Navy's. Building and maintaining Helicarriers costs far more than operating conventional aircraft carriers.
That amount of money creates enormous influence and power.
Attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. is practically the same as attacking America's military establishment.
Right after the Battle of New York, who besides Hydra, already embedded throughout S.H.I.E.L.D., would possess both the courage and the capability to pull this off?"
Bruce pointed toward the sky roughly seven kilometers away.
Clark nodded.
"The Helicarrier. It's cloaked.
Should we wait for Fury and the others? They're the locals."
"No."
Bruce accelerated forward.
"We're human, regardless of which world we come from.
We're here to save people."
His armor shot toward the hidden Helicarrier.
The missiles had originated there, and if nothing unexpected had happened, Hydra had already seized control.
Clark activated his enhanced vision.
"I can see inside.
The Helicarrier is in complete chaos.
Commander Hill and the bridge personnel are surrounded by Hydra agents.
Just like you said, S.H.I.E.L.D. really is full of holes.
The moment Alexander Pierce gave the order, Hill couldn't even find twenty loyal agents.
She and Coulson are barely holding the bridge.
Fortunately, both have enough combat experience to survive for a little longer."
Lex replied without hesitation.
"We're not here to help an intelligence agency settle an internal power struggle.
We're here to eliminate the Hydra traitors who threaten humanity.
And while we're at it, we'll collect any technology useful to our own development.
That second objective is especially important."
His tone grew serious.
"But everyone, stay alive.
This isn't our world.
Axel doesn't have some miraculous way to bring us back.
We didn't bring anyone like Enchantress or Zatanna to heal us.
If we die here, that's the end.
So be careful."
Bruce snorted.
"I'll be fine.
Clark's body speaks for itself.
You're the one who needs to watch your back."
As he spoke, Bruce dodged incoming RPGs and gunfire before crashing onto the Helicarrier's flight deck.
Clark landed immediately afterward.
Unfortunately, he came down directly on top of a Hydra soldier aiming an RPG.
Thud.
The soldier collapsed beneath him.
Clark froze.
"Oh no...
He's not dead, is he?"
He hurriedly knelt beside the unconscious man.
"I haven't mastered the armor yet. I meant to land beside him.
Please don't die. I wanted to send you to prison."
"Clark!"
Lex flew past and casually struck the fallen soldier across the head with his armored hand.
Crack.
The soldier's skull shattered instantly.
Blood splattered across Clark's armor.
Clark stood completely frozen.
Lex fired a repulsor blast into more than twenty approaching Hydra agents while speaking without looking back.
"This is war, not a game.
People die in wars.
This isn't a children's cartoon.
Accept it."
Clark swallowed.
"I... understand."
He already knew that reality.
He simply hadn't adjusted to it.
Clark had never followed an absolute no-kill rule. He had even killed members of his own race when necessary.
Bruce, meanwhile, showed no hesitation here.
Whether it was because this wasn't Gotham or because he viewed Hydra as enemies of humanity, his methods were every bit as ruthless as Lex's.
His armor flashed through the battlefield like a phantom.
More than a dozen Hydra agents fell within seconds.
He wasn't deliberately killing, but several had their skulls crushed beneath the armored blows.
They weren't getting back up.
Just as Bruce cleared the first defensive line, Tony Stark finally arrived.
"Well... this place is an absolute disaster.
Even the command center has fallen.
Out of an entire Helicarrier, only thirteen people tried to resist, and seven are already dead?"
The moment he landed, JARVIS infiltrated the Helicarrier's systems and accessed every surveillance feed.
The situation was catastrophic.
Hydra controlled almost everything.
That outcome wasn't surprising.
Axel's earlier actions, eliminating Rumlow and crippling Alexander Pierce's plans, had forced Hydra into action far earlier than in the original timeline.
Pierce understood one thing clearly.
He couldn't eliminate Axel.
What he absolutely couldn't allow was for Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Natasha Romanoff to recruit Axel completely onto S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side.
If Fury gained someone like Axel, Hydra would have no chance.
Pierce's only option was to seize S.H.I.E.L.D. outright.
Once Hydra replaced it, they could negotiate with Axel openly as the legitimate authority.
As for Hill and Natasha, Pierce believed they could either be captured or replaced.
He had prepared everything.
What he hadn't anticipated was Axel exposing Hydra so quickly.
After overhearing the conversation at Burger King, Pierce realized there was no more time.
Waiting meant certain defeat.
So Hydra launched its coup.
Either Nick Fury would die immediately and Hydra would present itself as the world's new authority...
Or they would threaten the world with nuclear weapons, forcing even heroes from another universe to negotiate.
The missile attack on New York and the takeover of the Helicarrier were only the beginning.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Nick Fury watched the explosions lighting up the sky.
He immediately understood.
"Sorry, Axel.
I have to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal crisis."
The missile trajectories made it obvious.
They had been launched from the Helicarrier.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen.
Just as Fury prepared to move, his phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID and inhaled sharply.
Frank Castle.
One of the greatest soldiers America had ever produced.
Fury answered immediately.
"Damn it, Nick Fury!"
Frank's furious voice exploded through the speaker.
"I'm in Washington for my retirement ceremony.
I was supposed to receive my medal from the President today.
Instead, your people kidnapped the President and locked down the entire city.
Has S.H.I.E.L.D. completely lost its mind, or did somebody buy your loyalty, you bastard?"
Nick's expression darkened.
Frank Castle was the finest soldier he had ever known.
If Frank had served during World War II, Fury believed he would have stood alongside the Howling Commandos and risen to the rank of general through sheer merit.
Instead, after a lifetime of service, Frank had only reached the rank of major.
His chest, however, carried more medals than almost anyone in the military.
During the Battle of New York, Frank had single-handedly protected three elementary schools while eliminating more than two hundred Chitauri, earning nationwide recognition as America's greatest human war hero.