Clearly, Luke knew more than the tycoon thought.
Relying on the clown to deal with Hydra members in SHIELD during this period of time, he was much better at using his abilities and equipment for interrogation than Tony was.
Luke nodded at the door. “We’re done. You can go back and get ready now.”
Tony was stunned. “You made me come all this way in the middle of the night just to tell me this?”
Luke said, “Of course. Who knows if Hydra is watching you?”
Tony was unable to reply.
Although it was a little late to have a chat, it was indeed very safe.
Downing the wine in his glass in one go, he got up and flipped his mask back down. “Next time, I’ll wake you up in the middle of the night to pee.”
Luke chuckled. “Sorry, I like working at night.”
Tony cursed inwardly. The scoundrel really was just like a bat.
Also, if it wasn’t a major incident, this guy wouldn’t take action during the day. It wasn’t hard for him to find time to sleep.
Watching Tony walk to the door, Luke added, “Try to be ready in three days. Hydra will probably take action in the next few days.”
Tony turned around and was surprised. “So soon?”
Luke said, “That’s why I called you in the middle of the night.”
Tony: “…Thanks.”
…
In fact, Luke had been preparing ever since he started investigating.
The Level 1 clone which had been far away in Japan had taken an international flight in the morning to D.C..
That very night, Frank and a few others left for Baltimore to set up a temporary base.
Some like Damon and Mindy, Alice and her daughter, and the ninja squad, remained in New York. When the time came, they could use remote-controlled robots to fight.
Frank, Ivan and Angel had volunteered to be on site, and they didn’t mind taking action themselves if necessary.
But Luke had some misgivings about that.
This was D.C., and the highest government authority might be involved.
Batman had gone back and forth with the American government many times as they traded barbs secretly, while it looked like nothing had happened on the surface.
The government had never officially put Batman on the wanted list — NYPD’s request that Batman “help” with investigations didn’t count, since that was a local public notice.
It was fine as long as everyone understood each other.
The Bat Squad had their own bottom line, which kept the government in check.
This time, the best would be if the Bat Squad used the remote-controlled androids as much as possible in order to hide their superhero identities.
The advantage of this was that they didn’t have to be afraid of injuries or exposing themselves.
As long as Luke’s clone was there, dozens of regular remote-controlled robots would be enough… right?
1
…
The night passed, and dawn arrived.
It was another sunny day in D.C..
People were bustling about on the streets. At SHIELD HQ, Nick Fury was looking at the virtual screen in front of him with a dark expression. “Open Lemurian Star’s satellite launch file.”
“Access denied.”
Nick Fury was stunned. “Run decryption.”
“Decryption failed.”
Nick Fury narrowed his eyes. “Override authority, Nicholas J. Fury.”
“Authorization failed. All files sealed.”
Nick Fury sneered. “On whose order?”
“Seal order: Nicholas J. Fury.”
Nick Fury: “WTF!”
Half an hour later, he drove off with a dark face.
Looking at the building in the rearview mirror, the director’s already dark face turned even darker.
Driving out of SHIELD HQ, he said, “Activate communications encryption system. Connect to secure program 0405.”
Soon, the other party picked up the call, and a woman’s voice rang out. “What’s up, sir?”
Nick Fury said, “Come to D.C. immediately. There’s a big problem here.”
The woman said, “I’ll be there in four hours.”
Nick Fury said, “I’ll give you three. That’s all.”
He then cut the communication and stopped the car at a red light.
Suddenly, he felt two gazes on him.
He glanced over and saw a police car. The two officers in the car were sizing him up, as if he was a wanted criminal.
The director was unhappy. “What? Want to check my ID?”
The two officers turned around, and the light turned green as the police car left.
The director snorted, but didn’t vent his anger.
…
On the other side, Frank was putting together a plan, when he suddenly heard a notification from Bobo. “Mr. Smith, a fierce gunfight has broken out in a major district. Several police cars are besieging an SUV from SHIELD.”
He paused. “Show me.”
A virtual screen appeared in front of him.
After watching for a moment, his expression turned strange. He hesitated for a moment before he said, “Contact Knight and tell him that ‘Black Egg’ is under attack.”
Bobo said, “Okay, Mr. Smith.”
A moment later, Bobo said again, “Knight said, ‘I don’t have time.’ Mr. Smith, you are free to decide whether or not to undertake a rescue operation.”
Frank was silent for a moment, before he saw Nick Fury’s black SUV suddenly launch fierce firepower, and the police car that had been blocking him was sent flying.
He chuckled and shook his head. “No need. Black Egg won’t die. Take note of the people chasing him, follow them, and lock onto all suspects.”
Bobo said, “Okay, Mr. Smith.”
Frank sneered, and thought to himself that since he wouldn’t be using his identity as a member of the Bat Squad, it didn’t seem to be a problem to kill these dirty cops in passing.
…
On a street in D.C., Nick Fury was bleeding from the mouth and nose as he ordered loudly, “Activate flight system.”
“Propulsion system damaged.”
Nick Fury said, “Then call Agent Hill.”
“Communications system damaged.”
Motherf*cker! Nick Fury thought to himself. “Then what’s working?”
“Air conditioning is fully operational.”
“Then give me some air first. I need to calm down,” Nick Fury growled angrily.
Both parties flew down the street for some time.
The SUV couldn’t shake off the police cars behind it, and the police cars behind couldn’t do anything about the SUV either. The police officers could only shoot wildly.
Suddenly, Nick Fury saw a man in a black combat uniform, standing quietly at the intersection up ahead, raise a gun.
Swoosh!
A disc shot out of the gun and flew under the SUV, instantly sticking to the bottom.
Boom!
Nick Fury felt himself flip over along with the SUV. He hit his head and slid forward.
The man in the black combat uniform unhurriedly turned to the side and let the SUV tumble past, before he strode off after it.
…
At that moment, Frank exclaimed, “This guy… Interesting! Bobo, send this feed to Knight.”
Bobo: “Okay.”
Staring at the image, Frank couldn’t help but murmur, “Black Egg shouldn’t die so easily.”
A moment later, the black soldier opened the door of the SUV to reveal that the driver’s seat was empty.
Frank snorted and shook his head. “That’s just like Nicholas.”
There was a huge hole in the ground under the SUV, revealing an open sewer.
As expected of the man’s reputation as a black tortoise — not only was he hard, he was also shameless and slippery.