Chapter 424: Waiting for Intelligence
Set aside HYDRA's history of atrocities and their actual goal of seizing the city. Look only at the surface objective they were presenting tonight: defeat the superhero community and force SHIELD's secret massacre into public view. Framed in those terms alone, what they were doing had an odd legitimacy to it. If they succeeded, ordinary people across America and around the world would see HYDRA as the organization that had exposed a government cover-up. They would look, at least briefly, like the ones who had told the truth.
Batman had moved the Justice League to Bat Island. In the Batcave, the large intelligence display wall was running feeds from across Manhattan, and he stood in front of it with his arms at his sides.
"These people are stalling."
He gestured at the screens. The feed from Times Square showed the tail end of Electro's engagement with Sandman -- one-sided and nearly finished. Another window showed Iron Man delivering sustained long-range fire into the Grim Reaper from well above engagement range, methodical and largely unchallenged. A third window, smaller, showed Wolverine, Black Widow, and Daredevil operating in a temporary arrangement against a HYDRA column. A fourth showed Hawkeye in an encirclement that was getting tighter.
"Sandman. The Grim Reaper. The HYDRA soldier movements. All of it indicates the same thing."
"Stalling for what? If they keep stalling indefinitely, we're stuck here indefinitely." The Lizard Professor -- back in human form, white lab coat draped over his single arm -- worked the words out one at a time, each one precise. "And what if Red Hulk and the others never reappear?"
"My assessment is that they're waiting for the criminals who escaped tonight. Based on the SHIELD satellite feeds I hacked, those individuals boarded aircraft immediately after the breakout. Their destination is Latveria."
Batman let that settle before continuing.
"When I made contact with Wolverine, he gave me a piece of intelligence. Over a decade ago, two CIA operatives were embedded in Latveria running a covert mission. The mission ended with both agents dead and no subsequent follow-up. I believe the escaped criminals heading there now may be connected to whatever those agents were investigating."
He kept the rest of it to himself. Those two agents were Richard and Mary Parker. That information belonged to him and not to anyone else in this room.
Dr. Otto was occupied with the new equipment -- running his tentacles through calibration patterns, testing response lag on the suit's articulation, the methodical process of learning a new system under pressure. He wasn't contributing to the analysis.
The Hulk had his arms crossed and was staring at Venom Robin. Venom Robin was staring back. Whatever that standoff was about had been going on for several minutes.
Professor Morbius was sitting, listening, and visibly uncertain of his contribution to a tactical briefing.
The Lizard Professor was the only one who had been with Batman long enough and consistently enough to actually work through this with him.
"Do you have the full breakout list?"
"Yes." Batman pulled the files. "I've isolated a common thread. Every one of them has criminal methods that connect to technology in some form."
Professor Connors touched the side of his nose with his one hand, frowning at the dossiers appearing on the screen. "Maybe their purpose in Latveria is to upgrade their capabilities. Using whatever the dead CIA agents were originally there to investigate."
"That matches my hypothesis." Batman nodded. "The current HYDRA soldier movements appear purposeless, but analyzing their route shows a clear design -- maximum dispersion of the hero concentration, splitting the group into isolated engagements that can be resolved individually."
"But that plan may already be failing." Connors nodded at the screen, where Iron Man had just closed the distance on the Grim Reaper and was driving him into the pavement. "Electro and Iron Man have both wrapped up their engagements very quickly."
"That's exactly what concerns me." Batman's voice had gone flat. "The Latveria group can't possibly arrive in time to change the tactical picture tonight. But Iron Man's side is winning too fast. HYDRA has to have a contingency we haven't identified yet."
"I can't think of anyone who could threaten Iron Man's group. Except Red Hulk and Green Goblin."
"Us."
Connors looked at him. "Us?" A pause. "Us?"
"Correct. Above HYDRA's immediate operation, I believe there's a secondary plan running. The Enchantress will use our deployment as her window -- targeting individual members of this group and steering them toward conflict with Iron Man's team."
Morbius's head came up. "You mean the Norse mythology situation you described before."
"This is speculative. But the cost of being wrong about it is too high."
Morbius was quiet for a moment. "So that's why you won't let us move."
Dr. Otto's new tentacles reached out and tapped the section of the display showing Hawkeye's encirclement. The circle had tightened since the last update.
"That position needs support."
"Already handled. Someone is en route."
Otto glanced at him. "We have additional personnel?"
"Blade."
"Actually," Connors said, "as long as you and Hulk hold position, the rest of us could go. There's enough flexibility in your reasoning."
"I'm waiting for intelligence."
Connors looked at him with a faint expression of someone who has asked a question and understood, from the way it was not answered, that the answer exists and will not be shared. "Who else is providing you intelligence?"
The question went unanswered.
Hawkeye had been assigned Baron Zemo. Zemo was nowhere he could find.
Instead of Zemo, he found two hundred HYDRA soldiers who had apparently been positioned specifically to handle anyone tracking Zemo's probable movements. The silver weapons were not conventional firearms. The rounds they fired behaved differently from standard ammunition -- more lateral spread, more density per volley, the kind of suppressive output that treated cover as a temporary inconvenience rather than protection.
He was dodging it by fractions, and the fractions were getting smaller.
The volley that caught him came from three directions simultaneously. Six rounds landed in the span of a single breath -- left forearm, right thigh, abdomen. He registered the impacts before he registered the pain, which is how he knew they'd actually hit rather than grazed.
He was already taking inventory of what he could still draw and fire when the light changed. Something came between him and the volley, and the rounds that followed made a different sound -- muffled thuds against dense fabric rather than the crack of impact on concrete.
A wide black coat, spread to catch the incoming fire.
"Batman?" The silhouette was wrong for Batman -- no mask, just sunglasses -- but the bullet-absorption instinct was close enough that his mind went there first.
The man wearing the coat caught Hawkeye's look and smiled.
"Not Batman. But he's the one who sent me."
"I'm Blade."
Hawkeye's hand was already moving. His fingers found a smoke canister on his belt and he pulled the pin and threw in the same motion. The smoke expanded fast in the still night air.
Before it fully obscured the position, he was already out from behind the cover, moving low, drawing and releasing three arrows in sequence. Each one went to a different bearing in the encirclement. Three sequential detonations opened a gap in the HYDRA line wide enough to drive a vehicle through.
"I heard about you in Japan," Hawkeye said without breaking stride. "You were going by Daywalker then."
Blade fell in alongside him. His teeth were still visible in the dark, the smile unchanged. "I've heard about you too. The Ronin who took down the entire Darkwind organization by himself."