Seeing that Steve was indeed cleared of suspicion, the group finally untied him.
Noticing a cloth covering the shield, Coulson curiously reached out to unveil it, but Steve quickly stopped him.
He had just managed to clear his name and didn't want to be suspected of being some kind of Hydra Captain again because of the design on his shield.
Just then, Maria Hill spoke with a serious expression: "We just received urgent news. Simultaneously with our attack, S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters was also attacked. The attackers are, without exception, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."
"They have an intimate understanding of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ's defense systems and facility deployment, causing varying degrees of damage and system outages."
Hill paused, her voice slightly hesitant: "And the one leading this group of attackers is Director Fury."
Everyone: "???"
What the heck?
The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. personally leading S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to attack S.H.I.E.L.D.?!
This world was truly insane!
"Nick Fury is doing this on purpose. He wants to divert our attention and combat strength to cover for Loki's subsequent actions. Loki must be carrying out the real plan somewhere else right now!"
Steve quickly reacted, seeing through Nick Fury's strategy.
Hill's tone was grave: "But we can't ignore it. Director Fury possesses the highest S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance."
"He can deploy S.H.I.E.L.D.'s large-scale strategic weapons, as well as some special weapons known only to him. If he succeeds, the danger level will be no less than Loki's."
Hill was not exaggerating.
As a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., even Daniel had no idea how many things the organization had hidden away.
Given Nick Fury's personality, Daniel wouldn't be surprised if he had a few spare nuclear bombs hidden at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ.
Steve frowned deeply and made an immediate decision: "In that case, we'll split up. Daniel and I will head to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters to stop Nick Fury's plan."
"The rest of you will remain here, waiting to confirm the location of the Tesseract and simultaneously dealing with any further plans by Loki."
[Main Plot Triggered! New Mission Unlocked!]
[Mission: Hail S.H.I.E.L.D.!]
[Objective: Stop Nick Fury's plan to invade S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, capture Nick Fury, and protect S.H.I.E.L.D.!]
[Reward: EXP +1500, S.H.I.E.L.D. Reputation +30, Random Item *2]
[Completing this will unlock the next Main Plot Mission!]
This mission had too many absurd points; Daniel didn't know where to start complaining.
The situation was urgent, and everyone quickly agreed to Steve's arrangement; even Tony Stark didn't object.
Steve planned to take a Quinjet with Daniel to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, but Daniel refused.
"You come later. I'll go back first and see what's what."
Without another word, Daniel opened his game map and clicked on S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ to teleport.
Under Steve's incredible gaze, his figure instantly vanished from where he stood.
In the blink of an eye, Daniel was back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
He found the place in complete chaos. Piercing alarms blared continuously, and numerous uniformed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents lay sprawled in the corridors, clearly victims of a fierce conflict.
Daniel rounded a few corners and saw over a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exchanging fire, but at first glance, he couldn't tell their respective factions apart.
He scanned the information of these agents and quickly discovered that one squad was under mind control.
The other group, surprisingly, was almost entirely composed of Hydra spies embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D., who were desperately fighting against the controlled attackers.
What was going on?
Has S.H.I.E.L.D. been invaded by us Hydra?
Behind them, Daniel also saw his Hydra superior, Alexander Pierce.
"Expelliarmus!"
Without thinking, Daniel pulled a powerful electromagnet from his game Inventory and activated it toward a mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
The firearm in the agent's hand instantly flew off, firmly adhering to the electromagnet.
Before the surrounding people could react, the weapon in another agent's hand was also sucked away.
Watching the weapons of their comrades being stripped away, the remaining agents reacted quickly, immediately gripping their guns tightly, and then... they, along with their guns, were sucked toward Daniel.
Agent: "..."
Daniel simply threw a powerful punch, and the opponent crumpled to the floor, instantly falling into a baby-like sleep.
The non-mind-controlled faction took the opportunity to strike down the disarmed attackers.
"Agent Daniel, you finally arrived."
Seeing Daniel, Pierce breathed a sigh of relief.
Daniel approached Pierce and asked curiously, "Sir, what's happening here?"
"It's Nick Fury."
Pierce said with a serious expression: "He led a heavily armed team to invade S.H.I.E.L.D., intending to activate large-scale strategic weapons to conduct a full-scale bombardment on various locations in America and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself."
"In short, Nick Fury is extremely dangerous right now, and we must stop his evil plan and protect the security of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Daniel: "..."
Sir, have you and Nick Fury mistakenly swapped scripts?
Why does that sound so out of place coming from your mouth?
It wasn't surprising that Pierce reacted this way.
The mind-controlled Nick Fury had completely turned to the dark side, and his methods were even more extreme than those of Hydra. He was attempting to help an alien conquer Earth and was determined to eliminate all obstacles, including S.H.I.E.L.D., at any cost.
Pierce couldn't possibly allow this.
In his view, S.H.I.E.L.D. was already Hydra's property.
What right did a 'black egg' (Nick Fury) have to destroy the S.H.I.E.L.D. that they—Hydra—had painstakingly built up?
Thus, to protect S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra chose to fight to the bitter end, vowing to resist Nick Fury's invasion!
"I understand. So, where is Nick Fury now?"
Daniel looked at the red dots on the map but couldn't distinguish which one was Nick Fury.
Pierce said gravely, "He is heading to the highest level of Headquarters. From there, his clearance can forcibly activate the strategic weapons depot. However, you're a bit late. I've already dispatched special personnel to capture Nick Fury."
Daniel panicked upon hearing this.
If Nick Fury was captured by someone else first, wouldn't his mission fail?
Without hesitation, he turned and headed towards the Command Center on the highest floor of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
Along the way, Daniel encountered many mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempting to block him, but he cleanly knocked them all out.
As soon as he reached the Command Center, Daniel saw Nick Fury and his squad of controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
However, they seemed to be engaged in an intensely fierce battle with someone else.
And their opponent was only one person.
This individual was dressed in a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent uniform, wearing a hat and a mask, appearing extremely mysterious.
[NPC: James "Bucky" Barnes]
[Codename: The Winter Soldier]
[Affinity: 0]
[Evaluation: The "Yang Guo" with a prosthetic limb, Captain America's best friend Bucky, Hydra's ace enforcer. Blackened is ten times stronger, washed clean is three parts weaker.]
[Status: Brainwashed, obeying Pierce's orders]
Clearly, this was the "special personnel" Pierce had mentioned.
Daniel was a little surprised.
This person was actually Steve's long-lost friend, Bucky.
He'd heard Bucky had fallen off a cliff and gone missing long ago, but he never expected him to become Hydra's enforcer. Based on his status, he was also brainwashed.
Steve's best friend becoming a Hydra agent—that sounded absolutely thrilling!