Malphegor
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MCIM Ch. 27
🕑 Added 2025-09-19 23:36:17 +0000 UTCClick.
Mario flicked his lighter open and lit the cigarette hanging from his lips. Looking at the lighter reminded him of Coulson, and thinking about Coulson brought back memories of those bastards from earlier today.
With plenty of loot stuffed in his inventory, he had returned from the Nether to the Marvel world. Ten hours had passed since the attack, but even so, he had zero desire to go back topside and check if those assholes were still lurking around.
Getting riddled with bullets wasn't exactly a fun experience.
"Three Nether fortresses, and they only coughed up seven diamonds..."
After crafting a diamond pickaxe, he organized his inventory, dumped most of his items into storage chests, then grabbed the materials needed for brewing invisibility potions. Time to head back to the park and settle some scores.
After all this time, he still couldn't figure out why Hydra had gone straight for the kill shot. Was it because of Captain America? Or had they cut some kind of deal with the vampires?
"Logic says they should've tried bribes or honey traps first. It's not like my willpower is unshakeable."
The tunnel was dead quiet except for the crackle of torches and his own footsteps echoing off the stone walls. He pulled his phone from his inventory, stared at Coulson's number for a moment, then hit dial.
The phone buzzed a few times before connecting. Before Coulson could speak, he jumped right in.
"Coulson, I was attacked."
On the other end, Coulson frowned, looking troubled. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has agreements with the vampires. A full-scale conflict would be... problematic. But I can get you some new equipment, special weapons designed for dealing with those creatures."
Mario smirked, realizing Coulson had jumped to the wrong conclusion. Time to set the record straight.
"I was fishing in Central Park when I got jumped by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. A fully trained strike team, complete with sniper support and spotters."
"Got anything to say about that?"
Coulson went silent. His mind flashed back to Mario's earlier warnings about S.H.I.E.L.D. being compromised. A chill ran down his spine. If Mario was telling the truth, then S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal situation was even more fucked than he'd imagined.
"How are you right now?"
"I'm fine for the moment. But if I'm fine, then someone else is about to have a very bad day. I need your help, meet me at Times Square."
"...Alright."
Coulson agreed, and Mario ended the call.
After hanging up, Coulson's expression was grim. He'd been the one responsible for handling contact with Mario. Just this morning, he'd finished compiling Mario's file and uploaded it to the central database.
"I really hope this is just a misunderstanding."
He didn't want to think too deeply about it. If S.H.I.E.L.D. really had internal problems, the situation would be catastrophic.
"There goes my day off."
He grabbed his suit jacket, climbed into L.O.L.A., and headed for Times Square.
---
Mario, meanwhile, wasn't in any hurry. He wandered through the dim sewers, hunting for spiders. The tunnels were surprisingly clean, aside from the nasty stream of wastewater running down the center, the environment was much better than he'd expected.
After walking for quite a while, he finally found a patch of spiderweb. He reached out and grabbed the spider crawling along it. With just a squeeze, he crushed it in his hand and mentally triggered the transformation.
The spider, which had been no bigger than his fingertip, instantly grew to the size of a baby's fist. Its eyes glowed red as it shifted from normal appearance into something straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare. Thankfully, the Spider Eye wasn't slimy, otherwise he definitely would've thrown it away in disgust.
As he walked and searched for more spiders, the number of spider eyes in his inventory steadily increased. Still, his face carried a hint of annoyance.
"One spider has eight eyes, but after transformation it only gives me one spider eye?"
He conveniently ignored the fact that a single transformed spider eye was worth nearly a hundred normal spiders.
Suddenly, his phone rang, the sound echoing through the empty sewer and making him jump. He glanced at the caller ID and slapped his forehead.
"Shit! Completely forgot about Coulson!"
He answered the call.
"Where are you? I'm at Times Square already."
"Uh... I'm still in the sewers. Not sure exactly where, but give me a sec."
Mario looked toward the nearest exit, climbed up the ladder, and after making sure there was no traffic noise above, carefully pushed at the manhole cover. Last thing he wanted was to pop up in the middle of a busy street.
Climbing out from the roadside, he ignored the shocked or amused looks from pedestrians. After brushing himself off, he got his bearings.
"Hey, this is actually a familiar spot."
Into the phone, he said, "I'm by the roadside near that mall we went to last time."
"Got it, I'll be right there."
Through the phone, he could clearly hear Coulson's engine roaring. The guy was really in a hurry this time, otherwise, he'd never treat L.O.L.A. like that.
A few minutes later, Coulson's car screeched to a stop beside Mario. He opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.
"Find us somewhere safe."
Coulson gave Mario a quick once-over. Even though he knew about Mario's healing abilities, seeing that there were no visible injuries still made him breathe easier.
"Right."
Every agent had at least one safe house, and he was no exception.
On the road, gripping the wheel with both hands and eyes fixed ahead, he asked, "How are you so sure the ones who attacked you were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?"
"Well, I brought their bodies with me. Want me to pull them out and show you?"
Coulson: "..."
It wasn't the first time he'd been reminded just how convenient Mario's abilities could be.
"No need. We'll be at my safe house soon."
Mario nodded, tossing his phone into his inventory. That way, there was no risk of Hydra tracking him through it.
I really need to track down Skye. Otherwise, I'm way too disadvantaged in the tech department.
With Skye's help, hunting down Hydra would be much easier. Glancing at the milk in his inventory, he thought about those brainwashed Hydra members and let out a cold laugh.
Soon, the towering skyscrapers around them became fewer and fewer. Coulson brought Mario to a residential area of New York. Although they'd left the bustling center of the city, the environment here felt much better than living in the concrete jungle.
He drove into a three-story villa. Before the car even reached the garage, the white garage door automatically rose.
It was a typical American-style garage, with various tools neatly arranged inside. Mario really liked the style of this place. He glanced at Coulson with a teasing smile.
"Ever bring women here for some fun?"
Coulson gave a bitter smile and shook his head. If it weren't for his good temperament, he would've thrown Mario out of the car. He didn't even have a girlfriend, where was he supposed to find women to bring here?
"This isn't the time for jokes. Right now the most important thing is figuring out exactly who attacked you."
"Fine, fine."
Mario got out of the car and looked around the cramped garage. "We talking here?"
"Follow me."
He followed Coulson toward the staircase leading to the second floor, but instead of going up, they stopped at the small room under the stairs. Just like Harry Potter's cupboard at the Dursleys', Coulson opened the small door, pulled out a remote control, and pressed a button. The floor of the compartment opened up, revealing a passage to the underground.
He chuckled from behind. "Nobody can escape the fate of living underground!"
Coulson, remembering Mario's own underground base, nodded in agreement.
The underground space wasn't large, compared to Mario's place, it wasn't even in the same league. About the size of a living room.
Mario walked to the center of the open area, pulled two corpses from his inventory, and tossed them on the ground. Coulson immediately crouched down to examine them.
As he inspected the bodies, his expression grew darker and darker. Finally, he reached out and removed the masks from the two men.
"They're members of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s special ops team. I recognize them."
There were many personnel in S.H.I.E.L.D., split into countless divisions. For him to remember nameless grunts he'd only met once spoke to his incredible memory.
Looking up at Mario, who was busy brewing potions nearby, he said, "I had no knowledge of their mission."
Mario stuffed a freshly-made invisibility potion into his inventory, replaced it with new materials on the brewing stand, and continued working.
"I know this has nothing to do with you," Mario said flatly, "but I want to know where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters is."
"What do you need S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters address for?"
Mario answered calmly, "Revenge."
Coulson was stunned. He felt like he couldn't keep up with Mario's thinking at all. It had never even crossed his mind that someone would, on impulse, actually march straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters seeking revenge.
Wasn't a normal person supposed to hide and make sure not to be found by S.H.I.E.L.D.?
"Don't rush. I'll go back and investigate first. This place is safe, you can stay here for now. Once I find out the truth, I'll contact you."
He was trying to calm Mario down, to dispel that dangerous idea. As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he naturally knew that for an outsider to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. would be nearly impossible.
"I'm not joking."
Mario finished synthesizing fermented spider eyes and converted night vision potions into invisibility potions. He waved Coulson over.
"Come here, let me tell you a secret."
I'd love to see his face when he finds out S.H.I.E.L.D. is actually Hydra.
Too bad his phone was definitely being tracked, or he'd have recorded what was about to happen.
Seeing Mario's expression, Coulson walked over.
"Hail Hydra!"
Mario leaned close to Coulson's ear and whispered. Coulson's reaction was lightning fast, he whipped a gun from his waist and aimed it right at Mario's forehead.
"You're with Hydra?"
As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he naturally knew of Hydra's existence and understood how dangerous that organization was.
He looked at Mario. Honestly, he'd never thought Mario belonged to another organization. From their interactions, he seemed like nothing more than an ordinary person who'd suddenly gained special abilities, well, an ordinary person with a petty streak.
Seeing Coulson's face change colors like a traffic light, Mario burst out laughing.
"Relax, it's just a joke! But the next story is related to Hydra. If you want to hear it, sit down."
Coulson didn't know whether to believe Mario or not. The only thing he knew for sure was that one-on-one, he was definitely no match for him. After brief hesitation, he lowered his gun.
"This story goes way back, starts with World War II..."
Mario put on the posture of someone about to launch into a long tale, but what he said next caught Coulson completely off guard.
"But I hate dragging things out, so I'll keep it short."
"After Germany's defeat in WWII, Red Skull's Hydra forces were scattered. But at that time, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predecessor, the Strategic Scientific Reserve, was just starting out. Because they lacked talent, they recruited Hydra's leftover scientists wholesale."
"But Hydra's motto is: cut off one head, two more shall take its place."
"Though I can confirm personally, Hydra agents still die when shot. No extra heads grew back."
"Those faithful to Hydra's cause used this opportunity to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., growing stronger under its protection, right up until today."
Mario walked over to the two corpses, nudged them with his foot, and said, "These were Hydra operatives."
Inside, Coulson was shaken to the core. His mouth hung slightly open. He knew Mario might have access to classified information, but he never imagined it would be such a bombshell.
His throat went dry. With some effort, he asked, "Who's in Hydra?"
Mario smiled faintly. "Well, let's see... Black Widow..."
At that name, Coulson immediately shook his head. "No... that's..."
"Let me finish before you object."
Mario said seriously, "Also Maria Hill, Melinda May, Hawkeye, Nick Fury..." He rattled off more than a dozen names in a row.
At that moment, Coulson felt completely numb. But Mario's next words nearly made him collapse.
"Actually, aside from those I mentioned, about eighty percent of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents you know are Hydra."
"For example: John Garrett and his protégé Grant Ward, STRIKE team leader Brock Rumlow, Jasper Sitwell... oh, and the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Alexander Pierce."
As he spoke, Mario maintained a sincere smile, completely ignoring how earth-shattering his words were for Coulson.
