Thor still hadn't returned to Asgard.
Which meant he ended up joining the siege against the Dark Elves and the Curse Warrior.
And promptly got beaten senseless.
Watching from a distance, Drex Valen nodded thoughtfully.
No wonder ancient Asgard had relied so heavily on Bifrost boarding tactics during the old war. Back then, the Dark Elves hadn't possessed just one Curse Warrior.
They'd had an entire legion.
Forget conquering the Nine Realms. With a force like that, the Dark Elves probably could've carved out a massive empire across the galaxy.
In truth, no race in existence was more compatible with the Reality Stone than the Dark Elves.
And the reason wasn't merely because they had been born alongside it.
It was something most people overlooked.
Their lifespan.
Dark Elves lived for absurd lengths of time.
Practically forever.
From the earliest recorded era of their species until now, it had always been the same generation of Dark Elves. They barely died naturally.
Back then, Odin's father had fought them.
Now Odin himself was nearing death.
The Dark Elves were still alive.
That terrifying longevity was precisely why Curse Warriors were so monstrous.
Their transformation consumed life force in exchange for overwhelming power. In theory, a Curse Warrior should eventually burn through its own existence and die.
In practice?
Most of them were killed long before their lifespan actually ran out.
Because the amount of life they possessed was simply ridiculous.
While Thor and the superheroes struggled desperately against the Curse Warrior, a blonde woman quietly approached the battlefield.
She looked almost unreal.
Delicate features like a porcelain doll.
Long golden curls.
A faint smile resting calmly on her lips.
And strapped across her back was a massive sword completely at odds with her appearance.
Tony Stark noticed her immediately.
"Ma'am," he called while flying down toward her, "this is a combat zone. You really shouldn't be here."
The woman ignored him completely.
She simply continued walking forward.
Not running.
Not rushing.
Walking.
Yet somehow, she passed Tony and the other superheroes at impossible speed while still appearing leisurely. The contradiction between slowness and overwhelming velocity left everyone instinctively uncomfortable.
The Curse Warrior roared and swung a molten fist directly at her.
"Well… she's dead," Tony muttered.
The other heroes silently agreed.
Then the blonde woman passed by the Curse Warrior.
Just passed by.
Nothing dramatic.
No explosion.
No visible attack.
The Curse Warrior froze in place.
A second later, its enormous body split apart into dozens of perfectly clean fragments before collapsing onto the battlefield.
The blonde woman never even looked back.
She simply continued walking away.
Tony stared blankly.
"…Who the hell was that?"
"Sir," JARVIS replied immediately, "Umbrella Corporation has just updated its personnel database. Facial analysis confirms a match."
A holographic screen appeared before Tony.
Name: Teresa
Rank: No. 1
Position: Special Operative
Umbrella Corporation Super Soldier
Created using Compound One
"She's one of Umbrella's operatives…"
Tony looked at the shredded remains of the Curse Warrior.
Then he remembered how an entire army of superheroes had just spent the last several minutes getting brutalized by the thing.
Teresa had killed it effortlessly.
For the first time in his life, Tony briefly considered applying for a job at Umbrella Corporation.
Teresa's overwhelming strength came from multiple sources.
Part of it was her Kryptonian military genetics.
But Drex had also used the Reality Stone to integrate Saiyan DNA into her body as an experiment.
Whether the replication was perfect remained unclear.
Still, the results were more than satisfactory.
At minimum, she could already perform techniques resembling the High-Speed Sword.
As for her weapon…
Drex had commissioned the dwarves to forge it personally.
Uru metal.
Vibranium.
Adamantium.
And Kryptonian alloys.
The resulting blade possessed subatomic cutting properties capable of slicing through almost any known material.
On top of that, it was virtually indestructible.
Perfect for Teresa.
The surrounding superheroes exchanged complicated looks after hearing Tony's explanation.
Umbrella Corporation had casually produced a single operative stronger than most of them combined.
So what exactly was the point of all their effort?
Of course, not every hero cared.
Some simply accepted reality and moved on.
With the Curse Warrior dead, the remaining Dark Elves were captured.
Humanity immediately began eyeing their technology with naked greed.
The Dark Elf black hole grenades alone had nearly wiped out multiple superheroes.
Then there were the Harvester-class ships and their stealth systems.
Every major world power wanted everything.
"She's back."
Drex looked toward Teresa as she entered the room.
She would probably become the strongest subordinate he ever created.
A fusion of Kryptonian and Saiyan genetics.
"The Curse Warrior was powerful," Teresa said calmly. "Without the weapon, I might not have been able to kill it so quickly."
Drex nodded slightly.
"I believe you."
Teresa naturally settled into his arms afterward.
At 180 centimeters tall, she towered over most women effortlessly. Her long legs alone looked borderline unreal.
But with Drex standing over 190 centimeters himself, the height difference barely mattered. She fit against him comfortably regardless.
Meanwhile, Sephiroth had already been dispatched elsewhere by Drex to deal with the dimensional distortions caused by the convergence of the Nine Realms and the monsters leaking through from other worlds.
S.W.O.R.D. would handle some of it too.
Though honestly, Drex was already considering resigning as director.
Running Umbrella Corporation as a world-dominating mega-company sounded much more entertaining.
The Dark Elf invasion didn't terrify ordinary civilians as much as expected.
But world governments?
They were panicking.
Earth had only recently survived one alien invasion.
Now another catastrophic extraterrestrial war had erupted almost immediately afterward.
No one knew what kind of disaster would come next.
As a result, the World Security Council urgently pushed forward the Insight Program.
The so-called Insight Program was effectively the second phase of the Helicarrier Initiative.
First, three Insight Satellites would be launched into orbit to create a planetary surveillance and targeting network.
Then three next-generation Insight Helicarriers would take to the skies.
The Helicarriers possessed enough firepower to eliminate thousands of targets per minute, while the satellites would monitor potential threats across the globe.
The concept was simple:
Destroy danger before it could act.
If aliens invaded again, humanity would make them regret it.
Unfortunately, plans like that were always vulnerable to abuse.
Because the Insight Program was never truly SHIELD's project.
It was HYDRA's.
At a hidden temporary HYDRA headquarters, rain poured endlessly from the night sky.
A black Mercedes rolled to a stop outside the facility.
The new leader of HYDRA America stepped out calmly.
Agent Sitwell immediately opened an umbrella and guided him deeper into the underground complex.
Inside the elevator, the new HYDRA leader removed his glasses and cleaned the lenses casually.
"How is the Insight Program progressing?"
Sitwell answered immediately.
"It's approximately eighty percent complete. Flight testing should begin very soon."
The man nodded in satisfaction.
"Excellent."
...
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