Madame Viper

The red and blue lighting in the underground facility flickered sporadically, casting eerie shadows across the cold, sterile walls. The faint hum of machinery filled the air, punctuated by the occasional spark from an exposed wire. Tony had spent the last hour setting up a controlled 'malfunction'—an illusion of a security failure so convincing that even the most paranoid escapee wouldn't question it.

Sitting in the back of a sleek black SUV parked just outside the facility, Tony watched through the live feed displayed on his wrist interface. The two surviving terrorists were still unconscious in their containment cells, strapped to their chairs, unaware of what was about to happen.

"Hermes, begin phase one," Tony ordered.

"Initiating system failure simulation," Hermes replied smoothly.

Inside, the lights flickered again. This time more aggressively. A low alarm sounded, followed by a distorted robotic voice from the PA system:

"Warning. Security systems are compromised. Manual override detected."

Tony smirked. 'That should do it.' He had carefully calibrated the warning so that it sounded just vague enough to be plausible, but not alarming enough to raise suspicion.

Next, the restraints on the two men were unlatched with an audible click. The metal cuffs sprang open, freeing their bruised wrists. At the same time, the heavy steel door to their holding cell let out a mechanical groan and slid open by a few inches, just enough to make it look like a forced override.

One of the men, still groggy from the sedatives, blinked in confusion and looked around. His companion, a wiry man with a scar along his jaw, reacted faster.

"Shit... are we free?" he muttered, rubbing his wrists. His voice was hoarse from dehydration and stress.

The second man, still disoriented, stumbled forward. "The restraints... the door... something's wrong."

"Not something," Scar muttered. "Someone. Maybe the system's fried. Maybe someone hacked it. Either way, I'm not staying to find out."

Tony watched as they hesitated for a split second, their minds torn between caution and the overwhelming desire to escape. Then, as expected, survival instincts kicked in. In their mind, it was better to take this chance and run rather than wait for their demise. So, they ran.

Phase two.

As they stepped into the corridor, Tony activated the next part of his plan. He deployed the old, glitchy security bots. They were relics from one of his past projects, outdated and barely functional, but tonight, they served a purpose.

One of the bots, a humanoid drone with visible rust on its joints, stumbled forward erratically. Its single glowing red eye flickered as it moved, making a static noise before spitting out a garbled warning.

"ERROR... SYSTEM... OVERRIDE... THREAT DETECTED—"

It convulsed, sparks flying from its frame. Then, without warning, it collapsed into a heap of useless metal.

The terrorists didn't stop to question it. Instead, they sprinted past the malfunctioning robot, completely buying into the narrative Tony had crafted. The plan was working. They took the elevator to the main floor. Those two were so desperate that they didn't even think how the heck was the elevator working when everything was glitched up or why was there a single button on a panel with the main floor written on it.

"Boss, they're approaching the exit," Hermes informed.

Tony leaned back, folding his arms. "Perfect. Let's see where they run."

The final piece of his plan fell into place as the two men stumbled outside, gasping for air. After being locked up and experimented on, their only thought was escape. They didn't bother to check their surroundings nor did they stop to consider if they were walking into a trap.

The moment they saw the black SUV parked near the gate, their desperation took over.

"There! A car!" Scar, the lucky third one-pointed.

The other man didn't hesitate. He rushed to the driver's side and smashed the window with his elbow. Blood dripped from his elbow as he reached inside, unlocking the door. Within seconds, he was inside, hot-wiring the ignition.

Tony smirked in the back seat, perfectly hidden in stealth mode. His suit's advanced cloaking tech ensured he was completely undetectable—silent, invisible, just an observer in his own twisted game.

The engine roared to life.

"Let's go!" Scar barked, jumping into the passenger seat.

The tires screeched as they sped off into the night.

Tony exhaled slowly, watching as the city lights blurred past through the window.

"Now... take me to your friends."

The stolen SUV sped down the darkened roads of Malibu. Scar, still rubbing his sore wrists, glanced at the onboard map, tapping the screen with a tense urgency.

"Thousand Oaks," he muttered. "Take the canyon road. We'll lose anyone tailing us."

The driver gritted his teeth, his hands still slick with blood from smashing the window. "You sure about this? What if this is a setup?"

Scar shot him a glare. "You'd rather stick around and find out? We need to regroup. That base is the only place off-record. No chatter, no heat. We'll lay low and figure out who the hell just let us walk out of there."

In the back seat, Tony remained invisible, his breathing steady, his pulse calm. He let the conversation play out, watching the desperation seep through their words. The fear. The uncertainty. They were walking right into his hands.

"Just drive," Scar snapped, double-checking the map. "We'll take the back roads, avoid traffic cams."

Tony smirked. Smart, but not smart enough. His suit's built-in signal scrambler ensured that any surveillance tech they might've worried about had already been dealt with. As far as the world was concerned, this SUV didn't exist.

The vehicle wound through the twisting canyon roads, the city lights shrinking in the rearview mirror. The air was thick with tension. Scar leaned forward, his fingers drumming against the dashboard.

"Alright," he exhaled. "Once we get there, we contact Vasquez."

"Why don't know about this place?" The driver asked.

"You are a newbie, aren't you?" Scar said, scoffing. "Anyway, we are in this together. So, I'll tell you. We train sleepers in this facility. We brainwash them to work for us. They act normal, but they follow our commands. It's called the Hydra Brainwashing Method. One word is all it takes to activate them. You have heard of it, haven't you?"

The driver nodded. "Yeah, just some rumors."

"Well, after the fall of the main force and the hunt by Mandarin, we are reduced to a shadow. But, we won't give up. General Zola has a plan. Our men are already rebuilding the force. And Vasquez has been doing a good job of recruiting new members," Scar said, chuckling. "You can't really see it, but we are a small force. And yet, we have managed to sneak under the radar of all these so-called Shields. That's why they call us HYDRA. Cut off one head, two more shall take its place. Our numbers may be reduced, but we are far from defeated."

'These bastards!' Tony thought in anger. 'They are like cockroaches!'

The driver was silent for a few moments. Then he spoke, "You aren't gonna off me are ya?"

Scar laughed, "If I wanted to do that, I would've done it right there at the base. Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean we are that cruel. Vasquez will kill me if I kill you."

"That's a relief," the driver sighed.

'Well, I'll kill you all,' Tony thought, darkly.

"How many sleepers are there?" The driver asked.

"Enough," Scar replied cryptically. "Don't ask me the number. I don't even know myself."

Tony listened to their conversation in silence, his mind already formulating the next part of his plan.

'Hydra Sleepers. Things are going in a circle. If I were to take down Hydra, I need to find that freaking Zola AI,' he thought as he watched the road.

As the SUV made its way along the deserted back roads...

30 minutes later…

Scar checked his watch, then nodded to himself. "We're close."

The driver tensed. "What's the approach?"

"Pull up to the checkpoint slowly. Let them see our faces before they put a bullet in our heads. Vasquez runs a tight operation. If we do this wrong, they'll assume we've been compromised."

Tony smirked. If only you knew how right you were.

The canyon widened, revealing a barely visible dirt road leading into a dense patch of trees. A single floodlight flickered in the distance. A makeshift checkpoint—two armed guards, clad in black tactical gear, stood behind a steel barrier blocking the entrance. Scar rolled down the window as they approached.

One of the guards stepped forward, rifle raised. "Identify yourself."

Scar didn't flinch. "You recognize my face, don't you?"

The guard hesitated before lowering his weapon. "Didn't think we'd see you again. Thought you were dead."

"Not yet. Now let us in."

The second guard tapped an earpiece. "Bringing them through."

The steel barrier groaned as it lifted. The driver exhaled sharply and rolled forward, the SUV creeping past the guards into the facility perimeter.

Tony took a mental note of everything... the placement of guards, the defenses, the layout. This wasn't just some hideout. This was a real operation. Hydra was rebuilding from the inside out, and if Zola's AI was still pulling the strings, things could get ugly fast.

The SUV rolled to a stop in front of a reinforced bunker entrance. More armed personnel stood on either side, their faces partially obscured by helmets. Scar and the driver stepped out cautiously, stretching their limbs after the long ride.

The bunker door slid open with a hiss, and from the dimly lit corridor emerged a woman in a dark suit. Her presence was commanding—sadistic eyes and expression, and a cold smirk that sent a chill down the spine.

She took one look at Scar and shook her head. "You look like shit."

Scar stumbled back in fear seeing the woman. He wasn't expecting to see her here. "Madame Viper..."

"Don't be so afraid. Your entire team got killed and luckily you two survived... It'd be such a waste of intel if I were to kill you two right now. Oh, no. First I'll take everything you know out of your skulls and then I'll kill you," she said with a smile, chuckling creepily.

...

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