Marvel: I am Iron Man

Barbara Morse concealed her presence, lying motionless behind the boulder, watching the commotion at the trading site below.

Infiltration and stakeout are mandatory courses for special agents. If necessary, she can maintain the same posture for an entire day, even convincing herself that she is a stone statue, completely blending into the environment.

Tony's guess was correct. The main reason Barbara was here today was because "Hydra" had recently started appearing on Fury's watchlist.

There are indications that Hydra is involved in this Stark arms smuggling operation. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't particularly concerned with smuggling just a few guns and cannons; they're more interested in using this opportunity to uncover clues about Hydra.

Finally, after a long and patient wait, the person Barbara was waiting for arrived.

Two beams of headlights pierced the night in the distance of the wilderness, behind which was a black jeep driving along a bumpy road. The two beams of headlights, moving with the bumps, resembled intersecting sword blades cutting through the night.

The jeep stopped. The door opened, and a gleaming Oxford shoe stepped out. Four men in black suits, their movements synchronized with a certain trained synchronicity, stepped out of the vehicle.

Barbara instinctively held her breath. She knew these were the Hydra sellers, and also the main targets of her surveillance mission.

She didn't recognize the four men. However, she had worn and set up a miniature camera, silently taking pictures of each of their faces, which she would give to Chief Fury when she got back; perhaps it would come in handy.

The blond man named Vincent from the seller's group approached, greeting them with a grin: "Nice outfit, and great physique too. Do you guys often go to the gym together or what?"

The leader, dressed in a black suit, stopped Vincent from getting any closer when he was within arm's reach, and said bluntly, "The goods."

Vincent raised his hands and took two steps back: "Not the talkative type, huh? Very professional, I understand."

As he spoke, he raised his hands above his head and clapped them twice crisply.

His companion immediately opened the truck door and showed the weapons inside to the other party.

"They're all Stark products, genuine, top-quality. Once you try them, you'll realize that other manufacturers' products are just toys."

Vincent boasted for a couple of minutes, then his eyes darted over the four men in black suits: "Where's my money?"

The team leader made a gesture, and a man in a black suit behind him went up to inspect the goods. After the man finished inspecting them, he nodded to the team leader, who then turned around and made another gesture to the rest of the team.

A tall, thin man in a black suit took a briefcase from the Jeep. It was clear that the money for the transaction was inside.

But just before the deal was about to be completed, another spotlight suddenly shone on them.

Another car drove up and crashed into the transaction.

This unexpected turn of events immediately put everyone on edge. The four men in black suits instinctively drew their guns, while the sellers opposite them simultaneously raised their weapons to block.

The team leader, dressed in a black suit, asked grimly, "You betrayed us?"

"F*ck! That's what I want to ask!" Vincent yelled. "Wasn't this the person you hired?"

Barbara, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent hiding in the shadows, was also quite surprised by this turn of events and couldn't help but wonder who had suddenly intruded on the transaction. Both the buyer and seller seemed to believe that the other had betrayed the location of the transaction—and neither of them seemed to be acting.

When the car stopped, two figures emerged from the driver's seat and the back seat, one in front and one behind.

The man who got out of the driver's seat was burly, masked, and wearing goggles, making his face unrecognizable.

But the man was wearing a tactical vest and was covered with all kinds of weapons and ammunition. Even without showing his face, he exuded a suffocating murderous aura.

What's even more striking is this person's left arm.

He seemed to lack a left arm, instead having been fitted with a silver mechanical arm with a striking red five-pointed star on its shoulder.

Barbara felt her breathing become heavier.

Winter Warrior!

She hadn't seen it with her own eyes, but she had read the files. This was a legendary ghost who had lived for a century, whose shadow had appeared in several major events around the world where important figures were mysteriously assassinated.

There are even rumors within S.H.I.E.L.D. that super agent Black Widow had a brief encounter with this person and was seriously injured.

This person is already a legendary assassin, a mysterious figure in the S.H.I.E.L.D. files who is only known by a code name and has no other information. He is assessed as "highly dangerous" and it is recommended that ordinary agents never confront him directly during missions.

How could such a dangerous person appear here?

When Barbara then saw the person getting out of the back seat of the car, the initial surprise she felt at seeing the Winter Soldier was instantly replaced by a shock a hundred times stronger.

The man who came down had blond hair and a wrinkled face. He looked old but still had a straight posture and exuded the aura of a superior.

Barbara recognized the man... or rather, she thought she recognized him, but now she seriously doubted whether her eyes were playing tricks on her.

This person's name is Alexander Pierce, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Then something even more shocking happened to Barbara.

After a brief moment of surprise upon seeing Alexander Pierce appear, the four Hydra agents in black suits gradually came to their senses.

Their first reaction was...

......salute!?

"Sir." The team leader in the black suit hurriedly holstered his gun and saluted with an almost fearful urge. "No one notified us... Why are you here?"

To monitor the transaction, Barbara had planted listening devices at the scene beforehand. So even from this distance, she could clearly hear what was being said during the transaction.

That's why she was so shocked at this moment.

Commander?

Hydra calls our former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Sir"?

Why? What officer?

Barbara's brain almost shut down for a moment, but her professionalism as a senior agent prevented her from forgetting to clearly film the scene in front of her.

Alexander Pierce ignored the dark gun barrels and stepped out of the car, saying in a harsh but unyielding tone, "The situation has changed; the deal is off."

The men in black suits were all taken aback.

"But we didn't receive any orders..."

The team leader in the black suit wanted to ask more questions, but when he met Pierce's cold gaze and thought about the man's position in the organization, he quickly shut his mouth.

He was not normally qualified to receive orders from a top figure like Pierce. Even his superiors and his superiors' superiors wouldn't dare utter a sound in front of Pierce.

With such a powerful figure personally issuing the order, he naturally dared not say anything more and had no choice but to immediately order the transaction to be canceled and the team to retreat.

The sellers opposite stared wide-eyed, and seeing the deal that was almost done fall through, they were naturally furious.

Some of them stepped forward to argue, but were stopped by Vincent, who was leading the group.

Vincent shook his head at his teammates, indicating that they should forget about it.

Vincent had a growing sense that the buyer was extremely dangerous, possibly belonging to an organization far beyond their comprehension, one that their smuggling group couldn't afford to offend.

They can cancel the deal unilaterally without giving them an explanation, but they can't go and question or demand an explanation—that would be suicidal.

As for S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara, although she didn't know why the deal hadn't gone through, she wasn't particularly concerned about the deal itself. She was currently immersed in the profound shock of what she had just witnessed.

Even after witnessing such a scene and hearing the conversation just now, the thought still lingered in her mind for a moment—

—Alexander Pierce, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the current director Fury's superior...

...It's a Hydra!?

...

...

Meanwhile, Tony Stark, who had been levitating in mid-air and orchestrating the entire scene, was admiring his masterpiece with satisfaction.

"What do you think of Jarvis?" Tony asked.

At this moment, his built-in monitor was projecting stereoscopic images of Alexander Pierce and the Winter Soldier, which were slowly rotating in front of him in the form of a stereoscopic perspective view.

Jarvis said, "To be honest, the time was a bit rushed, sir. With more preparation, the projection quality could have been much better. However, the lighting here is already quite dim, and Miss Barbara Morse's camera equipment doesn't have very high resolution..."

Tony interrupted him: "Get to the point, Jarvis. Do you really think our work can pass for the real thing?"

"...Yes, sir."

Jarvis said with certainty.

"I think we haven't given ourselves away."