Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Steve stood in front of the blinds, watching Hope van Dyne bustling about below.

Hope van Dyne is Hank Pym's daughter. She did not inherit Pym's surname, and having traveled the world since childhood, she never appeared before Klaus.

Working under Klaus allows you to keep track of his research progress at all times, and even sabotage it at crucial moments.

She worked hard for this and even became a member of the board of directors.

But all of this was arranged by Klaus; having a spy he knew all about would only make him safer.

For this reason, he would complain about Pym to Hope from time to time, affecting her grasp of the research progress, and this continues to this day.

With a skeptical tone, Steve asked, "Are you sure she'll go see Dr. Pym?"

“Normally she wouldn’t, but since you’ve shown up, she’ll definitely go and tell that old guy Pym. After all, Pym used to work at S.H.I.E.L.D., so he won’t remember anything he’s forgotten.”

"All it takes is to plant a seed of doubt, and it will inevitably take root and sprout..."

As Pym's student, Lawrence had a very accurate grasp of his teacher's psychology.

After spending a long time in Lawrence's office, Steve hurriedly left with a worn-out-looking file folder.

After seeing this, Hope suppressed her fear, finished her work for the day, and hurriedly drove away from the company.

Hope drove on until it got dark before stopping on a small road in the suburbs.

To avoid being followed, Hope used the counter-tracking skills she learned from her parents, and only came here after confirming the location several times.

However, Hope forgot one thing: pre-arranged surveillance does not require human intervention.

Her car wheels had already been coated with isotopes by Hydra agents, and her driving route was clearly visible from a satellite perspective.

The darkness concealed Hope and provided cover for Steve and his team's actions.

However, the crossbones broke the encirclement that was about to form.

...

Crossbones reported into the headset, "Captain, someone's here."

"Identity confirmed!"

Crossbones watched as a van wobbled along the dirt road, and confirmed their identities based on the faces visible in the driver's and passenger's seats.

"Uh, two petty thieves? I think their names are Scott Lang and Michael Lewis. The computer shows they were cellmates before."

"Keep them under control and wait for me."

After Steve finished speaking, he quietly made his way towards the Crossbones.

When he arrived, Crossbones and his men had already subdued the two men and were inspecting the vehicle.

Crossbones approached Steve with tools from the carriage and said, "Captain, they brought lock-picking tools; it looks like they're here to steal."

"We just heard there's a stubborn old man here who looks pretty rich, and we're thinking of pulling off a heist!"

Upon seeing Steve, the two became excited and began frantically explaining that they only wanted to pull off a heist and knew nothing about the place.

The two knew that wherever Steve was, danger lurked. They were even prepared to go back to jail.

However, after glancing at the two men and confirming that what he said was true, Steve said to Crossbones, "Get rid of them..."

"Wait...no..."

Before the two could finish speaking, two bullet holes appeared in their heads. Even more significantly, to ensure a kill, their hearts and livers were shot.

Who could have known that the second-generation Ant-Man, failing to gain Pym's favor, would be buried in this desolate suburb?

Lord of Cinder in American Comics

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Chapter 473: Covert War

Hope knocked on her father's door, and Pym looked at his daughter with a puzzled expression.

He couldn't figure out why Hope was looking for him now, but the fact that she refused to use communication devices meant the problem must be serious.

Pym casually picked up a pair of glasses from the coffee table and put them on. These glasses were not only a detector to confirm the identity of the person in front of him, but also a command tool for the ants.

After confirming that the person in front of him was his daughter, Pym ordered the ants to act as guards around the area. In this desolate wilderness, it was normal to have more ants than usual.

Knowing her father's suspicious nature, Hope waited until Pym had finished all the preparations before telling him what she had seen at the Krauss company.

After listening to Hope's words, Pym pondered for a moment and said, "You mean, Steve Rogers took a document away in public? And then you think that Klaus's recent research progress is enough to replicate the Pym Particle, so you rushed to bring the news to me?"

Hope understood what her father meant, and she explained, "Don't worry, I've checked the vehicle; there's no tracking signal. I've been driving aimlessly around the city for three hours. Nobody can track my location..."

Pym looked at the confident Hope and didn't know what to say. As an intelligence operative, arrogance was the worst thing one could do.

Pym said, "Transferring important supplies and intelligence requires one or more teams of personnel to cooperate with armored vehicles for transport. Do you see the armored vehicles?"

Hope shook her head and said, "But that's Steve Rogers, Captain America. With him around, we don't need those..."

Pym sighed, somewhat wistfully, and said, "Yes, that could also be the most dangerous situation..."

Suddenly, Pym listened to his surroundings; in the silence, only his and Hope's breathing could be heard.

Pym looked puzzled and asked, "How long has it been since you heard insects chirping?"

The father and daughter exchanged a glance, then jumped behind the sofa to hide themselves.

duangduangduang……

A knock broke the silence. The person outside seemed impatient, smashing the door open and reaching through the fist hole to yank off the lock.

Steve walked in through the door, seemingly unconcerned about what weapons might shoot out from behind the sofa. He casually grabbed a bottle of what looked like decent liquor from the cabinet and sat down opposite him with a nonchalant air.

“Dr. Hank Pym, we can talk…”

At this moment, Pym also realized the situation. He took Hope's hand and walked out from behind the sofa.

Such a subtle movement naturally did not escape Steve's notice. He said, "There are more than four special forces teams around, each equipped with vibration sensors and special observation and aiming equipment. Even if you turn into an ant, they will find you..."

Ignoring Steve's threat, Pym put the wristband on Hope's wrist.

Looking at Steve, Pym asked, "Where are my ants?"

"You mean those bugs? They must have died from the pesticide, of course. There are just a lot of bugs in this suburb..."

With that, Steve lifted his foot, dug half an ant's corpse out of the mud on the sole of his shoe, and flicked it in front of Pym.

Steve looked at Pym, put down the bottle of wine in his hand, and said, "Doctor, we're here to seek help. S.H.I.E.L.D. is planning to build a special prison to detain those disobedient super-powered criminals, codenamed 'Mansion'."

Pym said, "But shouldn't superpowered crimes fall under the jurisdiction of the Control Bureau? Why is S.H.I.E.L.D. getting involved too..."

As soon as Pym finished speaking, he realized something was wrong. These words meant that he lacked confidence and needed to rely on Ash's influence to negotiate.

Steve gave a wicked smile and said, "Since it's a S.H.I.E.L.D. project, there's no need for the Control Bureau to get involved. Dr. Pym, make your choice..."

Pym smiled wryly, grasped Hope's hand, and nodded helplessly.

"A smart choice! Someone come and help Dr. Pym move!"

A team of chemical defense personnel filed in, documented every part of the house, and found the Pym Particles that Pym had hidden.

(This chapter is not finished!)

Chapter 473: Covert War

As Hope watched those people pack up the Pym Particles and take them away, she became anxious and was about to speak when Pym stopped her.

Pym realized that he was now at the mercy of others, and the operatives would not hesitate to take action against any sign of non-cooperation.

Even if they turn into ants, they can't escape. It's not like they've disappeared. If even the slightest trace is found, they'll definitely suffer the consequences.

Pym didn't dare gamble; Hope was right beside him, and he couldn't afford to lose.

"team leader!"

Crossbones handed the box containing the Pym Particles to Steve, who was to take it to Lawrence and oversee Lawrence's reverse engineering, so that the Pym Particles technology would become an absolute asset to Hydra.

Imagine that objects shrunk by Pym particles could disregard the law of conservation of energy. If enough large weapons were created and distributed throughout the world, a single call to arms would suffice, and the world would follow.

After all, who would doubt that a palm-sized model could be a tank or a fighter jet, or even a space carrier!

So S.H.I.E.L.D. began a new round of shipbuilding.

Hill looked at the report sent by his subordinates and was a little puzzled. Was it necessary to build one ship and mothball it like the great Eastern power?

Also, when did the Zeus cruiser become part of the patrol boat fleet? And why were there three space carriers built right from the start?

The entire S.H.I.E.L.D. only has four ships, which is a bit too much.

However, these have all been approved by the World Security Council, whose response is that "at this critical moment when Earth is venturing into space, we must have sufficient strength to defend our homeland security."

This reason isn't entirely unacceptable, but more importantly, the higher-ups have already given their orders, and she can't simply ignore them.

Hill then gave the order, and SHIELD funds began flowing into those shipyards and military-industrial complexes.

After waving his men away, Hill drove to a private warehouse district.

Hill opened the door to a warehouse and heard a faint scraping sound coming from the darkness above. He ignored it and just kept walking.

A light bulb was turned on, illuminating only this small part of the vast warehouse, and beneath the light was Hill's mosaic investigation wall.

On the wall were various photos connected by lines, all intersecting and converging on a single image.

And in that photo, Nick Fury's face was clearly visible.

Hill herself was also secretly investigating Nick Fury's whereabouts, and in her interactions with Geralt, she also obtained some crucial information that she couldn't reveal.

For example, Hill didn't report the last sacrificial organization to the World Security Council. Nick Fury has been cultivating this area for years; who can guarantee there aren't any of his spies within the council?

Looking at the wall, clues about the Skrulls, Monarch, Reed Richards and two others, and then the later sacrifice, appeared before Hill.

It wasn't until today, when Hill saw S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding report, that he suddenly realized what was going on.

If Nick Fury previously relied on his embezzled funds to survive, after all he's been through, why does he still have money to continue hiding himself?

That bizarre funding chain is the key to finding Nick Fury.

As she was thinking, Hill was awakened by a hoarse warning sound, the voice above her reminding her that someone from the outside world had arrived.

Hill decisively pulled down the lights, turning off the light source in the warehouse, and then waited for the guests.

Chapter 473: Covert War