Japan
At the foot of Mount Fuji, Hawkeye Patton, wearing a light-colored sun-protective windbreaker and holding a camera in his hand, took pictures left and right from time to time, blending in with a group of tourists and not conspicuous at all.
"Mei, are you sure this is where Natasha was last seen?"
Hawkeye took a photo with the two Japanese girls in kimonos at their request, and left their contact information with a smile.
As soon as the two girls left his sight, Hawkeye's expression suddenly changed and he looked at the middle-aged woman next to him.
"The Quinjet hijacked by Black Widow crashed near the western Pacific Ocean. There was only one cruise ship passing by the accident site at the time. That cruise ship belonged to the Oshima Corporation of Japan!"
The female agent known as the Iron Cavalry answered Hawkeye's questions while keeping an eye on all directions, paying attention to the surrounding environment and suspicious people.
Her hands were not idle either. One of her hands reached into her travel bag. From the black backpack, there came the sound of the amplifier opening and closing.
"Oshima Co., Ltd. is an international travel agency with its headquarters at the foot of Mount Fuji. Before you came, I hacked into the surveillance system of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The last time Black Widow appeared in the surveillance, she was with the tour group up Mount Fuji."
"What is she doing in Mount Fuji? Could it be that the mastermind behind her is from Japan?"
After hearing what Agent May said, Hawkeye frowned. He and Natasha were friends in need, and also close comrades-in-arms who were willing to sacrifice their lives for each other.
He didn't believe that Natasha would betray him for no reason. She must have been controlled by someone.
"We can only be sure if we find her in person!"
Agent May handed the backpack to Hawkeye, and using the backpack as a cover, handed him a black pistol.
"We only have two magazines, so we have to use them sparingly. In order to conceal this from the bureau, we can only find arms dealers in Japan!"
Kaka, Hawkeye took the pistol and pulled the gun skillfully.
"The military's standard pistol?!" Although Hawkeye likes to use bows and arrows, an ordinary pistol is no problem for him.
He only needed to listen to the sound of the gun's mechanism a few times to determine that this M9 pistol was produced by a regular federal arms company, not a product of a small workshop.
Kaka! Agent Mei was also sorting out her equipment. She glanced at Hawkeye.
"I have inquired about it. The superior of the arms dealer is the famous arms dealer Yuri. His credibility can be guaranteed, and he doesn't know our identity!"
"Where are we going next?" Hawkeye put the gun into his waist and looked at Agent May.
People like May and Coulson are Nick Fury's confidants. When Nick Fury realized that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., he secretly separated his confidants.
These agents have all gone through the test of mind readers, so there is no doubt about their loyalty.
But after Nick Fury's death, most of these people joined the new director Maria Hill, and there are probably not many people who really want to avenge the old director.
Even Hawkeye himself, compared to the truth about Nick Fury's death, what he wants to do now is to rescue Natasha from the unknown enemy.
The two followed the crowd of tourists to climb to the top of Mount Fuji. Agent Mei held a tablet computer in his hand, which contained images captured by various surveillance cameras on Mount Fuji.
"She went here. The mountain area behind is an unopened area!"
Agent Mei pointed at the video on the tablet and spoke to Hawkeye. Hawkeye looked at the surveillance video and saw that the familiar figure disappeared after going around a cherry tree.
"Walk!"
Hawkeye made the decision without any hesitation.
Taking advantage of a gap in the crowd of tourists, the two turned around the cherry tree and walked into a deserted mountain path.
The mountain path was difficult to climb, but both Hawkeye and Agent May were well-trained, so it was not too difficult for them to climb the path.
However, the further we went along the mountain path, the more bumpy it became, until at the end it was covered with thorns and weeds, and there was no trace of the road in the rugged terrain.
"There are signs of being trampled here. Someone has been here. Judging from the area of stress and the degree of recovery of the shrubs, it must have been no more than two days!"
Agent Mei squatted down, carefully observing a trampled bush, and analyzed,
"Then follow the trail!"
Hawkeye greeted them and walked ahead, followed closely by Agent May.
The two quickly followed the observed footprints and came to an undulating ridge. Agent Mei wiped the sweat from her face and looked out at the endless green sea of trees at her feet in the distance.
"That's the Aoki Sea of Trees. If she goes there, we'll really be looking for a needle in a haystack!"
... ... ... .
Inside the Imperial Organization's Mount Fuji Observation Station
Dr. Serizawa is reviewing Godzilla's activities in recent years in front of a computer.
The ancient Titan Godzilla that lives in the deep sea.
In recent years, he has discovered that the activities of this Titan, which looks very much like a dinosaur from ancient times, follow certain patterns.
Almost every year, Godzilla travels a full circle around the world in the deep sea along a fixed route.
Of course, its travel is different from the conventional travel. It travels back and forth between continents along the deep sea and possible holes in the earth on the seabed, just like it is patrolling.
This pattern of action often lasts for a month, and then Godzilla mysteriously disappears.
Dr. Serizawa suspects that the Titan has its own nest in the hollow layer of the Earth, but with the current speed of technological development on Earth, it is almost impossible to find Godzilla's nest in the vast ocean.
So, he once again turned his attention to Godzilla's journey around the world...
Then, he made his big discovery.
Dr. Serizawa was the first to discover the suspicious points in the Titan's journey. When Godzilla traveled around the world, he would stop at several places for very short periods of time, including Mona Island, Skull Island and Antarctica, as well as several places in South America, North Africa and Northern Europe.
What these places have in common is that they all have confirmed or suspected traces of Titan activity.
Godzilla is like a jailer or a king patrolling his territory. He seems to be observing the activities of other Titans.
This undoubtedly gave the Imperial Organization a new research direction.
The Monarch Organization has been searching for ancient Titans around the world, but they have only collected information on a few Titans that can be observed. The rest either come from vague legends or only have found clues.
However, by retracing Godzilla's activities, they were able to discover some Titans that had not been found before.
For example, Ghidorah at Base Zero was discovered by them by observing Godzilla's stopping points.
Dr. Serizawa reviewed Godzilla's activities over and over again, trying to find a new Titan.
In two months, it will be time for the Monarch Organization to apply for funding.
If they can't find anything valuable, the Imperial Organization will have to give a very bad answer when facing the questioning of the World Security Council.
Although those politicians have enough patience towards the Imperial Organization because of the possible dangers brought by the Titans,
However, they have not been able to produce any results other than defense when facing the Titan beasts, which will undoubtedly reduce the importance of the Imperial Organization in their minds, which will directly lead to a series of bad situations such as reduced investment in research funds.
After all, scientists are also human beings, and they also need to live.
Especially in the current environment, all countries and organizations have set their sights on outer space.
The total amount of funds is limited. Once they use the money to develop the aviation industry, the funding of the Imperial Organization will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.
After facing the computer screen for the whole morning, Ishiro Serizawa rubbed his eyebrows with a headache.
He couldn't help but think of the man he had met at Shishida's house.
When he first visited Shishida Shingen, he wanted to get sponsorship from Shishida Industry. Unfortunately, not long after he left Shishida's house, he heard the news that Shishida had an accident.
However, afterwards, the Chinese man named Tang Song contacted him and expressed his willingness to fund his research.
Because he was not clear about the other party's background, Ishiro Serizawa did not agree to it at first. Now that his research funds are stretched, he suddenly feels that it would be nice to have a generous boss behind him!
Just as Dr. Serizawa was daydreaming, the communicator in front of him suddenly rang.
"Doctor, someone has crossed the restricted area!"
"It's those tourists again. Notify the nearby forest police and take them away!"
Dr. Serizawa picked up the communicator unhappily and gave instructions to the guards.
Because it is located in the famous tourist attraction of Mount Fuji, every year there are many unconventional tourists who want to climb undeveloped wild attractions and enter the restricted areas they set.
To deal with such tourists who stray into the area, their observatory already has a complete response plan, which usually involves notifying nearby forest police to expel them.
"Doc! They look like they have guns!"
... ... .
"Where on earth are you?"
Hawkeye took Agent May along the ridge to search for the Black Widow. He had a small military telescope in his hand and was looking in all directions.
"Hey! Is there something there?"
Suddenly, Hawkeye's gaze paused. He saw a cave about three or four meters in size in the volcanic rock left behind by a wave of magma.
"May! There!"
Agent Mei followed Hawkeye's gaze and saw the cave in the valley halfway up the mountain.
The two men climbed and began to move towards the valley. Out of caution, they both kept their guns within their reach.
All of this was captured by several hidden cameras in the cracks of the rocks.
"Volcanic rock doesn't take long to solidify. Could it be that Mount Fuji has erupted in the past two years?"
Hawkeye and Agent May soon arrived in front of the cave. Hawkeye squatted down in confusion, pulled out a dagger, scraped some powder on the rock, and twisted the stone powder with his hands.
Agent Mei took out a searchlight from his backpack and shone it down into the cave.
The beam of the searchlight shone into the cave, and a figure flashed past the beam.
Mei's eyes widened instantly.
"It's the Black Widow, she's down there..."
Hawkeye's heart skipped a beat, and then he was filled with ecstasy.
At this moment, a camouflaged stone door was pushed open from the inside on the mountain wall a few dozen meters away from them, and several white soldiers armed with assault rifles walked out.
"This is a military restricted area. Who are you? Put down your guns!"
Several soldiers raised their guns and pointed them at Hawkeye and the other man.
"Bang, bang—" Hawkeye pulled out a pistol from his waist, aimed it at several soldiers, and fired several shots.
Several soldiers were shot to the ground.
"Walk!"
Hawkeye greeted Agent May, then turned over and jumped down the cave. He had just used Agent May's searchlight to observe the situation in the cave.
This place is not deep to the bottom of the cave, only three to four meters at most.
But Hawkeye obviously overestimated the solidity of the rock at the bottom of the cave. When he and Agent May jumped down, a dangerous, faint breaking sound was heard under his feet.
Hawkeye lowered his head in horror and saw that the seemingly solid rock formation had already developed dense, spider-web-like cracks.
“Damn it.”
Hawkeye grabbed Mei and started running, but just after he took two steps, the rock behind him broke completely.
Most of his body fell below the rock layer. At this critical moment, Agent Mei threw the backpack in his hand with one hand, and one of the shoulder straps of the backpack got caught on a protruding rock.
The two of them managed to stop falling.
After the two of them had finally climbed onto a safe rock with great effort, they looked down.
“Oh my god!”
Agent May exclaimed.
Below the cave was a sea of magma and fire. The boiling magma was flowing, and several huge snake heads were looming in the magma.
Agent May's body was shaking slightly.
"It's the Yamata no Orochi, a monster from Japanese legend. There really is a monster like the Yamata no Orochi hidden in Mount Fuji!"
Yamata no Orochi? Eagle eyes looked at the monster looming in the magma.
The black body sank and floated in the fiery red magma like driftwood. Hawkeye had excellent eyesight and he could clearly see the black scales on the snake's body.
Observing a Titan at such a close distance is a very challenging task for human will.
"It's a Titan. I didn't expect that there is an observation post of the Imperial Organization hidden here. Those soldiers outside seem to be members of the Imperial Organization!"
Hawkeye is a high-ranking agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., so he naturally knows about Monarch and the Titans they are observing, but the location of Monarch's observation post has always been kept secret.
He had never seen the true appearance of a Titan, and now that he saw a Titan with his own eyes, even Hawkeye's hands were shaking.
"What should I do now? It gives me a bad feeling."
Although Mei didn't know what a Titan was, she didn't want to stay in this damn place any longer when faced with a monster that could swallow her in one bite.
"Titan, why did Natasha lead us here?"
Hawkeye took out his cell phone and pointed it downward, wanting to take a picture of the Titan and send it to Coulson.
But when he took a picture of the giant snake in the lava and wanted to send it, he found that there was no signal at all.
"Barton, long time no see!"
Just when Hawkeye was thinking about how to leave here, a familiar figure walked out from the shadow of the cave opposite him.
"Natasha!" Hawkeye looked at Black Widow in some surprise, and Agent May beside him immediately took out his pistol and pointed it at Black Widow.
"Natasha, you were the one who assassinated Commander Fury. Why did you do it?"
Hawkeye spent so much time searching before finding the Black Widow. He looked at his former comrade excitedly, wanting to hear an explanation.
Black Widow shook her head, her delicate face showing a hint of playfulness: "Barton, I remember when we were on a mission, you once said that if the two of us died together, it would be fate! Do you mean what you said?"
Without waiting for Hawkeye to answer, Black Widow took out a bundle of red-flashing bombs from behind her and threw them straight down the cave in front of the horrified eyes of Hawkeye and May.
“Bang, bang—”
Mei emptied the magazine at Black Widow in an instant, and the first shot hit Black Widow in the chest. Hawkeye next to her suddenly raised her arm, so that her remaining shots all hit the rocks above.
Just as Hawkeye snatched the gun from Mei's hand, a violent explosion suddenly sounded under his feet.
The hot magma rushed up into the sky, the rocks shattered, and a black-scaled snake head several dozen meters thick crushed layer of rock, opened its bloody mouth and swallowed the three people above into its mouth.
Boom—
The rock layers at the bottom of the valley all bulged outward, and in the surging rock layers, accompanied by the hot magma rising into the sky, the huge monster with eight heads and eight tails completely awakened.
Buzz
A helicopter of the Imperial Organization had just taken off from a hillside not far from the valley when a huge black-scaled snake head suddenly emerged from a cloud of volcanic ash and bit the helicopter in its mouth.
"boom!"
The helicopter was slammed hard against the wall of Mount Fuji by the Yamata no Orochi. The helicopter carrying four or five evacuees of the Imperial Organization turned into a fireball.
... ... ... ...
Seoul, South Korea
At the instigation of Shishida Mariko, Boss Tang, who had just finished tasting a South Korean rice bowl, got up from the bed. He moved away the soft and fragrant arm that was pressing on him.
Putting on pajamas, he walked into the living room and sat on the sofa. Tang Song spread out his hands, and a phantom appeared faintly in his palms.
Looking at the soul of the Black Widow in his palm, Tang Song smiled slightly, and the soul of the Black Widow turned into a ray of light and sank into the restriction behind him.
A series of flowing shadows appeared in the Yin-Yang fish behind him. They were the light and shadows of the magic restrictions he had practiced.
Among them there was a golden wheel emitting golden Buddha light. Amidst the layers of golden Buddha light, there were shining relics as big as fists, and golden lotus flowers holding up a magnificent scene of a sacred mountain.
This golden wheel is the magic spell that was practiced during Tang and Song dynasties—the Great Curse of the Heart Demon!
The most sinister thing about this evil spell, the Great Curse of the Heart Demon, is that the soul of the person who is cursed cannot be freed even after death, and he or she will become a believer of the caster of the curse and offer incense to him.
Of course, Buddhism calls this universal salvation, and the place where these cursed souls reside can also be called the Buddha’s kingdom.
"Boss, the problem has been solved, but that thing has come out, and Mount Fuji is at risk of erupting!"
Not long after, Bai Youling called Tang Song's cell phone.
"I understand!" Tang Song just replied calmly and hung up the phone.
... ... ... ..
In Tony Stark's sea view villa, a group of people were sitting in the living room, and a recording was playing on the audio equipment in front of them.
"Don, Nick Fury is investigating you. He got the news that a batch of your goods will be leaving the dock in two days!"
"Cargo, Mr. President, my company has to deliver a lot of things every day, and I can't do many things myself. Is there anything illegal in our company?"
"There is no best. I am just reminding you not to be caught by Nick Fury. He is investigating the terrorist attack on the State Guest House recently!"
"He should really investigate. Who would have thought that Hydra was hiding in their SHIELD? I even suspect that the original terrorist attack was planned by them!"
"I'm just afraid—"
"Okay, Mr. President, don't worry too much. After the terrorist attack, the CIA and the NSA investigated it countless times. Even if Nick Fury wants to frame you, he must be able to find a way in."
"That's good! But you have to be careful not to be targeted!"
"Tang, the election is coming up soon, and I need your support, not just in terms of political donations. Your Tang Group is now developing very fast in the federation.
The votes of your employees and their families, and the people you can influence... "
... ...
"The rest is just some political dealings in the election! Have you listened to it a few times? Can you tell what it is?"
After Tony Stark turned off the audio, he looked at Phil Coulson and Steve Rogers who were sitting opposite him.
The first person to speak was Pepper Potts, who was sitting next to him. She spread her hands and said, "It's obvious that they are talking behind their backs. We can be sure that there is collusion between them, but it's far from enough to point out that they are related to Nick Fury's death."
"If we only look at this audio clip, even a judge can't convict them. We can't even produce any evidence other than the president's suspected leak of secrets!"
"From this recording, it seems that it was the president who leaked Agent Natasha's operation, causing it to fail. So Natasha is very likely in Tang Song's hands!"
"Captain Fury's death may also be related to him!"
Phil Coulson was a little emotional.
"But, Agent! We have no evidence. Even this recording is illegal. If we steal the president's phone records and really get this recording out, we will all go to jail!"
Tony Stark rubbed his brows and said, "Jarvis, is there any way to crack Don's private cell phone?"
"Sorry, sir. Their AI computing speed is faster than mine. I have no way of breaking their core firewall!"
"Looks like I have to upgrade your program!" After listening to Jarvis' words, Tony Stark stood up and clapped his hands.
"The recording is useless. We can only start from somewhere else. I have a suggestion. We split up. Captain, you and Agent Phil go to secretly collect evidence of Tang's crimes, and I will continue to study the anti-Tang Song uniform. How about we move forward together?"
"Is that Chinese guy named Tang Song very powerful?!" When Captain America heard that Tony Stark was going to study the iron man suit specifically to deal with Tang Song, he raised his head and looked at Tony Stark.
"This is not a question of strength, Captain. Let me put it this way. The strength he showed in Wattheim is, well, like what you've seen in DC comics!"
"You, me, plus Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye, we're like the hangers-on in the Justice League, and Don, he's the thigh, the god on earth!"
Superman!
Tony Stark's metaphor gave Captain America a clear understanding of Tang Song's strength for the first time. After all, the comic character Superman was born in 1938, and he was also a DC comic fan at that time.