Chapter 74: Daniel’s Trap

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Daniel’s Trap

After returning to Long Island, the moment Tony stepped out of the aircraft, he nearly lost his footing.

In the span of a single day, he had lost both of his parents and become an orphan. At the same time, he was now expected to shoulder the burden of the enormous Stark Industries entirely on his own.

It was too much, far too much for someone his age to bear. Tony had only just reached adulthood; his adolescence had come earlier than most people’s and it had ended earlier, too.

Overnight, the weight on his shoulders had become immeasurably heavier. As friends, Daniel and T’Challa could only support him from behind but they couldn’t carry any of that burden for him.

Besides, even if they wanted to help, Tony would never allow it, that was just the kind of person he was. When it came to having fun, joking around, and spending time together, he welcomed everyone, but when it came to his own responsibilities, Tony never let anyone else handle them.

Daniel and T’Challa helped him back to his room before quietly leaving.

In the living room.

Daniel looked at T’Challa.

"Didn’t get enough of a fight earlier?"

T’Challa nodded immediately.

"Not even close."

His gaze towards Daniel was filled with resentment. The Hydra soldiers at the front had been too weak. The enhanced fighters in the back had finally been worth fighting, but before he could truly enjoy himself, Daniel had swooped in and stolen all his opponents.

His warrior blood had only just started boiling and then it was over. There hadn’t been any satisfaction at all. Interestingly enough, both of them had killed people for the first time that night.

Back in Wakanda, T’Challa had fought plenty of battles and seen bloodshed, but he’d only ever killed wild animals, never humans.

As for Daniel? That had literally been his first real combat experience. Yet neither of them felt any psychological burden whatsoever. If anything, they only felt disappointed, as the fight had been too short and weak

"Then let’s head out again," Daniel said.

T’Challa looked over. Daniel continued calmly, "There’s still some unfinished business."

Hydra wasn’t the kind of organization that would simply let something like this go. There was no chance they’d quietly swallow such a loss. Sooner or later, they’d come looking for revenge.

Daniel and T’Challa weren’t worried about themselves. But Tony was different, one careless moment and Hydra might find an opening. And there were others too like Susan, his parents, ordinary people.

Daniel couldn’t watch over them every second of every day. What if Hydra struck when he wasn’t paying attention? What if something happened because he had left loose ends behind?

He would regret it for the rest of his life. After all, when you pull weeds, you pull them out by the roots and make sure none are left behind.

During the flight back from Siberia, Daniel had expanded his Super Vision and Super Hearing to monitor the entire planet. The amount of information flooding into his mind was enormous, but in the end, he’d found what he was looking for: the real culprit.

On a certain island, there were nearly ten thousand people, every single one of them Hydra.

At that very moment, the organization’s senior leadership was holding a meeting. Daniel had even heard one man slamming his hand on a table while demanding revenge.

They wanted him dead, they wanted to investigate his background, and they wanted to wipe out his entire family.

Since they were already planning to come after him... why would Daniel let them live?

If someone wanted to come knocking on his door, then he’d simply knock on theirs first.

Fortunately, Hydra was enormous. After the disappearance of the Red Skull, the organization had fractured into numerous factions. The base Daniel and the others destroyed earlier belonged to one particular branch. It wasn’t connected to the Hydra faction hidden inside S.H.I.E.L.D.

Normally, the various branches operated independently. Only once a year did their leaders gather together, the people targeting Daniel now belonged solely to this specific faction, that made things much easier.

Otherwise, Daniel would have had to spend months flying around the world hunting down every Hydra cell and eliminating them one by one and that sounded exhausting.

"Let’s go."

T’Challa stood up immediately. Tonight, he intended to fight to his heart’s content.

The two boarded the aircraft. Daniel gave the coordinates.

Destination: A remote island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

As the aircraft crossed the skies, the two continued talking.

"This time, don’t interfere."

T’Challa sounded serious.

"I want a proper fight."

Daniel turned and looked at him.

"You sure?"

T’Challa nodded confidently.

"Absolutely, leave everything to me. I can handle it myself."

Daniel stared at him, then gave him a sympathetic look. Poor kid, he still thought this was another small Hydra outpost. This wasn’t a base; this was a headquarters and there were nearly ten thousand soldiers on that island alone.

With every kind of weapon imaginable. Heavy machine guns, artillery, rocket launchers, even nuclear weapons.

If this Hydra faction weren’t worried about exposing themselves, they could probably conquer a small country outright. Outside the major world powers, they weren’t afraid of anyone and T’Challa wanted to handle all that by himself?

Even if those ten thousand soldiers stood perfectly still and let him punch them one at a time, he’d collapse from exhaustion before finishing.

Daniel considered warning him, then decided against it, let him learn the hard way. Besides, Daniel was there, so nothing could go wrong.

The aircraft had barely reached the airspace above the island. It was still cloaked and invisible and yet alarms immediately erupted below. Before either of them could react, missiles were launched.

"Incoming!"

T’Challa’s eyes widened. At the last possible second, he jerked the aircraft aside. A missile screamed past.

Then another, then another.

"What the hell?"

T’Challa nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Did we accidentally fly into some superpower’s military headquarters?!"

Before Daniel could answer. Hundreds of missiles launched simultaneously.

The sky lit up and every single one locked onto the aircraft. Daniel sighed, as getting hit would be too troublesome. He stepped out of the aircraft, then disappeared. To ordinary eyes, he simply vanished. The next moment, every missile stopped.

They didn’t explode, they just stopped. Daniel intercepted them all, then casually pushed them back toward the island.

Seconds later.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Explosions erupted everywhere below. The island instantly descended into chaos. Taking advantage of the confusion, T’Challa guided the aircraft down and landed.

The two stepped outside and the moment their feet touched the ground, they were surrounded. Thousands upon thousands of armed soldiers came forward. T’Challa glanced around.

Heavy machine guns, light artillery, energy-based weapons that looked like something out of science fiction. His eyelid twitched, then he leaned toward Daniel.

"Where exactly have you brought me?"

Daniel ignored the question. Instead, he just smiled.

"Weren’t you the one who said you’d handle everything yourself?"

"Don’t worry." He patted T’Challa’s shoulder.

"This time, I absolutely won’t interfere."

T’Challa suddenly felt despair, there were too many people and way too many weapons. Even with the Black Panther suit, he wasn’t confident he could survive this, his courage instantly shrank by half.

"No."

Then another half, until almost none remained.

"I didn’t know it’d be like this!"

T’Challa finally exploded.

"Damn it, Daniel!"

"You set me up again!"

His voice was filled with grievance and he looked genuinely wronged, Daniel just nodded thoughtfully.

"Really?"

He folded his arms.

"Because I distinctly remember someone pounding his chest on the aircraft and saying he didn’t need my help."

"Something about handling everything himself."

T’Challa nearly choked. Daniel, meanwhile, was thoroughly enjoying himself. The island was already doomed, and nothing was going to change that. Since there was no urgency, baiting T’Challa sounded far more entertaining.

"Go on."

Daniel gestured towards the army surrounding them.

"Show them your invincible warrior spirit."

"It’s your time to shine."

T’Challa’s expression turned serious. After several seconds of consideration, he nodded solemnly.

"I’ve reconsidered."

"Oh?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow.

T’Challa spoke with complete sincerity. "I think teamwork is important."

"I shouldn’t deprive you of the opportunity to contribute."

Daniel flashed a wide grin, his teeth practically sparkled.

"It’s okay, everyone already knows I’m strong, so I don’t need to show off."

"You can go ahead."

Then he pushed T’Challa forward several steps. Just like that, T’Challa found himself standing alone before thousands of Hydra soldiers.

At that exact moment, massive searchlights switched on. Blinding beams converged from every direction, as every spotlight landed directly on him. T’Challa froze, as thousands of weapons were pointed at his face and the atmosphere became awkward.

Finally, T’Challa slowly raised a hand, then waved.

"Hi."

He smiled awkwardly at the Hydra soldiers.

"You all doing well?"

No one answered.

T’Challa’s smile stiffened.

"Nice weather tonight, huh?"

He revealed a row of white teeth, his head was going numb. Behind him, Daniel quietly took a few steps backward.

Then a few more.

Then a few more.

When T’Challa wasn’t paying attention, Daniel slipped back into the aircraft. He remembered there should be drinks and snacks stored inside. He planned to grab something to eat while enjoying the show, as this was way too entertaining to miss.

Meanwhile, standing alone under countless searchlights, T’Challa swallowed hard. Then he looked at the army in front of him and spoke weakly.

"Let’s say..."

"I accidentally got lost."

"Would you believe me?"

He pointed off into the distance.

"I bought an island nearby."

"Seriously, I just took a wrong turn."