Getting Stronger in Marvel with Warhammer Simulator Chapter 480 479: Planning and Pre-War Mobilization!

The Thunderhawk's vector engines produced a low, constant vibration that settled into the bones after a few minutes and beca background noise. The cabin was dim, lit by the glow of helt displays and the faint amber strips along the deck.

Rogers was working through his third magazine load, his hands moving over the Terra-pattern lasgun with the steady attention of a man who respected unfamiliar equipnt enough to learn it properly before he needed it. Duggan had his done already and was sitting with his arms crossed and his cigar unlit, conserving the ritual for afterward. The Killer Monkey had mastered the reload sequence faster than both of them and had been demonstrating this fact at intervals.

The carapace armor had taken so negotiating.

Rogers's honest preference was no armor at all beyond the shield. He had operated that way for years: the shield covered what needed covering, his enhanced reflexes handled the rest, and heavy plate restricted the agility that was half his effectiveness in a close engagent. He had explained this position clearly.

Nolan had demonstrated, briefly and without particular emphasis, what an explosive round and a sustained laser burst looked like against unprotected flesh.

Rogers had put the armor on.

"The tis have changed, Steve," Nolan had said, with a smile that carried so genuine amusent in it. "This is what fighting rich looks like."

Rogers had said nothing, which was his way of conceding the point while declining to say so out loud. Duggan and the Killer Monkey had already been suited up by the ti Nolan made the argunt, which Rogers had privately noted and chosen not to comnt on.

He snapped the spare battery into the lasgun's housing and reached for the grenades.

"I was about to give you the coordinates for the Nexus," he said, feeding them one by one into the belt pouches at his waist. The Nexus was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command headquarters, deep in the Colorado Plateau, surrounded by sparsely populated terrain on all sides. "The command hub location."

Nolan's voice ca through the helt channel.

"Natasha already provided them. If I had not been occupied recently, I would have sent people to collect the alien technology your organization has been storing and added it to our inventory."

Rogers stopped mid-motion.

He held that thought for a mont, set it aside, and let out a slow breath.

"When Natasha joined your side, I should have anticipated this."

"Probably." A pause. "What is the plan, Rogers?"

Rogers completed the grenade loading and turned to face across the cabin.

"Tell yours first."

Nolan looked up from the ten rings on his forearms.

"Step one: David blocks all communications in and out of the Nexus, full spectrum, hundred-kiloter radius. No signals reach the outside until we say so. Since the headquarters is isolated terrain with no civilian population nearby, there is nothing preventing us from engaging openly." He paused. "The Lanters will take the airport, the landing platforms, and the anti-aircraft positions first. Once those are secured and nothing can take off or fire on us from above, we advance with Cyclone missile launchers to..."

"Stop." Rogers had his hand up. "You said Cyclone missile launchers. Powerful rockets. We agreed we were targeting Hydra remnants, not the entire organization. If you open with sustained missile bombardnt, the headcount at the end of this will be very low."

"When resources are limited, you maneuver. When resources are plentiful, you use firepower. My default is the second." Nolan looked at him for a mont. "For your sake: the Cyclone launchers stay on standby unless S.H.I.E.L.D. air assets successfully get airborne. No heavy weapons unless they force it."

"The Lanters are capable of handling any situation they encounter at squad scale."

"They are."

Rogers considered this, then nodded once.

"The fewer casualties the better. On both sides." He looked directly at Nolan. "Before the assault starts, I need to address the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents directly, through every channel available. Give them the truth. Give them the chance to choose. Most of the people in that building are not Hydra. They are staff, technicians, junior agents who joined because they believed in what the organization was supposed to be."

Nolan held his gaze.

"I cannot promise zero civilian casualties. Rounds on an active battlefield do not distinguish between guilty and innocent. But I can promise that my people will not kill indiscriminately, and I can promise that no Hydra walks out of that building alive."

Rogers was quiet for a mont. Then he nodded.

"That is enough." Sothing in his expression settled. "Thank you. For the life earlier, and for this."

He paused, and then added: "Can I ask one more thing?"

"Rogers, make sure it is actually a question and not a position statent with a question mark attached."

A corner of Rogers's mouth moved.

"You call your soldiers Astartes. What does that an?"

Nolan straightened slightly in the vibranium power armor, and sothing in his expression shifted to a quality that was not quite pride but was adjacent to it.

"Astartes ans Space Marines. They are warriors born to carry humanity's banner across the universe. Their loyalty and their lives belong to that purpose."

He said it plainly, without decoration, and it landed with the weight of sothing he believed entirely.

Rogers absorbed this without comnt.

David had already wiped the flight formation from every radar in range by the ti the Colorado Plateau spread below them. The Nexus was visible from altitude: a hardened installation built into the landscape, access controlled, surrounded by the kind of empty terrain that made it easy to defend and, in the current context, equally easy to isolate.

David raised one tal palm toward the cabin.

"My lord. All S.H.I.E.L.D. communication channels have been captured. Full-band broadcast is ready. Mr. Rogers may speak when prepared."

Ten Thunderhawk transports had already peeled away from the main formation, banking toward the airport and landing platforms from multiple approach angles. Their job was to be on the ground and in control of every departure point before any alarm could produce a useful response.

Nolan nodded toward Rogers.

Rogers picked up his helt, held it for a mont, and put it on.

He took one breath. Then he spoke.

"Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. This is Steve Rogers."

His voice through the channel was steady and unhurried, the voice of a man who had given speeches in worse situations than this and intended to be heard clearly.

"You may know better as Captain Arica.

"Approximately ten hours ago, I survived an assassination attempt. A sniper round was intercepted before it reached . The man who fired it had been given false intelligence about who I was. After speaking with him and reviewing the evidence, I learned what was behind it.

"What I found was this: S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated. Not recently. The infiltration runs deep, and it has been running for a long ti. Alexander Pierce, now dead, was one of Hydra's senior leadership. The faction he commanded inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was Hydra wearing our uniform. Agent Sitwell and the special operations unit under Crossbones Rumlow are Hydra sleeper assets, still active, still inside your walls.

"I cannot tell you how many there are in the Nexus right now. But they are there, and you already know sothing is wrong. Most of you have known for a while.

"In a few minutes, you will see armored soldiers arriving in your building. They are with . Do not engage them. For your own safety, stand down from your stations and let them work.

"If you choose to do nothing, Hydra will finish what it started. S.H.I.E.L.D. will beco another arm of the organization it was built to oppose. They are one decision away from completing that.

"Freedom is expensive. I have always been willing to pay whatever it costs. I do not believe I am the only one.

"This is Steve Rogers. I am asking every agent who joined this organization because they believed in what it was supposed to be: pick up your weapons and push back.

"That is all."

The channel went quiet.

Rogers pulled off the helt and sat with it in his hands for a mont. He let out a long, slow breath.

Nolan looked at him across the cabin.

"Tell the truth," Nolan said. "Did you write that in advance? That was not an improvisation."

"I had a few minutes while you were dealing with the Punisher."

"It was competent work." Nolan tilted his head slightly. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s psychological analysts looked at your rhetoric patterns. Their consensus was that with enough ti and opportunity, you could beco the next figure to trigger a world war through pure speechmaking."

Rogers looked at him flatly.

"Your speech to the entire world about human supremacy apparently rated higher than mine on that particular scale."

"I will take that as a complint."

"It was not intended as one."

"I know. I will continue to work hard."

The Thunderhawk began its descent.