Tony nodded. He'd seen firsthand just how fanatical Hydra operatives could be—it was as if they were under some kind of spell.
Just shout _"Hail Hydra!"_ and they'd throw their lives away without a second thought, all in the name of some so-called grand ambition.
From the beginning, he had never fully believed S.H.I.E.L.D. was made up of pure good guys. Unfortunately, back then, Cap didn't believe him.
Now that Cap had finally seen Hydra's true face, things between him and Stephen (Steve Rogers) had become a bit awkward.
Iron Man and Emperor flew over the sea. Alan was holding a rope in his hand—it was to make sure Michelle and the others didn't drown.
After tying them up, he let them soak in the seawater for a while to cool their heads.
Meanwhile, the explosion of a helicopter midair, followed by its crash into the ocean, had caught the attention of local authorities.
Alan figured it wouldn't be long before security forces arrived to see for themselves what had happened.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has been restructured. There shouldn't be any Hydra people left inside, but just to be safe, I think it's better if we detain Michelle and the others at my base. I'll handle the interrogation myself," Tony said.
He clearly didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. much anymore. Cap probably wouldn't object to this decision either.
After all, it was Tony and Emperor who captured Michelle. If a few rats had slipped back into S.H.I.E.L.D., handing Michelle over would be a disaster.
When Tony asked for Alan's opinion, Alan had already planned to let them handle the next steps. His job was just to catch the targets—what happened next didn't concern him much.
Unexpectedly, before Alan could say anything, Michelle, still soaking in the ocean, lifted his drenched head. His lashes were heavy with water, and his eyes were almost forced shut—but he still struggled to glare at them wide-eyed.
"Stark, Emperor—you actually dared to capture _me_!?" Michelle was furious at how completely things had gone off the rails.
He never imagined he'd run into the last people he wanted to see—right on the roof of Pym Technologies.
Could it be that Darren Cross had set him up? Tricked him into coming here and then tipped off the Avengers to arrest him?
"It was Darren, wasn't it? He set this up! Avengers—you better know what you're doing. If you arrest me, the whole city of New York—no, the whole country—will be at war with Hydra!"
Michelle roared, and his men shouted like lunatics beside him, "Hail Hydra!"
"Say," Tony said coldly, staring down at the soaked lunatics, "would it really matter if we just killed those guys right now?"
He had zero tolerance for that phrase. Every time someone yelled "Hail Hydra," it made his skin crawl.
"Do what you want. The Avengers and Hydra were never going to get along anyway," Alan replied casually. Michelle's threats?
They were nothing more than idle barking. Compared to a disgusting cosmic villain like Thanos, Hydra was just small-time.
"You've got a point," Tony agreed. "But before anything else—why don't you all just shut up."
He fired an air blast. Michelle and his goons all rolled their eyes and passed out.
"Hey, Emperor, want to come back to the base and have a drink?" Tony asked as he grabbed the rope and hauled the unconscious bunch out of the water.
No point letting them keep soaking—if they drowned, there'd be no one left to interrogate.
"No, I'll pass," Alan replied.
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