"You're not in Latveria. What are you doing here?"
Miles was quite surprised to see Doctor Doom appear here. After all, this guy was a notorious supervillain.
And normally, this guy would never leave Latveria.
There, he was the king—the ruler of all. Once he left, he was just another man.
"Does Latveria even still exist?"
Hearing Miles' question, Doctor Doom responded with a self-deprecating question of his own.
He had once truly intended to make Latveria a completely independent world, free from the constraints of other nations—and he had actually succeeded.
But everything changed when the City descended upon Europe.
His nation was no longer an independent force, no longer capable of standing against the City and its forces.
Though Latveria hadn't been officially destroyed, it was no different than if it had been.
Everything it once possessed had been completely taken away by the City.
Everything from the past was gone.
Even though the City later declared it would stop expanding, it had already completed the most critical step.
They now controlled all of Europe.
Even if they only occupied half of Europe, no one else dared remain there. The only choice was migration.
Aside from the countries that had been directly flattened, the rest had largely been carved up by nations like the United States.
Latveria was no exception.
The City was simply too powerful, and their current situation was utterly bleak.
"But why would you associate with these people?" Miles couldn't understand why the high-and-mighty Doctor Doom would stoop to colluding with Hydra.
"Then again, I suppose it makes sense. You're all villains."
Miles gave Doom a reason of his own.
Villains teaming up with villains—it made a certain kind of sense.
"But I must admit, Mr. Morales, you have indeed caused Hydra quite a bit of trouble." Doctor Doom wasn't provoked by Miles' words.
He merely looked calmly at the young man hanging inside the cube prison and said,
"I've been wondering why someone like you, who picked a fight with Hydra—a globally entrenched organization—thought you could get away with it unharmed." Doom gazed at Miles' youthful face. "Now I understand. You're just a kid. That explains everything."
Miles glanced at the man standing beside Doctor Doom. He didn't recognize the guy.
During his battles with Hydra, he was sure he hadn't kicked this guy unconscious.
Miles didn't have a super brain, but he was confident he could remember the faces of those he knocked out.
"I don't think I ever fought you, sir," Miles said to the Hydra operative.
The man didn't respond. He just stared coldly at Miles.
"A kid who can barely control his own powers—and yet Norman Osborn drove himself mad trying to replicate your accident."
Doctor Doom's tone was full of disdain for the Green Goblin.
"He even risked his own life to replicate your accident—and the one that happened to Peter Parker before you."
"And you? You're nothing. Just the product of a string of accidents."
"You accidentally got powers, accidentally fell into Hydra's hands… But the happiest accident, the one you should count yourself lucky for, is that I happen to be working with Hydra right now."
"We've already deployed agents across the globe to gather resources and rebuild everything we once had."
"Young man, you will become the cornerstone of our alliance with Hydra. Once we've completed your dissection and uncovered the secrets within your body, you'll be the key to our ultimate goal."
As Doctor Doom spoke, the people around him were running tests on Miles, comparing his genes and conducting research.
Perhaps thinking Miles didn't believe him, Doom pulled up two surveillance feeds.
One showed his parents bound and restrained. The other showed his longtime classmate and friend, Ganke Lee.
"In a year, no one will remember the fractured world that once existed. And you—will become the origin of the disaster we will unleash."
As Doctor Doom finished his sentence, the surrounding machines activated. From somewhere, devices resembling laser emitters emerged and began firing beams of red light at the cube prison where Miles was held.
"AAAHHH!!!"
Miles screamed in pain as he felt intense agony.
But not a single person present was moved by it.
"This needleless sampling process is truly fascinating," Doctor Doom remarked, clearly pleased with the current scene.
It even made him forget to keep watching the surveillance feed.
Not that the footage was something he needed to pay attention to anyway.
Hydra had personnel monitoring it constantly.
Suddenly, the feed flickered. One of Hydra's agents instinctively felt something was wrong. He ran a full diagnostic, but found nothing out of place.
Still, he wasn't reassured. If a mistake on his part compromised the partnership between Doom and Hydra...
He could very well be killed.
The Hydra agent monitoring the feed turned to the soldiers behind him and gestured for them to investigate.
The soldiers didn't object. After saluting the agent, a squad was dispatched toward the underground facility where Miles' loved ones were being held.
None of them noticed that as the squad departed, a shadow silently followed them.
Bruce had already located the entrance to Hydra's secret base.
He had also seen what Hydra and Doctor Doom planned to do to Miles.
But at the moment, Miles wasn't the priority.
The most important thing was rescuing Miles' friends and family. Otherwise, even if Miles broke free, he would still be constrained by fear.
Trailing the Hydra squad downward, Bruce eventually reached the very bottom of the facility.
Once there, he began using nanobots to scan the entire underground structure systematically, identifying every measure Hydra had in place to prevent a rescue.
Unfortunately for Hydra, they hadn't expected anyone to infiltrate this place.
So they hadn't put much thought into internal defense.
They had simply turned the lowest level into a fortress, essentially making it a one-way passage for anyone not part of Hydra.
They had never imagined a bat would be bold enough to invade their secret base to rescue hostages.
Back above, Doctor Doom was still enjoying the sampling process unfolding before him.
"We've developed a hybrid sampling method that combines lethal-threshold energy and micro-laser fields. This technique allows us to extract live tissue samples without interference from the subject. His vital signs are spiking, but still within controllable levels. That reduces the risk of sample contamination."
The HYDRA scientist who had developed these creations stood to the side, looking at his masterpiece with great satisfaction.
For madmen like them, having their research applied by HYDRA was the greatest honor.
The HYDRA gentleman who had been standing silently beside Doctor Doom finally spoke for the first time.
"Why can't you extract samples from his corpse?"
"Don't worry, we'll do that too," Doctor Doom reassured the HYDRA gentleman.
"Comparing the live tissue samples with those from the corpse will greatly benefit our research. Bishop, soon we'll be able to create new Spider-Men without breaking a sweat. The HYDRA super-soldier army you've always dreamed of is coming."
An army of soldiers was on the way. Hearing this from Doctor Doom, the HYDRA gentleman—also known as Bishop—couldn't help but crack a dry joke.
"I really want to hug you, but that's not my style."
"It's not mine either," Doctor Doom replied, glancing at Miles.
At this moment, Miles' energy levels were skyrocketing. He was no longer just a simple lifeform.
Instead, he was beginning to evoke fear.
Because the little black Spider now resembled a ticking energy bomb that could explode at any moment.
The next second, a tremendous surge of power erupted from within Miles.
Everything around them was completely destroyed by the energy outburst—even the cube prison had shattered.
Yet Doctor Doom remained remarkably calm. He simply turned to a nearby HYDRA intelligence officer and asked calmly:
"What's going on?"
"We… we didn't have any intelligence indicating he had that kind of power," the HYDRA agent responded nervously. "This could be a new ability triggered by physiological stress."
Meanwhile, Miles shakily stood up and raised his fist, clearly preparing to strike Doctor Doom.
"Give me back my dad."
But in the next moment, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed.
"He did well, but still…" Doctor Doom didn't finish his sentence. After all, as long as the kid hadn't escaped, there was no real problem.
He ordered two HYDRA soldiers to drag Miles away.
They still needed to reset the lab to ensure the next round of sampling could proceed smoothly.
"Until we've cleaned the lab and ensured it's fully operational, lock him up. And make sure he's tied up tight," Doctor Doom instructed Bishop.
But just then, the two HYDRA soldiers dragging Miles suddenly froze.
Because the person they were dragging had opened his eyes.
In the blink of an eye, Miles knocked out both soldiers beside him.
When the other HYDRA soldiers rushed in to subdue Miles, they found that the Spider was incredibly agile. With just a kick, he knocked out two more HYDRA soldiers.
Seeing how lively and fierce Miles was, Doctor Doom instantly realized that the earlier fainting had just been an act.
But someone clearly wasn't going to let Miles get away so easily.
Mr. Bishop immediately pulled up the prison surveillance feed showing Miles' parents. Two rifles were now aimed directly at them.
"Mr. Morales! Behave yourself!"
Seeing this, Miles didn't dare make another move. He stood frozen in place, nervously staring at Bishop.
"Don't worry, it's handled. Your parents and friends are safe now," Bruce's voice suddenly came through to Miles' ears. But Miles could clearly remember—from the moment he fought those people to when he was captured—he hadn't had any contact with the Bat.
Bruce, naturally aware of Miles' concern, brought out a communicator so that Miles could speak with his parents and friends.
Meanwhile, at the very bottom level, Bruce stood surrounded by a pile of unconscious HYDRA soldiers.
Three people carefully followed behind him.
Time flashed back to the moment Bruce had followed a HYDRA squad down to the lowest level.
Due to the special nature of the prisoners, the only way to confirm their status was to open each door and check.
That gave Bruce the perfect opportunity.
He dropped into the middle of the HYDRA team. Before the two guards could react, Bruce had slammed each of their heads into the solid wall with both hands.
The sudden change caused both the front and rear teams to immediately ready their weapons.
They raised their guns at Bruce—but even though they pulled the triggers, nothing fired.
Nanobots had already infiltrated their weapons before Bruce even made his move.
Grabbing a HYDRA soldier by the head, Bruce slammed a heavy punch into the soldier's face. The man's nose broke instantly, blood gushing out.
The other HYDRA soldiers weren't just bystanders. They drew their combat knives, intending to kill Bruce.
One soldier charged with a blade, but Bruce responded with a powerful roundhouse kick to the soldier's right ribs.
The blow sent the man flying into a wall.
If Bruce had to guess, the soldier's ribs were probably completely broken.
Bruce didn't pause. He stepped forward, striking another soldier's forearm with the reverse blade on his gauntlet, then delivered an elbow strike to the jaw.
The hard elbow joint, combined with Bruce's armor, instantly took down another soldier.
Taking another step, Bruce reached under a man's armpit, grabbed the front of his body armor with one hand, and pressed against his ribs with the other.
Then he lifted the man up and slammed him into the ground.
He didn't give him a chance to resist.
Bruce didn't even spare them a glance as he turned to begin releasing the prisoners from their cells.
Back to the present, Miles still found it hard to believe that Bruce had actually come here.
But hearing the voices of his parents and friends, he no longer had any doubts.
He looked at Mr. Bishop on the other side and smiled.
(End of Chapter)
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