Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 395: 395 MCU 70

"Tony..."

"I know! I know! Huff... Just give me a moment."

Even though Tony had already heard the story from the Captain and me before, he seemed shocked to the point of being unable to breathe properly.

Because he had learned not only that his father but also his mother had been killed by Bucky.

Because of that, Tony was outside getting some air, while the other members gathered the documents and loaded them onto the ship.

"But what are we going to do with the captured Hydra operatives? We can’t just leave them, and they don’t seem like they’ll talk even if we interrogate them."

Bruce asked, while taking a short break after moving all the documents, about how to handle the captured Hydra members.

I had a good way to deal with them.

"I’m planning to hand them over to Secretary Ross. He said there’s a new prison, right? We’ll put them there."

"Huh? Why would you do that?"

"That prison was built for that purpose anyway. So I’m going to put them there. And it won’t stop here. Not only Hydra members we catch in the future but also other villains—I plan to keep sending them over."

Bruce seemed to not quite understand why I was doing that.

"Surely you’re not trusting Secretary Ross, are you? There’s no way he’ll just keep them locked up without doing something..."

Bruce knew Ross well, given their history.

"Right. Ross will probably try to extract whatever he can from them. But do you really think they can manage such powerful criminals? I think problems will arise soon. Either they won’t be able to handle the numbers, or in the worst case, some will escape."

"But that would be a disaster."

"The disaster will be theirs, not ours. I’m planning to wait for them to make a mistake and then use the media to pressure them by highlighting human rights issues and mismanagement. Even if an escape happens, I’ll set up surveillance around the prison so we can recapture them easily, so it won’t be a major issue. Besides, there will definitely be controversy over the enormous cost of maintaining a prison to hold enhanced individuals."

Many people think that the U.S., with its wealth, wouldn’t be affected by this kind of pressure, but that’s not entirely true.

The U.S. already has correctional facilities nearing saturation due to high incarceration rates, leading to overcrowding, human rights issues, and ever-increasing cost burdens.

For these reasons, early release, alternative sentencing, and criminal justice reform have been consistently raised as necessary issues.

In the Marvel universe, the situation is even more severe.

There are more criminals, and as superheroes continuously arrest them, the inmate population grows even faster.

As a result, far more costs are consumed than in reality, which is why this method of pressure can be effective.

"Wow... So in other words, you’re planning to overload that prison."

"That’s right. That prison won’t end up being our shackle—it’ll be theirs. Let them suffer trying to manage it."

"I see... That’s an interesting idea."

"To do that, I think it’s important to catch as many Hydra operatives—especially super-soldiers—as possible and hand them over to Secretary Ross."

"That makes sense. But I’m worried about Wakanda not sitting still."

"That part is a concern, but as long as we secure the information faster and hand them over to the prison before any problems arise, it should be fine. Like I said, any problems that happen in the prison will be their responsibility."

"I suppose."

While we were having that conversation, Tony seemed to have calmed down a bit and returned to the ship, and we headed back to the base.

After that, I contacted Rhodey as planned and handed over the captured Hydra operatives.

Of course, I had already informed the team members about this.

Rhodey seemed puzzled, not quite understanding the situation, but his superiors gladly accepted the Hydra members.

From their perspective, having the new prison activated was a good thing, even without knowing what the future held.

We gathered information and traveled all over the world, capturing Hydra operatives diligently.

Tony’s usual humor had lessened somewhat, but he actively participated in capturing Hydra.

I wanted to tell him to rest and collect himself, but seeing him so aggressively hunting Hydra, it seemed he wanted to finish the Hydra business with his own hands.

During this time, T’Challa didn’t bother us, probably because his aircraft was badly damaged in the previous fight, or because he was tracking the Captain instead.

"Look at this! This must have been a factory where Ultron was being built."

We raided one factory, and judging by the Ultron remnants scattered around, it seemed to be a factory where Ultron units had been manufactured.

Hydra had been managing these factories.

"No wonder there were so many Ultron units. I never imagined there was a factory like this."

"There are probably more of these factories. The number of Ultron units was quite large."

"These guys are like onions. Peel one layer and there’s another."

"Even in the U.S. it was that bad. There’s no telling how deeply Hydra has infiltrated the rest of the world."

"They’re probably still spreading like cancer cells, bribing or threatening powerful figures in various countries."

"Geez... I thought we’d wiped out quite a lot by now..."

The members were disgusted by the cockroach-like Hydra.

We collected the Ultron remnants and, once again, handed over the Hydra operatives managing the factory to Secretary Ross.

Then, seemingly burdened by the growing numbers, they began separating non-super-soldier operatives and sending them to regular prisons.

It was proof that they were starting to find it difficult to manage.

’We’re not done yet. I’ll keep pushing until they scream.’

While we were doing well with the crackdown, a problem arose.

Tony had no choice but to capture those who surrendered, but he was showing absolutely no mercy to the rest.

His Iron Man weapons were also set more for lethality than subdual.

As a result, the number of Hydra operatives dying was gradually increasing.

At first, the numbers were small, so it went unnoticed, but once the count became visible, everyone started to worry.

"Shouldn’t we stop him?"

"I agree... He’s going too far."

Bruce and Natasha also thought it was serious, so I decided to talk to him.

"Tony, I understand how you feel, but you know there are people who were used against their will. So it would be best to restrain yourself. The other members are also very worried."

"I won’t deny that my parents’ situation is a factor, but Hydra is the root of all problems. There’s no way around it at this point. We have to respond firmly."

Even when I tried to persuade him, Tony was adamant.

But the problem was that Pietro, Wanda, and Jess—who had also suffered greatly because of Hydra—agreed with Tony’s opinion.

In the end, with the Captain gone, the remaining Avengers were split into moderates and hardliners.

The remaining moderate members were Vision, Myo Myo, Natasha, Bruce, and Vulture.

Deadpool was too busy taking care of his daughter to be involved.

"Boss, this situation seems to be getting worse."

"Tell me about it..."

Even Vulture was worried about the issue, and Bruce and Jess, as a couple, ended up arguing over their differences.

To make matters worse, a problem occurred during a mission when Pietro subdued a Hydra operative too aggressively, resulting in a fatality.

"Pietro!"

"Sorry. My mistake."

"Huff... Let’s clean this up first, and then we need to talk."

After finishing the cleanup, we gathered on the Odyssey for a meeting.

"I know there are people who were used by Hydra. So I’m trying my best to subdue them, but I can’t help the emotions that come up. The reason this place we live in is such a mess is also because of Hydra’s collusion with past regimes. Like Tony said, Hydra is the source of all evil."

"Even so, we can’t become the same as them."

"I know that, so I’m trying to suppress my emotions and subdue them."

Then Tony spoke up.

"I disagree. Catching Hydra and locking them up will only cause problems. If they later commit terrorism and more victims arise, what will you do? I think we need to reduce their numbers as much as possible."

"Tony, but..."

"I don’t think Jin’s words are wrong, but I don’t think they’re realistic. We’re not gods, so we can’t be perfect. I think we need to compromise to a certain extent."

After learning about his mother, Tony seemed to have become more rigid.

Then Bruce asked,

"Then how far are you willing to compromise?"

"I have no intention of going easy on attacking Hydra operatives. Subdual only applies to those who surrender."

At Tony’s words, Bruce looked dumbfounded.

"That... that means killing them all!"

"It’s not impossible. They chose this path."

"Hah... Tony, that’s not right. Like Jin said, we must not become like them."

"You keep saying we’ll become like them, but we’re clearly different!"

"What’s the difference? Blood for blood."

"You’re not making sense... I think it’s best if we just work separately on Hydra matters from now on."

And so the conversation ended, and after returning to the base, Tony, Pietro, and Jess left for Avengers Tower.

But they didn’t just leave—they also took one of the remaining Aurea ships with them.

"By the way, wasn’t Wanda on the hardline side? Oh, sorry... I shouldn’t have said that."

"No, it’s fine."

Bruce seemed surprised that Wanda had stayed and asked, then realized something and quickly apologized.

Seeing that, I also realized something.

With so much going on lately, I hadn’t been paying attention to Wanda.

Last time I checked, my relationship level with Wanda was a whopping ’8’.

Wanda had agreed with Tony’s opinion, but it seemed she had stayed behind because of me.

I was a bit surprised that Bruce knew about it too.

’Did they play truth or dare while drinking or something? Why do other people know about this?’

While I was wondering about that, we decided to take a break from hunting Hydra and focus on personal maintenance.

The atmosphere was a bit down, so when I suggested it, everyone agreed.

Vulture, who hadn’t been able to see his family because of Hydra for a while, went straight home, and the other members rested while maintaining their equipment and such.

I focused on helping Bruce with the Hulk Strike Mark 2.

It was almost complete, so it seemed it would be finished soon.

The Mark 2 we were building this time was heavily focused on defense, using Chitauri alloy and accumulated know-how from Tony to achieve considerable durability.

"It’s almost complete. What are you going to do with the Mark 1?"

"I don’t know... Should I just display it here? Like Tony does."

"Really? That’s not a bad idea. Let’s do that."

As for the Wanda issue, no matter how much I thought about it, there didn’t seem to be a good solution.

’This is tricky... I can’t just keep putting it off either...’

Such matters varied depending on the woman and the world.

Depending on the world, some places would understand and look past having multiple women, while others would absolutely not tolerate it.

Marvel, especially given Natasha’s personality and the moral standards, wasn’t a good fit.

Moreover, as heroes, they had to maintain proper conduct.

So I told Natasha I needed to consult with her about Wanda’s costume issue, and then I called Wanda out to talk while taking a car ride to the mansion.

"There’s nothing wrong with your current costume, and we still have plenty of spare ones. Is there really a need to make a new one?"

"I said it was about the costume on the surface, but that’s not why I called you out. You seemed to have a lot on your mind, so I wanted to talk. Also, I’m curious why you stayed even though you agreed with Tony and Pietro."

"Th, that’s..."

When I asked that, Wanda was very flustered and couldn’t speak properly.

"Is there something bothering you?"

"Well... with the Hydra issue lately... and the team being split, I’ve been really worried..."

Stammering and making excuses, it seemed Wanda wasn’t yet ready to reveal her true feelings to me.

"Hmm... I don’t think that’s it, but okay. If you ever need help, just tell me anytime."

"Ah, okay. But... since we’re out anyway, how about we grab something to eat before heading back?"

"Really? Okay. What do you want to eat?"

When I asked that, Wanda’s face lit up.

"I don’t know? I’ve wanted to eat at a nice restaurant for a while... but you have to make reservations, so maybe not?"

"Hold on."

I immediately called my secretary and asked them to book a restaurant.

In a world where money can do almost anything, a reservation was made quickly.

"So, there was this gold digger who latched onto Pietro once... it was a real hassle getting rid of her... and then another time, I went shopping for clothes..."

Wanda chatted happily as she ate, telling me about various things that had happened.

I listened and responded, enjoying the conversation, and then dropped her off at the base.

Wanda looked incredibly happy today, which made me feel good, but at the same time, it left me with a slightly bitter aftertaste.