The storm raged over New York.
Rain pelted the streets in sheets, like shattered glass against the skyline. The bright lights of the city blurred behind a curtain of downpour, transforming everything into a watercolor of chaos.
Footsteps splattered through puddles. Dozens no, hundreds of Hydra operatives dropped from armored vehicles, hitting the pavement like trained killers on a mission.
Each squad was led by an elite soldier wielding oversized weapons gear no ordinary man could even lift.
"Squad One approaching the objective."
"Squad Three in position."
One by one, the units reported in.
But something was off.
As Squad Five approached Oscorp's front gate, they found it... open.
No guards. No sentries. No resistance.
It stood wide and welcoming, like the gaping mouth of a beast eager to swallow its prey.
The squad leader, half his face covered by a tactical mask, hair frizzed and wild like a storm-soaked mop, spoke into his comm with a rasp.
"Front gate wide open. No resistance. Requesting clearance to enter through the main access point."
"Negative," a cold voice snapped back. "That's a trap. Find another way in."
"Remember," the voice growled, "we want him alive. He's too valuable to waste. Bring him back no matter what it takes."
The squad leader, the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, gritted his teeth.
The last time he met Nolan, he'd taken a direct hit from twin grenades and several rounds to the chest. If not for Hydra's experimental exo-skeletal rebuild, he'd be dead.
Now, he survived off batteries and motor oil.
And he wanted payback.
The teams flanked the perimeter, heading for the high walls surrounding Oscorp. Grapples fired. Metal claws dug into reinforced concrete. They scaled like insects swarming a fortress.
From a rooftop nearby, Steve Rogers watched through binoculars as the Hydra squads spread out.
"The main entrance is wide open," he muttered. "Why aren't they using it?"
Clint raised an eyebrow. "They've clearly got the manpower. Why the detour?"
Natasha crossed her arms. "Because it's a trap."
Steve turned. "How do you know?"
"I've studied Oscorp's internal systems. And trust me Nolan is the kind of man who plans for overthinking."
Steve narrowed his eyes but nodded. "Fine. We flank."
He didn't ask further. Not now.
Inside the lab, Nolan was still adjusting to the sheer torrent of sensory data flooding his brain.
He could feel everything see through sound, smell individual chemicals in the air, hear footsteps a dozen stories above him.
He felt them avoiding the front door just as he expected.
"Old tricks still work, even on new enemies."
He had left the front gate wide open. Unlocked. No traps. No guards. An invitation.
And they'd taken the bait avoiding it, just as he hoped.
He glanced at his monitors. Real-time sensory modeling painted vivid, dynamic models of everyone approaching Oscorp.
Two signatures stood out.
"Bucky... still alive?" he muttered. "I thought I turned you into scrap metal."
He leaned closer to the screen. "And you... Natasha."
That Slavic scent profile still burned into his memory.
"Light up the walls."
Norman didn't hesitate. He flipped a switch.
Bolts of electricity danced across the outer walls, not the usual perimeter fence, but the walls themselves, now charged with enough voltage to cook a rhino.
It was one of Nolan's personal designs, anticipating infiltrators who might bypass traditional defense systems.
Explosions rocked the perimeter as bodies burst into flame mid-ascent. Smoking corpses tumbled to the wet pavement.
From a distance, Steve's eyes widened. "What the hell...?"
Clint winced. "I think they just tripped something."
Natasha cursed under her breath. "It's him. It's definitely him."
"He played them," Steve muttered. "He wanted them to avoid the main entrance."
Clint looked at her. "That guy's this calculated?"
Natasha didn't answer. She already knew the answer.
"Sir! We can't breach the wall!" one Hydra squad leader shouted over the comms.
Bucky's voice snapped back: "Fine. Send a team through the front. Test it."
With the rain hammering down and their infrared scopes malfunctioning from interference, they had no choice but to follow orders.
A small unit pushed through the open gate.
"Clear. The front entrance is safe!"
From a mobile command van miles away, Baron Strucker's fist slammed the console.
"That son of a bitch!"
"He baited us. He knew we'd avoid the front. The wall was the real trap!"
"Send everyone through the gate. Now! I don't care if you have to blow the building apart!"
Troops began flooding through the Oscorp lobby like a wave.
On a rooftop nearby, Steve tapped into S.H.I.E.L.D. comms.
"Fury, give me a visual inside Oscorp."
"No good," Fury barked. "Signal's dead. They've got blackout shielding like Stark Tower."
Steve's brow furrowed. "Why would Oscorp need tech like that?"
Fury scanned the files again.
"Oh hell... It's him."
Steve blinked. "Who the hell is Nolan?"
Clint looked between them. "Someone wants to clue me in?"
Fury's voice darkened.
"He's the one who developed the Phoenix serum. The one who cracked gene editing like it was kindergarten math. The one Hydra's hunting."
"And he's sitting at the heart of Oscorp."
Steve's expression darkened. "You're telling me Hydra's entire operation is centered around one guy?"
"Yeah. And that guy just turned the whole damn city into a science experiment."
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