With the energy shield around the castle disabled, the tide of battle quickly turned in favor of the Avengers.
HYDRA, now stripped of its final defensive stronghold, had no backup plan. Its defeat was inevitable.
Baron Strucker's painstaking efforts and resources poured into the Mind Scepter Human Enhancement Project had barely yielded two enhanced individuals, and yet they had both been swiftly taken down by Flashblade in their very first real combat.
Even the Baron's prized AI-driven mech soldiers had been reduced to scrap by Kagura and Cortana in the courtyard was being mowed down like weeds, without even putting up a decent fight.
Looking at the battlefield, Baron Strucker felt a pang of deep regret, how could he have placed his hopes in such utterly useless machines? It was pure folly.
Now that his final trump cards had been countered, and with HYDRA's last line of defense—the energy shield—torn down.
All that remained was for the Avengers to deliver their righteous judgment upon this ancient and evil organization.
"Well done, Hitomi! I owe you unlimited cheeseburgers after this!"
Tony Stark charged forward, weapon compartments opening across the back of his Mark 43 suit, and unleashed a barrage of missiles into the remnants of the HYDRA forces entrenched in the castle.
Explosions lit up the scene.
"Flatten it, right?"
He arced through the air and landed beside Kagura. "Oh? Looks like you've made a new friend?"
"I'm Cortana, Mr. Stark," Cortana said, bowing with a graceful poise befitting a refined maid. "Just a few minor upgrades, nothing too dramatic."
"Wow!" Tony's eyes sparkled with excitement as he took in the sight of her.
"Kagura, did you just build an actual body for your AI? That's… that's insane—in the best possible way!"
"Hehe~" Kagura stuck out her tongue. "I just borrowed a bit of inspiration from the Iron Legion's design and made myself a maid who can cook and clean. That's all."
Of course, she had no intention of telling Tony that Cortana's body housed tech even Stark's suits couldn't match.
Nor did she mention that it was enhanced with Asgardian technology, Dark Elf dark matter systems, and even components derived from the Soul Stone itself—something far beyond what existed in this world.
"Looks amazing. Maybe it's time to get J.A.R.V.I.S. his own body too," Tony mused. "But right now, priority one is finding the Mind Scepter. Let's wrap this up and go home."
"Agreed. Based on our scans, the scepter should be in the underground facility beneath the main castle. Just head down from the central hall—you'll find it."
Kagura pointed toward the looming structure ahead.
"You go ahead, Mr. Stark. I'm a little drained—I'll rest here a bit. Cortana, share the interior blueprint with Mr. Stark."
"Command confirmed, Master. Data transfer complete." Cortana gave a polite bow.
"Good luck, Mr. Stark."
During the earlier battle, Kagura had nearly depleted her core energy reserves.
While she could use QP (Quick Points) to instantly recharge—essentially pay-to-win—there was no need to waste such valuable resources now that the battle was over.
Long fights really weren't kind to kids with limited battery life…
She definitely needed to come up with a better long-term charging solution.
With HYDRA's defense lines shattered and the Avengers now in full control of the castle, finding the Mind Scepter was only a matter of time.
Kagura sat down for a brief rest and began prepping for orbital bombardment.
"Cortana, once Stark finishes his sweep, unleash Heaven's Hammer and level this place."
"Understood, Master. Halo orbital platform is aligned. Heaven's Hammer is armed and ready."
Whatever historical value this ancient castle had didn't matter.
It had been converted into a HYDRA base—meaning it had to go.
The last thing Kagura wanted was for a rogue AI factory to start spitting out killer robots post-war.
"Stark, this is Steve Rogers. I'll go track down Baron Strucker. You and Kagura focus on retrieving the Mind Scepter. That should complete the mission."
"Natasha Romanoff here. Barton and I are heading to mop up the remaining HYDRA fire teams," came Black Widow's voice.
Kagura also chimed in over the comms, "There are two enhanced individuals in the castle, they've been neutralized."
"Pick them up when clearing the area. They don't seem like bad people—just misled by Strucker."
"Copy that, little one. I'll take care of it," said Steve Rogers reassuringly.
"Uh, hey…" Just as everyone was getting into position for their final tasks, a familiar voice crackled over the radio—Bruce Banner.
"Do I still need to go green?"
———————————————————————
Sokovia – HYDRA Castle Underground Facility
Tony Stark blasted through the last of the remaining HYDRA grunts and descended into the heart of the castle's underground research complex.
"Holy hell… this place is insane. It's like… a tech treasure vault!"
He stepped out of his Mark 43 suit, taking in the scale of Baron Strucker's automated manufacturing lab.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., sentry mode."
The suit folded back into its autonomous standby form, entering full surveillance mode.
This place was massive.
At the center of the factory was the hulking corpse of a Chitauri Leviathan, surrounded by scaffolding—clear evidence that HYDRA had been studying alien tech for quite some time.
Their reverse-engineering of Chitauri tech had come a long way.
No wonder other HYDRA cells, like the one under Alexander Pierce, had managed to repurpose mothership wreckage into their own spacefaring warships.
All around were fully automated assembly lines, building AI-controlled combat units.
Inside the tightly packed manufacturing pods, rows of partially completed android soldiers stood waiting.
They were the same models that had fought Kagura earlier—created using alien tech even Tony had never seen before.
Most likely offshoots of Chitauri engineering.
Thanks to Kagura's earlier cyber-infiltration, the entire production line had been shut down.
But emergency power was still active—the servers and systems were still running.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., copy all technical data here. And send a copy to Nick Fury."
"Sir, these units appear to be more advanced than the Iron Legion. I believe they may accelerate progress on the Ultron Initiative."
"That's what I was thinking."
Tony's gaze shifted to the center of the facility and his eyes landing on a glowing alien staff, suspended in a containment field.
The Mind Scepter.
The origin of much of HYDRA's new tech… and possibly the source of even greater danger yet to come.