CHAPTER - 8 { HYDRA Base Part-1 }

Inside the black Chevrolet Tahoe, Creed leaned back and crossed his legs for a more comfortable sitting position.

On the front passenger seat, the woman sat with a smile on her face. While on the driver's seat, the eye-patched man was grumpy and slightly angry.

"Oh, come on. You were just knocked out, boss. There's no need for a grudge towards him."

"Romanoff, do you have any idea how he slapped me? I was knocked out for two hours! Not a few minutes but hours! Hell, I don't even remember what actually happened."

The man said in frustration and rage. He glared behind at Creed, almost wanting to rip him apart and bathe with his blood.

"It's your fault. You said you would come alone. You brought him, he is lucky I didn't cut off his head immediately."

Creed stared straight back at the man, his mask hid the plain expression he had on his face which could have enraged the man even more.

The woman, Natasha Romanoff, sighed and patted the man on his shoulder. She introduced herself and the man.

"Forget about what already happened. Now can we talk about business?"

"Speak."

With Creed's affirmation, Natasha opened a map hologram with a very familiar marking in one of the islands.

"This you see, it's one of the last remaining Hydra bases. We as S.H.I.E.L.D., have the responsibility to annihilate him. What you have to do is stick with me and help me plant bombs inside that base. Then get me out of there safely and done. No complications."

"Hydra?"

"Yup. Hydra."

Natasha nodded. Creed took in a calming breath and pondered whether it was worth the two million dollars.

He had a 100% completion success rate in every mission, but of course he wasn't stupidly arrogant about it.

The first thing about taking a deal was understanding the difficulty and knowing whether you had the ability to finish it.

If Creed took every deal as a hitman in his life, he might have died a long time ago. Killed by a thousand people in a building with no escapes.

"I need more details about that base. If possible the base diagram would help."

"We have that."

Natasha pulled out a sheet of paper with the Hydra base diagram in it.

The base in the small island was actually a 1933 underground bomb bunker, with limited space inside. There were six floors, each floor had at least seven rooms.

The control room was on the fifth floor, and should be heavily guarded like the entrance of the base.

"I have been to these kinds of bunkers, they have a lockdown system in them. If it's activated, we will be stuck there forever."

Creed said honestly, he has been to two of such bunkers and once nearly got stuck due to the super tight lockdown system in them.

"That's why we need to go silently, and then take over the control room."

"The word you used, 'silently'. That's not going to happen. The entrance is definitely guarded by at least ten soldiers. Let's not talk about guns, they have communication devices. Once they alerted the entire base, we won't have another chance."

"There's no other way. You have to try."

The man, Nick Fury or as Natasha introduced him, said firmly. The reason why she didn't use fake names was because it was useless, Creed could find their real identity in a few hours. And they were aware of it.

Natasha sighed and the car turned quiet. Creed easily guessed that the base contained important things for them to not destroy it.

And they had no choice either. Creed raced his brain and formulated another plan for them.

"We used gas, there should be air circulation for this base."

"Do you think we haven't thought about it? Those people will have enough time to deal with the gas."

"Who says we use gas to deal with them? Gas is just a distraction, once the gas finishes the guards in the entrance we go in."

Creed patiently explained his plan. But they obviously had questions in their mind.

"What's the difference? Won't they be altered anyways?"

Natasha asked. Fury crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Creed to answer the question.

"I am not an idiot. Your plan, we will have to fight from the very start. In my plan, we will have reached at least two floors below before they discover us."

"Good plan."

Fury muttered. Natasha acted as if she was pondering about his plan but she clearly approved of it.

"Now, what guns can you provide?"

"As many as you need."

Fury answered Creed nonchalantly. The three talked and discussed further about the plan and finally came into an agreement.

"The story about Blood River, is it true? You killed a hundred men with just blades in a room?"

Unable to hold it any longer, Fury asked Creed. Curiosity was the biggest enemy of a cat. In this case, a human.

Creed quietly stared at Fury, the atmosphere in the car turned frightful and tensed. Natasha coughed and gave a laugh to disturb.

"Hey, we are a team! Why so serious?"

She smiled at Creed and elbowed Fury. She could already imagine Creed killing Fury in a single swipe and injuring her severely while she tried to escape.

She heard too many stories about the Hitman, At Top. Most were about how he just kills and keeps on killing until no one remains standing.

Creed shook his head, then opened the car door to get out. Fury took a deep breath to calm his Rising blood pressure but Creed suddenly stopped his movement and brought his face near him.

"Not a hundred, only twenty-three."

Saying so, Creed left the car and rode his bike which was stolen from whoever the owner was in a dark street.

"Boss, I think he likes you."

Natasha muttered with a laugh. Fury grunted and glared at her.

"Likes? He was ready to kill me the whole time. My senses were screaming at me to leave the car and detonate it immediately."

"Why? What about me? I am also in the car."

"I will tell everyone you died as a soldier."

"Meanie."

* * *

ZROOM!

Creed sped up the bike on the main road, overtaking cars. It has been years since he last visited LA.

He had two days to prepare for the mission, and only one day was enough. So for the extra day, he could enjoy it.

"Where is the casino?"

After searching for a few minutes, he came across a famous casino in LA.

His limit was a million dollars so he could play until the next morning without any worry.

Or so he thought, once he started playing. He learned gambling was very addictive.

From small to big, he spent money like never before. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost. But it was worth it for him.

Then he went to a massage shop and got a full body massage by the best woman in there. Her soft hands caressed his tough armor like skin gently.

He fell asleep then and there.

By the time he woke up, he couldn't remember the pain in his body. He felt weightless and better.

The next day came too soon for him to enjoy his life and relax. But work was work, he began his preparation and packed his belongings.