[Comprehensive British and American] Space Patrolman Hydra

"......sorry."

Hydera, who completely forgot about this, said with some embarrassment: "You guys find a place to rest first... It may take a while to recover."

She patted her stiff face from embarrassment, adjusted her expression, and faced the man in black who had been ignored by them for a long time.

And those two men in black robes who looked like mummified corpses unexpectedly did not take the opportunity to act.Instead, he stood quietly in place, staring at Hydera with eyes that could not be covered by the shrunken eyelids on his completely shriveled face, which was huge and empty, cloudy and dull.

"Have you seen what you look like now?"

Hydera asked suddenly.

"You are like two mummy now."

"..."

The man in black was motionless, as silent as two statues.

"Can't talk? Has your tongue been eaten?"

Hydera's tone was tinged with pity.

"What happened to them?"

Charles Lester, who put on his tactical glasses and switched to the strong light filter mode, was finally able to barely open his eyes—even though the tears were still dripping out.When he saw the whole picture of the man in black, he suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air.

"...Is this still human?"

The green-eyed agent hesitated and asked softly.

"It's barely worth it."

Hydera stared at the strange surge under the wrinkled human skin.

"See? Something wriggling under this skin?"

Charles Lester ventured into some, and looked intently.

"...Is this fucking alien?"

He shivered suddenly and got goosebumps all over his body.

"almost."

Hydra said.

"Those things you see snaking under his skin, are Vashta Nerada."

Charles Lester froze.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been wondering..." Hydera said: "Vashta Nerada are microorganisms that live in groups. They breed by laying eggs on trees, so they usually live in the forest and cling to the dark. .It will not appear in the Iron City at all."

"How can there be a forest here? There isn't even a single grass."

Tony Stark barely opened his eyes and looked at the two silent men in black robes.

"Actually, there are..."

The blonde girl closed her eyes lightly, and her voice sounded like a soft sigh.

"These people of Celebes are the 'forest' of VashtaNerada."

On the exposed arm of the black-robed man, there was a tattoo of "Ivory Gate".

She finally understood why humans could drive these airborne piranhas.

Thousands of VashtaNerada, perhaps from the time when they were like tiny spores, were captured, immobilized, and bred in the bodies of the people of Celephas.The forest that feeds these piranhas with human bodies.

...and food.

"The name 'VashtaNerada', literally means 'shadow that melts flesh'..."

Hydera took out a cane from the ripples in the air, and gently poked the black-robed man's body with the front end.

— Immediately collapsed into a void.

"They've been melted."

Hydra said.

Charles Lester immediately showed an unbearable expression, endured the nausea churning in his stomach, and took a step back.

"... Are the people of Celephis crazy?"

Tony Stark was completely shocked by the weird, crazy, terrifying and twisted products in front of him, and couldn't help but let out a "hiss" breath.

"Using humans as sacrifices to raise VashtaNerada?"

"I have to say that human beings are always beyond my expectations. Whenever I feel that I know enough about this race, you can surprise me again and again."

Hydera looked at the chest that had collapsed and could not be recovered at all, and stated.

"The most kitsch and craziest things I've ever seen have been done by humans. No creature can do more harm to yourself and your fellow man than you do."

"..."

Tony Stark can't argue with that at all.

"......and many more."

Charles Lester covered his mouth, trying his best to suppress the nausea mixed with kindness, sympathy and shock and disgust, from the stomach to the throat, and said weakly.

"They've all been eaten to the point of leaving only a layer of skin, why are they still chasing us?"

"parasitic."

Hydera said: "Do you think they died like this?"

"Are they still alive?!"

"The people of Celephis and VashtaNerada have probably reached a parasitic relationship with completely slanted interests. The parasitized person supplies his body to the group of piranhas to eat, and VashtaNerada also supports the life of the parasitized person in some way. Sustain the system. If they died completely, VashtaNerada would have given up this useless pair of food long ago."

Hydra to the Incredible Inventor.

"Didn't you say that you felt the cold on your back? It means that they are still breathing. As for whether they are alive now..."

Hydera paused, and still used his cane to pick up the black robe.

"vomit--!!!"

It was Charles Lester.

They are still very young, and the moral persistence of ordinary people has not been wiped out by the spy career. The young people who still have simplicity, kindness and childish justice can only take a glance, and can't stand it anymore, and run to the side to vomit.

Perhaps because of the extra cover of the black robe, Vashta Nerada didn't even spare the skin tissue.

"Do you think...is this alive?"

Hydera stared at the heart beating hard in the bones and black mist, and turned to ask Tony Stark.

The great inventor's face was very ugly.

Hydera does not necessarily need an answer from a great inventor.She retracted her cane, and the black robe that had been lifted fell down like the last fig leaf, covering the empty chest and the heart that was struggling to continue.

"What are you trying to do with us?"

Hydera and the mummy-like man in black looked at each other with empty eyes.

"Intimidate us all the way, drive VashtaNerada to chase us, but don't really shoot. Even if they just closed their eyes and couldn't resist, and I stood in front of you, you didn't act...why?"

Goldilocks' finale dissipated into the air.

Still no response, the two men in black just stood silently in front of Hydera, but opened their mouths.

"That's it...it's true that there's not even a tongue left."

Hydera looked at the empty mouth and nodded clearly.

"But it's your own choice, right? VashtaNerada are sensitive creatures, and if you harbor ill will toward them, they won't take your life. Since you're in a state where you can't even speak, half dead, you don't regret it , then what else do you want to tell me?"

The black robe trembled, and the dry and loose arms slowly stretched out, facing the direction of Hydera, and stopped in front of the blonde girl, not moving.

"—Don't hold it." Tony Stark said immediately: "Stay away from them, they still have Vashta Nerada on them."

But the great inventor's warning came too late.

Hydera has already grabbed the hand with only skin and bones left, closed his eyes, and opened the mind fusion.

In an instant, countless memory fragments and emotions surged to Hydera: crowded venues, excited speakers, the gate of ivory, the oath of Celephis, tattoos, prayers, abandonment, sacrifices, the great future, the vast forest, Abnormal shadows, slit wrists, black shadows pour in, pain, joy, pain, pain pain pain pain—

The hand with only skin and bones suddenly grasped Hydera's hand tightly.

--pain.

These two people were already dead. When the piranhas frantically tore their internal organs, they died of severe pain.

But VashtaNerada still sustains the last pulse of life, fixing the heart and brain to the last moment of eternity.

So the last moment of life was infinitely extended. At that moment, there was no thinking, no missing, no retreat, and there was only——

"......It hurts."

Hydera said softly.

From the moment before death until now, they have been repeating the pain of death.And their bodies, no flesh, no nerves, every inch of skin and every inch of bone left is still screaming miserably——

—stop it.

"......I see."

Hydera opened her eyes, and those chaotic screams disappeared immediately.

"Since that's all it is, I'll satisfy you."

After getting the promise, the arm finally loosened slowly, and it fell to the side as if it could no longer mobilize its strength, as if it had completed a heavy call for help that bet on the soul.

"what happened?"

Tony Stark turned around anxiously, wanting to get closer but afraid of messing up, so he paced back and forth.Asked immediately when Hydera opened his eyes.

"What satisfy him?"

"No matter who they were or what they did, all they want now is rest in peace."

Hydera let out a long breath slowly.

"They should have died long ago. But VashtaNerada fixed their state so that they kept repeating the second before they died..."

"The second before death?"

Charles Lesta, pale with vomiting, repeated.

"They keep repeating the moment of death, even the fear and pain?"

Hydra nodded.

"They want the pain to stop and I want to satisfy them."

The blonde girl took a deep breath, bypassed the man in black, and walked towards the main control room, which was already close at hand.

"Besides them, there are three other members of Celephis on board. These Celephaes in black robes are all..."

Hydera's brows and eyes are full of shadows.

"...you should be punished."

The man in black turned around, but this time he didn't catch up again.Instead, he stood still and silently watched Hydera go away.

After a while, the radio sounded in the corridor.

"Check..."

Steve Rogers stopped abruptly and turned up the volume on the communicator.

"Checkcheck—this is the main control room, can you hear me?"

Grant Bartuk leaned on the console of the energy room and said lazily, "Energy Room A, received."

"Energy Room B, received." Steve Rogers said.

"Data storage center, received."

"Weapon room, received."

Hydera focused on the map displayed on the screen and the positioning of personnel, and naturally put his hand on Grant Batuk's team, which lacked a red dot, said.

"Very good. This is the main control room, and now we will issue operational instructions—"