Chapter 148: Hail Hydra
Hearing the sound, Emma quietly slipped into the soldiers’ room and found only two men inside. One of them had just finished saying the words she heard.
"Don’t be caught," one of the men said quietly.
The other simply nodded before leaving the room.
Emma narrowed her eyes.
"Those two... are Hydra?"
She carefully memorized both of their faces before following them.
"How did Hydra manage to infiltrate Camp Lehigh? Are they connected to Mercer? Are they helping him?" Seeing Hydra inside the camp only made Emma even more suspicious.
She followed the two men from a distance, expecting them to secretly meet someone or do something suspicious.
But nothing happened.
They greeted other soldiers, carried supplies, and spoke with officers just like everyone else. Their behavior looked completely normal.
"Did I hear wrong?" Emma wondered.
As she continued watching, she noticed one of the Hydra agents repeatedly glancing toward the training grounds where Steve Rogers and the other recruits were training.
"He’s been watching Steve’s group for a while now..."
A few minutes later, the same man casually walked over and exchanged a few words with one of Steve’s fellow recruits before leaving again.
The conversation was short and looked completely ordinary. From where Emma was watching, it could have been nothing more than two soldiers chatting.
"Is that recruit one of them too... or am I just overthinking this?" Emma wondered.
She continued observing, but neither of them did anything suspicious.
If she hadn’t heard the words "Hail Hydra," she would’ve never believed either of them was a spy.
Seeing the sky gradually darken, Emma finally remembered that Morgan was still waiting outside. Realizing how much time had passed, she quickly flew back.
"Sorry, Morgan. I’m late," Emma apologized as she canceled her transformation.
Morgan stood there with her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. She gave Emma an unamused look.
"What were you doing in there all this time? I was starting to think they’d kidnapped you," Morgan said dryly.
Emma scratched the back of her head with an awkward smile.
"Sorry, sorry. Let’s just cancel that bet. It’s void now. You don’t have to do anything for me, okay?"
Morgan stared at her for another second before letting out a small sigh.
"Fine. Apology accepted. Since I got to watch some entertainment while I waited, I’ll let it slide."
"Entertainment? Were you watching a movie or something? Do you know how hard I was working in there trying to find any clue about Mercer?" Emma complained, lightly grabbing Morgan by the shoulders and giving her a small shake.
Morgan simply brushed Emma’s hands away.
"Enough. Did you find anything? I had my nanobots searching the camp and the surrounding area, but I couldn’t find Mercer there "
Emma shook her head.
"No. He wasn’t there. Looks like after his little accident yesterday, he decided to take the day off. He wasn’t even in his quarters. I couldn’t find him there either." She paused before adding, "But I did learn a few useful things."
Emma then told Morgan everything she had heard from Howard about Mercer’s research into slowing aging, along with the Hydra spies she had discovered.
Morgan thought quietly for a moment before nodding.
"Okay. We know more than we did before. And as for Hydra..." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Let’s add them to the suspect list."
"So what ’entertainment’ were you watching?" Emma asked, curious, knowing Morgan clearly wasn’t talking about an actual movie.
"Here, look." Morgan pulled up a video recording using Friday.
The footage showed the soldiers training, with Steve front and center, coming in dead last at everything as usual.
"There’s nothing new here. I was there watching that too," Emma said.
"Just keep watching," Morgan replied.
Soon the scene changed to Steve using his head instead of his strength, cleverly grabbing the flag and winning the bet with the instructor to earn himself a ride in the vehicle.
Emma suddenly blinked.
"Wait... that guy."
Morgan paused the recording.
One of the Hydra spies Emma had been following earlier could be seen saying something to one of Steve’s fellow recruits. Moments later, the recruit stepped forward and tried to provoke Steve.
Instead of taking the bait, Steve ignored him, and the instructor immediately punished the recruit by ordering him to run laps.
Emma frowned.
"I didn’t see that part. I arrived later."
She looked at the paused image of the Hydra spy.
"It could be nothing... but I have a feeling he was trying to stir up trouble around Steve."
Morgan looked at the screen for a few seconds.
"Maybe. Or maybe we’re reading too much into it."
Emma nodded.
"Either way, let’s keep an eye on them."
"Okay." Morgan nodded.
Tiny insect-shaped nanobots, each no larger than an ordinary fly or beetle, separated from the surface of her suit before quietly taking to the air. Some landed on nearby trees, others slipped onto military trucks, while a few flew directly into the camp, blending in perfectly with the real insects around them.
Through Friday, every nanobot continuously transmitted its camera feed and audio back to Morgan in real time.
"Show me the two Hydra spies," Morgan said.
Emma quietly pointed them out from a distance before pointing toward one of Steve’s fellow recruits.
"And keep an eye on that soldier too. I don’t know if he’s connected to Hydra, but after watching your recording, I have a feeling the Hydra spy was trying to stir up trouble through him. It might just be a coincidence... but I don’t want to ignore it."
Morgan nodded.
"Got it."
With a few commands, the tiny nanobots split into three groups. One group silently followed each of the two Hydra agents, while the third stayed close to the recruit from Steve’s unit. They flew overhead, occasionally landing on walls, rooftops, military trucks, or even blending in with swarms of real insects whenever their targets stopped moving. To everyone else, they looked no different from ordinary flies and beetles wandering around the camp.
"As for Mercer," Morgan continued, "we have to be more careful. We don’t know if he has some gadget that could detect our surveillance, or what kind of technology he’s working with. Until we know more, I don’t want to risk exposing ourselves."
"Morgan, if you ask me, we should just wait until he’s alone, transform, and beat him before he even gets the chance to use whatever trick he’s hiding. Why are we dragging this out?" Emma asked, sounding far more confident than cautious.
"Emma, don’t make that mistake again. How many times have you gone one-on-one with an enemy without knowing their trump card, only for me, or your family, to have to step in and fix it? This time we don’t have that luxury. We know he has a teleportation device. If we fail to capture him, he’ll escape, and we have no idea what he will do once he’s hiding in the dark. Don’t forget what Uncle Jack always taught us: plan carefully, strike hard, and leave the enemy no chance to come back," Morgan said seriously.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Don’t lecture me again," Emma said as she walked off.
Morgan knew Emma didn’t really take it to heart, but she didn’t have much room to argue either. She had pulled plenty of reckless stunts alongside her before too.
As the two of them left, the tiny insect-shaped nanobots continued their silent surveillance, blending in with the countless insects around Camp Lehigh as they watched their three targets without being noticed.
Somewhere in the darkness... one of them was about to make a move.
Author Note:
Hey guys! 😁
I know some of you aren’t enjoying the time-travel arc, and I’ve also seen comments about the story feeling a little slow lately. I understand where you’re coming from. 😅
This arc is an important part of the story because there are still many mysteries about the past, including what happened before and how the Plumber organization was created. So this part of the story will be a little longer, and I don’t want to skip it completely just to get back to the main timeline.
That said, I also don’t want to drag it out unnecessarily. I’ve already started writing Jack’s story in the main timeline, so please be a little patient. I know many of you are mainly waiting to see Jack’s story continue, and Emma and Morgan’s part won’t take too long after that.
And once this time-travel arc is finished, I promise there won’t be another past or future arc like this one. From there, the main timeline will continue moving forward.
As for the slow-burn style, that’s simply how I like to write my story, but I know some readers prefer a faster pace, so I’m also trying to improve that. There are a few things happening in this arc that will become important later, so please stick with it. We’re getting closer to moving forward. 😁
For those who aren’t enjoying this arc, thank you for being patient with me. And for those who are enjoying it, I really appreciate you sticking with the story! ❤️