Chapter 48: The Sky Hunter

Above the Alps, under the fierce midday sunlight, the massive transport aircraft steadily climbed, its engines humming as it broke through the clouds, quickly reaching an altitude of over a thousand meters. It pressed onward, heading toward the city of New York, beginning its crossing over the Atlantic Ocean.

At that moment, near the rear wheels of the transport aircraft, Kyle clung with one hand to a sodium-carbon steel sword fixed into the landing gear, while his other hand gripped Steve tightly. The two hung together, suspended beneath the belly of the aircraft.

“Kyle, are you alright?” Steve shouted, his voice barely audible against the roaring wind at such heights.

“I’m fine, but you really should lose some weight,” Kyle retorted, exerting strength with one hand to hoist Steve upward onto the landing gear. Once Steve secured his grip, Kyle planted his feet firmly on the wheel.

Beneath their feet lay the dizzying expanse of the ever-climbing sky, enough to make anyone’s heart race.

“I know the basic structure of this transport plane. Follow me,” Steve beckoned, taking the lead as he began to climb upward.

Kyle, relying on his sodium-carbon steel sword to dig into the frame for support and safety, followed closely behind. Both, as super soldiers, moved with extraordinary agility, scaling the landing gear of the moving aircraft with remarkable ease. Soon, they reached the underside of the rear compartment, opened the safety hatch from below, and slipped into the interior of the transport aircraft.

The rear compartment was spacious, filled with technological equipment and bathed in soft lighting that ensured clear visibility.

“Kyle, look—” Steve’s face grew stern as he lowered his voice, signaling toward a corner of the compartment.

Following Steve’s gaze, Kyle saw two unusual single-seater aircraft parked in the rear hold. Smaller than typical combat planes, their flattened oval shape was painted a deep green. Strangely, they bore no visible gun ports or armaments; only the lower half of the fuselage was three times larger than the upper.

There was no need to guess—the identification information from his item card quickly appeared.

[Nuclear Bomb Aircraft]: A single-seater aircraft carrying nuclear energy bombs, capable of destroying a large city with its payload. Blue rare item card.

Current status: cannot be extracted. One-time use item.

Kyle’s heart trembled. He finally understood why Red Skull was so confident he could devastate the entire west coast of the United States.

Two nuclear bomb aircraft—if allowed to enter American territory, not even the mightiest superpower could withstand the destruction.

“Steve, find the release mechanism for the rear compartment and drop these planes into the ocean,” Kyle said decisively. At this point, the transport aircraft had likely reached the skies over the Atlantic.

If Red Skull succeeded in delivering the nuclear bomb aircraft to New York, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Steve understood and nodded. Just then, a squad of Hydra guards rushed into the rear compartment.

“We’ve been discovered?” Kyle raised his eyes coldly, gripping his sodium-carbon steel sword as he stepped forward. He called out, “Hurry, I’ll hold them off.”

“Enemy attack! Open fire!” The guards, seeing Kyle charging, quickly fired their energy weapons.

In an instant, the rear compartment blazed with blinding blue laser beams.

“These fools—” Kyle frowned. He wasn’t afraid of the lasers themselves, but of the chaos they might cause, accidentally triggering an explosion from the nuclear bomb aircraft behind him.

I’m not going down with you cannon fodder!

“Die!” Kyle’s handsome face grew colder as he hurled his sodium-carbon steel sword, pinning the fiercest guard leader to the metal wall of the compartment.

Faced with such a dire threat, Kyle didn’t dodge. Instead, he raised his right arm, protected by a vibranium bracer, and deflected the incoming energy blasts, ensuring none struck the nuclear aircraft behind him.

“Kyle, catch!” Steve, sensing Kyle’s predicament, shouted as he tossed the Adamantium Shield toward him.

Kyle leaped forward, snatching the round shield and raising it before him, blocking the dense laser fire as he charged right up to a guard.

The guard, terrified, raised his energy weapon, but Kyle covered the muzzle with his right palm. The laser struck the vibranium bracer and rebounded, instantly vaporizing both the weapon and the guard’s arm.

“All done!” Steve’s voice rang out. He pressed the controls, opening the compartment holding one of the nuclear bomb aircraft, dropping it into the ocean thousands of meters below.

The open hatch caused air to rush out, pulling several guards toward the opening.

Kyle smiled devilishly, indifferent as he watched a guard kneel, wailing over his severed arm. He lifted the man like a chick and tossed him out of the aircraft.

Next, all remaining guards who tried to resist were thrown out one by one by Kyle and Steve, as if they were cargo, plummeting from the sky.

“Kyle!” Steve suddenly shouted. Unbeknownst to them, a guard had reached the second nuclear bomb aircraft, climbed into the cockpit, and activated it.

The two were too late to stop him; the second aircraft dropped away.

“We can’t let him escape!” Steve prepared to leap after him, but Kyle stopped him, dragging him back as they watched the guard fly off in the nuclear bomb aircraft.

“Don’t worry—he won’t get far,” Kyle said confidently, calmly gazing into the vast blue sky beyond the hatch.

As if to confirm his words, beyond the rear compartment in the high-altitude sky, a massive blue eagle tore through the clouds, trailing a wake of turbulent air as it swiftly pursued the departing aircraft.

“So, you called Blue Eagle here,” Steve said, watching the distant figure with relief.

“This is the final battle for the European theater—there’s no room for mistakes.” Kyle shrugged, tossing the shield back to Steve and retrieving his sword, wiping the blood from its blade on a guard’s uniform.

“All that’s left is Hydra’s final leader,” Steve said, taking a deep breath. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Kyle, he steeled himself and set his gaze upon the cockpit door of the transport aircraft.