Chapter 162: The Final Battle Against Hydra (Double-Length Episode)

Hearing the boss's command, Sitwell hurriedly asked, "Just Fury? He has cultivated many secret agents, not to mention the Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Coulson. As long as Fury dies, those people will definitely cause trouble!"

Pierce glanced at him: "Agent Sitwell, you have been asking too many questions lately."

Sitwell was startled.

It seemed... that was indeed the case?

As a senior agent with limited abilities, having climbed to his current position, Sitwell naturally knew what questions should be asked and when they could be asked.

He engaged in self-reflection, realizing that the recent chain of events had made him somewhat panicked and insufficiently composed.

Especially with Whitehall's incident, that faction had lost its Hydra leader, and many people had begun defecting to Pierce. That was when he saw an opportunity—an opportunity to solve problems for his boss—and thought that performing well would allow him to advance further, perhaps even becoming a Hydra leader.

A Hydra leader under the boss.

Now it seemed he had been a bit too eager.

"Minister, I'll go arrange it right now." Sitwell hurried away, closing the door behind him.

Confirming that Sitwell had left, Pierce twirled his fountain pen and dialed a number: "Garrett, how well is the San Juan military secured?"

A steady voice came over the line: "Fury still thinks the person who replaced Anton is his man, but it's actually ours! The San Juan military is ours now, though the newly built air force base is hard to penetrate. The base commander, 'Brigadier General Talbot,' is General Ross's man. He has never liked S.H.I.E.L.D., so our people have a hard time getting in."

"The Thunderbolt General is not as easy to deal with as Fury. Leave him be for now."

Pierce asked, "Has the troubleshooting for the missile system been completed?"

"Completed." Garrett's tone sounded somewhat odd: "No malfunctions."

No malfunctions?

Pierce was momentarily stunned.

Since there were no malfunctions, what was the deal with that missile the other day?

Never mind, now was not the time to consider that.

Pierce said in a deep voice: "Launch the missiles immediately and bombard the Azeroth Laboratory."

"It takes time to arrange, at most three hours. How many missiles should we launch?" Garrett asked.

"All of them." Pierce considered for a few seconds, then added, "Send someone to the Azeroth Specialty Store. That guy named 'Robbie' is very likely the Ghost Rider."

Garrett said, "Ghost Rider is not easy to deal with."

"But his younger brother is easy to deal with."

A cold sneer appeared at the corner of Pierce's mouth: "Control his younger brother, and you control the Ghost Rider!"

After a moment of silence, Garrett's voice came through: "I will handle this personally."

Hanging up the phone, Pierce's expression was gloomy.

The current Hydra was not the original Hydra; it was essentially a loose alliance composed of a large group of ambitious individuals. Not only did Sitwell have his own agenda, but Garrett did as well.

He was dying and wanted to extend his life. The Ghost Rider's immortal body held a great attraction for him.

It didn't matter.

No matter how powerful the Ghost Rider was, Pierce didn't care.

Compared to mythology and magic, he valued technology more and trusted technology more.

Thinking of this, Pierce dialed another number: "Where is Tony Stark right now?"

"Los Angeles, the 'City of Freedom' villa," came a deep, magnetic voice.

"Move immediately."

Pierce ordered: "Capture him, control him. Within ten hours, I want to see those steel armors."

"You will. Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra."

Having done all this, Pierce breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter how powerful the Immortal Fist was, it could not withstand a carpet bombing, especially with tactical missiles of enormous destructive power.

Ghost Rider was rumored to have an immortal body and could manipulate hellfire, but he had a fatal weakness—his younger brother, "Gabe," who was just an ordinary middle school student and could be handled by any random agent.

Tony Stark had eliminated quite a few terrorist cells recently and was called "Iron Man" by many. His armor technology was very advanced, and it used a miniaturized arc reactor for energy; these were things that must be acquired.

Tony couldn't wear the steel armor all the time, and as an ordinary human, he was equally easy to control.

As for the Black Widow, Hawkeye, Coulson, and the others, they were just small fries and not worth mentioning.

I know all your trump cards, and all your helpers are about to be finished. What do you have left to fight me with, Fury?

Pierce calmed his mind, feeling victory was already in his grasp.

He had never regarded Fury as a rival. That guy, who had been played around by him, was no different from a monkey in a circus.

His true rival was the entire world.

It was all the countries, politicians, ambitious individuals, and independent warlords in this world—it was everything.

Pierce walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the beautiful world.

This was a world jointly ruled by over 200 countries and thousands of ethnic groups. The fragmentation of political power brought about various problems, restricting technological development and human progress.

Terrorist activities occurred every day, crimes were committed every second, and the internal problems of the Earth were far too numerous. Evil and internal friction multiplied endlessly like cancer cells, placing the fragile Earth and human society in constant danger of destruction.

Not to mention the presence of so many aliens, such as the Skrulls and Kree, who were far more powerful than humans.

Any of them could destroy the entire human civilization by simply dispatching an insignificant assault team.

If humanity wanted to stand tall among the races of the universe, it had to be united and pull together in the same direction, so as to achieve technological progress at a faster pace and build a stronger, more beautiful society.

This necessitated a sufficiently powerful centralized rule, a ruler who was both strong and wise enough.

Hydra was such an organization.

And I, Pierce, am such a person.

"May the world be a better place."

Pierce took out a bottle of rum aged for over two hundred years and poured himself a glass.

He never felt that he was doing anything harmful to humanity.

Everything he did was to make the human world a better place.

This was his Hydra.

Although Whitehall was Red Skull's colleague, he only cared about those meaningless myths and legends. Despite living to such an advanced age, he only regressed as he aged.

While I, Pierce, am the true successor to Hydra's ideals.

The true ruler of Hydra.

He raised his glass and drank it in one gulp.

"Hail Hydra!"

……

……

Ever since he learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually a branch of Hydra, the One-Eyed Egg began to worry about his own safety.

The King of Agents was naturally far more cunning than anyone else, but the thought that he had played the role of a lone hero, unknowingly acting as an undercover agent inside Hydra for so many years while successfully cultivating a large group of loyal subordinates, left him simultaneously horrified, excited, and proud. He ate two extra tea eggs for breakfast.

During the past month, the One-Eyed Egg rarely went out, keeping himself under the protection of secret agents at all times, and had even specially upgraded his vehicle with more than a dozen additional functions.

Yet he knew very well that no amount of functions could stop Hydra's intent to kill; what was bound to come would come eventually.

He just didn't know which day it would be.

He hoped everything would be in time.

The modified Chevrolet Suburban sped through the downtown area, its black body as sleek, low-key, and luxurious as the man himself.

Suddenly, Fury realized something was wrong.

Washington's traffic was usually decent, but today there was a traffic jam.

He glanced around intentionally or unintentionally, noticing that some people seemed a bit off.

The middle-aged fat policeman in the passenger seat of the police car on the left had stared in his direction for about five seconds just now, then hurriedly looked away, appearing somewhat nervous.

A man and a woman in a private car on the right were passionately kissing in broad daylight, yet it was obviously unnatural, their movements somewhat stiff. Given the posture of a passionate French kiss, why weren't they using their tongues?

And even with things like this, why were their hands behaving so properly, failing to touch where they ought to be?

In a coffee shop fifty meters away, several people who looked quite normal were sitting with boxes and bags placed beside them that bulged rather strangely.

Most importantly, he had seen one of them before—in Whitehall's memories.

A Hydra agent!

The One-Eyed Egg suddenly felt a sense of fortune.

Thanks to Master Wang.

If it weren't for obtaining Whitehall's memories, thoroughly investigating all the Hydra undercover agents within them, and following the vine to unearth even more intelligence, he probably wouldn't have known until now that he had been targeted.

Placed on the death list.

"Pierce finally couldn't wait and is going to make a move?"

"Even though preparations aren't sufficient, there's no other way!"

The One-Eyed Egg sighed silently and said in a deep voice: "Initiate communication encryption protocol, connect to secure line 404."

"Confirmed." A pleasant male voice came through; it was the car's built-in AI, which, while no match for Tony's Jarvis, was still quite decent.

A very small screen appeared in the upper left corner of the front windshield, displaying a hot-figured female agent.

It was the Black Widow.

"I am Romanoff." The Black Widow's expression turned serious.

As a legendary agent, she had three communication lines with the Director:

One was the ordinary line, no different from those of other agents;

One was a dedicated line that only the Director could contact and was only used for certain special missions, such as investigating Master Wang;

The last one was a newly opened secure line of the highest level. To reduce the risk of exposure, it was normally never used. Using it meant they had reached the most critical moment, a matter of life and death.

"I want you to initiate 'Operation Snake-Catcher' immediately. We are in Deep Shadow state now," said the One-Eyed Egg.

Operation Snake-Catcher?

Deep Shadow state?

Was it time for a decisive battle with Hydra?

So sudden?

The Black Widow understood the implications of those words, was silent for two seconds, and said: "Sir, take care of yourself."

"No one can kill me."

The One-Eyed Egg hung up the phone and said: "Initiate vertical takeoff."

The moment the words fell, the entire vehicle began to hover upward.

This was anti-gravity technology that had been researched since World War II and had only been officially put into use in recent years. Paired with dedicated high-power engines and jet engines, it allowed the car to fly at ultra-high speeds of 500 kilometers per hour.

In terms of agility alone, it even surpassed helicopters.

Yet before it could fully lift off, a car suddenly slammed into it from the side.

After a violent collision, the AI's voice sounded:

"Left arm fracture detected."

"Internal bleeding detected."

"Injection of anesthetic recommended."

"Ingestion of Azeroth Essence Wine recommended."

Suppressing his pain, the One-Eyed Egg hurriedly found the anesthetic and injected himself, then fished a small bottle of wine out of his pocket while shouting: "Keep flying! Go to the Fearstone base... no, go to the Azeroth Specialty Store!"

AI: "Flight system damaged."

#￥……￥%&a;…… The One-Eyed Egg let out a grunt: "Contact Agent Coulson... no, contact the Immortal Fist!"

AI: "Communication system damaged."

The One-Eyed Egg opened his mouth, feeling the pain subside significantly. The special ingredients in the Azeroth Essence Wine made him energetic, clear-headed, and acutely perceptive. He thought to himself that Master Wang was still the reliable one.

This damn piece of junk car was completely unreliable!

He gritted his teeth and shouted: "Then turn on the air conditioning for me and let me cool down!"

AI: "Air conditioning system damaged."

The One-Eyed Egg suddenly felt a strong urge to smash this broken car. His anger gauge was maxed out, and the knuckles of his hand gripping the steering wheel turned dark: "Is anything not damaged?"

AI: "Your phone and communicator are not yet damaged."

Looking at the continuously degrading body and glass of the car, listening to the sound of bullets piercing the vehicle's body, and seeing the growing number of Hydra members closing in, the One-Eyed Egg felt like a young girl surrounded by a large group of burly men, a sense of helplessness welling up in his heart.

Fortunately, you're still here.

He took a deep breath.

He took out that one-of-a-kind communicator on Earth, sighed, and put it away.

Then he took out his phone and speed-dialed.

On the screen, a green fist appeared.

……

……

Azeroth Laboratory.

Looking at the One-Eyed Egg on his phone screen, Old Wang sighed.

One-Eyed Egg, you might as well abdicate and let me be the Director instead; you bother me every other day.

Though annoyed, the call still had to be answered.

The One-Eyed Egg was actually quite reliable; whenever he called, it was definitely not good news. Either someone was dead or trouble had broken out—like last time when he ran into a wall at Tony's place and immediately called to ask if he had said something to Tony.

None of my business!

"Keep investigating; the people I mentioned must be found. Melinda's ex-husband 'Andrew Garner,' Elena Rodriguez, James, Joey... they are all descendants of Inhumans and will be your people in the future."

Rubbing Skye's shoulder, Old Wang answered the call.

A violent explosion pierced his eardrum.

Followed by a burst of gunfire, accompanied by the AI's broadcast: "Car window integrity at 20%, recommended to take countermeasures."

"Don't execute yet!"

The One-Eyed Egg screamed: "Master Wang! Save me!"

As a Director, screaming like that, you don't want any dignity, do you... Old Wang realized the situation was critical and hurriedly asked: "Where are you? Never mind, don't tell me, send me your location!"

Boom!

AI: "Car window integrity at 1%, recommended to take countermeasures!"

"Washington!"

The One-Eyed Egg yelled: "Right now!"

Rat-tat-tat!

A flurry of machine-gun fire; the One-Eyed Egg was returning fire.

The One-Eyed Egg seemed to be saying something else, but it was too loud to make out anything at all.

"I'll be right there."

Old Wang raised his hand and drew a circle.

Washington wasn't large—much smaller than New York—so he could just teleport straight to the center.

Now that his physical body was formidable, he could mobilize more spiritual energy. Covering the whole of Washington was barely doable; he would just find the One-Eyed Egg and open a second portal.

He was about to set off.

Suddenly sensing danger, he looked up.

Far away, five missiles were tearing through the air toward him.

"Again?"

During this time, Old Wang had asked Tony to get him some materials and crammed up on his knowledge of thermal weapons. Based on their size and shape, he quickly identified the model of those missiles.

They were identical to the one that exploded in San Juan last time.

"One-Eyed Egg, look out for yourself."

Old Wang narrowed his eyes and said coldly: "Little Red, it's up to you!"