After hanging up the call, William listened as Sunday reported that all traces of the conversation with Pierce had been erased.
"As expected, that old man was trying to secure leverage against me," William said with a smirk. "Send over a few photos of the Xenomorphs the Predators left on Mars—pick some that look credible enough. Let's not keep Director Pierce too uneasy. I need him to handle the approvals for my plans."
"Understood, Sir."
When Pierce received the photos, he immediately opened them. What he saw were images of creatures resembling the charred monsters he had seen before, lying lifeless on Mars's red soil.
"Why does William Devonshire call these things Xenomorphs? And why does the sand in these photos look so much like Mars's iron-oxide soil?"
Given William's recent declaration about traveling to Mars, Pierce, an amateur in astronomy, naturally assumed the red terrain was indeed Martian soil.
His thoughts spiraled. How did William capture these images? Could this be a trick? Did he deliberately show me these to mislead me?
He considered sending his own people to investigate but shuddered at the thought of William's ruthlessness and his army of stealthy spider-like robots.
It's too risky to investigate directly.
Deciding to delegate the task to someone bold enough to take it on, he picked up the phone.
"Nick, come to my office."
Shortly after, Nick Fury, dark-skinned, bald, and sporting his signature eyepatch, knocked on Pierce's office door and walked in.
"What's the matter, Pierce?"
Pierce handed Fury the printed photos, with the Xenomorphs digitally scrubbed out, and said, "Take a look. Does this terrain resemble Mars?"
"You'd need an astronomy expert for that," Fury replied after a brief glance, though the background did indeed resemble Martian terrain. Squinting his lone eye at Pierce, he asked pointedly, "Alright, who do you want me to investigate?"
"William Devonshire. These photos are from him, taken on Mars. As for the redacted sections, I'm sorry, Nick," Pierce said with feigned helplessness. "William explicitly warned me: if I leaked the secret in these photos, he'd kill me."
"Really?" Fury raised an eyebrow. "Our billionaire friend had the guts to threaten you? And then still sent you these photos?"
Studying Pierce's face, Fury found no trace of anger or dissatisfaction. However, he wasn't surprised.
"What exactly do you want me to investigate? Why he's going to Mars?"
Pierce shook his head. "Anything you can find. I feel like he's planning something.
You know as well as I do that Devonshire has control over England's Kingsman agency. With official authority at his disposal, someone as young and unpredictable as him could cause immeasurable damage if he goes rogue."
"Understood." Fury nodded and stood up. "I'll have my people look into it."
As Fury left, Pierce leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
He wasn't lying when he said he believed William was up to something.
William, a self-made genius and tycoon, wielded enormous influence over the upper echelons of England and the U.S. If he ever grew bored of his current ventures and decided that world domination was the ultimate challenge, he could become Hydra's biggest obstacle.
Pierce couldn't shake the feeling that if William wanted him dead, it would be all too easy.
This constant anxiety had left Pierce restless and paranoid in recent days.
Forced into a corner, he had no choice but to involve someone as formidable as Nick Fury in the matter.
If I can't handle William alone, let Fury cause some trouble for him.
Moreover, shifting Fury's attention to William would alleviate some of the pressure Hydra faced within S.H.I.E.L.D., reducing the risk of their operations being exposed.
Finally, Pierce reasoned that if William ever managed to kill him quietly, both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. would seek revenge. Unlike Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., as a legitimate organization, had far greater resources at its disposal.
It was a triple-win strategy for Pierce, and he didn't worry about Fury and William joining forces. In his view, as soon as Fury started investigating William, conflict would inevitably erupt.
After announcing his spacecraft plans, William focused most of his time and energy on building his aerospace company, processing various approvals, and outsourcing non-core components to Earth-based manufacturers.
As a capitalist, nobleman, and prominent member of the establishment, William encountered little resistance. As long as the paperwork was in order, no one dared accuse him of potential security breaches.
Besides, many people were genuinely curious to see if his spacecraft could really achieve the claimed speed of 100,000 kilometers per hour in space.
Any plans to sabotage him would have to wait until his project was further along—unless someone resorted to outright theft.
To William's surprise, someone did just that.
A company manufacturing the spacecraft's hull was attacked by a team of twelve mercenaries. They stormed the lab, stole the design schematics, and killed three engineers who were optimizing the designs.
The attack lasted ten minutes before Sunday, who had been monitoring the facility, reported the incident to William.
As he viewed footage of the slain engineers lying in pools of blood, William's expression turned cold.
"Do we know who they are?" he asked, his voice devoid of emotion.
Sunday replied, "Yes, Sir. The mercenaries belong to a rapidly rising group called the Hand of Satan. It's likely backed by the U.S."
"Well, well, this just got interesting," William murmured, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Tonight's the scheduled trade with the Predators, isn't it?"
"Yes, Sir," Sunday confirmed.
"Good. Prepare a few extra healing charms for me—I'll need them later."
"Understood, Sir."
At midnight, after exchanging 200 healing charms for energy crystals with the Predators, William retrieved five additional healing charms from his storage space.
Handing them to the Predator leader, he said, "I need you to eliminate a mercenary group of about 50 people. Once the job is done, I'll give you five more charms as payment."
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Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 677)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 1059)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1418)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1422)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1452)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1504)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld!(Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 703)
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