"Whether it's true or not, you can investigate it yourself," Ben said calmly.
He understood that even in his anger, Captain America wouldn't immediately accept everything he'd revealed without verification.
For Steve Rogers at this moment, he desperately needed concrete evidence to prove whether Ben's claims were accurate or simply malicious disinformation designed to undermine his faith in SHIELD.
At this realization, his only remaining comfort—that there were still some remnants of Hydra left to fight—completely evaporated, replaced by a potent mixture of rage and terror.
If what Ben had described was true, then his former enemies hadn't just survived—they had transformed themselves into the rulers of the country and his direct superiors.
Could it be that every mission I've participated in since awakening from the ice has been working for Hydra?
The irony was almost unbearable.
"I'm going to find Fury and demand answers!" Captain America declared, already turning back toward the carrier's interior.
But Ben was quick to grab his shoulders firmly, even pointing toward the ocean where flying fish leaped through the darkness, as if he was simply drawing Steve's attention to the remarkable view.
"Go directly to Nick Fury and confront him?" Ben asked with obvious skepticism.
He let out a derisive snort. "Do you honestly think he'll tell you the truth?"
"Like I told you, the world has become incredibly complicated, Captain."
"This isn't seventy years ago anymore, when all your enemies stood directly in front of you and you could simply charge forward with your shield and a squad of soldiers to destroy them all."
"In this era, you don't even know where the real enemies are hiding. Acting rashly and impulsively will only put you in mortal danger—and it'll also endanger Peter and me."
Hearing this sobering assessment, Captain America looked toward Peter and slowly unclenched his fists.
He was essentially alone now. Once his suspicions were exposed, he would be completely isolated and defenseless.
He wasn't afraid of fighting alone—he'd done it countless times before—but he knew he couldn't win that way.
More importantly, it would put Ben and Peter in an impossible position.
Just think about the optics: Steve had been fine originally, but problems arose immediately after he started spending time with these two young heroes. There would be no question about who had caused this "problem."
Steve suddenly felt completely powerless, as if he'd clenched his fists but had no target to strike.
Yes, the world was fundamentally different now.
"What's your plan?" he asked quietly.
"Complete eradication, Captain," Ben replied, turning to look Steve directly in the eyes. "Find every single Hydra operative and eliminate them permanently."
Since he was planning to wage war against Hydra, Ben intended to destroy them utterly. Of course, this would be extraordinarily difficult, but at minimum he had to deliver a devastating blow to their infrastructure.
SHIELD was certainly a nest of serpents, but there was much more to this infestation than just SHIELD itself.
Those field agents, like Crossbones, although they were definitely Hydra operatives, were ultimately just enhanced cannon fodder. They weren't even the heads of the snake—at most, they were merely scales that rustled when the creature moved.
Simply eliminating such external enemies, while it might cause Hydra some temporary pain, could hardly be considered a meaningful victory.
"Let's discuss the detailed strategy after you've confirmed whether what I've told you is accurate," Ben suggested. "I think you're going to need some time to process these... earth-shattering revelations."
Hearing this, Captain America laughed with bitter irony.
The legitimate authority of SHIELD actually belongs to Hydra.
This was indeed a revolutionary paradigm shift.
"You know what? I've been awake for months now, and I've encountered mutant monsters, advanced robots, and extraterrestrial beings... I thought I'd adapted to this new world and that nothing could surprise me anymore, but I never expected..."
"It's still early in the game," Ben interrupted with dark humor. "Strange things happen every year, but this year there seem to be significantly more of them. I'll bet you ten dollars that you'll be surprised again before this is over."
"Unless you're about to tell me that I'm secretly Captain Hydra," Steve replied, shaking his head with grim amusement.
"James Barnes is alive."
"Are you telling me the truth?!" Steve demanded, his voice barely controlled.
Upon hearing this news, Steve's entire body began trembling involuntarily. If he hadn't remembered Ben's warning about surveillance, he would have grabbed the other man's shoulders and shaken him violently.
Just seconds ago, he'd been hoping that Ben would admit everything was fabricated, but now he desperately wanted it all to be true.
"I know you have an extremely close relationship with Barnes, just like Peter and I," Ben said seriously. "So I would never joke about something this important."
"Have you heard of someone called the Winter Soldier?"
"He's currently under Hydra's control and has been transformed into their personal super-soldier weapon. To prevent him from losing control, he's kept in cryogenic suspension most of the time. He's only thawed when Hydra needs to eliminate high-priority targets."
"I don't know his exact location, but I found video surveillance footage from 1991. At that time, under direct orders from Hydra, it was Barnes—transformed into the Winter Soldier—who assassinated Howard Stark."
Bucky killed Howard?
Once again, Captain America was blindsided by this devastating revelation.
Revealing the news about Bucky was Ben's strategic ace in the hole for winning Steve's complete loyalty. For Steve Rogers, Bucky represented his most cherished friendship, and he'd laid down his shield multiple times throughout their history, all for Bucky's sake.
As for the potential conflict between Steve and Tony over the Winter Soldier situation, Ben honestly didn't care about the complications.
That's not my problem to solve.
I helped one of you identify your father's killer, and I helped the other locate his best friend. You should both be thanking me.
You can work out the messy details between yourselves.
But to be completely honest, there wasn't even genuine camaraderie between Tony and Steve at this point, so who knew how catastrophic the situation might become if they actually came to blows over this revelation.
The conversation between Ben and Steve didn't last much longer. After spending some time on the deck, they walked back inside as if nothing significant had occurred.
Back in the conference room, Nick asked casually, "How was the tour? One of my agents mentioned seeing you guys talking on the deck. Did the Captain lose some money to you?"
After hearing this seemingly innocent question, Captain America's expression darkened slightly.
So the surveillance really was active.
"I made a bet with the Captain," Ben explained without any change in his expression or tone. "He insisted that nothing in the world could surprise him anymore."
If it had been Peter in this situation, he would definitely have started stuttering due to guilt and nervousness.
But Ben remained completely composed.
"So I told him that France's population today is largely of African descent, and argued that a white Captain America doesn't truly reflect the current face of America. He nodded and handed me ten bucks without a word."
If Peter was good at conversation before, Ben is clearly on another level entirely.
Peter might be unintentionally offensive, but Ben deliberately aims for maximum psychological impact.
Nick took a deep breath and redirected the conversation. "I was asking about your assessment of the aircraft carrier."
"The carrier's technology is genuinely impressive. I assume it's capable of flight, correct? But the turbine design seems somewhat outdated. If it comes under attack, the carrier could lose power rather easily."
"Actually, I was just about to discuss anti-gravity systems with you," Nick said eagerly.
He was desperately hungry for advanced technology.
He'd been coveting the levitation technology that Ben had demonstrated at the Stark Expo, but since he'd been confident that he could acquire it for free after recruiting Ben to join the Avengers, Nick hadn't made any purchase offers.
This decision had frustrated Coulson, who was equally interested in vehicle modifications.
Now, events had proven how brilliant his patience had been!
"As a welcome gift for joining us, shouldn't you show a little professional courtesy?" Nick suggested, raising an eyebrow.
Ben casually picked up a chair and hurled it in Fury's direction. The director ducked, narrowly avoiding it as he jogged off with his head low.
"You want handouts again? If I keep giving stuff away, how do you expect my company to survive? My employees still need to eat!"
"Come on," Fury called back, brushing himself off. "How many employees do you actually have?"
"That's not the point," Ben muttered, rolling his eyes. Then he offered a compromise. "Fine. Here's what I'll do—I'll bump the base price up to 200%, but SHIELD only gets charged 130%. Sound fair?"
"Too small," Nick said without missing a beat, shaking his head.
Ben blinked. "You're bothered by the profit margins?"
Fury slammed his hand on the table. "No! I mean the price hike is too modest! 200%? That's pocket change. If certain international observers see that, they'll think the Security Council's broke. Make it a 500% markup—per ship. We need to look expensive."
Nick Fury was practically giddy with excitement.
In his assessment, this represented the perfect win-win scenario!
Now I don't have to worry about funding for safe houses anymore!
He estimated that if he'd met Ben several years earlier, he might have already constructed an entire underground city beneath America by now.
Not only that, but all three helicarriers would receive comprehensive upgrades, and once the modifications were completed, Project Insight could finally move forward.
I manipulated the budget allocation and won the first round, then I'll get upgraded aircraft carriers and win the second round. I'm winning twice over—isn't this exactly what a win-win situation should look like?
"It's always a pleasure conducting business with you!" Ben said with obvious satisfaction.
Win-win indeed—absolutely win-win!
Nick Fury wanted to upgrade three flying aircraft carriers, and he was essentially giving Ben a 120% premium markup on each ship. Three carriers meant a profit margin of 360%, which translated to tens of billions of dollars in pure profit for basically nothing. Ben won the first round.
Although it wasn't quite as absurdly profitable as Nick Fury's own scheme, that didn't matter because in Ben's strategic view, these three aircraft carriers would eventually belong to him anyway.
When Hydra was finally eliminated, who else would these carriers belong to if not him? Ben won the second round!
Spending other people's money to upgrade my own future aircraft carriers at premium prices—what could be more perfect than that?
After completing all these arrangements, Ben and Peter finally departed from SHIELD headquarters.
Nick Fury watched them leave with obvious reluctance. He felt like he'd met Ben far too late in his career—this remarkable individual who had just made him hundreds of billions in a single evening of negotiations.
However, it would be wasteful to spend all of this budget allocation solely on constructing safe houses. This windfall presented the perfect opportunity to accelerate progress on Tesseract research as well.