The Triskelion.
Nick Fury and Agent Hill were watching their people's operation from the command center.
When Captain America was effortlessly controlled by the Purple Man, and Hawkeye's arrow failed to accomplish anything, to the point that everyone in Cap's team except Grant Ward ended up controlled…
Nick Fury thought that was the worst news he would hear tonight.
He only thought that for one second.
"HYDRA…"
"HYDRA…"
Everyone who answered the Purple Man's orders and revealed their origins, except Hawkeye, was damn HYDRA!!!
Nick slammed his desk and shot to his feet.
"Fck fck fck, motherfcker!!!"
He could not even describe the violent fury boiling inside him!
He was not an idiot. They had just started cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D., and now S.H.I.E.L.D. was full of HYDRA, then their Skrull…
Cough, cough.
Anyway, as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., it turned out eight out of ten of his people were HYDRA!
To Nick Fury, that was a lightning bolt out of a clear sky!
He was not stupid. He knew no one dared joke about HYDRA inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
So those agents' words had only one possibility.
They were real.
And next, when John Garrett led his people to attack Coulson, it nailed the whole thing down completely.
In an instant, Nick Fury realized he was about to face the biggest crisis since taking office.
"Hill, contact all branch heads worldwide, immediately. Order every branch into wartime posture. Truth serum, unlimited supply. We must identify every single HYDRA member hidden among us!"
"What about John Garrett's direct subordinates?"
"Wipe them out!"
"What about agents who were close to Garrett personally?"
"Better to kill the wrong one than let a single one go!"
"But what if other senior agents are HYDRA too?"
"Then we'll find out exactly how rotten my S.H.I.E.L.D. really is!"
At that, Hill quickly began working the computer, drafting the orders to be sent to every branch.
At the same time, she opened the video calls for Fury to contact the branches directly.
But before the calls even went out, they shut down on their own for no reason.
Next, Hill's orders could not be sent no matter what she did!
Seeing this, Hill stood up sharply, then let out a long sigh toward Nick's back as he faced the window.
"They're embedded deeper than we ever imagined. We might have accepted the most pointless mission of our lives!"
"Yeah," Nick sighed as well. "And I can already see the agents rushing toward us!"
Then he pulled a particularly distinctive handgun from his pocket.
Nick held the oval-shaped pistol and spoke to Hill behind him.
"It's a shame Talos's promised Super Skrull hasn't arrived from space yet. Otherwise, if he could copy even thirty to fifty percent of Heisenberg's abilities, the Skrull Empire would rise again!"
"Stop thinking about that. T'ya Taylor, pray to the ancestors, and be grateful we get to die together!"
Hill spoke solemnly, raising her own weapon too.
But Nick Fury, the one she called T'ya Taylor, did not echo her prayer. He took a long breath.
"Eryda, you can't die yet!"
"But…"
"No 'but.' I'm the commander of this operation, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then listen. Escape the Triskelion. Go to Heisenberg in person. Reveal our identity. Trade one of our spacecraft for his promise to save us!"
"But he doesn't need a spacecraft!"
"Even Captain Marvel needs a ship. When there's a ship to ride, nobody enjoys flying through the universe alone!"
"Then what about you? Let's break out together!"
"You think they'll give us the chance? I'll draw the fire. As long as you're fast enough, you can come back and save me before I die!"
At those words, the alien Eryda finally made up her mind.
She sprinted to the left wall of the command room and pressed a hidden switch. A small equipment armory opened in the wall.
Eryda grabbed a glider and strapped it onto herself without hesitation.
At the same time, T'ya Taylor, wearing Nick's face, grabbed his weapon and rushed out of the command room.
The instant gunfire erupted, Eryda dashed for the window.
She raised her gun, aimed at the glass, and fired once. A brilliant blue plasma sphere melted the window away.
And Eryda jumped.
No hesitation.
…
On the other side, Heisenberg had already returned to his rooftop.
To be honest, he could not treat that villa as his home.
Because there was not a single trace of emotion in that so-called home worth missing.
Not family.
Not love.
Not friendship.
But he had to admit, the rooftop and that lounge chair felt strangely intimate to him.
He had come to the Marvel world for about ten days now. As long as he lay down on that chair, his heart calmed.
As usual, he lay back and tilted his head to look at the unconscious Jessica.
She was covered in human trash.
Dark red meat paste. Yellowish fluid.
Disgusting.
Ding!
Heisenberg pressed the service bell.
"Send two people to take your security minister back to her room."
After that, Heisenberg closed his eyes and instantly looked like he had fallen asleep.
When the two staff members came up, the gore almost made them vomit.
But they had only prepared to carry Jessica away. They did not bring cleaning tools.
So they quietly took Jessica away first.
As they moved her, they contacted more workers. They did not dare leave a mess like that on the boss's rooftop.
But before the tools arrived, Elektra and Crossbones were already there.
When they reached the rooftop, they naturally saw the trash the Purple Man had left behind.
Even though they had killed for years, both of their expressions turned ugly.
They looked at each other, nodded heavily, and only then walked toward Heisenberg.
When they reached him, Heisenberg rose from the lounge chair.
"Let's talk by the bar. This place is kind of nasty."
As he spoke, he led them to the food and drink area over forty meters away.
After gesturing for them to sit, Heisenberg opened the liquor cabinet and turned back to ask.
"What are you drinking?"
"Champagne!" That was Elektra.
"Gin!" That was Rumlow.
Hearing Rumlow's taste, Heisenberg chuckled.
Just from the fact the man liked that kind of drink, Heisenberg dared to conclude Rumlow was a professional agent, the kind who could lead a team even if every subordinate was a spy.
Definitely better than Nick Fury.
Heisenberg took out his favorite bourbon, then grabbed the bottles they wanted and returned to the table.
Elektra casually picked up the bourbon and popped it open with the little fork tucked at her waist.
Rumlow lifted a whiskey glass. After Elektra filled it for him, he pushed the drink toward Heisenberg.
After both of them had their drinks ready, Heisenberg raised his glass to them.
"To my stunning and capable Elektra, and to our new comrade, Crossbones, the best commander I'll have under me in the future. Cheers!"
"Cheers!" x2
They set their glasses down, and Heisenberg began first.
"Rumlow just joined us, but you're no different from each other. Elektra hasn't even been with me for a full day."
As he spoke, Heisenberg looked at Elektra.
"And don't worry. I only killed Kingpin about ten days ago. Bullseye joined me just a week earlier than you!"
While he talked, Elektra refilled his glass.
"Bullseye, the identity I gave him is a gang leader who knows every street and alley, and understands the underground network. But at most, he can only lead my gang members.
"I may not have told you my plan yet, so let me explain. In my plan, the gangs are far from the most important piece!"
He pointed at Rumlow, who looked deep in thought.
"I will completely take over everything HYDRA has, just like I accepted Kingpin's inheritance. But your organization is too big. The two of you alone are nowhere near enough!"
"Agreed, Boss!" Rumlow nodded.
Heisenberg nodded as well.
"Exactly. So I need you, using your understanding of HYDRA, to pick out every outstanding talent inside HYDRA who can adapt to management work. Find them, rely on them, use them. Can you do it?"
Hearing the question, meeting Heisenberg's deep gaze…
Rumlow suddenly felt drunk.
What intoxicates a man is never the alcohol.
It's the friends at the table, the woman across the steak, and a surging ambition.
Rumlow believed Heisenberg could do everything he said. Because if anyone had Heisenberg's power, they could do it too.
So could he really become HYDRA's head snake?
He nodded hard.
"I can!"
The moment he said it, he slammed the rest of his drink down, letting a few drops splash onto his collar.
Seeing that, Heisenberg nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Immediately list everyone you know, everyone you've heard of, everyone you can think of. Bring as many of them under me as possible!"
"Yes!" Rumlow answered heavily.
Heisenberg then looked at Elektra.
"Go to Bullseye. Get every contact Kingpin left behind in every place in the world. Use them. Protect every single person Rumlow marks. Do it with everything you've got!"
"Yes!" Elektra nodded respectfully.
At that, Heisenberg tapped the table lightly.
"That's it, then. My over thirty thousand men across New York are all in your hands now. Give me an answer I'm satisfied with…"
Boom!!!
Before he could finish, something completely blasted apart the space beneath Heisenberg's favorite lounge chair!
Then a slender figure actually sprang up through the hole that had been blown open.
The poor lounge chair died on the spot. Heisenberg's chest immediately swelled with rage!
"Hill, what the hell did you do!!!"
He recognized her at a glance. It was Hill.
But Hill should have been handling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mess. Why was she here?
Hill rushed toward Heisenberg at full speed, explaining nonstop as she sprinted.
"Kryptonian Heisenberg, I am a refugee of the Skrull Empire. I will offer one spacecraft as the price, and I ask you to give shelter to me and another of my people!"
As she spoke, her body turned green rapidly. In only a moment, the cold, beautiful Agent Hill became a wrinkled, green-skinned ugly monster!
And Heisenberg…
(°_°)...
(╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻!!!
"Pfft?!!"
He sprayed out every drop of alcohol he had just drunk.
"So she got replaced by a Skrull this early? And I even wanted to sleep with her back then!"
Heisenberg slumped against the chair back like a candle in the wind, wanting to cry but having no tears.
"I actually wanted to sleep with something like that. I'm not clean anymore…"
/-\
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