Looking at Fury's thoroughly displeased face, Hill did not know what position she ought to take.
"Does she think I don't want to treat the fallen well? This is a historical problem. If we give generous benefits to those who died now, what about the agents who died before them? Do we issue retroactive compensation or ignore them?"
Daisy's barrage had left Fury too dazed to respond at the time. Only now did he recover enough to complain to Hill.
His eye opened unusually wide, his face full of irritation.
"Sir, I support Daisy's approach." Hill's personality was that straightforward. She judged the matter rather than the person. Personal closeness had nothing to do with her conclusion, and she openly stated her support.
Fury was not surprised that his trusted subordinate had stabbed him in the back again. That was simply Hill's nature: unyielding and deeply principled.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s traditions were appropriate in their time, but that does not make them inviolable. The fact that we did not act before does not mean we should never act in the future. Modern thinking is completely different from that of seventy years ago. S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to change." Hill spoke with complete sincerity.
Fury sighed. "Go handle it. Be meticulous. Don't leave anyone out."
Watching Hill leave the office, Fury lowered his head and considered the consequences this matter would bring.
Daisy wanted S.H.I.E.L.D. to abandon its current fully covert model and shift to a semi-covert one.
This had always been her intention. She had merely found an opening at last.
The advantages were obvious. Governments around the world would trust S.H.I.E.L.D. more and fear it less. Future operations would receive support from many sides, and agents would no longer have to fight alone. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding, recruitment, training, and weapons deployment would also proceed several times more smoothly.
The disadvantage was the loss of secrecy. They would no longer be able to operate under the FBI's name.
At that moment, Fury missed his old partner Pierce more than ever. Had Pierce still been at his side, the two of them could certainly have suppressed Daisy's proposal together. Now Fury stood alone. He could no longer restrain the ideas of the younger generation represented by Daisy and Hill.
Daisy returned to her own office and first notified the World Security Council. The politicians immediately understood what she meant. Each of them began praising democracy and freedom, declaring that compensation for the fallen had to be handled properly. Whatever amount was required, just name it. They would pay.
Communicating with the Pentagon was equally easy. It amounted to a few sheets of paper, several certificates, and some medals. The Pentagon had always cooperated well with Daisy. Friendship between the two sides would be an exaggeration, but their interests aligned.
After hanging up, Daisy sat in her chair and considered how subsequent events would develop.
She needed to take over Pierce's legacy as quickly as possible. What? Pierce was still alive, so was it inappropriate to inherit it already? In the eyes of Daisy and the many politicians whose dirty secrets he had exposed, he was as good as dead.
Pierce's power could broadly be divided into three parts. The first came from being S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former director and possessing Level Ten clearance. Daisy had already replaced him in that respect.
The second was leadership over Hydra within S.H.I.E.L.D. The organization had previously been divided among three competing leaders. Now the other two had both lost enormous prestige, so unifying every Hydra cell under her would take little time.
The final part was a seat on the World Security Council. That was right: Pierce himself was a council member, a position he had secured entirely through his own network of personal connections.
Daisy had set her sights on that seat. If she became a council member while remaining Deputy Director, she would possess both command authority and supervisory authority over the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents.
The council's current state, with one of five seats vacant, would not last long. Four people could not hold a proper vote. If they did not add one member, they would have to remove another. Those politicians knew how to do the arithmetic.
Daisy twirled a pen and sat in her office for a while before rising and heading to the medical department. She intended to visit Pierce and Brock Rumlow, who were receiving treatment there and attempting to recover their own wills.
"Surrender! Lady Supergiant will come save me!" Pierce screamed himself hoarse, completely immersed in his delusion.
Several Hydra agents exchanged uneasy looks. All of them feared he might lose control of his mouth and reveal some explosive secret the public would love to hear.
"Should we...?" Grant Ward was there as well. When Daisy entered, he drew a finger across his throat, then tilted his chin toward Pierce.
Silence him? A fine idea. But Daisy believed Pierce could not be killed yet, at least not by S.H.I.E.L.D.
She shook her head lightly. Someone else would handle such dirty work.
Using her psychic power, she examined Pierce's controlled brain. She had never seen what a mind looked like after being brainwashed by the Mind Scepter, and she could not tell how far his recovery had progressed.
Neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor even the White Queen possessed an effective treatment. Everything depended on the individual enduring it through sheer willpower.
Daisy carefully studied the old man's eyes. Madness, anger, and a great deal of agitation? She had no idea whether he had recovered his sanity. Perhaps he already had and was currently wondering how to escape.
"Put someone on him. Don't let him run. The old bastard is crafty." She ordered Ward to arrange guards, then went to see Brock Rumlow.
The handsome Grant Ward seized the face of Pierce, the Hydra heavyweight, and turned it from side to side for inspection.
The old man continued muttering about Supergiant and telling Ward to release him.
"What a shame. Keep a close eye on him." Ward patted the old man's face. He also could not tell whether Pierce was truly insane or merely pretending. Daisy did not want bloodshed inside S.H.I.E.L.D., but Ward did not care either way. He instructed his subordinates to watch the old man, then left to attend to his own business.
Pierce had not lost his faculties. He recognized everyone and could call every Hydra agent in the medical room by name. Only because they had tampered with the surveillance system did outsiders fail to notice the unusual relationship among them.
"Kim, do you remember when your mother fell ill and I helped you contact a hospital?"
"Mark, my friend, how old is your son now? The last time I visited your home, I remember the little fellow didn't even reach my calf."
Pierce kept talking to them, trying to make them understand his condition. He was not insane. His thoughts were perfectly clear, and he had no need for any sedative injections.
The guards all shook their heads. Their former superior truly was not insane, but his condition was worse than insanity. His thinking had been forcibly twisted. In the past, he had acted entirely for profit, so they could at least infer his intentions and flatter him when convenient.
Now everything had changed. Pierce no longer resembled himself. He babbled incessantly and blurted out every secret he possessed. Fortunately, the wise and mighty Daisy had labeled him mentally ill and left him under Hydra's control. If he casually revealed Hydra's secrets, none of them would escape the consequences.
Guided by that central concern, even the Hydra agents who owed Pierce favors chose to watch coldly. They waited until the sedative took effect, then left the room.
Time passed with agonizing slowness. One second, ten seconds, one minute, ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, Pierce—who should have been fast asleep—opened his eyes.