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Has HYDRA been exposed?
And it was discovered by Steve, Captain America himself?
Darian's brow twitched as he immediately asked, "Then who does he suspect is the HYDRA undercover Agent?"
Nick Fury paused for two seconds. "It's me."
Darian: "???"
What on Earth?
The most legitimate former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the head of spies, being treated as a HYDRA mole?
Darian had thought it might be other HYDRA members who were exposed.
But he never expected that the person Steve suspected would actually be Nick Fury, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent undercover within HYDRA!
It took him several seconds to digest this news before he asked curiously, "What exactly happened?"
"Remember before the Insight Project was executed, I hired a group of French-descendant pirates to hijack a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite ship?"
Nick Fury said seriously, "Steve was part of the rescue operation at the time. He and the strike team captured those pirates, and those guys sold me out on the spot."
Speaking of this, Nick Fury felt like cursing.
Those French Pirates really had no professional ethics at all. Before they were even questioned much with a gun to their heads, they performed a French military salute and spilled everything they knew. Their speed was much faster than the lowest record of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal secrecy tests.
Nick Fury had seen countless mercenaries and pirates over the years, but he had never seen anyone surrender so quickly.
Motherfucker, I can't hire French-descendants anymore!
Nick Fury cursed under his breath and said deeply, "At that time, Pierce was in charge of HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D. Using HYDRA's intelligence network, they quickly followed the clues and found out I was the employer behind the scenes."
Hearing Nick Fury's words, Darian felt a bit guilty.
It wasn't that HYDRA had found Nick Fury; it was clearly him who had betrayed Nick Fury.
He cleared his throat. "HYDRA's intelligence capabilities are truly powerful, to be able to find even that."
"Indeed."
Nick Fury didn't suspect anything and continued, "Later, when I was attacked, Pierce took the opportunity to leak this news to Steve, making him mistakenly believe I was a mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. This was to divert Steve's attention so the Insight Project could be executed."
"Worst of all, Steve took it seriously. He's been tracking a man named Kiba, suspecting him of being connected to me, so he agreed to help Pierce investigate me in secret."
Darian couldn't help but be stunned. "You mean Steve is Pierce's undercover Agent?"
"Uh, you could put it that way."
"Impressive."
"..."
Darian didn't know what to say for a moment.
The great Captain America had actually become a HYDRA mole to investigate Nick Fury, the S.H.I.E.L.D. mole hiding in HYDRA?
What kind of ridiculous plot is this!
Pierce had never mentioned this to Darian.
But thinking about it, it made sense. To Pierce, this was just a convenient side move. Later, when the Insight Project failed and he became Darian's lackey, there was naturally no need to report such a thing specifically.
"That little Pierce, I'll have to have a word with him when I get back. He didn't tell me about such a great joke."
Darian was quite dissatisfied.
If he had known there was such an explosive plot, he would have definitely sent someone to track and record the whole thing.
As for what trouble it would cause if Steve actually found out about HYDRA, Darian wasn't worried at all. Anyway, if something happened, Nick Fury would take the blame.
To him, as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't disband, it wasn't a big problem.
On the other end of the phone, Nick Fury saw that Darian hadn't spoken for a while and thought he was shocked by the news, completely unaware that Darian had already planned to make him the scapegoat.
His tone carried a hint of helplessness: "Steve's actions were very covert. Even I only noticed later. By the time I realized, he had already found out quite a lot."
"Now Steve seems to have some clues pointing to HYDRA, and he suspects that I am the HYDRA leader hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D."
If it were before, Nick Fury could just tell Steve the truth.
He hired the French Pirates just to find the mole in S.H.I.E.L.D. and sabotage the Insight Project; Pierce was the HYDRA spy hidden in S.H.I.E.L.D., so don't listen to his nonsense.
But the problem was that the Insight Project had long been cancelled, and even Pierce had been dealt with by Darian.
And he had even taken over all the HYDRA sleeper networks within S.H.I.E.L.D., becoming the HYDRA leader in a very real sense.
Now Nick Fury was like someone who had fallen into the mud; there was no way he could explain himself clearly!
He couldn't exactly tell Steve that he was actually a good guy and had only become the head of HYDRA out of necessity.
Not to mention Steve, even Nick Fury himself wouldn't believe those words.
"I can understand your situation."
Darian could hear the frustration in Nick Fury's voice and was instantly amused.
The process was all wrong, but the conclusion was entirely correct.
Indeed, no one could explain this away.
Darian changed the subject and asked curiously, "But where did you get this news from?"
Nick Fury didn't hide it: "Steve told Natasha about the situation, and then Natasha told me."
"Natasha?"
Darian was a bit surprised.
As a member of the Avengers and a teammate who had gone through life and death, Natasha was naturally worthy of Steve's trust. Disclosing such a secret to her was within the realm of reason.
But the question was, why would Natasha betray Steve and leak the news to Nick Fury?
Although Natasha was indeed Nick Fury's loyal lackey, she was also a principled superhero. On major issues of right and wrong, she should be able to distinguish her stance.
"Yes."
Nick Fury explained, "The HYDRA influence within S.H.I.E.L.D. was too vast. I couldn't keep an eye on it all by myself, and I was worried HYDRA might lose control and be exposed at any time. So a long time ago, I told Natasha the actual situation and had her cooperate with my actions in secret."
"Not just Natasha; Coulson, Hawkeye, May, and other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents already know about it and are involved in this operation. Their mission is to hide within HYDRA, cooperate with me to monitor and control the situation, and simultaneously cover up the truth to prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. from collapsing from within."
Darian: "..."
"..."
I really didn't misjudge you; you're the one who knows how to play the game, you braised egg!
Having so many S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents go undercover in reverse into HYDRA—now it really is S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hydra with a few S.H.I.E.L.D. moles inside!
The funny thing was that Nick Fury actually told this news to him, the real HYDRA leader.
Darian secretly decided that he would have the HYDRA spies pretend not to know and cooperate with these S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to continue the act, going undercover against their undercover Agents.
"In that case, why didn't you tell Steve the truth beforehand?"
"Steve will not tolerate the existence of HYDRA."
Fury answered very directly.
Steve has severe HYDRA PTSD. If he knew there were so many HYDRA members inside S.H.I.E.L.D., he probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night and would uproot HYDRA overnight. He wouldn't care if S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded.
The other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were different. They weren't as resistant to utilizing HYDRA; after all, an Agent's moral baseline has always been very flexible.
"So what do you plan to do now?"
An expression of someone who enjoys watching the chaos had already appeared on Darian's face.
He had to admit, he was looking forward to the subsequent development of this plot.
Would Nick Fury deal with Steve, the HYDRA mole, or would Steve defeat Nick Fury, the S.H.I.E.L.D. mole?
"I haven't thought of anything yet, so I wanted to ask for your advice."
Nick Fury knew Darian had many clever tricks. Even the idea of replacing Pierce to lead HYDRA was something he had come up with.
"Since you put it that way, then I..."
" "
While Darian was wondering whether to give a reliable idea or just add fuel to the fire, another call suddenly came in.
Glancing at the caller ID, it was the very person they were discussing: Steve.
"Wait, Steve is calling me."
Darian said a quick word to Nick Fury's side and then answered the call.
Steve's voice came through immediately: "Darian, I have something very important that I must discuss with you in person. Come to the coordinates I sent as soon as possible. Remember, do not notify Nick Fury, and do not believe anything he says."
[NPC Steve Rogers has issued you a new quest]
[Quest: Steve's Call]
[Objective: Go to Steve's designated location and keep it a secret from Nick Fury]
[Reward: EXP +500, Random Item *1]
"No problem! I'll be right there!"
Darian answered decisively. After hanging up, he quickly switched back to the call with Nick Fury.
Nick Fury asked curiously, "Darian, what did Steve want with you?"
Darian didn't answer and said calmly, "Officer, we'd better not stay in contact. I'm afraid Steve might misunderstand."
Nick Fury: "???"
The address Steve gave was an ordinary residence in Brooklyn.
Darian arrived at the door and used the Master Key to open the lock. Just as the door opened a crack, a fist came flying toward his face with the sound of rushing wind.
He raised his hand and easily blocked the fist, finding that it was Steve.
"Steve, your way of greeting is truly special."
Seeing it was Darian, Steve immediately withdrew his fist and said speechlessly, "Could you not knock on the door first?"
What player would knock on a door?
Darian chuckled. "What did you call me here for?"
Steve glanced warily outside the door and whispered, "Let's talk inside."
[Quest "Steve's Call" completed]
[Obtained Rewards: 500 EXP, Item "A Bucket of Water"]
[Item: A Bucket of Water (An iron bucket filled with water; creatures falling into the water will not take fall damage)]
Darian followed Steve into the house and scanned the room.
Besides Steve, there were two other people in the room: Natasha and a Black man.
"Let me introduce you. This is Sam, the owner of this house."
Steve introduced the Black man to Darian, and the former nodded in greeting.
[NPC: Sam Wilson]
[Codename: Falcon]
[Affinity: 0]
[Evaluation: The Winter Soldier's eagle, hates 'on your left', a flying locomotive, the second-generation Captain America, immune to Captain America's shield effects]
This person was the Falcon of this server.
Darian had seen his counterpart, the Zombie Falcon from the Zombie Universe, whom he had turned into the man's favorite fried chicken with a single grenade.
He responded with a smile and then asked, "So, what exactly is going on here? Why is Natasha here too?"
Steve's expression suddenly turned serious. "Darian, I have something very serious to tell you. You must not panic..."
Darian was puzzled. "What is it?"
Steve took a deep breath and said word by word, "Nick Fury is very likely HYDRA!"
"What!?"
Darian's eyes widened instantly, and his mouth hung slightly open, looking as if he had received a massive shock.
Unfortunately, his acting was too exaggerated; even Natasha beside him couldn't help but look away, unable to bear the sight.
Steve didn't notice and nodded seriously. "It's true. To be honest, the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce, once approached me privately and told me that Fury was a mole within S.H.I.E.L.D."
"At first, I didn't believe it at all, but after investigating personally these past few days, I found... Nick Fury indeed has many problems."
"Like what?"
"For example, he has embezzled S.H.I.E.L.D. operational funds multiple times, totaling an astronomical sum!"
Darian:
" "
"..."
Can you say something everyone doesn't already know?
Steve continued, "A while ago, he also hired a group of pirates to hijack a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite ship and secretly sent someone else to copy the data on the ship."
At this point, Steve's expression became a bit complicated; he was probably thinking of Kiba... oh no, Bucky.
"Not only that, Nick Fury has also pushed through many suspicious projects in secret."
"Like Project Pegasus, researching the Tesseract and attempting to weaponize it. This is almost identical to what HYDRA did under Red Skull's leadership. And it was because of his research project that Loki had the chance to invade Earth through the Tesseract."
"Then there's Project T.A.H.I.T.I. Based on the fragments of information I found, it's an extremely cruel project, and Nick Fury was the one who masterminded it."
"Besides that, there's also..."
"..."
Listening to Steve list them one by one, Darian nodded in total agreement.
"Hearing you say that, this Bald egg really doesn't seem like a good person, but can we conclude he's HYDRA based on just that?"
"There is more direct evidence."
Steve's expression was solemn as he spoke slowly, "Initially, Pierce assisted me in secretly investigating Nick Fury, but he disappeared the very next day. However, according to my investigation, Pierce suffered a targeted attack before he vanished into thin air."
"..."
"I suspected that attack was related to Nick Fury, so I followed that lead and eventually discovered a top-secret project called the Insight Project."
"So I also infiltrated a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite ship to copy the data, then invited Natasha to help decrypt it. We followed the clues all the way to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s earliest data backup center."
"There, we encountered Dr. Zola, a HYDRA scientist recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. in the last century. His consciousness was uploaded to an antique computer and had been running in that underground secret room."
"He told us that the Insight Project was a conspiracy planned by HYDRA, intended to eliminate all enemies standing in HYDRA's way. But before we could ask for more details, he suddenly triggered a data self-destruct sequence, and the entire Base was destroyed."
"However, we have now found the initiator of the Insight Project."
"That person is none other than Nick Fury!"