The era of American comics begins

Chapter 23 General Attack
New York, a financial firm on Wall Street.

S.H.I.E.L.D. seventh-level agent Phil Coulson walked behind a blond woman in a round-neck suit and black patent leather shoes, passing among the busy white-collar workers. There was the sound of typing and tapping and the sound of the phone.

The woman led him into an empty private office, and closed the door behind him after he entered.The name of "Bill Water" was written on the door plate, and that was the owner of this office.

This is a well-lit, well-decorated office.Agent Coulson showed his professional expertise from the moment he entered the door. He scanned the entire room inch by inch with his sharp eyes, not letting go of any detail, just like a well-trained hound trying to sniff. No suspicious breath.

But after observing for about 2 minutes, he had to admit a fact. There seemed to be nothing suspicious in this office.

It just looks so ordinary.Stacks of well-arranged documents were stacked on the desk, and a bunch of keys were left in the keyhole of the desk.There are potted plants on the windowsill and cute seahorse ornaments on the filing cabinets.On the walls are the medals that the owner of the office, Bill Waters, has received in the past years. It seems that this gentleman is still an exemplary employee.

Agent Coulson even found photos of Bill Waters having dinners and parties with colleagues on the cabinet.

He turned his head and asked the woman beside him: "How long have you known Mr. Water?"

The woman thought about it: "It should be at least two years, since he came to work here. He is very low-key, but he is serious and responsible in his work, and he is often commended. He is a good guy. Everyone likes him."

After a pause, she asked suspiciously, "Is Mr. Walter in any trouble?"

"No, it's nothing, ma'am." Agent Coulson said politely, "He's involved in a certain case, but it's just a routine investigation, it's not a big deal."

After asking a few more simple questions, Agent Coulson left the company.He went back downstairs and across the street to the black Porsche parked on the side of the road.

He called Nick Fury.

"How's it going, Agent Coulson?" Fury asked.

"The identity you asked me to verify, Bill Waters? I checked his ID, checked his driver's license, and all the information on his diploma seemed to be all right. Then I went to his office, and all his colleagues Proved there were real people. One of them told me that he had been working here for two years, and even though I didn't have access to professional equipment, I don't think she was lying based on experience."

"What about the people in the office?"

"The identity has also been verified, and it seems that there is indeed no problem."

"So you believe Bill Waters is innocent?"

"From what I've seen, sir? It's flawless," Coulson said. "Frankly, if everything about this identity is faked, then the person who faked it is either an ultimate genius we've never heard of...or Just a magician who can distort the truth."

"I understand."

"May I ask, are you sure you don't need me to know who this Bill Water is?" Coulson asked.

"That's classified, Agent Coulson." Fury said, "Thank you for your help, but your mission is over."

Nick Fury finished the communication, frowned and pondered for a while in the office.

A few hours ago, the mysterious guy code-named "Black Knight" was finally willing to get out of the black iron shell and officially meet him.Contrary to his appearance, hidden in that suit of armor was a young man with a thick stubble, about thirty to forty years old, wearing a white-collar standard cheap suit.

He claimed his name was Bill Waters, and said that this had been his disguised identity since breaking away from HYDRA, and that his elite agents had just checked it out.And it does seem reasonable, as the disguised identity of Bill Water is indeed quite low-key.

Then Mr. "Bill Water" gave him another address, which was a warehouse on the outskirts of New York.The company that owns that warehouse went bankrupt a few years ago, and the warehouse has been abandoned there ever since.Mr. Water said that it has been his secret stronghold over the years, and all his equipment, technology, and armor are stored there.

The "Black Knight" wears a high-tech suit all day long, so it stands to reason that he should have a secret base.Regarding this location, Fury also sent a group of agents to investigate, and the results returned did indeed match the description.It seems that this "Bill Walter" has indeed shown full sincerity, at least even a super spy like Nick Fury can't find any flaws in the information he provided for a while.

But what Fury didn't know was that Michael had prepared more than one identity with complete information. Each of his identities was designed seamlessly, and he also had a different face corresponding to each identity.He has prepared digital masks of all identities in advance, and when he puts on the mask, he instantly obtains a completely different identity.

So speaking of it, Michael didn't lie to Fury, he did reveal his identity-but there was only one of them.

So in the future, Fury can register "Bill Walter" in the SHIELD's list of dangerous persons, and then monitor the account and movements of this non-existent fictional character around the clock, without actually giving Michael any subsequent actions. cause any burden.

As for whether Fury will decide to trust him once?This Michael was not very worried.

Because honestly, given the current situation and where S.H.I.E.L.D. is, they probably don't have a lot of options in the matter.

After thinking about it for a while, Fury sat up, picked up the phone and dialed a series of numbers.

"This is Commander Fury, notify the council," he said, "I have something important to discuss."

***
An hour later, the Helicarrier was 9000 meters above the ground.

Nick Fury stood in the middle of the room expressionlessly with his hands behind his back.He is surrounded by high-ranking figures from the World Security Council on three suspended monitors.

Very abnormally, these three representatives did not speak for a full 30 seconds.In the past period of time, they have continuously put pressure on the black director, and tried every means to try to force him to confess what he was hiding.And when Fury finally came out, none of them seemed ready to face the truth.

Fury didn't make a sound, just stood there with his hands behind his back, waiting patiently for them to chew and digest the huge information.In the dark and sealed room, a needle could be heard for a while, and only the sound of undulating breathing came out through the stereo speakers.

After a long while, a representative said with some uncertainty: "Director Fury, let me confirm again. You just told us about 'Hydra'—not any other Hydra, or the Hydra from World War II. The terrorist organization that survived in S.H.I.E.L.D. — still exists today. And that organization has been inhabiting S.H.I.E.L.D. for the past century?"

"That's roughly what it means." Fury said flatly.

"And it has been a part of SHIELD for the past century. They have infiltrated every aspect of SHIELD. Even the former SHIELD Commander Alexander Pierce is a member of them?" The representative said, emphasizing Tone, "You realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?"

"I take responsibility for every word I say," Fury said.

"If these are true, I'm afraid this is beyond the scope of your responsibility, Director Ferry." The representative who spoke clearly had a sense of accountability, "That means that in the past so many years you The department is full of Hydra spies, and as a commander you know nothing about it?"

"We have expressed our high dissatisfaction with your hierarchical secrecy system more than once, Director Fury." The council representative who spoke before also snapped, "especially I have emphasized transparency more than once. The importance of the management mechanism. If you had not been so stubborn and adopted the advice earlier, things would not have come to this point."

"And it's meaningless to say these things now." Fury said coldly, "The important thing now is to solve the problem."

"Are you assigning all the power of Aegis to take down multiple facilities that are suspected to be enemy strongholds at the same time?" A council representative shook his head, "But you can't even disclose the source of information to us. Such a big decision requires Do it carefully, we can't just leave it at that."

"You seem to have a little misunderstanding, gentlemen." Fury interrupted him, "With the recent contacts, our understanding of Hydra has become deeper and deeper, and I have also realized more and more How unfathomable this organization is. It is no exaggeration to say that Hydra has truly penetrated into every aspect of the world, and there are their shadows in any country, region and organization. I even want to say personally, The possibility that there are also Hydra spies in the World Security Council cannot be completely ruled out."

As soon as he said this, the council representatives couldn't sit still, and began to reprimand him with words such as "ridiculous" and "nonsense".

Fury turned a deaf ear to their reaction, and continued on his own: "This is a decisive battle between us and Hydra. The confidentiality of the operation is very important. So you see, I am not trying here. For the sake of asking your permission. While I'm standing here grinding my mouth with you"

He paused, and a sharp gaze like a preying falcon shot out from his right eye.

"...the action has already begun."

While this conversation was happening, the Hydra strongholds listed by Michael were all violently raided at almost the same time.

The long-distance strike missiles first kicked off the battle. Powerful modern weapons fell from the sky, bringing billowing smoke and scorching flames.

The Quinjet strikes followed.The advanced fighters unique to S.H.I.E.L.D. had almost reached the top of the enemy's head before releasing their invisibility, and poured out their flames mercilessly downward.Heavy weapons such as fighter jets and laser tanks in the attacked Hydra facility were blown to pieces before they could even be activated, and more than half of their combat effectiveness was lost before the confrontation.

After the violent and sufficient fire suppression almost destroyed most of the base's facilities, the elite assault team of Aegis was dispatched to break in.But by now the situation has basically settled down, and their task is only to hunt for the fish that slipped through the net and control the situation.

Each team is directly commanded by the commanders appointed by Fury himself. All these commanders are confidants whose identities have been confirmed to be innocent after his own strict examination.In addition, none of the SHIELD agents involved in the operation knew the content of the mission, and each team in each team was only informed of their duties after arriving at the scene.

No one involved in the operation knew the whole picture of the mission, so that no one could snitch—that's the Nick Fury style.

News of victory came back to the headquarters one after another, and the last battle was declared over in just one hour.So far, most of the highest-level branches carefully hidden by Hydra have been completely destroyed, and the three highest-level leaders were killed on the spot.

The final decisive battle has just started, and it has already ushered in the end.

(End of this chapter)