Obadiah's anger flared.
The other party's earlier idling had already pushed him close to the edge. Now, from his perspective, it was obvious-they had no intention of honoring their promise and were preparing to turn on him.
That was only natural.
If Obadiah were in their position, he would do the same after squeezing out the maximum benefit.
Keeping promises?
That only mattered to fools.
Obadiah cared about profit. Nothing else. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to remove Tony Stark in the first place.
Yet he never truly felt this predicament was his fault.
Or rather, he knew-but refused to accept it.
In his mind, everything he did was justified. The problem was bad luck. And incompetent "pig teammates."
If he'd known things would turn out like this, he should've taken a bigger risk and used his own people to deal with Tony.
If not for covering his tracks, he would never have hired those short-sighted idiots who let someone hammer together a suit of armor in a cave.
God knew what they thought that thing was.
In short-
Ignorance was terrifying.
"Fuck you!" Obadiah exploded. "You treacherous bastards dare accuse me of deception? Even if I did deceive you, I was right to! Because from the very beginning, you never planned to keep your promise!"
"We fulfilled our agreement," the voice from the speaker replied, suppressed fury leaking through. "If we failed to capture Tony alive, we would kill him and make you the CEO of Stark Industries."
"But you deceived us!"
"Our people failed!"
"What do you mean?" Obadiah froze. "What do you mean 'failed'? Everything I told you was the truth! Your mission failing is your problem! Don't slander me!"
"The structure of Tony's villa," Zola said coldly. "And his combat power."
"There were fatal omissions in your information. If we hadn't deployed our own contingency equipment, we would've been discovered before even entering."
"What does that have to do with me?" Obadiah snapped. "I've been away from the villa for over a month. Everything I told you was based on memory. Is a month not enough time for Tony to modify his own house?"
"Then explain Tony's combat power."
"What combat power?" Obadiah scoffed. "Tony Stark is a playboy! An inventor! What combat power could he possibly have?"
"We sent our strongest warrior," Zola replied. "He had the initiative. He was subdued."
"Tony Stark was unharmed. He was the only person in the villa."
"That's impossible!" Obadiah shook his head violently-then stopped. "You didn't attack him while he was wearing the armor, did you?!"
"How could we make such a brain-dead plan?" Zola snapped. "The attack was at three in the morning. Does Tony Stark sleep in his armor?"
"Our rigorously trained super-soldier-who has executed multiple classified missions-was eliminated in a one-on-one ambush."
"What does that have to do with me?!" Obadiah shouted. "Tony is an ordinary person! At most, he works out sometimes! If your man failed, shouldn't you question yourselves? Or did your so-called super-soldier get bribed by Tony's money?"
"That is impossible," Zola said flatly. "One of that super-soldier's previous targets was a man and a woman."
"The man was named Howard Stark."
"What?!" Obadiah's pupils shrank.
"Regardless of what you concealed," Zola continued, "this deception must be punished. Our original plan was cooperation-you control Stark Industries, and we maintain trade."
"That plan is void."
"You will join our organization. You will follow orders."
"Given that the target is now alerted, we will take special measures. Tony Stark will be eliminated directly, and the Arc Reactor seized."
"At that point, you will regain your freedom."
Obadiah: "..."
He wasn't stupid.
While arguing, he had already sensed something was off.
He had no way to confirm whether Zola was telling the truth, and the story sounded absurd. Impossible.
Tony Stark beating a special forces operative barehanded?
A super-soldier, no less?
Nonsense.
Then it clicked.
Was everything before this just groundwork?
A setup?
To reduce him to an obedient dog?
Obadiah's expression darkened-but it was an act.
This outcome was within expectations.
After seeing Hydra's scale and power, he'd never placed much hope in their original agreement. The moment they hijacked his plane, the plan had already gone off the rails.
Whoever had the bigger fist decided the rules.
Reasoning was a privilege of the powerful.
For the powerless, it was just noise.
From that moment on, Obadiah's fate was no longer his own.
Or rather, the only power left to him was the option to end it all-if even that.
Whenever regret surfaced, he thought that if he'd simply used his own men back then, everything would've been easier.
So when he realized Zola's entire performance was merely to announce a shift from cooperation to subordination-
Obadiah felt relief.
Even gratitude.
He didn't have to die.
He could still be CEO of Stark Industries.
Maybe one day, it would be Stane Industries.
Seen that way...
Wasn't this outcome perfect?
Could there be better options?
Maybe.
But even if Zola offered them, Obadiah wouldn't dare take them.
Leaving someone a hand while claiming you could take everything-who would believe that without an ulterior motive?
So Obadiah hesitated.
Accept too easily, and he'd look suspicious.
Refuse outright, and he might be given an excuse to be erased.
After brief consideration, he chose performance.
Indignant. Reluctant. Helpless.
Refusing ten times, but moving in the end.
Acting, in short.
...
After receiving Obadiah's response, Zola placed him under continued observation and calmly waited for news from the base.
A counter-kill?
Impossible.
What Zola told Obadiah was exactly what Obadiah suspected.
A fabricated excuse.
An impossible scenario with zero probability, used to force compliance.
He could have relied on brute force-but Zola was a scientist. A cultured man.
Crude methods were beneath him.
As for Tony Stark-
Zola estimated a high probability of capturing him alive.
Even in the worst case-if the Winter Soldier failed and only recovered the Arc Reactor-that was still acceptable.
Either way, Tony Stark would "disappear."
Naturally, none of this would be shared with Obadiah.
Zola had already planted the idea that Tony was dead.
If anything went wrong, or if Obadiah tried to defect, they would be ready.
After reviewing every branch of the plan once more, Zola ended the process with satisfaction.
He named it-
"Future Plan."
In his calculations, this was Hydra's future.
All they needed was that energy capable of changing the world.
Then every limb Hydra had extended during its years of dormancy could finally move.
The great undertaking was nearly complete.
Only the "east wind" was missing.
Zola waited.
Eagerly.
For the Arc Reactor soon to be in his hands.
Then the message arrived.
[Operation failed. Team A discovered and eliminated by Tony Stark, who exited the villa wearing gold and red armor. US military forces arrived rapidly. Teams B and C judged no further opportunity and have retreated; en route back. Contact with the Winter Soldier lost. Status unknown.]
[Failure cause unclear. Field data indicates that after Winter Soldier infiltration, two loud noises were heard, followed by the phrase: "Sleep on the ground."]
[Tony Stark subsequently flew out in armor. Conventional weapons were ineffective. Armor appears resistant to electromagnetic interference. EMP weapons failed.]
Zola: "???"
Doubting his own perception, Zola reread the encrypted message.
Every symbol.
Every zero and one.
He recompiled it using the communication codebook.
Then checked whether the codebook had expired.