If Hydra were exposed because of this, the whole world would unite against it. After all, anyone who lived through World War II harbored a deep-seated hatred for Hydra.
The new North American Hydra head's face darkened.
"No. That plan is at a critical stage right now. If we abandon it, all our efforts will be wasted."
"Your efforts will be wasted."
Baron Strucker said coldly.
"No one ever thought much of your so-called Project Insight."
The Project Insight that Pierce was so obsessed with in Captain America: The Winter Soldier worked by applying Arnim Zola's algorithm to identify potential threats to Hydra worldwide, then eliminating them with long-range tracking missiles from the helicarriers. Yet, from the brief glimpse of the kill list that flashed across the S.H.I.E.L.D. screen when Project Insight launched in the movie, one name on that list was actually Dr. Bruce Banner.
Who in the world gave them the nerve to fire tracking missiles at Dr. Banner? Did someone hand out liquid courage?
Only Pierce himself and this newly appointed North American Hydra head treated that plan like a precious treasure. The other heads had zero interest in it.
The North American Hydra head choked at the retort and hit back coldly.
"I recall, Baron, that you lost an entire base just last month. If I'm not mistaken, it was a base of a fairly high classification, and to this day you still haven't explained what actually happened. I think you owe us an explanation — whether that base's exposure jeopardized the secrecy of the organization, and whether those private research projects of yours pose a threat to us."
Baron Strucker folded his arms and snorted.
"The cause is still under investigation, but it should not endanger the organization. You may rest assured on that point."
"With all due respect, Baron, if you refuse to disclose anything, then we cannot simply rest assured." The North American Hydra head pressed on relentlessly.
In truth, everyone knew that Baron Strucker spent his days locked up studying a group of superpowered individuals.
Many within Hydra were obsessed with superhuman abilities, and the various factions had been keeping a close eye on the Baron's progress — it was just that he never shared any results.
Baron Strucker certainly couldn't open his mouth about it. He couldn't exactly tell them that his base was attacked by monsters and then simply gone.
Spending all day researching superpowered individuals, only to be defeated by monsters — if word got out, he'd be accused of wasting the organization's funds. Besides, monsters were more like natural disasters, not proof of his own incompetence.
Zodeces mused to himself that his random release of monsters had its perks after all. Who would've thought even Hydra would end up suffering because of it.
This was too much fun. He couldn't help thinking about the idea of becoming a new Hydra head himself.
A brand-new head emerges out of nowhere, and no one else in the entire organization has the slightest clue.
In any other context, such a thing would sound utterly absurd. But for Hydra, this kind of thing was not only normal — it had happened more than once.
Take the Hydra heads sitting around this very conference table. Whitehall was exactly that sort of head who had suddenly popped up out of thin air.
This guy was originally a Hydra leader during World War II, but at the end of the war, his stronghold was taken down by the Howling Commandos. Agent Peggy Carter personally led the charge to raid his lair and threw him into prison to rot.
Yet after decades locked in a cell, he was rescued by his subordinates, used a certain Inhuman's superhuman cells to reverse his aging and regain his youthful appearance, and suddenly emerged to seize power, becoming one of Hydra's supreme leaders today.
Another example was Baron Heinrich Zemo. He had also been one of the highest-ranking Hydra heads back in the Red Skull era and had vanished without a trace after World War II, whereabouts unknown.
After all those decades, everyone assumed that guy had become ancient history. Then not long ago, he suddenly crawled back out of his coffin, settled into a seat of power, and became a major head again.
Hydra might be called a colossal organization, but its internal management system was complete and utter chaos.
Each head ran their own affairs independently. They were more like colleagues than anything else, didn't frequently communicate with each other, and didn't do much business among themselves.
The so-called Hydra heads were really more like mountain bandit chiefs. As long as you had guns, people, and enough influence, you could just plop yourself down on any hilltop and declare yourself a boss.
On top of that, Hydra was currently casting a wide net for talent with practically no entry threshold. Anyone and their mother could worm their way in, so much so that even the faction heads themselves had no idea who exactly was under their command.
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Often when colleagues crossed paths, they didn't even recognize each other. The only foolproof way to identify a fellow Hydra member was one stupid phrase: "Hail Hydra."
In Avengers: Endgame, Captain America said that single line, and the Hydra moles actually believed he was one of them on the spot.
Now that I think about it, ferreting out Hydra spies is actually pretty simple. All you need is enough patience to walk through S.H.I.E.L.D. person by person saying "Hail Hydra." Whoever answers is the spy.
To be honest, Agent Garrett never really agreed with Hydra's ideology, and he didn't have any deep affection for his superior Pierce either. He joined Hydra purely to get in on the institutional perks and benefits — bluntly put, just to make a living.
As Garrett aged, his physical condition deteriorated, and he even contracted a terminal illness.
To cure himself, he used his Hydra resources to launch the "Centipede Project," obsessively researching the Super Soldier Serum, hoping to use physical enhancement to heal a disease that conventional medicine was powerless against.
Unfortunately, the project progressed slowly, and the serums he developed always had one defect or another. All he could do was buy time.
Now Garrett's days were growing shorter by the minute. He'd heard that Baron Strucker had made the most advanced progress within Hydra on superhuman research, but the Baron's faction was nothing but a bunch of Nazi maniacs — he didn't want to throw in his lot with them.
And he'd also heard that the Baron guarded his research results so tightly that even his own close associates couldn't get near them.
So Garrett pinned his hopes on Zodeces instead. After all, Zodeces had already developed a cure for AIDS and a specific treatment for polio. Lately, though, Zodeces had been neglecting his proper work and instead ran off to research the Super Soldier Serum.
And then, without anyone expecting it, he gave the whole world a huge surprise.
He successfully turned himself into the strongest man on Earth.
Honestly, Garrett was ready to defect to Zodeces right then, to tell him that Hydra still lurked in the shadows of the world — not asking for anything else, just begging to have his life saved.
Garrett's body was on the verge of giving out. He felt that even if he kept his research going, it probably couldn't save his own skin anymore.
The only problem was he didn't know what Zodeces's attitude was toward Hydra defectors. If Zodeces happened to have a personality that detested evil on sight, then Garrett would just be delivering himself on a silver platter.
/-\
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