Fifteen minutes earlier.
The personnel of the four major agencies were completely confused.
They were no strangers to emergency operations, but this was the first time they had seen an operation involving entire departments mobilized at once.
Every agent had been ordered to drop their current assignments and deploy at full combat readiness.
Had the Atlantean war not already been confirmed as over, many of them would have assumed the war had reached the mainland.
This time, all mid- and lower-level commanders from the four agencies were placed under strict gag orders.
Before reaching their destinations, no one was told the target location.
As for the specific mission objective—
even they had no idea.
However, before long, shock began to appear on the faces of the agents and assault teams.
Because what they were doing now was far beyond anything they had expected.
First, this wasn't just a single-agency operation—personnel from all four agencies were mixed together, and they were also assigned to mutually supervise one another.
If anyone dared to leak information under these circumstances, the consequences would be unthinkable.
But what truly stunned them was finally learning their first objective:
To completely seal off the building in front of them.
Not just on the ground—but from the air, underground, and even through sewage and drainage systems.
Total lockdown.
And many of them soon realized something even more unbelievable—
Their target was none other than S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.—
Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
This was not a American agency.
It belonged directly to the World Security Council, and in both authority and strength, it far surpassed the four domestic agencies.
Aside from the CIA, the other three agencies were largely confined to operating within America.
Once they stepped outside that sphere, they became toothless tigers.
Even the CIA could only act covertly overseas—never openly.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. was different.
Within member nations of the World Security Council, it possessed law enforcement authority, arrest powers, and full operational legitimacy.
Simply put—
S.H.I.E.L.D. could walk sideways across the globe.
Including America.
The four agencies frequently crossed paths with S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.
Conflicts during missions were not uncommon.
And almost without exception, those confrontations ended with the four agencies backing down.
Because anyone who tried to go head-to-head with S.H.I.E.L.D. never ended well.
Yet now—
They were surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters?
Some agents felt nervous, sensing that something enormous was unfolding.
But many more felt a rising excitement.
It was like being bullied your whole life—
then one day, showing up with dozens of brothers to surround your tormentor, watching them tremble.
Exhilarating.
Still, S.H.I.E.L.D. was S.H.I.E.L.D.
And more importantly—Hydra had infiltrated it deeply.
These people were naturally cautious, far more alert to danger than ordinary agents.
Meanwhile, the four agencies were spread out and lacked experience in large-scale joint operations.
That gap allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to notice something was wrong.
At first, Hydra assumed it was just another special operation.
After all, they were used to pushing the four agencies around.
But as time passed, they realized the truth—
The target was S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.
That's when the abnormal activity began.
Hydra operatives started relaying messages layer by layer.
Mid-level Hydra leaders were puzzled at first, but their ingrained suspicion drove them to report upward immediately.
As overlapping intelligence accumulated, Hydra's upper ranks sensed something deeply wrong.
They rushed to alert the highest level—
Only to be met with complete silence.
Because Hydra's top leadership had already been severed by Lucas.
Those senior figures had long been placed on Nick Fury's list.
And the ones hiding inside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters were among the first to be subdued by Hawkeye and Natasha, then transferred to secure holding sites.
The true spark came when Nick Fury issued a public directive to all S.H.I.E.L.D. branches:
All agents were ordered to lay down their weapons
and submit to investigation by the four agencies.
That was the moment Hydra panicked.
They immediately activated their contingency protocols.
Hydra was not a group of ordinary terrorists.
After decades of infiltration and preparation, their think tanks had designed responses for virtually every emergency scenario.
They didn't collapse into chaos.
They began retreating and hiding according to plan.
But not everyone followed orders.
Lower-level Hydra members—those who had joined recently or lacked psychological resilience—panicked.
Instead of hiding, they attempted to flee.
And that was where they failed.
The four agencies had deployed massive forces and layered containment zones.
No matter how capable Hydra was—
Once caught in that net, there was no escape.
One Hydra operative after another was captured and transferred to specialized interrogation sites.
There, the four agencies' best interrogators went to work.
With relentless techniques, the defenses of these low-level operatives quickly crumbled.
From them, information on additional Hydra lieutenants was extracted and sent back to the front lines.
Like a spreading virus, the web expanded.
Even though Hydra often relied on one-way communication, patterns and traces still emerged.
Analysts from the four agencies compiled and cross-referenced intelligence, continuously refining suspect profiles.
Following the trail step by step—
More Hydra operatives were exposed.
Soon, all preparations were complete.
The four agency directors gathered in one room.
As they reviewed the data, their expressions grew increasingly grim.
Hydra's numbers far exceeded expectations.
If S.H.I.E.L.D. was a towering tree—
Then Hydra had already rotted nearly its entire root system.
Less than forty percent of the organization remained clean.
The conclusion was terrifying.
Without this operation, S.H.I.E.L.D. would soon have become Hydra's true nest.
At that point, even all four agencies combined might not have been able to contain it.
More disturbingly, the directors began to worry about their own organizations.
If Hydra could infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. to this extent—
Could their agencies truly be safe?
After reporting the findings to Lucas, a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Then begin," he said calmly.
"I've already cut off the serpent's head. The rest is up to you."
The four directors straightened, their spirits renewed.
Orders were issued immediately.
And so, the long-prepared forces of the four agencies moved in—
Launching the full-scale operation to eradicate Hydra from S.H.I.E.L.D..
_____
T/N:
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