"Positioning successful. We've located Alexander Pierce. He's currently inside the World Security Council building."
It had taken Alice only a short while to pinpoint Pierce's whereabouts. The speed was terrifying.
After all, she was a super artificial intelligence. With her capabilities, she could effortlessly hack into the global network and access every camera connected to it—making it trivial to track down a single individual.
"Excellent. Move immediately to the World Security Council building. And Alice—mobilize all the anti-gravity drones we've built and surround the entire structure. Anyone who resists is to be eliminated."
Loren's eyes were cold, his voice dripping with murderous intent.
The mighty Morgan family was being undermined by a mere minister of the World Security Council. It was nothing short of treason. For such audacity, Loren would respond with overwhelming force—and make a brutal example of him.
If he failed to assert his authority now, it would send a dangerous message to the world: that he, the sole heir of the Morgan dynasty, could be challenged with impunity. That was a precedent he could not allow.
As the old saying went: One decisive strike prevents a hundred challenges. When your status is threatened, you must respond instantly and violently—instill fear from the outset. Mercy toward enemies was weakness; terror was the only reliable deterrent.
"Understood," Alice replied. "The lab has already completed 100 anti-gravity drones. All units are deployed and en route to the World Security Council building. Awaiting your further orders."
"Also, Alice—immediately infiltrate SHIELD's intelligence database and the Security Council's records. Cross-reference them to identify anyone suspected of Hydra affiliation currently inside the building."
"If you detect a match, eliminate them on sight. I'd rather kill an innocent than let a traitor slip through. These bastards will pay in blood."
Loren issued the thunderous command as his vehicle sped toward the World Security Council building.
"Understood. Hacking in progress…"
Ding. Hacking successful. Personnel data matching initiated…
No sooner had Alice received Loren's order than she launched her assault. Within seconds, she breached SHIELD's network firewall.
At that very moment, deep within SHIELD's secret base, an emergency alarm blared—sending a jolt of panic through the facility.
"Warning! Warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected!"
"What's happening? Who dares infiltrate SHIELD?" Coulson demanded, his expression grim as he turned to Agent Hill, who oversaw cyber-security operations.
Hill's fingers flew across the keyboard, her brow furrowed in alarm. "We don't know yet, sir. The attack was too sudden—too fast. We didn't get any prior warning."
"How is that possible? We've poured years of resources into Project Insight. Our predictive algorithms should flag any threat to SHIELD long before it materializes. How did we miss this?"
"I find it unbelievable too, sir," Hill admitted. "Normally, even a whisper of intrusion triggers an early alert. But this time… the system only noticed after the intruder was already inside our perimeter. It's… unprecedented."
"It seems we're dealing with a formidable adversary," Coulson said grimly. "We need to lock down the systems immediately—don't let them succeed."
"Sir…" Hill hesitated, then turned her screen toward him in resignation. "I'm afraid it's too late. They've already breached our firewall and locked down every operating system in the facility."
He saw a black bat logo appear on the screen—and nothing else. No text, no prompts, no trace of the system's usual interface.
No matter what commands they typed, there was no response.
The sight left everyone in the room stunned—even Coulson.
"Bat?" he muttered. "What is that? A codename? Is he mocking us?"
"Whether it's a taunt or not, I can't say," another agent replied, "but this guy's hacking skills are off the charts. We're completely outmatched."
"Damn it… what is wrong with this world?!" someone groaned.
"First Spider-Man shows up, then Iron Man and the Hulk—and now bats are haunting our servers?"
Coulson frowned and turned to Agent Hill. "Is there any other option?"
Hill shook her head. "I've already had someone pull the network cable. Hopefully, that'll keep our core data secure."
Just then, an automated alert blared through the room:
"Warning! Warning! Network firewall breached. Backend database compromised…"
"Oh, come on," groaned an analyst. "It looks like even the backups are gone. We've been stripped bare."
Coulson said nothing. His silence spoke volumes.
"This is serious," he finally said, voice low and grave. "We need to figure out how to explain this to the director."
As if on cue, a bald, dark-skinned man in a black windbreaker stepped out of the adjacent office.
"Someone better explain to me—right now—what the hell is going on!"
It was Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Sir," Hill reported, "we still don't know who's behind this. They've locked us out of all primary systems. No trace, no signature."
"Damn it! What about the backup system? Activate it and track them down. I want the name of the bastard who did this—now."
Hill hesitated. "Sir… the backup system was compromised the moment we powered it on. And… the intruder sent us a message."
"A message? What kind of message?"
"An emoji, sir."
Fury's brow furrowed. "An emoji? What emoji?"
"I… I'd advise against looking at it, sir. It's… inappropriate."
"Inappropriate? Don't be ridiculous. Show it to me."
Fury strode over to the backup terminal himself. One glance at the screen—and his expression darkened.
Displayed proudly in the center of the monitor was a crudely rendered image of a black-braised egg.
Fury stared. Then blinked. Then muttered under his breath:
"…You've got to be kidding me."