Gwen listened to the keyword Hydra, and almost flinched. Stabilizing herself quickly, she widened her eyes and looked at Sharon who was pale-faced.
"Hydra?"
"Weren't they already eliminated?"
Because that's what the history books say.
So, when Gwen heard that Hydra had reappeared and was still lurking within S.H.I.E.L.D., her expression was one of disbelief.
Sharon was equally incredulous.
"I also find it hard to believe."
"But it's true, Hydra hasn't really disappeared. They are parasitically surviving within S.H.I.E.L.D., secretly growing stronger by leveraging S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources."
"Ten days ago, I went to the Black Prison to take away Dr. Merick, who was captured years ago due to clone experiments, and discovered something.
"Because the Dr. Merick imprisoned in the Black Prison was not the same Dr. Merick I had seen in the original files."
"Yet all the electronic records show that this Dr. Merick was indeed Dr. Merick."
"Initially, I didn't make a sound, and after bringing Dr. Merick back, I found Commander Hand and informed him of this."
"Commander Hand realized something was wrong too and immediately contacted Commander Hill through secret channels."
"There was a problem within S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Because Commander Hill was still in Wakanda and couldn't return for the time being, Commander Hand was to begin a secret investigation."
"In the past few days, with Commander Hill's authorization, we found that not only the Black Prison but even many warehouses storing dangerous items had seen numerous replacements."
"The time span is quite extensive, and even Commander Hill noticed that beneath her nose, a portion of Vibranium had gone missing."
"But she couldn't act yet, fearing to alert the snake, so she secretly contacted Director Nick Fury."
"Due to Commander Hill being in Africa, although Director Nick Fury's authority was temporarily suspended, he regained temporary authorization to recall Natasha and Barton, then contacted Captain America for the three to meet on the way to investigate the ship carrying Vibranium."
"And then..."
"We indeed alerted the snake."
"Yesterday at 10 a.m., Director Nick Fury encountered an assassination while leaving the headquarters."
"But then, while fleeing to Captain America's side, he was attacked again and declared dead."
"By the time Commander Hand and I received the news, Hydra, which was also lurking within New York S.H.I.E.L.D., began to take action as well. Many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were unexpectedly shot dead; I was originally planning to escape the base with Commander Hand."
"But Commander Hand was shot in the leg, so he stayed behind to cover me, allowing me to escape the base."
"Then I hid outside for one night. When I felt their search efforts had decreased, I found a car by the roadside and drove here to you."
Actually, Sharon's first choice was not here with Gwen.
She didn't want to bring danger to Gwen.
Hydra just wants to conquer the world, and if Gwen faces any danger, the world might become dangerous.
If anything happens to Gwen, an angry Hawk might shout, "My love is dead, I care not about right or wrong," and then flip the table and destroy Earth.
But...
In the large city of New York, Sharon had few places left to go.
Safe houses were the first to be ruled out.
After all, this uprising happened within S.H.I.E.L.D.; the safe houses she knew, Hydra would surely know as well. They might even be lying in wait at the safe houses for her to walk into a trap.
Next were S.H.I.E.L.D.'s friends throughout New York City.
Might Thor, having Combat Power T0 Level?
But Thor had gone to New Mexico with his girlfriend Jane Foster.
Might Iron Man, having Combat Power T1 Level?
Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had also gone to Korea to support the grand opening of Dr. Helen's Regeneration Laboratory, helping Tony with healing his injuries.
As for Witch Carrie, a possible T1 Level prospect?
Recently, Carrie also went to New Orleans with her witch teacher to visit other extraordinary witches.
Natasha and Barton were even less reliable.
Because they're not even New Yorkers, and at this time, with Captain America being pursued, Natasha and Barton probably wouldn't fare much better than her.
After pondering for a while, she thought of Palm Street No. 521A.
But...
Hydra apparently also thought of this, and the two gunshot wounds on Sharon didn't occur when she escaped yesterday; they were hit just on the way driving here.
But strangely enough.
When her car had just entered the Palm District, the two Hydra cars chasing her immediately stopped.
Listening to Sharon's narration, Gwen couldn't help but blink.
"Stopped right outside the Palm District?"
"Mhm."
Sharon nodded and thought of a possibility: "S.H.I.E.L.D. has Hawk's information, and Hydra surely has it too. Maybe Hawk is someone even Hydra knows not to provoke."
Reputation comes with good and bad.
In Hawk's friends' eyes, Hawk is undoubtedly quite an amiable person.
But according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, aside from having the official codename Phoenix, Hawk also has the private codename Demon King.