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[20 Chapters in Advance on Patre.on]
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Chapter 29: It's Always Hydra
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[Wait, where's Adam? This is one of the very few scenes without him!]
[Are we getting a villain POV? This is awesome!]
[Ooooh, spooky hologram meeting! This has to be Hydra.]
[There are no clues yet, how would u know?]
[Always assume it's Hydra]
[Indeed, It's always Hydra]
[Hydra fucked my mom]
[My dad went out to get milk, but he never returned. It's Hydra's doing.]
[My girlfriend cheated on me. Fuck Hydra, it's their fault!]
[I killed someone... Because of Hydra's brainwashing.]
[Ayoo? Yo, what?]
[...]
The room was a void of impenetrable blackness, a digital non-space.
Then, with a soft hum, light bloomed.
It was the cold, pixelated glow of holographic projectors.
Around a long, phantom conference table, vague humanoid forms flickered into existence.
Their features were deliberately blurred, their bodies rendered as shimmering outlines of light, their identities hidden even from each other. The secrecy was absolute.
The first words spoken were a chorus of grim, synthesized voices, echoing in the sterile digital space. "Hail Hydra."
[Told ya.]
[F Hydra]
[Do you guys think. With the level of fourth wall penetration in this show, will Adam somehow know about this?]
[...]
[Fucking great idea, man, let's try to tell him!!!]
[Illuminati again? Grazy stupid people.]
[To be fair, everything around this show is weird; it's like a cultural phenomenon now.]
[True, like, it's like in every video site, and here is the kicker, the site's owner is saying they didn't put it there, and they can't remove it.]
[Also, the internet wide censorship of the show before, yeah, they gave up on that now, but it's so weird.]
[This is... I'm starting to believe.]
[+1] [+1] [+1]
[It's weird, but I'd rather believe it's a Disney masterclass in hype.]
[But every actor that appeared so far in the show is filing lawsuits and complaining on Twitter about Disney AI violations.]
[This stinks... I, too, I'm starting to believe.]
The meeting had begun.
"I assume we all know why we are here," Began a figure whose form suggested a military bearing. "Mistakes have been made. Catastrophic exposures."
A second figure, sleeker in outline, gestured dismissively. "The rat that escaped the Westchester facility. A regrettable lapse. The science division misinterpreted his powers."
"The science division," A third, more portly hologram cut in, its voice crackling with static, "Was not the one who authorized a clumsy field recruitment and assassination attempt in a public café!"
"That fiasco is on your head, Operations. You not only failed but you led S.H.I.E.L.D. directly to one of our assets!"
The Operations lead's form flickered with anger. "Do not blame me for that! The psychological triggers were supposed to be failsafe! We conditioned him for years!"
"The keywords should have turned him into a compliant weapon! Instead, it was as if all our work was for naught!"
He was referring to the extensive, Winter Soldier-esque brainwashing protocols; specific sonic and verbal triggers designed to induce a hypnotic, suggestible state; that had utterly failed on Adam.
[They tried to Winter Soldier our boy!]
[And it didn't work! His Hollow curse probably?]
[But that's not how it works.]
[Any other explanation?]
[Sheer will? Makes sense, no?]
[Ehh, I dunno.]
[They're so mad it's hilarious.]
"The 'rat' is proving far more clever than any of you gave him credit for," A fourth, more analytical voice stated. "He used himself as bait, and you took it like idiots."
"Now he has left the X-Men's protection. He has settled in Hell's Kitchen. Let's discuss what we should do instead of wasting time."
A heavy, digital silence fell over the table.
"It's a trap," The military figure stated flatly. "It has to be. Our contacts within S.H.I.E.L.D. confirm Fury has the location under intense surveillance. The rat is the cheese in a very obvious mousetrap."
"Then we do not send mice," Operations countered. "We send a third party. An assassination. Keep it clean."
"He's already given them a lot of our information. His hatred for us is a tangible thing. He will not stop. He is a variable that must be zeroed out."
[They're gonna try to assassinate him!]
[Yeah, state the obvious.]
[Must be a bot.]
[There are a lot of them on YouTube comments. You watch the short, open comments, and the first comment is always repeating what was said in the short, like WTF?]
[Dude, fuck off, I'm not a bot! I'm the hype man.]
[Bots have advanced too much.]
[Skynet is near, I tell ya.]
[Fuck off.]
[Well, Good luck with that, he's buddies with the Punisher and has a luck goddess living with him.]
[This is gonna backfire so spectacularly.]
[I think it will succeed, for tension purposes.]
[True, hope this isn't another Spider-Man tragic story.]
[The writer of Spider-Man hates him. Adam is a similarly tragic character... No way, right?]
[Please god no! I really like him.] [+1] [+1]
"Moving on," The analytical voice interjected, eager to shift from their collective failure.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is investigating the M.R.D.'s dealings with us. We need to cover our tracks immediately. Who is the primary liaison for the Sentinel project with Trask Industries?"
The silence that followed was different this time; thick with mutual suspicion.
The vague holograms glanced at one another, their featureless faces betraying nothing.
"Well?" The voice pressed, a note of frustration creeping in. "This is not the time for inter-divisional secrecy. We need to coordinate a response."
Still, no one spoke. Hydra was a hydra in truth; its many heads often acted independently, pursuing their own agendas under the broad banner of world domination.
This autonomy, usually a strength, was now a glaring weakness.
[LMAO! They don't even know who's doing what!]
[Adam blamed them for a deal they might not even have, and they're too secretive to confirm or deny it!]
[This is the most dysfunctional evil organization ever.]
[WTF, I'm dying!!]
"Fine," The analyst said, the word dripping with displeasure. "Whoever you are, bury the connection. Now. Next item: who has been authorizing operations to manipulate Magneto?"
This question was met with genuine, confused silence.
"Explain," The military figure demanded.
A short video clip played over the table; the conversation between Adam and Magneto.
They had someone capture it. Hydra really has heads everywhere. The clip played of Adam, imprisoned and tortured by Magneto's magnetic control, his metal digging into his flesh.
The conversation was Adam telling him about the words he heard while a lab rat, and researchers talking about their manipulation and operations around Magneto.
Then, Magneto's obvious anger and promise to go after Hydra.
All heads turned toward the Science lead, whose form was responsible for the facility where Adam was held.
"Another loose end from your department?" Operations sneered. "Instruct your people to keep their mouths shut!"
"If you are going to manipulate a force of nature like Magneto, you do it from the shadows, you don't brag about it in your own labs!"
The Science lead's hologram flared brightly. "That is a lie! I authorized no such matter or chatter! The subject is clearly fabricating this! My researchers were professionals!"
"I stress, I didn't fucking manipulate Magneto. Either he's fabricating things, or my people are talking nonsense. Either way, I can not verify. They're fucking dead!!"
No one believed him. Manipulating Magneto was, in fact, a time-honored, if risky, Hydra tradition.
The mutant terrorist's actions often created public and political panic, making it easier for Hydra's sympathizers to rise to positions of power under platforms of "security" and "order."
Apparently, if you hate Mutants and you show it enough, the people in power will look more favorably at you.
It's especially easy to acquire good positions at mutant-hunting organizations. Just kill or torture some Mutants, and the officials would look at you like their long-lost child.
They all assumed the Science division was simply continuing this profitable, deniable strategy and had been stupid enough to get caught.
[They're blaming each other for things ADAM MADE UP!]
[I CAN'T BREATHE!]
[This is the funniest thing I've ever seen!]
[Fuck! So much gaslighting it's disgusting.]
[For real, he's reminding me of my last boyfriend.]
[He's reminding me of my mom.]
[He's reminding me of my current girlfriend.]
[??? Your last girlfriend was a boyfriend? Gay.]
[Haha, so funny...]
[Hey, if he were my last girlfriend, maybe I wouldn't be broke now.]
[...]
[...]
"Regardless," The analyst said, weary of the infighting, "The damage is done. We can only mitigate."
He shifted topics again. "Fury's investigation is widening. He is now looking into Trask and, curiously, Wilson Fisk."
"The investigation into Fisk began immediately after a secure call Fury made, the contents of which we have been unable to acquire. Fury seems to believe Fisk has dealings with us."
He paused, letting the name hang in the air. "Wilson Fisk. The so-called 'Kingpin' of crime. Aspiring politician. What, precisely, are our dealings with him?"
For the third time, a profound and suspicious silence descended upon the council. They wanted to facepalm. Again?!
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