"Hawk is back!"
"Fuck!"
Alexander Pierce, who had fully taken over the S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion headquarters as a federal council member, using Maria Hill's absence in Africa to handle Wakanda affairs and the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assassination as justification, couldn't help but curse under his breath upon hearing the latest news from New York.
Especially after hearing that Sharon Carter had escaped and run into Palm Street, where their HYDRA Agents had followed her, and were caught red-handed by the newly returned Hawk while attempting to threaten Gwen.
Alexander Pierce became even more furious.
He hadn't been very optimistic about this 're-struggle' plan from the start.
After all, it was too rushed; the three Insight Helicarriers equipped with the Insight algorithm were still in their final debugging phase.
But...
The arrow was on the string, and it had to be fired.
Rather than perishing again in silence, it was better to choose to struggle again.
Take a gamble, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.
So HYDRA seized this rare window of opportunity and chose to struggle again.
Maria Hill was far away in Africa and couldn't return for now.
Thunder God Thor had gone to New Mexico.
Iron Man Tony had retired and gone to Japan with Pepper Potts.
Even Hawk had been managed by Zola to leave New York.
This was a rare window of opportunity; with a god, someone comparable to a god, and a super-rich individual all absent from the United States, the resistance they would face in their re-struggle would be minimal.
A mere Captain America was nothing to fear.
Although their leader had been defeated by Captain America last time.
But last time was an accident.
This time—
They were terrifyingly strong.
They didn't even need to kill Captain America; they just needed to wait until the three Insight Helicarriers, equipped with the Insight algorithm, were permanently airborne, and then everything would be set in stone.
The three permanently airborne Insight Helicarriers, under Zola's algorithm, could instantly analyze data from billions of people worldwide, identifying individuals who would disrupt their rule.
The three Helicarriers would fire simultaneously, capable of eliminating millions, even tens of millions, of potential threat targets locked by the algorithm within minutes.
But...
Among them, there were two targets they absolutely did not want to provoke.
The first was Thor.
Thor was not Earth's Thor, but Asgard's Thor. What if they provoked him, and then Asgard's hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals descended the next second?
So Thor couldn't be provoked. Fortunately, Thor had also gone to New Mexico with his girlfriend and was temporarily not in the district or New York.
The second was Hawk.
Once again.
The thick layer of white ash in Wakanda hadn't even been cleaned up yet.
So Hawk couldn't be provoked. Fortunately, Dr. Zola had also found a way to get Hawk out of New York in advance.
But Hawk was no longer in New York, yet Gwen was still in New York.
Therefore, Alexander Pierce had issued a strict order to New York early on: do not approach Palm Street, no matter what happens, do not approach Palm Street.
The result...
A few idiots still went there, and most importantly, just as these idiots went to threaten Gwen, Hawk also returned at that moment.
"They don't ask me before going in, but only ask me after something goes wrong?"
Alexander Pierce was so angry he laughed.
The assistant, who had come to report and was standing nearby, seeing his boss's nose almost twisted in anger, quickly responded.
"Officer, they already asked for permission."
"Who the hell agreed? Who did they ask for permission from?"
"Dr. Zola."
"Zo..."
Alexander Pierce was truly amused.
Once again, HYDRA was not a monolithic entity; rather than an organization, HYDRA was more of an alliance.
It was an alliance formed by a group of remnants who, after World War II, survived until now through various means, and then claimed to be the elders of HYDRA.
Although Alexander Pierce was not a HYDRA remnant, he was the leader of the new generation of HYDRA.
It was well known.
There were bound to be disagreements between old and new factions, and HYDRA was no different.
Just as Alexander Pierce had always cursed Arnim Zola and Wolfgang von Strucker as two idiots who should have been in a museum long ago.
And this time, Zola was responsible for the 're-struggle' matters in New York, and John Garrett, who was primarily in charge, was Arnim Zola's spokesman.
"What does this mean?"
"They don't ask me before starting, but now that something's gone wrong, they come to me? Are they taking me for granted, thinking I'll definitely clean up their mess?"
Alexander Pierce sneered repeatedly.
The assistant beside him kept his eyes down, not daring to make a sound.
Alexander Pierce didn't expect to get his assistant's opinion either. He took a deep breath, sneered, took out his phone, and directly contacted Dr. Arnim Zola.
Dr. Zola's electronic voice quickly sounded in his ear.
"Pierce!"
"Zola, you sent people to Palm Street?"
"Yes."
"Very good."
Alexander Pierce listened to Zola's frank admission and was equally direct: "The mess you made, you clean up yourself."
Zola's voice had no fluctuations.
"According to my algorithm, if Hawk did not appear, under our extreme pressure, Sharon Carter would have voluntarily come out to protect Gwen."
"But now Hawk is back."
"Yes."
Dr. Zola's electronic voice remained steady.
After all, the real Arnim Zola, who had various emotions, had died in 1972. The current electronic Zola, referred to as Dr. Zola, was more accurately a program with Dr. Zola's memories, but essentially just a program that ultimately followed so-called logic.
As long as there was data support, he could calculate various possibilities for the future.
For example, he could use the soon-to-be-online Zola algorithm to calculate the potential likelihood of every person becoming their enemy in the future.
But what about someone who couldn't be reasoned with logically? Then his Zola algorithm would be useless.
Like Hawk...
His logic told him that once Peter went missing, Hawk would immediately go looking for him.
But ultimately, he wasn't calculating for Hawk, but for Peter.
So...
He calculated Hawk's departure but failed to calculate Hawk's return.
However, this was not important.
What was important was that, as a digitized consciousness, Zola likewise would not lie. Therefore, when faced with Alexander Pierce's questioning, he had no intention of shirking responsibility.
Alexander Pierce was the same.
This time, he vowed not to get involved.
"The mess you made, you solve it yourself!"
"I will."
Zola said calmly, "Although Hawk's return was not within my calculations, New York is not crucial to the overall situation. I will control the impact within New York."
Alexander Pierce sneered, "You'd better be able to control it."
With that said.
Alexander Pierce stopped talking to Zola, hung up the phone directly, tossed his phone aside, and drained the ice water his assistant handed him.
The next second.
He reached out and pressed the signal jammer on the desk, looking at his assistant with flickering eyes: "Arnim Zola cannot be kept."
Zola's cloning project.
Wolfgang von Strucker's artificial human project.
Good heavens.
Once these two old geezers' plans were discovered by Hawk, anyone could imagine what they would face.
And Alexander Pierce felt greatly wronged.
He had done nothing, even lost a subordinate, yet he still had to bear Hawk's wrath along with Zola and Stryker if they were discovered.
In the beginning, Alexander Pierce was persuaded by Zola and got on the pirate ship together.
But now...
He suddenly realized he actually had a second option.
First, get rid of this damned Zola, otherwise, Alexander Pierce felt he would sooner or later be dragged down by these old fossils.
And Wolfgang von Strucker.
This guy had planted an even bigger bomb; once it exploded, the fate of Wakanda, with its entire population turning to white ash, would likely be the future of HYDRA.
But...
Wolfgang von Strucker was far away in Sokovia, and unlike Zola, this old man had a physical body. It was rumored that he ate an alien in Japan back in the day, thus surviving until now, and had always operated independently.
So, trying to kill Wolfgang von Strucker was still difficult now.
But it wasn't impossible.
After the Insight Helicarriers were permanently airborne, Alexander decided that the first shot would be sent to Wolfgang von Strucker in Sokovia.
He would completely erase him, his dilapidated castle, and the huge bomb inside that could trigger the Demon King's wrath if Hawk found out, from the face of the Earth.
Alexander believed that as long as these two idiots, who were stupid enough for a museum, were dealt with, HYDRA's resurgence would no longer be an unattainable dream.
In short.
He who hesitates is lost.
HYDRA's previous failure was due to being held back by this group of incompetent teammates. This time, he absolutely would not repeat the same mistakes.
So—
First, take out Zola, then eliminate Stryker; only with Pierce will HYDRA reign supreme!
After making up his mind, Alexander Pierce's gaze no longer flickered but intently fixed on his assistant.
He seemed to be saying.
You, find a way to pull the plug on Zola's server.
The assistant was stunned by his boss's low voice, then met Pierce's gaze and reacted, seemingly understanding what his boss wanted to say.
"Okay, boss, I'll tell the Winter Soldier to go to Jersey City and pull the plug for him."
"...No!"
Alexander Pierce quickly reached out his hand.
He had initially thought the same, to send the Winter Soldier directly to New Jersey to shut down Dr. Zola's server.
But now—
He suddenly thought of an even better idea.
A good way that could ensure Dr. Zola would be unplugged, and also ensure Hawk wouldn't vent his anger on his Insight Project, which would be online in twelve hours.
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