After sending the Hulk away, Heisenberg took a shower.
Mars had way too much dust. Even with a bio-field, it was impossible not to end up with grime stuck to him.
After a good long soak, and enjoying a maid's massage for a while, Heisenberg leisurely lay back down on the rooftop, sunbathing as he drifted off to sleep.
Don't ask why he didn't sleep indoors.
If you were a Kryptonian, you'd squeeze in every second of sun you could.
…
The Triskelion.
Nearly twelve hundred young S.H.I.E.L.D. cadets, along with more than three hundred official agents who had narrowly survived, were repairing the Triskelion building.
It wasn't that they didn't want to hire a construction team. It was that S.H.I.E.L.D. had far too many secrets. No one dared let outsiders casually walk into this wreck of a fortress.
And in the underground command post of the Triskelion, the temporary command center established by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York division, Steve Rogers stood there with his mind completely scrambled as he listened to Coulson's report.
"Captain Rogers!"
That was how the briefing began.
"At present, we have no support. The Americas have fallen into total chaos, and the federal side cannot provide us assistance.
Because once the war barely ended, the federation immediately entered a new round of presidential elections.
Director Fury… died a hero. Commander Hill is missing without a trace. Many of our plans are already in a state where they can't be executed.
Projects like T.A.H.I.T.I., Pegasus, and the Helicarriers, projects that require personal authorization from the Director and Commander, have almost lost all possibility of operation. We must pull those projects back and decide anew whether we will continue investing in them.
But the key issue is this. In this incident, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents on American soil suffered catastrophic losses. In the Washington headquarters and New York division alone, more than twelve thousand agents defected, more than seven thousand of our agents died, and more than eighteen hundred cadets died.
We simply cannot spare the manpower to recover multiple projects.
And the most troublesome part is this. The Chinese representative, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has filed a lawsuit against us. Regarding HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., they have demanded S.H.I.E.L.D. be revoked entirely!"
The moment Coulson finished, Captain America lowered his head in displeasure. When he raised it again, his expression was ugly, like he'd remembered something that hurt.
His hands braced on the tabletop, fingers tightening, and he spoke harshly.
"Seventy years ago, I nearly paid with my life to crush HYDRA's plot!
I thought I died, and instead I slept for seventy years.
But after I woke up, not even half a year later, I discovered that the HYDRA I defeated had been right beside me the whole time, and I was like a clown while they watched and laughed!"
Captain America shot Coulson a hard look.
"So maybe, with S.H.I.E.L.D. already like this, disbanding it wouldn't be a bad thing!"
"Captain Rogers!!!"
Hearing the hint that Captain America might dissolve S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson immediately pulled out every last bit of persuasive skill he had.
"You can't use the damage HYDRA did to us to deny S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nearly seventy years of effort.
What's more, this organization was founded by Peggy and you personally. S.H.I.E.L.D. is Peggy's final hope!
As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, I feel ashamed of what S.H.I.E.L.D. has become, but no matter what, please think of the agents who are still holding the line like me. Think of Peggy, who can't bear to let go even in the nursing home, Captain Rogers!!!"
Coulson's words hit like a hammer. Rogers hesitated.
To be honest, he really did want to disband S.H.I.E.L.D.
Because he had no idea how to deal with the mess S.H.I.E.L.D. left behind.
He had always been a soldier, at most the commander of a special operations team.
He had no experience managing a system with over a hundred thousand agents top to bottom, and he probably didn't have the talent for it either.
And it wasn't just the chaos of endless chores. He'd been awake for less than half a year. He didn't even understand S.H.I.E.L.D.'s basic operations yet. How was he supposed to manage all that damned bureaucracy?
Besides, in the current S.H.I.E.L.D., even he couldn't be sure how many HYDRA elements were still hidden inside.
Who could guarantee HYDRA mobilized all their manpower in this one battle? If the current S.H.I.E.L.D. system still had HYDRA lurking within, then every ounce of effort he poured in would be serving the enemy.
But no matter what, Coulson was right about one thing, and that sentence stabbed deep into Rogers' heart.
This was Peggy's S.H.I.E.L.D.
Rogers turned around, facing away from Coulson, Barton, and the others as he thought.
He had made his decision. No matter what, he would do everything he could to protect the foundation Peggy cherished most.
But did Steve Rogers have the ability?
He could fight all day, sure, but he was an executor. Did he have the talent to be a manager?
Rogers wanted someone to step forward and carry the Director's burden for him, so he could just keep fighting.
That was what he was good at.
But here was the problem.
In the ruins of S.H.I.E.L.D., no one commanded more trust than Rogers.
Inside, everything needed rebuilding. Outside, enemies surrounded them. From top to bottom, agents and cadets desperately needed a leader they could trust, a leader who could inspire them.
If Nick were still alive, he would barely qualify.
Even though HYDRA had hidden under his command until now, an irreparable failure on his part.
Still, his nearly twenty years of controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. would make his former subordinates believe in him.
But Nick was dead.
If only his body had been left behind. Coulson had participated in Project T.A.H.I.T.I. He had the ability to bring his Director back.
But Nick didn't even leave a corpse. Even now, no one had found him in the rubble the Hulk created!
Besides Nick…
Commander Hill also qualified.
As Nick Fury's right hand for years, Hill personally participated in roughly eighty percent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s covert projects. She understood every secret in the department, top to bottom.
And more than that, Coulson and the other senior agents knew very well what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strongest remaining force was.
That Helicarrier.
Hill was its commander.
But Hill vanished after Nick died.
Truly missing without a trace.
Other senior agents, then?
At present, there was only one Level 9 agent, Hill.
Level 8 agents, nearly all of them had been far too close to John Gattler. Aside from the Level 8 agents still resisting HYDRA in other branches, everyone else was undergoing internal vetting.
Even if they passed, John Gattler's betrayal meant the other Level 8 agents were doomed to be unfit for the Director's seat.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current Level 8 agents were essentially the heads of various regional branches.
The agents already had a shadow over that rank.
As for Level 7 agents and below…
This level was less "Level 7," and more a floating level.
Natasha, as the representative of Level 7 agents, could obtain Level 10 clearance at any time, because at certain special moments, she had to handle secrets that lower-level agents couldn't touch.
But what did high clearance matter? No one would accept a Black Widow who had defected from the Red Room and entered S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Director.
At least, not now. Especially not right after HYDRA's betrayal. Nobody would obey any order she issued. Who knew if she was a Red Room plant?
And Barton, Melinda, Coulson…
These people…
Their seniority might be enough, but their prestige was nowhere near enough.
If Captain America didn't exist, maybe they could have picked the best of a bad lot and handed the Director's position to one of them.
But everyone clearly had a better option.
Rogers could only be forced into the seat, like a duck being shoved onto a perch.
"Coulson!"
Once he understood it, Rogers gave orders without hesitation.
"Lead all S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy cadets. Continue collecting and organizing every piece of internal data in the Triskelion.
Agent Barton, go to Texas. Find Agent Natasha and bring Thor's girlfriend back to New York for protection. In this special moment, we can't rule out HYDRA using Thor's girlfriend as a breakthrough point to create conflict between us and Asgard.
Agent May, take two teams and search for and capture John Gattler, Alexander Pierce, and other key HYDRA members.
I will meet the World Security Council members. As Captain America, I will vouch for the current S.H.I.E.L.D. and try to persuade them to withdraw their decision to divide and dismantle S.H.I.E.L.D.
But S.H.I.E.L.D. has been hollowed out by HYDRA. Even if we manage to keep our current structure, we must be prepared to crawl back up from the ruins.
Back when I was on the battlefield, I always liked to say one line to my comrades.
We have to push forward, friends, because we have a reason we must win!"
"Yes!"
Everyone answered in unison, then split up and threw themselves into work.
But just as Captain America was about to start a video meeting and prioritize discussing responsibility for the HYDRA incident with members of the U.S. Department of Defense, Coulson returned and interrupted his plan.
Coulson strode back into the command room, excited but also nervous, and spoke to Rogers.
"Captain Rogers, that person brought Bruce Banner back. If we can use him, we'll gain an absolute main force against HYDRA!"
…
Three hours later.
After suffering through political wrangling he never wanted to experience again, Rogers took time to visit Bruce Banner's hospital room.
But what he saw was still an unconscious Banner, surrounded by a crowd of helpless doctors.
"What's going on? Is Banner's condition serious?" Rogers asked quietly.
As the doctors made space for him, he walked up to Banner.
Looking at the naked Banner, with only a white cloth covering his waist, Rogers did a simple check.
A moment later, he asked in confusion, "He doesn't look injured at all. Banner's thinner than before, sure, but it shouldn't be enough to leave you all helpless, should it?"
The doctors looked at each other.
After exchanging looks for a long time, one thick-skinned middle-aged man finally stepped forward.
He spoke awkwardly to Rogers. "Banner is only malnourished. The fight with that person probably made him consume too much energy."
"Only malnourished? Then why not give him an IV? Is the situation so bad you're already short on medicine and supplements?" Rogers asked, genuinely curious.
His question made the doctors lower their heads in shame.
After a moment, the middle-aged doctor continued, "We… we've never treated the Hulk before. Most of us were only assistants in the past. We really can't be sure that if we poke him with a needle, the monster inside him won't come back out!"
"This…?!!"
Rogers was left speechless.
/-\
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