Capítulo 2675: Chapter 185: The Journey of the Madman (61)_1

In the spacious and bright office of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Pierce tossed a bundle of newspapers on the table with slight anger. He heard a knock on the door and turned to see Nick Fury standing outside.

"Come in." Pierce sighed.

"What's wrong, Director?" Nick asked.

"Have you seen this morning's news?" Pierce sat down behind his desk and lightly tapped the table with his index finger. "Iron Man's appearance has caused a huge sensation, and everyone is guessing his real identity, but is there any need to guess?"

Nick immediately understood Pierce's meaning, he said: "I think this is Tony Stark pressuring us. We are not ready to release the news of Hydra's resurgence. If Iron Man announces it first, we will have a hard time controlling public opinion."

"That would be a major stain on my career." Pierce's face was gloomy, looking straight ahead, he said, "The United Nations has postponed my appointment. They want to know who the mysterious enemy S.H.I.E.L.D. is dealing with in Eastern Europe, and Stark is causing such a big stir domestically, we are beset by troubles both at home and abroad."

Pierce looked up at Nick and asked, "Any progress on the interrogation of Rodriguez?"

Nick nodded at him and said, "I was just going to talk about this. On the way to transferring him, the forensics team scanned his physical condition, nothing unusual was found. But during the interrogation, we found that he is probably not a ordinary person."

"Of course he's not a normal person!" Pierce raised his voice, obviously impatient with Nick, he stared into Nick's eyes and said, "He is so important that the military and the FBI have wiped out all traces of his existence. He definitely has a shocking secret, and Hydra got to him first."

"Sorry, Director." Nick lowered his head and said, "What I meant is that it's been seven days since we captured him and started the interrogation. During this time, he hasn't eaten or drank anything, but he's still fine. Exhaustion tactics have no effect on him."

Pierce's brow wrinkled, he said, "You mean he might be a modified person, like Captain America?"

"It's very likely. We've estimated his age, and his childhood was during the period when the military was obsessed with human modification experiments. This might also explain why we can't find any of his information in any of the archives, he might have already been socially dead."

Pierce sighed, turned his head away, and tapped the armrests of his office chair. He said, "Stark wants us to put him on trial, but we can't do that. He'll spill everything, and then the military and the FBI will come after us."

"We're always cleaning up after them." Nick shook his head, "Ninety percent of the modified humans causing trouble within Federation territory are the result of military experiments."

"The key is that he's also part of Hydra." Pierce gripped the armrest, "The day he stands trial, the news that Hydra hasn't been destroyed will spread around the world. S.H.I.E.L.D. would become a laughing stock, and I can't tolerate my last bit of dignity being trampled, Nick."

"Of course, Director, your contributions to this world are clear to all. But if he can provide us with enough clues to take down the Hydra group in Eastern Europe, that would be another matter."

Pierce waved at Nick, "Go on, go tell him, in three hours I will have a private talk with him. That will be his last chance."

Pierce's words were filled with murderous intent, but he didn't see the cold glint in Nick's eyes as he turned away.

In Stark's office, after the secretary poured a cup of tea for Coulson and left, Stark, who walked into the lab, looked Coulson up and down in his suit and sighed, "I didn't expect you to look a bit like a secret agent, James Bond?"

Coulson smiled helplessly and said, "I thought you were going to call me annoying and clingy, Mr. Stark."

"I was going to say that." Stark rolled his eyes almost imperceptibly, sat opposite Coulson in his battlesuit and said, "What are you here to talk about this time? Do you want to ask for a few more days, so you can coax some intelligence out of that Hydra and make up for your mistakes? There's no more time, buddy, my patience has limits."

"That's not why I'm here this time." Coulson smiled at Stark, "Of course it has something to do with that, but today I'm not here representing Director Pierce."

Stark furrowed his eyebrows slightly, Coulson rubbed his hands, rested his forearm on his knee, leaned forward and earnestly looked at Stark and asked, "Mr. Stark, do you know who the next S.H.I.E.L.D. Director will be?"

Stark lowered his eyes, snorted and said, "I'm not interested in your internal power struggles. I just hope someone gets the job done, and does it better."

"Nick Fury will be the next director of S.H.I.E.L.D. They have started the work transition a month ago, but the attacks from Hydra in other countries has prevented Director Pierce from smoothly ascending to the United Nations Security department."

Stark leaned back, pretending to understand and said, "You mean, you want me to stop causing trouble, quickly send Pierce away, so your boss can become the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"That's beneficial, isn't it? As soon as Nick Fury becomes the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., that Hydra member can be immediately punished as he deserves." Coulson extended a finger, "Director Pierce, in order to protect his own good reputation, would definitely strictly try Hydra, until some results are produced for the public and the United Nations."

"But Nick Fury has no such worries, he doesn't need the intelligence from Hydra, he can carry on with his work, and he would do it better than Director Pierce."

Coulson looked at Stark and said, "Nick Fury always leans towards a fair trial. Once he takes the position of S.H.I.E.L.D director, we will make sure all members of Hydra face trial in court."

Stark had to admit that this was tempting.

Pierce might act out of desperation for his own career, but as long as he leaves, Nick will take Shiller to court. It would be better to face the law than fall into the hands of Pierce, the head of Hydra.

But then Stark realized something was off. Pierce was afraid that if Hydra resurfaced it might tarnish his late career, so he had no need to announce that Shiller was part of Hydra from the beginning. He could have just said he was a common terrorist, and the matter would be brushed under the carpet.

But he first told Stark that Shiller was Hydra, then made a big fuss in Eastern Europe about tackling Hydra, and now he was claiming that exposing Hydra's survival might ruin his late career. Wasn't this a contradiction?

He could have pretended he knew nothing, gone to the United Nations as scheduled, and let the floodgates open after stepping down from duty. The mess Hydra's resurgence would cause could also be thrown to Nick.

Stark felt his head throbbing again. Instinctively, he felt that this might result from a power game between Pierce and Nick. So what did Coulson's visit mean now?

Coulson took a sip of water, looked up at Stark and said, "Mr. Stark, to cut to the chase, at the time you were in Afghanistan, Nick Fury had already located you. He was about to send a rescue team when Director Pierce stepped ahead."

The information implied in this statement started the gears in Stark's brain. He knew that if everything went as expected, Nick must have already held real power then, and Pierce was planning to move on to the United Nations.

If Nick had located him then, had he also found out something else that caused Pierce to hastily expose Shiller's identity to clear his own name?

The more Stark thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Though in his view, Pierce's disguise was foolproof, it wasn't impossible for Nick, who had been close to Pierce, to have picked up on something.

This would explain Pierce's series of actions. Nick might have started an investigation the moment Stark was declared missing and grappled some clues about Pierce's plan.

Pierce noticed the risk of being exposed, immediately took over his work, monitored Shiller, obtained Stark's exact location, and rushed there as quickly as he could. He publicly revealed the results of Nick's investigation, to prove his diligence and righteousness.

Though Stark was not adept at such power struggles, he had seen a few. Generally, when a superior makes a mistake, they can easily get past it by publicly punishing the one who carried out the actions, a traditional way of "punishment drinking three cups".

Pierce rushed to Afghanistan to bury this case by blaming it all on Shiller as an emergency response to the crisis, to prevent Nick from tracing the clues back to him.

But this naturally led to bigger trouble. With Nick watching, Pierce had to deal heavy blows to the members of Hydra in Eastern Europe that Nick had discovered, or he wouldn't be able to clear himself of suspicion. But such action would certainly draw the attention of the United Nations, which would cause trouble for his promotion.

The more Stark thought about it, the more it seemed that the entire event was linked. This could very well be a tough trap set by Nick for Pierce, where Pierce would be uprooted by Nick if he did nothing, but if he tried to clear his name, it would impede his career path.

Stark had a sudden realization, how could he be the only smart man in the world? Nick Fury had probably already suspected something was wrong with Pierce.

Stark faintly recalled that he had heard his father Howard mention Nick Fury before, but only described him as an outstanding warrior. However, if he managed to live from the World War II era till now, he was definitely smarter than expected.

Upon realising this, Stark heaved a sigh of relief and the weight that had been on his heart finally lifted. Fighting alone and cooperating with another intelligent ally presented completely different pressures.

However, Coulson's next words put him back on edge again.

"To turn around the unfavorable situation for his promotion, Director Pierce now wants to wipe out the Hydra in Eastern Europe once and for all. Nick Fury is interrogating our only captured Hydra member under his orders."

"But the man kept his mouth shut. A few agents have been questioning him for a week without getting any useful information. But you can rest assured that Director Pierce, eager for results, will not allow him to keep his mouth shut."

After standing up, Coulson said, "Sir Iron Man, you certainly want to see the perpetrator of this crime stand trial in court, and to ensure that he is alive to go on trial, you should give some hope to Director Pierce."

"Like?"

"Like Iron Man is willing to help S.H.I.E.L.D solve the problems brought by Hydra, and provide the results that Director Pierce needs to reassure the public."

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