บท 58: Chapter 58
"- international uproar-"
"- shock press conference-"
"-sister, AKA the Wyvern, was seen being escorted into a Manhattan jail earlier this afternoon-"
"- really no doubt as to the outcome of the Grand Jury-"
"The Grand Jury are expected to come to a decision on whether or not to indict Ms Stark by the end of today or early tomorrow-"
" - over thirty counts of first degree murder, along with charges of domestic terrorism, espionage, treason, kidnapping, grand larceny, and numerous other crimes."
"- means we can expect an arraignment in a matter of days, but-"
"- international sensation. The world is watching New York City."
WHiH World News Broadcast
"Well, Will," said Christine Everhart, shuffling her papers. "We've just seen the now-infamous Margaret Stark press appearance. I've gotta say, she's got the family flair for throwing dramatic press conferences."
"Actually I disagree," replied WHiH's political correspondent Will Adams. "The shock value might be similar, but I'm not alone in thinking that Maggie Stark doesn't share her brother's usual sarcastic, casual way of addressing the media. Commentators have been calling her eloquent, dignified-"
"Sure, she's articulate," Christine cut in, holding up a hand, "but it seems public reaction has been focused more on the content of her address. Ms Stark said she aimed to clear the waters, but at the end of the day people have more questions than ever. Let's have a look at some reactions, shall we?"
The screen cut from the newsroom to a series of reactions from members of the public, stopped on their way down the street.
"She said that HYDRA turned her into a weapon," said an elderly woman with a shopping bag. "But I don't understand, what does that mean?"
A long-haired man covered in tattoos gestured passionately at the camera as he exclaimed. "Five years old? Five years old?"
A professional-looking woman crossed her arms. "I'm confused – the Secretary of State said that Ms Stark was a 'major aggressor' against the Accords, but now she says she didn't fight against them? Who are we supposed to believe?"
The clip cut back to the newsroom. Will Adams nodded gravely. "People have also been expressing their questions and reactions on social media. This user" – a tweet appeared on the screen beside his head – "states 'She said she didn't want to do any of what she did – so why did she do it?'"
Christine folded her hands together. "Some have been theorizing that brainwashing may be a factor, but with so little evidence that's a big leap to make. There are also questions about the 'Memory Suppression Machine' that Ms Stark mentioned – this Twitter user writes: That sounds horrific, how did we not know about this?, while others express skepticism about her claims."
"That's true, Christine," Will acknowledged, "though some people are disappointed that a Grand Jury was called in response to Ms Stark's press conference – more than a few political commentators have noted that the Department of Justice has had months to indict Ms Stark, though they only chose to do so when she said she wanted to speak up about her actions. We all know of the senator who only hours ago claimed that the US Government was 'hushing her up'."
Christine flashed her teeth at him. "Isn't the Department of Justice perfectly within their rights to indict a self-admitted criminal after a period of investigation? Besides, Margaret Stark admitted to the world that she was acting against the Accords Committee's wishes – multiple senators and other spokespersons have said that Ms Stark ought to do as she's told."
"But Christine," Will replied, spreading his hands, "We've heard precious little from the Department of Justice – or indeed, any department or agency, about HYDRA's scope of influence and the Wyvern's actions. The 2014 Department of Defense inquiry into the HYDRA affair was notoriously close-lipped about what they found, citing national security. Don't we have a right to know what Maggie Stark wants to tell us?"
"National security trumps our curiosity, Will-"
"But Ms Stark didn't say she wants to release national secrets – she said she wants to address individual crimes and individual people. There's a lot of power in that."
Christine turned back to the camera. "Well, we'll continue to cover this story as it unfolds. Up next…"
October 6th, 2016
Alanya, Turkey
"Steve."
Steve jerked awake, reaching for a shield that wasn't there and then turning on his attacker, fists raised – only to see Natasha standing a few feet away from his mattress on the floor, eyeing him with one eyebrow cocked.
He lowered his fists and sighed. "Aren't you meant to be in Syria?" They'd split up for a while after a mission in Iraq, in case anyone came after them.
Natasha tipped her head, newly-blonde hair brushing her shoulder. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news."
The back of his neck prickled. "Oh god, what happened." He stood up from where he'd been kneeling on his mattress and rushed to his go-bag, but then realized he'd ditched his phone and didn't have any way of reading the news. He glanced back at Natasha, who pulled a smartphone out of her jacket and turned it toward him to show him a video.
His stomach dropped when he saw Maggie standing at the podium of none other than the Avengers press briefing room. She took a breath, and Steve suddenly saw Tony in every line of her face – her lifted chin, the firm line of her brows, and the determination burning in her eyes. Steve had seen that look plenty of times throughout his friendship with Tony and he knew that what followed was probably going to be very brave, or very stupid. Maggie opened her mouth.
"My name is Margaret Stark, and I'm here to put an end to twenty five years of silence."
The blood drained from Steve's face.
When the video ended, Natasha silently exited out of the app and then showed him a list of headlines from around the world:
Grand Jury indicts Margaret Stark on dozens of counts of murder.
Wyvern Arraignment Scheduled for October 7 th , 2016.
" Unquestionably Guilty": Secretary Ross speaks out about Margaret Stark press conference and indictment.
"The world's gone nuts again," Natasha said, calm as ever. "Maggie's going to trial, and at this point I honestly have no idea how that's going to go. Seems like the public's divided, but I'm seeing a lot more calls to convict than to acquit. And with the U.S. Government and the Accords Committee against her…" she sighed. "No word from Tony yet, but it sounds like he had no idea this was going to happen."
Steve swore and sat down in the single chair in his safehouse. He put his head in his hands. "Bucky's going to kill me."
Natasha didn't disagree.
After a brief moment of despair, Steve lifted his head again and looked at the phone in Natasha's hands, which displayed a still of Maggie's determined face at her press conference. "Okay," he said, wiping his palms on his jeans. "Let's work out a plan."
Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
"Hey, Tony."
"Hey, Maggot."
For a long moment Maggie and Tony just looked at each other through the glass panel that split the prison meeting room, phones pressed against their ears. Tony looked as smart as ever in his expensive suit and F.R.I.D.A.Y.-equipped glasses, but Maggie was in scrubs again. This time the scrubs were orange. Her hands, gripping the phone, were bound together by heavy-duty handcuffs designed for enhanced people.
Tony ran his eyes over her face. She looked fine after her night in prison, but he knew she was good at hiding her emotions, particularly when she didn't want to worry him. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You're being treated alright, you've got food?"
She nodded, and smiled at him. "I'm okay, really. I'm in a cell by myself, because of the whole enhanced-person thing, but I'm fine. It's only been a day. How are you?"
"I can't say I love the Orange-Is-The-New-Black look," he replied with a grimace. "It's not your color."
Maggie's eyes flicked over his shoulder. "Who're your friends?"
Tony glanced over his shoulder at the visitors he'd brought with him: a woman in her mid-forties with black hair and sharp eyes, and a taller, older man wearing glasses and holding a briefcase. They were both impeccably dressed in suits, and at Tony's nod they came to sit beside him on the visitor's side, reaching for their own phones to talk to Maggie.
Tony turned back to her. "These are your lawyers," he explained. "It was kind of a rush, but Pepper says their firm is the best in the state of New York. They're not under Stark Industries contract, Pepper said that would be a conflict of interest."
"I get it," Maggie said, and nodded to the pair. "Um, hi."
The man smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Ms Stark. My name is Diego Martinez, and this is Andrea Kemp. We've got over fifty years of criminal law defense experience between us, and our firm has a highly competitive success rate. Mr Stark has hired our firm for your defense, is that acceptable to you?"
"They're really good, Maggie," Tony added, his fingers white on the phone.
He watched Maggie's eyes dart between the two lawyers, assessing them. After a pause, she asked: "Ever seen a case like mine?"
This time the woman – Kemp – spoke. "No," she replied, eyes fixed on Maggie's. "Your case is unique in the history of criminal law, and we've had less than a day to review it, but after discussions with Mr Stark and a brief review of the evidence, we're confident that we've got a good foundation to help you from."
Maggie bit her lip, still looking from one attorney to another. Her eyes flickered to Tony, just once, and then she sighed. "Okay. Let's do this."
"Wonderful," said Kemp. "Now, the indictment's been filed and the arraignment hearing has been set for tomorrow morning. This is what you can expect in the coming days…"
Tony sat in for the rest of the meeting as Maggie's attorneys explained the charges filed against her and what was to come. Mr Martinez and Mrs Kemp had folders and folders full of their initial files on the case, and they explained that that was just the beginning – they'd reviewed the charges and the bare facts of the case, but there was lots more work to be done.
"One of the purposes of the arraignment hearing is to determine a plea," Kemp explained. "There are a few options available to us. First, you plead guilty."
Tony's face twisted but he forced himself to hold his tongue. Maggie nodded once, waiting for Kemp to continue.
"Second, you plead not guilty and wait for a plea deal offer from the prosecution – the US Attorney's office has appointed David Mallory to be your prosecutor, and he's got a history of offering plea deals. And given the many vested interests in this case, political and otherwise, it's likely one will be offered."
"It's risky," Martinez added, adjusting his glasses. "But it's a viable option."
"Third," Kemp continued, "we plead not guilty and fight for it."
"That's an option?" Tony blurted out, drawing everyone's attention. "That'd work?"
Maggie smiled at him. Kemp and Martinez shared a glance.
"At this stage it's impossible to say," Martinez said, his face open as he met first Tony's gaze, then Maggie's. "Ms Stark, we spoke with your brother before coming here and it sounds like we're talking about a criminal defense based on brainwashing, or coercion – a kind of mental disorder defense. There have only been a few historical cases that used brainwashing as a defense, and I'll be honest with you – they didn't end well. I think the circumstances here are vastly different, and we'll have to sort through the evidence available to us, but that's the precedent we have to work with."
Tony reached up to rub at the headache forming between his eyes. "But she didn't have any choice," he said.
"And that's what we'll prove to the jury," Kemp said, her eyes softening for a moment.
Maggie took a long breath, then said: "Okay, so… as my lawyers, what do you recommend?"
Kemp and Martinez shared another glance. "We think a not-guilty plea at tomorrow's arraignment is your best option at this moment. From there we can negotiate a plea deal, or decide to go ahead with the trial."
Maggie hesitated, and her eyes darted toward Tony. He met her gaze, nervously bouncing his knee under the desk.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered, her dark eyes glimmering. "I did those things, Tony. I can still speak out from prison, should I… do I even have the right to fight this?"
Tony opened his mouth to reply, but Kemp interrupted him. "You absolutely have the right," she cut in, with an edge of steel to her voice. Tony's brows lifted and he turned to face her. "Ms Stark, I may not be an expert on your case yet, but the justice system of this country dictates that everyone, including you, has the right to a fair trial. It's not often that I meet a client unwilling to protest their innocence, but if even half of what your brother told me is true then I think it's important that a jury of your peers hears that evidence and decides. I understand you want justice for your victims, Ms Stark. But allow us to seek justice for you."
Mrs Kemp's speech left a moment of ringing silence in its wake. Tony glanced from Kemp to Maggie, who was watching the lawyer with an inscrutable expression.
"So you want to fight this," Maggie eventually murmured.
Mr Martinez gave his partner an exasperated look, but Kemp just shuffled the papers in front of her. "My partner and I agree that for now, a not guilty plea is in your best interests. Do you agree?"
Maggie took a deep breath in, her back straightening. "I do."
Maggie's attorneys said that it wasn't a good idea for her to publicly discuss anything pertaining to her case, but she currently had thousands of emails waiting for her in a gmail inbox – most were requests for further comment, abuse, or words of support, but there were also messages from the people Maggie had been reaching out to: victims, family members of victims, and those uncertain of HYDRA's influence on their life.
Tony spoke to Ross and pointed out that it looked really bad that Maggie had been swiftly silenced after her press conference, but Ross basically told him to go screw himself and that was that.
Eventually Tony, Maggie, and her attorneys had worked out a message for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to mass-reply to all the waiting emails.
At this point in time Maggie Stark is being held by the Department of Justice awaiting trial, and has had all computer rights restricted. Each request for information will now go through her lawyers (contact information below), but Maggie wishes to reaffirm her commitment to providing answers to victims and families of victims, and apologizes for the delay.
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York
Maggie arrived back at the facility in the same clothes she'd left in, rumpled and tired. She could still smell the starched-linen scent of the prison scrubs she'd worn, hovering around her like an omen.
Her US Marshal guards spoke with facility staff about her bail conditions, but she wasn't listening: it had been a long few days, and the sight of the gleaming facility sent a rush of warmth through her. Considering she'd been expecting to be staying in jail for the foreseeable future, she felt impossibly lucky.
Finally, the Marshals left.
Maggie unconsciously rubbed her wrists where the heavy enhanced restraining device had been pressed against her skin. She wore just the Manacle now.
"Dr Nguyen's waiting in the usual room," came Pepper's voice, by her ear. Maggie hadn't seen her approach, but given she'd been staring at the floor that wasn't surprising. She couldn't quite gather the energy to look up at Pepper either, so she followed whoever was leading her until a familiar-looking office door swung open. She stepped inside.
"Maggie," came Dr Nguyen's familiar voice. Maggie followed it to the soft sofa, and sat down gracelessly.
"Hello, Mai," she murmured. She and the doctor had agreed to address each other by their first names a few weeks ago. She found herself looking at the coffee table between herself and the doctor – smooth, dark wood, with a small pot plant on it.
"Tell me how you're feeling," Mai responded in a low voice.
Maggie knew that tone – it was the one Mai used when the therapy got intense, when she wasn't sure what was going on in Maggie's head and didn't know how concerned to be.
"Tired," she said, sinking a little further into the sofa when she admitted it. "Glad to be back. Um… overwhelmed, I guess."
"I don't blame you," Mai said, with a hint of a wry smile in her voice. Maggie finally looked up and met her eyes, and the simple familiarity of the doctor's friendly gaze settled some of the tension crawling up her spine. What she liked about Mai was that she wasn't hard to read. She wasn't a blank, cold face; Mai didn't hide her empathy and concern when Maggie spoke. And even better, Mai was absolutely, unequivocally, on Maggie's side – she wasn't involved in the politics, or the Avengers, and she didn't care about the public reaction. Mai would probably be upset if Maggie went to jail, but it wouldn't break her heart. That realization sent a wave of relief crashing through Maggie.
"Do you visit clients in prison?" she blurted out.
Mai eyed her. "As a matter of fact I do. You think you're going to go to prison?"
"I don't know. Seems like no one knows right now."
"You plead not guilty."
"You read the news," Maggie shot back, then sighed. It wasn't like her to get combative in therapy. And of course Dr Nguyen had been reading the news. "Sorry. Yes, I did. My lawyers said it was the best option for now."
Mai cocked her head at that. "'Your lawyers said'," she echoed. "Did you want to plead not guilty?"
Maggie scowled at the coffee table. "I don't know."
"In your press conference, you said you wanted the justice system to do with you what it thought was right. You left the decision to them. It must have been hard to make a choice about your own guilt, at that arraignment hearing."
Maggie shifted on the sofa, bringing her knees up to her chest so she was sitting nearly curled in a ball. She knew what she was doing, she and Mai had talked about defensive body language before, but she couldn't help it. "I didn't know what to choose," she whispered, avoiding Mai's eyes.
"Do you think you deserve to go to prison?"
A chill ran down Maggie's back. That's the question, isn't it? She shrugged. "Seems that's not up to me to decide. It's up to a jury of my peers now." She glanced up at Mai, and saw that she hadn't fooled her. She hadn't expected to – Dr Nguyen was wickedly smart, not as smart as Maggie but with the experience and training to back it up. And Maggie had never been very good at lying.
But Mai didn't call her out. Instead, she asked "Would you like my professional opinion?"
She shifted, tucking her chin over her knees. "Um. Okay."
Mai leaned forward. "You've visited me three times a week for two months now, Maggie. I still remember the day we met clearly. I expected to find a broken husk of a person, who knew nothing but violence and death."
Maggie flinched – Mai had never used such language before.
But the other woman wasn't done. "By all rights, given the things you've suffered, you should be that person. But you have… the most incredible will. You willed yourself to become a person, as you've said. And even that wasn't enough – you willed the world to make room for you, you made a space for yourself on this earth with nothing but your strength of mind and sheer determination. That is not to be taken lightly."
Mai's gaze bore into Maggie's, level and resolute. "You've not only willed yourself to become a person, but you've also found room within yourself for empathy, for helping other people. No, don't look away-" Maggie glanced back up, startled, and met Mai's tawny eyes. "That's why you held that press conference, wasn't it? I wish you'd have discussed it with me beforehand but I understand why you did it." She smiled. "You genuinely want to help as many people as you can, and that's special. Not only that, but you are astoundingly honest – I've never gotten so far with a client so quickly before and I'm certain that's because even when you're afraid of the truth you face it, pain be damned."
Mai clasped her hands together, eyes still fixed on Maggie's. "So I'd like you to hear me now, hear the truth in my words."
Maggie swallowed. She was shaking – Mai had never spoken like this, so boldly and directly, and she was terrified. Not of the doctor, but of her words. Of what they meant. "Okay," she rasped through dry lips.
Mai leaned forward. "I tell you this from a professional standpoint, Maggie. As someone with many years of experience in psychiatry, with multiple degrees. As someone who knows you, demons and all… it would be a travesty if they found you guilty of these crimes."
Tears sprang to Maggie's eyes, unbidden. But she couldn't look away.
"Self doubt is normal," Mai said, softer now. "Fear is normal. Guilt is normal. But you know who you are, Maggie Stark, and what you're guilty of. Stand by that truth."
There was a long silence after that. Maggie found herself crying, hot tears spilling down her cheeks, and Mai circled the coffee table to offer her a tissue. Mai placed one hand on Maggie's shoulder as she cried, curled in a ball, and the touch bloomed with warmth.
After a long cry, the kind that made her feel lighter, Maggie lifted her head and sniffed. "I'll try," she murmured, meeting Mai's eyes.
The other woman smiled. "That's a start."
Maggie walked back to her cell alone. She'd asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. not to tell Tony when her appointment with Dr Nguyen finished, because she wanted the walk back to gather her thoughts.
She looked absently out the windows as she paced through the now-familiar corridors. The sun was setting, bathing the facility lawns in orange light. As she watched, a squad of Avengers agents jogged from the aircraft hangar to the residential area.
Before the press conference this facility had felt like a fantasy place, where she could hide from the world and live with her brother and his friends. But now the world knew exactly where she was.
She found that she didn't mind. She'd chosen this, for better or for worse. And now the facility wasn't a fantasy – it was her home.
She was reflecting on the idea of having a home as she walked into the holding facility's main corridor and saw that her cell door was open. An instinctive jolt of fear hit her, but she brushed it aside – she was pretty sure she knew why it was open.
Sure enough, she appeared in the doorway to see her cell filled with three people and one android. Tony and Pepper sat on her couch, their clasped hands resting on Tony's knee; Rhodey was doing physiotherapy exercises while sitting at her desk chair; and Vision stood by the window, watching the sunset.
They all looked terrible – she glanced from one drawn face to another, saw Pepper's anxiously wringing hands and the deep furrow in Rhodey's brow. She sensed a low, buzzing energy under Tony's forced stillness that warned her he was barely holding it together.
Right. She felt exhausted, and drained after her intense therapy session, but it was clear that her newfound family didn't know how to handle this situation. She would have to be the one to turn this around.
"Hey," she said, and all four of them glanced up, wide-eyed. She stepped inside, smiling tiredly, and met Pepper's eyes. "Sorry I stole your clothes and got them impounded in a federal prison."
Pepper smiled back and stopped fidgeting. "That's alright. You look pretty good in them."
She glanced down at the wine-coloured blouse. "Thanks. I might need more clothes like this in the future. Y'know. For court." They all gave her stricken looks, and she sighed. "Look, I know you all think I did a crazy thing, and maybe I did, but this is happening now. The lawyers are coming back tomorrow morning, and we'll go further from there. For now…" she sighed. "I'm here for the foreseeable future so just… stop looking at me like I'm on death's door. I'm here, I'm fine. And I'm really glad I've got you guys on my side." She met their eyes, one by one, to show them that she meant it. They didn't exactly look any happier, but at least they didn't think she was about to lose it.
Maggie kicked off the stupid high heels and sat on her bed. "Did I do the right thing?" she asked in a smaller voice. "Pleading not guilty?"
"Yes," they all said at once. She blinked at the sudden burst of noise, then looked up to see them sharing bemused smiles. A faltering smile lifted her own lips.
Vision went first. "Brainwashing as a legal defense is rare, but you have a far stronger case than those that have come before," he said. "At this point I am unable to calculate the probability of your winning this trial given I do not have access to all the evidence, and because criminal trials rely on the decision of twelve unknown individuals." He glanced around and saw that wasn't reassuring anyone, so he continued. "But I wish to express my commitment to helping you however I may, Maggie. And…" he met her eyes. "I have hope."
Her eyes, already red from crying, welled with tears again. "Thank you, Vis," she murmured.
Rhodey cleared his throat and waved a Stark tablet at her. "They're saying this is shaping up to be the trial of the century and it hasn't even started yet, Mags. You sure don't do things by halves." His tone was light, but he had that perpetually-worried look about him.
Maggie ducked her head. "I didn't want to make it all about me," she muttered.
"Can't relate," Tony blurted out, and they all turned to look at him. He looked a little surprised at himself for having made a joke in this situation, but then he just shrugged.
Maggie smiled at him. "That reminds me, please don't do anything stupid to protect me, Tony. I saw the footage from those senate hearings about Iron Man a while back, and that… you probably shouldn't do that in a criminal court."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Oh I'm sorry, do something stupid? Like hack into Avengers servers, call a press conference, admit to a bunch of crimes and then get dragged out and sent to prison?"
"Exactly," Maggie agreed. "Don't do anything like that."
Pepper, sensing that they probably weren't going to stop sniping at each other once they started, cut in. "Rhodey's right, though. I don't think I've had to handle this much media coverage since Tony became Iron Man."
"Sorry," Maggie winced.
"Oh, don't be!" Pepper waved a hand. "I can handle it. There's lots of hate and anger out there, but there's also sympathy. Mostly, right now, a lot of questions. And that's not really going to go away until the trial."
Maggie bit her lip. "Right. I've kinda had an idea about that." She glanced at Tony. "I'll need F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s help. And Vision's, if you don't mind?" She continued, turning to the android.
"Whatever you need," Vision replied, his eyes warming.
Maggie turned back to Tony, and he gave her a jerky nod. "This better not be as stupid as your last idea, Maggot."
12th October 2016
'Victims of HYDRA Support Group' blog post
Title: HERACLES
Good morning, survivors.
Well, we've all been paying pretty close attention to the news since last week's press conference, and it looks like Margaret Stark wasn't just drumming up public support when she committed to providing information to survivors.
I'm sure you've all sent your own emails to margaretastark@gmail.com, but in case you haven't, or in case you're not sure what to make of the latest mass-reply email, I'm going to lay out the facts:
Basically, after sending out a mass email on the 6 th telling everyone to go talk to her lawyers instead, Margaret Stark got out on bail. But she didn't leave it at that. Early this morning everyone who'd sent an email to her got another one in return, telling us to refer to a website called 'HERACLES'.
Now if you were like me, you saw that email and went 'what the hell?' But I took one for the team and checked it out, and here's what the site offers:
A database of all analytics and research groups who have worked on the 2014 S.H.I.E.L.D. information dump, with contact information and a brief about each group's goals, research method, and findings.
A basic history of HYDRA's growth and reach, from pre-WWII to now
Essentially, either through links to other public pages (I've checked out most of them and they're all well-researched and credible), or through posting the content directly on the site, HERACLES has organised an archive of all publicly available knowledge about HYDRA, and the Wyvern, in one place. Members, victims, motives, activities, you name it.
An entire section of the website is dedicated to support groups, specialized counselling, and information services, organised by local areas across the globe. (There's a link to this blog on there as well).
HERACLES' information page is pretty clear about what it offers, but I'm going to directly copy and paste one of the more striking points: "This resource site will publish any and all information about HYDRA activities revealed in the United States V. Stark criminal case as soon as the court deems it publicly available."
This is everything we've been asking for and trying to achieve on our own, survivors. We just haven't had the resources. But it's clear that Margaret Stark has them: the site is user-friendly and well organised – no longer do we have to trawl through pages of senate hearing documents, or terabytes of garbled data. It's been organised for us by an assassin turned archivist.
The processing power of the website is also remarkable – I suppose we have Tony Stark's world-famous servers to thank for that. It seems that he and at least one other Avenger, the Vision, have been involved in the making of this archive. Indeed, the Avengers put out a press briefing an hour ago directing people to the resource.
The website indicates that government, intelligence, and law enforcement organisations are invited to contribute to the archive. It also invites research organisations and academic publications to peer-review the resource.
It's by no means complete, and the site makes that clear – HERACLES has complied with what the US Government and the U.N. have decided is publicly available. It's also clear that HERACLES is planning to expand.
I'm overwhelmed by this sudden wealth of knowledge after almost three years of fumbling in the dark. I'm grateful to Ms Stark, but also cautious – we have yet to see how her trial turns out, so I'm going to hold off judgement for now. We can only hope that when her trial ends, no matter the outcome, Ms Stark stands by her commitment to sharing everything she knows.
I'll end this post by addressing the title of the archive: HERACLES. On the information page, we find out that the title is actually an acronym: HYDRA Evidence, Research, and Analysis Compendium: Linking Education and Support. That's what the website does, so that's what's on the tin.
And let's not forget who Heracles was, in Greek mythology. The son of Zeus and the greatest of Greek heroes, certainly. Also famous for completing twelve impossible labors.
The second of those labors? Slaying the Hydra.
Heracles cut off each of the Hydra's heads and, before they could grow back, cauterized them with a firebrand. The website is clearly aware of the heavy symbolism.
HYDRA was fond of its tagline: Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.
At the top of the webpage, under the bold letters of HERACLES, you'll find a new tagline: 'No More Shall Take Its Place'.
Head on over to HERACLES, fellow survivors, I hope you find your answers. If you don't, watch that space: HERACLES is a work in progress. HYDRA won't be finished until each bloody stump is brought into the light and burned away.
(images)
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