Chapter 367: Hail Hydra (Part 1)

In the dream base of the Glorious Alliance, Charles sat in his wheelchair, looking out from the floor-to-ceiling window. The streetscape of this technological city built by Stark was very beautiful at night, like a city of neon.

But Charles's face didn't show much of a relaxed expression; he appeared worried. Shiler walked over, handed him a glass of wine, and asked, "What's wrong? Professor, you've been looking troubled since just now."

Charles sighed and said, "Do you remember what happened in Wakanda before?"

"Of course. T'Challa was assassinated and taken to a special dimension by the Panther God Bast, whom he worships. Time is frozen there, so he won't die from the poison for the time being. Stark is working hard to develop an antidote, but progress is a bit slow."

"T'Challa was attacked, and the Erik who attacked him was also captured by you. Wakanda is leaderless. Ororo has already headed to Wakanda, but the situation is not optimistic."

"What's wrong? Isn't she T'Challa's lover?"

"But she is a mutant." Charles's tone was very heavy. He said, "You also know that Wakanda is a tribal alliance. The tribe T'Challa belongs to is the largest tribe in Wakanda. Because T'Challa is relatively enlightened, the atmosphere of this tribe is also good; they don't discriminate against anyone."

"But the other major tribes are not so enlightened, especially the tribe Erik belongs to. That is the second-largest tribe in all of Wakanda. They are extremely exclusive toward mutants. They will expel all people with the X-gene in their territory, not even sparing children."

Shiler took a sip of wine and said, "We have already discussed this problem before. I'm afraid the public opinion on mutants cannot be reversed in a short time. This is a long-term project."

"But the problem now is, I'm afraid it will become even worse." Charles looked into Shiler's eyes and said, "Erik attacked T'Challa. Neither of these two can rule Wakanda. Storm Ororo is T'Challa's lover, but not his wife; it's impossible for her to act as the regent."

"But we also can't let people from that second-largest tribe become the King of Wakanda, because if Wakanda, which has a very good international reputation, also openly opposes mutants, then the situation of mutants will be even worse."

Charles turned his wheelchair and left from in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. He said, "Ororo's name is not right and her words are not smooth; many Wakandans don't like her very much. Coupled with the fueling of the flames by that second-largest tribe, almost the majority of the Wakandan people are excluding mutants."

"Just yesterday, a Wakandan blogger with 2 million followers publicly stated that mutants are invading their country, and Ororo is an evil Kenyan witch who wants to occupy Wakanda in this way..."

"All the comments below are telling us stray dogs to get out quickly, saying that we can never establish a country, let alone steal someone else's country..."

Shiler looked at Charles's expression. He knew that that group of netizens must have scolded even more fiercely. Even in reality, the reputation of mutants was very poor. In places like the internet where extreme emotions are amplified, it was simply unbearable to look at.

Thinking of this, he even admired Charles somewhat. Even after seeing so many vicious remarks, he didn't give up his persistence. Shiler could imagine how angry Charles would be when seeing these remarks, but even with this kind of anger, he didn't use his ability to harm ordinary people at will.

"And..." Charles sighed again and said, "It must not be just me who saw these remarks. When Polaris heard the blogger's remarks from Iceman, she almost wanted to rush over and kill him."

"That group of mutants in the Brotherhood of Mutants all have bad tempers, especially Erik. I spent a lot of effort to convince Polaris not to tell her father about all this, but the situation is starting to get worse..."

"Professor, I know you are unwilling to use your ability at will, but that is only for ordinary people. In the matter of stopping evil and upholding justice, you can be more flexible..."

"Are you saying you want me to use my ability to stop that blogger?"

"No, I'm saying that actually, as long as T'Challa is saved, the situation can be eased a lot. And T'Challa and Ororo's relationship should be good. If they can enter the hall of marriage, then the Queen of Wakanda is a mutant, which might be able to win more benefits for mutants internationally."

Charles's troubled look did not ease. He said, "Of course I have thought of this method, but even for the toxin that Stark cannot crack, we don't have a very good way. Beast has already sent the sampling of that toxin to the lab. He has studied it for two or three days, and there is no result. It seems to be a power of the mysterious side..."

Charles shook his head, clearly feeling that this path would not work. Shiler, however, said, "Regardless of what principle it is, as long as you can find its source, perhaps there will be a way. Actually, you can use your ability to see if there will be clues in Erik's memory."

"He has already admitted that he is a Hydra agent and almost killed T'Challa. Checking his memory is not excessive. In fact, if you can follow the vine to find more Hydra agents, maybe you can prevent other similar tragedies from happening..."

Charles thought for a moment and said, "This is not impossible, but I heard that Stark and Steve are competing?"

"Steve is also investigating Erik's origin. I think he will be very happy to cooperate with mutants. After all, there are mutant members in the Avengers squad he newly established..."

Charles nodded and said, "Indeed, Captain America is a person of noble character; he doesn't discriminate against mutants at all..."

"Alright, I will disconnect from the dream base first, and then go see if there will be any clues in Erik's brain. We will contact each other later."

The next morning, Charles called and said, "Erik's memory shows that he has been in contact with a person named Ulysses Klaue. This Klaue is not a local Wakandan, but an American physicist."

"If there are no accidents, he should be a Hydra member. Erik's memory shows that he had a transaction with Klaue regarding Vibranium. Erik wanted to sell their tribe's Vibranium storage to Klaue."

【Sword Comes】

"But afterwards, Erik's memory was a bit fragmented. I suspect that Hydra brainwashed him. Clearly, Klaue wanted Vibranium but didn't want to pay, so he brainwashed Erik into a Hydra member."

"Can you find this Klaue?"

"Just last night, I already locked onto his location. He is currently in Korea, and I suspect he is meeting with his superior."

Before Shiler could ask, Charles said, "I checked this Klaue's memory. During World War II, his father once worked for the NAZI. I suspect his father was a Hydra member and also his recruiter."

"Klaue is a sonic physicist and has quite a bit of prestige in his professional field, so his level in Hydra is not low either. There is a lot of intelligence about Hydra in his brain. I will organize it later and then send it to Captain America..."

"Then the toxin on T'Challa..."

"Erik's memory shows that the person who gave him the poison and instructed him to assassinate T'Challa was a mysterious black-robed person, and I didn't see this behavior in Klaue's memory."

"Perhaps Klaue is Erik's recruiter, but he is not necessarily his only superior. It seems that we must deeply understand Hydra to know what is going on..."

Shiler thought while saying, "Professor, I remember you just said that there is quite a bit of intelligence about Hydra in Klaue's brain..."

"That's right, some are about personnel arrangements, and some are about base locations, but there is no very critical intelligence."

"Normal. He should not be in the leadership level, but perhaps it is enough."

"What do you want to do?" Charles asked on the other end of the phone.

"I have a plan..."

The next day, the psychological counseling room of S. H. I. E. L. D. was still cold and clear. The vast majority of agents would walk around here. However, today, it welcomed a special guest, and that was Grant Ward, a level 7 agent of S. H. I. E. L. D.

He walked into the psychological counseling room with a cold face. Shiler looked like he had been waiting for him for a long time. Seeing him walk in, Shiler stood up from behind the desk and wanted to shake hands with him, but Grant was expressionless and did not respond to his action.

"I think you must be very suspicious now as to why I used the emergency contact symbol to contact you. You feel that this is against the organization's rules and you don't want to come." Shiler stood in front of Grant, looking into his eyes and saying. Grant did not look directly at him and remained expressionless.

"Sit down, Grant. Can I call you that?"

"My name is Ward."

"Alright, Mr. Ward, I won't talk nonsense either. I used the Hydra symbol to contact you at great risk. You know, recently, they have been going crazy again." Shiler pushed his glasses, crossed his fingers, and placed them on the desktop.

"Director Pierce has gone silent." Shiler suddenly spoke, and at this time, Grant finally cast his gaze on his face. Seeing that Shiler had no intention of joking, his lips moved, but he still said nothing.

"I know you suspect that I am an investigator from S. H. I. E. L. D. trying to get information out of you, but in fact, it is the opposite. I am a long-term silent personnel who has a single-line contact with Director Pierce, and the reason why I am speaking now is because Alexander Pierce has lost contact."

"He had anticipated this day long ago, which is why he arranged me in this position before, just so that after he went silent, I would take over his work."

"I don't need you to talk to me." Shiler looked into Grant's eyes and said seriously, "I only hope that you can immediately contact your superior to confirm whether Director Pierce has truly gone completely silent. If this is true, the situation might be serious..."

"Alright, for the next half hour, I will conduct some psychological treatment with you, and then take out a report to submit, to cover up our conversation this time. During this process, you don't need to say anything or do anything. What to do afterwards depends entirely on your judgment."

After finishing, Shiler lowered his head and began to write the medical record. During this period, he did not ask Grant anything.

After Grant walked out of the psychological counseling room, he did nothing. It wasn't until he entered his safe house located in S. H. I. E. L. D. that he took out a special mobile phone and called his superior.

Grant Ward was a level 7 agent of S. H. I. E. L. D., and his Hydra superior was the level 8 agent John Garrett.

He told Garrett what Shiler had told him, but to his surprise, Garrett was silent and did not refute him. So, Grant asked, "Has Director Pierce really gone silent?"

"In fact, he has lost contact for more than a week." Garrett's voice came from the other side: "He had never lost contact for such a long time before, and he is on full-channel silence. Even the secure channel has no news of him."

"Then, that Dr. Rodriguez..."

"I need to have contact with him to be sure. You don't worry about the rest. Now is a special period, must remain vigilant."

Hearing Garrett's serious voice, Grant also understood that the current situation was probably very bad, so he asked, "Is this purge very serious?"

Garrett was silent for a long while before saying, "I'm afraid it is the most serious one in history. Keep silent, we will see each other later."

By the time Shiler got off work that day, he didn't leave, but waited in the office until dark.

Sure enough, in the few minutes just after dark, his office door was knocked. Walking in was none other than John Garrett, a level 8 agent of S. H. I. E. L. D. and also a high-level member of Hydra. ===== CHAPTER 368 =====