Chapter 405: Everything Except Snakes Is Poisonous (Part 1)

If one were to name the most severe illness America suffered after World War II, it would be allergies—and among all its allergens, the most severe was KGB allergy.

As the world's most powerful intelligence agency of its time, the KGB had achieved unparalleled victories, so glorious that even today, both America and Europe still tremble at the mention of the Soviet Union.

For example, back then, if you wanted to attack your political rival and fabricate charges against him, your best move was to report his tax violations—because any such investigation would inevitably uncover something.

But if you truly wanted to kill him—not just biologically, but socially—you had to accuse him of being a KGB agent.

After Shieler had Loki hold Thor's hammer and chased Madame Hydra across the globe until she fell into the KGB's hands, the situation became interesting.

If there's anyone in the world most eager to scream America's stupid actions to every corner of the globe, it's the KGB; and if there's anyone with the capability to do so, it's still the KGB.

Some might think the "stupid act" refers to America's years of tolerating Hydra's growth—but actually, the stupid act was Hydra infiltrating America, while the KGB infiltrated Hydra.

The real stupidity wasn't that America failed to notice the KGB's infiltration of Hydra; it was that American Hydra members helped a KGB agent go through America's entire financial system.

Hydra's crimes within America—espionage, secret base construction, illegal experiments—weren't the issue; the issue was that they helped the KGB.

Worse still, they were all caught in one net, and everything was exposed to the public.

If every nation in the world were a human capable of expressing emotion, then right now, the laughter from the Far East would be deafening.

In the underground base of S. . . . . ., down a dim corridor with flickering bulbs, Nick and his agents walked the long hall to a door, opened it, and found Natasha inside.

Nick glanced back at his men, signaling them to leave; after closing the door, he sighed and said, "I think you already know how tense the situation is."

Natasha showed no sign of tension—she simply nodded and said, "After I made that choice, I knew no nation or organization on this earth would ever trust me again."

"It's not that severe yet." Nick crossed his arms and sighed. Natasha folded hers, stared at him, and rotated her neck side to side. "I'm under investigation, so we're not superior and subordinate anymore."

"Nick, I'm telling you—you can't possibly not know how many Hydra agents are in S. . . . . ."

"I know perfectly well." Nick gave a firm answer. "But they work hard."

Nick seemed to have held this in for a long time. He sighed helplessly. "They think their files are flawless, but many of them exposed their identities the moment they were hired."

"Then why keep using them?"

"Should I replace them with local slackers who work only eight hours a day, demand weekends off, insist I buy them the most expensive health insurance, and call the Finance Force to claim reimbursement for a scratched rearview mirror?"

Seeing Natasha's look of disdain, Nick extended his hand. "I know this sounds heartless—but Natasha, we're S. . . . . ., an intelligence agency. Have you ever seen a spy who gets weekends off?"

Natasha pressed her lips together, speechless. Nick slowly nodded. "Honestly, I don't care if they're Nazis or KGB—so long as they get the job done."

"You sound like a stateless idealist."

Nick sighed. "Every head of every intelligence agency in the world must be a stateless idealist."

"Do you think the CIA doesn't know how many spies are in their own ranks? Their headquarters' Russian translator goes back to Moscow twelve times a year—once a month for reporting—and they still grant him leave."

"Because if they don't use him, other Russian translators charge over a thousand dollars an hour—and you never know if, after paying him that, he'll sit in a KGB office the next day laughing at your stinginess."

Nick sat down in the office chair. "Many imagine espionage as constant puzzles—but it's not."

"Everyone knows why someone came here. If you want to openly steal intelligence from me, you must accept the risk that the intel you get is deliberately planted—that's fair."

"Only when the other side plays a card can I know how many to play. If neither side infiltrates the other, what's the point of our existence? If there are no enemies, where does the funding come from?"

"All global intelligence work is essentially shooting at empty air. Do you understand, Natasha?"

Nick made a gesture. "You send spies to me; because you send spies to me, I send spies to you; because I send spies to you, you send more to me. That's how S. . . . . .'s seventeen thousand agents came to be."

"When something happens, we can send back the cards they've already laid on the table—or, when nothing happens, use it as an excuse to eliminate troublesome people."

"Arresting Hydra agents and repatriating KGB operatives are quarterly activities—they prove I haven't been collecting my paycheck for nothing."

Natasha walked to the opposite side of the room, leaning against the wall. "Then why are you launching a full investigation into Hydra now? Isn't it better to keep them working for you?"

"The problem is, the KGB has gone mad and insists on exposing this." Nick pressed his fingers to his forehead. "Congress doesn't care whether Hydra infiltrated S. . . . . . they care whether the KGB infiltrated S. . . . . ., or worse."

"Isn't it obvious? The IRS, the Finance Force, Congress—all riddled with leaks. Why come to you when they should look at themselves?"

Nick sighed again. You could see deep wrinkles clearly etched into his dark face. "The KGB isn't under our jurisdiction—but Hydra is."

"I wanted to pass this off to the CIA—but they want to pass it back to me."

Natasha frowned at Nick. "You never curse the CIA? That's impossible—they've always been powerless against you."

"That high-ranking Hydra member was chased around the globe by Loki with Thor's hammer. Every country had eyewitnesses. We lost face badly."

"Congressmen claim S. . . . . .'s incompetence caused this mess, so we must fix it."

"In short—they're biased."

"But…" Nick suddenly changed tone. "Pierce came to see me. We made a deal."