Chapter 362: Long Live Hydra (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In the dream base of the Radiance Alliance, Charles sat in his wheelchair and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the beautiful cityscape of the technological city built by Stark. At night, it was like a neon city.

However, Charles did not have a relaxed expression on his face. He looked worried. Schiller walked over and handed him a glass of wine, asking, "What's wrong, Professor? You've been looking troubled since earlier."

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 believed in. 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 slow."

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

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

"But she's a mutant." Charles's tone was heavy. He said, "As you know, Wakanda is a tribal alliance. The tribe T'Challa belongs to is the largest tribe in Wakanda. Because T'Challa is more open-minded, the culture of this tribe is also good. They do not discriminate against anyone."

"But the other major tribes are not so open-minded, especially the tribe Erik belongs to. That is the second-largest tribe in Wakanda. They are hostile to mutants and will expel anyone with the X gene from their territory, even children."

Schiller took a sip of wine and said, "We have discussed this issue before, I'm afraid. The public opinion of mutants cannot be reversed in a short time. It's a long-term project."

"But the problem now is that it may get worse." Charles looked into Schiller's eyes and said, "Erik attacked T'Challa, and neither of them can lead Wakanda. Storm Ororo is T'Challa's lover, but she is not his wife and cannot act as the king."

"But we cannot let the people of the second-largest tribe become the king of Wakanda. If Wakanda, which has a good international reputation, openly opposes mutants, the situation for mutants will be even worse."

Charles turned his wheelchair away from the window and said, "Ororo's status is not legitimate, and many Wakandans don't like her. Coupled with the second-largest tribe's instigation, almost all Wakandans are rejecting 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 take over Wakanda through this means..."

"All the comments below are telling us, a group of stray dogs, to get out quickly. They say we can never build a country, let alone steal someone else's country..."

Schiller looked at Charles's expression. He knew that those netizens must have been even more abusive. Even in reality, the reputation of mutants is very poor. In the network, which magnifies extreme emotions, it is simply unbearable to look at.

Thinking of this, he admired Charles a little. Even if he saw so many malicious comments, he did not give up his beliefs. Schiller could imagine how angry Charles would be when he saw these comments, but even with this anger, he did not use his abilities to harm ordinary people at will.

"And..." Charles sighed again and said, "I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw these comments. When Polaris heard the blogger's comments from Iceman, she almost rushed over to kill him."

"The Brotherhood of Mutants has a bad temper, especially Erik. I spent a lot of effort to persuade Polaris not to tell his father about all this, but the situation is getting worse..."

"Professor, I know you don't want to use your abilities indiscriminately, but that's only for ordinary people. In stopping evil and promoting justice, you can be more flexible..."

"Are you saying that I should use my abilities to stop that blogger?"

"No, I mean, as long as we can save T'Challa, the situation can be alleviated a lot. And T'Challa and Ororo should have a good relationship. If they can enter into marriage, then Wakanda's queen will be a mutant, and perhaps more benefits can be obtained for mutants internationally."

Charles's worried expression did not ease. He said, "Of course, I have thought of this method, but even Stark cannot crack the toxin. We don't have a good way. Beast has sent a sample of that toxin to the laboratory. He has been studying it for two or three days, but there is no result. It seems to be a power of the Mystic Side..."

Charles shook his head. Obviously, he felt that this path was not feasible, but Schiller said, "Regardless of its principle, as long as we can find its source, there may be a way. Actually, you can use your abilities to see if there are any clues in Erik's memory."

"He has admitted that he is a member of Hydra and almost killed T'Challa. It's not excessive to check his memory. Even if we can find more Hydras by following the clues, we may be able to prevent similar tragedies from happening..."

"Professor, I know you don't want to use your abilities indiscriminately, but that's only for ordinary people. In stopping evil and promoting justice, you can be more flexible..."

Charles thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible, but I heard that Stark and Steve are in a competition?"

"Steve is also investigating Erik's source. I think he would be very happy to work with mutants, especially since there are mutants in his newly formed Avengers team..."

Charles nodded and said, "Indeed, Captain America is a person of noble character. He does not discriminate against mutants..."

"Well, I'll disconnect from the Dream Base first, then go see if there are any clues in Erik's mind. We'll contact each other later."

The next morning, Charles called and said, "Erik's memory shows that he has had contact with a person named Ulysses Klaue. This Klaue is not a local of Wakanda, but a physicist from the United States."

"If nothing unexpected happens, he should be a member of Hydra. In Erik's memory, he and Klaue had a transaction about Vibranium. Erik wanted to sell their tribe's Vibranium reserves to Klaue."

"But later, Erik's memory became fragmented. I suspect that Hydra brainwashed him. Obviously, Klaue wanted Vibranium but didn't want to pay for it, so he brainwashed Erik into a Hydra member."

"Can we find this Klaue?"

"Just last night, I located his position. He is now in South Korea, and I suspect he is meeting with his superior."

Before Schiller could ask, Charles said, "I checked Klaue's memory. During World War II, his father worked for the Nazis. I suspect his father was a member of Hydra and also his referral."

"Klaue is a sound physicist and has a high reputation in his field. Therefore, his rank in Hydra is not low. There is a lot of information about Hydra in his mind. I will organize it and send it to Captain America..."

"What about 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. But I didn't see this behavior in Klaue's memory."

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

Schiller said while thinking, "Professor, I remember you just said that Klaue has a lot of information about Hydra in his mind..."

"Yes, some are about personnel arrangements, and some are about base locations, but there is no critical information."

"Normally, he should not be in the leadership level, but perhaps it is enough."

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

"I have a plan..."

The next day, the S.H.I.E.L.D. psychological counseling room was still empty and cold. Most agents would avoid this place, but today, a special guest came here, Grant Ward, a 7th level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

He walked into the counseling room with a cold face. Schiller seemed to have been waiting for him for a long time. When he walked in, Schiller stood up from behind the desk and wanted to shake hands with him, but Grant remained expressionless and did not respond to his actions.

"I think you should be very suspicious now why I used the emergency contact signal to contact you. You think this violates the organization's rules and don't want to come." Schiller stood in front of Grant and looked into his eyes. Grant still did not look at him and remained expressionless.

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

"My name is Ward."

"Well, Mr. Ward, I won't beat around the bush. Using the Hydra symbol to contact you is very risky. You know, they've been going crazy lately." Schiller pushed his glasses and crossed his fingers, placing them on the desk.

"Director Pierce is silent." Schiller suddenly spoke, and at this moment, Grant finally looked at his face. Seeing that Schiller was not joking, his lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

"I know you suspect that I am a S.H.I.E.L.D. investigator trying to trick you, but in fact, it's the opposite. I am a long-term silent member who has a direct line of contact with Director Pierce. The reason I am speaking now is that Alexander Pierce has gone missing."

"He anticipated this day a long time ago, so he arranged me in this position before to take over his work after his silence."

"I don't need to talk to you." Schiller looked into Grant's eyes and said seriously, "I just hope you can immediately contact your superiors to confirm whether Director Pierce is really completely silent. If so, things may be serious..."

"Well, in the next half hour, I will conduct some psychological therapy with you, then submit a report to cover up our conversation. During this process, you don't need to say anything or do anything. What to do next is up to your judgment."

After speaking, Schiller lowered his head to write the medical record. During this time, he did not ask Grant anything.

After Grant walked out of the psychological counseling room, he did nothing until he entered his secure room in S.H.I.E.L.D. and took out a special phone to call his superior.

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

He told Garrett what Schiller had told him, but to his surprise, Garrett remained silent and did not refute him. So Grant asked, "Is Director Pierce really silent?"

"In fact, he has been missing for more than a week." Garrett's voice came from the other end. "He has never been missing for so long before, and he is silent on all channels, even the secure channel has no news of him."

"Then, what about Dr. Rodriguez..."

"I need to contact him to confirm. Don't worry about the rest. It's a special period now, so stay vigilant."

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

Garrett remained silent for a while before saying, "It's probably the most serious one in history. Keep silent. We'll talk later."

At the end of the workday, Schiller did not leave but waited in the office until it was dark.

Sure enough, in the first few minutes after dark, his office door was knocked, and the one who walked in was John Garrett, an 8th level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and a high-level member of Hydra.

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 363: Long Live Hydra (Part 2)