Marvel: Starting with the forced creation of villainous characters

"Eppert has been confirmed dead," Pierce said grimly.

After Pierce finished speaking, everyone's expressions varied.

Strucker remained expressionless, after all, his base was in Eastern Europe, and he wasn't deeply involved with Epsom.

Whitehall, on the other hand, was the one most deeply involved with Epostdan. Whether it was economic exchanges or political deals, he was extremely dependent on Epostdan.

Now that Epostdan is dead, his loss is enormous.

Malik's reaction was similar to Strucker's. He was also from Europe, and whether Apostan lived or died was of little concern to him. Besides, he already disliked the other Hydra members.

A group of Hydras who have long lost their faith, do they even deserve to be called Hydras?

Lady Viper also sighed. Her base of operations was in the island nation and East Asia. She had some connection with Apostdan, but it wasn't a very big one.

Whitehall, unable to contain himself any longer, asked, "With the power of Hydra, resurrecting Epostdan shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Pierce paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Normally, as long as the death is within two days and the brain is more than 90% intact, we do have a way to revive the person."

"Then hurry up and revive him. The political power he wields is exactly what we need most," Whitehall urged anxiously.

The problem is...

Pierce looked a little strange, as if he was ashamed to speak.

Under the stares of the crowd, Pierce forced himself to say, "The problem is that this idiot didn't even leave behind a complete corpse. His upper body organs are gone, and even his body is charred."

Everyone: "???"

Everyone stared at Pierce in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost.

Such a spectacular death could probably be nominated as the most bizarre way a Hydra leader died in history.

A deathly silence fell over the conference room. After a long while, Malik asked in horror, "Besides us, surely no one knows that Ebotan is one of Hydra's people?"

Although he disliked these faithless Hydras, he still valued Hydra's reputation.

For an evil organization, reputation is very important. An evil organization hiding behind the scenes can do bad things, and even stupid things, but it must never become a laughing stock.

Everyone looked at Pierce with great hope, wishing he would give an answer they could accept, but Pierce disappointed them.

Black Forest gritted his teeth and said, "Apostdan's men should know his identity, like her assistant."

"Shut them up! They must be wiped out!"

"Eliminate all those who know! All those who know!"

"Pierce! Whitehall! You two are primarily responsible for this!"

"This news absolutely cannot get out, or we Hydra will truly become a laughingstock!"

The room erupted in outrage, not at the already deceased Epostdan, nor at Pierce, but at the inability to accept this fact.

Epostdan's death posed little threat to Hydra, but the manner of his demise was enough to tarnish Hydra's reputation.

"Alright, stop arguing!" Pierce snapped, his face turning ashen, as he silenced the agitated crowd.

"I'll handle this. It's unrealistic to eliminate everyone who knows Ebot's identity, since his Hydra unit is still very useful. All we can do is conceal the fact that he's dead," Pierce said helplessly, outlining his solution.

Whitehall: "The fact that he was kidnapped by a child must not be known."

Malik also asked, "What's the deal with that organ smuggling ring? Can it be taken down?"

Pierce shook his head, glanced at Madam Viper, and said, "It can't be cleaned up. The Hand is behind that organ smuggling ring."

Seeing everyone looking at her, Madam Viper, who didn't want to take on this tough challenge, refused, saying, "The Hand's strength in Japan is no less than that of Hydra, which I control. Unless you are willing to invest heavily in supporting me, the result will be that you will hurt the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred of your own."

She would never wage war against the Hand for the sake of a dead Abbott, much less for the sake of Hydra's reputation.

Seeing this, Pierce didn't make things difficult for Madam Viper, after all, he couldn't command her.

Pierce compromised, saying, "Give me some information on the Hand. I can use S.H.I.E.L.D. to take down the Hand. Even if we can't wipe them out, we should at least teach them a lesson."

"No problem." Lady Viper nodded readily. If the Hand could be weakened without using her own power, she would be happy to help.

After all, with the Hand gone, she can take the opportunity to grow stronger, and perhaps then she can completely control the island nation.

After discussing Epostdan's matter, the group chatted about other topics in the conference room.

After the meeting, Pierce summoned his men.

Once the group arrived, Pierce immediately ordered, "Let our men try to take over the political legacy left by Epostdan. If that doesn't work, then put Gislan in charge."

The subordinate standing opposite reported, "Boss, I was just about to tell you about this. Sharon Carter led a group there on the day Apostdan disappeared."

Pierce's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. Sharon Carter's rank in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't high, but her background was undeniably powerful.

Pierce stared sharply at his subordinate and asked, "Did she find anything she shouldn't have?"

"Sharon Carter came up empty-handed and found nothing."

Pierce asked thoughtfully, "Do you think this is a coincidence, or did Nick Fury discover something?"

"It must be a coincidence, because Sharon Carter didn't tell him beforehand when she used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power, and Nick Fury only found out afterward."

Upon hearing that it was just a coincidence, Pierce breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand, "In that case, go and get to work."

After his men left, Pierce received a new email in his inbox.

It was sent from Madam Viper. After looking at the information about the Hand inside, Pierce jumped up.