I sparked a mysterious resurgence in Marvel.

Chapter 148 Fury's Fury

"We have just received news that our branch in New York appears to have been attacked by an unknown chemical weapon, and all personnel remaining at the base have been killed."

"Their bodies were found desiccated and skeletal, and only a few hours had passed since the incident."

"Even more serious is that the New York branch base has also been contaminated by an unknown source. Not only are all the electronic instruments rendered unusable, but the land within the base has also been corroded, turning it into a swamp filled with the stench of decay..."

"The only good news is that the biological weapon seems to have a limited range and hasn't spread. Our sentries outside the base weren't hit by that chemical weapon. Of course, they were also wiped out by an unknown enemy, and so far, we haven't found any survivors..."

"Bang!!!"

Before the long-legged female secretary could finish speaking, Pierce, who had just taken a bottle of chilled whiskey from the car refrigerator, poured himself a glass, and intended to calm his nerves with a sip, smashed the glass in his hand with a "bang".

The sexy, long-legged female secretary remained unfazed as the flying shards of glass tore through her stockings, leaving a bloody mark on her shapely, straight legs.

She looked at the furious Pierce, bent down and took out another wine glass. Then, she used tweezers to pick up a few ice cubes from the small refrigerator and put them into the glass. She then took out a bottle of Pierce's favorite wine, swirled it gently, and finally poured it into the glass.

"Minister, here's your wine."

Pierce, who was initially furious, gradually calmed down under the secretary's smooth and pleasing movements.

He once again adopted that calm and composed demeanor.

He took the slightly cool wine glass from the female secretary and took a sip.

As the cool, mellow liquor glides across the tip of your tongue and flows into your heart.

Pierce quickly regained his composure after being stimulated by that icy sensation.

Pierce's ability and shrewdness are beyond doubt, considering that he was able to rebuild and expand Hydra, a force that should have been eradicated by S.H.I.E.L.D., right under the enemy's nose.

Just a moment ago, he was simply enraged by a series of terrible news.

After his outburst of rage subsided, Pierce quickly regained his composure and returned to a state of extreme rationality.

After a long silence, Pierce spoke again: "I remember Frank Grillo (Crossbones) and the Winter Soldier were supposed to be dealing with that clown in Hell's Kitchen today, trying to find and retrieve the missing Iron Monger's head!"

"Yes, Minister!"

"So, in that case, they both failed their mission and were killed by that clown from Hell's Kitchen."

"Yes, Minister, Mr. Sitwell recently discovered the bodies of Frank Grillo and his squad at the clown's residence. Then, on his way to deal with the escaped clown, he was sniped and killed en route. And it turned out that the warehouse Mr. Sitwell was ultimately trying to reach was another trap, a trap that wiped out at least three of our elite squads..."

Upon hearing this, Pierce narrowed his eyes and asked, "So, Sitwell's death was also the work of that clown?"

The female secretary shook her head: "No, after analysis, the people in the information department believe that the person who assassinated Mr. Sitwell was someone else, not the clown himself, but more likely his accomplice."

Why?

"Although the warehouse Mr. Hitwell rushed to was a trap, before he arrived, the Joker did indeed engage in a fierce conflict with Kingpin's men inside, killing dozens of them. If this hadn't confirmed the Joker's presence in that warehouse, Hitwell wouldn't have headed there directly, lest he fall into the ambush. Afterwards, the intelligence department analyzed the situation; given the distance between the warehouse and the location where Hitwell was ambushed, the Joker couldn't have arrived so quickly, so..."

"So that means the Joker has accomplices." After a cold laugh, Pierce suddenly paused, frowning slightly. "If the Joker has accomplices, then could the incident at the New York branch also have been their doing, a form of...retaliation?"

Upon hearing this, the female secretary raised an eyebrow.

"We can't rule out that possibility, but... how did they manage to pinpoint the location of our New York branch so accurately in such a short time, and launch such a powerful attack in such a short time?"

This time period.

The Hydra is still in a dormant state.

Although they have secretly expanded their influence to all parts of the world, controlling countless unknown connections and military forces, becoming a veritable behemoth, their information remains top secret on the surface.

The secrecy measures were taken to the extreme.

Otherwise, given Nick Fury's suspicious nature...

How could they possibly remain undetected after infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades?

"Who knows? Interrogation, coercion, hypnosis, even electronic tracking... there are many ways to find out the location of the New York branch. After all, most of the people we sent to take down that clown this morning were transferred from the New York branch."

"However, none of that matters anymore..."

"Now that we know who our opponent is, we should do everything we can to destroy him and everything related to him."

After chuckling, Pierce, his eyes flashing with endless cold light, swallowed the cold liquor in his hand in one gulp.

"Can······"

The female secretary hesitated for a moment and said, "What if we've contacted the wrong person?"

"Then let's keep looking. It's just a matter of finding it sooner or later. Even if the Joker wasn't behind the New York branch incident, he's still involved in the deaths of Frank Grillo and Sitwell. He killed so many of us; he has to die."

"I understand what you mean..."

Just then, Pierce added, "By the way, remember to have someone report this to Director Fury. Frank Grillo and Sitwell sacrificed themselves for Hydra's cause. We can't let their families down. They should receive all the compensation they deserve. And make sure Director Fury signs off on the compensation as soon as possible, since Frank Grillo and the others were official S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

Upon hearing this, the female secretary was slightly taken aback, and then her usually expressionless face twitched slightly.

Secretary Pierce is right; Frank Grillo and Sitwell are, on the surface, genuine S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Even the people they brought with them were under the guise of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Even this operation was registered with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Now that they have "died in the line of duty," S.H.I.E.L.D. must, of course, pay a substantial death compensation.

The compensation for the deaths of dozens of elite agents is an astronomical sum.

The thought of Nick Fury, the notoriously stingy director, paying exorbitant compensation to fallen Hydra members brought a smile to her delicate face.

"Yes, Minister."

··················

Not long after.

Wearing a trench coat, Nick Fury had just returned to the Federation from Europe and had barely stepped off the plane, not even having had a chance to return to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Wing Building, when he heard some devastating news that enraged him.

"Fuck..."

Looking at the Level 3 agent standing in front of him, who seemed somewhat trembling because of his anger.

Nick Fury said in a deep voice, "Why are there so many casualties at the New York branch?"

The Level 3 agent in charge of the report said, "Agent Frank's team was killed in the line of duty, while Agent Sitwell's team was ambushed and trapped while on their way to provide support, so..."

Before Nick Fury's face could darken further, the agent in charge of reporting hurriedly said, "Director, the mission that Agent Frank and his team carried out was personally approved by you..."

Nick Fury's breath hitched upon hearing this.

In fact, Nick Fury, a workaholic, remotely approved dozens of mission directives from the federal government while attending meetings in Europe, and even personally issued several mission orders.

If he remembers correctly.

Frank himself was the one who personally led the team on their mission to Hell's Kitchen to retrieve the Iron Monger's head from the clown.

after all.

Having successfully seized the Iron Monger's body, S.H.I.E.L.D. has basically recreated the invincible Iron Monger model. Only a few crucial technological cores are missing to replicate the war machine that once appeared on the streets of New York within S.H.I.E.L.D.

In that situation, after discovering that the mysterious clown who had taken the Iron Monger's head had appeared in Hell's Kitchen, Nick Fury immediately agreed to the request from the scientific madmen in the research department for the Iron Monger's head, and then dispatched Frank and his team to Hell's Kitchen to carry out the mission.

But who would have thought?

This mission, however, resulted in such heavy casualties.

The deaths of a total of fifty or sixty agents plunged S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York branch into a state of severe staff shortage and shutdown.

The aftermath of the deaths of those fifty or sixty agents was an even bigger problem.

The death compensation alone is an astronomical sum.

And all of this is his responsibility as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who signed the mission order.

Thinking about this.

Nick Fury's face turned as black as could be.

The classic "Fuck!" slipped out again.

"suck······"

Taking a deep breath and suppressing his emotions, Nick Fury said coldly, "Why didn't you tell me immediately after this happened?"

The agent glanced at his chief with some fear upon hearing this, then said, "Chief, you instructed that you need to rest well after the meeting..."

During their time in Europe, in order for S.H.I.E.L.D. to better and more smoothly carry out their missions there.

At the multinational conference, Nick Fury argued forcefully, and the meetings alone lasted for several days, finally securing a significant amount of law enforcement facilitation for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Privately, Nick Fury spent a great deal of effort cultivating those connections through various means to ensure that the power he fought for in the meetings wouldn't become empty talk.

Having expended a great deal of energy on this, Nick Fury just wanted to get a good night's sleep as he boarded his private plane to the Union. He told the agents accompanying him not to disturb him unless it was an emergency.

Recalling his own words, Nick Fury interrupted him, "What about Frank Grillo and his team's mission objective this time? So many people died, don't tell me that Joker is completely unharmed."

"That clown... he's gone missing."

"What did you say?"

They killed so many of his men, causing him to get into such a huge mess.

But when he was told that the culprit behind the incident had disappeared, it's no wonder Nick Fury couldn't accept it.

Faced with Nick Fury's voice suddenly rising eight octaves, the Level 3 agent reporting to him was filled with utter misery.

What have I done to deserve this?! I finally managed to get transferred from a combat position to a civilian post through connections, and on my very first day, I've been unlucky enough to be assigned this reporting task.

If Pepper were here, she would recognize that this well-dressed S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 3 agent is the same S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who drove her recklessly through the streets of New York and nearly killed her with her at the hands of the Iron Monger.

After taking a deep breath, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent said tremblingly, "The commander has already mobilized S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites to urgently locate and search for the Joker. Once the Joker appears, we will quickly track him down."

Once the other party is determined to hide and not appear in satellite footage, how long would it take to find the clown using satellite positioning alone?

Not to mention that if the other party disguises themselves and changes their appearance drastically, it's uncertain whether the satellite's automatic identification system can even find them.

Thinking of this, Nick Fury immediately ordered, "Immediately transfer a group of elite agents from other states to New York, and then have the technical department find clues about that clown as soon as possible. Oh, and send out all the agents in the New York branch. I don't believe that so many people can't find a single clue."

At this point, seemingly recalling the Joker's formidable strength, Nick Friton paused before saying, "Order Agent Clint Barton to come to New York immediately."

"yes!"

The agent next to Nick Fury immediately accepted the order and turned to leave without waiting.

He didn't want to stay here any longer and get caught in the crossfire of Nick Fury's wrath. He was just an agent who had already given up and was looking to coast along, so there was no need for him to suffer the director's anger.

(End of this chapter)