Marvel's Venom, starting with a Hydra undercover agent.

Hearing Holm's question, Pierce waved his hand and sighed, "Regarding this matter, we can't make any overly aggressive reactions right now."

"Although that little guy gave me a run for my money this time, I care more about Nick Fury than him."

"I'll try to get in touch with that little guy in the next couple of days and then stabilize the situation."

"Sokovia is, after all, part of Hydra. More important than the current internal strife is to prevent Nick Fury from noticing anything unusual through this matter."

"Once we get through this period smoothly, I will make that little guy pay the price he deserves."

"Understood!" Holm nodded in agreement.

After his recent conversation and contact with Holm, Pierce has dispelled many of his doubts about him.

Now is a critical time, and he needs Holm to help him shoulder more responsibility and resolve this trouble.

Thinking of this, Pierce leaned back in his seat and suddenly asked Holm, "Do you want to replace Nick Fury and become the director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Holm was taken aback by Pierce's sudden question, then replied earnestly, "If you need to."

“Haha, I really like your answer,” Pierce laughed heartily.

After saying that, he looked at Holm with great appreciation and continued, "I remember telling you before that you have a bright future, and I still haven't changed my mind."

"Once this turmoil has passed, I will take you to meet some high-ranking figures. They have long heard of your name and are looking forward to meeting a young talent like you."

"Back then, Nick Fury was just like you, making a name for himself at a young age. You are now even more outstanding than he was back then."

"So don't worry, you will definitely replace him in the near future, and even climb to a higher position than him."

"Thank you for your kindness!" Holm replied to Pierce, unable to hide his excitement.

"Keep it up, the future belongs to young people like you," Pierce encouraged him with a smile.

After he finished speaking, he knocked on the handle, and the black van slowly pulled up to the side of the road as he had instructed.

Seeing this, Holm knew it was time for him to get off the bus, but before he did, he suddenly said to Pierce, "By the way, before Commander Garrett went missing, he gave me a task."

“Now that he has disappeared and the situation has changed somewhat, I don’t know whether I should continue this mission, so I wanted to ask you for your opinion.”

"What mission? Tell me about it," Pierce said, looking at Holm with a half-smile.

Upon hearing Pierce's words, Holm did not mince words and spoke directly: "It is a task about identifying and proving my attitude and stance toward the organization."

"Commander Garrett thought I had a problem with my self-awareness and stance, so he assigned me the task of killing Daisy Johnson within a month."

“Daisy Johnson is my current partner at S.H.I.E.L.D., and she also has an unusual relationship with Phil Coulson and Nick Fury. Daisy Johnson usually calls them uncles.”

"The previous mission environment was not a problem. It's just that because Daisy Johnson's identity is quite special, I need some time to develop a detailed plan to ensure that I can complete the mission without damaging my position in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"But now, because of the Sokovia incident, the mission environment has become somewhat tense. If we force the mission to be completed according to the previous plan, I'm afraid it will affect my undercover mission."

"According to procedure, I should have raised this issue with Commander Garrett, but he is currently missing, so I can only ask you about the follow-up arrangements for this mission."

“Ah~ this mission, I remember, Garrett mentioned it to me before,” Pierce said as if he had just remembered.

"I remember it started because the two of you had some conflict during a mission, and then it turned into this."

"It's because Commander Garrett thinks I don't respect him and want to climb over him to get ahead, that's why he misunderstood me," Holm explained earnestly.

“Haha, of course I know your attitude towards the organization. Young people always want to climb the ladder, so it’s no wonder Garrett has such thoughts,” Pierce said with a laugh.

"Now that things have come to this point, there's no need to continue this mission."

“Gallitt didn’t tell me the details of the mission either, otherwise I would have definitely asked him to change the identification method. You can tell that Daisy Johnson is not simple just by her name. Killing someone like her will cause a lot of unexpected trouble.”

"So let's end this task here. From now on, just do what I just told you."

After hearing Pierce's words, Holm nodded in response, "Okay, I will follow your instructions and carefully monitor S.H.I.E.L.D. to nip any unfavorable factors in the bud."

After bringing up this last topic, Holm opened the car door and got out.

Watching Holm's departing figure, Pierce waved his hand, signaling the vehicle to start again.

After responding to the last question, Pierce had put aside his doubts about Holm and no longer questioned his loyalty.

If Holm had just left without mentioning the mission to him, it would mean that Holm subconsciously didn't want to carry it out. Such thinking is dangerous and proves that Holm's stance and beliefs are indeed problematic.

However, Pierce did not see any similar problems in Holm's answer.

In his view, Garriott's doubts about Holm were merely an excuse for Garriott, as a superior, to suppress Holm.

He was well aware of such methods, which is why he allowed Garrett to test Holm at the time, because he also wanted to keep Holm in check, since he was just too young.

Garrett's motivation for undertaking this mission was likely 70% suppression and 30% suspicion of Holm, while Pierce's was 90% suppression and 10% suspicion.

However, although there was no longer any doubt about Holm's stance, it was still necessary to take precautions, since Holm's abilities were so outstanding that there had to be an extra layer of protection.

The research into Holm's weaknesses and the targeted training of the Winter Soldier are both part of this insurance policy.

Chapter 216, Cube Prison and Abomination

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

With a series of loud knocking sounds, a staff member in full protective gear stood outside the thick alloy iron door and shouted to Bronsky, who was sitting cross-legged in the small room inside, "It's your turn again, Bronsky, get ready!"

Despite the staff's calls, Bronsky remained silent, merely raising his eyes briefly before continuing to sit quietly against the wall.

He wore special shackles that shone with blue light on his hands and feet. These shackles emitted radiation that counteracted the gamma rays in his body, disrupting and weakening his bodily functions.

In addition, the powerful antidote he needed to be injected with every day prevented him from successfully transforming into that big guy.

"Bah!"

Just seconds after the staff shouted, visible white mist began to spray from the ceiling of the small room.

As white mist filled the room, Bronsky closed his eyes and gradually slumped weakly against the wall.

After the white mist dissipated through the vents, the alloy door of the small room slowly opened, and several staff members in protective suits walked in. They pulled Bronsky up from the ground and then secured him to a specially designed experimental bed.

The specially designed experimental bed was also inlaid with an unknown mineral that emitted a ghostly blue light. It seemed to be made of the same material as the shackles on Bronsky's hands and feet, and was also radioactive, which could disrupt and inhibit Bronsky's bodily functions.

After securing Bronsky, they pushed the lab bed from either side, passing through several security gates along the long corridor, until they arrived at a clean, bright, and pristine laboratory.

The people in the lab were all wearing full protective gear. Several people stood behind a specially made glass window watching. After the staff put Bronsky away, they waved to signal the staff to go out first.

"Subject 25, Emil Bronsky, Variant Abomination, primarily suffering from gamma-ray contamination..."

"Now we are conducting the 7th experiment... The objective of the experiment is to cleanse the experimental subject of dangerous thoughts..."

As the staff on the side began recording and broadcasting the experimental process into the camera, they also manipulated the robotic arm to move Bronsky to the center.

"Sizzle!" Blue arcs of electricity leaped and danced restlessly in the middle of the robotic arm.

Beside the robotic arm, a megaphone gradually descended from the ceiling and landed in the ear of the unconscious Bronsky.

As the blue arc of electricity crackled and made a sound, the voice of a staff member came through the loudspeaker, saying that he was putting Bronsky into deep hypnosis.

Once the hypnosis reaches a certain level, the robotic arm next to him will give Bronsky an electric shock, using this method to gradually disintegrate and destroy his consciousness, leaving only what they want to leave him and what they have modified.

The previous six experiments followed the same procedure, but Bronsky was an elite soldier, so his will was strong and his consciousness was not easily destroyed, and there had been no progress.

Other criminals wouldn't last six times. They'd usually be brainwashed into idiots by the second or third time, and then the process of filling them with new consciousness would begin.

The hypnotic treatment from the staff member over the loudspeaker lasted for a while. After his voice stopped, the robotic arm next to him reached forward, ready to give Bronsky an electroshock therapy.

Just as the staff were operating the robotic arm through the control panel to prepare for the work, Bronsky, who was lying on the experimental table, suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and looked at the staff behind the glass with great impatience.

"It's always the same process; they don't even know to change it when it's clearly useless."

"Since this is the 7th time, there's no need for me to continue playing with you guys."

As he spoke, Bronsky jumped off the experimental table and walked step by step toward the specially made transparent glass.

The staff behind the glass stared wide-eyed at the scene and immediately started banging on the control panel in front of them, beginning to implement the emergency plan.

"Snap! Snap!"

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

With a series of mechanical sounds, a number of weapons suddenly descended from the ceiling of the laboratory, all aimed at Bronsky who was striding forward.

"Ha! These little gadgets aren't even enough to tickle me!" Bronsky roared, his mouth agape.

With his roar, his body suddenly swelled up, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a small, muscular, and terrifying giant named Abomination with gray-green skin.

"Da da da! Da da da!"

Weapons falling from the ceiling began to relentlessly fire at Bronsky, with spent cartridge cases of various types clattering and falling to the ground, covering it in an instant.

"Roar!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With a roar, Bronsky, braving a hail of bullets, leaped onto the ceiling and dismantled all the weapons.

He then threw the weapons around, smashing the laboratory glass and turning all the staff who had been treating him like an animal, subjecting him to electric shocks and experiments, into mincemeat.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

As the laboratory was reduced to rubble, alarms began to sound throughout the entire Cube prison.

Upon hearing the alarm, Bronsky stopped venting his anger and instead turned and slammed into a wall, creating a large hole in it.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Bronsky smashed through walls, many of which were cells holding other criminals.

These criminals, also wearing glowing shackles, some leaned against the wall, others sat on their beds, watching helplessly as Bronsky, like a tank, crushed the walls one after another.

At first, they didn't realize what was happening; they just stared wide-eyed.

But given the alarm that had just sounded and the strange cheers that had begun to spread, the criminals quickly reacted, cheering as they ran out of their cells and started creating a disturbance.

Bronsky wasn't running around aimlessly; this was a route he had already planned in his mind.

Finally, after smashing through what felt like the umpteenth wall, fresh air rushed in with the shattered walls.

He greedily inhaled the fresh air and saw the sunset he hadn't seen in a long time and the distant forest.

Outside the Cube prison, there were also guards patrolling and maintaining martial law, but at this moment, Bronsky, who had once again felt the taste of freedom, was even more excited than before. He even ignored the attacks of these people and ran straight into the depths of the forest.

Chapter 217, The Final Destination: Sokovia.

"Snap! Snap!"