Hydra Has Grown Another Head

"Kill!"

"Let the revelry begin!"

"Go ahead and vent all your hatred and fury!"

"We have to let S.H.I.E.L.D. know that they can’t defeat us!"

"For every injustice and injury we’ve suffered from this world, we’ll repay it a hundredfold!"

Pointing at the fleeing crowds who were crying out in agony, Carl roused them with spirited words, while the supervillains wantonly vented the resentment they had accumulated during their years in prison.

Beside him, Raina watched with flickering eyes as he incited the supervillains he had rescued to slaughter people indiscriminately. Somewhat puzzled, she asked, "Shouldn’t you be hurrying to find your daughter? Why are you stirring up this kind of trouble again?"

Carl caught his breath and paused. He had shouted himself hoarse for quite some time, and it had left him exhausted. When he wasn’t using his potions, he was nothing more than an ordinary person.

"Daisy is being hunted right now. You know how powerful S.H.I.E.L.D. is—it’s practically an inescapable net. She must be under tremendous pressure. So I’m making a huge mess here in the United States, giving S.H.I.E.L.D. fewer people and less energy to spend hunting Daisy, so she can have more room to breathe."

"Just for that? You caused this massacre?" Raina stared at Carl incredulously, pointing at the corpses piled up like a small mountain before them.

Carl’s face darkened as he glanced at Raina. The reason he had valued her was that she was the capable assistant he needed to find the daughter he had been separated from for many years.

But now he already knew who his daughter was. All that remained was for father and daughter to reunite. In other words, Raina was no longer useful.

"Raina, I’m the only one who can guide you to the thing you’ve always dreamed of finding. I don’t want you questioning me again. This is the last time. Understood?"

Faced with Carl’s murderous words, Raina’s breath caught. She hurriedly nodded again and again.

Seeing the fear in Raina’s eyes, Carl smiled in satisfaction. He stood up and walked once more toward the supervillains who were still reveling.

"All right, guys, time’s up. We need to retreat. We’ll move to another city and continue our celebration!"

How could a bunch of lunatics who were having the time of their lives be willing to leave right when they were reaching the climax?

Although Carl was the one who had rescued them, when had supervillains ever cared about gratitude or anything like that? They only cared about violence. Whoever could overpower them was their leader. Otherwise, at most, they merely owed that person a favor.

"Hey, Carl, don’t be such a killjoy!" A blood-covered man casually tossed aside the corpse in his hands and complained unhappily.

Carl had dealt with villains for many years, so he naturally knew how to handle them.

"We’ve caused such a huge disturbance. S.H.I.E.L.D. will be sending people over soon, so we have to relocate. If you don’t want to be dragged back to prison, you’d better do as I say!"

"There are so many of us. Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. comes, they can’t do anything to us!" another man shouted, putting on a brave face.

"Okay, great. Then keep playing. I’m leaving first. I hope you have a good fight with S.H.I.E.L.D. and put a dent in their arrogance… What a bunch of idiots! No matter how many of you there are, can you really outnumber S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

As Carl spoke, he suddenly turned hostile and began cursing furiously.

"If gathering together were useful, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t have locked you all up together!"

"Our way of fighting S.H.I.E.L.D. is to gradually cut off their wings, not stupidly fight them head-on!"

"Anyone willing to come with me, get in the cars now. Otherwise, stay here and wait to die!"

Carl turned away angrily and got into a car first. He started the engine and drove out of the city. Through the rearview mirror, he was pleased to see a convoy gradually following behind him.

But outside his line of sight, Raina had not followed.

Carl’s current way of doing things had become completely unacceptable to Raina, and she had already begun preparing to find another employer. Perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a good choice.

New White House, New York.

President Rogers had just seen a new visitor out. He collapsed into his chair and massaged his temples with a headache.

Being a politician really wasn’t something an ordinary person could handle. The tangled web of interpersonal relationships alone was enough to leave him overwhelmed. The workload itself had no effect on his body, but the mental pressure constantly made him want to quit.

However, for the sake of Hydra’s grand cause, he had to persevere—at least for two terms, or eight years.

Good heavens, what a long time!

The tapping of high heels against the floor rang out. A fragrant breeze swept over, and a pair of soft hands gently settled on his temples, slowly massaging them.

"What is it this time?"

"It’s about public education funding." Steve sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying a brief moment of relaxation.

"All budgets are allocated according to precedent. He’s a veteran congressman, so why did he come asking for an increase now?"

"Who knows? These politicians are all shrewd and unpredictable. It’s impossible to guess what they’re thinking. Maybe he saw that I’m a newcomer to politics and wants to take the opportunity to squeeze out some extra benefits." Steve offered his guess.

"There’s another possibility. He thinks Captain America will support him in increasing public education funding," Shao Ji said meaningfully.

The worry on Steve’s face deepened. He opened his eyes and smiled bitterly. "Personally, I think education benefits both the country and its people, so increasing the budget would be reasonable. It’s just that…"

"Then don’t bother with him. Once the organization controls the world, private education will naturally be abolished, and all resources will be devoted to public education. You must believe that everything you do will make the United States a better place."

"There’s no need to abolish private education, though… Forget it, let’s not talk about this. What’s on my schedule next?"

"Next, you’re meeting Wellsworth, the governor of Nevada. He’s here because of that alien prince, Loki. Loki built an Asgardian-style arena in the Nevada desert, where he uses Magnetic Field Warriors for gladiatorial combat. It has attracted quite a few tourists and seriously affected business in Las Vegas."

Steve frowned. "Gladiatorial combat was abolished in civilized society long ago. Even if he’s an alien prince, he has no right to cause trouble on Earth. I’ll have S.H.I.E.L.D. talk to him and tear down his arena."

"Unfortunately, you can’t. Loki is also one of Hydra’s heads. He made a deal with Director Pierce, so you can’t oppose him!"

"What?" Steve was startled. He turned around and looked at Shao Ji behind him. "Loki is also Hydra? Does Hydra have such a wide range of operations? When did its influence spread to outer space?"

Shao Ji shrugged. Her ample chest bounced, and the view from below was especially alluring.

"I’m not sure about the details either, but Loki did recruit a group of people from within Hydra and set himself up as their king. We can’t figure out how he distinguished the Hydra members, or how he got them to swear loyalty to him."

"So Hydra has finally had someone poach its people!" Steve said sarcastically, displeased.

"His identity is genuine, and the bargaining chips he offered were genuine too. So we can only support Loki."

Steve curled his lip. "All right, I understand. I’ll use Loki’s identity as an alien prince to brush him off later. But he may not accept it. It’s easy to imagine that he’ll keep coming to bother me in the future."

"You don’t need to worry too much about that. Although we don’t know what Loki intends to do in Nevada, since Hydra has set its sights on him, Governor Wellsworth will become one of us sooner or later." Shao Ji was extremely confident.

"Uh, you’re right."