Panicked Hydra

"Hahaha, don't worry. Eat as much as you want. Even if you order another ten servings, it's fine!"

Nick Fury waved a hand at that.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was expanding and growing rapidly now, and there were countless places to spend money. The funds in his hands were somewhat tight at the moment, but not so tight that he had to skimp on a meal.

"Really? Mr. Fury, you're such a Good Person. Waiter, bring me a hundred more of each of those two dishes first. Just to whet my appetite."

A brilliant smile instantly appeared on Hawking's face.

An hour later, Nick Fury watched Hawking continue eating at an utterly undiminished pace, and the corner of his eye could not help twitching several times.

He could eat far too much. He could really eat far too much! Even pigs did not eat this much, all right?

This was an upscale French restaurant. Its specialties were exquisite dishes, high prices, and the atmosphere. If Hawking kept eating like this, Fury was truly going to bleed money today.

It was not that he could not afford it. It was simply that the money for this meal could have been used elsewhere to equip an elite squad of agents.

But he could not say anything. Hawking had initially been embarrassed and only ordered twenty Apple Black Sausages and Pan-fried Sole Fish. Fury himself had told him to eat his fill.

Now that he thought about it, he had definitely fallen for the kid's trick.

There was no helping it. Even knowing that Hawking possessed a maturity beyond that of an ordinary child, his childish appearance still provided a natural disguise that made people let down their guard.

Most importantly, Fury had truly never imagined Hawking could eat this much.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep."

Just as everyone's attention was focused on Hawking wolfing down food, the communicator at Nick Fury's waist suddenly rang.

"It's Hill."

Seeing the caller ID, Nick Fury pressed the answer button.

Yet only moments later, his expression abruptly changed, and he sprang to his feet.

"What? You said Colonel Stryker was poisoned to death!"

His words made everyone present reveal astonished expressions.

Though they were all surprised, the objects of their surprise differed.

The others were shocked by Stryker's death, while Magneto and Mystique were shocked that Hawking had actually carried out this flawless poisoning.

If they had not known in advance that Hawking was responsible, they truly would not have been able to connect Stryker's death with Hawking in the slightest.

However, the two of them were seasoned veterans. Surprised though they were, neither looked toward Hawking and let the agents before them notice anything unusual.

"Sorry, I have something to handle, so I'll head back first. Have Coulson settle the bill once you're done eating."

After a frowning exchange, Nick Fury shut off the communicator.

According to Agent Hill's report, Stryker had suddenly been poisoned and died on the spot while undergoing agent interrogation.

The moment they took Stryker into custody, they had conducted a comprehensive examination of his body and ruled out the possibility that Professor X, Magneto, or the others had poisoned him beforehand.

Moreover, those people were currently dining with him.

Thus, Hill suspected that one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had later come into contact with Stryker had seized the opportunity to poison him.

Since she was unsure who it was, Hill had arrested them all and interrogated them. Unexpectedly, she discovered that one agent who had just graduated from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy appeared to be a spy planted in S.H.I.E.L.D. by some secret organization.

Therefore, the current situation was even more serious than Stryker's death. There was a problem inside S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury had to return as quickly as possible to deal with it.

"It's all right. Director Fury and the others should attend to your business first. We can pay for ourselves later."

Professor X Responded with a smile.

To him, the money Hawking had spent on food was truly nothing. There was no need to take advantage of Nick Fury over such a trivial matter when they had only just established a good relationship.

"How could we let our guests pay? Coulson, stay behind. Everyone else, return to headquarters with me."

Nick Fury's expression stiffened for a moment, but he did not accept Professor X's suggestion. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he could not afford to lose face like that.

At the same time, he could not help marveling at how fucking rich the Xavier Family was after generations of accumulated wealth.

As Nick Fury led Captain Marvel and the others hurriedly out of the restaurant, Alexander Pierce, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., was also getting a headache in the Security Council minister's office at the Triskelion.

"Sitwell, you said Hill is interrogating an agent who was just converted?"

"Minister, this was an accident. Fortunately, that agent still doesn't know we're Hydra. He only did it for the money..."

Senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sitwell quickly reported the entire situation.

As Hydra's primary recruiter, every year he organized his subordinates to recruit and convert a batch of suitable agents from among those graduating from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy to join Hydra.

However, for secrecy's sake, these lowest-level Hydra spies did not know that their organization was Hydra.

The agent Hill had arrested was one whom one of Sitwell's Hydra subordinates had converted this year.

It was merely unfortunate that he had gotten caught up in Stryker's poisoning and murder, then failed to withstand interrogation, resulting in this awkward situation.

"Nick Fury is extremely shrewd and cautious. Before he returns, quickly dispose of your Subordinate, cut off that lead, then direct the clues toward some terrorist organizations we've fabricated.

"Also, halt all operations for the time being, including those targeting Mutants."

Pierce paced back and forth through the office for a while before swiftly issuing a series of orders.

The main reason he had handed the position of S.H.I.E.L.D. director to Nick Fury rather than one of his own Hydra members was that he believed Nick Fury was simply too outstanding and capable.

Though Fury was not Hydra, some of his ideals and methods aligned with Hydra's without prior consultation.

And that was indeed the case. In only a few short years, S.H.I.E.L.D. had expanded several times beyond the scale it had possessed under Pierce.

This had also allowed Hydra, parasitizing S.H.I.E.L.D. from within, to grow tremendously alongside it.

But at the same time, he had to remain vigilant and prevent Nick Fury from discovering Hydra's existence. Thus, everything now had to prioritize placating Nick Fury; everything else could be set aside.

At present, Nick Fury was the most valuable asset they had.

Yet this incident truly amounted to sitting at home while blame fell from the sky.

Why would he send someone to kill Stryker?

He had also been waiting for Nick Fury to pry information about the Mutants and those experimental records out of Stryker.

After all, whatever Nick Fury extracted through interrogation, Pierce could obtain a copy for Hydra's research.

Unfortunately, whether he wanted to or not, he had to take the blame for this. He absolutely could not let the matter grow larger and allow Nick Fury to discover that there was a problem within S.H.I.E.L.D.

The best course was to steer Stryker's death toward those fictional terrorist organizations hostile to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Even he was puzzled now. Who exactly had poisoned Colonel Stryker?

At that moment, Hawking was still crazily stuffing himself and had no idea that using the Transfiguration Charm to poison Stryker had nearly detonated Hydra's hidden bomb ahead of time.