Allen was the Secretary of State?
Heh.
Forget the Secretary of State—even if the president angered Ross, Ross, who was known as one of the military's heavyweights, would still dare to confront him head-on.
What did the Secretary of State count for?
To put it bluntly, including the president, they were all temporary workers responsible for taking the blame. As for the military, the military were the actual civil servants. When it came to who owned this country, the military dared claim they were second, while capital dared claim first place.
Allen left with an ugly expression.
Nick Fury glanced at Lake, then turned and left with the Secretary of State.
What was the point of staying?
General Ross had clearly decided to protect Lake to the death and go head-to-head with them. There was no longer any chance for negotiations, so rather than bowing and compromising with the military, they might as well find a way to get the FBI to admit it had been a work error rather than claim someone had impersonated Lake.
The former would turn a major matter into a minor one.
The latter...
That was where the problem lay.
If the military was determined enough and dealt with the matter directly under military law, Nick Fury estimated that he would never see Phil Coulson or the other capable agents again.
Damn it.
Who exactly was this Lake? Hadn't they already investigated him thoroughly? Why was General Ross so determined to protect him?
Nick Fury still hadn't figured it out by the time he got into the car and left Quantico. Moreover, he had come all this way only to leave the base escorted by a squad of soldiers without even seeing Phil Coulson.
Inside General Ross's office.
Lake stood by the window, watching Nick Fury and the Department of Justice leave in disgrace. He curled his lip. Wasn't this just a contest of connections? They made it sound as if he didn't have any.
At first...
Lake had planned that if S.H.I.E.L.D. dared to make a move against him, he would go all out and fight S.H.I.E.L.D. to the bitter end.
But.
Lake suddenly thought of a problem.
Although this Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division was written as S.H.I.E.L.D., it was, in name and reality, H.Y.D.R.A. If he made a move, it would be less a fight to the death with S.H.I.E.L.D. and more a fight to the death with H.Y.D.R.A.
Besides, Lake mused, if destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. meant destroying H.Y.D.R.A., then from a certain perspective, wouldn't he actually become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s executioner, helping them wipe out H.Y.D.R.A.?
Why should he?
Lake was a reasonable man. Whoever provoked him, he killed. But the one who had provoked him was S.H.I.E.L.D., not H.Y.D.R.A. For H.Y.D.R.A. to suffer such undeserved misfortune for no reason would be rather tragic.
So Lake planned to rein himself in. He had no grudge against H.Y.D.R.A., and he had even had one not-quite-direct business interaction with them. H.Y.D.R.A. had paid generously and hadn't done anything unnecessary. They had once asked someone to recruit him, and when Lake refused, they had merely smiled and expressed hope that they could work together if the opportunity arose next time.
See?
When all was said and done, the future S.H.I.E.L.D. had suddenly risen to a lofty position, and its leader was some dark-skinned fellow whose own people had no real foundation.
What was that saying?
The descendants of Zhongshan wolves become wild and arrogant once they gain power?
Most importantly, he was a man with a head full of persecution delusions and arrogance who used the boldest words to establish the most cowardly organization: the Avengers Alliance.
Look at the slogan Nick had used when he founded the Avengers Alliance.
He wanted to tell the entire universe that even if they couldn't defeat their enemies, they still had the ability to deal an enormous blow to anyone invading Earth. That was why the Avengers had been established.
For fuck's sake.
Even if you dealt them the greatest blow possible, wouldn't the battlefield still be Earth? How could he have the nerve to say that?
Lake truly couldn't figure out what kind of thought process he had. But after thinking about it for ten days and ten nights, perhaps it had something to do with skin color. After all, dark-skinned people didn't have much history. Maybe they thought spitting into their master's food counted as a devastating blow.
That was what Lake thought to himself.
"Dumped again?"
"..."
General Ross, who hadn't taken his confrontation with the Secretary of Defense or Nick Fury to heart in the slightest, looked at Lake as he came back to himself by the window and shook his head. "How long did this one last?"
Lake said, "I came here to seek refuge. They're trying to arrest me."
General Ross gave a mocking laugh. "Do you think I don't know you? You got dumped first, and they tried to arrest you afterward. That's why you came here, right? If you hadn't been dumped, would you have come to me?"
Lake said nothing.
All right.
He and General Ross did indeed have another kind of relationship.
After all, if General Ross had merely thought highly of him, he would have protected Lake to the death, but he wouldn't have torn all pretense away and protected him so forcefully as before.
Er...
As for Lake's exact relationship with General Ross...
Let's put it this way.
Lake was an orphan, but there were no orphanages. The USA didn't have orphanages; it had a foster-care system.
So...
Seeing that Lake no longer spoke, General Ross couldn't be bothered to press him. He directly took his car keys from the drawer, tossed them to Lake, and said, "Come home tonight. Pick up your sister from school. Karen really wants to see you."
Lake caught the keys, opened his mouth, then gave General Ross a salute before turning and leaving.
All right.
That was right.
After Lake had been born in this life, he had been sent to a foster family when he was about five years old. The people who adopted him were Ross and his wife, Karen, standing before him.
Back then, Lake had also thought it was merely a case of the same name and surname, but he eventually gave up struggling against it.
Then...
Ross and Karen's daughter, Betty, was born. Karen nearly died from massive blood loss, and ten-year-old Lake made a wish that reversed her fate.
After all, they had lived together for five years. Although Lake had never changed the way he addressed her, that didn't stop Karen from caring for him. Lake felt it was what he ought to do.
Then...
Lake grew up step by step. After graduating from high school at sixteen, partly because of his mature wisdom and partly because of his awakened cheat, he refused Ross's offer to pay his university tuition. At the same time as moving out of the Ross family home, he chose to join the military, where he could earn money and later attend university for free.
General Ross didn't stop Lake from making that decision.
In fact, Ross was delighted. After all, the Ross family was a military family, and Lake choosing to join the military was both the right thing to do and something that pleased him enormously.
That year, Lake changed his surname and joined the military. Ross also had someone reconstruct Lake's records, which was why S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't detect anything unusual.
All right.
When Lake had been promoted ahead of schedule at such a young age, three parts of it had been due to his outstanding ability, but it couldn't be denied that seven parts had been due to pulling strings.
Perhaps...
After changing Lake's surname at Lake's request, General Ross had simply taken the opportunity to go along with it.
After that?
Lake had planned to leave the military and attend university. General Ross had nearly been driven mad with anger at the time. After all, judging by Lake's performance then, it had been very possible for him to become the youngest general in the USA.
But Karen supported Lake's decision.
So...
Before she married, Karen's surname had been Rockefeller, and she had defeated Ross—the man from a military family whose surname was Ross!
Before you continue