Unfounded Speculation

Since Pierce had served as a bridge between the World Security Council and S.H.I.E.L.D., the former director had good relations with both sides. Especially when even the cautious Nick Fury believed a world-level crisis was at hand, they could dispense with certain formalities.

Nick Fury took out something that looked like a USB Drive and plugged it into the desk. A virtual screen appeared in the air, and three video clips played one after another.

The first showed a heavily armed squad engaging a humanoid bat with an exoskeleton. But the soldiers were slaughtered almost instantly. Their ordinary weapons couldn't inflict any meaningful damage on the humanoid bat—not even enough to stagger it. "Brutal" barely did the scene justice.

The clip had clearly been edited to emphasize the humanoid bat's savagery. It didn't explain how the human military had defeated the monster. Then the second clip began.

The second clip showed someone who looked like a scientist discussing the results of various tests on a Fang Vampire's body. At first, it was all easy enough for an ordinary person to understand, but once he got down to the cellular level, long stretches of technical jargon followed.

If Wei Xiuming had been there, it wouldn't have mattered. He was far more knowledgeable than the person in the video.

Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce, on the other hand, might not have understood it all. Yet both listened with intense concentration, as if they really did understand something. Still, it was enough to know that Fang Vampires surpassed humans in every aspect of their physical structure and cells.

When the clip ended, Pierce—who hadn't slept all night and had spent half the day listening to things outside his field—rubbed his brow, trying to clear his mind. Then he asked, "What does this have to do with vampires?"

The third video answered Pierce's question. A person in a hazmat suit and gas mask was explaining something on screen. At some point, Nick Fury had recorded Wei Xiuming's video about the threat posed by Amazon Cells, then edited it. Pierce had no idea how he'd managed all that along the way.

As he listened, Pierce's forehead began to throb. The message was simply too pointed.

Daniel Whitehall was Red Skull's direct disciple, and senior to Pierce in the organization's hierarchy. By transplanting the cells of an Inhuman woman with abilities related to Life Force, he had survived from World War II to the present day in a youthful body.

If someone was desperate to find a way to restore youth and extend life, and had ties to the remnants of the Third Reich, Whitehall was the most likely candidate.

Then, when the video touched on the subject of the dead being brought back to life, Pierce's temples began to throb. He strongly suspected that Wei Xiuming already knew about Hydra's presence inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Uploading one's consciousness into a computer was a privilege that, as far as Pierce knew, only Arnim Zola had enjoyed.

The Hydra scientist had once served Red Skull, helping him extract energy from the Tesseract and turn it into a weapon. After World War II ended, Doctor Zola was arrested and imprisoned. In 1972, he died of cancer.

But in a sense, Zola hadn't really died. He had uploaded his consciousness into a supercomputer and hidden it in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New Jersey, where it remained operational to this day.

After becoming a digital entity, Zola had devised Project Insight to identify people who might threaten Hydra's interests and eliminate them with specially designed weapons. Project Insight was now proceeding methodically, and would bear fruit in about seven years.

If the supposed technology for resurrecting the dead really worked, Doctor Zola would undoubtedly be its greatest beneficiary.

If Nick Fury hadn't told Pierce earlier about an organization called Shocker, Pierce might not have spun such a web of theories around Wei Xiuming's words.

When the video ended, Nick Fury raised the stakes. "Vampires can coexist with humans only because they have too many weaknesses and need human strength at their disposal. All this time, they've been searching for ways to overcome those weaknesses. Most of the companies selling sunscreen and other cosmetics are controlled by vampire interests. Their purpose is obvious."

"Amazon Cells could help them overcome their weaknesses to sunlight and silver weapons, and make them strong enough to match a main battle tank. In that case, the best humans could hope for would be to live on as slaves to the Fang Vampires."

Noticing that his old friend looked uneasy, Nick Fury added, "The problem before us right now is vampires and the Fang Vampires they've evolved into. But the real mastermind is Doctor Death, who supplied the vampires with Amazon Cells, and the organization behind him, called Shocker."

"We can't show them any mercy! We'll hunt them down wherever they are. If we catch them at an airport, we'll kill them there. If we find them in a bathroom, we'll drown them in the toilet. We can't leave a single one alive to rise again."

"I'll discuss this with the World Security Council. I'll let you know the specific outcome later." Pierce, feeling a headache coming on, tactfully saw Nick Fury out.

He was worried about more than just Nick Fury's attitude. If Nick Fury discovered Hydra, which was so much like Shocker, there would be no end to the trouble. The other issue was the World Security Council. Just then, a projection screen appeared in the office.

The screen was divided into five sections, each showing a person from the waist up. These five people represented the five world powers on the World Security Council.

After listening to the entire report, the five Council members wore different expressions. Whatever the squabbles between nations, the problems caused by bloodsucking were the real issue.

The relationship between vampires and humans was like the financial market. Cross-shareholdings among major conglomerates formed a dense web, its tangled connections enough to make anyone's head spin.

Countless people profited from that web. For one thing, many companies affiliated with different factions of Hydra had close business ties with the vampires. If Alexander Pierce wanted to follow in Red Skull's footsteps and silence the other factions to become Hydra's undisputed leader, he couldn't let their interests suffer.

As time went on, many Hydra leaders had strayed from the organization's original purpose. Instead of pressing forward, they sought to accumulate more power and indulge themselves. Red Skull was a perfect counterexample.

Red Skull, however, had been a man of conviction. He truly wanted to conquer the world for its own sake, not to seize it and then live in luxury.

The same couldn't be said for the other Hydra members—especially the younger generation who had grown up in peace, comfort, and abundance. They really were a lost generation.