A cliffside estate on the outskirts of Sokovia's capital...
A grand private gathering was being held here today. Hydra's leadership would meet with many Eastern European businessmen and gangsters.
Sokovia had smoothly passed the vote to join the European Union. Starting today, this would be Hydra's lair.
As an underground organization that had abandoned most of its global enterprises, Hydra needed to rebuild its economic and intelligence networks here.
On the surface, they were Victor von Doom's bagmen. In reality, they had merely changed skins, becoming a new politically backed criminal organization.
Five of the most notorious criminal organizations in all of Eastern Europe had gathered here today, along with dozens of prominent business tycoons.
Even several famous extremist leaders had come.
Hydra's people were concealed among them. They hoped to bring this portion of the underworld to heel through a mix of threats and inducements, then forge a new lifeline to provide Hydra with a steady stream of money and manpower.
At seven in the evening, the estate went into lockdown. One after another, luxury sedans drove up the mountain road and entered the grounds.
The mountains and forests stretching for thousands of hectares around the estate were private property. The estate itself stood on the edge of a high cliff.
There was only one road into the estate, leading directly to its gates.
Or, if someone wanted to take an unconventional route, they could risk crossing woods riddled with motion sensors and then climbing a nearly vertical, hundred-meter cliff.
The estate was guarded by nearly three hundred armed personnel, while a mechanized force of more than five hundred was stationed at a camp in the woods.
With security like this, almost every way into the estate was completely sealed off.
The Church was decades old. He wasn't about