Urgency (Part Fourteen)

"Hmph!"

A cold snort of disdain and mockery escaped Baron Strucker's thin lips. He set the tablet down on the console, clasped his hands behind his back, and straightened, looking down on everything with icy indifference.

"Pierce, that arrogant, shortsighted fool. I warned him years ago not to hand S.H.I.E.L.D. over to Nick Fury, that one-eyed bastard—"

"A Black man who clawed his way up from the bottom would have rebellion and suspicion etched into his bones. How could he ever be content to dance on someone else's strings?"

He tilted his head slightly, as if remembering. Cold light flashed across the lens over his right eye. "But our arrogant Mr. Pierce refused to listen. He spouted nonsense about seeing his younger self in Nick Fury and being confident he could control him."

A mirthless smile touched Baron Strucker's lips, part scorn and part regret. "See? That's what happens when a man thinks too highly of himself and tries to tame a viper. In the end, it bit him so badly he lost even his last shred of dignity. Now the very institution he once upheld is publicly tearing his corpse apart. How pathetic. How ridiculous."

"Heh, heh, heh—" A grating laugh, like an owl's screech, came from the other side of the laboratory.

There stood a more elaborate biological workbench, crowded with tubes, electrodes, and screens.

Dr. Fritz, short and stout, with a gleaming bald head and a white coat stained with unidentified substances, slowly stopped adjusting a test tube filled with thick, dark-purple liquid.

He turned around. A fawning yet sinister smile spread across his round face, while fanaticism and cruelty gleamed in his tiny eyes.

"Your Lordship is absolutely right."

Dr. Fritz chimed in with his distinctive drawl, nearly spraying spittle as he spoke. "I've always thought