The torrential rain continued to batter the Vought Tower.
Tifa had already put away the metal box on the desk.
The air was filled with the aroma of meat, mixed with the rich fragrance of rosemary and red wine after long stewing.
Hannibal Lecter held up a bone china plate. "Vegetarian thymus, with black truffle sauce."
After finishing his introduction, Hannibal gently placed the plate in front of Lynn, deftly twirling the knife between his fingers.
"This is the best soothing balm for 'fear'. Food processed under high pressure is often more tender and juicy than it was originally."
Lynn did not taste it.
The fear had reached its peak.
Nick Fury is now a lion trapped in a ring of fire. He has just killed his animal trainer, Pierce, and is now witnessing the nightmares of the 'experiments' created by Shocker.
"If we push this further, this lion will either bite off its own tongue in despair or go completely mad and recklessly use nuclear weapons to clean up the land."
We need him to live.
Hannibal bowed slightly and gave a smile.
Despair is a seasoning, but it cannot be the main course.
"Only when people see a glimmer of light in the depths of despair will they unleash a survival instinct that transcends their physical limits."
"To grasp at that straw, they will become incredibly obedient, crawling step by step towards the Slaughterhouse called 'hope' according to our pre-set script."
Hannibal took a USB drive out of his jacket pocket and gently pushed it onto the table.
It had a S.H.I.E.L.D.- branded top-secret label on it, with even fake scorch marks on the edges.
" S.H.I.E.L.D..'s intelligence system is like a leaky sieve."
" Victoria Hand has already arranged the route. This data will be mixed in with the 'intercepted' Shocker files and appear on Fury's desk."
Lynn glanced at the USB drive.
That was the final, grand gift prepared for Nick Fury.
It was also the driving force that kept him burning the remaining value for Vought in this game called "Fighting Shocker ".
"Go ahead and let that ' United States spirit,' which has been dormant for seventy years, come out and breathe."
Washington, D. C., the Triskelion.
The piercing alarm finally stopped, but the pungent smell of cleaning agents lingered in the air, used to mask the stench of blood.
The implementation of the Icarus Protocol was more disastrous than anticipated.
Bloodstains, indicating dragging, were visible everywhere in the corridor, and the walls were riddled with bullet holes.
Nick Fury sat in the director's office, looking ten years older.
The table was piled high with documents brought back from an abandoned arsenal in New Jersey.
Every photograph, every line of text, mocks his incompetence.
Hydra turned living people into monsters right under his nose.
And his proud S.H.I.E.L.D.. only discovered the truth today.
And there was that look in Alexander Pierce's eyes before he died.
That's not fear.
That was pity.
It's as if it's saying: Killing me won't help, the monster called " Shocker " has been unleashed, and you will all die.
"Chief."
Maria Hill pushed open the door and entered, holding a tablet in her hand.
Her face was also pale, and her arm was wrapped in bandages.
"The technical department cracked the batch of hard drives intercepted in New Jersey. Most of the data was either corrupted or contained highly encrypted gibberish."
"But we restored a coordinate file in the bottom-level recycle bin."
Fury rubbed his temples wearily.
"Another Shocker outpost? Or another human lab? I'm not sure if we should look into this, Hill."
"No, sir."
Hill's voice trembled slightly; it was the sound of extreme excitement being forcibly suppressed.
"This isn't Shocker's base. This document was created in 1945, and the encryption algorithm belongs to the now-dead Zola."
Hill handed the tablet to Fury.
The screen displays a blurry satellite thermal image and a recording of the black box audio that has been reconstructed by analysis software.
Fury glanced at it casually.
The next second.
He sat up straight, the movement so violent that he almost knocked over the coffee cup on the table.
The single eye was fixed intently on the waveform on the screen.
That's a coordinate.
Arctic Circle.
300 meters below the Greenland ice sheet.
But that's not the point.
The key point is the energy reaction reading that comes with the coordinate.
That deep blue, extremely stable gamma-ray band.
Has this data been verified?
"It was verified three times."
Hill took a deep breath.
" Shocker kept this document because they had been trying to salvage some high-value asset, but had been unsuccessful due to ice shifts and technical limitations."
"Chief, the vital signs detector there... has a faint response."
"He's alive."
Fury stood up, and his chair overturned with a loud crash.
Just minutes before, he felt he had lost.
They lost to Hydra's infiltration, to Vought's capitalist coercion, and to Shocker's reign of terror.
He had no cards left.
Pierce was eliminated, but S.H.I.E.L.D.. was severely weakened, and the agents' faith collapsed.
Faced with a " Rider No. 1 " of Bucky Barnes ' caliber, or a "god among Homelander, S.H.I.E.L.D.. is no different from a child with a water gun.
But now.
God threw a rope down for him just as he was about to fall into hell.
" Steve Rogers."
In this era of collapsing faith, in this world ravaged by the "false gods" of the Vought International and the "demons" of Shocker.
What people need is not more firepower.
It's not a more sophisticated monitoring algorithm either.
People need a symbol.
A symbol representing the finest qualities of humankind.
A lighthouse that allows everyone to see the way in the darkness.
Only he can stand against the legacy of Hydra.
Only he could restore the public's trust in S.H.I.E.L.D.., and even...
To keep Vought in check on those lawless superheroes in the future.
"This is your last chance, Hill."
Fury's previous fatigue and dejection vanished instantly.
" Vought, there are Homelander."
Shocker has that bunch of freaks.
But we have legends.
"We have the man who personally ended World War II and sent Red Skull to hell."
"Back up the machine. Have Coulson lead the team himself. Dig him out, even if you have to use your hands! I want to personally bring him home."
Hill stood at attention, saluted, turned, and strode away, his footsteps quick and powerful.