"HYDRA?"
Natasha didn't quite understand what Su Zhou meant. Tilting her head, she began thinking through the information she knew.
"The Nazi organization from World War II? Didn't Captain America lead a team to wipe them out?
Why bring up a villainous organization that vanished into history all of a sudden?"
"Since you know about them, I won't make this too complicated. That'll save me some breath.
You need to listen carefully to everything I'm about to say, and whatever you do, don't get worked up!"
Su Zhou took a big gulp of beer, fished a document out from under the coffee table, and handed it to Natasha.
He and Tony had obtained this material after scouring S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files.
It documented Operation Paperclip, which the United States had launched after its victory.
Its aim had been to recruit Nazi Germany's top scientists, including Doctor Zola!
"This Doctor Zola was HYDRA's chief scientist during World War II.
You could say that apart from their leader at the time, Red Skull, Zola was HYDRA's number two.
Yet the Strategic Scientific Reserve, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predecessor, chose to recruit a man like that.
And that allowed Doctor Zola to become a cancer growing inside S.H.I.E.L.D."
Natasha leafed through the documents in her hands. The information in them was all stuff she couldn't have accepted before.
Looking at it now, S.H.I.E.L.D. was no different from the KGB she had once belonged to.
It was just another enforcer doing the government's dirty work. Even the KGB knew better than to let an enemy into its upper ranks, didn't it?
"And then? According to these files, didn't this cancer die a long time ago?"
Natasha set down the documents. Besides Doctor Zola,
they listed plenty of other scientists, but Su Zhou hadn't mentioned them, so Doctor Zola had to be the key!
"HYDRA's motto is, cut off one head, and two more will grow in its place!"
Su Zhou pointed at Doctor Zola's photograph in the file and said helplessly,
"After all those years in S.H.I.E.L.D., he'd already riddled it with infiltrators.
Of all the people throughout S.H.I.E.L.D., apart from a few trusted people under Nick Fury
and top agents like you and Hawkeye, the vast majority are already HYDRA.
That includes our Secretary Alexander. He's a HYDRA member too."
Natasha: "(ºДº*)
Wait, is this something I should even be hearing?
Shouldn't you report something this important directly to the director?
"But why do you know so much about this?"
Natasha had uncrossed her legs and sat upright, looking at Su Zhou.
In her eyes, Su Zhou had become even more mysterious.
And she vaguely sensed a hint of danger!
"Because I'm HYDRA's mole in S.H.I.E.L.D."
Su Zhou seemed determined to shock her with every word, watching the stunned Natasha with a calm expression.
He remained just as calm even when Natasha pulled a handgun from beneath her skirt and aimed it at him.
Natasha pointed the dark muzzle at Su Zhou and swallowed instinctively.
No wonder she'd sensed danger just now. This was seriously wrong!
"You can keep your gun pointed at me, but I hope you'll hear me out before deciding whether to shoot."
Su Zhou took a deep breath, then continued in the same even tone.
"At this point, we might as well call S.H.I.E.L.D. Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D., because even a HYDRA member like me
doesn't know exactly how many HYDRA members are inside S.H.I.E.L.D. That's just how the organization works.
Every HYDRA member has another HYDRA member beside them. Even the core members are no exception.
Even if I told Nick Fury the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, do you think he'd believe me?
And even if he did, once a fight broke out inside S.H.I.E.L.D., would he make it out the front door in one piece?"
Su Zhou then told Natasha how S.H.I.E.L.D. had selected him and how he had gone undercover as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
Then, because of his own standards of justice, he had found himself truly unable to accept HYDRA's methods.
So now he was ready to leave the darkness for the light and pull off something huge against both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D.!
"So you mean you need help? But why did you choose me?"
Natasha still hadn't lowered the gun. It remained aimed at Su Zhou's head.
But she had engaged the safety. She now knew what Su Zhou intended.
Even if he had been HYDRA's mole before, he now seemed to have decided to cut ties with the organization.
He was even planning to uproot it completely. Perhaps he intended to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. along with it.
Still, Su Zhou was right. Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D. had serious problems now too.
Perhaps there had been historical reasons for recruiting Nazi scientists, but allowing those scientists to suck S.H.I.E.L.D.'s blood
and revive a Nazi organization within its body meant that such a rotten S.H.I.E.L.D. shouldn't exist anymore!
Naturally, Su Zhou had his reasons for choosing Natasha as his first ally.
He was quite close to Tony, but Tony...
Playboys and capitalists had no sense of justice in their heads. Basically, everything they did was to show off.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have admitted he was Iron Man at a press conference!
Anyone who wrote novels on Tomato knew never to expose their alt identity.
But Tony had not only exposed his identity, he had also become the most famous capitalist in the world.
In an age where traffic was king, he had feasted on attention, sending Stark Industries' share price soaring.
That meant his every move was watched, making it far too difficult for him to hide his identity and do any dirty work!
Natasha, on the other hand, was different. Black Widow's character was so noble that it surpassed even Captain America's.
She could even lift Thor's hammer. With someone as morally upstanding as himself for a teammate,
who wouldn't be happy?
"Because your record is dirty enough. As a foreign spy who defected,
Nick must have put a lot of effort into investigating you. And your name isn't in the HYDRA files I have.
So I think you'd make a very good teammate!"
Su Zhou smiled, then raised his beer bottle toward Natasha.
He gestured for her to clink bottles with him so they could consider their partnership underway.
"That reason isn't enough. Give me another, and I'll believe you!"
Natasha had already lowered her handgun, but she hadn't raised her beer bottle yet.
She looked at Su Zhou with a teasing glint in her eyes, as though she were saying something with them.
"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Even if you screwed me over, I wouldn't mind. How's that for a reason?"
"Cheers!"