"Director, isn't that an exaggeration?" Coulson spoke for the first time.
He had stayed quiet, not really following the hidden talk between Fury and May.
But he had taken part in the Centipede investigations, and he knew the group wasn't simple.
He also knew about Hydra. But saying Hydra was not only still alive, but even more dangerous than Centipede—wasn't that giving them too much credit and putting down S.H.I.E.L.D.?
After all, Centipede itself was already a huge threat.
S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't even been able to take them out easily.
If Hydra was truly "a hundred times more dangerous"… wouldn't that mean S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't handle them at all?
But was that possible?
Hydra had already been wiped out once by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predecessor. Even if they had revived, how could they have grown so strong so quickly?
"Exaggeration? No, not at all."
Fury looked at him coldly. "If you knew the kind of people Hydra has planted inside us, you wouldn't think I was exaggerating."
Then he began listing names.
With every name he said, the room grew more shaken. By the end, they were nearly numb.
But the final name still hit them like a thunderclap.
"Pierce? He can't be a spy…" Hill whispered, stunned.
She had always had a good relationship with Pierce. In fact, as the World Security Council's special envoy, his role was very similar to hers.
The difference was, Pierce had authority to supervise, and she didn't.
But in some sense, both of them represented the Council.
Pierce was one of only two Level 10 authorities in S.H.I.E.L.D., equal in rank to Fury himself!
A former Director, and now one of the highest authorities, a Hydra spy?
If that was true, Hydra could destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. any time they wanted.
Because among the names Fury had already given, many were top-level agents.
With Pierce added to that list, Hydra could already control nearly half of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strength. And that was just the ones inside.
No one knew how many more were outside.
If Fury's intel was right, then just the Hydra agents hidden inside were enough to turn S.H.I.E.L.D. upside down.
Fury calling Hydra a hundred times more dangerous than Centipede wasn't an exaggeration at all.
"When Fury first told me about this, I also found it hard to believe… but afterward, I used my own channels to check, and it turned out to be true," Dugan added.
With both Fury and Dugan vouching for it, everyone present finally understood just how serious this was.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had been walking on a knife's edge all along, always one step away from disaster.
If Fury hadn't suddenly revealed this, none of them would have ever suspected the top-level agents, much less Alexander Pierce himself—the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"You brought us here… you must already have a plan?" Hill asked suddenly.
"There's only a rough outline so far. It still needs work, and I'll need your help to refine it. That's why I called you here today," Fury nodded.
Then he clapped his hands.
The lights dimmed, and a projection flickered to life at the front of the room.
He pulled out his phone, linking it to the projector, and began showing them his plan.
"If we go with this, it does have a good chance of success… but S.H.I.E.L.D. will take heavy losses. Director, are you sure about this?" Agent Hand asked after a quick look.
"If we don't act, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be destroyed completely. Even if part of it survives, the result will be worse than this." Fury's voice was grim.
"The choice is painful, but not choosing will hurt even more. I think it's the right call," Dugan said first.
"Agreed," Coulson followed.
The others gave their support one by one. Only Hill still looked uneasy.
"This could provoke the World Security Council to push back," she said. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝙣𝙚𝙩
"We can't worry about that now. If S.H.I.E.L.D. falls, what use is the Council anyway?" Fury shook his head.
"…Maybe you're right," Hill murmured.
"Then it's settled for now. Once the plan is refined, that's when we strike," Fury concluded.
Meanwhile, Stephanie was making breakfast for Raymond when her phone buzzed with a message.
She glanced at it, then set aside what she was doing and walked into the living room.
Raymond was half-lying on the sofa watching TV. When he saw her, he asked, "What is it?"
"Someone on our side in the World Security Council sent over some intel. I think you'll want to see this…" Stephanie smiled.
"Oh?" Raymond waited.
"See for yourself." She handed him her phone.
Raymond read through the report, and soon understood the situation.
"This Fury… still too careless," he sighed.
The intel spelled everything out clearly: Fury had discovered Hydra moles inside S.H.I.E.L.D. and was preparing to purge them.
The source was Hill, who had sent her report to the Council.
Of course, Hill wasn't a traitor, nor Hydra. She simply hadn't realized that Hydra had already infiltrated the Council as well.
The seat once held by Gideon had been left empty after his sudden disappearance.
But Hydra wasn't about to let it slip away. A high-ranking political faction member had filled the spot, with Stephanie's approval as the Malick family representative.
With North America's government giving no objection, the arrangement stood.
So when Hill sent her report, it landed directly in Stephanie's hands.
Before, that kind of intel would have gone to Malick himself.
Now, it meant Fury's purge plan was already in Hydra's grasp.
If Fury's plan succeeded, Hydra wouldn't be destroyed—S.H.I.E.L.D. only held one of Hydra's four main factions.
But the Hydra agents inside S.H.I.E.L.D.—Pierce, John Garrett, and the rest—would be doomed. Dead or locked away for life.
But with the plan exposed, things would end very differently.
Hydra wasn't weak. If they launched their counterstrike ahead of schedule—armed with full knowledge of Fury's preparations—the odds of success were high.
Even if Fury could rally a third of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forces, it wouldn't matter.
Because Hydra on the outside would join in too.
At best, Fury might preserve a few seeds for the future.
But turning the tide? Impossible.
"Looks like you'll have to pay S.H.I.E.L.D. a visit," Raymond said to Stephanie.
"Show our hand?" she asked knowingly.
She understood his ties to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury, and knew he wouldn't want Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. locked in a fight to the death.
After all, Hydra was, in a sense, Raymond's personal asset.
Where things went from here depended entirely on his decision.
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