In the dark room, the extinguished lights flickered back on...
The holographic projections on the walls gradually dissipated, fading into nothingness.
"Are you satisfied with this script?" Sean asked.
Nick Fury, slumped in his chair, looked ashen. His eyes burned with hatred as he stared at the young man who wore the gentle smile.
His fists clenched so tightly, that his nails drew blood from his palms.
Never before had Fury felt such an overwhelming urge to kill someone. The cold, calculated composure of a seasoned agent had been completely consumed by rage.
But what could he do?
He couldn't resist. He couldn't see any hope of turning the tables. He was trapped in a cold unyielding chair, unable to move.
The black-clad director gradually lost the strength to struggle. His face twisted in grief...
All the glory and purpose he had fought for had been obliterated in an instant.
Sean Cyphers...
The man who had orchestrated everything from the shadows had single-handedly destroyed Fury's life's work.
The hero's glory, the soldier's duty, the responsibility of protecting the world. All of it had vanished like a mirage. Like a sandcastle on the shore, it was mercilessly crushed by the tide and reduced to murky sludge.
"Mother f*cker! Captain Rogers won't believe this. It's just Zola's one-sided statement..." A faint glimmer of hope flickered in Fury's dimming eyes.
Maybe Captain America wouldn't be misled. Maybe he could uncover the truth and clear Fury's name.
"Still refusing to give up? Such tenacity." Sean tapped the table, and the wall projected a screen displaying a virtual meeting of the World Security Council from six hours prior.
"You sent mercenaries to hijack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Lemurian Star. Alexander Pierce has already exposed that. Building trust takes time, but sowing doubt only takes minutes."
Sean played the footage...
The World Security Council members condemned Nick Fury as a traitor, accusing him of illegal dealings. In an instant, the once-loyal director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had become a power-hungry schemer with sinister motives.
This outcome wasn't just due to Alexander Pierce's manipulations, it was also a consequence of Fury's own methods.
To put it bluntly, Nick Fury was too paranoid. Though S.H.I.E.L.D. was overseen by the World Security Council, he had always distrusted bureaucracy and government oversight. He compartmentalized operations to keep power firmly in his own hands.
Perhaps his intentions had been good. But to others, it looked like tyranny... an attempt to turn S.H.I.E.L.D. into his personal fiefdom.
"You anonymously hired Batroc's mercenary group to attack the Lemurian Star. You used encrypted emails and electronic transfers, routing the payment through seventeen dummy accounts before depositing it into a holding company registered to Jacob Vitch."
Sean's smile was pleasant, but his words cut like knives.
"But Vitch has been dead for six years. He doesn't exist. His last known address was 1435 Hurst Avenue. Coincidentally, that's the same place your mother once lived."
"Director Fury, you didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own forces, so you outsourced the job to mercenaries. But people don't care about motives or processes. They only care about results... and the 'truth'."
"This staged farce looks more like a scheme to steal and sell classified intel. Combined with your 'Hydra' identity, the evidence is overwhelming. If I were the judge, I wouldn't even need a jury to convict you."
Fury's body sagged, as if all his strength had drained away.
Sean had anticipated every possibility and prepared every piece of "evidence" meticulously. If not for his unshakable faith in himself, Fury might have even believed he really was Hydra.
This young man was terrifying. He hadn't just handed them the answer. He had led Captain America to "discover" the truth himself.
On the surface, they had followed the clues, walked into the trap, and nearly died… After such a harrowing ordeal, how could they not believe it?
Emotion would resist, but logic would prevail. And once they accepted the conclusion, they would never question it again.
"You're insane… You treat this like a game, thinking you control everything… They'll see through this lie eventually. They'll see what you really are," Fury muttered weakly.
The Winter Soldier, who had been in the room earlier, was gone. If Alexander Pierce was truly dead, then the narrative would be set in stone. Fury would never recover.
Alexander Pierce, the patriot, had uncovered Hydra's secret, Nick Fury's secret.
Fury had faked his death to escape, then sent assassins to kill Pierce. He had manipulated Captain America into a trap, trying to eliminate the biggest obstacle in his path.
"Director Fury, sometimes people prefer to live in a beautiful lie. Reality is just too cruel."
Sean stood, looking down at the broken man before him. A faint smile formed on his lips.
With Nick Fury neutralized and Alexander Pierce dead, the leaders of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra had fallen.
Now, it was time to reap the rewards...
...
~Outside~
Having watched the entire process, Raven's eyes widened in astonishment...
"What if those two really die?" she asked.
She had witnessed how this young man had systematically shattered Fury's will, how he had pitted S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra against each other, and how he had emerged as the ultimate victor.
The most brilliant part? No one would ever suspect a third party. Even if someone pieced everything together, it would look like nothing more than a power struggle between two rival organizations.
"The truth always finds a way to reveal itself," Sean said lightly.
"I thought you cared about Captain America. And that… lover agent of yours," Raven frowned.
She still couldn't figure out his true nature.
"I respect people with strong convictions and unshakable will. But that doesn't mean I won't kill them with that same respect." Sean shrugged, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "Kill your opponent, then place flowers on their grave. That's the best way."
"Get ready. It's almost your turn." With that, Sean strode away, his figure disappearing into the shadows of the long corridor...