Chapter 1641 - Old, Rotten and Declining, Buried In the End

Rumlow's head spun.

He didn't expect Ward to know Pierce's real identity.

In fact, he felt that Ward was only guessing at Rumlow's own identity – it was even more impossible for him to guess that Pierce was Hydra.

Rumlow's direct superior in SHIELD was Pierce.

As Pierce's exclusive subordinate, Rumlow had learned that John Garrett and Grant Ward were Hydra, but that they didn't know his real identity.

But Ward had also named Sitwell.

The bald agent was also a member of Pierce's faction, which proved that the other party wasn't speaking nonsense.

Luke had leaked the information and pinned the Hydra label to Pierce's head, so he didn't have to continue acting.

He raised his gun. "Rumlow, you're old. Old dregs like Pierce and Sitwell will eventually die out in this era. The future belongs to us, the new Hydra!"

Pa!

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Sitwell and I are only in our thirties, and we're already considered old dregs? Rumlow gaped and couldn't say another word.

A bullet hole appeared in his forehead as he stared at Luke resentfully.

Luke blew gently on the gun, put it back into the holster, and stood up. "The old, rotten, declining order will be buried in the end! Go in peace, Rumlow. Hydra no longer has a place for you."

At SHIELD HQ, the corners of old, rotten, declining Pierce's eyes twitched. Why hadn't this young man exhibited such "ambitions" before this?

Rumlow's signal had been cut off in the command center, but not for Pierce.

1

Frowning, he walked to the window and stared at the lake next to the square.

A moment later, he took out his phone. "Activate Project Insight."

Sitwell immediately replied, "Director, we're still far from ready."

Pierce hummed in acknowledgment. Of course, he knew that only the preliminary phase of Project Insight was complete.

Even an ordinary aircraft carrier would take several days to prepare before it set out.

The Helicarriers were huge and had a lot more complicated technology – there were even more preparations that would need to be made.

"How long before the Helicarriers can take off?" he asked.

Sitwell said, "It'll take at least 20 hours."

Pierce calculated in his heart and said coldly, "They have to take off within 15 hours."

Sitwell said, "Director, this…"

Pierce said, "Sitwell, we don't have time."

After a brief silence, Sitwell said, "Yes, sir. I'll speed things up. We'll be ready to take off in 15 hours."

Pierce hung up.

Before he could put his phone away, it rang again.

He looked at the name on the screen and sneered. He picked up the call and said casually, "This is Pierce… Hm, you'll be coming to inspect Project Insight at nine o'clock tomorrow morning? Alright, I'll wait for you at HQ."

A moment later, he put down his phone and took a deep breath. "Come, then. Just nice, I'll take care of all of you in one go."

His phone rang again.

He picked up the call to receive yet another piece of "good news." "Director, the underground base has collapsed, and the passage is blocked. We can't enter the computer room for now."

Pierce said, "…Mobilize ground support yourself and open the passage as soon as possible."

The former director was exhausted by the "good news" coming in one after another. Mind racing for a long while, he said in a low voice, "Zola, I can't attend to you for now. If we are victorious tomorrow, you can carry on with our work. Otherwise…"

He shook his head and walked to his desk.

There were too many things to do tonight, and he didn't have time to worry about a "program."

…

On Luke's side, he leisurely put away the detonator and informed the tycoon, "It's done. I've blown up the basement. It'll take at least an hour for them to send in equipment to open the passage."

Tony said, "Okay, go do your thing. Leave this to me."

Luke chuckled and headed straight for D.C..

A drone had already caught up with Steve and Natasha.

Just now, the tycoon had asked Jarvis to decrypt and copy the USB in their hands.

Now that they were free, Luke could show his face and help them continue with what they were doing.

Since they had already started, it was fine for them to do more.

Luke also didn't want the Bat Squad to reveal their real identities. It was better for them to quietly help Steve and Natasha beat up people.

How was Steve going to explain where these "mysterious teammates" came from? By then, he probably wouldn't need to.

Courageous fighters of America had volunteered to help the Captain oppose Hydra's tyranny. Was that not enough?

In any case, Hydra was one of Marvel's two biggest "scapegoats" – anything bad that happened could just be placed on its head.

Steve, on the other hand, carried the weight of justice. He bore responsibility for any sort of rescue mishap or command failure.

Half an hour later, Luke dropped by to "temporarily" lend two sets of equipment, consisting of a nanosuit and gloves, to Steve and Natasha.

This was handled by the bigshot who sold everything.

He was the only one who didn't care about reputation. He simply used his superpowers to temporarily restrain Steve and Natasha before he let them go in order to prove that he had no ill intentions.

As usual, the bigshot made himself turn invisible as he departed, thus reinforcing his credibility. Steve and Natasha traded bewildered looks.

After a long while, Steve finally looked at the box in Natasha's hand. "You think this is fine?"

Natasha smiled and took out her phone. "We're not familiar with this bigshot, but someone definitely is."

Steve thought for a moment and couldn't help laughing. "That's right. He can also be considered to be on Batman's side."

Natasha called Tony and hung up after saying a few words. "He said it's fine, and told us to use it however we want. He'll cover it if we break it."

Steve shrugged. "Like his father."

Smiling, she opened the box and gave Steve a set of the equipment.

They each entered a room to change into the gear.

A moment later, they came out at around the same time.

Looking at each other, Steve asked, "What do you think?"

Natasha stretched out her arms, and the black mechanical gloves flipped through various functions, including but not limited to blades, tasers, short-range grappling hooks, suction devices, mechanical tools, data wires and so on.

"It's indeed the Bat Squad's style of equipment. Even the A.I. is similar." She was pleased.

She really liked this sort of multifunctional and high-tech support gear.

Unfortunately, right after the last battle, Big Dipper had forced her to take off the Black Widow armor, which had depressed her for days.

Steve, however, raised his hands and looked at them helplessly. "But this interferes a lot with my sense of touch."

He was used to using regular combat gloves, and wasn't used to these mechanical products.

Natasha was amused. "You haven't finished reading the user manual yet, have you?"