Chapter 230: The Abnormal Hydra
"None of you better move!"
Seeing that they were about to be exposed, Garrett picked up the handgun he had just placed in Coulson's hand and immediately pressed it against Coulson's temple, taking him hostage.
His apprentice, Grant, reacted just as quickly, grabbing the least threatening person—Jemma Simmons—and pressing a gun to her head as well.
"Let us go. As long as we leave this place, we'll release them."
If their memories were read, the two of them would be exposed instantly.
So they had to take hostages and leave the school to rendezvous with the Winter Soldiers before anyone could react.
As for the third person, he looked completely confused. He had truly been deceived by Garrett's words and was not a Hydra spy.
"John, you bastard! So it was you who leaked the location of the safe house and got Fury killed. You really deserve to die!"
Coulson now fully understood—the traitors were his most trusted old comrade John and his apprentice Grant.
It was precisely because he trusted them the most that he was now so furious.
"Coulson, you're still as naïve as ever. I really don't understand how you made it to the same level as me.
I didn't want to betray anyone either, but you know I injured a vital organ on a mission and don't have much time left to live.
But that bastard Nick Fury refused to save me.
Hydra promised to help me undergo physical transformation so I could have the strongest and most perfect body. I only did it to survive."
Garrett wore a cold sneer. It was S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury who abandoned him first. That's why he chose to betray them. What was so wrong with that?
Coulson gritted his teeth and replied:
"Fury said our technology wasn't mature enough yet. If we rushed into the transformation, you could've gone insane.
He didn't abandon you—it's just that the time wasn't right yet. You shouldn't have believed Hydra could help you. They'll only use you and turn you into a killing machine like those Winter Soldiers outside."
"It doesn't matter. I'm not that stupid. If Hydra wants to use me, I'll use them too. I won't become a brainless killing machine—I'll become the most perfect human.
One of the future rulers of humanity."
Garrett's expression turned crazed as he motioned for Grant to retreat with him toward the conference room door.
But just as they moved, they found that their guns suddenly froze in place. The next moment, an invisible force twisted the weapons like pretzels, turning them into scrap metal.
"Coulson, do they not know I can control metal in addition to my telepathy? Playing with guns in front of me—how brave of them."
It was George who made his move.
"He only knew you could change a bullet's trajectory. He didn't know you could directly control the gun itself. Honestly, I didn't know either."
Taking advantage of Garrett's dazed moment, Coulson spun around and elbowed him in the stomach, then followed up with a smooth combo of close combat moves that took Garrett down.
Although his close-combat skills weren't on par with Black Widow or Hawkeye, they were still decent. Taking down a weakened Garrett by catching him off guard wasn't too difficult.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you guys—my powers have recently improved a lot."
George understood clearly. Previously, he could only control about a hundred pounds, just enough to curve bullets midair. He couldn't outright destroy enemy weapons.
Now, with further development and the enhancement from the Misaka clone's ability, he could control up to ten tons. In his hands, guns were even more fragile than toys.
"Kid, if you want to run, I'll play with you a bit."
Grant, seeing things had gone south, immediately let go of Jemma and dashed toward the main conference room doors—only to be blocked by Thor standing in the doorway.
"Get out of my way!"
Grant was one of the most skilled agents in S.H.I.E.L.D.—even able to fight Agent May to a draw. Taking on ten agents by himself was usually no problem.
Seeing Thor dare to block his path, he immediately pulled out a dagger and stabbed toward Thor, aiming for a lethal strike to avoid wasting time.
Unfortunately, the Thor he encountered was no ordinary person.
Even without his powers restored, Thor's physical strength and combat ability were far beyond normal. Someone like Grant was no match at all.
"That dagger technique isn't even as good as my brother's."
Grabbing Grant's dagger-wielding wrist, Thor flipped him and slammed him hard to the ground—clean and efficient.
"Quickly restrain them!"
George raised his hand and cast two Rope Binding Charms, tying up Garrett and Grant, then began using the Legilimency spell in combination with telepathy to search their memories.
Moments later, he withdrew his hand, and a subtle change came over his expression.
"Hydra in this world… is pretty powerful.
No wonder Nick Fury lost."
The intelligence he saw in Garrett and Grant's memories about Hydra was far stronger than what he had seen in the movies and TV shows.
It could be due to a different universe, which would explain many of the differences.
In the films, Hydra had many branches, each led by a different leader. The Hydra created by Red Skull during World War II was just one branch.
The real Hydra originated 1,400 years ago.
The Kree Empire, trying to create powerful warriors for interstellar war, conducted illegal modification experiments on many primitive planets—Earth being one of them.
By modifying humans, they created Inhumans with superpowers.
Among them, the first Inhuman—Hive—had the ability to control all other Inhumans. Leading a collective rebellion, he drove the Kree off Earth.
The Kree eventually terminated the illegal experiments.
Fearing Hive's control, the Inhumans launched a second rebellion and used the black stone portal left by the Kree to exile Hive to another planet.
A group of humans who worshiped Hive created the Hydra organization, passing down the mission across generations—sending humans through the black stone portal in hopes of rescuing Hive to rule Earth.
But this world's Hydra seemed different.
There was no mention of Hydra originating from the Inhumans, although it could be that Garrett and Grant didn't know such deep secrets.
However, George believed that was unlikely, because in Garrett's memory, Hive did exist in Hydra—but not as some ancient Inhuman. He was a terminally ill Hydra agent.
That agent was modified by Hydra's Baron Strucker, fused with a colony of parasites, and thereby reborn.
And this world's Baron Strucker was also unlike the one in the movies, who only created Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with the Mind Scepter and was ultimately so weak that Captain America took him down instantly.
This world's Baron Strucker was already powerful on his own.
(End of Chapter)