Alexander. Pierce was sitting in his office, with a lot of papers on his desk, and above them, a holographic projection was pulsing.

"Kill me... Let this all end in blood. ”

"Poof"

Blood splattered.

In the projection jump, Merlin stepped forward and pressed his right hand on Gideon. Malik's shoulder, the Holy Silver Hidden Blade that popped out of his left hand pierced the chest of the member of the World Security Council with precision, and this knife was crisp and neat, without the slightest hesitation, without the slightest hesitation.

The expression on his face also seemed calm, as if he had finished doing something insignificant.

"Behold, it is chilling."

Pierce looked at the frozen picture in front of him, he subconsciously wiped his neck, and said:

"If one day, Merlin like this stands in front of me, it will be really desperate."

"So you've got to strike first."

A gloomy voice rang from the telephone at Pierce's desk, like an invisible devil who had pouted the malice of his heart, and it said:

"You can't let him continue to be strong, I don't know anything about magic, but if he can defeat an evil god, it means that most of the conspiracy methods you can use are no longer effective for him."

"Oh."

Pierce took off his reading glasses, and he said calmly:

"Your own revenge failed, so you want to borrow a knife to kill?"

"IMHO, robot, maybe your data module is advanced, but your level of intrigue is terrible, it's just laughable, you don't need to remind me, I have my own way, I have my own plans."

"It's not the time yet... Far from time. ”

Pierce played with his eyes and said:

"Speaking of which, I'm more curious, how did you get these pictures secretly? I've heard that Merlin has a powerful artificial intelligence assisting him, and as far as I know, the bugs from various forces in his office have never worked. ”

Hearing Pierce's inquiry, Sonic sneered, and the Decepticon, who had specialized in concealment and detection after being reborn, whispered:

"Miss Icarus is terrifying enough by your human standards, but it seems to me that she's just a little girl who has just learned to walk, and that lady still has a long way to go before she can truly understand the secrets of data and machines."

"But even if I want to explain to you the principle of the 'virtual information beacon' I use, it's hard to understand with your engineering skills, in short, Lord Pierce, you just need to understand, and if I want to, I can see, and I can capture a lot of things that only stay at the data level."

The sound of the sound wave paused, and after a few seconds, it said to Pierce:

"Miss Icarus, for example, is about to decipher the data card that poor Mr. Gideon left to Merlin. Sir Pierce, what exactly did you leave in that data card? ”

"It was a surprise."

Pierce picked up his handkerchief, wiped his reading glasses, and said with a smile:

"Merlin still has doubts after the death of my old friend Gideon, and I can feel that he still doesn't believe that Hydra is dead, and so is Fury, and to make them completely reassured, they have to take the last step, they have to make some sacrifices... But luckily, I was prepared for this a long time ago. ”

Pierce put his glasses back on, he picked up his water glass, walked to the office window, he looked at the city in front of him, he took a sip of water, and whispered:

"Acting, there must always be a happy ending."

On the other side, in the Trident Building, in Merlin's office, Miss Icarus had reached the final step in deciphering the data card.

Merlin leaned back in his office chair, the progress bar in front of his right eye slowly growing in the lenses in front of him, in the swiping of the data stream in his left eye.

He was really curious about what kind of information was hidden in the data card he got from Gideon.

"Crack complete."

With Icarus's gentle voice, the cracked, complicated data was completely expanded in the form of documents or photographs before Merlin's eyes.

That's a lot of task summaries, and all sorts of financial reports, which should be a 'work summary' within Hydra, as well as Gideon. Malik has some personal information.

But there is no information about the personnel Merlin wants to see.

Come to think of it, Hydra, who has been fighting with S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years, should not be stupid enough to leave a list of all the personnel information. Seriously, if that list did appear, Merlin would have doubted its authenticity.

"Retrieving this information, Icarus."

Merlin Says:

"Find out the most valuable ones."

"Wait a minute."

The chaotic data information in front of Merlin's eyes began to be quickly arranged, and in the jumping of those briefing-style documents, Merlin also saw that Howard was recorded. A news bulletin on the news of the Starks' murders, as well as a compilation of information on a series of civil wars in the Middle East, as well as some social news from Eastern Europe, reports of subversion of several small domestic affairs.

This means that behind these things, there is a hydra meddling.

In addition to the messy data, Merlin also found a strange little program in the data card, and he asked:

"What does this program do?"

"It's a messaging and receiving program."

Icarus took the initiative to run the program, and after a few seconds, she replied:

"It is an internal communication system, by assigning quantum keys to the gaps between multiple communication frequency bands, using special white noise, to interact with specific information, which is not advanced in concept, but the design is very ingenious and difficult to detect. This should be the procedure for Hydra's internal liaison, maybe Gideon. It is through this program that Malik sends instructions to his subordinates. ”

"It sounds like the kind of encryption used by agents during the Cold War, and of course, they're adding something new to the old way..."

Merlin rubbed his chin and said:

"This is a great opportunity... Icarus, keep the program active, turn it into a bug hidden in the Hydra communication band, and capture and track every communication signal that appears in this band. ”

Merlin narrowed his eyes, and a cold light danced in his eyes, and he said:

"When we have enough signals, we can catch all the remaining scum."

"Okay."

Icarus responded, for an advanced AI like her, maintaining such a tracking program would not take up too many computing resources, and it was also very simple to follow the vine through the source of the signal.

A few seconds later, Icarus had retrieved the information in the data card, and she seemed to have found something, and she hesitated slightly, but she said to Merlin anyway:

"Maybe you should take a look at this, Lord Merlin."

"Huh"

A briefing-style screenshot appears in front of Merlin's eyes, a document on the hunt for traitors within Hydra.

There are a lot of such documents in the information, and Hydra is not monolithic, there will always be people who will try to break away from this organization, and of course, the Hydra are not gentle with those who break away.

In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. also has procedures for dealing with defectors, and as far as Merlin knows, there are two field agent teams under the command of Natasha and Agent Patton that are dedicated to tracking defectors.

Betrayal is a matter of great harm to the internal unity of an organization that has strict rules, if it cannot be dealt with in a timely and effective manner.

A traitor's blow to one's morale is far more terrible than that of a tough enemy.

But there was something special about the hunt document in front of Merlin, and when it appeared, Merlin's eyes immediately widened, and it was obvious that the contents of it shocked him very much.

He stared at the briefing and the photo on it, a friend he knew and trusted.

"John. Gatler..."

"Codename... clairvoyance..."

Merlin was silent, he carefully read every sentence and word of the briefing, and after a dozen seconds, he stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the crowded highway in front of the Trident Building.

"This may be a trap deliberately left by Hydra to sow discord between you and your friends."

Icarus persuaded:

"Aren't you very skeptical, Gideon. Malik's death does not mean the complete demise of Hydra, and perhaps, this is only part of the conspiracy. Calm down, Merlin, calm down. ”

"I'm calm."

Merlin stretched out his hand and lit a cigarette, and in the smoke he took a deep breath, and said to Icarus:

"Contact Coulson and have his assistant, Agent Ward, come to me as quickly as possible. He's Gatler's adopted son, and if you get some bad news from him, then... Unfortunately, I had to talk to John. ”

Seconds later, Icarus sent the information requested by Merlin to S. In the mailbox of L.D. Director Phil Coulson, after receiving a reply from Coulson, Miss AI said to Merlin:

"With all due respect, Lord Merlin, there's no point in dwelling too much on this matter."

"Even if John. Agent Gatler was a member of Hydra before, but he had defected to the group and had distanced himself from them years ago... Maybe he was your enemy, but he's not now. Your deliberate pursuit of forgotten truths will only lead to a series of unnecessary troubles. ”

"I know, Icarus, I understand."

Merlin took a deep breath of smoke, and he whispered:

"But I don't have many friends, so each one is important, and I have to ask... Why, why did John hide these things. ”

"Perhaps, he has his own troubles."

Icarus Says:

"At least to my opinion of John. Agent Gatler's behavior in recent years shows that he is loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. ”

"Hmm, are you distressed?"

Merlin shook his head:

"Then maybe John will have to be ready to tell me everything he's hiding."

—————————

"Smack, smack, smack"

At the place where the light of the stars originated, in a place shrouded in starlight, on the wide table that was placed across the galaxy, Mr. Overlord, who had not appeared for a long time, looked at the projection-like picture, he looked at the expression on Merlin's face, he clapped his hands, and said:

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

"This round of games is really exciting, and the story of this world's self-derivation is twists and turns enough, I have completely lost confidence in Hydra, but I didn't expect that between the peaks and loops, this organization actually gave itself another wave of life."

"I've told both of you a long time ago."

The Elder of the Universe, who served as the referee, stretched out his hands, and he said solemnly:

"The fate dice you roll are just constantly triggering new events, but how those events should develop, how they will stagger forward, the ups and downs of this story are all driven by the actions of the lives involved in the story."

"You are not fate, and don't try to play fate."

The Grim Reaper, who was sitting on the other side of the table, was not involved in the topic, stroking the black and white ring on his finger and saying:

"The cycle of life and death in this pocket universe is almost complete, and it is only a few steps away from the final shaping and formation, and the game is almost over."

Tyrion. Dawnblade looked at Cyber on the other side of the table. Hawke, he said:

"I'm on the verge of losing interest in the game."

"Oh, is it because you feel like you're going to lose?"

The overlord provoked:

"Why don't you just abstain, maybe you can give Merlin a real relief before he reaches the end of the story."

"You want to be beautiful."

The Grim Reaper said in a cold tone:

"I think I have a big advantage, and it's always boring to play a game where you've already won, isn't it?"

"Okay, stop arguing, words don't mean anything about winning or losing."

The Elder of the Universe, who was the referee, stopped the two participants from arguing, and he looked at the table, where in the center of the Stars table, above the bone-white bone dice of fate, the two shining phantoms were almost shattered.

"The fourth round, the redeemer and the burden-bearer... Come to an end! Prepare for the fifth round of the dice, and I would like to remind you that you have one last two chances to roll. ”

"Old rule, I'll come first."

The overlord's fingers were pinched, and the bone-white fate dice jumped into his hands, and the guy put his hands together and exhaled between his fingers, like a qualified old gambler.

He waved his wrist and threw it slightly, and the light and shadow on the six sides of the dice began to beat non-stop, until the dice hit the table, and a shining picture appeared in front of him.

It looked like a celebration, and many handsome and sturdy warriors seemed to gather together to celebrate victory.

"Well, the Heroic Age... The time of strife has arrived, the trumpets of hope and despair have been blown, and the chosen ones call themselves heroes, ready for praise and victory. ”

The Overlord looked at the picture, and he frowned and said:

"Well, it's not good, it's not bad, the luck can only be said to be average."

The Grim Reaper silently grabbed the dice, and also threw them casually, the beating light and shadow shone, and the moment the dice landed, the shining projection was extremely similar to the picture of the heroic age.

But the heroes on the screen who were originally celebrating their victory are now wielding weapons to resist the enemies coming from all directions, like a reef island that is constantly washed in the tide of the sea.

"Age of Chaos..."

Death looked at the scene, and he whispered:

"Power begets challenges, challenges lead to conflicts, conflicts breed wars, wars bring chaos..."

The monarch who harnessed death shook his head, and he seemed to be dissatisfied with the dice he had rolled, and he glanced at Merlin in the projection, and he whispered:

"It seems... The era of mercy is over. ”

"The dice are rolled, fate is in place... I announce! ”

The referee raised his hands, and between the light and shadow, his voice reverberated throughout the galaxy:

"The fifth round... Begin! ”