Chapter 80
I'd thought about Hydra more than once. Their main problem wasn't quality. It was quantity.
They didn't have any truly strong, Omega-level members, like the proverbial Brotherhood of Mutants. They didn't have technologies or magical artifacts capable of rewriting reality. At least, I wanted to believe that. Though my meta-knowledge helpfully suggested they'd developed weapons based on the Tesseract back during World War II. But that still wasn't on the level of Magneto. To use such a weapon, whatever it was, they'd need to know where an attack would come from. And I would try not to give them that opportunity.
In short, Hydra was, undoubtedly, a problem. But it was a systemic problem. There were many of them. Anyone could turn out to be a Hydra agent. And, understanding their qualitative vulnerability, they were paranoid to the bone.
Even in my case, considering the potential of the technologies I could provide them, they still hadn't made direct contact. They refused to act openly, fully exploiting vulnerabilities within Fury's agency while using outside mercenaries.
It was precisely this paranoia that was their main defense. And it was precisely this that I would have to bypass in the first stage of my plan.
Pierce wasn't just some level in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hierarchy. He was the Secretary of the World Security Council, an international committee that oversaw S.H.I.E.L.D. Pierce was the most influential member of this council. In fact, he was Fury's direct superior.
He wasn't a mole. He was a damn wolf put in charge of guarding the henhouse. He controlled the entire budget. He approved the most secret operations. And he had access to all the data.
A person like this could not be taken alive. He was guaranteed to have a "golden parachute," or rather, a cyanide tooth. It didn't matter what form it took. It could be a nano-implant with explosives in his carotid artery. It could be an instant neurotoxin in his heart. Not to mention advanced mental protections.
In short, I needed to act with surgical precision. Therefore, the "Mental Worm" project, conceived by my, ahem, fevered mind, was not a whim. It was an absolute necessity. The entire success of the operation to decapitate Hydra would depend on it.
And yes. A beheading. It was a strong word, but I had every reason to use it. Pierce was only the first stage. With the knowledge, names, and secrets he would give to me and Fury, a global flywheel would be set in motion. Pierce would lead us to another head. That head would lead us to a third. And so on, link by link. It was entirely possible to finish off the bastards. At the very least, it would eliminate the greater part of the organization.
So, based on these reflections, and as I returned to the "Rout" project, ahem, the "Mental Worm," I knew what I had to do.
Crude mind control, the biochemical kind, was useless against a Hydra member. I took this as an axiom. Consequently, control had to be established at a deeper, more fundamental level. It had to be established at the level of the soul.
The goal wasn't to break the will. It was to merge with it. It was to become part of it. That way, Pierce wouldn't feel anything. Absolutely nothing. There would be no resistance from him, because everything would seem fine.
I settled comfortably into my work chair, tuning out the empty laboratory's silence. For a moment, I regretted sending Gwen away to test the suit. It would have been amusing to watch her reaction when she realized I was literally creating 'something' from 'nothing'.
Well, alright. I needed to start creating the parasite's body now. I would make it from pure Reishi.
As I began weaving the parasite's body from spiritual energy, I simultaneously 'programmed' the construct with two properties.
The first was phasing. The parasite had to be capable of passing through physical matter like skin and bones to reach the target's soul.
The second was sleep mode. Upon contacting the target's spiritual aspect, it would instantly attach and enter 'stealth mode,' ceasing all emissions. It had to become energetically indistinguishable from the bearer's soul.
The next stage was the parasite's core. Its 'brain.' Or, in the terminology of my Strange Science, it was the simplest artificial soul. It had no will, no desires. Embedded in its core was a single, unbreakable directive: 'Find the bearer's Chain of Fate and use it as an anchor.'
And here was the most interesting part. Honestly, I didn't know what the 'Chain of Fate' was in the original Bleach. I suspected that due to different metaphysics, it worked differently there. But in this universe, thanks to the system's information package, I knew that the Chain of Fate was essentially the root through which an immaterial soul rooted itself in the physical brain and, consequently, the body.
For a conventional mage, this was the silver cord that tied his Astral Form to his body. Break it, and you were dead.
For a telepath like Xavier, this was the bridge by which consciousness transmitted commands to the neurons. Telepaths read thoughts on the brain's side, in the bioelectric signals.
For a biologist, though, this was the very answer to the eternal question. How did the brain's electrical impulses magically become consciousness?
As for me, and for anyone possessing both Reishi and Ontological Engineering, this was the most fundamental structure in any living being. This was, literally, the 'I think, the body acts' interface.
And because of this, the Chain of Fate was rather... monumental. Despite my mental analogy to a silver cord, this wasn't a 'thread.' It was, rather, an Adamantium wire. It wasn't easy to destroy. At minimum, you needed a Spirit-based weapon and had to inflict simultaneous damage to both the physical body and the Chain of Fate. As had been the case with Kraven, for example.
But a parasite didn't need to destroy the Chain of Fate. After all, it was a parasite.
If it attached itself to this interface, it would gain absolute control. It could implant commands, not into the brain, which would cause resistance, and not into the soul, which would cause rejection, but directly into the transmission channel between them.
As I embedded the artificial soul into the parasite's body, I also added a second function. I made it a passive receiver waiting for a unique signature of my Reiatsu. This was precisely how the control mechanism would work.
From twenty to thirty meters away, my Reiatsu would activate the parasite sleeping on Pierce's soul root. All I would need to do was form a mental command, for example, 'kill yourself'. I would convert this command into my Reiatsu signal, and the parasite, in turn, would receive this signal and implant it into the Chain of Fate.
What would be the effect?
Pierce's brain would receive the command 'kill yourself', not from an external source, and not from his own consciousness, which would have been horrified. It would receive it directly from the processor that had always given him commands: to breathe, walk, and think. For Pierce, this thought wouldn't simply seem like his own. It would feel like a fundamental, indisputable reflex. It would feel like the command 'pull your hand away from the fire'.
Resistance would be impossible, because the order would come from the same point as his very self.
The final touch, of course, was a conceptual enchantment. How had I lived without it before? Oh, right. I had only been in this world for a month. But subjectively, it felt as if several years had passed.
Alright. I needed a concept for the parasite. "Control"? Too aggressive. "Stealth"? Too passive. Then again, "Sovereignty"? That might create contradictions with my orders. Maybe, then, its sibling, "Resonance"? The main thing was that the parasite had to become whole with Pierce. This would reduce the risk of detection to practically zero.
Yes. Having thought it through, I settled on Resonance. I focused on the concept and applied my metaphysical stamp to the parasite. I implanted a simple mental message: "You are not foreign. You are one whole with the bearer. Your will is his will."
So, as soon as the parasite touched Pierce's soul, it would feel complete. It would feel like a lost puzzle piece falling into place. After that, the parasite would be impossible to detect as something foreign. It wouldn't hide in the Chain of Fate. It itself would become the Chain!
[Spiritual construct "Spiritual Parasite" created. Complexity: Medium. Received +300 OP!]
A spiritual construct-symbiote strengthened by a conceptual enchantment, "Resonance." It is designed for permanent integration with the bearer's "Chain of Fate." It allows the operator to implant indisputable directives directly into the "soul-brain" interface, bypassing conscious resistance. For the target, the parasite feels like part of its own "I."
Excellent. I reabsorbed the parasite, preserving its "blueprint" in my soul. Then I immediately summoned it back into the physical world. As expected, the conceptual enchantment had detached. Spirit and Concept remained fundamentally different. I spent another minute recreating the Resonance stamp and placed the still-corporeal parasite into an isolated glass vial.
Once I finished, I headed up to the fifth floor. Gwen had finished testing the upgraded suit's capabilities.
I'd probably need to add a phasing ability in the future so she could truly become a Ghost Spider. But even now, it took me several seconds to "find" her. I didn't see her; I felt a blind spot in space. It was that same human-shaped "hole" I'd envisioned when designing it. Only my knowledge that my creation was here somewhere, bearing my stamp, helped me locate her.
I approached the "void" and lightly poked what I calculated to be her shoulder.
In response, an indignant squeak came from thin air. Immediately after, Gwen materialized. She pulled off her mask, disrupting the mesh. Even without the mask, it was... difficult to look at her. It was like a "Muggle-repelling charm" at minimum strength. My brain simply refused to focus on her.
"Besides the training," I said, changing the subject to distract myself while my brain adjusted to the anomaly, "have you thought about another important question?"
"Mmm?" she tilted her head thoughtfully.
"About the names of our children." I didn't know why, but I suddenly felt a strong urge to return to the carefree days of a few weeks ago. Back when our only problem had been Fisk, and our only concern had been building a Hulkbuster analog.
"Flash for a boy, Rosie for a girl," Gwen answered seriously, without blinking. She had finally started playing along with my weird jokes.
"Flash? Seriously?" I chuckled. I wondered how Peter would react to such a coincidence.
"Well, what are your suggestions?" she put her hands on her hips.
"Every man's dream is to become Hokage or the Pirate King," I said with a shrug. "So for a boy, the name choice is obvious."
"It's not obvious!" Gwen protested.
Oh, right. In this world, neither Naruto nor One Piece existed. What a cultural tragedy. Alright, someday I'd create a cool AI. I'd load it with a database of these priceless cultural artifacts and give them to the world. Otherwise, there was too little joy here for a regular guy.
"Alright, alright. I get it," I said, raising my hands. "I propose we discuss names on our date, after this matter."
"And we will discuss it," Gwen said, her smile fading instantly. "The matter... Maybe you could finally bring me up to speed on the mission? An invisibility suit. A mental worm for consciousness control. It seems I need to infiltrate somewhere and implant this worm into someone?"
"You're right," I said, unable to hide a smile as I realized what reward awaited me after the mission. "It's time to reveal one of this world's main secrets to you."
"I'm all ears," she said, leaning forward.
I paused, then said in an even voice, "Hydra is real."
At these words, Gwen looked slightly abashed.
"Hydra? The one Hercules killed in the myths?" she asked, perplexed.
Worse. It's much worse. That mythical creature could be killed. This..." I shook my head. "This is an organization. I don't know if it's been around for hundreds or even thousands of years, but I know it's put down roots everywhere. In the government, in multibillion-dollar corporations, in every intelligence agency, and in the media. They're everywhere, Gwen. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that, to some extent, they are the shadow rulers of this world."
"And they..."
"Yes," I interrupted. "All the recent attacks on me were orchestrated by them. They've infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. so deeply that, essentially, they are S.H.I.E.L.D. Though Fury doesn't realize it."
"What's their... um, main threat?" Gwen chose her words carefully.
"Well, besides the fact that they do as they please, and that my kidnappings are just the tip of the iceberg, they worked closely with the Third Reich during World War II. I think that alone should tell you how serious this is."
"Yes," she agreed quietly, realizing the scale of it. "And you... you're going to fight against this machine? You said it yourself, they're the shadow government..."
"Not me." I shook my head. "We will."
In the finest tradition of the genre, I pretentiously placed my hand on her shoulder.
"We will. You, me, Fury, and that part of S.H.I.E.L.D. we can trust. We'll form a small coalition and strike the organization's key nodes so swiftly they won't even understand what happened. And the first node is Alexander Pierce."
"Pierce?" Gwen muttered. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it immediately. Then she remembered, and her eyes widened in shock. "Wait. That Pierce? The Secretary of the UN Security Council?!"
"That's the one. He's sitting in plain sight, thinking he's outplayed everyone. But..."
"How did you find out?!"
"Check your senses. Right now. Tell me, am I lying? Alexander Pierce is a key member of Hydra."
Gwen froze. Her gaze turned serious and focused. She listened to that part of her that saw the truth. "N-no. You're not lying," she breathed, stunned, shaking her head.
"I can't tell you where I learned this, not yet. But as you can see, I know too much about things I shouldn't know anything about. So stop being surprised. Just... trust me on this. I want to make this world a better place, and getting rid of Hydra is the first step."
"O-oh, how pretentious," Gwen said, trying to smile as she processed the shock. "Well, okay. Sooner or later you'll tell me everything, heh."
"And we'll live happily ever after." I nodded. "But first, there's work. Your task is to board a plane from New York to Washington within the hour. By the time you get there, it will be around eleven p.m. I hope Pierce will be home and might already be asleep. Your task is to break into his house. You're completely invisible. Whatever paranoid security measures he uses, your suit will bypass them. Plus, you have your spider-sense..."
"Hey!" Gwen bristled. "I'm not a little girl. Stop spelling out every little detail!"
"Really?" I moved my hand from her shoulder to her head and ruffled her hair. I was glad Gwen didn't take offense at the gesture. We were making progress. "But..." I removed my hand and grew serious. "You're right."
I held out the glass vial to her, the spiritual construct inside barely noticeable.
"This 'handsome guy' just needs to be placed on any exposed area of his skin. Don't worry, Pierce won't wake up. The parasite will instantly turn intangible and implant itself in his soul, taking control of it." I intentionally simplified the description. "After that, simply return to New York. I'll handle things with Fury here."
"You're going to put him under your control too?" Gwen frowned immediately. I understood her concern. The tool was too convenient.
"No," I answered firmly. "A mental parasite is an extreme measure. It's only for those who deserve it. You'll witness Pierce's interrogation firsthand and understand everything yourself." This bastard had so many skeletons in his closet it had practically expanded to the size of Narnia. I had no doubt about that. "Fury isn't part of Hydra. He's one of those who should know the truth. He needs to see how serious this is for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the entire world. He needs a shock, not control."
"Aye, aye, Cap!" She saluted playfully. "Combat task accepted. I'm flying to Washington!"
"Good luck!" I nodded to the girl heading for the exit. "And also, take this." I materialized a pack of NZT from my inventory and threw it to Gwen. "It's just in case you find yourself in a difficult situation."
"Only amateurs need luck." She waved it off and caught the pack deftly, already opening the door. "But thanks."
"Weren't you, less than a month ago..." I started to say as she retreated.
Gwen immediately covered her ears with her palms.
"La-la-la. No Shocker ever existed. You're imagining everything!" Humming to herself and listening to my not-yet-started teasing, she left the laboratory, leaving me alone.
So, alright. I had resolved the issue with Gwen. I had given her a mission she would definitely handle. The next stage was Fury.
I also left the laboratory, pulling out the S.H.I.E.L.D. phone. I pulled up his contact. Fortunately, he answered immediately.
"Nick, we need to meet urgently, in person."
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