Free Web NovelChapter 44: Ch 43: Lemurian Star Hijack III
"Hail... Hydra." Veritas whispered, and hearing his words, Sitwell froze.
For a split second, absolute confusion washed over his face.
’He... he’s a Hydra?’ Sitwell’s thoughts raced. ’But he cut down Patrick and Stern. No, wait... what if...’
Then came a sudden, massive wave of realization in his highly indoctrinated HYDRA mind. His thoughts raced, connecting the dots, followed quickly by an immense sense of relief and happiness.
Before now, the reason Veritas had taken down two specific Hydra executives on a single day had been a mystery to Sitwell.
Was it a freak coincidence? Or was this exploding madman actively hunting them?
Sure, the internet claimed that Veritas knew everything about his victims. But even considering Veritas’s insane information-gathering abilities, it simply didn’t make sense for an outsider to know about Hydra. After all, they had been hiding in plain sight for decades!
They were exceptionally careful. They even had special guidelines and technologies specifically designed to prevent their exposure to mind-readers like Charles Xavier.
"Hail... Hydra." These two words cleared his doubts.
The reason he removed Patrick Sein and Senator Stern?
’Of course!’ Sitwell thought with a relieved smile. ’It must’ve been an execution order from above!’
After all, hadn’t Stern failed to achieve anything meaningful with all his political power? He couldn’t even get Tony Stark to hand over the Iron Man suit or the arc reactor blueprints!
Freaking Hammer Industries - a joke of a company - somehow managed to get their hands on a power source before Stern ever did.
And as for Patrick? That guy was completely lost in his own twisted, carnal pleasures. For the past few years, he had done the absolute bare minimum as a so-called "top" Hydra operative.
He only supplied mutant kids to the labs when directly ordered to, completely ignoring the bigger, grander objective of raising an army of brainwashed children for Hydra. He was too busy satisfying his own gross desires to focus on the mission.
Luke smiled behind his mask, watching Sitwell’s face go from confusion to realization to relief in a matter of seconds.
’I mean, this is the same man who handed Loki’s Sceptre to Captain America, the biggest known Hydra hater in history... just because Cap whispered those exact same two words in an elevator.’ frёewebnoѵēl.com
’I swear, "Hail Hydra" is a literal cheat code in this universe,’ Luke thought, highly amused.
"Walk with me, Sitwell," Veritas said, casually turning and walking out of the command deck.
Sitwell scrambled up from the floor, hurriedly dusting off his rumpled gray suit, and followed behind the Jester with quick steps.
But as they walked down the ship’s steel corridor, a new, dreadful thought suddenly crashed into Sitwell’s mind.
’Wait a minute. Why is Veritas on this ship? Don’t tell me... did Pierce send him to execute me, too?!’
As Sitwell caught up to the masked terrorist, that nervous, sweaty look was right back on his face. He looked like a man walking to the gallows, completely unsure of his fate.
Sensing the man’s rising panic, Veritas casually threw a friendly arm around Sitwell’s shoulder.
"Agent Sitwell," Veritas asked pleasantly, "I believe the task you came here for is finished?"
Sitwell nervously eyed the gloved hand over his shoulder, then looked up at the mask.
"Yes, it’s done," Sitwell squeaked out, trying to sound professional. "Fury’s passwords and biometrics have been successfully removed from all the databanks."
Veritas nodded approvingly.
As they reached the outer deck, Veritas paused, dropping his arm, and turned to face the bald agent head-on.
"And are you fully aware of the reasons for your task, Jasper?"
Sitwell hesitated. Even within Hydra, there were strict layers of secrecy. The left hand rarely knew what the right hand was doing, and only the absolute top brass knew the full picture.
"I wasn’t told the exact reason..." Sitwell admitted carefully. "But I’m guessing we’re discarding Fury soon. He must’ve become a hindrance... like Howard Stark..."
"You are correct, Sitwell," Veritas praised, "Fury’s paranoid mind has started poking around in places it shouldn’t. He has deep suspicions regarding Project Insight, and he desperately wants to delay it."
Veritas leaned in closer, "Fury needs to be eliminated. But it can’t be simple... he’s the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., after all. For the new world order of Hydra to actually take place without any hindrances, I was sent here to plant undeniable evidence. Evidence that will prove to the World Security Council that Fury is a traitor to his own agency."
A sly, knowing smile slowly crept across Sitwell’s face.
Finally, all the doubts in his mind evaporated. It was a brilliant, flawless plan.
"Batroc and I are going to execute some hostages on a live broadcast. But I’d rather not have a fellow Hydra die by my own hand." Veritas tilted his head slightly. "So then... how many of us are in there?"
With a smile, Sitwell opened his mouth to speak.
.
.
.
.
A few minutes later, Sitwell was found shoved in a cramped cupboard with clothes stuffed into his mouth, like a high school bully’s victim.
.
.
.
.
Back in the ship’s main gallery, forty-seven S.H.I.E.L.D. employees and guards were bound tightly and seated in neat rows of chairs, all facing forward.
Batroc’s men paced the room, keeping a watchful eye on them. Every so often, they would shove the barrel of a rifle into a captive’s face just for twitching.
"You want a bullet to your head, eh?" a middle-aged mercenary growled, pressing his rifle against a female agent’s forehead.
The technician agent didn’t flinch. She just stared straight ahead.
Even in this dire situation, surrounded by armed killers, one crucial thing was missing from these hostages: Fear.
They were nervous, maybe, but they were absolutely certain that these French pirates wouldn’t just start executing them. After all, dead hostages meant losing all your bargaining chips.
They had absolute trust in S.H.I.E.L.D. They were sure they were going to get rescued in a matter of a couple of hours.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors swung open.
In walked an Algerian man, Georges Batroc, alongside a black-haired man wearing a stark white jester mask—VERITAS. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Two heavily armed mercenaries followed closely behind them like a pair of bodyguards.
Veritas stopped for a moment, slowly scanning the room to look at each and every hostage. Then, he casually strolled toward the front of the gallery.
"Hello, valuable personnel of S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Veritas greeted them warmly, like a tour guide welcoming a fresh batch of tourists.
His smartphone hovered a few feet behind him, capturing every angle.
"Such calm, fearless faces..." Veritas mused, pacing back and forth. "But... no matter how brave you guys are, I know this is a massive inconvenience for you. I have undoubtedly troubled you just for my own personal affairs, and for that, I apologize."
"But don’t worry! I won’t keep you tied up here for too long. I’m going to put my demands to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the American government, and the sooner they agree, the sooner we let you go."
Even though most of them were just techies and engineers, they were still highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. They kept their composure even in front of Veritas.
"But you see," Veritas continued, walking forward and casually dragging a metal chair to the center of the room, and sat down on it. "It’s my very first time greeting such brave hostages! Not a flicker of fear in your eyes. Not a single drop of sweat on foreheads."
He pressed a gloved hand to his chest. "I feel a very pleasant, fuzzy warmth in my heart just looking at you."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a playful whisper.
"I think, just like how I’ve made Batroc and his men my new best friends... we can all form a bond as well. And I have a really entertaining game we can play to form that friendly bond while we wait for S.H.I.E.L.D. to respond!"
Still seated, Veritas stretched his arms wide... then, he stood up.
"But first things first. Before we begin the festivities, let me officially put our demands in front of them."
The floating phone drifted forward, hovering right in front of him.
Normally, the Terror System’s [Broadcast Stream on all devices] tool had a strict maximum range of 100 kilometers. But thanks to Maria Hill, Veritas had full access to the Lemurian Star’s advanced satellite array credentials.
This wasn’t going to be a local New York stream. This broadcast was being beamed directly to every active screen across the entirety of the United States.
"Greetings, America,"
Veritas began. His voice was calm, pleasant, and unsettlingly warm. The eerie black smile on his mask stayed frozen as he spoke directly into the lens.
Almost instantly, the public chat box on his interface absolutely exploded.
[Healer312]: ayo first?
[lightdark8765]: @Healer312 nooooooooo
[Ashly]: holy shit this screen hijack has never been a good news.
[Adorable_filter]: did I hear it right or did he just greet the whole of America instead of just New York like usual?
[Elnino]: @Adorable_filter: you heard it right, this time he’s streaming nationwide! Watching from texas rn
[CaffineWitch]: oh, come on, I just woke up. I didn’t even have a coffee yet.
[CJ]: spider-woman, please see thssiii!!!
[BlankProfile]: fucking hell, this guy is back...
Luke’s eyes, of course, couldn’t follow the sea of texts. He smiled and continued.
The black painted smile on his mask seemed to stretch just a little bit wider.
He opened his arms again, welcoming the digital audience.
"I wanted to share some very good news with everyone," Veritas announced cheerfully. "I am not the lonely Jester anymore. I’ve finally made some friends!"
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