"Who are you? What organization are you from? Why are you here?" the Leader asked, standing in the dense forest where trees intertwined, and moonlight filtered through the rare gaps in the canopy. The night cries of animals echoed in the distance, and green eyes glinted from the bushes. Before him stood the captured agent, whose mind and will were subjugated to his mental power.
"I... I'm a Hydra agent," replied the captured captain, his gaze empty, his body frozen like a lifeless puppet.
"Hydra? What's that?" the Leader asked, having no knowledge of the organization.
Hydra was an ancient organization, first appearing during World War II, created by the Red Skull as a branch of the Nazi science program. But its roots went back to ancient times, when a being of immense power called Hive gained an army of followers. This cult attempted to bring their god back to Earth, establishing what would later evolve into Hydra.
The Red Skull began plotting world domination using the Tesseract, an artifact left on Earth by Asgard, which he acquired. However, his ambitions were thwarted by Captain America, working alongside Peggy Carter and Howard Stark. Officially, Hydra was destroyed after the war, but in reality, it infiltrated key structures of the new world, including S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hearing the name "Hydra" for the first time, the Leader only guessed that it might be some secret terrorist organization or even a cult. However, he couldn't understand how such a group could possess such weaponry and operate openly in the US.
"What kind of organization is this?" he asked again.
"Hydra is the greatest power... We control the world, establishing true justice and balance," the agent replied with difficulty, as if reciting memorized mantras.
"Spare me your fanatical ideas. What are your organization's capabilities?" the Leader frowned, starting to lose patience.
"We have infiltrated key US agencies... the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, Defense, Treasury..."
Each agency name sounded familiar, and the Leader was astonished by the scale of Hydra's influence.
"Our unit... consists of Hydra agents embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D. That is our primary target for infiltration..." the operative's voice trembled, but it was devoid of will, completely under control.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" The Leader frowned, not knowing what this organization was, but immediately realized this was his chance to learn more about America's secret forces and use them for his own purposes.
He continued the interrogation, forcing the Hydra agent to reveal all the information about S.H.I.E.L.D. and its activities. Although this agent didn't have access to top-level secrets, his words gave the Leader a sufficient understanding of how powerful the organization was. During the conversation, he also learned how Hydra managed to find him and why they were hunting him: they wanted to acquire his technology for creating mutants.
When the Leader obtained all the necessary information, he weakened his mental influence, releasing the agent. A few moments later, the operative slowly regained consciousness. Realizing he was lying on the ground, he instantly got up, automatically grabbing his weapon.
Looking around, he noticed his comrades lying motionless. He cautiously approached one of them and, leaning down, saw a poisoned spike protruding from his neck. Checking his comrade's breathing, he confirmed that he was alive, but decided not to touch him until he checked the others.
"Damn, what is this?" he cursed, feeling his own neck, but finding no traces of a spike. Putting on tactical gloves, he carefully removed the spike from his comrade's neck.
"What... happened?" the comrade muttered, slowly regaining consciousness and struggling to get up, feeling weak.
When the operative realized that the spikes in their necks were the cause of their condition, he quickly removed them from the rest of the squad. Everyone gradually began to awaken, their strength returning, and they immediately started questioning their commander about what had happened, but he couldn't give them any definite answers.
"Crack!" The sound of a breaking branch shattered the silence. Footsteps could be heard, and the operatives gathered around the captain instantly aimed their weapons towards the noise.
"Who's there?!"
The Leader calmly emerged from the shadows, ignoring the laser sights aimed at him. With his arms crossed behind his back, he approached.
"You were looking for me, weren't you?" he said coldly and confidently, stopping just ten meters from the group, as if feeling no threat whatsoever.