Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman Chapter 737: The Old Captain

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Although the call-up had taken somewhat too long and the process had been rather convoluted, Alexander Pierce was still trying to use Barbara Morse as his intermediary to formally rebuild this team, rather than merely assembling them on an ad hoc basis like today.

Peggy Carter did not express an opinion, because she was not a member of the Howling Commandos. She was sitting here today because she had helped gather this group of old friends.

However, after exchanging glances, the others remained firm in their refusal of the olive branch Barbara Morse had extended. Midnight Vampire spoke on behalf of the others, addressing her friend of the same sex:

"Barbara, I’m sorry, but we still don’t want to return to the Howling Commandos. We’ve always dealt with events that are outside the ordinary, but ever since the CIA started recruiting mutants and the X-Men were formed, they’ve been doing a better job than us in that regard.

"You should understand that all of us are the kind of people who can’t afford to be exposed. In that respect, we’re far inferior to the X-Men. After that, the Howling Commandos’ role became rather awkward. We hardly had any missions, just some odd jobs.

"We only reunited today because the vampire incident in the New York sewers had become too serious. That’s why we agreed to respond to the call. Now that the matter has been resolved, there’s no reason for us to stay."

"I see." Barbara Morse sounded somewhat disappointed, but she was not surprised. She rose and said, "Understood. I’ll convey everyone’s decision to Director Pierce.

"If any of you need anything else, feel free to contact me privately. I hope we can keep our friendship alive."

"Of course." Midnight Vampire also rose and gave Barbara Morse an affectionate hug. "Just don’t stop answering my calls later."

"Heh, as if I would. As long as I haven’t been dragged into a meeting with some big shot, I’ll always put your affairs first."

Barbara Morse spoke with hearty sincerity. The other former members of the Howling Commandos likewise gave her positive responses out of courtesy.

Once the young woman left, the others lost their previous relaxed demeanor. Peggy Carter asked, "Steve, what do you make of this?"

An elderly white-haired man with an upright posture but a thin frame emerged from the small room adjoining the conference room.

The moment they saw him, most of the former Howling Commandos rose to their feet and saluted him.

"Captain."

They had not gathered today for Peggy Carter’s sake. This white-haired old man, a former comrade-in-arms to some of them, was the person who had truly brought them together.

"Sit down, everyone. Captain America is still buried beneath the ice in the Arctic. I’m just a retired old man."

Steve Grant Rogers sat down beside Peggy Carter. Someone immediately handed him the report that had been left behind.

He put on his reading glasses and laboriously read it line by line. Once he lowered the document, Peggy immediately asked, "Well? Does any of this ring a bell?"

"How could I know about every incident that’s already been resolved?" the old captain replied with a smile. "As long as an incident has no lingering consequences and doesn’t resurface, there’s no way I’d dig out every old file and study it."

But the old captain tapped his fingers lightly against the table, his expression turning serious.

"Still, I have to say, this world is already quite different from the one I knew. I can’t even say whether these changes are good or bad."

Whether it was to make up for regrets or preserve events along the timeline, the old captain had changed things before. As for the consequences... he could not say with certainty whether they had made things better or worse. That was why he had become increasingly cautious about altering "historical events."

But this particular incident was something he had never even heard of. And because it had become so serious that an outbreak could potentially have been difficult to contain, he had been willing to secretly assist Peggy Carter in gathering his old comrades from their days fighting side by side.

Who would have thought the incident would be resolved smoothly before they even had a chance to act?

The old captain was beginning to wonder whether the reason his younger self had never heard of this incident was precisely because it had been resolved so easily.

"Is Director Pierce’s attitude toward this matter simply to find a way to dump it on us?"

Peggy Carter answered his question.

"The director is trying to contact the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, hoping to obtain operating funds from them. He wants SHIELD to break free from America’s control and truly become an international organization."

"Why?"

Peggy Carter explained, "Because our enemies are no longer the Eastern Bloc under the Warsaw Pact. Convincing the other two countries that SHIELD can handle international affairs fairly and objectively won’t be easy.

"Besides, they already have the Divine Spear Bureau. Even an outsider can see how difficult this will be. But with the international situation changing so drastically, this is the best opportunity we’re likely to get. There may never be another."

The old captain asked again, "Is that all Director Pierce wants?"

"Do you remember the terrorist attack last September? What if I told you SHIELD had already issued a warning? Would you believe me?"

"A warning was issued, and it still happened! Was someone deliberately allowing it to happen?"

"No. It was simply because every piece of intelligence SHIELD gave to either the CIA or FBI received the same response: ’This isn’t our jurisdiction. We only handle supernatural affairs and 084 objects. Don’t overstep.’ And then... it happened."

"That’s dereliction of duty! Didn’t they even know to verify it?"

Peggy Carter answered bluntly, "Who gets the credit? As long as there are three separate organizations, disputes over jurisdiction will never disappear. Allow someone to cross the line once, and that means they can do it again.

"As for merging the three organizations into a single super-intelligence agency, that’s even less likely. America cannot have a second Hoover, especially not an institutionalized organization even more frightening than Hoover."

The old captain pondered this.

"So the best course is to draw a clear line between SHIELD and the United States. And by doing so, SHIELD can also extend its reach into ordinary affairs. So that’s how things developed."

Peggy Carter continued explaining.

"The U.S. government is looking for funding to establish a new security department. So we can expect them to use this opportunity to reduce SHIELD’s funding.

"Even if the other two countries aren’t willing to cover SHIELD’s entire proposed budget, when has that ever been the case? We submit budgets and plans, and the people above cut this and that, telling us what we can and cannot do. But those are things we can negotiate.

"And a SHIELD directly under the Security Council can also contribute to global counterterrorism efforts, instead of being restricted the way it was before. Director Pierce’s argument has convinced quite a few people."

"But he’s expanding his own authority."

"Steve." Peggy Carter interrupted the old man’s train of thought. "I’ve always wanted to ask you something. Why did you oppose having the Howling Commandos merge into the new SHIELD back then? You said at the time that you couldn’t tell us. What about now? Can you tell us?"

After considering it for a moment, the old captain finally spoke.

"I couldn’t tell you then because everyone was still inside SHIELD. If you still want to know now, I suppose I can tell you. But can you keep it a secret?"

Peggy Carter immediately caught the implication.

"You mean there’s a problem inside SHIELD. Then why didn’t you tell us? We could have taken precautions."

The old captain gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Half of SHIELD is Hydra. How are you supposed to take precautions?"

"Holy shit!"

Everyone cried out in shock. Even Peggy Carter could no longer maintain her previous composure.

The old captain said, "Even now, I haven’t come up with a good solution. And I’m also worried that a large-scale change of this magnitude might affect history, or even affect this universe."

"It’s hard to imagine. I thought Hydra had been destroyed along with the Red Skull." Jack Russell spoke from the side.

"Cut off one head, and two more grow back. There’s a reason they dared to call themselves that."

After sighing, the old captain continued, "With Hydra’s scale, this isn’t something we can secretly deal with on our own.

"If we tried to recruit an ally to help, losing half our manpower in one stroke would mean SHIELD becoming paralyzed—or even losing the government’s trust and being shut down. As long as there’s even a possibility of that happening, those allies might simply ignore our warning.

"So unless Hydra itself decides to stop pretending and exposes enough evidence to force others to take action against them, there’s simply no way for us to solve this problem."

The old captain knew perfectly well that the arrogant Black Nick Fury was exactly the sort of person who might do something like this. He might even turn around and try to exploit Hydra without realizing that it had already been exposed.

That was why he had never once considered notifying that man. He feared Fury would only make an even bigger mess.

Peggy Carter had thought further than the old captain, but she likewise had no good way to eliminate Hydra, which had already sunk its roots deep into SHIELD.

Half.

Anyone would be dumbfounded upon seeing such a figure. Half of their subordinates were enemy infiltrators. Unless there was a definitive list, the moment a purge began, whoever initiated it would be the one to die.

And it wasn’t simply a matter of half living and half dying. There would always be people with weak convictions, or those whose relationships with traitors were ambiguous, who might be classified—or pushed—onto the side that had to die. At best, they would be fired.

Would some people take advantage of the process to settle personal grudges or eliminate rivals?

Who knew?

How could such malicious acts be verified? Who could be trusted, and who couldn’t?

If, in the end, SHIELD managed to retain even one-tenth of its personnel who had been positively identified as loyal, that alone could be considered a tremendous success in the organization’s loyalty education.

Could a retired Peggy Carter dare to act recklessly?

She couldn’t.

This was no longer an opponent that her old arms could bring down, especially now that so many of her old comrades had passed away.

Even if all she did was issue a warning, she might merely end up getting the other person killed.

For the first time, this old woman who had been active since World War II felt truly powerless.

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