Chapter 208: The Play’s The Thing. 2014 CE

Grodd walked inside the room rather casually. He was alone, with no guards at all, or at least that’s what Pierce saw. He was wearing a suit, as in a tuxedo, like what the humans are wearing. The ground shook as he walked, as if the concrete beneath could barely support Grodd’s weight at all.

The councilmen were eyeing Grodd, as if he had done something terribly wrong, well, he technically did, as he never showed up in the meetings anymore, even though he was specifically invited.

“How is your flight, your majesty?” asked Pierce casually as he walked towards him, shaking his hand.

“The usual,” said Grodd calmly. “I am here to congratulate you, I hope this project will bring peace to humanity.”

“We have worked hard indeed.” Pierce nodded. “Champagne?”

“No, I don’t drink.” refused Grodd.

“Very well.” Pierce smiled. “I see you decided to wear one of our attires.”

“Yes, I figured it was the right thing to do. It is humanity’s moment after all.” answered Grodd. “No problems on the launch?”

“Thankfully, no.” answered Pierce. “So far, no disturbance.”

Grodd just hummed. He walked towards the other councilmen, he shook their hands one by one, even though the other party seemed reluctant.

Grodd then walked to the other side of the room, seemingly separating himself from the others. “Continue. I will not bother you anymore, after all, this is your moment. I am just here for formalities.”

Grodd then took out a small box, it was a glasses case, he opened it and took out the glasses, before wearing it.

The councilmen then turned towards the holo projector in the middle of the room, and it displayed ‘00:02:56’, meaning that the launch will be in 3 minutes.

“This will be a new start for humanity.” said Pierce, trying to change the mood, but then, an announcement came.

“Attention SHIELD agents, this is your director speaking.”

The councilmen frowned hearing it, especially Pierce. He knew that voice well, he was the one who chose him as a director after all.

“I know that some of you have heard that I have gone rogue… or I betrayed SHIELD… but those are all lies.”

Pierce quickly took out his phone and messaged someone, all caught by the eyes of Grodd.

“Now why do you think I made this announcement? Well, I am here to tell you that SHIELD has been compromised. It’s been taken over by HYDRA, a terrorist organization that specializes in creating fear, all in the name of absolute control. Captain?”

The speaker then changed to the voice of a familiar man. “This is Steve Rogers speaking. What the director said is the truth. SHIELD has been compromised by HYDRA, and their leader is Alexander Pierce.”

As his name was spoken, all the councilman's eyes turned to Pierce, who just shrugged at the accusation.

“The STRIKE and Insight team, who is inside the helicarrier right now is also one of them. We don’t know how many more, but I know that they’re in the building. It could be standing right next to you, they could be watching you. If the project is launched, millions of innocent and bright people will die, the people who stood against the principle of HYDRA… absolute control. Two months ago, there was an attempted assassination of me and Nick Fury, in my own home, if that helicarrier is on the air, no one will be safe, including you and me, unless… we stop them. I know I’m asking a lot, but reinforcement is on the way. So I ask you to hold off, if it’s only me, then it’s fine, but I’m willing to bet that it’s wrong.”

As the speech finished, a group of STRIKE team entered the meeting room, all armed with fully loaded guns.

“You fascist bastard.” said an African councilman. “I am not surprised at all.”

“What will you do now, Pierce?” asked Grodd calmly as he walked to him. “Shoot us? Threaten us with empty words?”

All of the guns turned to Grodd, the team’s eyes filled with fear.

“I admit, it was a bit of an oversight that you came,” said Pierce. “We’ve worked so hard on dividing you and the rest of humanity for years now, I was hoping that his council will be Simian free until the end.”

“Well, you lost the bet, Pierce,” said Grodd. “So what will it be?”

—

In the control room of Project Insight, no one is moving at all. They were tense, thinking on what to do, they were scared that the person beside them was a HYDRA agent, and they would be eliminated if they showed a sign of rebellion. Suddenly, a man with full armor entered the room, he was walking towards the guy who is in charge of the actual launch.

“Cancel the countdown, send the ships now,” he said calmly.

The guy on the chair didn’t say anything, he just sat there, quietly.

“Do you hear what I’m saying?” asked the man again. No answer. “Do you hear what I am saying?!”

“Y-Yes sir…” said the guy on the chair.

“Then launch the damn—” before the man could say anything again, a dart suddenly planted itself on his neck. He took out the dart to see it, his eyes getting blurry.

He pressed his comms, and spoke weakly. “Launch the ships… manually….”

The rest of the STRIKE team that was in the room dropped to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

A group of men and women then forcefully opened the door, and in front of them, Steve Rogers.

“Everyone alright?” asked Rogers.

“Captain.” said a blonde woman.

“Kate.” Rogers greeted. “I need you all to disable the launching mechanisms—”

“Captain, it’s too late.” said an agent, looking at a screen. “They’ve stormed the hangar, they’ll be opening the gates from there.”

“Shit.” a man in an exoskeleton. “I was hoping it wouldn’t get to this. Oh well, plan B it is.”

The man tapped his comms, and spoke to the mic. “Grodd, plan B.”

—

Grodd just stared at the STRIKE team who is now aiming their guns towards the other councilmen instead of Grodd. They took them hostage, so Grodd wouldn’t attack them.

“Your majesty,” said Pierce calmly. “What if a corrupt US official suddenly had the nuclear code and sent it to Zimera? When we could just prevent using this project in an instant.”

“For a secretary, you made terrible ‘what ifs’.” said Grodd. “It is impossible for that to happen, if you cannot do it, then how can a normal corrupt politician can?”

“Well, it is just imagination.” Pierce shrugged. “Alright, change of case. What if the entire world decides that Zimera will be an enemy of humanity?”

“Again, an idiotic case.” Grodd shrugged, walking around, making the Strike team nervous as hell. “That is your goal, is it not? Your plan is to send one of the helicarrier to our land so that you HYDRAs can take over the world, control everyone? We are your biggest obstacle after all.”

“Ah, you know.” smiled Pierce bitterly.

“Well of course I know,” said Grodd, grabbing the bottle of champagne and drinking it whole.

“I thought you didn't drink?” said Pierce in amusement.

“I thought you were sane?” countered Grodd. “But of course, lying is the weapon of a politician.”

“There is no way you can stop us, your majesty.” Pierce smiled as he saw the helicarriers getting out of the lake. “It has been launched.”

“You HYDRAs don’t learn, do you?” said Grodd flatly. “Or are you just trying to find any desperate way to make this work? Even though you knew it was doomed to fail when you saw me standing here.”

Pierce just shrugged. “Or I am simply confident.”

Grodd sighed. “Right, had enough.”

The glass on Grodd’s glasses suddenly displayed command prompts, with commands being written rapidly. The comms of each STRIKE team exploded, throwing them off and their guns, one of them even got killed because the explosion sipped through their brains.

Pierce flinched as they saw his STRIKE team fall. The councilmen quickly grabbed the guns, and aimed at the rest of the still-alive STRIKE team, including Pierce himself.

“Pierce. I’ve dealt with your kind for decades now.” said Grodd, walking towards Pierce. “Base after base, from Siberia, Sokovia, even South Africa, I’ve handled them all.”

Pierce frowned. “You? You are–”

Grodd grabbed Pierce’s body, making the man choke on his own words. “Yes. I am them.”

Pierce, seemingly unbothered that he was now in the grasp of Grodd, shook his head. “I should’ve known.”

Suddenly, one of the strike team pulled out a hidden gun from his pocket, and he tried to shoot Grodd from the back. Grodd felt the tingling sensation as the bullet hit his bulletproof suit, and turned.

He gruffed, threw away Pierce to the ground and slammed his fist towards the man who shot him, flattening the man’s head instantly.

“You can’t kill me, Grodd.” Pierce chuckled. “You need me to stop the helicarriers.”

“Half right.” said Grodd. “I can’t kill you now, but I don’t need you to stop the helicarriers.”

Grodd’s glasses displayed command prompts again, and then, he spoke to his comms. “Send in the air-force.”