Chapter 229: Acting for the Computer
At the Triskelion, the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Pierce was pretending to argue with the big shots of the council.
Gideon Malick had resigned due to his involvement in the nuclear missile launch in New York.
Nick Fury had persuaded Pierce to take Malick's vacant seat.
Who knew what Nick Fury's mood was like now?
"Director Nick Fury was brutally murdered. Any normal person would consider him a martyr, not a traitor."
Pierce, the actor, maintained a blank expression. Anger glimmered in his eyes behind his glasses as he paced instinctively.
However, other council members participating in the holographic conference immediately retorted:
"He hired mercenaries to hijack his own ship. Isn't that treason?"
"Nick Fury used his relationship with you to force the council to postpone the Insight program. He knew this program would expose his illegal activities. At best, he deceived you. At worst..."
"Are you suggesting I should resign?"
Pierce's smearing of Nick Fury had the intended effect, causing him to sneer inwardly. There was a hint of anger in his tone:
"I have pen and paper right now!"
"We'll discuss that matter later!"
Another council member interjected coldly, causing Pierce to straighten his posture and add fuel to the fire:
"Do you really plan to discuss it?"
"We have already discussed it, Mr. Secretary!"
Another council member emphasized Pierce's position:
"The council has made a decision to immediately restart the Insight program!"
The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had issues, well, he was already dead.
But you, Mr. Secretary, are clearly in cahoots with your loyal subordinate and heir!
You actually want to grant martyrdom to a shameful traitor who deceived us for so long right under our noses, even causing us to lose a respected old friend?!
If Nick Fury can be considered a martyr, then what does that make us, who he manipulated in circles?
Are we fools?
Even if we were fools, we still know that your support for Nick Fury's actions is a betrayal!
Nick Fury brought this upon himself, but once the Insight program goes online, your actions, Pierce, will be fully exposed to us!
S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken such immense power, and with the two of you here, we have never been able to truly check it.
And now, one is already dead, and your good days, Pierce, won't last long either!
So, he added:
"If you want to lose your temper, do it now."
"Lose my temper..."
Pierce looked deeply at the four "colleagues" in the council, and smiled faintly:
"Why would I? I'm looking forward to seeing the faces of those who want to throw me under the bus once the Insight program goes online."
...
New Jersey, the founding site of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the former training base for Captain America, Steve Rogers.
Now it was abandoned, empty, but as the birthplace of legends, its main structure remained intact.
It was already dark, but after some effort, Oaks found the underground basement of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He took out the USB drive and plugged it into the conspicuous docking station on the operating table, which stood out from its surroundings with its anachronistic design.
Beside him were two soul projections—the images of Steve and Natasha.
After gaining the Legacy of Life and Death Balance spell, this was Oaks' first real application of soul-based magic.
The soul illusions were similar to Loki's illusions, capable of creating lifelike replicas, although Oaks didn't create as many as Loki did.
Creating the soul projections in a way that could be observed by optical cameras and allowed them to speak took quite a bit of effort from Oaks.
After the mechanical whirring sound, the entire control room came to life. Countless tape reels started rotating in various peculiar rhythms.
On the operating table in front of Oaks, a cluster of bulky CRT monitors lit up. The vintage cameras mounted on them moved up and down, indicating they were now operational.
On the largest monitor, a line of green letters popped up: "System Initialization?" accompanied by an old-fashioned synthesized electronic sound.
After Oaks entered "yes," he transformed into his cheetah form and entered stealth mode.
The tape hummed for a while, and the camera on top of the monitor wobbled and focused on "Steve" and "Natasha."
"Steve Rogers, born in 1918..."
"Natalia Alianovna Romanova, born in 1984."
Though Zola found it strange why the images of these two individuals looked a bit peculiar, he didn't pay much attention.
After all, the image quality of his outdated cameras was quite pitiful.
"I may not be the person Captain held captive in 1945, but I am still me."
On the adjacent screen, Dr. Zola's information appeared, and Oaks manipulated the two soul projections to act out a whole drama for this AI incarnation of the doctor.
"He reminds me of Tony's AI. It should be called J.A.R.V.I.S."
"Natasha" glanced at the tapes spinning at different speeds around them.
"These things... look eerie."
"Artificial intelligence... hehehe. Look around you. You are standing inside my brain. My body has an incurable disease, beyond saving. But my mind is stored in this 200,000-foot-long database!"
Though Zola maintained a tone resembling machine speech, Oaks could still hear his pride:
"I am more mentally active now than ever before!"
"Well, I don't know how you accomplished this madness back in that era, but things might be easier now."
"Steve" shrugged:
"Try to explain it in more detail. 'We' have patience."
"That's perfect, then..."
In order to buy time, Zola went on a lengthy explanation, and Oaks, unconcerned about whether he was intentionally stalling, controlled the soul projections to react at appropriate moments.
"I thought you would come at me with a punch, Captain Rogers."
After delivering a heap of valuable information, Zola finally found it strange how the two individuals in front of him were reacting:
"It seems that your experiences after waking up have made you somewhat composed."
"Dr. Zola, you are indeed a revolutionary genius."
"Steve" ignored him, seemingly shocked by Zola's revelations.
"Natasha," on the other hand, ran a hand through her hair and shook her head with regret:
"Unfortunately, your perspective has been limited to this tiny planet, wasting decades among this pile of electronic junk."
"With today's technological level, all it takes is a small chip to carry your entire consciousness and provide you with overwhelming computational power.
HYDRA has imprisoned a dedicated senior predecessor like you in this rundown house.
Did they assume your current thought process would not actively consider 'improving the living environment'? Or..."
"Were they afraid that you're too intelligent for them to control?"
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