Chapter 228: The Insight Plan

Chapter 228: The Insight Plan

"Because we learned about Hydra's information from you ahead of time, we did have the upper hand initially and even identified their leader, Pierce.

But recently, Hydra agents stole the Tesseract, replicated World War II energy weapons, and caught us off guard.

We had no choice but to temporarily retreat from the Triskelion headquarters and hide in a safe house.

Who would've thought that the safe house had already been ambushed by a group of Hydra's Winter Soldiers? We were hit with a surprise attack and suffered heavy casualties—even Director Fury sacrificed his life.

In the end, only a few of us managed to escape the pursuit of the Winter Soldiers, and we had no choice but to seek help from you."

Black Widow explained the general situation to George, including Hydra's Insight Plan.

The so-called Insight Plan was originally a concept Pierce used to deceive Nick Fury: launching three helicarriers into the sky to monitor the entire planet and eliminate all crime before it even started—a utopian vision.

But in reality, Hydra used Dr. Zola's algorithm to calculate all potential threats to Hydra, and before those threats could grow stronger, the helicarriers would eliminate them in advance.

This also included using the helicarriers later to attack any nation daring to resist Hydra, thus unifying the entire Earth.

Before George could speak, Captain America Steve shook his head and said:

"You guys really shouldn't have fished that thing out of the ocean!"

The Red Skull only managed to grow Hydra because of the Tesseract. Steve had experienced it firsthand.

Such a dangerous object, in his opinion, should have been buried forever in the depths of the ocean, never to be found again.

"You're right, Captain. If it weren't for the Director wanting to research the Tesseract to develop energy weapons, Hydra wouldn't have had the opportunity to steal it."

Coulson nodded at Captain America's words.

Captain America was his idol, and what he said certainly made sense. Besides, Coulson had always had reservations about the Director's approach.

He felt the Director was sometimes too radical in his decisions.

"I don't think the Director was wrong. We were just one step too late. If we had developed the energy weapons first, we would've won, and the Director wouldn't have died."

Another cold-faced, middle-aged agent gritted his teeth and refuted bitterly.

Coulson sighed at his words:

"John, I know you're deeply saddened by the Director's death, but... forget it. What matters now is stopping Hydra's Insight Plan. There's no need to argue over the past."

John was one of his best friends in S.H.I.E.L.D. They had followed Nick Fury on many missions. Nick Fury was both their superior and their mentor.

So when Nick Fury was killed, Coulson fully understood John's feelings—he too was heartbroken.

"By the way, I haven't asked for your names yet. How should I address you?"

Hearing the name "John," George's heart skipped a beat. Then he smiled and asked the unfamiliar S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

The middle-aged agent named "John" took the lead in reporting their names.

"John Garrett."

"Grant Ward."

"Jemma Simmons."

"Leo Fitz."

"Alphonso Mackenzie."

"Barbara Morse."

"No wonder you guys were ambushed—Hydra agents infiltrated your ranks."

After hearing everyone's names, George's lips curled into a cold smile.

He couldn't confirm everyone, but John Garrett and Grant Ward—the master and apprentice duo—if his memory was correct, were confirmed Hydra spies.

That whole act of grief and fury over Nick Fury's death was obviously staged. Their acting was impeccable. If he hadn't remembered, he might've been fooled.

Top-level spies, after all—elite acting comes with the territory.

"George, a group of people have arrived near the school. They appear to be those Winter Soldiers they mentioned."

At that moment, Professor X placed his hand on his temple and transmitted the scene he witnessed to George.

In George's mind, he instantly saw a group of heavily armed soldiers moving faster than ordinary humans, all wearing Hydra insignias. However, they were lingering near the school because the Loyalty Curse prevented them from entering.

"Looks like the trail left by two—maybe more than two—Hydra spies led them here."

"George, we have to move quickly. Hydra has taken over the Triskelion headquarters and obtained three helicarriers. They could launch them into the sky at any moment. If that happens, we'll have no chance of winning."

Seeing George's calm face after hearing everything, Black Widow urged him. She and George were the most familiar in S.H.I.E.L.D.; if someone else had rushed him, it might have provoked his displeasure.

The others—Hill and the rest—were also visibly anxious.

"You're right. But before that, we need to deal with some traitors. Otherwise, no plan will succeed."

George smiled, swept his eyes over all the agents, then looked at Garrett and said:

"Shall we start with Mr. Garrett here? Let's go one by one."

As for the threat of the three helicarriers, George didn't take it that seriously.

First, with the school's defenses and his own presence, unless the helicarriers directly dropped a nuke on New York, they wouldn't pose much threat to the school.

As for others' lives and deaths—well, they weren't his concern.

Second, he didn't think the helicarriers were as powerful as Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. imagined. It wasn't like they had 10,000 of them—just three. Earth was far from that simple.

Even without mentioning others, the hidden Eternals wouldn't sit idly by if they were attacked from above by a helicarrier.

Then there were the Ten Rings, Ghost Rider… if he remembered correctly, Doctor Strange was also on the list of those to be eliminated.

The Ancient One would never let the future Sorcerer Supreme fall early.

So, if the helicarriers truly launched and attacked all threatening targets on the ground, others might destroy them before he even needed to act.

Lastly, he wanted to use this to bring the Academy of Superpowers into the public eye.

The academy's location could remain hidden, but its students would eventually enter society—they couldn't stay concealed forever.

So the academy's existence had to be recognized by the public and by governments around the world.

Let Hydra stir up more trouble—preferably to the point where all governments are overwhelmed and unable to handle it. Then the academy would step in and solve it.

That would have the greatest impact, and all governments would understand the true strength of the Academy of Superpowers.

(End of Chapter)