Chapter 533 Pierce: I'm Doing This for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Chapter 533 Pierce: I'm doing this for SHIELD~

"Nick Fury was brutally murdered. Any reasonable person would consider him a martyr, not a traitor."

In the SHIELD Security Council meeting room, facing the holographic projections of the other Security Council members present, Pierce righteously wanted to say a few good words for the dead Fury.

But for the other Security Council members who have already determined that Nick Fury is reselling SHIELD secrets, what he said is meaningless at this moment.

"Nick Fury used your trust in him to force the Security Council to postpone the Insight Project in order to cover up his illegal activities!

Once the Insight Project goes smoothly, all the dirty things he did in private will be exposed to the world!"

French Director Pierre sneered and accused Pierce of his fault, saying that his credulity in Nick Fury was the root cause of all this.

"These are two different things. We have all witnessed his contribution to SHIELD over the years..."

"But what is the result? He is using you to complete his secret deal!"

Pierre snorted coldly, and at the same time glanced at Ivanov, the Russian director beside him.

"Do you want me to resign?"

"You..."

"Enough! The reason we are sitting here to talk is to solve the next problem of SHIELD, not to listen to you two shirking responsibility here!"

Unable to bear the quarrel between the two, British female director Holly stopped them in a deep voice.

"Pierce, continue to talk about the problems SHIELD is facing now."

Pierce took a deep breath and reorganized his thoughts.

"As for the issue of Nick Fury's responsibility, before we find any more conclusive evidence, the clues provided by Bachok alone are not enough to conclude that Fury betrayed SHIELD.

But we can't just leave SHIELD alone. The position of director of SHIELD is now vacant, and I am the only one with the highest authority in the bureau. I am busy with both ends now, and I am already too busy to do anything."

The highest authority mentioned by Pierce refers to the current level 1 to 10 authority structure of SHIELD.

As mentioned earlier, this authority structure was originally proposed and designed by Director Nick Fury himself.

So far, there are only 5 people in SHIELD who theoretically have level 10 authority.

Three of them are the three veterans who announced the establishment of SHIELD after the end of World War II, namely Howard Stark, General Chester Phillips, and Peggy Carter.

Then there is Nick Fury, who proposed this authority structure, and the former SHIELD Director Alexander Pierce in front of him.

Among them, the first two have died for many years, and their level 10 authority is just a title, mostly symbolic, and has long been completely cancelled.

And Peggy Carter, who died a while ago, has had her authority completely shut down within SHIELD.

So far, there are only two of the five level 10 authority people in SHIELD.

But with the unfortunate death of Nick Fury, SHIELD now has only Pierce as the only level 10 authority person in the open.

Even if he wants to monopolize the power of SHIELD, he has already sat in the position of a director of the Security Council. If he interferes in the internal decision-making of SHIELD, it will be a bit too big to attract the wind.

Therefore, he thought of cooperating with Lainie and planned to take this opportunity to nominate her as the new director of SHIELD.

In this way, both the Security Council and SHIELD will be vassals of Hydra.

"What do you want to say, nominate another person to serve as the director of SHIELD?"

Russian director Ivanov narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at Pierce who was talking freely.

"You know, it was you who pushed Nick Fury to be the director of SHIELD, which led to the current situation. Do you want to create another traitor in SHIELD?"

"Please be careful with your words, Director Ivanov! And I reiterate that you cannot arbitrarily think that Nick Fury is a traitor before the evidence is conclusive!"

Pierce was not afraid of Ivanov's threatening eyes. His fair and strict look made people who didn't know the truth really believe that this guy would be a good person.

"Oh, okay, then please tell me, who do you want to nominate to succeed the position of director of SHIELD?"

Director Ivanov smiled coldly.

"I think it shouldn't be Lainie Stark, right?"

When this name came out, the eyes of several directors present couldn't help but change.

Pierce's face was embarrassed for a moment, and Director Pierre's face showed a trace of fear.

Director Holly's eyes flashed with a subtle hint of amusement, while Director Hua narrowed his eyes and seemed to disagree.

"No! Absolutely not! That woman is a lunatic! She even dared to draw a gun in the Security Council building!"

Speaking of Lainie, Director Pierre, who witnessed the whole process of the previous American Director Priss being forcibly arrested, was naturally unwilling.

That crazy woman dared to run to the Security Council building fully armed to arrest people. If she became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the consequences would make him tremble just thinking about it.

"Laini Stark is indeed the candidate I personally recommend. Her strength is unquestionable, and her popularity in the bureau is also very high. Even when Nick Fury was there, her influence was second only to Fury alone."

What Pierce said was true, and he didn't add any exaggeration.

Ever since Leni joined S.H.I.E.L.D., her influence in the agency has only increased. At her peak, she even vaguely overshadowed Eggman himself.

So much so that there has been a saying in the agency for a long time that SHIELD is likely to have a second female top executive.

It was only later that Leni took over the Avengers project and the authority structure broke away from SHIELD, which gradually made this statement become empty talk.

"Isn't there a better option? I remember there is a level nine person in SHIELD?"

Director Holly refers to Maria Hill. As the housekeeper of the entire S.H.I.E.L.D., her authority is second only to the director's authority, and she is also the only person with level nine authority in S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Agent Maria Hill is indeed a good candidate, but she seems to have little interest in serving as director. I talked to her about this not long ago, and she clearly refused at the time and took the initiative to recommend it to me. There are other candidates..."

"who?"

"Agent Phil Coulson."

As soon as the name came out, several directors immediately looked at each other.

They naturally knew who Coulson was, but his relationship with Nick Fury was too close, and several directors were worried...

"If I remember correctly, Agent Coulson should have transferred to the Slingshot Base on his own, right?"

Director Hua Guo suddenly interjected and a thoughtful smile appeared on his face.

"Is it because you want to avoid suspicion? Or..."

"It's somewhat to avoid suspicion, but in fact, Agent Coulson was assigned to the Slingshot Base by Nick Fury as early as a year ago."

Pierce nodded and repeated the information he knew in detail.

"Due to the independence of the Avengers and the unique nature of the investigation team, Nick Fury sent Coulson to be stationed at Slingshot Base a year ago and arranged for him to be the intermediary between the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. when necessary. He went to convince the Avengers..."

It's said to be persuasion, but it's actually just a microphone. If something happens, let Coulson, a good old man, go to the Avengers to plead and say good things. Then, relying on Coulson's favor, he will try his best to get technology from the Avengers for free. and assistance only.

Otherwise, how could Tony easily agree to upgrade the space carrier's anti-gravity engine to SHIELD.

Of course, Tony never suffers in this regard.

"In other words, he also voluntarily gave up his position as director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Several directors looked at each other, with strange expressions on their faces for a moment.

Co-author: The position of director is now a stinker, and everyone who sees it can't help but retreat. Is it possible that this position really has to be given to Leni Stark?

"No, this is absolutely not possible. SHIELD is so big and has so many excellent agents, can't we find a suitable candidate?"

Director Pierre frowned and shook his head.

"There is a way, but the popularity and strength are not as good as Leni Stark. For this reason, we really can't find a second candidate more suitable than him for the time being."

Pierce shook his head and smiled bitterly, with some helplessness on his face.

Don't say it, don't say it. If he could find a second person who could replace Leni, he would have used it long ago, and he wouldn't have waited until the Security Council to talk about it!

People with good minds, such as Sitwell, cannot compare to Leni in terms of strength.

Strong ones such as Rumlow. Although his mind is not bad, he is still far behind Leni in terms of popularity.

As for the other Hydra agents, there is no need to mention them. Those are not as good as the two mentioned above.

If I have to say it, the Grant Ward recently sent from Europe is interesting, but that guy is actually John Garrett's lackey and is not loyal to him at all.

For a time, Pierce became more and more angry and autistic.

Just tell me what kind of gadgets this Hydra has raised over the years, how come none of them can do anything when it comes to use!

"Well... let's see. We will discuss the matter of the new director later. There is no need to rush this matter anyway. Why not just observe and see if we can find a few more suitable candidates. If it doesn't work, we will discuss it later. Nee Stark also had time..."

Director Holly sighed and simply used the procrastination technique.

"Okay, then I will serve as a part-time officer for a while, but I have to state in advance that Leni is very proactive and has already begun to win over supporters in the bureau."

…

"So, what do those old guys say?"

In the Security Council office, Leni was holding a cup of coffee and looking at Alexander Pierce who was sitting opposite with a smile.

"The plan is going well. As expected, they began to doubt Nick's purpose. I think as long as they add more fire, they will agree to continue to launch the Insight Project."

Pierce reached out and used a coffee spoon to stir the cup of coffee in front of him, staring deeply at the brown liquid that was constantly spinning in the coffee cup.

"By the way, there is a question I have always wanted to ask..."

After a moment of silence, Pierce suddenly spoke:

"Is Nick Fury really dead?"

Hearing this, Leni's hand holding the coffee couldn't help but pause, and then she met Pierce's eyes thoughtfully.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because of tetrodotoxin."

Pierce stared into Leni's eyes, as if he wanted to see something in Leni's green eyes.

"During the Battle of New York two years ago, you used a substance called tetrodotoxin to fake Coulson's death, and used this to successfully unite the Avengers who were suspicious of each other at the time."

Pierce stopped stirring.

"Do you suspect that I secretly helped Nick Fury fake his death?"

Leni narrowed her eyes slightly and slowly put down the coffee cup.

"No, what I mean is, will Nick Fury also use that tetrodotoxin to stage a fake death scene for me?"

Pierce put the coffee spoon back in place, picked up the coffee and took a sip.

"I'm not sure, but when I was in the hospital, I didn't notice his heartbeat..."

Leni recalled it, and seemed to be unsure of her own judgment.

"Do you think he may have faked his death? But I remember the person in charge of handling the funeral is Agent Hill. Can't we just ask her to come over and ask?"

"No need, that might alert the enemy."

Pierce looked away.

"I will arrange for Sitwell to investigate this matter, but just in case, we'd better shut down that guy's authority as soon as possible."

"What are you going to do?"

"Just like Peggy Carter, directly apply for permission freeze on the grounds of death, and then as long as you give me some time, I can completely delete his permissions through the Security Council!"

Leni raised her eyebrows and secretly thought that this would be a great move to eliminate the problem.

Leni also knew a little bit about the acquisition and shutdown of SHIELD's authority.

According to the rules drawn up by Lu Dantou himself, every director of SHIELD will obtain the tenth level management authority of SHIELD.

All you need to do is create a biometric profile unique to the director in SHIELD's database, and his authority level will automatically be raised to level ten.

In addition, a person can also be appointed with Level 10 authority through a resolution of the Security Council.

Note that what we are talking about here is permission treatment, not complete management permissions.

This type of personnel can access and access all confidential information under Level 10 authority, but does not have the right to delete, modify or further encrypt confidential information.

Pierce's apparent level 10 authority is this type of authority.

Although they appear to be both at level 10, their management authority is actually weaker than the level 10 authority of the Director of SHIELD himself.

It is the so-called "pseudo-level ten".

The reason why this system was established in the first place was to prevent SHIELD from having one person act arbitrarily in the future.

But more importantly, it is actually to silence the people in the Security Council.