40 Snake Infestation

Hydra!

After this name was said, Peggy and the Captain's expressions were stunned at the same time, and then their expressions became serious.

Of course we know that name - we fought them and destroyed them! "

the Captain looked at Asher, with a frown, and Peggy's face wasn't good either.

No one in the room was an idiot, so everyone knew that someone of Asher's status and power wouldn't mention the Hydra name for no reason.

"Hydra was not destroyed, they still exist."

"That can't be - I witnessed the end of the Red Skull and with him Hydra should have fallen too!"

The Captain at that moment really couldn't believe Asher's words.

"But that's the truth, Captain... By decapitating one head and growing two in its place, you must know his motto well."

"So where did they hide for so many years?"

Compared to Captain America, Tony, as a man in the modern era who didn't witness the rise of Hydra, was able to focus and ask the really important questions.

After hearing this question, Asher also smiled: "S.H.I.E.L.D."

"... What? "

Tony's expression was stunned, and for a while he thought he had misheard.

"I mean S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hydra, Tony - S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated and over 60% of the current agents are sleeper members of Hydra."

"That's not funny, Asher."

Tony didn't quite believe it at first, but his face hardened after seeing Asher's serious expression—he knew Asher rarely joked about this kind of thing.

And judging from the situation so far, what Asher said... It's basically the truth!

But even so, the four still couldn't believe Asher's words.

After all, one is a scientific advisor to S.H.I.E.L.D., one is the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., the other witnessed the fall of Hydra's main leader and the last was a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

But now Asher told them that they were working for an organization taken over by their greatest enemy - how could they easily accept that fact.

While everyone was wondering about the veracity of such words, poor Coulson, who was also skeptical, thought it best to step back a little and see how everything would unfold, and also be able to think about how to report the entire situation to Director Fury.

"I know you won't believe me, so... I brought an old acquaintance to clear things up. "

After Asher looked at several people's expressions, he also smiled slightly.

At the same time Asher's words ended....

"Boom!"

Kyurem's enormous three meter long body appeared in front of everyone.

And an icy fog spread across the environment, if it weren't for the fact that they were in a special room large enough to accommodate Kyurem, a very strange scene could have unfolded.

"This... What is it?"

"It's one of my summons, Kyurem."

Asher explained casually, and then told everyone Kyurem's name.

Then the dragon's mouth opened, and an ice cube was spat out.

"Hey Captain, come meet your old friend."

Then Asher directly retrieved Kyurem back to system space.

Without saying anything else, the captain exclaimed after seeing the man trapped in the ice, "Bucky!"

That's right, that piece of ice contained Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' best friend, known and feared as the Winter Soldier, and the man who was beaten, and later frozen in an ice cube, by an angry Kyurem.

Since Asher's summon can only summon his Pokémon, in order to bring Bucky who was still in the space pocket, he kept him frozen and asked Kyurem to bring him.

However, at this point Bucky was no longer the Winter Soldier he once was.

Before coming here, Asher had asked Celebi to use her mental power to clear the brainwashing, which Hydra had done in Bucky's mind.

Then....

"Boom!"

When the ice block was directly broken by Asher's punch, Bucky, who fell from the ice cube, also looked around in confusion.

And then... his gaze landed directly on Captain America!

"Steve?"

Five minutes later....

"Bucky, I thought you were dead."

"Steve, you don't know what terrible things I did my friend..."

Looking at the Captain and the former Winter Soldier talking to each other without noticing those watching, Asher frowned - these two can't understand where they are.

"Hey, Asher... I bet they'll keep talking for hours on end, in that time you have to let me do some research on your pocket dimension."

"Then I bet you do too – if you keep talking nonsense, I'll ask Celebi to hang you upside down for as long as their deck lasts, what do you think?"

"...You have less and less of a sense of humor, Asher."

As Tony, who seemed to have a Celebi phobia, honestly backed off, Asher saw no reason to continue and remained silent, Peggy, on the other hand, couldn't wait for their conversation to end.

Poor God—she felt that if she didn't open her mouth, the boyfriend she had just gotten back might be kidnapped by this newly thawed old friend.

"Asher, do you mean to say that Bucky was brainwashed all these years, and that he tried to murder him at the behest of Hydra".

Peggy, skillfully changed the topic in the right direction, Asher was finally relieved after hearing this, because things finally started to progress in the direction he expected: "Let him talk, better hear from him what happened."

"...My memory is still fuzzy, which makes it difficult to remember things."

After recovering from the mind control, Bucky's face was still tense when the subject was Hydra, but he still forcibly delved into his memories and began to speak.

"In October 1948, I flew my first mission..."

As he was created to be Hydra's super assassin, the treatment he received from the snakes can be said to be quite special - he spent decades frozen, being used only when a mission was special.

Because of this, Bucky's memories are intermittent, and most if not all of his waking memories are of missions in the service of Hydra.

But even so, Peggy, co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., can deduce many things from Bucky's reports.

Therefore, his expression became more and more serious the longer she listened—because she knew that what Asher had said before were all true.

S.H.I.E.L.D. which she hard helped to create... Now it could be called a den of snakes!

"Now that the issue about Hydra is clear..."

Asher interrupted Bucky when he was finished.

He knew he couldn't let Bucky continue, if he mentioned Howard Stark's murder, there would be a 99% chance of a battle breaking out on the spot.

And, by the way, Asher himself would probably choose Tony's side.

The Winter Soldier may not be guilty, as he is brainwashed.

But Tony was not only a victim, he was his friend, and the damage that was caused could not be reversed.

This incident is also a turning point in the original plot, which resulted in Tony and the Captain separating, with Tony unable to forgive and Steve unable to abandon his best friend.

So at this moment, Asher, I think it's better than this painful truth, to remain with a forgotten secret.

"Mrs. Carter, what do you intend to do?"

His gaze focused on Peggy, who also took a deep breath at this point: "If S.H.I.E.L.D. has truly been eroded to this point... Then there is only one solution."

Peggy looked directly at Asher, her serious expression showed the determination and wisdom that someone who spent decades on the dark side of the world has, then, in a firm voice she said: "We need a cleanse... Complete cleanse!"

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[Ps: I made a small change to the chapter, I hope it helps to make the dynamics of the people in the room less confusing.]