54: Chapter 54 The Great Purge Begins, the Courtyard Trial

Washington, Triskelion.

Inside the Director's office, Alexander Pierce stared intently at the humanoid bust formed from dark red nanometal on his desk.

"The first one on the list, I've come to collect the debt." Lynn's cold voice came through the computer speakers.

Pierce suddenly drew the pistol from his waist and fired several shots at the liquid metal on the desk.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The bullets pierced through the liquid metal and shattered the monitor behind it, but caused no substantial damage. The liquid metal reorganized instantly, leaving not even a ripple.

"Initiate self-destruct! Notify the STRIKE Team to come save me!" Pierce roared at his deputy outside the door.

"The door is locked! Sir! The entire building's security system has been taken over!" The desperate sound of the deputy pounding on the door came from outside, followed by a burst of intense gunfire and screams.

Pierce slumped back into his chair.

He knew that Lynn's main body was still in New York, but this mechanical avatar that had descended through the network had already cut off all his retreats.

At this moment, all across the globe.

Lynn didn't need a court or any trial procedures at all. That list, announced through the global network, was a death warrant.

New York, Hells Kitchen.

Hundreds of black fighter jets painted with the crimson sword emblem took to the skies, like a swarming hive, pouncing on HYDRA's secret strongholds around the world.

Inside the cabins were soldiers clad in pitch-black power armor, wielding Chitauri Plasma Rifles.

This was the first batch of direct troops Lynn had just built by combining alien technology with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s foundation—the "Crimson Guard." Their firepower was at least fifty years ahead of Earth's conventional Military.

Europe, a certain underground fortress in the Alps.

Baron Strucker, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s European branch and a high-ranking HYDRA official, was directing his subordinates to destroy documents.

"Boom!"

The half-meter-thick alloy blast door was smashed to pieces by a terrifying, monstrous force.

A pitch-black Venom Hound, over three meters long, charged into the bunker. It was like an out-of-control meat grinder, its sharp claws and teeth instantly tearing apart over a dozen elite HYDRA soldiers.

Just as Baron Strucker was about to raise his energy weapon, the hound lunged in front of him and bit through his neck in one go.

Seattle, a certain secret port.

Three cargo ships attempting to transfer HYDRA assets had just left port.

Over a dozen ghostly blue plasma beams descended from the sky. The Crimson Guard dropped from the heavens, the high heat of their Chitauri rifles instantly melting through the cargo ships' decks and engine rooms.

No warnings, no calls for surrender. Every HYDRA member on the list was vaporized by the high heat the instant they were spotted.

This was true physical anti-corruption.

Once you were identified as a parasite, you wouldn't even be given a chance to argue.

...

Washington, Triskelion.

The top-floor secure conference room where Pierce was located.

Outside the thick bulletproof glass, fires were spreading. S.H.I.E.L.D. had completely fallen into civil war, with Agents loyal to Fury and exposed HYDRA Agents frantically exchanging fire in the hallways.

Pierce hid behind the bulletproof conference table, clutching a submachine gun tightly in his hand.

The puddle of dark red liquid metal on the desk had already vanished through the ventilation ducts. But Pierce knew that the true God of Death had already arrived outside the door.

"Boom!"

The reinforced bulletproof door of the conference room was blown open by a high-explosive grenade.

Through the smoke, Frank Castle, wearing his signature black trench coat with a white skull printed on his chest, strode into the conference room holding a grenade launcher rifle that was still smoking.

Frank's leather boots crunched on the broken glass, making a crisp sound.

"Castle! What did Lynn offer you?"

Pierce suddenly stood up from behind the table, pointing his gun at Frank and screaming hoarsely, "HYDRA can give you ten times that! Whether it's power or money, as long as you turn around and walk out right now!"

Frank looked expressionlessly at this once-powerful HYDRA leader.

He didn't answer.

He just very steadily raised his right hand, drew the heavy-caliber Desert Eagle from his outer thigh, and skipped the act of aiming altogether.

"Bang."

The gunshot echoed in the empty conference room.

A flower of blood erupted from the center of Pierce's forehead. The madness and resentment in his eyes froze instantly, and his whole body fell straight backward like a snapped log, hitting the floor heavily.

The supreme leader of HYDRA died just like that at the hands of a no-nonsense killer.

Frank stepped forward, glanced at the corpse on the floor, and pressed the communicator by his ear.

"Boss. The Washington target has been cleared."

Lynn's cold voice came through the communicator: "Good job. Withdraw."

Frank turned and left the conference room, leaving the blazing S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters behind him.

...

Deep underground at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, inside a top-secret safe house not covered by the network.

Nick Fury sat in front of a screen, watching the surveillance footage from the headquarters building.

He saw Pierce being shot in the head, and saw Crossbones and other high-ranking HYDRA officials being slaughtered by the hounds and the Crimson Guard like vegetables.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. he had painstakingly built over a lifetime had been riddled with holes by HYDRA's infiltration. And now, that sieve was being uprooted and smashed to pieces by Lynn in the most brutal way.

"Director... what do we do now?" Agent Hill's face was pale.

Outside, the Crimson Guard had already taken over, and the Military and government didn't dare send anyone to support them. S.H.I.E.L.D. was finished.

Fury took a deep breath, a hint of unspeakable exhaustion and loneliness flashing in his remaining eye.

He drew his sidearm and fired several shots, smashing the main server in front of him. Then, he took off his signature black eye patch and threw it into the flames.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer exists."

Fury put on an inconspicuous civilian coat and stuffed several forged passports into his bag. "Initiate the 'Ghost' Protocol. Notify all surviving field Agents to cut all official ties and go underground."

"From today on, we are dead men."

Hill nodded silently and followed Fury into the hidden underground escape passage.

With Fury's departure.

This super-intelligence agency, which once stood above national governments and controlled the world's lifeblood, declared its dissolution in the face of Lynn's absolute force.

And upon the ruins of New York.

The [Crimson Court], stepping on the bones of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, officially reached the summit.

Becoming the only and strongest absolute empire on this Planet.