16 Tragedy

When they got back to the lighthouse, they were immediately met with a tied up group. Talos was sitting on the side, hugging his wife and child as they cried.

Nick frowned and got out of the car with Carol, saying quickly "What the hell is going on?!" Bucky looked at Nick and sighed, "Rumlow broke free again…" Nick walked over with a dark expression, looking at Rumlow tied up on the ground, covered in blood.

There were several HYDRA agents tied up next to him.

Talos got up and shouted, "You said we'd be safe, Fury!" his expression was extremely angry and savage as though he wanted to tear Nick apart.

Nick frowned with an ugly face, "I don't understand. Explain what happened." Talos calmed down and explained coldly, "A group of agents came to our camp before slaughtering everyone inside! If Bucky didn't arrive on time, we would've all died!"

Nick was ashen, glaring at Rumlow as he clenched his fists angrily. Carol froze and her fists lit up in rage. Rumlow sat on the ground, not saying anything. Nick took out his pistol and offed a HYDRA agent, saying "Motherfucking bastards!" he executed several HYDRA agents before Bucky stopped him, saying "Calm down, Boss."

Talos clenched his fists and looked at the scene with a dead heart. All the people he brought with him were gone, only his family was left… It was a good thing he was with them at the time.

Nick calmed down and looked at Rumlow, saying "Talos, you can have him." before waving at the rest of the HYDRA agents, who glared at Nick, saying "Hail HYDRA!" as they chewed on Cyanide pills, collapsing on the spot.

Talos came over and looked at Rumlow, who looked up at him, saying "Hail HYDRA." Talos grabbed his jaw and stopped him from biting down on the Cyanide pill, saying "It's not that easy, mate." he smacked Rumlow's jaw, knocking him out before asking coldly "What is HYDRA?"

Nick explained slowly, "HYDRA is a Nazi organization that infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D… They want to destroy everything and take over the world." Talos sneered, "Human power struggles… what a joke." Nick sighed and shook his head, saying nothing.

Talos looked at Rumlow before asking, "Do you have a list of HYDRA Agents?" Nick pointed at Rumlow, saying "In his head." Talos clenched his fists before relaxing them, "I want them all dead, Fury."

Nick nodded and said "No problem, we'll just brainwash him again. Howard improved the design with Kree technology, this time it should be permanent." Talos nodded and walked away with his family.

Nick looked at Bucky and said "Bring him to the Washing machine." Bucky looked at Nick before nodding silently as he dragged Rumlow away.

Nick held his forehead and sighed as Carol stood by the side, saying angrily "These damn HYDRA bastards!" Nick shook his head and turned to Carol, saying "Carol, the Counter-Earth in the hands of the High Evolutionary should be a planet similar to this one. After solving him, maybe the Skrulls can move there."

Carol's eyes lit up and she nodded, "Good idea." Nick looked at her and added, "As for the High Evolutionary, if you can get all his technology and knowledge, that would be good." Carol looked at him and frowned slightly, "I'll see what I can do…" she looked at Nick in the eye and sighed lightly, "It's not your fault."

Nick frowned slightly and turned away, not saying anything, but his clenched fists told another story. Carol hesitated before rubbing his back slowly. Nick shook his head and walked away, "Anyway, just make sure they'll have a planet sooner rather than later." Carol nodded and smiled slightly.

The next day, Carol shot off into the sky in her new uniform, flying away to find the High Evolutionary.

Nick watched her leave through the window, shaking his head. He turned around and sat at his desk, bringing up his Side Tasks.

[Solve Arnim Zola- Safe Red Queen AI (Completed)]

Nick collected the reward and pulled out the Sonic Weapons research notes he got from Klaue's quest as well as the Inhuman research notes he got from the Kree. He suddenly had a prompt in front of him.

[Safe Red Queen AI- Completely Obedient Red Queen AI. Incapable of Betrayal]

[Insert Red Queen into [Modified Communicator]?]

Nick confirmed in his mind and a little girl in a red dress appeared on the communicator. Zola was startled, "Who are you?!" Red Queen looked at him and turned to the screen, asking "Shall I devour this Data, master?"

Nick looked at her and asked, "Are there any risks?" Red Queen shook her head, "No, only a data package that I was digest into information. The Emotion module will not affect me in any way." Nick nodded and said "Do it then."

Red Queen nodded and disappeared as Zola screamed, "What are you doing?! No! STOP!" before his voice slowly died out.

Nick put the Communicator down and Talos walked into the office, sitting down in front of him. Nick looked at him and Talos said directly, "What do you need me to do?" Nick opened a notebook and said "First of all, I want to apologize for what happened. I should've taken more precautions. It will not happen again. I will arrange a place for your family to live, they can take the appearance of the Kree corpses. I will do all the paperwork and make them citizens of the US. You can rest assured, only me and you will know about them."

Talos nodded and let out a breath, saying softly, "Thank you." Nick nodded and got to business, "I need to become the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D before we can start moving. I'll have Bucky interrogate Rumlow and find out all the HYDRA agents as well as the bases around the world. We'll weed out all these bastards slowly. A lot of S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised over the years but I'm confident to eradicate them this time."

Talos nodded and asked, "Where do I have to go first?" Nick started organizing Talos into his group and sent him off with Bucky, who finished interrogating Rumlow.

Nick held Rumlow back and didn't send him with Talos for obvious reasons. After settling Talos, Howard left with Maria. Nick picked up the communicator and the Red Queen appeared, smiling happily, "Finished, Master." Nick nodded and replied, "Just call me Boss, Red Queen." Red Queen smiled sweetly, "Boss."

Nick nodded and smiled, "How is it?" Red Queen smiled happily and said "I have all of HYDRA's plans, agents, bases, and research data. The Emotion Module in Zola has also been integrated with me, allowing me to progress slightly." Nick nodded happily and held up research notes, asking "Can you scan these?"

Red Queen nodded and explained, "You only have to scan the notes and I can store them in my database, Boss." Nick nodded and scanned the research notes he got as well as walking around the lab, scanning everything else.

He connected Red Queen to the technology in the lab and she recreated all the experiments, absorbing all the research data from everything. Nick continued moving Red Queen around from area to area, allowing her to store everything in her database.

He even plugged her into Mar-Vell's lab ship allowing Red Queen to absorb the data inside.

After he was done with all that, Red Queen said, "Boss, I've organized all the data and research." she even showed a file cabinet next to her, smiling happily. Nick's lips twitched and he said, "I'm going to connect you to the internet and satellites now, prepare yourself."

The Red Queen nodded, waving her fist, "I'm ready, Boss!" Nick stopped isolating the Communicator from the internet and let it connect to everything. The Red Queen was smacked with a data package and started looking through everything, absorbing a huge amount of content.

She had already practiced with Zola, so this wasn't exactly a difficult thing. Not to mention that the internet was just starting out now. It was in its infancy, incapable of shocking Red Queen at all.

As all this was happening, Talos was gaining secretive information all around the world at lightning speed, the Team was doing missions, and Howard was connecting with Tony secretly.

Everything was going smoothly.