Chapter 782

Madman.

Malick stared at Evenson in disbelief.

He’s completely insane.

Yet Malick had no trouble believing him. With something like this, the problem wasn’t whether the story was true.

It was that it might actually be true.

At the same time, Evenson’s explanation finally answered a question that had bothered Malick for a long time.

Pierce had always been obsessed with the Insight Initiative, but Malick had never understood why.

More authority for SHIELD? A few more Helicarriers?

Was Pierce seriously planning to use that to force the entire world to submit to Hydra?

It made no sense.

By Malick’s calculations, achieving anything remotely resembling the level of global dominance Pierce seemed to envision would require at least a hundred Helicarriers.

And not ordinary Helicarriers, either.

They would need complete carrier groups, systems capable of reliably bypassing every major air-defense network on Earth, and enough firepower to deliver nuclear-level strikes on demand.

Only then would there be a reasonable chance of achieving genuine global dominance.

But how long would building a hundred such fleets take?

How much would it cost?

And did Pierce honestly think every government on Earth would sit quietly and allow SHIELD to build an arsenal like that?

Now Malick understood.

Pierce didn’t need a hundred Helicarriers.

He needed three.

And one satellite.

Because the Insight Initiative wasn’t designed to intimidate the world.

It was designed to cleanse it.

Zola’s algorithm would identify every potential enemy, and the Helicarriers would eliminate them within an hour.

Malick couldn’t help admiring the sheer efficiency of it.

Perhaps that was what made Pierce’s faction so terrifying. Their methods had taken the concept of blitzkrieg and pushed it to its logical extreme.

One hour.

From beginning to end.

No government on Earth could fully understand what was happening, identify the threat, make a decision, and coordinate an effective response in that amount of time.

And the people responsible for making those decisions would almost certainly be among the first targets.

Once Insight was deployed, its chances of succeeding would approach certainty.

Then there was another problem.

Dissidents.

It was an interesting word.

It could mean people who opposed Hydra.

Or it could mean people who opposed Pierce.

Malick naturally found himself wondering which category he belonged to.

Unfortunately, he already knew the answer.

He was a dissident.

The old families he represented had been at odds with the Red Skull’s faction for years. They’d undermined one another, sabotaged one another, and fought over the direction Hydra should take more times than Malick cared to remember.

Their disagreements weren’t much smaller than the divide between Hydra and SHIELD itself.

If Pierce ever got the opportunity, the best Malick could hope for was that Pierce would spare him out of respect for their shared allegiance.

In that case, Malick would be forced to bow to Pierce from then on.

He’d have no room to maneuver.

No opportunity to resist.

And the worse possibility?

Pierce wouldn’t even offer him the chance to surrender.

He’d simply kill him.

Frankly, Malick thought that outcome was more likely.

"No."

His expression hardened.

"I need to contact the other families immediately. We have to eliminate that madman."

Pierce had to die.

Malick couldn’t accept the alternative.

He’d much rather spend his evenings sitting safely at home with his daughter, eating dinner and enjoying a quiet life, than suddenly have a bullet tear through his skull because some lunatic had decided to press a button.

Evenson watched the anger building across Malick’s face.

"You really intend to do that?"

Malick looked at him.

"Think carefully. Pierce is currently the director of SHIELD. He’s heavily protected. Killing him won’t be easy."

"And if you make the operation too large, you risk exposing Hydra."

Killing the director of SHIELD wasn’t exactly the sort of crime that disappeared quietly.

An investigation would be inevitable.

And there were two possible outcomes.

SHIELD might remain firmly under Hydra’s control. After Pierce’s death, the remaining Hydra members could simply fall under Whitehall’s leadership, continue the organization’s work, and quietly investigate who had killed their former leader.

Or something completely different could happen.

Some agents might decide they’d had enough.

I didn’t have a choice before. Now I want to be a good guy.

They could return to being ordinary SHIELD agents, cooperate with Nick Fury, and help investigate Pierce’s assassination.

Either way, an investigation was unavoidable.

There was no such thing as a perfectly sealed secret.

They all worked inside the same organization. Sooner or later, someone could uncover who had ordered the hit.

And once that happened, Hydra’s two factions would have openly declared war on one another.

During a war, anything could happen.

But Malick was already shaking his head.

"There’s no time to worry about that anymore."

The knife was already at his throat.

First, you made sure the knife was gone.

Then you worried about what came next.

Malick still preferred diplomacy before violence.

He would contact several important members of the old families and arrange a formal meeting with Pierce.

They would tell him to stop.

If he listened, the matter could be resolved peacefully.

If he didn’t...

Then Malick would have no choice but to act.

He’d barely finished forming the thought when something bothered him.

He turned toward Evenson.

The man looked completely relaxed.

Malick frowned.

"How are you so calm?"

Evenson raised an eyebrow.

"Calm about what?"

"About Pierce."

Malick gestured sharply.

"Your company is just as much a dissident faction from his perspective. If Insight goes ahead, you’re just as vulnerable to the purge as we are."

Evenson nodded.

"We have food in the pantry. There’s no reason to panic."

Malick stared at him.

"You... have a solution?"

Evenson shrugged.

"We have several."

Malick’s expression changed.

Faced with a catastrophe of this scale, Evenson had apparently already prepared multiple contingencies.

Just how powerful was this company?

"What solutions?"

"There are quite a few."

Malick forced himself to calm down.

"I’m listening."

"First," Evenson said, "Umbrella has its own way of handling sensitive information."

"A significant number of our important personnel have no records with their local governments. Their identities don’t exist in official databases."

"In other words, as far as Zola’s algorithm is concerned, they don’t exist."

Malick considered that carefully.

"So you’re gambling."

"Gambling?"

"Betting on whether Umbrella’s secrecy is better than Pierce’s intelligence-gathering capabilities."

Malick narrowed his eyes.

"And that’s assuming everyone else can hide."

He pointed at Evenson.

"You’re already a public figure. You can’t exactly disappear."

"What are you going to do when the algorithm identifies you?"

Evenson looked completely unconcerned.

"I have a very good relationship with the people of Asgard."

Malick blinked.

"I visited Asgard recently. I even got my green card."

"You’re joking."

"I’ve also got a good relationship with the current leadership. Even if every Umbrella employee were exposed, I could apply for political asylum and relocate the entire organization there."

Evenson spread his hands.

"I highly doubt Pierce’s superweapon can fire all the way to Asgard."

Malick’s face twisted.

"You’re planning to run?"

His voice rose.

"You’re just going to abandon this world to Pierce and let him do whatever he wants?"

Cowards.

That was what Malick was thinking.

Hide.

Run.

What did either accomplish?

And more importantly...

How difficult was it to get an Asgardian green card?

Could he get one for himself?

"Those are fallback options," Evenson said with a sigh.

"We have one final solution."

Malick’s attention sharpened.

"One that would make Pierce afraid to activate Insight."

Evenson hesitated.

"But compared with the first two..."

He grimaced.

"It would be the worst possible option."

Something capable of stopping Pierce outright, yet bad enough that even Evenson considered it a last resort?

Malick couldn’t imagine what it could be.

"What are you planning?"

Evenson raised his head.

"We’re going to threaten Pierce."

Malick froze.

"With what?"

"A biological weapon."

"You’re going to poison him?"

Malick’s disappointment was almost palpable.

That was it?

He’d expected something more sophisticated.

Besides, killing Pierce wasn’t much of a solution. The man was arrogant enough to refuse any threat if he believed his cause was important enough.

"Pierce is extremely arrogant," Malick said. "He may not accept the threat."

"And there’s always the possibility that he’d rather die than abandon his grand plan."

"History is full of people willing to die for their ideals."

"That won’t matter."

Evenson’s voice remained calm.

"The virus doesn’t target only him."

Malick’s expression changed.

"A weapon of mass destruction?"

"That won’t work either. Pierce is already planning to kill twenty percent of the world’s population."

"How many people could your virus kill?"

Evenson’s eyes suddenly became cold.

"All of them."

Malick stopped breathing.

For several seconds, he couldn’t speak.

Evenson continued.

"We call it Genghis Khan."

Malick stared at him.

"There’s nothing particularly significant about the name. It’s simply a reference to the man believed to have left the largest number of descendants in human history."

"By some estimates, roughly one person in six alive today is descended from him."

"The virus targets that specific genetic marker."

Malick’s face went pale.

"And infection isn’t immediately fatal. Death occurs roughly a week after exposure."

"During that period, the infected show no obvious symptoms."

"But their bodies produce large quantities of a specific identifying pheromone."

"That pheromone allows infected individuals to recognize others who are carrying the same virus."

Evenson’s voice remained utterly emotionless.

"At the same time, infected people develop an extreme violent response toward anyone who doesn’t produce that pheromone."

"They become violently aggressive and attack until the target is dead."

Malick’s hands began to tremble.

"We’d release the virus at multiple locations."

"The strains are highly resilient. They can survive cold, heat, and dry conditions. They can travel through the atmosphere and spread through animals."

"In short, we can ensure that every person on Earth has an opportunity to encounter it."

"And become infected."

Evenson’s eyes hardened.

"Pierce wants to rule the entire world."

A cold smile crossed his face.

"But what happens when there are no humans left to rule?"

"Will he rule monkeys and apes?"

"Cats and dogs?"

"Assuming he survives."

Malick’s face twitched.

Madmen.

They were all madmen.

He’d thought Pierce was insane.

Now he realized the man sitting across from him was operating on an entirely different level.

Pierce wanted to kill billions.

Evenson was talking about killing everyone.

And Pierce’s plan was still under construction.

Umbrella’s weapon sounded like it already existed.

Was the world really so full of lunatics?

"Wait."

Malick drew a shaky breath.

"Wait."

He grabbed the nearest glass of water and drained it.

"You aren’t actually planning to use this virus."

His voice was suddenly much more cautious.

"Your company’s stated purpose is to make humanity stronger and ensure that human civilization survives. You don’t actually intend to wipe out the human race, do you?"

Malick had decided that Pierce could wait.

Right now, his priority was preventing the man sitting across from him from doing something catastrophic.

"Ensure humanity’s glory survives..."

Evenson sighed.

"One way to preserve humanity’s glory is to eliminate humanity before that glory disappears."

"No."

Malick immediately shook his head.

"That’s far too extreme."

For the first time, Malick seriously considered putting aside his differences with Pierce.

Maybe they could join forces.

Maybe they could deal with Umbrella first.

They were clearly the bigger threat.

"Mr. Malick," Evenson said coldly, "I think you’re only considering how Insight threatens you personally."

"You haven’t considered what it means for humanity."

His voice carried no emotion.

"Pierce intends to eliminate everyone who might oppose his rule, leaving only those willing to submit to his authority."

"That destroys human diversity."

"We want humanity to unite and become a civilization, yes. But that’s unity between nations and cultures. Not uniformity of thought."

"Once Pierce establishes an authoritarian regime, he’ll inevitably need to control the population through ignorance."

"And then the rulers become stupid because their people are stupid, while the people become even stupider because their rulers are."

"A civilization like that becomes closed and stagnant."

"It stops progressing."

"It becomes a dead end."

Evenson looked directly at Malick.

"If that’s humanity’s future, wouldn’t it be better to end it quickly?"

"At least when another intelligent species eventually discovers the ruins of Earth, they’ll be able to look at what humanity left behind and wonder at the civilization that once existed here."

"They won’t look at us and laugh at a species of idiots."

Malick’s throat felt dry.

"That’s an absurdly extreme conclusion."

He grabbed another glass and drained it without checking whose it was.

"Don’t you realize how ridiculous that sounds coming from someone in your position?"

"That’s the kind of thing some angry internet teenager would say after reading too much dystopian fiction."

"Being alive means there’s still hope."

"No one can predict the future."

"Who knows? Maybe some day an alien fleet will suddenly appear over Earth, break through our isolation, and give humanity the opportunity to start developing again."

"Maybe we’ll catch up. Maybe we’ll reclaim our former glory."

"History is full of unexpected reversals."

"So don’t be so pessimistic."

Evenson considered that.

"Maybe."

Malick stared at him.

Evenson nodded.

"That’s one reason we don’t particularly want to use the plan."

Malick released a long, shaky breath.

Thank God.

For the first time in his life, Malick wondered whether anyone would ever call him a villain again.

He’d just saved the human race.

"Regardless," Evenson said, taking a breath, "it’s a last resort."

"We’ll only use it to threaten Pierce if every other option fails."

"And even then, we’ll only release it if he refuses to listen."

"We’ll—"

"He’ll listen!"

Malick interrupted so quickly that Evenson paused.

"He’ll listen."

Malick straightened.

"No. We won’t let things get that far."

"If our two factions work together, we can stop this before it reaches that point."

"So, please, keep that virus locked away."

"Put guards on it."

"Make sure nobody gets anywhere near it."

"Under no circumstances can there be an accidental leak."

Malick had never sounded so sincere in his life.

Neither had he ever been so desperate to save the world from someone who was technically on his side.