POV: Baldur
Containment Cell, Avengers Base
Four Hours After the Battle Against Hydra
"So, this is what it feels like to lose everything."
Alexander Pierce sat in a chair within the Avengers Base's containment cells. He was dressed in a gray suit, his hands cuffed behind his back. It was an unnecessary precaution, considering the absurdity of someone like him escaping from a space-based facility.
"Spare me your theatrics. People like you never care about what they lose, as long as they come out alive in the end," I said with little enthusiasm.
"The young are always so impatient. You can't blame an old man for rambling."
"I'm the oldest one here. Enough with the games—you know why I made sure to capture you alive."
After the battle at the Hydra research base concluded with the explosion of the Master Mold, we captured hundreds of soldiers. The real prize, however, was apprehending and eliminating Hydra's leaders, who had attempted to flee through various escape routes. They didn't get far with the Avengers in pursuit.
Pierce was captured by Natasha and Barton as he tried to escape through a recently dug secret tunnel. To any conventional technology, he might have slipped away easily, but the sensors on my ship picked up his thermal signature underground. Natasha was ready to kill him, but I stopped her. There are things this bastard knows that I need.
"Information, of course. Everyone wants information, especially when you're the leader of one of the most powerful organizations on Earth. So, what does Your Highness have to offer for my information?"
"You speak as if you have a choice. I can extract what I want from your brain at any moment. In fact, that idea is becoming more tempting the longer we talk."
"I wouldn't do that, Your Majesty. The chip in the middle of my brain will kill me if I'm forced to reveal my secrets." Pierce smiled smugly.
"Alice?" I called my AI.
The metal cell illuminated, and several lasers scanned Pierce's body. It didn't take long for Alice to respond, and the room returned to its previous calm.
"Analysis complete, sir. The individual is telling the truth; there is a chip in the center of his brain."
"Can it be deactivated?" I asked, while Pierce's confident smile remained.
"Easily, sir," Alice replied, and his smile vanished.
"Do it."
The lasers reappeared, targeting Pierce's forehead, immobilizing him. Shortly after, the lasers disappeared once more.
"Done, sir," Alice confirmed.
"Thank you, Alice. Now, could you call Amora for me? I'm sure she will enjoy making our guest talk."
"Immediately, sir," Alice responded.
After the mission ended, Amora kept her word to help the Avengers. I invited her to come here, giving her an excuse that she needed to check on the magical defenses I had placed, which could have been damaged due to Hydra's forced reentry when they took control of the Base.
"You have until Amora arrives to tell me what I want to know, Pierce. Either way, I will get my information; you decide how," I stated, uninterestedly.
"What do you want to know?" Pierce yielded.
"Alice, inform Amora that we no longer need her assistance and that I will see her in a few hours. Also, begin transmitting this conversation to all the Avengers," I commanded.
"Yes, sir, but you have an urgent message from Mr. Stark," Alice reported.
"What does he want?" I inquired.
"It seems that Mr. Fury is requesting custody of the prisoner. All the documents presented check out. Mr. Stark agreed immediately," Alice relayed.
(That was faster than I thought.)
Now that Pierce is under our custody, Fury knows it won't be long before he starts talking about how Fury let him escape. Unfortunately, he's too late.
"Start the transmission, Alice, and ignore Stark and Fury," I ordered.
"Yes, sir. The footage from the cameras at your location is being transmitted to all the Avengers at the base and sent to those outside," Alice confirmed.
Finally, I turned my attention back to Pierce and asked, "Why don't we start talking about Fury?"
"So, you knew what he did?" he inquired, now appearing pleased again.
"Yes, I knew, but my friends didn't, so let's update them, please," I responded.
"Well, to be blunt, he let me escape," Pierce admitted.
As I mentioned before, Fury letting Pierce escape was beyond the pale. I could simply tell everyone what he did, but I choose to wait for that revelation. Some of us still have a certain respect for the man, and it's better to give them a wake-up call.
"Why did he let you escape?" I questioned.
"Paranoia, of course. Fury is so paranoid about the supposed threat that you, Genosha, and the other Avengers pose that all I needed to do was tell him that I had two new weapons that could successfully subdue them. And that I would give them to him, along with the Sentinel program designs," Pierce explained.
"You gave him the designs?" I asked.
"Of course not. He certainly didn't expect me to give them either. He actually wanted the two new weapons, which, in this case, are the siblings. He wanted to take them from me when I was destroyed, but who would've thought that you would act faster and pull them to your side first," Pierce revealed.
"Now that Fury's truth has been revealed, let's move on to more pressing matters. Where is Bolivar Trask?" I inquired.
The creator of the Sentinels. Hydra may have the designs, but the mind behind the creation of this killing machine is still missing, something very difficult to achieve with my Wardogs after him. He may be dead, and if so, I need confirmation.
"He's dead, of course," Pierce confirmed.
"Why?" I questioned.
"That guy wasn't someone who could be controlled; fanatics never are. He wanted a world without mutants, but we, Hydra, realized their value. We wanted to capture and use them as our soldiers. Trask wanted them dead, so after getting his designs, we killed him. But it was a hasty action; later, we found out that the project could have been further developed, unfortunately, without Trask, that wasn't possible," Pierce elaborated.
"One less problem for me to worry about. Where is the doctor responsible for all that suffering in your castle?" I asked.
I can confirm Task's death using Genosha's truth serum later, but for now, I believe Pierce has told the truth. The only remaining problem is the geneticist leader of that base who somehow managed to escape.
"The good doctor? I have no idea," Pierce responded.
(So the good doctor has an escape route that no one else knew.)
As I turned to leave the room, Pierce stopped me.
"Wait. Are you going to hand me over to Fury?" he asked, showing a hint of fear.
"Don't be foolish. You used those ridiculous machines to attack Genosha; that's where you'll be judged," I informed him.
I didn't need to turn around to feel Pierce's relief, which I would shatter with my next words.
"Of course, if you're found guilty, you'll be executed."
I requested that all the Avengers at the base come to the meeting room, where I found them seated at the round table. Only Bruce, Amora, Natasha, Steve, Sam, and I were present.
Barton returned to his family, Thor returned to his girlfriend, Stark returned to his toys, and Angela resumed wandering the world.
My conversation with Pierce was seen by them, and those who weren't here received the security footage.
"Since everyone available is here, I won't beat around the bush. What do you think we should do with Fury?" I ask, standing in front of them.
"I don't think we should condemn Fury based solely on the words of a leader of a terrorist organization," Natasha speaks first.
"Don't lie to yourself, Natasha. You're a master interrogator; you must have realized he was telling the truth." My response had the desired effect; she simply nodded and remained silent.
"Even if he told the truth, we can't prove it. It'll be Pierce's word against that of a man who's legally dead," Bruce, as always, employs logic.
"So let's bring him back to life and then release the interrogation video. Even if it's not enough to condemn him, it'll be enough to undermine his government support," Sam suggests, and everyone agrees, myself included.
"Now that we've decided on that, we need a good lawyer. Handling this legally will attract more attention, and the government won't be able to sweep it under the rug," Natasha's suggestion is perfect.
She doesn't want to see her benefactor imprisoned or killed, so stripping him of his power is the only thing she can do.
"I know a lawyer if you guys want. She's my cousin, a bit shy, but very competent," Bruce offers the idea.
(So She-Hulk exists in this reality, or perhaps will exist.)
After confirming how to deal with Fury, we begin discussing what to do with the prisoners we've made. We couldn't trust them to the government, even with the list and evidence that the Hydra leaders were arrested at their installation. It's not crazy to imagine they'd receive special treatment wherever they're sent. All of them were men with a certain influence.
So the only option to ensure that doesn't happen is to send them to the one place where they'll certainly be treated as they should. What guaranteed the legality of this was that Hydra had attacked us before. So all the prisoners were moved to Genosha, the leaders in particular. The soldiers were spread among countries to avoid overcrowding in prisons.
Of course, the UN wasn't happy about this; they made several threats to the Avengers, but they really couldn't do anything more than that; we're not disobeying any laws. The biggest supporter and instigator of the UN, Fury, fell after the recording with Pierce's confession was aired. Shortly after, Bruce's cousin filed a lawsuit against him in court using the footage and proving that he had faked his death and allowed a fugitive to escape.
Everything seemed to calm down after that. The world was once again trusting the Avengers, except for the politicians, of course. After a week of taking care of things, I finally returned to Genosha. Something Amora couldn't do. She spent this whole week "helping" me; in reality, she was just doing minor tasks to be with me, which I didn't mind.
Upon returning to Genosha and sorting out the affairs of my country, I focused on building Vision. A powerful ally is always welcome, and it would be nice to provide a potential husband for the daughter of an ally. The brothers seem to be getting along very well with their father; now they were with their people.
But Magneto said they would still return to Sokovia to help their people, and I didn't object. In fact, I sent various supplies to them. Stark did the same on behalf of the Avengers.
"You have an urgent message," Alice says, pulling me away from the computer screen.
"From whom, Alice?"
"Actually, it's an urgent message intended for the Avengers, sir. Unfortunately, none of them are available at the base right now, so I'm redirecting it to you."
"Who is the message from?" I ask.
"From Dr. Reed Richards."
So the calm of the past two weeks comes to an end.
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