Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 363 44. Fundraising Activities

In Washington, in his office near the White House, the mysterious Mr. Pierce frowned, trying to deal with the troubles in front of him.

But after thinking about it, he couldn't find a good solution to the current predicament.

It's a great idea to use Merlin's hand to clean up the remnants of Red Skull's power, but once Merlin's blade is aimed at his own people, it feels very uncomfortable.

Hydra is a secret organization. As Merlin said, hiding in the dark is their greatest advantage. Once exposed to the sun, this huge and bloated organization can only become a living target.

Most importantly, after the most powerful spellcaster in Hydra, Mrs. Hydra, was also defeated by Merlin, Pierce could no longer use higher-end combat power to deal with Merlin.

This kind of head-on confrontation of high-end forces is not the traditional advantage of Hydra.

And if nothing is done, let Merlin, who is ruthless, and Fury, who has a lot of resources and is very keen, continue to cooperate with each other to investigate, and other factions of Hydra will definitely be involved in this revenge war middle.

The flames of war continue to expand, which is not what Pierce wants to see.

After all, the other branches are not as stubborn as the remnants of the Red Skull, and they and Pierce's faction have always cooperated well with each other.

After all, there is not so much idealism in the world of adults, especially these old men.Everyone joining the same organization is more for seeking benefits, power, wealth, status and so on.

As for the "new order" that Mr. Pierce always talks about, it will also be a new order that meets the interests and needs of most Hydra members.

Once those men found themselves at risk of being targeted by a dangerous assassin who walked in the shadows, it was difficult to say whether they could continue to be proud of Hydra's identity.

This huge interest group formed by the mysterious person is also very likely to fall apart.

He stood up a little irritably, and walked around the office, trying to find a good way, until after a few minutes, Pierce's eyes fell on a document on the coffee table.

That was the progress report Fury had just submitted on the Avengers program.

That was a plan that Fury had been advocating strongly after the Cree invasion. In Pierce's view, this plan was a little whimsical.

Not to mention whether the summoned superheroes can fulfill Fury's expectations for them, let's talk about the complicated issue of human nature.

To be an Avenger means to shoulder a terrible and heavy mission, and it means to be the first to rush into the battlefield when danger comes.

Heroes are also human beings, they will also be afraid, and they will also be tired. What's more, powerful individual forces tend to pursue freedom and status that match their strength. These are things that Fury can hardly provide to those heroes.

For the reasons mentioned above, Pierce has not been very concerned about promoting this plan.

But now, Pierce suddenly felt that perhaps, having a superhero team under the direct management of the World Security Council was not such a bad thing.

He narrowed his eyes, stepped forward, sat on the sofa, and picked up the report.

After flipping through a few pages, a vague idea appeared in his mind.

"As long as there is an introduction, a piece of evidence, many 'heroes' will jump out to help me solve this problem... The premise is that they must be able to fight enough, and they must have a weakness that can be controlled..."

A gleam flashed in Pierce's eyes, he stroked his chin, and said softly:

"Well... Maybe this is feasible."

Moments later, a call came to Fury.

"Fury, prepare a speech on 'The Avengers Project' as quickly as possible."

Pierce said to his subordinates who fought with him on the Vietnam War battlefield:

"I will hold an internal meeting of the World Security Council in the next few days, and I will give you enough time for you to explain the concept of the Avengers and its structure to the directors."

"Huh? Pierce, don't you always feel that this plan is flawed?"

Fury on the other end of the phone asked suspiciously:

"Why did you suddenly switch to supporting it?"

"Ah, this time, that time."

Pierce replied with a smile:

"I looked at the report of the half-devil incident a few days ago. Our boy Merlin and the superhumans in his department performed very well and ended the trouble in the fastest time. This made me see the plan of the Avengers. feasibility."

"In the face of a crisis, we must have enough choices. The Avengers plan may be the trump card for our Jedi comeback. So I plan to give this plan a chance. But Fury, you have to understand that the patience of other directors is not like mine. That’s enough. So once this plan is passed, you have to let them see the benefits in the shortest possible time.”

"I mean, ours finds some 'good stuff' that catches their eye."

Pierce flicked his fingers, and he said calmly:

"How is the search going near Greenland? Haven't found any trace of our captain yet?"

"It's been slow, Pierce."

Fury said helplessly:

"The environment there is harsh and sparsely populated. It is very expensive to conduct a large-scale search there, and I can't mobilize more resources to find a person who has been missing for decades."

"This is not okay, Fury. Since we have decided to do one thing, we must do our best! I will solve the problem of funds, and you don't have to worry about it."

Pierce said in a deep voice:

"Just send more reliable people there, and we must bring back our captain in the shortest possible time! He was a banner in the hearts of the people during World War II, and now, we also need him to become a banner again!"

"A banner of...justice!"

"I see, Pierce, I'll speed things up."

After hanging up Fury's phone call, Pierce's inner worries eased a little.

"But the Avengers plan is not enough. After all, this plan takes time."

Pierce leaned on the sofa, rubbing his forehead, thinking about the resources that could be used at present, and after a while, a new idea appeared in front of him.He walked quickly to the desk, reached out and opened the drawer, and took out a simple notebook from it.

It was a letter left by his father, which recorded many secrets of Hydra.

Pierce flipped through a few pages of it, trying to find a new enemy for Merlin and Fury, one that was related to Hydra and would not affect his basic power.

"There are several who meet the conditions."

Pierce looked at the records in the notebook. He sat on a chair, pondered for a moment, and then nodded:

"We are going to go deeper into the darkness. It will take time... Merlin's vengeance-driven warrior also needs a new target, an enemy strong enough to keep him fighting for a long time."

"It's a bit difficult to make a decision. This kind of behavior of throwing black water cannot be discovered by them."

"And how do I divert Merlin's attention to those guys? This needs to be carefully planned."

"Just wait for the opportunity...it will come."

---------------

"Hi, Merlin!"

With a cheerful call, little Daisy, who was wearing a cowboy suit and a decent cowboy hat, rushed towards Merlin with cheers. With the cheers, she was embraced by Merlin and turned around on the spot. After a circle, it was placed on the ground again.

There were kids all around and they were all dressed up and it looked like they were having a festival.

"Where are your parents?"

Merlin squatted beside little Daisy, stretched out his hand and hooked her nose, and said to the child:

"Are they here today?"

"Ah."

Daisy nodded, pointing to the adults who were communicating with Father Paul behind her, she said:

"Dad was chatting with the priest there, and mom was resting in the church. She doesn't like crowded places. I saw brother Eric and sister Charlie just now. They hid in the church and kissed each other."

This somewhat precocious child covered her eyes, she laughed and said:

"They're shameless, haha."

"Uh, just leave them alone, they are naughty children."

Merlin stretched out his hand and patted Daisy's head. He stood up and introduced the child behind him with a big hat covering his face to Daisy:

"Daisy, this is my sister, Raven."

"Hi, Raven."

Daisy waved to the cold Ruiwen very politely, but Ruiwen kept her original posture as if she didn't hear it, standing alone in the corner.

"Raven!"

Merlin's tone increased, and Ruiwen raised her head impatiently, glared at Merlin, and then looked at Daisy. She said to the girl who was about her age in front of her in a voice that was so flat that she had no emotion:

"Hi, my name is Raven."

"Wow, you are so beautiful."

When Daisy saw Ruiwen's eyes and her face, her eyes widened immediately. She walked up to Ruiwen's side, reached out to hold Ruiwen's hand, and said:

"Why are your hands so cold? Is she sick? Merlin."

Daisy looked back at Merlin, who shrugged and said:

"Well, Ruiwen is really not feeling well recently, but I hope she can find a good friend, like a kid like you."

"Uh-huh."

Daisy nodded vigorously, and she said to Merlin:

"I'm going to be good friends with Raven."

"Then I'm relieved."

Merlin bent down and patted Daisy on the head. He looked at his watch and said to Daisy:

"Your elder sister Elsa is going to pick up Matt, and little Ava will come with her Uncle Bill in a while, and I'm going to pick up my little nephew Peter now, so I'll leave Raven to you, you want Take care of her for me, will you, Daisy."

"Go ahead."

Daisy waved to Merlin, grabbed her cowboy hat, and said to Merlin:

"I will take good care of her, it's an agreement."

Merlin nodded. He walked towards the exit of the fundraising event, saying hello to people he knew well. He had also lived in Hell's Kitchen for many years, so he was familiar with the people around him.

After watching Merlin leave, Daisy turned her head to look at Rui Wen, the smile on her face disappeared completely, the little girl crossed her hips, and said angrily to the expressionless Rui Wen:

"Don't you like Merlin?"

Ruiwen glanced at Daisy, and she asked with great interest:

"Why do you call him brother? Judging from the age of the two of you, you should call him uncle more."

"Leave me alone!"

Daisy snorted, the image of a good girl completely disappeared at this moment, she said fiercely to Ruiwen:

"You have to be nice to Merlin, he is a very good man, you are not allowed to be so rude to him!"

"Leave me alone!"

Ruiwen replied with the same reply as Daisy, which caused Daisy to be very dissatisfied.

This child has lived alone in Hell's Kitchen for several months. She is not the kind of girl who can't hold her hands, and she expresses her anger very directly.

She pushed Ruiwen to the ground, and Ruiwen subconsciously wanted to use magic to fight back, but the problem is that her current black and white magic power has been sealed, even though she grew up in Azaras, her physical fitness is better than that of ordinary children Much stronger, but Daisy is also a natural alien. Although she hasn't transformed yet, her physical fitness is not weak either.

The two girls just screamed and tore together, and there was no one around to stop them, it was just a joke between children.

Ten minutes later, when Merlin hugged Peter, who was almost 4 years old, and brought his sister and brother-in-law back to the fundraising site, what he saw were two girls with disheveled clothes, disheveled hair, and scratches on their faces.

Eric with a headache hugged Daisy, who was like a little monkey, and Charlie grabbed the arm of the angry Raven to prevent the two children from touching each other, but the two of them still glared at each other with their eyes. It's like rolling in the grass.

Ava, who was wearing a black dress, and Matt, who was wearing sunglasses, were sitting on a chair on one side. Ava excitedly told the quiet Matt about the fight between the two children, but she was afraid that the world would not be chaotic.

"Well, Peter is still good."

Merlin hugged his little nephew, he turned his head and said to Mei behind him:

"I really intend to send Ruiwen to you to stay for a while, sister, this child has a strange temper, maybe you can change her a little."

"I don't have time, brother."

May said to Merlin with some regret:

"I've been helping out at the Community Welfare Association recently, and I plan to officially join there to help those in need. In this case, just taking care of Peter will be very difficult."

"Yes, Merlin."

Ben also reached out and patted Merlin on the shoulder. He said:

"Ruiwen is your sister. I believe you will get along well in the end. You have such a good temper. You see, the children in this orphanage like you very much. Ruiwen will definitely accept you."

"She's not like the other kids."

Merlin looked at Rui Wen who was gradually calmed down under Charlie's comfort, and he said:

"Raven has been through some horrible things and she's been shutting herself down and I really don't know if I can do it."

"You can, brother."

Mei stretched out her hand and patted her brother's arm. She smiled and said:

"You can definitely do it. You have a special power in you, Merlin, and it makes you a better person."

"I've seen it, and I'm sure Raven will see it eventually."

(End of this chapter)