When Fury arrives at the conference room, he sees Merlin sitting in a chair, talking to Pierce.

Merlin still had black handcuffs on his wrists, like a prisoner exchanging ideas with a lawyer, and Agent Hitwell, who was standing aside, had an embarrassed expression, he couldn't afford to mess with the two bigwigs, but he couldn't just leave.

Fury walked into the conference room, which was a relief, and the director waved his hand, and Hitwell fled the room as if he had been pardoned.

Fury closes the door and walks over to Merlin and Pierce, who take the key out of his pocket and unshackle Merlin's hands.

"Pierce, you should know that this is to protect him."

Fury turned to Pierce, who was looking at him, and said:

"News of Gideon's assassination has been blocked, but there isn't much time left for us. You are still in charge of the overall situation in the World Security Council, and I don't want to see the entire Council thrown into chaos. ”

"Chaos? No, it won't. ”

Pierce said with a firm expression:

"When a person with full energy is alive, everyone surrounds him, they are afraid of him, they are willing to be friends with him, and they can't become enemies at the worst, but this doesn't mean how much everyone likes him."

"Gideon's assassination may be bad news, but both good and bad things will go away with death, and there may be a lot of people who want to make a lot of trouble with it, but more people will just breathe a sigh of relief."

"Rather than investigating Gideon's death, the political legacy of my old friend is probably the focus of the Council's next discussion."

Speaking of this, Pierce's expression was a little gloomy, and he whispered:

"That's politics... It's hard to win against the living Gideon, but with him dead, a lot of tough problems have been solved. Although I don't want to admit it, Merlin's private actions did solve a big problem for us. ”

Fury nodded, and he looked at Merlin:

"Have you confirmed his identity?"

Merlin knew what Fury was trying to ask, and he said:

"He called himself 'Speaker'. This exactly matches the code name of the Hydra Supreme Leader we collected earlier, and I have no way of checking his memory, but I found this. ”

Merlin took the pocket-sized data card from his pocket, and he placed it on the table, and said:

"This is found in Gideon's emblem, maybe it will give us some more 'surprises'."

"I'll have the data experts decipher it right away."

Fury put the card away, he looked at Merlin, then at Pierce, and said:

"About today's events..."

"Forget about it."

Pierce stood up suddenly, and said to Merlin and Fury:

"Nothing happened today, today is just an extraordinary day in the countless meaningless days of this world."

Pierce said to Merlin:

"You can wash away your memories, right?"

"Hmm."

Merlin nodded.

"Good."

Pierce pointed at himself and then at Fury, and he said:

"Wash away the memories of the two of us about this!"

"And the agents out there who are in charge of escorting you back, erase all their memories, since it never happened, let it be completely forgotten."

"This..."

Merlin hesitated, but Pierce accentuated his tone, and with his hands propped on the table, he said to Merlin:

"Today we cut off the last head of Hydra, and it was a great victory. But what happened today must be forgotten, no one will remember what you did, no one will sing the praises of your sacrifice, and the great deeds you have done will be buried in time, and that will be a secret that no one knows. ”

"This is a must, because only in this way can we protect you and we can protect our true heroes."

"Indeed."

Fury hesitated slightly, but he also nodded, and he said:

"As long as there is a secret that exists in the heart, there is a possibility that it will be revealed, Gideon. Malik's death will tear Hydra apart, but the mob that has lost its head is bound to become even more frantic, perhaps desperate to seek revenge for its leader. ”

"Every time one more person knows this truth, it will make your situation more dangerous."

"I know you're not afraid of their challenges, but you have loved ones, Merlin, and you have to think more about them, like the tragedy of Richard and Mary, it can't happen again."

Fury took out the pocket data card from his pocket again, handed it to Merlin, and said to Merlin:

"This thing is in your charge, if there is any information about the remnants of the Hydra, you can deal with it yourself. Also, remember to make me a better memory. ”

"Walk lightly."

Pierce sat back in his chair, looked at Merlin with his wand drawn, and jokingly said:

"Don't delete my other memories, it's going to be a problem. I'm already a dying old man, and I've had enough ailments that I don't want to suffer from amnesia anymore. ”

"No, it won't."

Merlin smiled at the two men in front of him, and said:

"I'll be careful."

Merlin waved his wand, and the white light of the Oblivion Spell danced at the tip of the wand, like a white circle of light, and under the gaze of Fury and Pierce, the light expanded rapidly, and then flickered away.

"Ahem"

Merlin's coughing woke up a distracted Fury, who turned his head to look at Merlin, then rubbed his forehead a little dazedly, and said:

"Where did you just go?"

"Report on the mission of Blackstone, Yorkshire."

Merlin said solemnly to Fury, who was dazed:

"I've reported the results of my battle with the Inhuman Evil God and the Hive of Hydra's origin, and after the battle against the Evil God, even if we destroy the Hydra legacy from the source, the organization may be about to fall apart, and I have found something in the ruins of Yorkshire Castle."

Merlin waved the pocket data card in his hand and said:

"That castle was destroyed by the power of the Blackstone's eruption, and I suspect that the leader of Hydra died in it, but I will continue to pursue this until everything related to Hydra is over."

"Well, that's good."

Fury nodded, and although he had just been unexpectedly distracted and he hadn't heard Merlin's report at all, the majesty of being the director of the bureau meant that he wouldn't admit it.

He stood up and said to Merlin:

"You're going to have to make another written report on this matter and submit it to me. If nothing else, you can go and get busy. ”

Fury glanced at Pierce, who was sitting next to him and was napping, and said to Merlin:

"I'll send this old man back to his office."

"Let's just send it home."

Merlin said to Fury:

"World Security Council Member Gideon. Malik was assassinated today, it was his old friend, and it hit him so hard that he might need to rest. After all, he's busy next. ”

Speaking of Gideon. The assassination of Director Malik..."

Fury looked at Merlin, and he asked:

"Do you think this has something to do with Hydra?"

"Maybe."

Merlin said ambiguously:

"It is quite possible that Hydra will suddenly go crazy with a premonition that his defeat is imminent, Gideon. Director Malik has always supported S.H.I.E.L.D.'s pursuit of Hydra, and this councilor has a complex political background, and his assassination will inevitably lead to chaos in the entire world Security Council, which Hydra can exploit. ”

"From this point of view, it makes sense that the Hydra elements would consider Director Gideon a target for assassination."

Merlin analyzed a wave of indiscriminate analysis, and buckled the basin to the head of the hydra as usual.

Fury felt that Merlin's statement was a bit far-fetched, but when you think about it, it is not unreasonable.

But Gideon. Malik's assassination was so sudden, so sudden that without warning, it was like a headless case, and an experienced agent like Fury didn't know where to start.

"I'll go first."

Merlin took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, he moved his shoulders and said to Fury:

"I just had a fight with an evil god, and I'm tired right now, maybe, I have to take a few days off..."

"Take a leave of absence again?"

Fury glanced at Merlin, and he said:

"You've had a problematic attitude lately, Merlin."

"But my work has been very effective."

Merlin shrugged his shoulders and said:

"Think of it as if I took my annual leave early, and before the vacation, I will arrange the handover of work."

With that, he walked out of the conference room quickly, Fury looked at Merlin's back, he shook his head, but he didn't say anything.

"Bang"

The door to the conference room closed behind Merlin, and the camera in the hallway was temporarily blocked by Icarus at this moment, Merlin held his wand, he pinched the seal of Axifah, and said to Agent Hitvel guarding the door:

"Come, Hitwell, I'll show you something good."

"Huh"

The white light flashed away.

Ten minutes later, Merlin was alone on the roof of the Trident Building, and he looked at the city in front of him that had just been shrouded in the evening, the black night replaced the gorgeous and short dusk, and brought the world into darkness, but the lights in the city made the night no longer make people feel fearful.

Merlin walked to the edge of the rooftop, and he bent down slightly tiredly and sat there, his legs dangling.

The wind of the night ruffled his broken hair, caressed his cheeks, and made him breathe a sigh of relief.

He looked at the stars above his head, the moon that had just risen, and after washing away the memories of his companions with his own hands, and hiding the secrets that should not be known, a feeling of loneliness rose in his heart.

That's the price of keeping a secret, not being able to confide, not being able to share, and being under that weight alone.

He knew what he was doing was right, and he knew that under the light of the world, like Gideon. People like Malik were destined not to be judged, so he carried out justice with his own hands.

As Pierce said, he did what they wanted to do and couldn't, it was against the law, it didn't seem so fair, no one in the world knew what happened today, but Merlin wouldn't forget.

He embarked on the path of the Assassins... No, he's been walking on this path.

With each step, it gets heavier and heavier.

With each step, the loneliness becomes.

Perhaps, this is what ...

The price of this road?

—————————————

Alexander. Pierce returned to his home in Washington, D.C., where the old man's wife had died more than a decade earlier, his children had their own families, and Pierce had been living alone in a mansion because of his work.

But tonight, the room was very quiet.

"You're back?"

A voice suddenly sounded from the darkness, startling the old man, and he looked back to see that in the dark living room, a woman in a wheelchair was staying there, with her back to him, looking extremely mysterious.

"Why are you here?"

Pierce asked hesitantly:

"You're supposed to be in charge of the Umbrella Corporation over there in Raccoon City right now, I don't remember I summoned you."

"Of course you don't remember."

The woman said in a calm tone:

"You're good enough, Pierce. In order to completely gain his trust, dare to let him cast the Oblivion Curse on you, it is really fearless for the ignorant, if Merlin will check what is in your mind when he erases your memory... Then you're really sending yourself into the jaws of the tiger. ”

"What are you talking about?"

Pierce said suspiciously:

"What Oblivion Spell? How did I not know? ”

"Oh, mortal wisdom."

The woman shook her head and let out a sarcastic laugh, and she picked up a strange crystal bottle from her hand, and a pale glow swirled around in the crystal bottle like a sealed ghost.

"Open it!"

Mrs. Larson, formerly Mrs. Hydra, raised her finger and held the crystal bottle into Pierce's hand with magical power, and she said:

"Turn it on and you'll know what I'm talking about."

Pierce hesitated, but eventually, he reached out and twisted the lid of the crystal bottle, and the white light rushed out like a snake and merged into his body with Pierce's breath.

The memories that had been copied and extracted in advance returned to his mind, and a moment later, in the revival of the memory, Pierce shook his head, and in the darkness, he whispered:

"Heroes always have their eyes fixed on the enemy, and they trust those around them. You could call me adventurous, call me playing with my life, but I've always had a lot of faith in Merlin... As it turns out, Merlin is a real hero, and I, I, am the one standing in the shadow of the hero. ”

"What's next?"

Mrs. Larson did not respond to Pierce's claim, asking:

"You told me before, Gideon. Malik's death represents the complete destruction of Hydra, but what about those of us? Are we no longer villains? ”

"We've never been villains, we've never been in the service of evil, remember, ma'am."

Pierce took a carton of milk from the fridge and poured it into a cup, and as he drank it, he said:

"We've really melted into the darkness, and no one is going to stop us from moving forward, so it's time to put all our energy into doing the right thing."

"We will build with our own hands a world protected by the new order, free of crime, no more chaos, no more discrimination, no more war."

"That would be a victory for the new order..."