He is the head of a multi-billion dollar corporation and he came here to help for free without asking for any money. But you, SHIELD, got some information but kept it secret from him and didn't tell him. That's not how it works.
Tony Stark would not stand for this.
If you make him angry, he will act on his own!
The atmosphere in the conference room was a little tense. Natasha, Coulson and others turned their eyes to Nick, watching his reaction.
Nick looked at Tony and asked for an explanation. After a moment's thought, he said, "The security captain of the Jintek Group shouted out the Hydra slogan before he died."
"How...what?!"
Tony didn't take it seriously at first, but soon realized the implication of this information and sat up straight.
Nick ignored Tony's reaction and continued, "Based on the situation at the time, we basically concluded that the news was true, so Stark, this is top secret information, remember not to disclose it..."
"Wait!" Seeing that Nick was about to skip the topic, Tony, who didn't quite understand it for a moment, stretched out his hand and asked: "Hydra? I remember they disappeared with the captain."
"Obviously, they didn't die completely and were resurrected." Steve took over with a dark face.
Tony listened with a gloomy expression. After he sorted out the whole thing, he looked up at Nick and said, "So the culprit of this virus incident is Hydra, and now, not only do we not plan to kill them, but we also want to cooperate with this culprit?"
From the moment he saw those tragic experimental reports, he swore that he would make the people who caused all this pay the price, and this feeling has not diminished in the slightest until now.
"You got one thing wrong, Stark." Facing Tony's gaze, Nick said calmly, "The most important thing for us now is to prevent the virus from spreading further."
"And once this incident is resolved and we have spared our strength, I promise you that no one who deserves to pay will escape!"
There was a cold flash in Tony's only remaining eye. He stared at her for a while, then avoided her gaze and said, "I hope so."
Ignoring Tony who had temporarily calmed down, Nick glanced at everyone in the conference room and got to the point:
"The details of the virus can no longer be concealed, and we cannot put all our hopes on Colin Black to protect against further spread of the virus and the handling of vaccines."
"Colson, the White House will prepare a press conference at 6 a.m. today to announce the details of this virus. After the press conference, you will contact all virology and biology experts around the world and invite them to work together to solve this virus crisis."
"Yes, sir." Coulson received the order and answered seriously.
Nick nodded and said to Steve, "Since there are more and more infected people now, I have requested the Ministry of Defense to send more troops to support us. Currently, the Ministry of Defense and the White House have agreed to dispatch an armored division to the city. I hope you, Captain, will handle the coordination."
From the beginning he had wanted to break Blackwatch's current monopoly in Manhattan, but he had never had the chance.
Until now, the appearance of monsters and huge explosions have proved that Blackwatch’s current military strength is no longer able to maintain the situation, and the gap has finally been opened.
As for letting Steve make the contact, even though the entire military high-level thought that Steve was dead, their long-term deification made them feel awkward about how to position Steve who had come back to life again, which was why they ignored the news after receiving it.
But among the middle and low-level military officers, if you take out one hundred, at least ninety-nine are fans of Steve, and the remaining one has at least a natural favorability of +10. With him around, many troubles will no longer be troubles, and he will be of great help to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations.
"I'll try." Steve nodded.
Nick listened, turned to look at his adjutant Hill and asked, "How many vaccines have been produced to prolong the virus outbreak?"
"There are only 10,000 bottles. So far, they have been used on 3,652 patients who are about to enter deep infection, with good results." Hill revealed the data without hesitation.
"Why is it so little?" Nick's brows suddenly twisted into a knot when he heard the number.
"The pharmaceutical cost is too high. One vaccine costs nearly $200,000. Experts say that in order to significantly reduce the cost, a special instrument needs to be developed. I have sent people to get it done as quickly as possible, but for now we can only maintain this high pharmaceutical cost." Hill sighed helplessly.
The production of these 10,000 vaccines was funded by her misappropriating funds from other areas.
"Ask the World Security Council and the United States for money! We must ensure that at least 5,000 vaccines are in stock." After hearing Hill's response, Nick gave the order without hesitation.
"Okay, I'll try my best." Thinking of the difficulty of taking money out of those people's pockets, Hill sighed again.
Nick listened but did not agree to it. Instead, he stared and said, "It's not trying, it's a must!"
"Yes!" Hill groaned inwardly and answered again.
"Natasha, how is your investigation going?" Nick, who got a satisfactory answer, turned to look at Natasha.
Natasha listened and stood up, took out a USB drive and plugged it into the computer. Suddenly, some images appeared on the projector in the conference room.
"It's hard to track down the whereabouts of Lupin III's gang in a short period of time, but I found out during my investigation that they have a connection with Colin Black."
On the projector, as Natasha spoke, some documents and photos were projected onto the screen.
Colin is in every photo, and the background is the Kingdom of Vespasian in Europe.
"That means the thief named Lupin is another group of investigators hired by Colin Black. But why did Colin Black go to Vesbania?"
Tony asked, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the projection on the big screen.
Natasha glanced at Tony and replied, "We are still investigating for more details, but at the moment, what you said is very likely."
Dongdong…
Nick knocked on the table, and when everyone looked over, he said to Natasha, "Investigators, urge the people over there to hurry up, and also, find out where they are hiding as soon as possible!"
"Yes!" Natasha responded and clicked twice on the computer. Many animal corpses with obvious abnormalities appeared on the projector.
"These are the animals infected that we found in some high-risk areas and sewers. After testing, we found that every animal infected will be extremely aggressive towards normal humans and other normal animals before they are eliminated."
As Natasha introduced, the projected images kept changing with the sound.
"I remember we should have known this a long time ago." Tony said as he looked at the changing projector.
It has long been confirmed in the laboratory that the Blacklight virus can infect animals. For this, S.H.I.E.L.D. and even the Blackwatch forces have made certain preparations.
"Yes, but I don't think the current preparations are enough to curb the spread of the virus." Natasha nodded, turned to Nick and said, "Sir, I suggest a large-scale cleanup operation on Manhattan Island."
These chapters are mainly a summary of the previous clues and the impacts caused, and it will be concluded with another chapter tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)