"There must be some kind of misunderstanding!" exclaimed the Hydra agent, regaining consciousness and finding himself face-to-face with Nick Fury. Being in this situation, before this man, wouldn't lead to anything good.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, he tried to explain himself, simultaneously assessing his surroundings. A plan to withstand the upcoming interrogation was already forming in his mind.
"Misunderstanding? Haha," Fury chuckled, his expression unchanged.
He approached the table where the researcher had stood. Various instruments lay on it, and Fury's every move made the Hydra agents, strapped to their chairs, tense up even more.
Fury carefully moved aside the menacing-looking objects until he picked up a small device resembling a remote control. Looking at the frightened faces before him, he pressed a few buttons.
"I know you won't talk just like that, but I have plenty of time to wait."
After these words, the bound agents' eyes widened, their bodies trembling with fear, their faces contorted in grimaces of pain. Suddenly, a surge of electric current coursed through them, and screams echoed through the room. The specially designed chairs released the discharges, powerful enough to inflict excruciating pain, but not enough to kill. A perfect tool for interrogating and torturing even the most resilient individuals.
The smell of burning flesh, urine, and feces emanated from one of the agents sitting at the edge. Less than a minute later, his body gave way – he lost control of his bodily functions. Hawkeye, standing closest, quietly stepped aside, trying to avoid the suffocating stench. Fury remained impassive, only watching intently as the agents writhed in agony.
A few seconds later, satisfied that he had achieved the desired effect, he pressed a button, cutting off the current. The agents' bodies stopped convulsing, and he activated the ventilation system to rid the room of the disgusting smell.
Now they hung limply in their chairs, barely conscious. He had decided to break their will immediately to minimize their resistance during the subsequent interrogation.
Of course, he didn't expect a single shock to make them confess everything right away. That would be too easy, and such confessions couldn't be considered reliable.
"So, are you going to tell me what you were doing where you shouldn't have been? Who sent you, and what was your objective? How many accomplices do you have?" he asked, raising the remote. His voice was casual, but with an underlying steeliness.
"Gasp... Gasp..."
Instead of an answer, only heavy breathing filled the room. Fury understood that they heard his questions, but weren't going to talk. He knew Hydra punished its traitors brutally. But Fury wasn't someone to be underestimated either. They didn't yet know if they could withstand what was to come.
"I see, you don't want to do this the easy way? Then we'll have to resort to other measures," Fury said. He pressed the button again, and the chairs to which the agents were bound released their restraints and smoothly moved on built-in rollers.
Fury gestured for Coulson, Natasha, and Hawkeye to escort the agents to separate rooms for individual interrogation. He took charge of the Level 5 agent, who he believed was the leader of this group.
"I'm sure you'll tell me everything," he said coldly, running his hand over the table of instruments.
The Hydra agent, barely concealing his terror, followed his movement. Fury knew exactly how to make his methods memorable. Interrogations began in the other rooms as well. Natasha and Hawkeye were experienced in this. They had faced similar situations many times before. Coulson, on the other hand, rarely used such methods and sometimes went overboard, nearly killing one of the interrogated subjects in the past.
Time passed slowly. Nick Fury and his team left the interrogation room and gathered together, but the expressions on their faces were serious, even grim.
"Director, did they tell the truth?" Coulson asked, still bewildered by the results of the interrogation. Even after comparing their data with what the others learned, he still found it hard to believe.
"Perhaps they are telling the truth, or perhaps it's a carefully prepared lie," Fury said in a low voice, staring intently at the table before him. Thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to assess the situation.
"Hydra right under our noses? And within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself? It sounds like something out of a fantasy novel," Clint Barton said, standing by the wall with his arms crossed. His brow was furrowed, and he was clearly shaken by what he had heard.
Yes, the agents connected to Hydra had revealed everything under the pressure of the interrogation methods. Initially, when they claimed to belong to Hydra, Fury and the others thought it was another attempt to mislead them, fabricating false information. However, after applying more forceful methods, they began to realize that their words, however improbable they seemed, might be true.
Now, the agents could barely stand, exhausted by the torture. Only the Level 5 agent seemed to have undergone special training to resist interrogation, but he was unlucky – Nick Fury himself interrogated him. In the end, even he couldn't withstand it. After all, they weren't fanatics ready to shout "Hail Hydra!" and commit suicide.
"We don't know how many more of their accomplices are within S.H.I.E.L.D. It's unbelievable that all this time we could have been working alongside Hydra," Natasha Romanoff said. She sat to the side, swinging her leg, betraying her inner restlessness.
The atmosphere in the room was heavy; everyone was lost in thought, digesting the information obtained during the interrogation.
"We'll find out everything," Fury finally broke the silence. For him, the realization that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. was almost unbearable, but the primary task now was to determine the extent of the infiltration.
"Await my instructions. I'll take these guys and use special methods to verify the accuracy of their information." Fury stood up. In such a critical situation, he decided to resort to exceptional measures.
He boarded the Quinjet, taking the captured Hydra agents with him. This time, he went alone, leaving Coulson, Natasha, and Barton at the base.
"Set a course. Destination – Russia!"