https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-362-Coulson-s-Altered-Memories-5000-/13460848/
Chapter 363: Missile Crisis (5000+)
Chapter 363: Missile Crisis (5000+)
It was ten o'clock at night in the hall.
"Oh, shit, I shouldn't have made that move!"
Grant, seeing his king checkmated, couldn't help but curse in frustration.
Across from him, Coulson laughed and said with a grin:
"Chess is about strategy, a big picture view, and teamwork, not just relying on one piece to win. Your approach to the game is off, and your skills need some work!"
As an agent particularly skilled at commanding small teams, Coulson was exceptionally good at chess. At least when playing against Grant, he won ten out of ten games.
"I can't beat you, I'm done. I'll go organize my gear."
After a string of losses, Grant decided to stop before he exploded.
Seeing that Grant had given up, Coulson showed a hint of regret. He was just getting into the game, and his opponent had already thrown in the towel.
Unfortunately, no one else in the team, except for Grant, who was both terrible and addicted, was willing to play chess with him.
However, when he noticed Jerry sitting there reading a book, his eyes lit up:
"Jerry, how about a game?"
"Forget it, I'm not very good at chess. I definitely can't beat you."
Jerry looked up and smiled, politely declining.
But Coulson wasn't about to give up and continued to invite him:
"The instruments show that Owl hasn't descended. Clearly, there's still a distance to the target. How about a game? I'll let you a few pieces!"
He still harbored some resentment over the time Jerry used Magic to erase his memory. Now, he could use his greatest strength—chess—to vent some of that frustration.
Imagining Jerry being thoroughly dominated and questioning his existence, he felt a small sense of satisfaction.
Jerry, seeing Coulson's persistence, finally relented:
"Alright, but I don't need you to let me any pieces. I just want to use my own chess pieces."
"Sure thing!"
Coulson agreed without hesitation.
The quality of the game depends on the player's skill, not the pieces. He didn't believe that changing the pieces would help Jerry beat him.
Seeing Jerry about to play chess with Coulson, everyone put down what they were doing and gathered around.
"Jerry, Coulson is really good at chess. In S.H.I.E.L.D., only a few people, including the Director, can beat him. I think you should reconsider playing him."
May, seeing Jerry sit across from Coulson, offered a kind warning. Jerry's recent lunch had reminded her of her father's cooking, and she didn't want to see this big boy get thoroughly dominated.
Fitz, Skye, and Simmons also nodded in agreement.
They had played chess with Coulson during their free time, but after being thoroughly dominated a few times, they stopped playing him.
"It's fine, as long as Coulson agrees to let me use my own pieces."
Jerry smiled nonchalantly, then placed all his black pieces to the side and took out his specially crafted Witch Chess pieces from his boxspatial, placing them on the board.
"Ha ha ha, finally, it's our turn! Our swords are thirsty for battle!"
The eight pieces representing pawns drew their large swords from their waists, looking fierce and ready for action.
"On the day the broken sword is reforged, the knight shall return!"
The two pieces representing knights drew their spears, pulled the reins, and their black horses leaped high, neighing loudly.
"To resolve conflict, one must enter conflict!"
The two pieces representing bishops waved their staffs, speaking with a tone of compassion.
"With a thousand troops at my command, taking what I want is as easy as plucking a fruit from a bag!"
The two pieces representing rooks stood tall and proud from their chariots.
"Kings come and go, but gold remains!"
A queen with a beautiful face let out a long, sorrowful sigh.
"Death is like the wind, always by my side. Soldiers, charge!"
The piece representing the king, wearing a golden crown, stroked his large mustache and roared.
Seeing Jerry's unique pieces on the board, everyone's mouths dropped open in shock, even the usually expressionless May.
"Jerry, your pieces seem a bit different?"
Coulson's voice was a bit shaky.
Jerry replied matter-of-factly:
"Oh, they're called Witch Chess pieces. They're used by Witches for chess. Don't worry, although they look fierce, they won't run around. They move according to the rules of chess, so just play normally."
"Alright, if that's the case, there's no problem."
Coulson breathed a sigh of relief.
It made sense that a Witch would have unique pieces. It was like someone using gold or diamonds for their pieces. As long as they followed the rules, he could win.
Once he confirmed that Jerry's pieces were just "lively", Coulson focused and made his first move, cautiously advancing his pawn two spaces.
As soon as he placed his piece, Jerry's pawn moved forward two spaces as well.
"Jerry, your pieces?"
"They know the rules and can move on their own without my command."
Jerry smiled.
Normal Witch Chess pieces still required commands from a Witch to move. However, since Jerry wasn't very proficient at chess, he had shown his Witch Chess pieces many chess games and videos, allowing them to learn on their own.
Over time, the Witch Chess pieces no longer needed Jerry's commands and could play against the opponent autonomously.
Moreover, having absorbed the essence of many world-class chess masters, their playing skills were quite advanced.
Jerry had played several games of chess with Ron using these pieces, and each time, Ron was thoroughly defeated to the point of questioning his own existence.
"Hey, are you even capable of playing or what? Why are you taking so long?"
At this moment, Jerry's chess pieces, growing increasingly impatient with Coulson's delay, began to berate him.
Coulson, noticing the situation, hurriedly continued the game.
Six moves later, Jerry's pawn kicked Coulson's pawn to the ground and dragged it off the board.
Ten moves later, Jerry's knight speared Coulson's rook off the board with a single thrust.
Before Coulson knew it, only his king remained, while Jerry still had eight pieces. To make matters worse, the pieces that had been captured were cheering and celebrating from the sidelines.
"Hey, where's Jerry?"
Looking up, Coulson realized that Jerry, who had been sitting opposite him, was nowhere to be seen.
"Coulson, he went back to reading his book halfway through the game. He said if you want to keep playing after this, these chess pieces can keep you company."
Skye pointed to Jerry, who was engrossed in his book.
Coulson glanced at the focused Jerry, then looked back at the Witch chess pieces that had reset their positions on the board. He clenched his teeth.
"I don't believe I can't beat a bunch of chess pieces!"
At midnight, the plane was still flying at high altitude, clearly far from its destination.
"Jerry, your chess pieces!"
Coulson, with a twitching mouth, held out a pile of noisy chess pieces to Jerry.
For two hours, he had played twelve games with the Witch chess pieces and hadn't won a single one. He had been thoroughly defeated and had lost all confidence in playing chess.
He had wanted to use the game to get back at Jerry, but it turned out he was the fool.
Jerry looked at Coulson and then at the sixteen pieces in his hands.
"Here, take them. Consider them an apology for using Obliviate on you before!"
With his current Alchemy skills, Jerry could easily create these Witch chess pieces, so they weren't particularly valuable.
Hearing this, the dejected look on Coulson's face turned to one of surprise.
"You're giving them to me? These Witch chess pieces are quite valuable, aren't they?"
"They're not that valuable. If you don't like them, I can take them back."
Jerry reached out to take the pieces.
Coulson quickly stepped back.
"I like them, I really do. If no one else is around to play with, I can always play with them."
Despite being thoroughly defeated by the Witch chess pieces, he still liked them.
These were chess pieces with their own minds, almost like living beings, and they had exceptional chess skills. Probably no one else in the world except Jerry could create such magical pieces.
From any perspective, this was an extremely valuable gift, something that could be passed down as a family heirloom.
"Good, I'm glad you like them. By the way, you don't all need to stay here. It's late, you can rest. I'll call you if the owl finds the target."
Jerry stopped joking and got down to business.
Coulson shook his head.
"We should take turns keeping watch. You can't handle it alone."
"I don't need to. In my current state, I don't need sleep."
Jerry flipped to the next page of his book.
After achieving Eternal Life, his body had fundamentally changed. Not only could he control his age, but he could also survive without food or sleep for extended periods.
"Ah, okay, thanks for the effort!"
Coulson, though surprised by Jerry's explanation, didn't press the issue. After all, there were too many magical aspects to being a Witch, and not needing sleep was just one of them.
However, Coulson and the others didn't really go back to their rooms to rest. Instead, they stayed in the living room, resting on the couches and carpet, fully dressed.
At five in the morning.
"Quite a hidden spot!"
Sensing that the owl was finally starting to descend, Jerry closed his book and woke up the sleeping Coulson and others.
"May, where are we now?"
Coulson immediately asked May upon waking.
May went to the cockpit and checked the coordinates.
"We are in Alaska, but not in a city. We're in a remote mountain area!"
"Fitzy, scan the area below for any unusual structures. May, don't land just yet. If this is the Clairvoyant's base, there will definitely be defensive weapons below.
Once we confirm the target, Mack, you're injured, so stay behind with Aes. The rest of you, get your gear ready and follow me to capture the Clairvoyant."
After confirming the location, Coulson quickly assigned tasks to everyone except Jerry.
However, Fitz soon came back with an unexpected answer.
It turned out that there was no base or any structures below, just a barren stone mountain.
Coulson clearly didn't believe the scan results. He had May park the aircraft in a safe area away from the site and led the team to the location indicated by the tracking device.
"Jerry, is the owl just tired and resting here?"
Coulson watched as Jerry's owl, carrying the parchment letter, wandered around the barren hillside, thinking it might be tired from flying, as there was no sign of any base.
Jerry went to the owl and put it into the Spatial Box.
"It's not tired. It has found the target, but it's being blocked from entering."
The owl's magical ability allowed it to precisely locate the recipient, but if the recipient had sealed all the windows and doors, the owl couldn't deliver the letter.
The situation was exactly as it appeared.
Coulson was a smart man. With Jerry's reminder, he immediately understood what Jerry meant:
"You're saying that the Clairvoyant's base is inside this mountain?"
Jerry nodded, confirming Coulson's guess.
According to the principles of Owl's delivery, if the Clairvoyant was hiding inside the mountain in a secret base, Owl wouldn't be able to deliver the message. It's not a mole, after all; it could only hover around outside.
"If the base is hidden inside the mountain, how can we get in? We don't have any machines capable of blasting through this mountain!"
Fitz looked at the mountain, which was entirely covered in stone, with a helpless expression.
Coulson, however, turned to Jerry.
Jerry didn't waste any time. Pointing his wand at the ground nearby, he said:
"Dig Three Feet!"
A blue beam of Magic shot out, instantly creating a massive pit. At the bottom of the pit, a thick layer of steel plates was revealed.
Meanwhile, at the base hidden at the bottom of the stone mountain.
"Agent Garrett, Agents Grant just sent a signal. Our cover is blown. The enemy has discovered our base and is forcing their way in!"
A tall, young agent reported to a middle-aged agent who looked to be in his forties.
The middle-aged agent waved his hand.
"Execute the final plan!"
"What about Agent Grant?"
The tall, young agent showed a hint of hesitation.
The middle-aged agent sighed deeply.
"Someone must make a sacrifice for the greater good. I believe Agent Grant will understand. Long live Hydra!"
"Long live Hydra!"
The tall, young agent's face was solemn as he turned and ran out.
The middle-aged agent's name was John Garrett. He was an ammunition expert, an interrogation specialist, an operations specialist, an S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 8 agent, and a Hydra spy, codename "Clairvoyant."
He, like Coulson, was an agent initially trained by Nick Fury.
However, unlike Coulson, he did not believe in the ridiculous ideals Nick Fury preached, such as "S.H.I.E.L.D. is the last line of defense for world security" or "protecting Earth's safety with our lives."
Perhaps he had believed in them when he was young and full of passion.
But after being critically injured during a mission, leading to organ failure and being revived by Hydra's "Death Soldier" program, he found S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ideals to be nothing but nonsense.
Of course, he also scoffed at Hydra's grand ideals of "the world needs to be managed and supervised by Hydra to become a better place."
He joined Hydra for one purpose: to use Hydra's resources to strengthen himself, completely repair his failing heart, and gain a new lease on life.
This was also the reason he fused parts of the Extremis Virus, an incomplete version of the Super Soldier Serum, Gamma Rays, and Chitauri Metal, and had his team develop the Centipede Virus and Centipede Soldiers.
As for why he kidnapped Coulson?
It was because he wanted to know how Nick Fury managed to bring Coulson back from the dead, to see if the same method could be applied to his dying body.
Moreover, he had no ability to predict the future; it was simply because, as a Level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he had almost all the necessary permissions to obtain intelligence in advance, ensuring his subordinates wouldn't be found.
However, he hadn't anticipated that a Witch would intervene, causing the entire situation to deviate from his original plan.
Fortunately, Hydra had always been wary of and studied the Witch, developing various countermeasures for the abilities the Witch displayed.
Even the Witch's most difficult-to-counter Spatial teleportation ability had a solution from Hydra, which could now be put to use.
In fact, Hydra had to thank one of its major leaders, Baron Wolfgang von Stark, who was obsessed with capturing, dissecting, and studying superpowered individuals.
To counter superpowered individuals with teleportation abilities, he had Dr. List invent a quantum device capable of temporarily disrupting nearby Spatial fields, rendering teleportation abilities ineffective.
The only downside was that to resolve the threat posed by the Witch, he would have to sacrifice his top agent, Grant Ward, whom he had invested a great deal of effort in training.
But that was a small price to pay. As long as he could complete his plan and gain a new life, he would sacrifice anyone, even his own son if necessary.
"Watch out, ten missiles are approaching! They will reach us in less than twenty seconds!"
Just as Jerry had used the Dig Three Feet spell to dig through the surface of the stone mountain and reveal the hidden base, Fitz's monitoring device suddenly sounded a shrill alarm.
"What? Missiles? Who launched them?"
Coulson's face was full of shock.
They were still within the country's borders. Who could control the launch of ten missiles, intending to level the area?
Fitz, terrified, replied:
"S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"S.H.I.E.L.D.???"
Everyone except Jerry was stunned.
Meanwhile, Jerry wasn't idle. He extended his hand, preparing to draw a portal to escape the missiles.
However, his portal only halfway formed before it collapsed.
"Huh, why has the Spatial structure around here become so unstable all of a sudden?"
(End of Chapter)
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