"Gavin is saying we should dig up the spaceship," Alexander Pierce, Secretary of SHIELD, said, approaching the balcony I was leaning over with a glass of wine in his hand. This was our first real conversation, so it was important that I impress him. Especially if I wanted to stop that fiasco of a plan in Winter Soldier from going off. We were at a big New Year's eve bash in Las Vegas, a rented room in a glitzy hotel, where lots of people had brought their families and friends. And potential recruits, lots of potential recruits. I had invited Catherine, Victor, and Tina, but only Catherine had come. She and Geoffrey were enjoying things at least.

"Gavin isn't thinking downside," I said with a sigh. He'd been part of the elimination team on Jonah, so I thought he should be a bit more judicious than he was turning out to be. "We don't know if Jonah's ship has security functions, a stable weapons cache, even a failed internal nuclear reactor that will melt our faces when we walk through the door. Maybe just seven or twelve cryostasis Gibborim, we got enough firepower for that? We still don't know why Jonah's body registered as human - If these are molecular shapeshifters, we could have an army of Jonahs pouring over the earth. No. Downside risk is too high." Also I knew that in the future where Jonah had raised the ship, the thing had blown up Los Angeles.

"Your mission, your call. And Leslie Dean? Was it wise to let her go?"

"We got a whole cart of alien tech from it. But if this exercise has taught me anything, it's that blackmailing powerful people as the primary insurance on their loyalty is a mistake. No, Leslie knows we can take everything away from her. That might check her vengeance, but it won't make her obey us." I looked out over the night in Vegas and the glistening cornucopia of American wealth. "Leave her alive to face our blowback so any failsafes get disabled, watch the girl from a distance to see if she develops in an interesting direction."

"You know I was very skeptical when Andromeda recommended you so quickly."

"I… got that impression," I said, trying to keep my words polite. Saying that he'd made me beat a woman to death with a blunt instrument was probably not the right response.

"But you've proven me wrong. It was a good thought to use the kids as leverage. People can be so sentimental about children."

I resisted the urge to shiver. It wasn't some genius level deduction to use children as leverage, but maybe he was just praising my ruthlessness. That also wasn't praiseworthy - Karolina would grow up to be a decent young woman, with a good heart who put doing what was right over her own family, and I'd put her straight into Hydra's crosshairs.

"Hydra has traditionally taken the approach that broader access to technology is contrary to our interests of fear and a hunger for guidance. It seems like your projects run counter to that theory, with Wizard and Nemo especially. I tend to think that's a bad idea, but you've proven me wrong before. Convince me."

I took a long breath. I'd been waiting for this. Vanko had talked about the 'many-headed dragon' and I knew now how stupid it had been to assume that meant anything other than Hydra. Many headed dragon. He'd all but said it! I was an idiot. "Take the Thoth engine as a proof of concept. Right now, it still has watermarks and little imperfections that a smart computer could figure out. But if I make a breakthrough, one software update could render it able to completely distort every evidence proceeding, every news cast, every basic attempt to discern the truth. Only reliable institutions, like national and local news stations, will be accorded credibility. And suborning those should be relatively easy going forward, especially as new media expands and cripples their income levels. Until then, Thoth streams nearly as much content as Netflix and it's all under our control."

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These were easy enough lies. I had the ability to build a perfected Thoth engine right now, I just hadn't bothered to do so. Of course, at any time, somebody might crack it and figure out how to make an un-watermarked version, but there were few tech geniuses at that scale working for Thoth at the moment.

"Yes, but Thoth's market reach is shorter than Netflix's."

Because instead of writing mass appeal shows and focusing on what worked with each series, Thoth was a propaganda network for a very specific worldview that wasn't popular. "Our worldview runs deeply against the manufactured beliefs of our constituents. It's going to take time to reach through to them."

"What does all this have to do with Wizard and Nemo?"

"Wizard is going to be putting out a top of the line, open platform software for smartphones. We'll have an eye in every pocket and an ear on every conversation. Nemo is going to be designing the end of human drivers. Not only will that keep our citizens safe, but it will mean an army of cameras that we can control and the ability to turn off any car at a distance."

"Hmm, do you have equal ambitions with Synnergy?"

I made a face. "Not really. Synnergy is a bioengineering company, so we're planning on using it to expand cloning, help infertile parents, work on synthetic organs, and such. It's just a chance for us to give back a little. The Yorkes aren't quite as aggressive or ambitious compared to the others." I did not mention that the Yorkes had told me they had figured out the basic principles of an amnesia serum. I tried not to think about that at all, lest Hydra have some sort of telepathic regime. "All in all, my plan is bread and circuses, something to keep the people occupied and happy to follow orders. Medicine is a big part of that and so is Thoth."

"It's a sound enough plan. The alien tech?"

"My primary interest, for the moment, is in broadcast power. Power lines are a huge fire hazard and the Dematerialization Box, that's the Sacrifice Pod, seems to have a broadcast capability that transfers life energy point to point. It's a bit elaborate, but if we make it affordable, we could seize total control of the power system."

"Well," Pierce looked out over Vegas and raised his glass to me in salute, "It's not a bad plan. I'll be interested to see if it all pans out. Of course, if it doesn't work, you can always take all of it down with your backdoor programs. If we want to convince them of what's at stake, that's always open to us."

"Of course. Hail Hydra," I said, after checking that the coast was clear.

"Hail Hydra," Pierce said, finishing his glass and leaving me to wonder.

Had I told Pierce what was necessary to get him to let me improve people's lives? Or had I told myself what was necessary to get me to hand the world to Hydra on a platter?