"Enough, Calvin!" Thomas Gloucester, seated at the head, reprimanded Calvin sharply. Then he turned to Josh and said, "Our actions are not as exaggerated as they seem. Most of the time, we act out of necessity. You're a businessman, you should understand that many of Roosevelt's measures are not suited for the post-war economy!"
"Of course, sir, I understand perfectly well!" Josh nodded obediently, feigning sincerity.
"Good that you understand. You don't need to be involved in this matter. After all, you've just rejoined the organization. Although you've joined the Chicago Consortium, your roots in the U.S. aren't deep, so it's not suitable for you to get too involved in American politics. Helping us reestablish our footing in Europe is your most important task!" Thomas Gloucester said, satisfied with Josh's sincere attitude.
Initially, he thought this young and successful man might be as arrogant and impetuous as Schmidt. He agreed to let Josh return to the organization only because the latter had coincidentally taken control of the European branch—he even suspected Josh was merely a figurehead pushed forward by them. But from their brief interaction, he realized Josh was actually a very steady young man.
By contrast...Thomas glanced at Calvin and shook his head quietly.
Isodyne Energy had made a fortune during the Great Depression. By now, it should have been a behemoth on par with First Citibank or Roxxon. Unfortunately, old Chadwick died at a critical moment, leaving behind a fool like Calvin.
"Of course, I'll do my best!" Josh responded with surprise. He had originally thought that throwing out topics like election interference and targeting Roosevelt was meant to trouble or entrap him but it turned out not to be the case.
Looks like HYDRA is quite lenient internally.
Then again, it makes sense. Assigning such a mission that could influence the fate of the organization to someone who just joined would be tantamount to gambling with their lives—even if Josh had joined as a council member.
So, with Thomas's explanation and Josh's behavior, the other council members also nodded approvingly.
"Speaking of which, there's another matter. Since Whitney's death, the research progress on atomic weapons has been significantly delayed. I think the council should adopt a contingency plan. If we can't develop nuclear weapons soon and show them to the world, it's going to be hard for America to assert global dominance!" Calvin Chadwick raised an issue, seeing that Josh seemed to be gaining the approval of the other council members.
"Come to think of it, Whitney's death—wasn't that related to you, Josh?" Hearing this, the other council members all turned to look at Josh.
Calling Calvin a fool is only in comparison to the seasoned council members but to most people of this era, Calvin, who had received elite education from childhood, was far from being a fool.
The Manhattan Project may have been a national project, but its origin and operation were closely tied to the interest groups behind the present council members—in some sense, it was HYDRA's own project.
As mentioned earlier, Whitney, although she appeared to be just a Hollywood starlet, was in fact an important researcher involved in the project on HYDRA's behalf. However, because she was a woman, she was never allowed direct participation.
So Calvin's move to use this to provoke Josh was actually quite shrewd.
"Yes, I did it. That woman tried to steal the Night Light Serum, and it nearly got me court-martialed. If my lab hadn't coincidentally made a breakthrough with the Bright Light Serum, who knows if I'd even be sitting here right now... What? If it were you in that situation, would you let her live to see Christmas?" Unlike the evasiveness he showed when Malick tested him before, Josh admitted outright this time because the situation had changed.
Before joining the council, he wasn't on the same side. If Josh had admitted to it back then, they could have used it to retaliate.
But now that he was one of HYDRA's highest-ranking council members, Whitney's actions could be seen as "insubordination."
Other council members could tease him about it, but they couldn't touch him. That was the privilege of being on the council.
"Although Whitney was in the wrong, Josh, your response was a bit too extreme. You can punish her however you like, but killing her outright was a bit excessive!" Hugh Jones, the head of Roxxon, spoke up at this point. "However, this matter can still be salvaged. I happen to be on good terms with the genius scientist Howard Stark. Perhaps we could try to persuade him to join the Manhattan Project. In terms of ability, he's probably even more capable than Whitney."
Upon hearing Hugh Jones's suggestion, the other council members nodded in agreement. Although it was obvious that Howard Stark wasn't on their side, it didn't stop them from using this super-genius under another pretense.
Previously, Howard Stark had been recruited by the Strategic Scientific Reserve to the front lines, focusing on developing various special weapons, so the council had found it hard to approach him.
But now that the war in Europe was over, both Howard Stark and Josh had returned to the U.S., giving the council an opportunity.
Yet none of them noticed that when Hugh Jones mentioned his "friendship" with Howard Stark, Josh looked at the top of Hugh's head with a strange expression.
Why?
Because of Howard's questionable morals, of course.
No one denied that the Stark father and son were geniuses—and often heroic, too.
But unlike Captain America and other upright heroes, the private morals of these two were...lacking.
Anyone befriending them had to consider whether they might end up wearing a green hat.
Coincidentally, Josh knew that this very council member who claimed to be close with Howard—Hugh Jones—was one of the victims... Josh hadn't seen Agent Carter Season 2, so he didn't know about Whitney Frost and Calvin Chadwick.
But Hugh Jones was an exception. Since Roxxon appeared so frequently in Marvel comics, movies, and TV shows, Josh had specifically watched fan videos compiling intel on Roxxon.
And one of them mentioned the love-hate entanglement between Hugh Jones and Howard Stark.
To put it bluntly, Hugh considered Howard a brother—but Howard slept with his wife.
Since then, all the way to the era of Tony Stark, Roxxon Group had been targeting Stark Industries relentlessly.
To say there were no personal grudges in that would be laughable.
Still, that was none of Josh's business, and he had no intention of warning the man.
But as for Calvin using Whitney to needle him—Josh wasn't going to let that slide so easily.
Nuclear weapon research data?
He had the full set!
With Yuri around—
Forget first-generation atomic bombs.
Second-gen hydrogen bombs and triple-stage bombs?
Third-gen neutron bombs and EMP weapons?
Even fourth-gen directed-energy nuclear weapons? No problem.
"If you gentlemen are worried about delays in nuclear weapon development, then you needn't be!" Just as the other council members were discussing the issue, Josh spoke up.
"Oh? Do you have some insights, Josh?" Calvin asked provocatively.
"Have you forgotten the super weapon Schmidt was working on before he died?" Josh raised an eyebrow.
"Of course we remember—but that was never completed. And according to our intel, that thing required the Cosmic Cube!" Thomas responded.
"Although it might sound boastful, I can assure you, there are some capable people in my research institute. After obtaining the materials Schmidt left behind on his super weapon project, they've conducted deductions and already achieved tangible results... It's just that due to industrial limitations, we can't yet turn them into physical weapons!" Josh said with a smile, pinning the development of nuclear weapon data on the Red Skull.
As for whether anyone believed him—that wasn't Josh's concern. After all, the nuclear weapon data he had was the real deal. Even if Red Skull or Zola came forward to deny it, it wouldn't matter.
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