In the headquarters of S.H.E.L.D. in New York, Agent Hill, the adjutant of the former S.H.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, was unusually busy. Nick Fury was caught in the biggest political crisis of his life due to the fall of S.H.E.L.D...
Prior to this, he had been relieved of all his duties in S.H.E.L.D. and was escorted to a special prison in Washington, D.C. for detention.
Issues such as whether Nick Fury had violated the rules during his tenure, including whether he had exceeded his authority, whether he had taken illegal arrests, etc., would be put on the agenda of the Security Committee for discussion.
As for whether Nick Fury should be held responsible for the fall of S.H.E.L.D. and how he should be held responsible, this matter also needed more meetings and discussions.
Hill was a little worried about Nick's recent situation. As the adjutant of the former director, Hill was well aware of how heavy the burden on Nick's shoulders was. Moreover, as a S.H.E.L.D. agent working in the underground front, how could he not have violated the rules several times?
But no matter how worried she was about what would happen to Nick Fury, she needed to put her worries aside for now. Nick Fury's resignation was decided by the Security Committee.
Agent Hill, the former S.H.E.L.D. Senior Intelligence Adjutant, would temporarily assume the position of director of S.H.E.L.D.. As for who would officially assume the position of director of S.H.E.L.D. in the future, it had not yet been decided.
After all, this position was of great importance and could not be easily decided. It wasn't as simple as just letting the capable take over. Otherwise, Nick Fury wouldn't have been pulled down from his high horse because of a single mistake.
There was also a complicated political game involved. Moreover, New York City was going to hold an election this year. The old mayor of New York was about to abdicate. It was unknown who would be the new mayor for the next five years.
With New York City as the center, the greater New York area radiated outward, including New Jersey, Buffalo, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and other satellite cities. This place was of great importance to the entire United States.
The entire greater New York area radiated out covered almost 18% of the country's total annual output. Nearly one-fifth of the power of the United States' economic engine came from the greater New York area.
It could be said to be the economic heart of the entire United States. It was also the most important area in the greater New York area.
The most important city in the greater New York area was New York City. It was a city that controlled the economic lifeline of the United States and could even be said to control the direction of the global economy.
Not counting other satellite cities, New York City alone accounted for 12% of the country's total annual output value.
One could imagine the importance of New York City to the entire United States. After this year's election in New York, it would be the presidential election next year.
The current president was already at the end of his second term. After the warm-up for next year's presidential election, the year after that would be the time to determine the highest power in the United States.
Therefore, whether it was the ruling party or the opposition, or other ambitious politicians, the New York mayoral election held this year and the New York City Councilor election held at the same time were crucial elections.
Whoever could win a city here would have an advantage in the early presidential election next year.
At this juncture, the position of the director of S.H.E.L.D. was extremely important. Any politician who knew anything about this organization knew how powerful S.H.E.L.D. was.
They can easily dig up your hit-and-run case from twenty years ago. Or tax evasion fifteen years ago. As long as S.H.E.L.D. was willing, they could easily find out who any politician had dinner with that night.
What did they do after dinner? Were there any sex scandals or other dirty political dealings that could be aired?
It could be said that S.H.E.L.D.'s intelligence capabilities in this area far exceeded that of the FBI and CIB. Also, compared to the other two organizations, S.H.E.L.D. was more independent and less influenced by ordinary politicians.
The former director, Nick Fury, was not a person who was too involved in politics. He never had any special goodwill toward any party. Because of his neutrality, S.H.E.L.D. had never been involved in any political process for the past twenty years.
But who could guarantee that the new director of S.H.E.L.D. wouldn't be involved in politics? Politicians always calculated the problems they might face with the worst case scenario. After all, if they thought according to their own way of thinking, it would be a waste not to use such a good position.
Therefore, the position of the director of S.H.E.L.D. had always been undecided, and the security committee was also full of arguments. Not everyone could be like Nick, who had a more noble purpose and would not be blinded by the power in front of them.
Therefore, Agent Hill's position as the acting director could be said to be very secure for a certain period of time. Unless they suddenly reached some kind of agreement or consensus one day, it would be difficult to elect someone like Nick as the director.
To most people who knew Agent Hill, this female agent was smart and capable. She had a sharp mind that was not inferior to Nick's, which was why she could stay by Nick's side as his adjutant. One should know that the longest period of her predecessor's tenure was only four months before he was kicked out by Nick. And Agent Hill had been working for ten years.
What was more commendable was that Agent Hill, like Nick, had no interest in politics. She preferred to work at her own pace and did not care about those exhausting and dirty politics that would always be like a swamp.
After Hill took the position of Director of SHIELD, she discovered that the problems that Nick Fury had to deal with were more complicated than she could have seen when she was an Adjutant and she followed Nick Fury as an Adjutant.
For example, what she was doing now. Countless financial statements were piled up on her desk as the director of the bureau. These were all the parts that the finance department had processed and were waiting for her signature and approval.
But even so, when Captain Rogers requested to meet her, she still let Rogers in.
"Looks like you're a little busy, Agent Hill." Rogers said in surprise when he saw the pile of folders on Hill's desk.
"Yes, this kind of thing, that kind of thing. All kinds of things that I don't have a clue about, "Agent Hill said without lifting her head. She was reviewing the documents while complaining. Because many things in S.H.E.L.D. were confidential, she had a lot to complain to, but she couldn't find anyone to complain to, and Captain Rogers who just visited seemed like a good candidate.
"The security council just rejected our mid-term budget." Hill poured out her grievances.
"What?" Rogers didn't react for a moment.
"Our mid-term budget was cut, Captain." Speaking of this, Hill frowned. "The budget set at the beginning of every year will always be insufficient in the mid-term due to various problems."
"You know that our department specializes in dealing with all kinds of emergency situations, so this phenomenon is normal. That's why we release a new budget plan in the mid-term every year for the security council to approve. "
"Our budget was cut, Captain. Now, it's not just the mid-term budget that was cut. Because of Director Nick's arrest, as well as various other reasons, even the budget that we were supposed to receive was stuck. "Hill couldn't help but press her temples. She had a headache when it came to money.
During Nick's era, S.H.E.L.D. never had to worry about money. But once Hill took over S.H.E.L.D., she realized that S.H.E.L.D. was a bottomless pit of money.
The maintenance fee for the damaged Skyscraper, the funding gap that the research department could never fill. The compensation for the retired special agents. Then there was the massive daily expenses. S.H.E.L.D. was a gold-eating monster.
This seemingly huge and majestic organization was built on countless US dollars. Without enough US dollars as a follow-up expenditure, this seemingly mighty behemoth would only become a paper tiger.
"Cut our budget? How much did they cut? "Rogers also knew the importance of funds to an organization.
"S.H.E.L.D.'s annual expenditure is about 100 billion US dollars. It's almost one-sixth of the total US military expenditure. But the US military has a total of 1.4 million people. S.H.E.L.D. only employs about 150,000 people. "Hill frowned.
"There are people in Congress who aren't happy with S.H.E.L.D. taking up such a large amount of funds. So this time, they cut almost a quarter of our budget. And looking at the situation, next year's budget might continue to be cut. "Hill was helpless.
"You're saying our budget is starting to be cut by 25 billion US dollars?" Rogers asked in shock.
Anyone with common sense would understand what it meant to suddenly cut tens of billions of US dollars in expenses for an organization. Especially for a gold-eating monster like S.H.E.L.D. that only had input but no output. Without external financial support, just the expenditure alone would drag the organization to death.
"Yes, it's very troublesome. S.H.E.L.D. used to have some special income, but due to various reasons, it's gone. "Hill felt even more helpless.
"What kind of special income?" Rogers asked curiously.
"The special income of the vampire industry." Hill stopped reading the documents. Her eyes were tired and she needed a rest.
"Including the special taxes that the vampires used to buy from the government's blood bank and the vampire empire's industries. Originally, these industries could bring the government close to 100 billion US dollars in hidden income every year. "
"S.H.I.E.L.D. can also get a special budget of tens of billions of dollars, but because of Nick. But because of Nick, he completely eliminated the vampires in the US, so this income is gone. "
The vampire incident happened before Rogers returned, so he didn't know much about it. After hearing this information, he couldn't help but whistle. "Nick must have cut off a lot of people's income. I'm afraid some people want to kill him because of this."
"Yes, that's for sure. The former vampires have all become normal people. They refuse to pay any extra taxes, not even a dime more. So, the funding gap of S.H.E.L.D. is actually bigger than it looks. "Hill felt like she was going crazy.
"So, Chief Hill, what do you plan to do now?" Rogers looked at Hill worriedly.
"From tomorrow onwards, S.H.E.L.D. will stop providing free coffee and doughnuts," Hill said.
Rogers: "?"
"We have 150,000 employees, and each person spends close to two dollars a day on coffee and doughnuts. Just this alone costs us 219 million US dollars a year. So, from tomorrow onwards, all coffee and doughnuts will have to be charged to the agents. "Hill expressed that she had no other choice. Every cent was important now.
"The supply of midnight snacks will also be reduced. Subway sandwiches are a little expensive. I will change the supply to Donald's burgers in the future."
"Is it those dollar burgers?" Rogers had eaten that thing before. It didn't taste good.
"I have no other choice, Captain. Every cent is important to us now. Also, the cooling and heating settings will have to be adjusted to save energy in the future. "
Rogers understood this sentence. It probably meant that the air conditioning wasn't cold in the summer, and the heating wasn't hot in the winter.
"The large washing machines in the staff dormitories will no longer be free. They will be charged by time, just like the laundromats outside. Also, we will set a standard for the monthly water, electricity, and coal consumption of each staff dormitory. The agents will have to pay for the excess.
"The way we eat in the buffet also needs to be changed. In the future, we will no longer use self-service. There will be a chef who serves the dishes, and the hands of the chef cannot be too steady. It needs to be shaky. All of this will save us billions of US dollars a year. Hill was racking his brains to think of ways to save money.
However, Rogers felt a chill down his spine. Were they going to cancel all the employee benefits? Wouldn't the agents who worked so hard rebel?
"By the way, Captain, why are you looking for me?" Hill muttered a lot of ways to save money and suddenly remembered that he was so busy complaining that he forgot why Captain Steve Rogers was looking for him.
"This, um." Rogers was a little hesitant because what he wanted to say was also related to money. He hesitated for a long time before speaking. "Well, here's the thing, Hill. We lacked helpers in the last S.H.E.L.D. prison incident. "
"So Hawkeye asked Deadpool Wade, who was still in prison at the time, to help." Hill nodded, indicating that she knew about it.
"But Wade had a price to pay. You know he was a mercenary. Everything has a price. That was why Hawkeye Barton had promised him a million dollars as a reward. So … "Rogers was interrupted by Hill before he could finish his words.
"Impossible. Rejected. There is no room for negotiation. If Barton thinks I'm worth a million dollars, let him sell me and give the money to Wade! "Hill refused very directly, not giving Rogers a chance to bargain.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
