Argus Comms: Hydra Hunt

## Hydra Hunt

### Description

Following his encounter with Hawkeye, Orcus reveals to Ingram the offer he received.

### Speaker(s)

Asher Ingram Orcus

**Ingram:** So all of Hawkeye's evidence has been destroyed?

**Orcus:** All of it's been burned. No trace is left. We're working with our global cells to gap up whatever shortcomings in security led to these leaks.

**Ingram:** And Hawkeye's status?

**Orcus:** Missing in action, sir. He's disappeared off the face of the earth. True Sons radio chatter suggests he up and vanished in the dead of night. We don't know where he is, they don't know where is. He was already a shadow. We'd have a hard time finding him again, especially since the only way we found him the first time is because he deliberately left a trail for us to follow.

**Ingram:** So, the Hunter failed his hunt?

**Orcus:** I didn't fail, boss. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I didn't find Hawkeye's data on my own. He...gave the location to me. Told me how to access it without it uploading to High Command.

**Ingram:** Why would he do that?

**Orcus:** He knew I was coming. He...made me an offer.

**Ingram:** Orcus...

**Orcus:** Listen, it's not what you're thinking. Boss, does the phrase "HYDRA" mean anything to you?

**Ingram:** The Greek mythological sea monster with multiple heads? Yeah, I've heard of it. Why?

**Orcus:** It wasn't just us, boss. Hawkeye's been monitoring Raven's Rock after Volodin's escape, same as us. He gave me transcripts of conversations between Fireflies leader Jason Crestwell and Vladimir Volodin. They keep mentioning something called "HYDRA".

*(Orcus gives Ingram the transcripts, which Ingram reads over)*

**Ingram:** Huh. So what is it?

**Orcus:** He didn't know. And they're pretty vague about it. But Hawkeye thinks it has something to do with gaining access to Russia's nuclear arsenal and false flags attacks to reignite the Cold War.

**Ingram:** Militant Russian ultranationalists and anarchical terrorists trying to get ahold of thousands of nuclear warheads? That's...disconcerting, to say the least. Especially if the rumors of the USSR not dismantling as many of their nuclear arsenal as they claimed after the collapse are true.

**Orcus:** Vladimir Volodin more than once threatened to attack the West with nuclear warheads. American retaliation was the only thing that stopped him. Now that Skyler Brooks has the only arsenal capable of really countering his, if that tyrant and his new terrorist allies get access to even one, I have no doubt they'll use it to attack their neighbors.

**Ingram:** Why did Hawkeye give you this?

**Orcus:** According to him, the True Sons and Fireflies alliance isn't as "allied" as he previously thought. Most True Sons, Brooks included, hate the Fireflies as much if not more than we do. And they also hate Volodin as well.

**Ingram:** I suppose that makes sense. I can't imagine Crestwell's vision for global genocide and Volodin's for Russian global hegemony through nuclear war, and the True Sons' "New America" are compatible in the slightest. Like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, even if you make alliances for convivence, their ideologies are so radically different they're destined to clash in the end.

**Orcus:** Hawkeye couldn't move against something like this on his own. But he felt Argus had the resources and reach to find out what "HYDRA" is and stop it.

**Ingram:** And what did he want in exchange for all this?

**Orcus:** Hawkeye asked we stop our attacks on the True Sons and CONFESS. Wanted the True Sons to fight their wars against the Division and the GSA without us interfering.

**Ingram:** You made that deal?

**Orcus:** I told him I couldn't make any promises.

**Ingram:** You know there's zero chance in hell Cipher would agree to that, right?

**Orcus:** I do. And I doubt Hawkeye is going to surface again, now that the True Sons think he's either dead or AWOL. But part of me does agree with him that Volodin and Crestwell are far more dangerous threat right now.

**Ingram:** In the present, maybe. But we can't discount the threat Brooks poses.

**Orcus:** I know. But, if what Hawkeye said is true, and if the rumors the True Sons are launching campaigns against known Fireflies allies like YAQ, the True Sons might be starting to see the Fireflies as bringing more trouble than they do value. I'm not suggesting direct cooperation, but they might turn a blind eye to our attacks or even indirectly aid us. Use their CIF insiders to...cause a few security breaches we can take advantage of.

**Ingram:** I'll need to speak with Cipher. See how he wishes to proceed with this.

**Orcus:** Before I go, sir. Hawkeye said one more thing. He told me *"I think you're so focused on the obvious threat in front of you, you've missed the wolves preparing to strike."*

**Ingram:** He was referring to Raven's Rock and the Fireflies?

**Orcus:** Maybe. But I can't but wonder if there was a deeper meaning to that. Something about the way he said it. We know Hawkeye clearly was smart enough to figure us out and was monitoring both us and Raven's Rock. I wonder if he was alluding to Brooks and the True Sons as a whole. We're focused on the threat she poses to the world, there might be somebody more dangerous in their numbers we haven't been paying enough attention to.

**Ingram:** What are you thinking?

**Orcus:** Nothing. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. I should be getting back. It's been a very long, and...very unusual day.