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Chapter 194: A New Situation for the Council
🕑 Added 2025-01-30 16:13:20 +0000 UTCIn the courtyard of a secret estate in Chicago, nearly two-year-old Mike and Carol were happily playing with several dogs.
However, Margaret, who was watching them from the side, had a worried look on her face.
Three days ago, after receiving a message from Josh, Jiaying and Francesca had brought Margaret and her two children to this new estate. She had never been here before, but the place was heavily guarded.
Margaret could easily guess that something had happened, but she had no idea what it was.
She had talked to Josh on the phone once during that time, but he had just told her not to worry and hadn't said much else.
She knew he was trying to protect her from unnecessary stress, but how could she not worry?
Thinking about it, she let out another sigh.
"Madam, Mr. Kahn is back!"
While Margaret was lost in thought, Francesca suddenly ran over from a distance, shouting excitedly.
Her enthusiasm surprised the nearby servants.
As one of the earliest members of Josh and Margaret's household, Francesca had long since become the head maid. While she was never harsh with new employees—on the contrary, she took good care of them—she was usually serious and rarely showed much emotion.
To see her so excited was unusual.
But Margaret understood why. If Josh was back, it meant that his personal bodyguard and assistant, Vito, was also back.
When she heard Francesca's call, Margaret quickly got up and walked forward, eager to ask where Josh was.
She didn't have to go far before she saw him approaching from the same direction Francesca had come.
At that moment, Margaret couldn't hold back any longer and ran straight towards him.
"Careful, careful! See? I'm back safe and sound," Josh said with a smile, pulling her into his arms to comfort her.
He knew she had been worried. And compared to words, a warm hug was the best way to calm her down.
"Is everything okay now?" Margaret asked after staying in his arms for a long moment.
"Everything is fine. It's a little late today, so let's stay here one more night. We'll go home tomorrow," Josh said, kissing her cheek.
Just as he had said, his safe return meant the matter was settled.
Aside from his usual problems with women, Howard had proven to be quite reliable.
The gamma ray emitter he had built worked remarkably well.
Using Hugh Jones as bait, the CIA set a trap to lure out Calvin and his enforcer, Wilkes, the scientist who had been controlling the Zero Matter.
With a single blast, Wilkes completely lost control of the Zero Matter.
After that, things were easy.
Wilkes was immediately taken by the military, turned into an experiment, and died the same day due to an accident.
As for Calvin Chadwick, he was mysteriously shot to death after being taken into FBI custody.
Yes, it wasn't the CIA, it was the FBI.
Hoover's FBI was formidable indeed. Josh had done everything he could to keep things quiet, but the FBI's nose was sharper than a bloodhound's—they had jumped in halfway and stolen the whole operation.
There wasn't much Josh could do about it, since the case technically fell under FBI jurisdiction. If anyone was overstepping, it was the CIA. Even with military support, that argument wouldn't change.
But the FBI had miscalculated one thing—whether this case officially belonged to the CIA or not didn't really matter to them.
The priority was to make sure Calvin didn't talk too much after his capture.
And Josh wasn't the only one who wanted Calvin silenced.
The rest of the big shots in the Council hated Calvin as well. He knew too many of their secrets, so keeping him alive was never an option.
So Vernon, a senator from New York and one of the leaders of the Council, used his connections within the New York office of the FBI to have Calvin take his own life.
Literally.
He 'ate' at least ten pounds of bullets.
They said his stomach even burst open.
This incident led to a bizarre legend in the FBI’s New York office—one about the "Gluttony" sin from the Seven Deadly Sins.
What? You think this explanation is nonsense? Well, if you don't believe it, ask him yourself.
This was 1947! In a time when newspapers and radio were the main sources of news, whatever the authorities said was the truth—believe it or not.
Once Calvin was taken care of, the rest was easy.
The CIA and FBI continued the investigation. Josh's Ouroboros and Hugh Jones' Red Guard cleaned up in secret.
The rest of the Council took care of the loose ends.
Josh didn't have to get involved anymore. Others would take care of the rest. For him, spending time with his wife and children was more important.
"It doesn't matter where we go. As long as you're here, this is home," Margaret said, leaning into him.
"You too," Josh replied with a smile.
"Daddy, I... hug!"
Just as Josh and Margaret were sharing a tender moment, two small voices came from not far away. The children, who had been happily playing, had spotted their father and were running toward him.
At the sound of his two little troublemakers, Josh's expression changed instantly.
At two years old, the children were in their most mischievous stage—annoying even the most patient of people and causing havoc wherever they went. Margaret, as their mother, could handle them with warmth and patience. But Josh? He was terrified of them.
He avoided them whenever possible.
Truth be told, he and Margaret were deeply in love, but these two little rascals? Total accidents.
"Haha! Come on, let's see who can catch Daddy first!"
Seeing Josh's reaction, Margaret couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes this man was more childish than the kids—it was adorable. She immediately encouraged the children to run after him, while giving Josh a deadly look, warning him not to run.
In the end, Josh had no choice but to pick up both children, one in each arm, and let them pull at his hair and tie.
Fortunately, they couldn't pull his beard—because he didn't have one. He had just turned 20 and wasn't particularly hairy, nor did he like to grow facial hair. His face was always clean shaven.
As she watched the three of them play together, Margaret's face lit up with happiness.
Josh, despite his earlier hesitation, enjoyed the moment as well.
But their peaceful days didn't last long.
News from Wakanda soon interrupted everything.
Wakanda had fallen.
The vibranium mines were now under the joint control of five nations. The U.S. and the Soviet Union each held 20%, three other nations held 10% each, and the remaining 30% was divided among other UN member states.
This didn't surprise Josh.
What shocked him was the fate of his Special Ops team.
Of the three elite soldiers he had sent, only Carter survived—the other two were dead.
Josh felt a headache coming on.
Why had the Winter Soldier teamed up with Andrew to target Carter and Luke?
Wait... what if Calvin had secretly taken control of the Winter Soldier? and Andrew had been working for Calvin all this time?
Oh. That explained it.
"Let's talk. What do we do with the Isodyne Group? Who gets control of the Winter Soldier? And with two vacancies on the Council, should we fill them?"
A few days later, before Carter even returned to the U.S., the Council gathered again in New York after a period of turmoil.
This time, however, the seat at the head of the table no longer belonged to Thomas—it now belonged to Hugh Jones.
And Josh? He had moved up from his previous position and was now sitting directly to the left of Hugh Jones.
As for Wilfred Malick, he had moved up only slightly, taking Calvin's old spot. But his overall standing remained low—he was still the weakest of the current Council members.
After all, his performance during the recent chaos had been rather disappointing. Even Senator Vernon had done better.
No one objected to this new Council structure.
No one dared to.
