Pieta, also known as Fury Secret Base 7, was a secret base of unknown generation that was once under the operation by Nick Fury. Its original purpose was unknown, but it was part of the Immortal City, which the base of the Brotherhood of the Shield underneath Rome, Italy. However, after S.H.I.E.L.D. abandoned the Fury Secret Base 7 during the war against HYDRA, Pieta became the base of operations for the Great Wheel of the Zodiac. The Great Wheel of the Zodiac was a collection of eleven of the most experienced espionage leaders in the world were gathered at a location known only as Pieta. They all represented the nations, factions and secret societies had joined the Great Wheel to acheive world domination and they all fought for this in the shadows and in hopes to gain power on Earth, but not just on Earth; the entire universe.
Among the leaders of the Great Wheel were Darren Bentley (representing himself as Aquarius), Gustav Brandt (representing himself as Libra), Jacques LaPoint (representing himself as Scorpio), Marcus Lassiter (representing himself as Aries), Joshua Link (representing himself as Gemini), Cornelius van Lunt (representing himself as Taurus), Dimitri Kantov (representing himself as Pisces), Elaine McLaughlin (representing herself as Virgo), Daniel Radford (representing himself as Leo), Viktor Uvarov (representing himself as Orion), Harlan Vargas (representing Sagittarius), and Willard Weir (representing himself as Capricorn). The eleven leaders of the Great Wheel had all been seated inside a circled room inside Pieta and had been waiting patiently for the new arrivals to join their grand society. The new arrivals were Vasili Dassaiev, Thomas Davidson, Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan, Jacob Fury, Wolfgang von Strucker, and Daniel Whitehall.
Vasili Dassaiev was a former member of the KGB, for the Soviet Union a decade after World War II. Thomas Davidson was known to be a very clever hacker, in which he earned a position in the MI6 and delivered important information that would be useful. Jacob Fury was known to be a distant relative of Nicholas Joseph Fury.
Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan was a non-commissioned officer who worked for the United States Army and became an acting member of the Howling Commandos during World War II. Having been rescued from a HYDRA prison camp with other soldiers, he was recruited into the newly formed Howling Commandos and had fought alongside Captain America and Bucky Barnes. During their missions, Dugan and the Commandos became key in ending the war, helping to defeat Red Skull as well as Werner Reinhardt and allowing the Allied forces to finally claim their final victory. As Rogers was seemingly killed during a mission during World War II, Dugan took command of the Howling Commandos, leading them into many new covert missions to keep the world at peace in the wake of the war while recruiting new members. Described to be a belligerent but witty person, Dugan was known to be a gentle giant who hates injustice and was extremely loyal to his comrades. As a member of the Howling Commandos, he was recognized as one of the most skilled soldiers in United States Army. Dugan was highly trained, and he possessed a great amount of strength.
Wolfgang von Strucker was born in a family of German barons, which had a large influence in HYDRA. He attended the HYDRA Preparatory Academy and gained popularity among students due to his family name. As he was approaching graduation he attended a guest lecture on his last day given by one of the current HYDRA heads, Daniel Whitehall. Von Strucker kept his professional life, as a member of HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., separated from his personal life and his children. Though he made sure that Werner was very well financially supported, von Strucker did not share his business with him, concerning HYDRA. In the aftermath of the Battle of New York, Baron Strucker's HYDRA cell secretly took possession of the Scepter which was confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D. from Loki thanks to the help of Donald Birch. Over the next two years, von Strucker and List used the Scepter's powers to experiment on many human volunteers in HYDRA Research Base, aiming to create an army of enhanced people who would serve HYDRA. Eventually, Baron Strucker deserted S.H.I.E.L.D., but as the continuing conflict raged, he eventually became one of the last few surviving heads of HYDRA. His base of operations was discovered and attacked by the Avengers, leading to his capture and apprehension, before he was killed in his cell by Ultron.
Werner Reinhardt was born in Arnsberg, Germany on October 9th, 1904. Following the end of World War I, Reinhardt joined the Nazis and became an officer of the Schutzstaffel. He rose through the ranks until he became an Obergruppenführer, eventually joining HYDRA, the special science division led by Johann Shmidt. When World War II broke out, Reinhardt actively participated in the German conquest of Europe, earning several high military decorations, including the Panzer Badge, the Close Combat Clasp, and the Iron Cross First Class. As an officer of HYDRA, he was sent to search for mysterious artifacts. On one occasion, his team discovered the corpse of a blue-skinned humanoid organism. Among the various myths, HYDRA researched, to Reinhardt the most intriguing one was the story about an Obelisk with the power to turn the living into stone. Reinhardt became especially obsessed with the Obelisk, and came to learn of the myth behind it, an old story from the East about the "stars that fell from the heavens". Being an intelligent man, Reinhardt realized the "stars" were actually extraterrestrials who came to Earth thousands of years earlier; Reinhardt was led to believe that the aliens intended to conquer Earth, but failed.
By 1945, Reinhardt had become the commanding officer of a HYDRA Fortress in Austria. Here he discovered a mysterious item, which he knew as the Obelisk in Chaves, Portugal. Reinhardt soon learned that the Obelisk had the power to kill anyone who came into contact with it and in order to learn more, Reinhardt then ordered his teams to capture a group of people from China who knew of the Obelisk, questioning each of them about what they believed that it was. Reinhardt presented their Obelisk to Red Skull, and was told that the Obelisk may hold the answer to death itself and must be understood so it could be used against the United States Army.[6] Reinhardt and a HYDRA Scientist continually tested the Obelisk's power on various prisoners in order to find the reasons behind these lethal effects, and why these effects differed from person to person, questioning if race, gender or age affected how the victim died but seemingly finding not one factor that had changed its deadly effects. Presenting this Oblisk to one Prisoner, Reinhardt commented on the object's beauty.
Fearing that the United States Army would be capable of finding and capturing him, now that HYDRA's strength had become considerable more weakened in the aftermath of the death of Red Skull, Reinhardt and all his men had then moved towards a more secure location, a HYDRA Research Facility within Austria. The facility housed dozens of artifacts collected by HYDRA over the years, many of them held in boxes marked with the logo of the Deutsches Afrikakorps, where Reinhardt had attempted to continue with his experiments. However, the Allied advance into Austria moved faster than Reinhardt predicted, and he made his plan to escape and to continue HYDRA's work from somewhere safer. However, it was too late when Agent Peggy Carter and the Howling Commandos arrived and arrested Reinhardt before he could continue his progress in understanding more about the Obelisk. He was taken to the Rat, the top-secret SSR facility, to where he would be interrogated by Agent Carter on what he knows.
Decades later, Reinhardt was freed in 1989 by undercover members of HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D., and used organs and DNA from an Inhuman named Jennifer Kim, the daughter of Jiaying, to de-age himself and have a middle-aged appearance into the 21st century. With his freedom and new identity, Daniel Whitehall reclaimed his position in HYDRA, while becoming a mentor to several notable HYDRA operatives, including Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and General Helen Hale. He eventually started the quest to recover the object of his lifelong obsession, the mysterious Obelisk. However, before Whitehall could learn the true power of his obsession, he was shot and killed by Phil Coulson during a S.H.I.E.L.D. attack. While S.H.I.E.L.D. claimed that he had perished, it turns out that he managed to survive his wounds due to enhancing his abilities and went into hiding.
"Welcome to Pieta," Representative Brandt welcomed them with a smile. "Please sit."
Vasili Dassaiev, Thomas Davidson, Dum Dum Dugan, Jacob Fury, Wolfgang von Strucker, and Daniel Whitehall all looked at each other for a moment and they immediately sit themselves down on comfortable soft chairs.
"Let us start one at a time," Representative Lunt suggested.
"Mr. Whitehall," Representative LaPoint responded for Whitehall to speak. "You come all the way from Germany to seek an audience with us. Do you have anything that you wish to say as to why you are here?"
"I was one HYDRA's prominent leaders decades after World War II," Doctor Whitehall explained his story. "My local supporters in HYDRA were helping me uncover a lot of ways on how we can make our organization as proud and stronger than before. One of my interests was Obelisk, which I've learned that it can't kill those who have the DNA of an Inhuman. Those who are not Inhumans would die from Obelisk, but when it was given to me, I wanted to find out more to his potential and eventually everything that HYDRA and I did led us to uncover the whereabouts of an ancient city that belonged to the Inhuman creators known as the Kree. HYDRA failed when S.H.I.E.L.D. interfered with us, but I have a reason as to why I abandoned HYDRA. HYDRA was already failing because of too much resistance from those that continued to cut off every head as two new ones try to grow back. I no longer pledge my oath to HYDRA and that's why I spent all these years trying to find you, so I can be part of this grand society and help you all bring this world to your knees. To our knees."
"I see, Representative McLaughlin told us that you have something to give in exchange for joining our society," Representative Radford said. "Care to tell us?"
"Over ten years ago in Antartica, S.H.I.E.L.D. was once in control of a base until it was abandoned in the aftermath of the uprising," Doctor Whitehall continued to provide something that the society would accept. "There is a fleet of Helicarriers that have not been used yet. Ever since Thanos' genocide, my followers and I spent five years in search for the base until we managed to find it somewhere in the heart of this frozen continent. Baron Strucker and I wish to provide these Helicarriers to you as a gift. We managed to obtain a copy of Arnim Zola's algorithm. With it, we can use it to reestablish Project Insight to eliminate any all who could potentially pose a threat to this society."
"How many of these operational insight helicarriers can you give us to control?" Representative Uvarov asked.
"Thirty-two," Doctor Whitehall answered.
The representatives of the Great Wheel were quite surprised by this and they all started to whisper to each other. Whitehall could tell that they were willing to give him a position.
"Mr. Whitehall, on behalf of the Great Wheel of the Zodiac, we proudly welcome you to our great society," Representative Brandt smiled. "Please, stand and leave the room if you don't mind."
Immediately, two guards come in between Whitehall's seat, ready to escort him out of the room. After Whitehall leaves the room, the eleven representatives begin to ask their next person to be addressed.
"Jacob Fury," Representative McLaughlin said.
"That I am," Jake Fury said.
"Why do you stand in the prescence of a society that is willing to except people like you here?" Representative Uvarov asked.
"I have a reason," Jake Fury sighed.
"And what reason is that exactly?" Representative Brandt asked with a smile. "Apparently, our sources tell us that you are an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., are you not?"
"I was," Jake Fury nodded truthfully to his words. "But I was abandoned and left for dead during a mission years ago. I survived the genocidical Snap and waited for years to make S.H.I.E.L.D. pay for what they did to me."
"Still its not enough," Representative Uvarov added. "You need to provide something if you wish to join our society."
"Do you know of the Infinity Formula?" Jake Fury asked the leaders.
"That we do," Representative Lunt replied.
"I have required four crates filled with these alchemical serums," Jake Fury offered. "In return, I hope this would be enough to provide this as a gift."
The representatives of the Great Wheel started to whisper to each other for a moment, discussing if they would rather accept Jacob Fury to the society or not.
"The council has... accepted your request," Representative McLaughlin answered. "You may depart Mr. Fury."
Jacob nodded and at the moment, he stands himself up from his chair to leave the room at once with two more guards escorting him out. Immediately, the representatives decided to select
"Vasili Dassaiev, ты можешь говорить," (Vasili Dassaiev, you may speak.) Representative Uvarov said to Vasili in russian.
"Я прошел долгий путь, чтобы присоединиться к Великому Колесу Зодиака," (I have come a long way to join the Great Wheel of the Zodiac) Agent Dassaiev responded back in russian.
"Если вы хотите присоединиться к нашему великому обществу, вы должны дать нам что-нибудь взамен," (If you wish to join our great society, you must give us something in return.) Representative Uvarov explained in russian. "Если нет, боюсь, ты не уйдешь из Пьеты ... живой." (If not, I'm afraid you will not leave Pieta... alive.)
Vasili Dassaiev didn't seem to afraid at all of the threat he was given. He wasn't willing to back down, so he kept his cool.
"Я знаю закон общества," (I know of the society's law.) Agent Dassaiev said. "Я обучил группу специально обученных убийц по всему миру. Они служат только мне, но не знают о моей истинной верности. Если вы хотите найти цель, которую нужно уничтожить, я пришлю своих лучших убийц позаботиться об этом. (I have trained a group of special trained assassins around the world. They serve only me, but they don't know of my true allegiance. If you wish to find a target to eliminate, I will send my best assassins to take care of the issue.)
Viktor Uvarov took a moment to decide on this and turned in between the other representatives, who all nodded to agree to this proposal.
"Vasili Dassaiev, Василий Дассаев, от имени Великого Колеса объявляется официальным членом общества. Вы дали нам плату за свою лояльность, и мы принимаем ее," (Vasili Dassaiev, on behalf of the Great Wheel, you are hereby declared an official member of the society. You given us a payment of your loyalty and we accept.) Representative Uvarov openly welcomed him.
Vasili Dassaiev felt a great praise and excitement now. At Uvarov's request, he was next one to leave the room at once. Dum Dum Dugan turns around to watch him leave and then turns to focus on the representatives of the Great Wheel, who now focus on him.
"Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan," Representative McLaughlin said his name out loud.
"I'm usually called Dum Dum," Commander Dugan said. "But you can call me Commander Dugan if you like. I just gotten a promotion."
"Very well then, commander, you've come all the way from your country to seek us out, why, do you have anything that you wish to give in return of your service?" Representative McLaughlin asked.
"I was part of an LMD Project," Commander Dugan explained. "For the abbreviation, Life-Model Decoy."
"And you wish to provide LMDs as a gift?" Representative McLaughlin asked.
"That I do," Commander Dugan nodded. "I want S.H.I.E.L.D. to pay for their betrayal towards me and the rest of friends that died during a secret ops mission decades ago. I want them to answer for this. If there was anything that I would wish to offer, this project would be a great use."
"Very well, Commander," Representative McLaughlin nodded her head in approval. "You have earned a place in the society."
"Didn't expect it to be easy ma'am," Commander Dugan said and rose up to leave the room.
"It wasn't," Representative McLaughlin smirked and then called out the next person. "Mr. Strucker."
"Its Baron Strucker," Baron Strucker corrected.
"Yes, and your full name is Wolfgang von Strucker of the royal Strucker Family that ruled the country of Germany for centuries before World War I," Representative McLaughlin explained. "Apparently, Whitehall mentioned very highly of you and I don't think its wise for us to consider in removing you. As you can see, the Great Wheel has already decided that you shall help provide this experiment that you and Doctor Nikolaus Geist had been working on for almost a decade. Project Death Spore, is it not?"
"It is," Baron Strucker answered. "And it is a perfection."
"Very well," Representative McLaughlin openly spoke out in agreement. "Baron Strucker, the society welcomes you. You may leave now, so we can finish our next invitee."
"Thomas Davidson," Representative Lunt spoke.
"Yes," Agent Davidson said.
"You came a long way from England to find us, so ask us this, why do you wish to join our great society?" Representative Lunt asked.
"I've kept copies of secret information that was kept by the MI6," Agent Davidson explained. "I stored them in my drive and every list will be of great use to help to make this society stronger than ever. I can even hack into every system from all governments around the world."
"We need someone like you that can help the Great Wheel into hacking into other important databases that have been locked away by known organizations, such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D.," Representative McLaughlin said. "Very well, my fellow leaders of the Great Wheel shall have great use for you. Do not disappoint us."
"I will not," Agent Davidson swore his promise.
After the meeting, Darren Bentley, Gustav Brandt, Jacques LaPoint, Marcus Lassiter, Joshua Link, Cornelius van Lunt, Dimitri Kantov, Elaine McLaughlin, Daniel Radford, Viktor Uvarov, Harlan Vargas, and Willard Weir enter another room and circle around a stone plinth that held a palantír. The eleven leaders of the Great Wheel began to chant in the language of Black Speech, forcing the palantír to glow fiery yellow and revealing the eye of Sauron.
"What is it?" Sauron demanded a swift answer.
"My lord, we have a handful of gifts that were given to us," Representative McLaughlin announced the news. "To help make the Great Wheel of the Zodiac stronger than HYDRA. Daniel Whitehall, who was one of HYDRA's former leaders, will provide a fleet of Helicarriers from Antartica once we search for the Cosmic Cube that was buried somewhere on this world. However, we received word from one of our spies that the Cosmic Cube was last seen in England until it was moved."
"And where was the cube sent to?" Sauron asked.
"We believe that the last one is in New York," Representative Link answered. "We don't know why someone would be foolish to let us know of where the cube is. But now that we know, we will send our top agents to claim it?"
"No," Sauron declined the offer. "I will send Exile to claim it while I send the Four Horsemen to oversee Whitehall's operation in Antartica and bringing the fleet into Mordor once all four Cosmic Cubes are brought before me."
"Understood, my lord," Representative Link responded by bowing towards his master.
"Once the One Ring has returned to Mordor in the hands of its bearer, I will then come for my great prize," Sauron explained more of his plan. "We will use the cosmic cubes to take us to the Negative Zone. It contains the ultimate weapon. The Annihilation Wave. With the Annihilation Wave under my grasp, I will turn all worlds to dust and blood, and eliminate all those who robbed me and my master's glory. I will stride across their bones and bask in the glow of the Annihilation Wave, and all of existence shall be mine."
"It shall be so, my lord," Representative Lassiter bowed his head as well in respect.