Special Unit

Special Unit

"That really is a place that can make people marvel." Nick Fury sighed after listening to Coulson's report, then turned to Hubbs. "So you can communicate with us?"

"Of course. Didn't you understand what I said?" Hubbs rested his head on the floor and replied lazily. "Maybe I should speak Portuguese with you. You might be more familiar with that."

"Do you believe I'd kick you to death?" Nick Fury snapped. Among the first European colonists to reach Africa, the Portuguese were the first to establish the slave trade.

"Tch." Hubbs simply turned his head away, completely ignoring the furious Nick Fury. Coulson, standing nearby, could not have felt more awkward. His superior was actually being provoked beyond endurance by a dog, and that dog had been brought here by him. It looked like his year-end bonus was hopeless.

"All right, Mr. Dog, could you step outside for a moment?" Suppressing his anger, Nick Fury spoke in a relatively even tone. Mr. Dog—why did that sound so ridiculous?

"Why should I go out? It's nice here." Hubbs was lazing around on the floor and clearly had no intention of moving.

A vein popped out on Nick Fury's forehead. At the same time, he silently recited to himself, I'm the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I won't argue with a dog. Only after repeating it three times did he suppress the urge to send Hubbs to a laboratory. "My subordinates and I have some matters to discuss. We need you to excuse yourself."

"Then discuss them. You humans even have to hide when you talk so dogs can't hear?" Hubbs was unimpressed by Nick Fury's excuse.

Nick Fury silently repeated, I'm the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D... But his hand had already unconsciously drifted to the pistol on his thigh.

Just as the epic showdown between the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a Husky was about to begin, Coulson managed to save the situation. "Just go outside for a bit. I'll have Melinda take you to our cafeteria. Maybe you'd like to try a freshly cooked steak."

Hubbs, who had been lying on the ground and prepared to stay put to the bitter end, sprang to his feet at once. "Steak? I want mine medium rare. Is that what you people eat all the time? Does S.H.I.E.L.D. need police dogs? I'm hardworking, experienced, a professional at finding people for thirty years, and I've been biting people for thirty years too."

"All right, go out first. We can talk about the rest later." Coulson could neither laugh nor cry at Hubbs's utterly shameless speech.

Tempted by the steak, Hubbs obediently left. But as he walked away, he kept looking back. "You really won't consider it? I'm telling you, five or six of you might not even be able to beat me. Although the boss won't let me switch jobs, I can work part-time."

A single steak tempted you into this? Did Evenson usually raise you by starving you? Coulson watched Hubbs leave the office, then turned and saw his boss's face as dark as storm clouds. It had already been black, but now it looked as though someone had painted another layer over it. He hurriedly said, "Sir, he was talking nonsense. Don't take it to heart."

"Of course I'm not taking it to heart. It's just..." It was just that even a dog regarded S.H.I.E.L.D. as a part-time job, which was extremely irritating.

"Tell me, after you told that Sorcerer about our suspicions, how did he react?" Given Nick Fury's composure and status, he naturally would not argue with a dog. A moment of irritation was enough; business came first.

"He was somewhat agitated, angry, and impatient." Coulson recalled Evenson's reaction at the time. "He denounced our suspicions as ignorant fear, and mocked me rather harshly."

Naturally, Coulson would not conceal anything for Evenson. After all, they had only met twice, and neither meeting had been particularly pleasant. Then again, even if they had been close, Coulson would probably still have stated the facts plainly—neither embellishing them nor deliberately hiding anything, faithfully carrying out his duty.

"Very good." Unexpectedly, Nick Fury was not angry when he heard that Coulson had been mocked. Instead, he praised him. "Did he show any unease or fear?"

"No. Although he was a little agitated, he remained fairly composed," Coulson answered. "Besides, I don't think he had any reason to feel uneasy."

Calling the grounds for their suspicions of Evenson baseless would not have been an exaggeration. Faced with such an unrealistic accusation, why would he need to feel uneasy or afraid?

That was Coulson's view, but he was taking it somewhat for granted. If an ordinary person were visited by a super-powerful agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. as a suspect, even if they were completely innocent, they would still feel nervous and uneasy. Since Evenson had not shown the slightest unease or fear, it could only mean that he believed he possessed the strength to protect himself to some extent, and that strength gave him confidence. Nick Fury had thought of this, but he did not say it immediately.

"And how was his attitude toward you?" Nick Fury continued, giving several examples. "Arrogant, acting as though he was superior to everyone else? Or ingratiating, servile?"

"Neither." Coulson answered firmly. "He likes to joke around, and sometimes his jokes are rather nasty, but from beginning to end, he communicated with us as equals. He neither thought himself above us nor beneath us."

At that, Nick Fury stopped asking questions and fell silent. After a long while, he finally said, "Very good. That means he has some value. It seems I can add him to the candidate list."

"Candidate list? What candidate list?" Coulson asked without thinking. But when he saw Nick Fury's one eye glance toward him, he realized he might have asked something beyond his authority. "Sorry, sir. I overstepped."

"It's all right. As my most trusted subordinate, and the first agent to make contact with him, you were bound to learn sooner or later." Nick Fury had no intention of blaming Coulson. "I mean the candidate list for a response team."

"I take it this won't be an ordinary response team?" Coulson felt that if one of the candidates was a Sorcerer, then the others would not be ordinary people either.

"Do you know Hulk?" Nick Fury suddenly asked.

"Of course I do. He beat General Ross's army until they were crawling on the ground." Coulson naturally knew of Hulk's fame.

"Yes. General Ross suffered badly at his hands. Conventional weapons were no more effective against him than paper, but fortunately, he didn't seem to have any malicious intentions. He only wanted to escape." At this point, Nick Fury abruptly changed the subject. "But what if another Hulk appears? What if the next Hulk decides the Empire State Building isn't attractive enough and prepares to tear it down? Or thinks the president is no good and wants to throw him out of the White House? How do we respond?"

"The best way to deal with a Nuclear Bomb is another Nuclear Bomb." Nick Fury narrowed his eye. "We need a special unit dedicated to dealing with such highly dangerous superhumans."