"How's the situation?"
"Dr. Richards has left his laboratory and is heading toward Chinatown."
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had been monitoring Reed Richards's movements reported to Nick Fury.
"Have Coulson's team on standby in Chinatown keep a close eye on Kraft's home and laboratory, and report developments to me in real time."
Nick Fury's lips curved slightly. The Fantastic Four had finally started moving according to his plan. All he needed to do now was seize the right opportunity to intervene in their conflict, and he was bound to gain something.
"But sir, Kraft hasn't left his home. Why do we need to monitor his laboratory too?"
Nick Fury frowned at his subordinate's question. The purge of Hydra had left S.H.I.E.L.D. severely understaffed, so they had recruited quite a few low-level agents during this period.
They were barely adequate at straightforward tasks, but they sorely lacked experience, and their brains weren't exactly up to scratch either.
Still, Nick Fury patiently explained. Even the most seasoned agents had started as rookies, after all. With S.H.I.E.L.D. short on personnel, he could only train them gradually.
"Although we don't have conclusive evidence, Kraft probably has teleportation and cloaking technology. That means he may have moved to his laboratory without our knowledge. Otherwise, we can't explain why we never saw Kraft transport Johnny Storm out of there."
"I see."
Understanding dawned on the agent, who looked at Nick Fury with such reverence that Fury felt thoroughly embarrassed.
It was like a college student explaining addition and subtraction with numbers under ten, then being worshipped by an elementary school kid. There was absolutely no sense of accomplishment in that!
"Ahem!" Nick Fury cleared his throat and ordered the agent, "If Dr. Richards fails to find anyone at Kraft's home and starts wrecking things out of