Nick Fury's Trump Card

Nick Fury's Trump Card

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Triskelion, Director's Office.

"Carol, how is the preparation for your Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Department coming along?"

Nick Fury smiled as he asked the short-haired woman across from him, who was holding an Orange Cat.

She was one of the few friends he truly trusted, and also his wife Maria's best friend.

Once the ace pilot of the military, she had been preparing S.W.O.R.D., a special department dedicated to dealing with aliens, ever since they had gone through the Kree Invasion Incident together.

This time, she had finally returned from her base in outer space to visit him.

And the Orange Cat in Carol's arms was no ordinary cat, but a Flerken, one of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy. His blind eye had been caused by carelessly getting scratched by one of those Flerkens.

"Things are basically on track. Maria told me you ran into some trouble two years ago. Do you need my help?"

Carol stroked Goose's head, a flicker of concern passing through her eyes.

Nick Fury immediately waved his hand.

"It's a minor issue. I can handle it myself. You should focus on S.W.O.R.D. and the Skrulls. Our greatest enemies are those alien civilizations far more advanced than ours."

In his mind, Earth's problems were never truly serious. Mutants might be powerful, but they were only a small minority. Most of them were no match for his well-trained agents.

What had truly kept him uneasy were those alien civilizations, especially the highly aggressive Kree.

From the intelligence Maria had gathered during her years on Hala, the Kree homeworld, he had deeply felt the power of Kree civilization and the cruelty of the universe. The Kree had destroyed and conquered who knew how many planets with civilizations at Earth's level.

Over the past few years, he had been madly expanding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence in hopes of making it Earth's strongest force, working together with S.W.O.R.D. to prevent any possible future alien invasions.

He had never placed his hopes in those politicians who occupied positions without doing anything, because all they saw were money and profit. They were experts at infighting, but utterly useless when it came time to actually get things done.

"If you need help, you can come to me anytime. Goose and Talos can both lend you a hand."

After chatting with Nick Fury for a while, Carol left S.H.I.E.L.D. with Goose in her arms.

Not long after Carol left, Hill entered with a laptop in her arms.

"Director, these are some images the satellite just captured."

"It's him!"

The image showed Hawking standing atop a tree trunk, flying through the air toward New York City.

After that battle three years ago, Nick Fury had listed Hawking as a key person of interest, second only to Professor X and Magneto, and had been doing his best to gather intelligence on him.

However, all he currently knew was that Hawking had been adopted by a couple during the Sokovia War three years ago, then later came to New York and joined the Mutant School.

Before that, due to the war, no further information could be found.

Over the past three years, through his cooperation with the X-Men, he had gained a deeper understanding of Mutants.

Sometimes, in order to obtain intelligence, he had even staged several crises himself and asked the X-Men for help, all so he could collect more detailed information on every threatening Mutant.

When he had told Carol earlier that he could handle the Mutant issue, he had not been bluffing. He truly believed it was not a major problem.

If an unmanageable conflict really broke out, as long as he was prepared, the advantage would be his.

As for Professor X, a Brainwave Disruptor would prevent him from using his powers. On top of that, someone as idealistic and morally upright as Professor X was easy for him to control by claiming the moral high ground.

Many of his subordinates, like Cyclops, Storm, and Jean, were indeed extremely powerful when unleashing their abilities. But with sufficient preparation, a surprise attack and long-range sniping could take them out before their powers erupted.

The more dangerous ones were Wolverine and Deathstrike. Conventional weapons could not kill them, but there were plenty of ways to trap them.

As for Magneto, he could simply send Captain Marvel to steamroll him. Other than Magneto, there were not many who could fight.

The one who truly threatened him, however, was Hawking, the one capable of Great Ape Transformation. Even now, he had not figured out how many abilities Hawking possessed, where his limits lay, or what his weaknesses were.

He had already been that powerful at twelve. Now, another three years had passed.

The key was that he could not obtain any intelligence on Hawking. The X-Men who had come to cooperate with him kept Hawking's information tightly guarded. He only vaguely knew that Hawking's strength did not seem to be sustainable indefinitely.

Now Hawking had suddenly left the Mutant School and was flying toward New York City in this manner. How could he not be worried?

After thinking for a moment, he immediately picked up his phone and called Professor X.

"Professor Charles, I discovered that Hawking has appeared—"

"Director Fury, rest assured. It's nothing. Little Hawking read some comic books and suddenly felt like using his abilities to help people in need.

He is still a child, after all. You know how it is. He might get tired of it in a few days."

Only after hearing Professor X's explanation from the other end of the line did Nick Fury relax.

If Hawking was merely playing Super Hero and fighting criminals, it was naturally no big deal. At worst, he would damage some public facilities. Nothing serious.

"But this can't go on forever."

After putting down the phone, he turned to Hill and asked,

"How have things been with Magneto recently?"

"According to intelligence sent by our agents embedded in the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto has recruited a Mutant who can sense the level of other Mutants' abilities. He is now using that Mutant to aggressively recruit high-level Mutants."

Agent Hill reported the intelligence she had already prepared, item by item.

Not every Mutant identified so strongly with being a Mutant. Mutants were simply humans with a special X-Gene in their bodies. At their core, they were still human.

And humans had desires and emotions, which meant S.H.I.E.L.D. could recruit them as agents through various methods.

The Brotherhood of Mutants was the sort of organization that accepted any powerful Mutant. Infiltrating it only required showing off one's abilities.

Therefore, Nick Fury had always kept track of the Brotherhood of Mutants' movements.

Professor X's Mutant School, on the other hand, was far more troublesome. First, the school mainly recruited underage Mutants. Second, Professor X's telepathy made it impossible to send anyone in undercover.

He could only obtain information from the X-Men through cooperation.

"This Magneto will definitely cause trouble sooner or later."

After hearing Hill's report, Nick Fury frowned. He knew that Magneto's ideology was a ticking time bomb for humanity, one that could explode at any moment.

"How is the research on the Cure going?"

"There has already been preliminary progress. In blood extracted from Jimmy's body, we found a special gene. It is this gene that allows him to nullify Mutant abilities.

With more time, we may be able to create a special weapon capable of turning Mutants into ordinary people."

Hill swiped on her laptop, and a projection appeared on the wall. The image in that projection was of a bald little boy.

"Very good. As long as we can develop a weapon specifically for Mutants, then Professor X, Magneto, and even Hawking will no longer be problems."

Hearing this good news, Nick Fury's lips slowly curved upward.

This game of three-way restraint was about to end, leaving only one dominant force.