An Assessment of He-El

Washington.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.

Triskelion.

In the bright, airy director's office, Nick Fury sat in his office chair wearing a black leather trench coat. His elbows rested on the clear, gleaming desk, his fingers interlocked before the bridge of his nose, revealing his one eye, deeply alert to a looming crisis.

Just moments ago, after reviewing a series of files concerning He-El, Thor, the Destroyer, the Rainbow Bridge, and more, he had archived them and classified them as top secret. Then he checked on the progress of Project Insight.

But he unexpectedly discovered that some files were beyond his authority to view. Even with Level Ten clearance, he could not access them.

That should have been impossible. Level Ten was the highest clearance within S.H.I.E.L.D. Aside from the president, only he, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., possessed it.

Why were there files that even he could not see?

"Someone has higher clearance than me."

Nick Fury's heart tightened as he vaguely sensed something abnormal within S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was as if another giant hand existed within S.H.I.E.L.D., carrying out its own purposes through Fury's actions.

"Project Insight!"

A bolt of lightning seemed to flash through Nick Fury's mind. He immediately realized there had to be a problem with Project Insight. Otherwise, there would not be top-secret files beyond even his clearance.

Project Insight was a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation that used Helicarriers linked to tracking satellites. Through big-data calculations, the satellites would read a target's DNA, identify criminals in advance, and eliminate threats before they could emerge.

The project had originated from a casual conversation between Alexander Pierce and Nick Fury, after which Fury had begun putting it into action.

Because it required an enormous amount of funding, the project had actually remained little more than a prototype. It had not even been called Project