Captain America (Part 1)

"What exactly is going on here? We haven't even figured it out yet, and now you want to leave? You're just sending me out into the field like this." Inside the car, Melinda looked at Coulson with a questioning expression. Earlier, in front of Shen Fei, she hadn't wanted to undermine Coulson's authority, but now there were no outsiders around.

"Could everything he said actually be true?" Melinda immediately caught on.

"There are some things you don't know. Don't ask. We'll talk after we see the Director." Coulson's words immediately stopped Melinda from pressing further. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s policy was that without a certain clearance level, you couldn't access more intel, even though, technically, Coulson and she were at the same rank now.

Coulson drove the car and soon arrived at a private airfield in New York. There, they boarded a Quinjet and flew toward Washington D.C.

Washington D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion Headquarters.

After getting off the plane, Coulson and Melinda went straight to the Director's office.

"Come in." Hearing Fury's voice, the two walked in immediately. Inside the office, Fury was listening to a report from a beautiful female agent—Maria Hill, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s few elite female operatives and Nick Fury's trusted right hand.

"Mission complete. What's the situation?" Fury naturally knew what Coulson and Melinda's mission was. In his view, it wasn't particularly difficult. If it hadn't involved a superpower incident and connections to the Stark Group and Sherry, he wouldn't have needed to send both of his trusted agents out together.

As for superpowers, what were they? He, Nick Fury, knew Captain Marvel, who could freely traverse the cosmos with his physical body, not to mention the terrifying Flerken he kept by his side.

Magic. After hearing Rebecca's report, Fury, like Coulson, wasn't exactly convinced.

"Well..." Coulson glanced awkwardly at Hill. Even though Hill was already a Level 9 agent, Coulson wasn't sure if this was something she should know. He'd only learned about it because he'd been directly involved.

"I'll step out." Hill nodded to the three of them, picked up her files, and left.

"Go ahead, what's the problem? Did Stark interfere?" After Hill left, Fury leaned back in his chair and smiled. In his view, if anything had gone wrong, the biggest issue would be Stark's involvement.

As for Shen Fei, before Coulson went to see him, they'd already thoroughly studied his file. Overall, he was harmless for now. After all, Shen Fei was a billionaire—nothing like those impoverished people with abilities. He had no need to rob anyone.

Coulson glanced at Melinda before speaking. "Sir, he knows about Planet C-53." Coulson then repeated Shen Fei's earlier words verbatim.

The office immediately fell into silence. Fury's expression showed no change at all—which was only natural, given that he was Black. It had to be said that being Black gave a natural advantage in espionage: reading his face was quite difficult.

Melinda stood to the side with her hands behind her back. From the atmosphere, she could tell something was off.

"I'm stepping out, Hill." After a long moment, Fury sent a message to Hill, then tapped a few spots on his desk. A door slid open on the side, revealing an elevator inside.

"Let's go meet him." Fury stepped into the elevator and gestured for Coulson and Melinda to follow.

In terms of rank, Coulson and Melinda were nowhere near qualified to be involved in this matter. But since they were already in it, and Fury trusted them deeply, it didn't matter.

Rank, clearance—wasn't it all up to him, Fury?

"Back so soon?" Seeing Coulson and Melinda return, Shen Fei looked surprised. He'd expected they might come again, but not this quickly—especially with someone else trailing behind them.

"This is our Director." Coulson introduced Nick Fury to Shen Fei with a respectful tone.

Coulson's respect for Fury had its reasons, even if those reasons were based on his own assumptions. In Coulson's mind, Fury had once been captured and tortured by aliens, losing an eye in the process, yet he'd never revealed a thing.

What Coulson didn't know was that Fury's left eye was just a casual scratch from a certain cat. If it had been an ordinary cat, it wouldn't have been a big deal—but that orange tabby was anything but ordinary.

"Coulson has told me everything. About Planet C-53—what else do you know?" Fury stared at Shen Fei for a long moment before speaking in a low voice.

If it weren't for the fact that the designation "Planet C-53" wasn't common knowledge, Fury wouldn't have come personally. After all, he was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"And what do you know?" Shen Fei countered.

Shen Fei's words made Fury's body stiffen, his eyes involuntarily widening again.

"Humanity can't even leave this planet yet. Knowing too much isn't a good thing." Before Fury could speak, Shen Fei added.

In the Marvel world, black tech abounded, but progress on spaceships had been slow. The farthest humanity had reached was still within the solar system.

Even the exploration of the nearest moon was plagued by frequent failures. But that wasn't the fault of Earth's people. No matter how hard they imagined, they couldn't have guessed that the moon was already claimed—hence the constant malfunctions of lunar probes, and why the astronauts who landed there found nothing.

"You told Coulson that mages are scientists, that Newton and the others were mages. But as far as I know, he changed his faith in his later years." Fury immediately shifted the topic.

"That's the biggest difference between us. You always force your own views onto others. In how we understand this world, we're fundamentally different. Who told you that faith and science are in conflict?"

Shen Fei's words made Fury's face darken. Of course, since it was already dark, there was no visible change.

"Let me give you an example." Shen Fei spoke, and a golden beam of light appeared in his hand. "Our understanding of the world and the universe is like the difference between how ancient people saw lightning and how modern people see it."

Hearing this, Coulson and Melinda's faces also darkened. Wasn't he basically calling them cavemen?

"If you're so powerful, why have we barely heard of you?" Fury, repeatedly telling himself to stay calm, kept his tone steady.

"Because humanity is ignorant." Seeing the three faces darken again, Shen Fei quickly corrected himself. "Of course, I mean before the modern era. You all know about the Middle Ages. So most of the predecessors left this planet. Still, this was their original home, so they occasionally come back to check in and find successors."

"You had the ability to leave this planet back then?" Fury's voice was filled with shock.

"Didn't I already say that?" As Shen Fei spoke, a star map of the solar system appeared before him, then exploded into countless specks of light dancing above the living room.

"Our understanding of the world is different."

"Do you also have the ability to leave this planet?" Fury asked with some curiosity.

"My current strength isn't enough."

Not enough now—meaning it might be enough in the future. Fury and the other two understood the implication.

Of course, all of this was made up by Shen Fei. As for whether it would be exposed later, he didn't care. By then, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't even exist. Even if it was debunked, so what? Besides, he could always explain it away as a different school of magic. After all, they had no way to verify it.

"Can ordinary people learn magic?"

"Of course not. To become a mage, it all depends on talent. Otherwise, the predecessors wouldn't have left—they could have just set up a magic school." Shen Fei shook his head.

This time, Shen Fei wasn't lying. Kamar-Taj's magic, for ordinary people, could at most strengthen the body.

"Then what do you have to say about Planet C-53?"

"A little." Shen Fei raised a finger and wagged it before speaking. "It's not me saying this—it's those predecessors who asked me to pass it along. Tell those idiots constantly blasting signals into outer space to settle down. Do they have any idea how stupid it is to actively broadcast your planet's coordinates in the universe? Are they trying to lure the Ravagers here?"

"What are the Ravagers?"

"A kind of interstellar pirate. People who stop at nothing." Shen Fei's voice turned grim. "And let me tell you something else—the slave trade is thriving out there in the cosmos."

If Earth hadn't been under Asgard's protection, the Ravagers would have shown up long ago.

Don't think just because Star-Lord is a Ravager that they're all decent folk. Star-Lord is an exception. Even Yondu has killed more people than anyone can count.

"I see. Thanks for that." Shen Fei's words only cemented a thought already forming in Fury's mind.

Shen Fei had been misunderstanding one thing all along—he assumed that since Fury was friends with Captain Marvel, he must have deep knowledge of the universe. But the truth was, he was overthinking it.

They were friends, sure, but Captain Marvel was incredibly busy. The Kree Empire was vast and powerful, and she had her hands full. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given Fury an Emergency Pager.

You could tell from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tech level alone. If their connection were really that tight, he could have gotten far more advanced technology from her.

There's no law in this universe protecting low-level civilizations. If you're weak enough, genocide is just another Tuesday.

Some planets with even lower levels of civilization could be wiped out by the Ravagers alone.