At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director Nick Fury had finally been able to relax a little over the past two days. At the moment, he was reclining in his chair, taking a nap.
Recently, one thing after another had kept happening, and the emergency calls had never stopped. He had practically been scared into developing arrhythmia! What if he suddenly dropped dead one day? Wouldn't it be a terrible waste if the glorious seat of S.H.I.E.L.D. director fell into someone else's hands?
So, Nick Fury felt that since things had been quiet lately, it was absolutely necessary for him to get some proper rest and recover his strength! As for work, he could just let the secretary handle it. Wasn't there a saying that made perfect sense? When there was work, let the secretary do it! What was the next line again? Ahem, never mind! He would close his eyes and rest for a while first. Hopefully, no clueless fool would come disturb him?
Nick Fury felt that nearly every troublesome matter lately had been related to that little girl named Annie. Fortunately, she had started going to school properly now and had been unusually quiet for two days. According to reports from Coulson, Melinda, and the others, she had not caused any major disasters. That was good! He was very satisfied!
As for that illegal organization called Kamar-Taj... those lawless bastard sorcerers had left Director Nick Fury feeling somewhat at a loss.
He had sent people to investigate thoroughly, yet they had found nothing! The satellites S.H.I.E.L.D. could deploy had also scanned the entire globe carefully. Aside from uncovering quite a few illegal smuggling bases and letting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s field agents make a small fortune, they had still gained nothing.
Those incompetent subordinates had even reported that an organization called Kamar-Taj simply did not exist! They had searched all of New York, and there was no Sanctum at all! If Nick Fury had not personally met that bald woman called The Ancient One, he might almost have believed them!
It seemed ordinary agents could not be relied upon for work involving these abnormal humans! Therefore, Nick Fury felt it was time to begin establishing a new special affairs unit, one dedicated to handling abnormal incidents!
As for the name of this special affairs unit, it might as well be called: the Avengers! Excellent! The name sounded lofty, grand, and stylish—low-key luxury with hidden depth. For short: the Avengers!
As for the team members, Director Nick Fury already had several suitable candidates in mind. The first was the little girl who was an alien sorcerer—Annie!
After observing her for two or three days, Nick Fury had discovered that the little girl was fairly reliable! Not only was she powerful, she was also easy to fool! After all, she was just a little girl. As long as he coaxed her properly, then threw her into school for a thorough round of indoctrination until she completely integrated into Earth, perhaps she could be put to work for him without concern! She was someone worth cultivating heavily, a super trump card in his hand!
The other was the green giant, Hulk, also known as Bruce Banner! Two days ago, after getting beaten up by that Flame Giant Bear, Tibbers, he had been captured by the military! However, according to his agents, he had successfully escaped from prison again!
Nick Fury thought highly of this big green fellow from head to toe. He possessed immense strength, could take a beating, and could serve as the meat shield and cannon fodder of the special unit! Moreover, he was the kind of cannon fodder that put people at ease, because he was not easy to kill!
The only problem was that Hulk did not seem very willing to obey orders. If that simpleton had been willing to be managed, he might already have held a respectable rank and treatment in the military, right? Since this green blockhead did not belong to the military yet, Nick Fury could confidently start poaching him!
Although Hulk was famously undisciplined and unorganized, that did not matter! Nick Fury believed Hulk would eventually choose S.H.I.E.L.D., because S.H.I.E.L.D. was not the military! The military existed for war, but S.H.I.E.L.D. never participated in wars! Instead, it existed to prevent the world from being destroyed, protect world peace, and uphold the justice of love and truth! Yes, exactly.
What did they think? Now that was a slogan, wasn't it? The director believed that an idiot like Bruce Banner, someone who only knew how to do research and had high IQ but low emotional intelligence, would definitely take the bait! Send someone to sweet-talk him a little, and he would come eagerly to report for duty. Once he joined up, they could properly explain the importance of discipline! If he dared refuse to obey, ahem, where was Annie's Little Bear? There was a green dumpling here that missed him very much!
Mm! Excellent! Perfect! If they added S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existing Natasha and Hawkeye, then the Avengers would have four members! Although the latter two were relatively weaker, their loyalty was unquestionable! Bringing the two of them into the Avengers would help Director Nick Fury maintain control over the team! That was extremely important!
"Oh! Look who it is! General Ross? What a surprise!"
While Nick Fury was plotting his grand plan, he suddenly noticed someone had barged in without announcement. This enraged the director! Which blind fool was this? Had the world gone mad? Only when he opened his eye and looked carefully did he realize it was his old rival—General Ross, that old bastard!
"Come in. So, what wind has blown you here?"
"Hey, Nick, that really hurts my feelings! Can't I come visit an old friend?" General Ross stepped forward and gave Nick Fury a perfunctory hug, then sat down on the sofa.
Walking to his desk, Nick Fury took out a cigar and lit it. He turned to look at his old rival Ross on the sofa, with no intention whatsoever of asking whether he wanted one too. He did not even have his secretary pour tea or coffee. Nick Fury did not believe this bastard had come to visit an old friend. Friend, my ass! Who was friends with him?
"Speak. What do you want?" After taking two puffs of his cigar and flicking away a little ash, Nick Fury looked leisurely at the other man. "That excuse about visiting an old friend isn't convincing."
"..." After staring at Nick Fury for a while, Ross felt that this dark-faced bastard probably would not make this visit go smoothly.
"Fine, I'll be direct: that little girl belongs to you, doesn't she? You know who I mean!" Staring at that single eye, Ross asked cautiously.
"What little girl? I have no idea what you're talking about." Nick Fury turned away and played dumb, continuing to puff on his cigar. He even blew a huge smoke ring.
Ross barely restrained the urge to shoot that black head apart. He felt it would be better to get straight to the point! If he kept wasting words with this dark-faced bastard, his high blood pressure might flare up again.
"Stop pretending, Nick Fury! My men investigated it. Your people are living with that little girl! Let me think... Oh! That's right! Seaside Villa? Julia Academy? Annie Hastur? See? I wasn't wrong, was I?"
"So what? I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to report to your military when we do things." Nick Fury looked coldly at Ross. This bastard had set his sights on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assets more than once or twice! Nick Fury had never let him get his hands on anything, and now he still dared come here?
"Fine! Then let's not talk about that little girl. Let's talk about that Flame Giant Bear!" Ross stood up, walked in front of Nick Fury, and stared at his dark face. "That Flame Giant Bear doesn't belong to S.H.I.E.L.D., does it?"
"And then?" Nick Fury suddenly understood. So this guy had come for that bear?
Tsk, tsk! So that was it. Apparently, having Hulk was not enough for the military—they had now set their sights on Tibbers, the Flame Giant Bear! Since he knew Ross's intentions, Nick Fury had already thought of how to deal with the old man.
How interesting! He had just been thinking about how to poach Hulk, and this bastard had come to poach the Flame Giant Bear from his side? Had they investigated the bear? Did they know the Flame Giant Bear's name was Tibbers? That was Annie's Little Bear! He actually dared reach for him?
"We believe that bear is a massive security risk and extremely dangerous! A monster like that should be managed by the military." That was the purpose of Ross's visit today. The military had long been drooling over the Flame Giant Bear that could defeat two Hulks at once!
After gathering enough evidence and intelligence through their investigation, General Ross had finally come to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters to lay his cards on the table. He was not only directly pressuring Nick Fury; there were other games being played in other areas as well. In short! The military had to obtain that bear—or rather, the method used to create it!
Even now, they believed that bear was likely the product of some special manufacturing method, just like their Hulk! And that was what the military wanted.
"What did I just hear? Is today April Fool's Day? The real security risk is your Hulk, isn't it? Let me count. How many times has he escaped and caused trouble? Twice? Or three times?"
Nick Fury looked at General Ross with contempt, then rudely blew a large cloud of cigar smoke straight into his face. He even maliciously considered taking this bastard to ask Annie for Little Bear himself, just to see whether little Annie would throw a basin-sized Fireball right into his face.
"All I know is that your military's Hulk was the one causing widespread destruction from the start! Slaughtering civilians! Then... our people cleaned up your mess! And the two Hulks locked up in your laboratory were captured with our help, weren't they? So who exactly is the security risk? Oh! Sorry, I almost forgot again. There's only one Hulk left in your laboratory now! That Hulk escaped again, didn't he?"
Here, Nick Fury had deliberately swapped the concept around, making Ross think Annie and that bear belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D., when in fact they did not. Annie was, at most, a guest of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Of course, Nick Fury would never tell him that. He would let Ross keep misunderstanding.
"So S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't intend to cooperate?" General Ross's face darkened slightly. It seemed he had come for nothing again today. Although he had already known he might return empty-handed, he still could not swallow this anger when it came down to it!
"Hill, show our guest out!"
Agent Hill, who had been waiting respectfully outside the door, entered at the right moment and gestured for General Ross to leave.
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