Annie's New Toy

Now Nick Fury couldn't care less about others impeaching him for abusing power and recklessly giving away public property. After all, while S.H.I.E.L.D. looked impressive on the surface, the actual composition of its personnel had already reached an abysmally dire state.

Just how dire? So dire that if someone wanted to overthrow S.H.I.E.L.D., all they'd need to do was swap the eagle emblem at the main entrance for a Hydra one—nothing else would be necessary!

Given Hydra's current level of infiltration, all they'd have to do was suppress a small batch of hardliners loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., and the power transition would go smoothly! The other fence-sitters were nothing to fear! Of course, that assumed the world's major nations wouldn't object.

So Nick Fury no longer cared about Annie blackmailing him for the plane back then. After all, who knew if these things would even still belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future? If Annie wanted that Helicarrier, he might just give it away?

And to cover for Hill's reassignment, he'd deliberately made a big show of forcing the ground crew and designers to work overtime, rushing Annie's new ride into completion. His goal was to create the impression of a muddled, power-abusing Black Charcoal Head director, drawing the attention of those with ill intentions within S.H.I.E.L.D. onto himself.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efficiency was beyond doubt, especially when Director Nick Fury ordered something under the guise of abusing his power. Normally, converting a fighter jet into a civilian aircraft took considerable time—removing combat components, stripping weapons, installing more comfortable interiors and civilian amenities like a living room and small bathroom. All of that required time.

But under Director Nick Fury's relentless pressure, the ground crew and engineers—ostensibly S.H.I.E.L.D. employees but actually Hydra members—managed to cram half a month's worth of work into just three days.

So it was that Coulson and Melinda, amid Annie's cheers, saw a fire-red Quinjet slowly descending onto the lawn outside the villa. Only three days! They couldn't figure out why S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efficiency had suddenly shot up so high.

Was the director really going all out just to please little Annie? To Coulson, this felt very off. After all, the new nickname Annie had given the director was still making the rounds at S.H.I.E.L.D. Given the director's petty nature, shouldn't he have dragged out the conversion for another month or two?

"Honestly, Annie, I still can't believe the director actually gave you a Quinjet just like that..." Standing in the fully renovated cabin, Coulson wore a look of lingering amazement.

As a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he knew full well the Quinjet's value. It was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s exclusive combat aircraft, with manufacturing methods unique to the organization. It could turn invisible and fly underwater or in the stratosphere.

Such critical S.H.I.E.L.D. classified material, and the director just gave it away? Look at what it had been turned into now—a living room with a sofa, a bar with a liquor cabinet, even a small room with a bathroom? By the looks of it, the weapons systems had probably been stripped clean. This plane could never be converted back for military use.

The military had always had their eyes on this type of aircraft, but they'd never managed to get their hands on one!

Rome wasn't built in a day. Why did General Ross always clash with Nick Fury? Because the military wanted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stuff, and Director Nick Fury never gave it! When dealing with the military, Nick Fury was a featherless iron rooster—no way to pluck a single hair!

And now, this Quinjet had been painted fire red on the outside, most of its military equipment stripped from the cabin, and replaced with the luxurious decor Annie liked.

The aircraft's only remaining armament was a retractable multi-barrel Vulcan Cannon in the belly, but its ammo bay had been removed and converted into a flush toilet, so it couldn't fire. However, if someone needed to use the bathroom, they might still manage a "shit from the sky" special bombing run?

Because the rushed workers hadn't installed the necessary waste recycling system! The entire plumbing had only a small collection tank. When the sewage reached a certain level, it would automatically open a tiny hatch and dump it straight into the air! They didn't care what it hit. In their view, birds pooped all the time, so wasn't it normal for a plane to dump some wastewater? As long as it flew high enough, the high-altitude air currents would break it all down! But if it wasn't flying high... ahem!

Watching Melinda in the cockpit debugging the flight system, and Annie eagerly learning to fly alongside her, Coulson sighed again. Power really was a wonderful thing. Turning a fighter into a civilian plane was just a word from the director! It seemed he'd have to keep his feet on the ground, slowly build seniority, and climb the ranks before worrying about anything else.

"Alright! Uncle Coulson, sit tight! We're about to take off!"

Annie sat excitedly in the co-pilot's seat, both hands on the control stick, as Aunt Melinda started the Quinjet's two jet engines and the turbine group began to warm up. She'd roughly learned how to fly the plane—Annie was a genius! Besides, even if something went wrong, wasn't Aunt Melinda in the pilot's seat?

"This... Melinda! Are you sure?" Coulson was a bit horrified, hastily sitting down on a premium sofa and buckling the aviation seatbelt on the cabin wall.

Less than an hour of learning, and they were letting a little girl actually fly such an advanced, precision military aircraft? Coulson wanted to shout at the two crazy women, big and small: Can't you wait a moment, open the hatch, and let me get off first?

"Princess Annie! Takeoff!"

Annie pulled the control stick. The two turbine engines spewed blue flame, and the red-painted Quinjet wobbled up a few dozen meters, then shot sharply toward the sea. It looked like it was about to dive straight under the water!

"Hey!! Watch out!"

Melinda quickly pressed a button on the instrument panel, seized control from Annie's co-pilot seat, and yanked hard on the main control stick, barely leveling the plane's flight path just above the sea surface. While the Quinjet could theoretically travel underwater, you couldn't just slam it into the sea like that! Who knew if there were rocks down there?

That was way too dangerous just now! Melinda decided to take the plane up to high altitude first, then let Annie play. At least up high, there were no obstacles. Even if something went wrong, she'd have enough time to correct Annie's mistakes.

"Quick, quick! Aunt Melinda, give me back control!"

Seeing Melinda level the plane and start accelerating upward, Annie didn't care at all about her own dangerous maneuver just now. She hurriedly urged Melinda to return control! Annie thought this plane was awesome—fast and powerful! She was starting to like this new toy!

"Yay~!!"

"Aha~!!"

Accompanied by Annie's cheerful laughter, above the stratosphere, a red Quinjet suddenly pulled up into a ninety-degree Cobra climb! Then it sharply dove! Then it did a full three-hundred-sixty-degree horizontal roll! Then it cut the engines, restarted, and spun out in a high-speed tailspin.

This string of moves left Melinda in the pilot's seat stunned! If they weren't in the stratosphere with plenty of altitude, she'd have grabbed control long ago. This was way too reckless!

"Jarvis! What was that red thing just now? A plane?"

Tony Stark had just finished his Middle Eastern adventure. After escaping with his life, he'd redesigned and perfected his armor, and not long ago announced to the world that he was Iron Man.

Then he'd built the Mark II and Mark III Iron Man suits, adding the AI Jarvis for assistance. He was now wearing the Mark III, testing his new armor in the stratosphere, when he happened to spot Annie joyriding the Quinjet in the distance.

"Based on the appearance comparison, that is a Quinjet! It belongs to S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Jarvis uploaded a photo of the distant plane and quickly reached a conclusion.

"A S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet? What's it doing here? And why is it painted such a conspicuous red?"

Tony Stark couldn't understand why a combat aircraft would be painted such a flashy color. It wasn't a show plane. With a paint job like that, were they afraid the enemy wouldn't find the target?

"Jarvis, how about we go check it out?"

After thinking it over, the increasingly curious Iron Man Tony decided to investigate. He wanted to see what that red plane was up to. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been getting more and more unreliable lately. When he was captured, they hadn't even come to rescue him! Outrageous! His father Tony had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders!

"As you wish, sir."