The "Three-Monster Tournament," which had raged across several New York streets for nearly an hour, had finally come to an end. The toy Flame Giant Bear, Tibbers, had clearly emerged victorious, taking on both opponents at once and scoring a double kill.
New Yorkers had also gotten to watch an astonishing monster battle for free. Aside from the unlucky souls who had lost their lives, the survivors would have plenty to talk about over dinner for a long time to come.
It wasn't until a little girl in a red dress climbed onto the shoulder of the still-burning Furbolg toy and left that General Ross, his soldiers, and the police dared approach the battlefield.
Seeing the two Hulks lying in the still-burning crater, Bruce Banner's girlfriend, Betty Ross, hurried down to check on Hulk's condition. Fortunately, the Hulk really was strong. Even after being attacked by such a powerful and terrifying monster, he hadn't died. Aside from countless scratches and burns, he was merely unconscious and exhausted.
"General! Should we send someone to stop that little girl?" one of Ross's subordinate officers asked.
General Ross glanced at the two Hulks in the crater, then at the Flame Giant Bear walking away in the distance with the little girl sitting on its shoulder. He remained silent for a long while...
With no idea what they were dealing with, he didn't dare send anyone to stop them. His instincts told him not to provoke the girl lightly. They couldn't even handle the two Hulks here, let alone the Flame Giant Bear that had just made short work of them both!
As for the major who had just suggested stopping the girl, Ross decided he would send that idiot to the front lines in Africa as soon as this was over.
What a fool! Wasn't Ross already dealing with enough trouble? Or did the man have designs on his position as general and want to take him down? If so, he could go get some training on the front lines—wherever it was most dangerous. If he was still alive in a few years, Ross would consider promoting him.
"Take them both away!"
General Ross waved his hand. Soldiers went down to tie up the two Hulks, bundle them up, and haul them onto a large transport helicopter.
Looking at the wreckage all around him, General Ross thought he might need to spend some time figuring out how to handle the aftermath. He hoped the council and the military brass wouldn't give him too hard a time.
That evening, at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
Coulson stood in front of the director's desk, looking a little awkwardly at Nick Fury, whose expression was less than friendly. The veins on the Black director's forehead stood out ominously. It seemed the director wasn't in a very good mood.
"If I remember correctly, it's almost time to clock out." Nick Fury glanced at the mission report in Coulson's hand, assuming he'd completed his assignment and come to report. He was already feeling a little impatient.
"You can file the mission report. If I have time, I'll look it over." Director Fury was busy. If every mission needed to be reported to him personally, what was the point of having so many people at S.H.I.E.L.D.? Decoration?
"Uh, Director, I think you'd better take a look at this first..." Ignoring the director's sour expression, Coulson pressed the remote for the office's multimedia player and opened the video he and Melinda had just uploaded. Then he started it from the beginning.
Nick Fury shot Coulson an irritated look, then turned toward the screen with a frown. One Hulk was rampaging, then another Hulk appeared, and the two started brawling... They wrecked the streets, and quite a few people died as a result.
Nick Fury remembered that the green thing was part of his old rival General Ross's project. Good! That old bastard was always working against S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury had never liked him. Seeing his rival's project run into serious trouble was certainly satisfying.
But that wasn't a reason to intrude on his time off. Since when had S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had so much free time that they could gloat over someone else's misfortune instead of doing their own jobs?
"Coulson! I remember your assignment wasn't this, was it?"
Nick Fury turned to look at Coulson. He'd sent him and Melinda to deal with that Mutant girl. And what had Coulson done? Gone to watch two Hulks fight, then come to butter him up? For the first time, Nick Fury thought S.H.I.E.L.D. ought to have a demotion system for agents who didn't do their jobs.
"Director, if you keep watching, you'll understand." Coulson shrugged, indicating that the director should let the video play.
If Coulson hadn't always been one of his most reliable agents, with an excellent track record, Nick Fury swore he would have kicked him out of the office. The director was a busy man!
Just as Director Fury was growing thoroughly impatient, the footage took a turn. A Flame Giant Bear (a teddy bear?) dropped from the sky and began trading blows with the two Hulks. The crashing sounds, visuals, and fire effects were worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster!
The footage was choppy and lasted for nearly half an hour. Some clips came from surveillance cameras on nearby streets, others from live television broadcasts, and still others had probably been filmed by Coulson and Melinda at the scene. Director Fury spotted the two of them in the video.
What amazed Nick Fury most was that after more than half an hour of fighting, the two Hulks had actually lost to the Flame Giant Bear. The bear had pinned them in a crater and roasted and beaten them senseless! That was unusual. He knew how powerful Hulk was, so how had a fire monster suddenly appeared that was even stronger than a Hulk? And one that both Hulks together couldn't defeat?
Nick Fury fell silent for a moment. He needed to think and take in all this information. The video continued, ending with the little girl climbing onto the bear's shoulder and leaving, followed by General Ross and his troops arriving to deal with the aftermath.
The video ended, but Nick Fury still found it hard to believe. Where had that Flame Giant Bear come from? He knew the Hulk's combat capabilities. It was General Ross's project, one that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been watching closely. A single Hulk was terrifying enough, and the combined strength of two Hulks was definitely more than the sum of its parts. But what had he just seen? Two Hulks beaten into helplessness by a Flame Giant Bear?
Wait, that bear... No, something was off! The little girl sitting on the Flame Giant Bear's shoulder looked familiar. Nick Fury hurriedly picked up the remote, rewound the footage, and paused it. The screen showed the final moment, when the little girl climbed onto the bear's shoulder and left.
"What exactly is going on? That fire bear? And that little girl?" Nick Fury gathered his thoughts and began to see the heart of the matter clearly. Now he understood why Coulson had come to brief him at this hour.
"Uh, it's a long story..." Coulson gathered his thoughts and gave a complete report, starting with the order to make contact with the little girl and continuing through the Flame Giant Bear taking down both Hulks.
Nick Fury leaned back in his chair and rubbed his shiny head with a pained expression. This had gone well beyond what he'd expected!
A little girl who'd seemed like an ordinary Mutant was actually this powerful? And it seemed she wasn't a Mutant at all. She was an alien, from the Valoran Continent, and belonged to some organization called the Gray Order? Her father was apparently an even more impressive figure, a Mystic Warlock named Gregori Hastur. Her mother was a Shadow Witch named Amoline. They were the leaders of this group of mages called the Gray Order?
All right, this was a big deal! Nick needed time to carefully sort through his thoughts again. If he hadn't seen the video and witnessed the magical, powerful Flame Giant Bear, Nick Fury might have thought Coulson was playing an international prank on him!
"Leave the file here. You're done with it. I'll take over from here, understood?"
"Understood!" Coulson handed the file to the director. The fact that the director was taking over meant the matter was at least classified at the top-secret, Level Ten clearance level. Coulson would have to keep quiet—and, if necessary, forget all about it.
"What about our follow-up assignment?"
At this point, Nick Fury's first thought was that this had to be kept absolutely secret. S.H.I.E.L.D. absolutely couldn't deal with the little girl the way it dealt with ordinary Mutants. Otherwise, they'd be in serious trouble—huge trouble. They might even provoke a war between the Gray Order mages and S.H.I.E.L.D.
It didn't take much thought to figure that out! If they captured someone's daughter and locked her away in a cryogenic prison, would her parents just let it go? If they were ordinary people, perhaps they'd have no choice but to put up with it. But were these people ordinary? Just look at their titles: Mystic Warlock? Shadow Witch? It was obvious those weren't titles ordinary civilians could have, wasn't it?
Director Nick Fury believed that if the Agency of Galactic Idiots really did something reckless, they might accidentally start an interplanetary war between Earth and another planet—Valoran? Then S.H.I.E.L.D. would go down in history as the culprit!
"How about this: the little girl's name is Annie, right? You and Melinda should continue staying in contact with her."
Since things had reached this point, Director Nick Fury thought it was better for as few people as possible to know. In that case, it made sense to let the same two people handle it. As the thought occurred to him, Nick Fury came up with a plan.
"Your next assignment is to keep her calm as best you can! Keep her happy! Do everything possible to stop her from doing anything rash! Understood?"
"Yes, Director! We'll do everything we can. But, as you know..." Coulson didn't dare make an absolute promise. The girl might be small, but everyone had seen her combat strength and destructive power. Aside from setting fire to three rotten-to-the-core thugs, she hadn't shown off many extraordinary powers. But her pet teddy bear's strength had already gone off the charts. Even two Hulks couldn't beat it!
"That'll do. S.H.I.E.L.D. will allocate resources to support you. You can go." Nick Fury waved him away tiredly. He hated feeling like things were beyond his control, but for now, it seemed they had no choice but to handle the situation this way.
What else could he do? He couldn't capture the little girl, and he didn't dare fight her! Other than assigning someone to watch her around the clock and keep her happy like a babysitter, what options did he have? The world had been getting more and more chaotic lately. It wasn't just the endless stream of Mutants with strange abilities—even aliens were starting to show up on Earth!
Director Nick Fury felt that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s field agents were becoming less and less capable of handling these unusual situations. Perhaps it was time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to bolster its forces—with some extraordinary power. Maybe he really did need to start planning sooner rather than later!
"By the way! Where's Agent Melinda? Why didn't she come back with you?" Seeing Coulson report to him alone, Nick Fury had known all along that something seemed to be missing. Now he finally realized what it was: a person. Melinda was missing!
"Well... I had her stay with the little girl. You know we can't just let her wander around wherever she wants."
Coulson wasn't about to tell Director Nick Fury that he'd badly offended that teddy bear named Tibbers, and, to keep it from biting his head off, he'd come back alone under the pretext of reporting on the mission so he could lie low!
Before you continue