A crow.
Shadow Crow.
Kingpin's ace assassin squad.
Fury flipped to the second page of the report.
The informant had mentioned another detail.
The clinic's doors and windows had looked completely intact the next morning. The steps outside had been scrubbed clean, and it had opened on time as usual, as though nothing had happened the night before.
"Six elite Bullseye-type assassins. All subdued by one person." Fury did not sound surprised, but he spoke half a beat slower than usual.
"No call for backup, no police report. The scene was cleaned up so thoroughly that there was barely a trace left."
He set down the report and picked up the second file.
He had asked the analysis department to prepare it three days ago. Its title read: <Analysis of the Correlation Between Target "Lynn's" Ability Growth and His Treatment Subjects>.
The analysis department's conclusions filled four full pages.
The core finding could be summarized in a single sentence: after treating certain individuals, Lynn's observable physical attributes and cognitive abilities showed significant improvement, and the direction of those improvements closely matched the known abilities of the people he had treated.
Fury turned to the timeline chart on the final page.
After treating the Punisher—abnormal recovery speed.
After treating Luke Cage—suspected acquisition of enhanced durability.
After treating Jessica Jones—significant increase in strength.
After treating Black Widow—demonstrated professional combat skills.
After treating Captain America—comprehensive physical abilities surged across the board.
Each dotted line connected to an arrow pointing from a "treatment event" to an "ability growth point."
Together, the arrows formed a steep upward curve.
Fury stared at that curve for ten seconds.
Then he opened Lynn's electronic file.
There had originally been two assessment notes on the page. The first, written earliest, read: "High-value cooperative asset." The second, added after Black