Urgency (Part Thirteen)

"Check his accounts! Yes, audit him. Audit the bastard into the ground!"

President Ellis heard the suggestion and slapped the desk again, his face lighting up with almost childlike delight.

His years as president had been miserable. Natural disasters, man-made catastrophes, and supernatural incidents had come one after another. The economy refused to pick up, his approval ratings had plunged like a roller coaster, and he had reaped little reward while taking the blame for everything. Online, people tore him to shreds.

His life was bitter enough already.

Now Ross was telling him there was a legal but exquisitely tormenting way to deal with Nick Fury, a man who had long rubbed him the wrong way. The satisfaction was hard to put into words.

"That's what we should do. Let him see what it's like to be harassed to death. We'll see if he dares act so arrogant again—" Ellis said bitterly, as though he could already picture Fury buried under tax documents.

"There is one thing, though—" Ross changed tack, sounding troubled. "Mr. President, there's still a difficult problem with this plan."

Still riding his excitement, Ellis immediately asked, "What problem? Funding? Authorization from Congress? Or resistance from the Security Council?"

"No. We can overcome those external obstacles in time." Ross shook his head, frowning slightly. "The problem is the person. I haven't found anyone fully suited to the key role in our plan: someone who can enter S.H.I.E.L.D. as deputy director and shoulder the responsibility of checking and overseeing Nick Fury."

Seeing Ellis's puzzled look, Ross explained, "The choice is critical. We can't simply appoint some bureaucrat. Someone like that would never gain a foothold in an organization as unusual as S.H.I.E.L.D., let alone keep Fury in check."

"He needs several qualities. First, he must have the resolve