The Fury Had Enough?

[S.H.I.E.L.D. temporary office]

Nick Fury glared at the formal notice from the Security Council on his screen. His one good eye looked ready to spit fire.

He smashed the glass in his hand and forced out the words through clenched teeth. "Deputy director? Supervise me? Keep me in check?"

"Those damn bureaucrats sit in offices all day discussing the fate of the world. Do they think this is some kind of game?!"

"And Matthew Ellis, that brainless idiot! How did he ever get elected president? That bastard Ross sold him out, and he's still counting Ross's money for him—"

Nick Fury knew that, on the surface, President Matthew Ellis was taking advantage of the crisis, using the Security Council's attempt to shift blame as an opportunity to seize control of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But Ross was behind it. Carl Mala might even have given the order—

Yet even if Fury believed he had seen through the whole scheme, his position was dire.

Alexander Pierce had used him, and Ultron had gone out of control. Neither was directly his doing, but he was responsible for failing to prevent them.

The accidental H-bomb launch in Mexico City was a stain he could never wash away.

Worse, Alexander Pierce, his greatest protector, was gone. Nick Fury stood alone, and no one at the top of the Security Council cared about his objections anymore.

And with public anger surging and political groups eager for a scapegoat while grabbing more power, what would resistance accomplish?

Openly oppose the Security Council's decision?

That would hand the politicians the perfect excuse to remove him at once, or even dissolve S.H.I.E.L.D.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was the work of half his life, an indispensable force for protecting Earth.

He could not let S.H.I.E.L.D. be destroyed on his watch.

But accepting it—

That meant