Negotiation

However, he was not so easily fooled by Daisy. After privately calculating what he considered a reasonable amount, he handed her a bank card. "Remember, this is coming out of my own pocket. It has nothing to do with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Daisy hurriedly nodded and accepted the card.

Once the conversation was over, Fury pulled open the car door and drove away.

Watching his figure vanish into the night, Daisy scoffed to herself. Out of his own pocket? Who would believe that? S.H.I.E.L.D. had established over a hundred secret bases around the world under the jurisdiction of the Council.

But beyond that, Nick Fury had personally established numerous safe houses across the globe. In the chain of events that followed, some were taken over by the government, some were breached by Hydra, and some self-destructed. By conservative estimates, there were at least thirty of them!

His safe houses were not some one-bedroom apartments. They had missile silos, helipads, all kinds of training facilities, and fully stocked weapons and ammunition. They were blast-proof, gas-proof, and protected against all sorts of threats. They were called safe houses, but they were really military bases.

He had secretly built over thirty military bases. Where did a Director living on a salary get that much money?

The facts proved that Nick Fury was the number one embezzler of public funds in the Marvel world! There had been no one like him before, and there would be no one like him after. Even Hydra, which specialized in poaching resources, could not dig as ruthlessly as he did, even with all its Leaders working together. The World Security Council had good reason to be dissatisfied with Fury and want to replace him. His spending was simply too enormous—so enormous that several member states were finding it difficult to bear.

No one knew how many contingencies he had prepared. Even against the few subordinates he trusted most, he remained on guard.

The conversation never mentioned her powers from beginning to end. Daisy could only prepare for the worst and assume that Fury knew she had powers. The reason he did not say anything was probably because he wanted to turn it into a secret known only to himself.

Daisy could, of course, choose to kill him and silence him. But she was not confident of succeeding. Nick Fury was not some useless movie version of himself. As a member of the Nova Corps and Zodiac, he had survived countless open attacks and covert schemes. He definitely had plenty of hidden cards up his sleeve. If she failed to kill him and he escaped, the consequences would be endless.

There was no need for Daisy to do that. Taking a little of his money would make their relationship more harmonious—at least, that was what she thought.

She quickly checked the balance. There were fifty thousand dollars on the card, enough to ease her financial crisis for the time being.

She did not immediately head to S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Instead, the next day, she gathered several of her people to discuss how to market their big data services.

James Wesley had ultimately not resisted the recruitment and had joined them. Ordinary high school dropouts did not interest him, but powered individuals were different. That had been an important factor in his decision. Deep down, he still believed in the gangster creed that strength commanded respect.

The gang strategist James Wesley would handle company operations, the exceptionally patient techie David Lieberman would provide technical support, and Miss Matsumoto, who had nearly become an untouchable legal consultant, completed Daisy's current inner circle.

Their lineup looked rather weak, but all three would achieve quite a lot in the future. James was Kingpin's right-hand man in controlling his underworld empire. David would become the NSA investigator Microchip. Miss Matsumoto would become the cold-blooded assassin Bullseye. All of them had great potential.

As long as Daisy integrated their abilities, getting into the Fortune 500 would not be a problem.

"Everyone, I pulled in another no-strings-attached sponsorship last night—fifty thousand dollars. I've already transferred it into the company account. Our big data analysis development stage is complete. What do you think about the next phase?" As the boss, with the company nearly unable to stay afloat, she could only painfully transfer the money into its account.

As Daisy's "retainer," Miss Matsumoto was the first to speak. It was clear that she had been thinking about this question for several days. "We don't have much of a reputation yet. Should we start by promoting our services to small and medium-sized businesses? The income may be lower, but if we build a good reputation, business will keep coming afterward."

Having been a lawyer back in Japan, Miss Matsumoto had now emerged from that nightmare environment. Aside from getting a little excited whenever she saw Daisy, she had returned to normal in everyday life.

She spoke very logically, though a few of her word choices were not quite appropriate, so she repeated herself in Japanese.

After spending several days with her, Daisy could barely understand a few Japanese phrases. James Wesley had been able to forge a grand alliance among New York's underworld, and he was fluent in several languages, including Chinese, Japanese, English, and Russian.

After hearing Miss Matsumoto, he gave a disdainful sneer and replied in Japanese, "Why bother paying attention to those small companies? If we're doing this, we should work with major corporations."

His contemptuous attitude provoked Miss Matsumoto. With a swish, the maid pulled a dagger from her backpack.

The move gave James quite a fright, and he hurriedly turned to look at Daisy.

Daisy found it rather amusing. After several days of training, Miss Matsumoto's sharp edge had begun to emerge. Even if she never reached Bullseye's level in the future, she would not become some helpless woman.

"It's fine, it's fine. Let's have a harmonious discussion. Maki is a very gentle girl." She tried to smooth things over and had Miss Matsumoto put the dagger away.

Miss Matsumoto immediately changed her expression, bowed politely and humbly, and apologized to James and the equally frightened David. Only then did the little incident pass.

Daisy pondered for a moment. From the bottom of her heart, she also wanted to make money from major corporations—to become famous overnight, then have orders and money pour in without end. That was what suited the efficient workings of modern society. The Japanese approach of building a reputation and winning repeat customers did not entirely apply in rapidly developing New York.

Still, a reputation was not unnecessary. Everyone knew what major corporations were like: arrogant, overbearing, and impossible to deal with. Their doors were hard to enter, and their faces were unpleasant to look at.

A female high school dropout, a gang adviser, a patient shut-in, and an untouchable Japanese woman—none of them were important people. Expecting a major corporation to receive them with high-level courtesy was nothing but a dream.

Dr. Killian, the major villain from Iron Man 3, had initially been stood up by Stark and left alone on a rooftop all night. That was proof enough.

Their group was not even as impressive as his. At least he had been a doctor qualified to attend the New Millennium Conference, not some nobody.

Their only advantage was that they were rather attractive. Even in this era, looks still mattered.

She asked the gang strategist, "Mr. Wesley, do you have any connections we can use?"

He looked at her. "If I had connections, would I need to come to you?"

Daisy was speechless. It seemed that Kingpin was indeed not doing very well at present. His main assistant did not even have any connections.

When Kingpin became New York's underground emperor, James Wesley, as his public representative, would not even need an appointment to meet major corporate leaders like Obadiah or Norman Osborn. He could simply push open the door and walk in.

Now, she could only think of another way.