Inside the director's office at the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. branch.
Nick Fury sat behind his desk, his brow tightly furrowed and his gaze filled with deep concern.
Recently, the situation with the Skrulls had grown increasingly tense.
Judging from various clues, those aliens seemed to have quietly begun some kind of operation.
But Fury still did not know exactly what those aliens intended to do.
And at such a troubled time, all kinds of supernatural incidents kept cropping up, leaving him overwhelmed and run ragged.
First, Hell's Kitchen had inexplicably suffered a demon invasion. Then, Thor had appeared in New Mexico.
Yet what unsettled him most was that even S.H.I.E.L.D. itself seemed to be gradually slipping beyond his control.
It had all started because Captain America, Steve, had asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to help search for a mysterious man.
Out of curiosity, Nick Fury had used his private intelligence channels to conduct an in-depth investigation.
Based on the footage broadcast by television stations at the time, that mysterious man was highly likely to be Steve's wartime comrade—Bucky Barnes.
Following that lead, Fury discovered that a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. database actually contained information on Bucky.
It was a hidden file with a classification level as high as ten, extremely confidential.
It would only appear when Bucky Barnes's name was searched directly.
Even with Fury's authority as director, he would never have discovered its existence without searching that specific name.
Fury leaned closer to the screen, letting the scanner scan his iris as he spoke.
"Unlock the file archive."
The cold electronic system voice sounded without emotion. "Access denied. Insufficient authorization."
Fury frowned slightly and raised his voice.
"Director-level override. Nicholas Joseph Fury."
The electronic voice remained merciless. "Access denied. Insufficient authorization. Archive locked."
Fury could not help growing angry. "Who authorized it?"
The electronic