Pretty Good Powers of Observation

At eight that evening, after settling the matter in Hell's Kitchen, Jack went to Deputy Director Hill to report the results of that day's anti-crime operation in Hell's Kitchen.

"Hmm... you've only just taken office, and with your first blaze, you burned to death more than a dozen DEA agents and three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. This casualty rate ranks among the highest in all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s past operations."

"You... next time, you'd better get the intelligence first before doing something like this. Understood?"

As deputy director, Hill flipped through the report in her hands while criticizing Jack's rash actions, but there was not much in her words meant to discourage his initiative.

Before headquarters had even decided whether to assign New York City any missions, Jack had been deputy director for less than twenty-four hours and was already willing to take the initiative to find work for himself, going straight for a tough bone like Hell's Kitchen. How could Hill stop him?

It was just that the casualty report looked a little ugly.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was indeed wealthy and powerful, but... agents were not so easy to train, especially field agents. They usually needed military experience and had to pass qualification reviews and other procedures before entering the candidate pool.

So, criticism was still necessary. She could not indulge Jack's habit.

"Fine. Go find Natasha in a moment. For the next week, follow her and properly make up for the basic agent course of gathering intelligence."

"If you can't get it down within a week, then you won't come back until Natasha gives the nod."

Jack: "..."

Deputy Director Hill's words made Jack feel the deep malice coming from her.

He was supposed to study intelligence gathering under Black Widow, and he could only be free of this once she decided he had graduated.

Were you kidding him?

Black Widow had been a spy longer than the combined physical ages of his bodies across two worlds. He was supposed to learn intelligence gathering from her?

Were you sure you weren't trying to put him on the bench for years?

So Jack chose to refuse.

Then he was invited out of the deputy director's office by Fury's classic line.

"Dismissed!"

Back in the corridor, Jack silently stared at Hill's tightly shut office door. The habits left behind by this body were truly making him want to cry.

The body's previous owner had been a standard soldier who obeyed orders. Even after Jack's soul replaced his, that deeply ingrained habit still lingered in the body.

It meant that whenever Jack heard the word "dismissed," he instinctively obeyed the order.

Jack himself... had considered changing the habit, but given that he was in a place packed with agents, he had no choice but to let it go.

Don't be fooled by the harmonious atmosphere within S.H.I.E.L.D. In reality, everyone was watching and guarding against one another.

Feeling somewhat dejected, Jack took the elevator back to his office. Before going home, he still had to finish his report.

When he pushed open the door, Black Widow was sitting in his office chair. This red rose, famed throughout the agency for her beauty yet covered in thorns, was looking at Jack with an ambiguous gaze.

"Seriously? I was only planning to finish my report and go home. Now you're pulling this on me?"

Jack knew this was a test and that he had no right to refuse, so he walked over and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.

After staring into Black Widow's eyes for a minute, Jack took a deep breath and slowly said, "Your perfume isn't from a common high-end brand. Its quality falls somewhere between mid-range and low-end. No... it's orchid fragrance... noble, quiet..."

"Makeup that isn't seductive and softens your aggressiveness, making men more likely to feel protective. Lipstick close to the color of your lips."

"A fitted short-sleeved shirt. Instead of a black short skirt and stockings, you chose black trousers. You want to make yourself seem more conservative."

"Fury gave you a mission to infiltrate the side of a certain man, didn't he?"

By the time Jack reached this point, Black Widow was already a little surprised. She had thought Hill had saddled her with a useless young rookie, but Jack's observational skills were far better than she had imagined.

If he had such powers of observation, why had Jack made that mistake?

"Tony Stark, right?"

"Not bad. I think Hill arranging for me to train you is really a waste of both our time. You just need a little more sense of the bigger picture."

When Jack said Tony's name, Black Widow knew he did not need her guidance at all. She stood up and walked toward the door, leaving behind a sentence that gave Jack much to ponder.

"Perform well. Director Fury has high hopes for you, so in the future, either you'll be tortured until you wash out, or you'll become what Fury hopes you will."

Jack: "Are you implying that Fury intends to entrust me with an important position...?"

Once the door closed, Jack returned to his office chair, turned on the computer, and began rushing to finish today's operation report.

Fairly adept at paperwork, Jack typed on the keyboard while considering how to make up the remaining 1.6 million Evil Points over the next two weeks.

Although Jack knew he had to do some bad things, if he was really asked to pick up a blade and become a midnight butcher, slaughtering people indiscriminately in the streets regardless of age or gender, he did not think he could bring himself to do it.

One reason was that a villain's style determined his standing.

Look at Thanos. With one line about needing to kill half the people in the universe to preserve its balance, everyone immediately felt that this villain had class, vision, and taste.

Then look at those low-tier villains, like Hydra. They spent every day thinking about conquering the world on this little patch of Earth. If you shouted that your journey was toward the stars and the sea, do you believe you could recruit hundreds of thousands of heroes from every corner in a single day, all bringing their own provisions?

With that many people, wouldn't they hang S.H.I.E.L.D. up and beat it senseless?

So Jack felt that he needed to become a villain with standing, taste, and lofty ambitions. He could not be like those street punks, doing bad things to low-level people every day.

Put simply, what profit was there in grinding small mobs every day? He should go straight for epic-level dungeons.

The equipment dropped by major powers was all top-tier stuff that money could not buy.

"So, I need to clarify my target..."

"For these two weeks, I'll work alone, and I can only target major powers. But I fucking can't hurt them, because killing bad guys will make me lose Evil Points..."

"What a headache..."

"Forget it. I'll arrange a meeting with Kingpin tonight. I have Flash anyway. If things go wrong, I'll just Flash away."

"I wonder whether he'll do something bad after I egg him on."