Let's Talk

After letting Daredevil spend the night recovering at the clinic, Jack headed to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters. It was already past ten at night, and his return to the office at this hour naturally caught the attention of the guards inside.

"Level Six Agent Jack, why are you back at this hour?"

"Oh, I came to see Agent Romanoff."

"Uh, sorry, she isn't here."

"What about Hawkeye?"

"Not here either."

"Coulson?"

"Also absent."

"Hill?"

"You can call the Deputy Director's office and ask whether you may visit."

After receiving the number from the guard, Jack went outside the building. Looking at the phone number on the slip of paper, he thought about the recent series of events—especially how even Hill's office had been relocated within a single day.

It proved that Fury might not be as stupid as he had seemed in the movies.

How could the mighty king of spies be attacked in Washington?

Fury was such a cautious man. Once he made his whereabouts unknown, no one could find him—not even Hill or Black Widow.

Yet a group of Hydra agents could surround and kill him on the street?

That was forcing stupidity onto him a little too hard!

Jack called Hill's office and explained his initial reason for contacting her. After patiently waiting for three minutes, he received an address.

"This place? Looks like they don't trust me at all."

The address Hill gave him was in Yonkers, north of New York, but Jack knew it definitely was not the real address, because he was currently an untrusted agent.

His conversation with Marian that day had already been reported to Fury.

The only reason he had not been arrested yet was that he had not taken Hydra's side, and Fury did not want to alert the enemy.

Under such circumstances, why would Fury allow him into Hill's office?

Jack then drove to Yonkers. Following the address, he arrived at a small hill, where Hill had been waiting for a long time.

"Hill?"

"Jack."

After exchanging greetings, Jack swept his gaze around the area, then teased, "Is this really necessary? At least three sniper rifles are aimed at me. Do you really need to go this far?"

Hill sneered. "Of course. Judging by the suit found in your trash can and the periods when you displayed abnormal strength, your combat ability has already far surpassed the standard of an elite agent."

"So sniper rifles are necessary. I even prepared a Quinjet for you."

Jack had not expected her to be so heavily prepared. He felt that if Fury had come instead, he might have handled this problem alone.

"Sigh, the old agents' methods are still more comfortable..."

"Using methods like this does nothing but make people tense. It doesn't help negotiations at all..."

Given Hill's distrust of him, Jack stopped wasting words. He directly stated his request, and, as expected, was refused.

"You want to touch the Tesseract?"

"That is impossible!"

Jack let out a long sigh. Looking at Hill, who stood less than ten meters away from him, he suddenly strode forward.

One step.

Two steps.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The snipers and Hill fired at the same time, but the bullets turned to ash in midair.

Seeing that firearms had become useless against Jack, Hill froze for a few seconds before turning to flee. However, Jack, whose combat ability had always been greater than hers, caught her on the spot.

Gripping Hill's left wrist with one hand, Jack said, "Don't bother. I can't die now. Even if you dropped a nuclear bomb on me, I still wouldn't die."

"I only have one demand now. I want to touch the Tesseract. Understand?"

"That's impossible!" Hill still refused Jack's demand.

Looking at the woman before him, whom he could not kill, Jack smacked his lips. "Fine, then let's see who has more patience. We can also give them some time to prepare. Once S.H.I.E.L.D. brings out every last trump card and still can't kill me, you... you'll change your mind, won't you?"

Hill stared at Jack for a moment, then suddenly spoke into her earpiece. "Everyone, cease fire for now. Cease fire. There may be another way to resolve this."

After ordering the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rushing over to stop, Hill took another earpiece from her pocket. She placed it in Jack's hand and said, "The Director is on the line. Speak to him directly."

"Mm, I guessed he was watching from the sidelines. The old peeping tom..."

After putting on the earpiece, Jack heard Fury's voice. His tone sounded somewhat helpless—or perhaps simply exhausted.

"Jack, give me one reason not to take you out."

"Cut the crap. Take me out? Give me a break! Also, this channel... does that mean no fourth person besides you, Hill, and me can hear what I'm about to say?"

"Of course. This is a private channel."

"Good! Then I'll be direct. Captain America Steve Rogers is not the Captain America we think he is. He has been altered by the Tesseract. He is now Hydra's captain!"

"What?!!"

After crying out in shock, Fury forcibly suppressed his emotions and immediately asked Jack, "Can you be one hundred percent certain of this intelligence?"

Jack sighed. "Director Fury, we're both agents, so let's not play this rapid-fire game of trying to find loopholes. I'm not in the mood to joke with you. I can only say that the situation is extremely bad. It's already close to spiraling out of control. What do you intend to do?"

After a long silence on Fury's end, he said to Jack, "The agents present today are all trustworthy. Ride over with Hill in a moment and come find me. We'll talk face-to-face."

"Aren't you afraid I'll suddenly kill you when we meet?" Jack teased.

"Sometimes you have to take a gamble, right?"

After cutting off the call, Jack removed the earpiece and tossed it back to Hill. He released the wrist he had been holding, while also joking about the small energy bomb she had been gripping in her other hand the entire time.

"That thing can't kill me. As long as death can't get close to you, you can never die."

As he walked down the hill beside Hill, Jack fell into thought once again.

Although Fury's suggestion of meeting face-to-face had earned some of his goodwill, with Fury's personality, the man was the sort who would have loved to place safe houses all over the world, with secret facilities everywhere.

Meeting face-to-face with someone whom sniper rifles could not kill, whose bullets turned to ash in midair?

The risk was far too great!

Was the mighty Nick Fury, king of spies, now going to start gambling with his life too?