People Are Free to Be My Fans

"Agent Jack, Director Fury wants you in the rooftop conference room."

The words spoken by the agent after pushing open the door not only shattered Marian's hopes, but also made Jack feel like someone was about to dump a mess on his head.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. meetings were never particularly short, he had only been back in his office for less than five minutes, and they were already calling him over...

If there was nothing going on here, Jack wouldn't believe it.

Giving Marian a look that said, "We'll talk later," Jack followed the agent into an elevator bound directly for the top-floor conference room at headquarters.

Jack had worked at headquarters for a full three years and had never once entered this top-floor conference room, let alone attended a high-level meeting here.

So even Jack, who harbored ambitions as grand as Homelander's, grew nervous in the face of such a high-level meeting.

After waiting outside for around three minutes, the door before Jack was opened by Coulson. With a complicated expression, Coulson beckoned Jack inside.

But as Jack entered, Coulson suddenly whispered, "No matter what Pierce says later, don't agree to anything, understand?"

"?"

Not knowing what was going on, Jack gave Coulson a puzzled look without slowing his steps.

After passing Coulson, Jack saw Fury, Hill, Melinda, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Pierce, Sitwell, Barbara, and several senior agents he had never seen or even heard of before.

There were so many of them that it could practically be called a grand S.H.I.E.L.D. assembly.

If Pierce were ruthless enough to have Sitwell detonate a bomb on the spot, he could wipe out the real S.H.I.E.L.D. in one go.

Unfortunately, the two of them seemed to be in that stage of mutual appreciation again.

This also reflected just how capable Fury was personally. Even Pierce, the former director, had to rely on Fury to develop and strengthen S.H.I.E.L.D.

After Jack entered, unwilling to wear sunglasses in front of so many higher-ups, the wicked look in his eyes made quite a few people frown.

Hawkeye and Black Widow in particular, as the two agents with the most field assignments in all of S.H.I.E.L.D., and even agents who had defected to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Both felt that this newcomer Jack was a little too sharp-edged.

Knowing that his eyes came with a built-in taunting buff, Jack said nothing and walked straight to the round table, stopping two meters behind the space between Hawkeye and Black Widow.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Jack Wilson."

After briefly introducing himself in one sentence, Jack turned his gaze toward Fury. He felt that Fury and Pierce must have had some kind of disagreement, which was why he had been summoned.

The next second, Jack's guess was confirmed.

Fury said to Jack with remarkable "frankness," "That hammer dug up in Antarctica has already been handed over to the research department. At present, no one but you can move it, so I plan to transfer you to the Brooklyn District in accordance with standard management procedures."

"But this is not a punishment. S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to undergo a round of expansion and reform, and among the new positions that have already been decided, I am granting you the position of deputy branch director. The Manhattan District and a series of other areas within New York's administrative boundaries will be merged into the New York Branch."

"And you, Jack Wilson, will be the deputy branch director of the New York Branch. Until a branch director is appointed, you will exercise the branch director's authority and oversee all S.H.I.E.L.D.-related matters occurring within New York City."

"Dismissed!"

Jack: "This again???"

After being kicked out by Fury once more, Jack felt that this bald black guy was absurdly domineering. He could tell that Pierce had tried several times to interject during that one minute.

But Fury had not given him a chance to speak at all!

He had even ignored Pierce's meaningful looks!

He had handed Jack an official promotion on the spot, turning the conflict that had been about to erupt into a commendation ceremony in front of a room full of senior agents.

Damn!

Pierce was going to hate him to death afterward!

Couldn't the two faction leaders just settle this face-to-face...

"Because the host was forcibly promoted to deputy branch director of New York City, the relationship between Fury and Pierce has drastically deteriorated in the short term, accelerating Pierce's Insight Plan. Evil points +400,000."

Jack had just been complaining about Fury, but when he saw the sudden increase of 400,000 evil points, he now wanted to grab that bald egg and kiss him several times!!!

Domineering! Being domineering was great!!!

Let your relationship with Pierce worsen if it had to. Accelerate the Insight Plan if you wanted. As long as his eyes glowed red, he could take off on the spot and become Homelander~~~

Jack had not even reveled for a few seconds before he saw Garrett emerge from one of the rooms along the corridor. When Garrett saw Jack, he gestured for him to come over and talk.

"Ha, I knew Pierce wouldn't swallow this so easily..."

"Looks like I'm about to do something 'bad.' I wonder whether it'll be blowing up a S.H.I.E.L.D. production workshop or selling out S.H.I.E.L.D. agents outright."

Jack had done plenty of dirty work like this for Fury. Before he could finish imagining things, he entered Garrett's room and saw Garrett grab a chair and smash it toward him.

"What the hell?! I didn't interrupt Fury, so that bastard Pierce sent Garrett to assassinate me on the spot???"

"This is a Level Seven agent!"

"Pierce was willing to spend this much just to kill a chicken and scare the monkeys???"

Without even needing to teleport, Jack easily dodged the chair. Then he roared angrily, "What the hell are you doing, Garrett?! You think you can beat me whenever you want just because you outrank me by one level?"

"I was just promoted to deputy branch director of New York City in there!"

"If you people from the field department don't want to be made miserable in New York from now on, you'd better apologize to me properly!"

"Apologize?" Garrett grabbed another chair. Furious beyond measure, he chased after Jack and swung at him. "Apologize my ass! My adopted son! My Ward! He has your photo hanging on his bedroom wall! Tell me what the hell is going on???"

Hearing that, Jack's body shook. He had only been back for less than half an hour!

Ward had already put his photo on the wall?

Hadn't they agreed to be Captain America fans together?

How had he ended up becoming Jack's fan instead?

Was Jack's Homelander potential attracting this future supervillain?

Jack asked Garrett in "disbelief," "I remember Ward is only one year younger than me, but he's already twenty-three!!!"

"And you're snooping around his private room like some old father reading his teenager's diary???"

"So what if he hung up my photo?"

"He's obsessed with me. Is that a crime?"

"What about his right to privacy?"

"His privacy rights!!!"

"You creepy old pervert who spies on the inner world of grown children!!!"

Rendered speechless by Jack's words, Garrett raised a trembling finger and pointed at him. Gritting his teeth, he said, "You... Jack... Wilson! You're dead today!!! Do you hear me?! I'm going to kill you today!!!"