Luke took out the phone Tony had given him and tried its features. He found they were much like those of smartphones in his own world, but there were still relatively few apps. That would have to wait until the software companies discussed developing smartphone apps with the Stark Group.
He turned on his computer and posted the photos he had taken at Tony's house on his blog, drawing a great deal of attention. After all, plenty of people were interested in the daily lives of billionaires like Tony.
Even though Luke hadn't photographed the furnishings in Tony's house and had only taken pictures of the beautiful ocean view from Tony's windows, he still got a huge amount of traffic.
Luke gave it a quick look and assigned a ninja to act as a human moderator, deleting the malicious comments outright.
Remembering how Tony had looked, Luke gave it some thought and decided to visit S.H.I.E.L.D. However, there was still some friction between him and S.H.I.E.L.D., so he needed to give them advance notice. He called Coulson.
"Coulson, where are you?"
"I'm at headquarters handling some things. What's up?"
"Nothing. Just calling to check whether you're absent from work."
"..."
"All right, I just wanted to come to S.H.I.E.L.D. and see Fury."
"Okay. I'll ask the director. Wait for my message."
After speaking with Coulson, Luke went outside and waited a while before receiving a message from him.
He glanced at it, then opened a portal straight to the area outside S.H.I.E.L.D., in the same spot as last time.
He walked toward S.H.I.E.L.D., but no car came to pick him up.
"So stingy." Luke shook his head helplessly and simply used Shadow Stealth to reach the outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Luke revealed himself and had barely taken two steps inside S.H.I.E.L.D. when Coulson appeared in front of him.
"Finally decided to come to work? The director's been considering layoffs lately."
"Didn't you say I wouldn't normally have assignments? Besides, didn't I go see Tony last time?"
Coulson led Luke to an elevator and stepped inside.
The elevator was made of transparent glass, and Luke watched the busy office staff outside.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have quite a lot of people."
Coulson glanced over and smiled. "Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. handles all kinds of incidents around the globe. There's plenty of work to deal with every day."
It was clear that Coulson quite liked his job. In his eyes, S.H.I.E.L.D. had always worked to preserve world peace.
But Luke knew Hydra had long since hollowed out S.H.I.E.L.D. from within. More than half the money Fury had gone to such lengths to wheedle out of the World Security Council had been spent by Hydra.
On that front, Hydra's leader Pierce considered Fury a fine employee who had earned half of Hydra's empire for them.
But had a shrewd operator like Fury really not noticed his private stash shrinking? Luke had his doubts.
As his thoughts wandered, the elevator arrived at the floor of Fury's office.
"Just go straight ahead." Coulson pointed Luke toward the director's office across the corridor.
Luke nodded and walked straight over. At the same time, former director Alexander Pierce received word of Luke's visit from his assistant, Sitwell.
Recalling the strength Luke had displayed, Pierce thought it over and sent a few people to sound out Luke's attitude toward Fury. He would never turn down more strength on his side, and Luke was far more powerful than the earlier test data had indicated. He was worth the risk of trying to recruit him.
Pierce straightened out some documents and planned to go haggle with the Security Council some more, get Fury another few hundred million dollars, and then watch Fury help him build Hydra.
Luke had no idea Hydra was already planning to contact him. He had only just walked into Fury's office.
"What made you decide to clock in today?"
Fury glanced at Luke while handling the documents on his desk.
"I just wanted to see whether S.H.I.E.L.D. had any way to help Tony. His condition keeps getting worse. It looks like he's already started putting his affairs in order."
"What, you don't have a way? There should be plenty of alien elements, right? None that could solve his reactor problem?"
Luke shook his head. Alien elements? He didn't know a damn thing about them. But that was his cover story, and he couldn't let it slip, or Fury would be turning up at his door every day asking who he was.
"My ship was already wrecked. To earn the seed money I needed to survive on Earth, I simply sold it to a scrap dealer. I have no way to bring those elements back to Earth."
Fury looked at the report stating that agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had located Banner at the Palame Beverage Factory in Brazil and nodded. This guy's information was quite accurate.
After finishing the paperwork, Fury looked up at Luke and asked, "Why do you think I'd have a way to save Tony?"
"I certainly don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. has anyone talented enough to save Tony, but you must have a way to get him out of his current situation."
Leaving aside S.H.I.E.L.D. in the television series, the movie version really didn't have any exceptional scientific talent. Was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier impressive? Sure, but it was just a patchwork monster stitched together from all the advanced technologies in this universe.
So Luke truly didn't have the slightest hope that they could develop a new element. After all, Howard's hints in the video had been so obvious that S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't possibly have missed that there was something unusual about the park model.
But they simply hadn't produced the new element. They had still handed everything over to Tony, who had developed it himself.
"That really hurts. But I've already had people working on an injection to suppress palladium poisoning. It can temporarily lower the palladium levels in Tony's blood, but it won't address the root cause."
Fury spoke calmly, as though he had no solution either.
Luke shook his head. This guy wouldn't act without something in return. If he wanted Fury to bring those things out early, he would have to offer him some benefit.
Still, Fury would definitely save Tony in the end. After all, that plan of his needed plenty of superheroes to join, and Tony's potential was beyond question.
"Then can you give me a few doses first? I'll take them to Tony."
"It's not finished yet. It'll probably take another few days."
Luke shook his head, growing increasingly doubtful of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s capabilities.
"Let me know when it's ready."
He turned and left. He didn't know whether the Hydra members inside S.H.I.E.L.D. were slacking off or whether the organization was genuinely incompetent, but it inspired no confidence whatsoever. He had no idea why the people on the Security Council gave it billions of dollars in funding every year.
Luke went straight home, feeling irritated. He could have simply snatched that model and shoved it into Tony's hands, but everything that followed would definitely become an utter mess.
"What a pain!" Luke shook his head. Even after transmigrating, he still had to worry about this and that. He really was a disgrace to transmigrators.
Just then, Luke's phone rang. Seeing an unknown number, his instincts, honed by an anti-fraud app, told him it was a scam call.
"I'm not buying a house or a car, and I don't need a loan. Stop calling me."
Already irritated, Luke simply answered and shouted a few things first. Once he felt a little better, he hung up.
Why buy a house now? The Chitauri invasion would happen here before long. Besides, even if the Chitauri invasion didn't destroy the house, who could stand the Big Apple's routine of a minor disturbance every three days and a major one every five?
But not long after he hung up, his phone rang again.
Luke glanced at his phone. It was another unknown number.
He frowned, realizing there was more to this, and answered.
"Hello, Mr. Luke. This isn't a sales or scam call."
Before Luke could speak, the other party quickly introduced herself.
"We're a subordinate department of the World Security Council, responsible for overseeing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations. We've recently discovered signs of corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D. and would like to consult you about various matters concerning the organization."
"If you have any doubts about the existence of our department, you can call the relevant S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. They'll give you an answer."
The woman on the other end spoke to Luke in a sweet voice, but her words conveyed strong confidence. After all, a department that could oversee a large organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. held considerable power.
How did these people find me? Why are they asking me for this information?
An ordinary person would already have been reporting all sorts of things about S.H.I.E.L.D. to the caller, but Luke didn't see it that way.
He had only just returned from S.H.I.E.L.D. when they called. This wasn't mere oversight; they had direct access to all sorts of internal S.H.I.E.L.D. information.
Hydra? Remembering S.H.I.E.L.D.'s other side, Luke felt suspicious, but he hung up first and asked Coulson, learning that the department did indeed exist.
Coulson also told Luke that before applying for funding, they always submitted the relevant reports to this department, which then forwarded them to the World Security Council.
Interesting. A department directly involved in funding applications?
Recalling the bases S.H.I.E.L.D. had established all over the world, Luke felt there was a strong chance these people were Hydra.
The Security Council shouldn't have allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. to build so many bases. It already far exceeded the scale of armed force S.H.I.E.L.D. ought to have, yet its applications received funding every time.
And Pierce had always handled discussions with the World Security Council about funding. There was a strong chance this department belonged to Hydra too, dressing up the various applications before passing them up the chain so S.H.I.E.L.D. could secure the money.
Luke thought it over and called the number back.
"There are indeed some things I'd like to report. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, is taking the lead in embezzlement. He applies for hundreds of millions of dollars each time, but funding inside S.H.I.E.L.D. is still tight. Fury must have pocketed it!"
Luke spoke with such absolute certainty that the Hydra spy on the other end was left dumbfounded.
Bullshit! We Hydra took all that money and spent it. Nick Fury is innocent!
But the spy certainly couldn't say that aloud. After some thought, he recalled his assignment and continued asking questions.
"In what areas do you suspect Nick Fury may have embezzled funds? What's your impression of him?"
"Absolutely terrible. Ever since joining S.H.I.E.L.D., I've worked diligently, but my pay just won't go up. I can barely afford food anymore! When I learned how much funding Nick Fury applied for each time, bam, it felt like the sky was falling. I always thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was a poor but conscientious organization that kept saving the world. I never imagined we had so much financial support. Yet this is how those of us at the bottom live! He must have pocketed all our wages! I want him to pay us back! RN..."
Luke was gradually getting into it, but before he could finish, the caller interrupted him.
"Well, I believe I understand the situation. We'll begin investigating immediately and get back to you at a later date."
With that, the caller hung up.
Luke nodded, planning to check later whether his salary had gone up.
Meanwhile, the spy had recorded the conversation and planned to deliver it to his Hydra superior later. As for an investigation? They were all on the same side. Those who knew, knew. Going through the motions would be enough; at worst, they could quietly give the guy a raise. Still, Nick Fury really was innocent, so investigating would be pointless.
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