Justice League base off the coast of New York.
Central Strategic Command Center.
The interior design here perfectly reflects the Stark Family's characteristic arrogance and luxury.
In addition to the ultra-high-definition holographic tactical screen that occupies the entire wall, there is also a fully automatic temperature-controlled cabinet next to it.
There's also an espresso machine and a whole row of wine racks.
But at this moment, sitting in the command room, Nick Fury felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
The once all- Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. of S. H. I. E. L. D. was utterly dejected.
At that moment, he was wrapped in a blanket with Iron Man image printed on it, and his face was as dark as if he had just come out of a cotton field.
There was no way around it; he arrived in such a hurry that his trench coat was not only covered in foul-smelling mud, but it was also torn to shreds by debris during the base explosion.
That bastard Luca thinks his own smell will pollute the base's air circulation system.
So, before leaving for London, he forced JARVIS to take his trench coat to the dry cleaners and just threw him this blanket.
Coulson, standing to the side, kept his eyes down, barely daring to breathe, suppressing his laughter.
Just hours ago, Luca Stark sent members of the Justice League all over the world to search for the guy who stole the Tesseract.
Fury, as the informant, was allowed to stay and observe the entire search process.
Originally, Fury was watching with a critical eye.
In his decades-long career as a secret agent, he knew.
A global manhunt for a high-risk target requires the mobilization of hundreds or even thousands of analysts.
It also requires thorough investigation through secret intelligence stations in various countries, and it can take weeks or even months to compare satellite images and financial records.
This is a serious and complex task.
But what did Fury see on the screen over the past few hours?!
He saw Frank set off with an electromagnetic rifle that S.H.I.E.L.D.. had never seen before.
Then, on the ice field where the temperature was minus forty degrees Celsius, they casually wiped out several heavily fortified secret military outposts!
He saw Spider-Man swinging on a swing atop Tokyo Tower while scanning the entire Tokyo Bay in just a few seconds.
This guy even had time to eat fourteen bowls of ramen!
He also saw Daredevil tap the ground in the Vatican with a white cane, which then displayed a 3D diagram of the catacombs of several cathedrals on the screen!
What drove Fury most crazy was what was happening in Paris.
In one corner of the screen, Natasha, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on whom he had placed so much hope, had also changed.
The only reason was that the other person was carrying seven or eight Chanel and Hermès shopping bags.
Then we sat in a café on the Champs-Élysées, exchanging sarcastic remarks with another incredibly hot woman!
They even brazenly reimbursed the €64,000 invoice for the search operation!
"OMG Fuck..."
Fury's chest heaved violently, his blood pressure threatening to burst through the top of his head.
"This is what they call a global manhunt?! Isn't it just a publicly funded international trip? No, it's an armed excursion!"
Fury was internally screaming.
But he couldn't even utter a single word of blame.
Because the data JARVIS projects onto the main screen is refreshing rapidly.
Just over six hours!
This is in conjunction with the satellites that Stark Industries has deployed in low Earth orbit.
The Justice League thoroughly raided every city, ruin, and underground black market on Earth that might harbor high-energy reactions!
If S.H.I.E.L.D. to do this, the efficiency would be much better.
Even at its peak, before the Hydra civil war broke out, it would still take at least a full month!
" Coulson..."
Fury felt a profound sense of powerlessness.
"Did you see that? Frank's gun, a portable weapon, can penetrate several layers of thick blast-proof steel plates from a kilometer away."
"And did you see the scanner on Spider-Man's wrist?"
"The detection accuracy is at least five times higher than that of the Spectrum used in Project Pegasus."
Coulson swallowed hard, then nodded with a wry smile.
"I saw it, Chief."
" The Stark brothers claim they're just using superheroes for commercial marketing, but every piece of equipment they bring out is a revolutionary product capable of revolutionizing modern warfare."
"We used to think that as long as we knew what Stark Industries was doing, we could keep them in check. Now it seems... we can't even compare to their arsenal."
"Chief, to be honest, it's fortunate that we came here today to ask for help, not to start a war with them."
"Otherwise, with that gun, I'm not sure I could draw it before he pulls the trigger."
Fury fell silent.
This is the cruelest reality.
S.H.I.E.L.D.. agents are nothing compared to their equipment.
And just then...
The screen switched to a communication from the London manor.
Immediately afterwards, Fury heard Luca and Thor's analysis of the spatial warp trail.
And the final conclusion was that Loki was not on Earth at all.
Soon, the screen went black.
Silence fell over the command center.
"Going to space... to get reinforcements..."
Fury muttered to himself and slumped into a chair.
Although he told Luca that Earth was facing annihilation, half of that was actually an exaggeration to trick Luca into taking action.
In Fury's mind, even if Loki stole the Tesseract...
At most, they might carry out terrorist attacks on Earth, or create some energy weapons like the Red Skull did back then.
But now, Thor himself has confirmed that the Tesseract is the Space Stone, one of the Six Infinity Stones!
Loki is using this gem as leverage to summon a real interstellar fleet in the universe!
"We've made a huge mistake, Coulson."
Fury closed his eyes, his voice filled with regret.
"We thought we held the key to the future."
"And what happened? We just lit a fire in the dark forest, attracting a pack of hungry wolves."
"If Luca hadn't agreed to take on this, with a fragmented S.H.I.E.L.D.. and those Pentagon generals who only knew how to fight for power..."
"Then... when the alien fleet arrives, humanity will be wiped out in the first wave of attack!"
At this moment, Fury completely abandoned his arrogance as the protector of Earth.
What checks and balances? What dominance over the Avengers Initiative?
In the face of an interstellar destruction crisis, it's all utter nonsense!
Now, the Luca Stark he perceived as greedy, cunning, and utterly immoral has become Earth's only lifeline.
"Chief, what should we do now?" Coulson asked in a low voice, looking at Fury seemed to have aged ten years.
" Mr. Luca is demanding the coordinates of our secret base and the backdoor to our intelligence network. Are we really going to hand it all over?"
"Once it's handed over, S.H.I.E.L.D.. will have absolutely no secrets from Stark Industries."
Fury opened his eyes, his gaze now devoid of the scheming of the past, replaced only by resolute determination.
"Give them to them."
Give it all to them! Don't hide anything!
" Coulson, you need to get the facts straight."
" S.H.I.E.L.D.. is now defunct."
"Those Hydra bastards are still searching for us. If we dare to play any tricks on Luca Stark at this point..."
"We don't even need to wait for aliens to come; the first thing Luca will do when he gets back is throw us into the sea to feed the fish!"
Fury stood up and threw the blanket onto the chair.
"Go and contact our few remaining secret contact points in various locations."
"Tell all agents still loyal to me that from this moment forward, abandon any direct confrontation with Hydra, go entirely into the shadows, and fully cooperate with Stark Industries ' satellite network for global early warning!"
"Since Luca Stark wants to be the savior... then S.H.I.E.L.D.. will dutifully serve as his logistics department!"
"That's an order, do it immediately!"
"Yes, Chief!"
Coulson nodded emphatically and strode out of the command room.
at the same time.
Deep beneath the Potomac River in Washington, D.C..
This is an underground S.H.I.E.L.D.., but is now covered with Hydra flags.
Inside the room.
Alexander Pierce sat at the end of a conference table.
A laptop was placed in front of him.
The bunker was brightly lit, and hundreds of technicians were busy in the main control room.
Deeper into the dock, three Helicarrier were undergoing system debugging.
Ever since Fury suddenly went berserk and launched a massive purge within S.H.I.E.L.D..
In order to protect himself, Pierce had no choice but to overturn the table prematurely and launch a counterattack using all his armed forces.
Although they successfully captured the Triskelion and drove Fury into the sewers like a stray dog, Pierce was far from happy.
Because Fury ran away!
That old fox vanished without a trace along with a few of his key subordinates!
Pierce knows Nick Fury too well.
This black guy is a real schemer.
As long as he's still alive, he'll be hiding in the shadows, preparing to launch a counterattack against Hydra.
"Mr. Minister."
Sitwell strode into the conference room, holding a newly translated intelligence report in his hand, his face showing a strange and nervous expression.
" Jessica just sent us an important message using Stark Industries ' expense reimbursement system."
Pierce's eyelids twitched when he heard Jessica.
Ever since witnessing Luca's terror, Pierce's heart would reflexively clench whenever he heard anything related to Stark.
"So, what's Luca Stark up to now?"
Sitwell swallowed hard, placed the telegram in front of Pierce, and reported rapidly.
"Secretary, Nick Fury showed up today! He went to New York and went straight to Luca Stark!"
"What?!"
Pierce abruptly stood up from his chair, his face instantly turning extremely grim.
" Fury went to see Luca Stark?!"
"I knew it! I knew this guy wouldn't just sit here and wait to die! He's trying to use Stark to kill us!"
Pierce paced anxiously in the conference room, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
This is the thing he fears most!
Hydra's current strength is more than enough to deal with the leaderless S.H.I.E.L.D. of S. H. I. E. L. D.
But what if Luca Stark intervenes with the Justice League...?
The thought of Luca's freakish abilities sent a chill down Pierce's spine.
"No, Minister, please let me finish!"
Sitwell noticed Pierce's panic and quickly added.
" Fury went to see Luca, but it doesn't seem to be to deal with us!"
"According to the intelligence Jessica sent back, Fury's secret base was attacked by an unknown force earlier, and the entire base has collapsed!"
" The Tesseract stored inside was stolen by a guy named Loki!"
"What?! The Tesseract has been stolen?!"
Pierce was stunned again, his face filled with disbelief.
Tesseract!
That was Red Skull's hard work back then!
Pierce infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.. for so many years not only to Project Insight, but also to reclaim the Tesseract!
He originally planned to take over the base after eliminating Fury.
And now you're telling me the base was blown up and the Tesseract was stolen?!
"Not only that!"
Sitwell pointed to the latter half of the intelligence report.
"In order to retrieve the Tesseract, Fury was forced to bow down to Luca Stark, handing over the remaining intelligence network of S.H.I.E.L.D.. and hiring the Justice League to hunt him down!"
"In the past six hours alone, Luca Stark has dispatched his men all over the world!"
" Siberia, Tokyo, Rome, Paris... They even used Stark Industries ' satellite network to conduct a comprehensive, global search!"
"Several of our secret arms depots in Siberia also suffered damage, as they happened to be on the Punisher's search route and he simply blew them up!"
After listening to Sitwell's report, a long silence fell over the conference room.
Pierce was dumbfounded.
Fury's base exploded? Someone stole the Tesseract? The Justice League is conducting a global manhunt?
This series of intelligence reports, taken together, made the shrewd and calculating Pierce's first reaction not to believe, but to doubt!
" The Tesseract was stolen? Ha..."
Pierce suddenly sneered, sat back in his chair, and his eyes gleamed with what he thought was an all-knowing light.
" Sitwell, you've been with me for so many years, how can you still be so naive?"
Sitwell paused, puzzled.
"Minister, you mean... Jessica is lying? That's impossible, she wouldn't dare deceive the organization..."
"I'm not saying Jessica is lying. I'm saying that what Jessica saw was a show staged for her by Nick Fury and Luca Stark!"
Pierce slammed his hand on the table and shouted.
"Use your brain and think about it carefully! The Project Pegasus base is hundreds of meters underground and heavily defended."
"Then how could it possibly be that just when we were at war with Fury, some so-called god took us down? What a coincidence!"
"This is clearly Nick's ruse!"
The more Pierce talked, the more convinced he became that his reasoning was sound.
" Fury knew he was no match for us, so he deliberately blew up the base to create the illusion that the Tesseract had been stolen, in order to divert our attention!"
"His real purpose, however, is to use the Tesseract as leverage to forge an alliance with Luca Stark!"
Pierce pointed to Siberia, Rome, and Paris on the map.
"What global manhunt? I think it's all a smokescreen!"
"Look where they're going! Siberia has our armories, Rome has our banks, and Paris has our intelligence hubs!"
"So, Luca Stark was sending people all over the world not to look for any damned gods at all!"
"This is a cover for searching for someone, a cover for Fury's probes to dismantle our peripheral strongholds around the world!"
"And just now, Jessica said that Luca suddenly ordered everyone to evacuate back to New York, saying that someone had escaped to space."
"Tell me, why did they suddenly withdraw?"
"That's because they've finished testing the waters! They're preparing to return to New York to regroup their main force and launch a final assault on us!"
Sitwell was stunned, his back instantly drenched in cold sweat.
"Damn it... Minister, if that's true, then Nick Fury and Luca Stark have fooled the whole world!"
"That's the game, Sitwell."
Pierce took a deep breath, his face showing apprehension, but even more so, relief.
"Luckily, I didn't let the fake news cloud my judgment and send people to steal the Tesseract."
"Otherwise, we would already be trapped in Luca Stark's ambush!"
" Luca not only possesses godlike power, but his cunning and scheming are also unfathomable!"
"I think he deliberately kept Jessica by his side to send us false information!"
Pierce stood up, his gaze turning ruthless and resolute.
"Since they're trying to use a feint, we absolutely cannot fall for it!"
"Pass on my command!"
Pierce gave the order loudly.
"First, notify all branches worldwide to enter full hibernation mode! Destroy all communications records related to New York and Stark Industries!"
"Even if Luca Stark's men hold a knife to your throat, you are absolutely not allowed to fight back. Play dead!"
"Second, accelerate the charging process of the Helicarrier!"
"Introduce Dr. Zola's algorithm into the weapon system ahead of time! Then retreat Washington's defenses into underground bunkers, turning us into a tortoise!"
"Third, send Jessica a final one-way command."
"Tell her to sever all contact with headquarters from this moment forward!"
"She'll do whatever Luca Stark tells her to do, even if it's to be his bedmate, she has to be perfectly clean! She absolutely can't give anything away!"
"Yes, Minister! I'll arrange it immediately!"
Sitwell saluted with a look of adoration, then turned and hurried off to relay the order.
Pierce was the only one left in the conference room.
He walked to the window and looked at the three giant ships in the dock.
" Luca Stark... Nick Fury..."
"You think this will lure me out of my cave? Dream on!"
"Even if the sky were to fall on New York, I, Alexander Pierce, would not step out of my bunker until the Helicarrier takes off!"
"I'll see how long this show of yours lasts!"