Framing and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Manhattan, the penthouse suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.

Shadow stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows in a silk robe, swirling a glass of red wine as she looked down over the city at night.

Although she couldn't see exactly what was happening at the abandoned industrial park in Queens, the faint glow of flames and the sirens in the distance told her-the plan had succeeded.

Once that device explodes, all the evidence will disappear. D.O.D.C. will suffer heavy losses, and I can use the chaos to arrange for people to move that heart...

She smiled smugly. Zhao Fan? That slightly clever cleanup worker?

A pity. He really was talented. But in the face of enormous profits, talent was just another expendable resource.

Beep, beep.

The secure communicator on the table rang.

Shadow set down her wineglass and answered. "Well? Did you get the goods?"

An unsettling silence came from the other end.

"Speak, Viper." Shadow frowned.

"He might not be able to speak anymore."

An unfamiliar, resonant male voice came through the communicator.

Shadow's pupils abruptly contracted. That voice... sounded somewhat familiar.

"Who are you?"

"What, it's only been two days, and you've already forgotten your business partner?"

"Zhao Fan?!" Shadow cried out, the wineglass in her hand falling onto the carpet and splashing dark red wine. "You... you should have..."

"Been blown to ash? Or eaten by a monster?" Zhao Fan's voice was calm, even carrying a hint of amusement. "Sorry to disappoint you. Your little toy wasn't very well made. It didn't go off."

Shadow took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She had weathered plenty of storms; she wouldn't lose her composure so easily.

"What do you want? To blackmail me?" Shadow sneered. "Zhao Fan, since you're still alive, you should take that million and run far away. Contacting me now is asking to die. Do you know who's behind me?"

"I do," Zhao Fan said mildly. "Hydra, right?"

That name exploded like a thunderclap in Shadow's ears.

Her face instantly went deathly pale. "You... what nonsense are you talking about..."

"I saw the symbol in that air-raid shelter. I also know what that heart is for," Zhao Fan continued. "Biological weapons. A substitute for the Super Soldier Serum. You want to create an undying army in New York."

"What exactly do you want?!" Shadow's voice grew shrill.

"I want to see you," Zhao Fan said. "Now. Right outside your door."

"What?!"

Shadow spun around and looked toward the suite's entrance.

Knock, knock, knock.

Three polite, rhythmic knocks sounded at the door.

Shadow's heart pounded wildly. She rushed to the nightstand, pulled out a suppressed pistol, and aimed it at the door with trembling hands.

"Come in!" she shouted sharply.

The lock clicked open automatically-the sound of the electronic lock being hacked.

The door slowly swung open.

Zhao Fan wore his somewhat damaged D.O.D.C. work uniform, still carrying the stench of the sewers and the smell of gunpowder, but he entered like a king who had just finished inspecting his domain.

Neither Old Dog nor Benjamin was behind him. He was alone.

"Good evening, ma'am." Zhao Fan casually shut the door, ignored the dark muzzle, and walked straight over to sit on the sofa. He even poured himself a glass of water.

"Don't move! Hands up!" Shadow held the gun in both hands, aiming between Zhao Fan's eyebrows.

"Go ahead and shoot." Zhao Fan looked up, his gaze as calm as stagnant water. "If you think that nine-millimeter bullet can hurt me."

That gaze sent an inexplicable chill through Shadow. It was the look of an apex predator watching its prey.

"You're bluffing..." Shadow gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger.

Pfft!

The suppressor muffled the shot as the bullet spun toward Zhao Fan's forehead.

But the instant the bullet struck, a pale golden layer surfaced on Zhao Fan's skin. As though it had hit a steel plate, the bullet instantly deformed, ricocheted away, and finally landed on the carpet.

[Hard Carapace activated.]

Shadow froze completely.

"What... what kind of monster is this..."

Zhao Fan stood and walked toward Shadow, step by step. With every step, his presence grew stronger. The Mental Pressure originating from the Leviathan's heart made Shadow's mental defenses crumble inch by inch.

"You used... that thing?" Shadow collapsed to the floor, the gun falling from her hand. "Impossible... using an active sample directly would cause immediate genetic collapse and death..."

"For ordinary mortals." Zhao Fan stopped before her, looking down at the woman who had once been so overbearing.

"Now, let's discuss a new deal."

Zhao Fan crouched, picked up the gun, and crushed it into a lump of scrap metal in his hand.

"I don't just want that million. I also want all your underground channels in New York, the locations of your safe houses, and... everything you know about your handler."

"You... you want to swallow up my operation?" Shadow gave a bitter laugh. "Your appetite is too big. Hydra will kill you."

"That's my business." Zhao Fan reached out and pressed his hand atop Shadow's head.

"Look into my eyes."

[Mental Pressure: activated.]

Shadow's eyes instantly grew unfocused. She felt as though an invisible hand had seized her soul, leaving all her secrets nowhere to hide beneath his gaze.

"I'll talk... I'll tell you everything..."

Half an hour later, Zhao Fan walked out of the Four Seasons Hotel.

His account held another two million dollars-Shadow's savings from years of work. His mind held a detailed map of the nearby underground black-market network.

As for Shadow?

She was still alive, but she had gone mad. Excessive mental pressure had destroyed her reason, leaving her a wreck who could only drool and giggle vacantly. The police would soon discover her and find extensive evidence of contraband smuggling in her room-of course, Benjamin had "thoughtfully" organized all that evidence for her and sent it to the police.

"Is it over?" Old Dog's voice came through the earpiece.

"It's only just begun." Zhao Fan looked up at the Stark Tower sign shining in the night sky. "Old Dog, notify Dr. Evelyn. Tell her S.C.U. is requesting a higher security clearance. We've got a big job ahead."

Following that night's "accident," D.O.D.C. underwent an internal purge.

Although the wreckage of the "signal inducer" Zhao Fan had handed over-perfectly fabricated by Benjamin-shifted the blame to unidentified terrorists, Dr. Evelyn Reed had clearly noticed something.

But when Zhao Fan placed the list he had obtained from Shadow, identifying some of Hydra's peripheral infiltrators, on her desk, the coldly beautiful doctor chose silence.

It was a tacit transaction.

S.C.U.'s-the Special Resources Recovery Unit's-clearance was raised again. They now had their own armory and even exclusive use of a helicopter.

But Zhao Fan knew the trouble had only just begun.

One rainy night a week later.

Inside an old auto repair shop in Queens, which now served as S.C.U.'s secret base.

"Boss, look at this." Benjamin pointed to a blurry photograph on the large screen.

It was an image taken near Sokovia in Eastern Europe the previous night by one of Stark Industries' low-orbit satellites. Although it had lasted only an instant, the system had still captured a familiar energy reading.

"The wavelength matches that 'Heart of Leviathan' exactly." Benjamin adjusted his glasses, his expression grave. "There's an enormous energy source there."

Zhao Fan studied the blurry location, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Baron Strucker's fortress, the location of the Mind Scepter.

"Looks like our old friends in Hydra are making a big move." Old Dog wiped down his newly issued energy rifle. "Fanzi, isn't this beyond our scope? Should we report it?"

"The Avengers are probably busy right now. They won't have time for this sort of 'unsubstantiated' information." Zhao Fan shook his head. "Besides, if S.H.I.E.L.D. or Tony Stark gets involved, there won't even be scraps left for us."

Zhao Fan's system needed upgrades and more high-grade energy sources; the Heart of Leviathan had given him a taste of the benefits, but it had also made him crave power even more.

Enhancing his physical abilities alone wasn't enough; facing the dangerous wars that would inevitably come, he needed stronger trump cards.

"Are we going to Sokovia?" Benjamin's knees felt a little weak.

"No, that would be suicide." Zhao Fan rejected the insane idea. "But before that, someone will come looking for us."

Just then, someone knocked on the repair shop's door.

This was highly unusual. Benjamin had personally designed the defense system here. If an outsider approached, the alarm should have sounded five hundred meters away.

Unless... the visitor had higher access privileges than Benjamin, or superior technology.

"Prepare for combat," Zhao Fan said in a low voice, faint arcs of electricity flickering in his hand.

The rolling shutter slowly rose.

A tall man in a black trench coat stood in the rain. He wore an eyepatch, and his lone eye held an appraising gleam.

Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Good evening, kids." Fury walked into the repair shop, rain sliding off his leather coat. "I hear you've been making quite a stir in New York lately. Cleaning up trash is a good habit, but sometimes, some trash belongs to someone."

Old Dog's finger was already on the trigger, but Zhao Fan pushed his muzzle down.

"Director Fury." Zhao Fan stepped forward, neither servile nor overbearing. "If this is about the transport truck that night, D.O.D.C. has already closed the case."

"That's not why I'm here." Fury pulled a file from inside his coat and tossed it to Zhao Fan. "I know what you took, Zhao Fan. I also know what's inside your body. The Extremis Virus, plus a little... alien seasoning? Very creative, though according to our internal assessment, you should have exploded long ago."

Zhao Fan's pupils contracted slightly. This spymaster really did know everything.

"So you're here to arrest me?"

"Arrest you? No." Fury gave a sly smile. "I'm here to hire you. Since your S.C.U. is so good at recovering 'dangerous items,' I've got a job that's just right for you."

He pointed to the photograph in the file.

It showed a covert freighter off the African coastline, labeled with the name Ulysses Klaue.

"Three months from now, that ship will carry a shipment of vibranium belonging to Wakanda," Fury said. "It was supposed to be shipped to Sokovia, but I don't want it reaching its destination. I want it to... disappear."

"Disappear?"

"Yes, disappear into your warehouse, or wherever you like." Fury stared into Zhao Fan's eyes. "In exchange, I'll help you track down Hydra and draw Hydra's attention. How does that deal sound?"

As Zhao Fan looked at the word "vibranium" in the file, the system inside him stirred again.

[Critical mission lead detected!]

[Target: vibranium (Vibranium)]

[Potential analysis: nanotechnology, energy absorption, ultimate physical defense.]

This was exactly what Zhao Fan lacked most right now-materials for equipment upgrades. Even within D.O.D.C., which had Stark Industries' support, vibranium was pitifully scarce and extremely difficult to obtain.

"Deal." Zhao Fan extended his hand.

Fury shook it. Both hands were equally full of calluses and calculation.

"Welcome to the deep end, Captain Zhao." Fury turned and walked into the rain. "Don't drown."

Watching Fury leave, Benjamin swallowed. "Boss, have we just... boarded a pirate ship?"

"No, Ben." Zhao Fan looked at the file in his hand, a wild smile curling his lips.

"We've just stepped onto the chessboard, though for now, we're only pieces."