XElenea
patreon
Ch. 251 Undermining the Wall
🕑 Added 2024-01-05 16:04:01 +0000 UTCPierce was taken care of by him in advance.
This also means that the high probability of the future event involving the Helicarrier at the Three-Quarted Wing of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters will not occur.
Without that incident involving the Helicarrier, Natasha would not have uploaded all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s classified files online.
So, Tony having J.A.R.V.I.S. decrypt S.H.I.E.L.D.'s classified files in advance serves some purpose.
However, for this particular mission, it doesn't help much.
"If we have future cooperation, we should strengthen the exchange of intelligence between both sides," Tony said somewhat helplessly.
"Agreed," Russell replied calmly.
After a few seconds of silence, Tony continued, "S.H.I.E.L.D. has promised to open their database to you. Have you looked into any of Nick Fury's hidden secrets?"
For Tony, Nick Fury did indeed conceal some secrets.
For example, the second-stage research on the Cosmic Cube.
But for Russell, he had known about these things for a long time.
As for Nick Fury's other secrets, he wasn't very interested.
"There's nothing worth looking for. Nick Fury did conceal some things, but I knew about them a long time ago."
"What secrets?" Tony immediately asked.
"He's using the Cosmic Cube to develop weapons of mass destruction on a large scale."
Although Russell's tone was calm, Tony's expression became quite intense upon hearing his words.
Weapons of mass destruction?
Tony himself was a top weapons inventor, but he had never had the idea of developing weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons.
Not because he lacked the capability, but because such weapons were simply not suitable for use on conventional battlefields.
Of course, terrorists were an exception.
"Are you sure about this?" Although Russell was unlikely to be joking about something like this, Tony found the news that Nick Fury was developing weapons of mass destruction on his own a bit too astonishing.
Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. had official backing, once this became public knowledge, S.H.I.E.L.D. would face significant trouble.
"Of course, it's true. I don't joke about these things," Russell said seriously.
Tony fell silent, not knowing what he was thinking.
After nearly a minute of silence, he slowly said, "I'm starting to think more and more that the Cosmic Cube shouldn't remain in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands."
"I feel the same way," Russell agreed.
After chatting for another five or six minutes, Russell and Tony left the lounge and returned to their respective rooms.
Tony had initially wanted to go to the lab to assist Banner and Reed, but upon learning that S.H.I.E.L.D. was secretly developing weapons of mass destruction, he abandoned that idea altogether.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was truly disappointing!
Tony's opinion of S.H.I.E.L.D. was steadily declining.
He had been able to view S.H.I.E.L.D. with neutrality at first, but since learning that his father, Howard, was one of the co-founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that S.H.I.E.L.D. had privately hidden Howard's legacy, his impression of S.H.I.E.L.D. had started to deteriorate.
If it weren't for Russell telling him, he would still be in the dark.
Just this one thing was enough to make Tony have a negative view of S.H.I.E.L.D.
'That was my father's legacy!
You guys actually hid it privately, and for twenty years!'
Back in his resting room, Russell began playing with the cloak of levitation again.
Time passed slowly.
After a few hours, when everyone thought there was nothing else to do for the day, a message suddenly came from the bridge, summoning Russell and the others to the bridge.
Within a few minutes, the meeting table on the bridge was filled with people.
Russell, Diana, Banner, Tony, Mr. Fantastic Reed, The Thing Ben, Invisible Woman Susan, Human Torch Johnny, Captain America Steve Rogers, Black Widow Natasha, Hawkeye Clint...
Plus Nick Fury, the man himself. A total of twelve people, occupying all the available seats.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. like Coulson, Maria Hill, and Melinda May stood to the side.
Once everyone had arrived, Nick Fury finally spoke.
"Although none of you are ordinary people, this incident involves extraterrestrials, so I have a few requests to make."
After saying this, Nick Fury used his remaining right eye to scan everyone in the room.
Russell and the others didn't say anything, waiting for Nick Fury's next words.
"Defeating or capturing the target this time should not be difficult for all of you."
"But during the operation, I hope that everyone can minimize the impact as much as possible."
"Letting ordinary people know that extraterrestrials can come to Earth at any time is not a good thing."
Although he said this, Nick Fury was well aware that even if he wanted to keep it a secret, it wouldn't be easy.
The three aliens who had taken the Cosmic Cube might only number three at the moment, but that was only the current situation.
Having witnessed the Cosmic Cube opening a portal and bringing the three generals from the universe to Earth, Nick Fury had prepared for the worst.
"Whether or not we can minimize the impact is not something we have control over," Russell said first.
Although the current developments were somewhat different from what he remembered, the likelihood of the Chitauri invading New York was still high.
But this was also uncertain.
After all, the three generals weren't here to help Loki conquer Earth. Instead, they had taken the Cosmic Cube, and their intentions were still unclear.
"I know that, but when you all take action, please try to control it as much as possible," Nick Fury said slowly.
After talking about this matter, he raised a few more requests.
Such as capturing the three generals alive if possible, and minimizing collateral damage, and so on.
When everyone thought he had gathered them together just to say these things, he suddenly made a suggestion that no one had expected.
The Avengers!
After failing to recruit Diana into S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury had not given up on the idea of recruiting these high-level combatants. He proposed the Avengers Initiative, a plan that had been formulated long ago but had never been implemented.
"Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, and Agent Barton have already agreed to join the Avengers."
"Although you all have your own superhero teams, your goals are the same: to better maintain world peace and prevent catastrophic events."
"I won't require you to disband your teams, nor will I force you to join the Avengers."
"My proposal is that, if you don't mind, you can become part of the Avengers while maintaining your original teams."
"This way, if similar events happen in the future, it will be more convenient for everyone to cooperate."
"And I can assure you that as long as you are willing to be part of the Avengers, I can provide official support to both the Justice League and the Fantastic Four, including but not limited to permissions, funding, personnel, and various other forms of support."
Although Nick Fury's words were diplomatic, Russell and Reed, as leaders of their respective teams, were the first to reject the proposal.
Although they had been rejected outright by Russell and Reed, Nick Fury was not surprised.
If it were that easy to recruit them into the Avengers, he wouldn't have been struggling with it for so long.
"It's okay. As long as I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., this proposal will remain valid."
"If any of you change your minds, you can contact me at any time."
Nick Fury had never expected to immediately attract Russell and Reed into the Avengers. He had brought up this proposal at this time just to plant the seed.
When a seed is first planted, it cannot be expected to bear fruit immediately.
But as long as the seed is given enough time to develop, it will eventually yield satisfying results.
As an experienced spy, Nick Fury had always been patient.
Undermining someone's position was not something that could be accomplished with a single blow.
Moreover, what Nick Fury wanted to undermine now was the positions of the Justice League and the Fantastic Four.
After the impromptu meeting that wasn't much of a meeting, Russell and the others were about to leave the bridge when a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent responsible for using surveillance cameras to search for the three generals suddenly exclaimed, "Possible targets found, match rate 72%!"
The agent's words immediately drew everyone's attention.
"Where?" Nick Fury asked quickly.
"New York, Queens!"
New York?
Upon hearing the report from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, including Russell, everyone frowned slightly.
Most of them were from New York.
And now, the three generals had appeared in New York.
"Adjust course, full speed to New York!"
Nick Fury ordered quickly.
As he finished speaking, Johnny, the Human Torch, said, "The helicarrier is too slow; we can go there ourselves!"
"Agreed," Nick Fury replied, looking at Johnny.
The next moment, Mr. Fantastic Reed and Johnny, along with the others, headed for the deck.
However, Russell didn't leave the bridge immediately.
He had a feeling that something was not right, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly.
"What's wrong?" Diana asked softly.
"Something doesn't feel right," Russell said, frowning.
Tony had also wanted to go to the warehouse to don the Mark VI suit immediately. When he heard Russell's words, he stopped in his tracks and looked at Russell in confusion.
"Bruce, you stay behind and continue tracking the location of the Cosmic Cube."
Russell instructed Dr. Banner.
"Alright."
Although he didn't know why Russell was making this arrangement, Banner didn't mind continuing to control his body.
"After changing into your armor, meet me on the deck. I'll take you there."
After giving instructions to Banner, Russell turned to Tony.
Tony looked puzzled, staring at Russell for a few seconds before nodding.
Once Tony left the bridge, Russell took out his phone and dialed Kara's number.
It didn't take long for the call to be answered.
"Stop what you're doing and return to Justice League headquarters immediately. I'll be there shortly."
Russell didn't explain too much to Kara, he simply said directly.
"Alright."
Although Kara didn't know what had happened, she didn't hesitate and immediately agreed.
"Keep an eye on Banner."
After hanging up the phone, Russell said to the cloak of levitation.
The cloak couldn't speak, so it couldn't respond to him. However, it expressed its thoughts through its actions.
The cloak flew behind Banner and draped itself over him.
"Let's go to the deck; we're going to the deck."
Although he could use his teleportation magic to go anywhere, Russell decided to cast a portal spell on the deck so that he could take Tony and the others with him.
Even though Tony had his own means of transportation, he wanted to bring Mr. Fantastic Reed and the others along this time.
No matter how fast their aircraft was, it still couldn't beat teleportation.
After arriving on the deck, Russell first informed Mr. Fantastic Reed and the others that he had a way to take them back to New York immediately. Then, he waited for Tony to arrive.
In less than half a minute, Tony, in the Mark VI armor, appeared in front of them.
Once Tony landed on the deck, Russell didn't hesitate and retrieved the ring from the system space, putting it on his finger. He began to cast the portal spell.
A circular portal with shimmering golden sparks quickly formed.
Seeing this portal, both Reed and Tony couldn't help but furrow their brows in confusion.
What kind of superpower was this?
They knew nothing about magic and assumed that Russell had acquired a new superpower.
Russell didn't intend to explain to them and walked into the portal first.
Diana followed right behind him.
Once Russell and Diana had passed through the portal, Mr. Fantastic Reed and Tony and the others crossed over, returning directly from the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier to New York.
After everyone had returned to New York, Russell deactivated the still-rotating portal.
"This is Queens. For the exact location of the target, you can ask Nick Fury or find it yourselves."
"I have other matters to attend to; I'll be back later."
With that, Russell cast the portal spell once again, this time taking Diana with him.
To the Justice League headquarters.
"Change into your outfit first, and then wait in the living room for Kara. I'm going to the Sanctum Sanctorum."
Russell said to Diana.
"Have you noticed something?" Diana asked softly.
"Just some speculation. I hope I'm wrong," Russell said with a furrowed brow.
