Fury and Coulson left with heavy hearts, feeling a bit lost, unsure of what the future held.
Especially Fury—he had always been a confident man with a strong desire for control, someone who liked having everything within his grasp.
But now, from Melin's mouth, he had learned too much that he couldn't control. It hit him hard.
Still, Fury wasn't someone who gave up easily. He knew he was just an ordinary human—but so what?
He hadn't abandoned his goal of protecting Earth and humanity. He was going to do it the way an ordinary person could—by defending against super-powered beings, gods, and high-level alien races.
Back in his office, Fury turned on his computer and began typing out a fuzzy plan from his mind. He didn't know Melin was human, nor did he count the Saints—who were also human—into this plan. He wanted to form a powerful, entirely independent team.
A team that didn't belong to any organization, one that would unite only when Earth and humanity faced disaster, to fight the crisis and defeat the enemy.
As for the first member, he had already decided—it would be the woman who had given him the pager and had since left Earth.
Knock knock~
"Come in."
…
…
"Sir, this is all the agency could find. Pick one." Coulson pushed the door open and placed a box full of fake eyes on Fury's desk.
By the way, thanks to some unknown meddler, Fury still lost his eye in the end.
For some reason, from the start, Goose had thoroughly enjoyed "serving" Fury, but when Fury was about to leave, Goose suddenly snapped and scratched him. The part of history Melin thought had changed, still ended up happening!
At first, Fury typed "Protector Initiative" into his computer. The first phase was to gather the most capable people worldwide to form an emergency response team.
But then he thought—"Protector" was too cliché. It didn't carry enough intimidation to deter enemies at first sight. Delete, rewrite, delete again—Fury just couldn't settle on a name he liked.
In the end, he had no choice but to look through the files first.
But when he opened the file and saw Carol's photo, one word in it caught his attention.
"Hmm… not bad."
And so, the final name: Avenger Initiative.
Knock knock~
Fury, deeply focused on his planning, was interrupted by the sudden knocking.
"Come in."
"Sir…"
"You have one minute to explain why you left and came back. You now have 59 seconds left."
"Gulp~" Coulson saw Fury's coal-black face and instinctively swallowed nervously, realizing his timing was awful.
"Sir, the Director wants to see you." Coulson forced himself to say it despite the pressure.
"The Director? Miss Peggy?" Fury was stunned. Though his file was excellent, he was still just a Level 3 desk jockey. How had he caught the attention of the top brass?
He wasn't naïve enough to think the higher-ups had discovered his potential and wanted to promote him.
"No… it's not just the Director…" Coulson said nervously.
"Hm?"
"Captain and Mr. Stark are also there."
"What!?" Fury was completely shocked, a chill running down his spine.
He beckoned Coulson closer, then whispered, "Did you overhear anything?"
"No, sir." Coulson shook his head, sweating profusely.
Not to mention the office's soundproofing and security—eavesdropping could easily be mistaken for espionage. A new recruit like him wouldn't dare.
"…Fine." Fury sighed like a man accepting his fate, patting Coulson on the shoulder. "Do your best. I believe in you."
Coulson froze, feeling like Fury was saying his last words…
"Sir…"
"No need to say more, Phil. You've got a bright future."
"Sir, I was just trying to say…"
"Any last words for me?"
"Sir, can you get me an autograph? I'm a huge fan of the Captain."
Fury's sentimental expression instantly collapsed. He looked at Coulson's eager face, then at the collectible card he was holding out.
Fury: (￣ε(#￣)☆╰╮o(￣皿￣///)
…
Knock knock~
"Come in."
"Sir, you wanted to see me?"
Fury stood straight after entering the office, glancing at the three bigshots' expressions.
Not good. All three looked grim.
"Nick Fury?"
"Yes!"
Though mentally prepared, Peggy's clearly unfriendly tone still made Fury shiver.
"Starting today, you're promoted to Level 5 and transferred to Steve's team."
"Huh?" Fury was stunned and couldn't help blurting out.
"Is there a problem?"
"N-No…" Faced with Peggy's intimidating aura, Fury didn't dare ask why.
"Got anyone to recommend?" Peggy asked.
"Uh… Phil Coulson." Fury blurted it out without much thought.
"Phil Coulson… your partner on this mission? Fine, he's promoted to Level 3." Peggy pulled up Coulson's file and gave her approval after a glance.
"…Thank you, ma'am."
"Steve, anything to add?" Peggy asked Steve.
"You have three days to hand over your current work. Report to me after that. Ready, soldier?" Steve asked seriously, exuding a charisma that made people willing to follow him.
"Always ready!" Fury was a little excited. He was a retired soldier and had worked as a field agent, but after joining the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, he'd been stuck in a desk job for six years. His butt was practically sprouting hemorrhoids. If he didn't get back into the field soon, he'd rot.
"Good. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir!"
Entering dejected, leaving fired up—Fury was a whole new person by the time he walked out.
Though he didn't realize, from start to finish, Peggy and Steve had led him by the nose, and he never got to say what he had planned.
Oh, and Coulson's autograph…
Forget it. He was under Steve now—plenty of chances later.
Once Fury left, Howard, who had been silently observing with a blank expression, finally burst out laughing.
"Pfft—hahaha… Didn't expect him to be this funny, hahaha…"
At that, Peggy and Steve chuckled too, all the earlier seriousness gone.
"Just didn't expect him to be bold enough to knock on Melin's door directly," Howard said.
"Isn't that exactly the kind of young man we need right now?" Peggy asked with a smile.
"You saying that with that current face is kinda off."
"Peggy's right. The Strategic Homeland is like a sieve right now—CIA, FBI, IRS… even other countries' intelligence orgs have people in there. And somehow, other shady groups too. What the hell are the background checkers even doing?" Steve complained.
"Why even worry, Steve? We never expected that agency to function properly anyway. Otherwise, why build S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Howard said.
"Exactly. In our plan, the Strategic Homeland was just one of the talent pipelines. As for the rest—let them play their games." Peggy said indifferently.
"Fine, fine, I won't talk about it anymore."
After being reassured by the two, Steve felt a bit better.
These days, Steve didn't go on field missions much—at least not publicly. After all, he was nearly seventy. No matter how capable, he was old. Now his role was more like an instructor and field operations commander.
Anyone placed under Steve, whether or not they were excellent agents, had a clean background and truly wanted to protect Earth and humanity.
These were the people they were preparing to absorb into S.H.I.E.L.D.
"All right, I'm heading to the lab. I really want to ask those spy bosses—if you're gonna send people to steal tech, could you at least send someone smart? Without me, they can't do a damn thing…"
Howard muttered as he left, while Peggy and Steve stifled laughter.
"I'll head down too. Two recruits are close to the end of their evaluation. I need to keep a close watch."
"Mm."
Steve left, and Peggy slumped into her chair, rubbing her sore shoulders and the aged, grooved "face."
"Sigh, maybe I should just find someone else to be director. If I retire, I won't have to wear this mask every day…" Peggy muttered to herself.
She was a woman, after all—who doesn't want to look pretty every day?
…
Fury marched back to his office, head held high, and found Coulson waiting for him.
"Sir…"
"Thank you, Phil. I'm fine—no, better than fine! I got promoted!" Fury said happily, dragging Coulson into the office.
"Congratulations, sir. Um… my…"
"Don't congratulate me yet, Phil. It's not just me—you got promoted too. You're now a Level 3 agent!"
"Huh? I got promoted too? That's great! But why… wait, sir, I meant… my autograph…"
Fury: (艹皿艹#)
So what you care about isn't your future—but the autograph!?
"Forgot." Fury replied grumpily.
"Oh…" Coulson slumped in disappointment.
Seeing Coulson like this, Fury almost couldn't resist smacking him again.
"Relax. You'll have plenty of chances in the future." Fury tossed the card back to Coulson.
"Hm?" Coulson caught his "treasure" carefully, looking puzzled.
"I've been assigned under the Captain, same as you."
"Really? Sir, you're not joking?"
"Of course not."
"That's amazing! We should celebrate!"
"Yeah, there's a nice restaurant on Washington Street. We—"
"Thanks, sir!"
"…Wait, aren't you paying?"
"Ahem… sir, I've still got unfinished work. I'll leave you to it."
"Hey—get back here!"