Mo could clearly feel that General Ross standing before him was full of vigilance and hostility toward him.
It was obvious that Mo was the one who had taken out Abomination, but Ross didn't want to engage with him at all — probably seeing Mo as some kind of monster too.
Of course, Mo didn't have anything to say to him either. In the plot, Ross was a complete and utter fool. Talking sense to him would be a waste of time. Even his own daughter hated him. So why bother?
In comparison, S.H.I.E.L.D. was at least slightly better. Even though it had been completely infiltrated and was basically Hydra now, Nick Fury was still usable. Whatever else could be said about him, at least he genuinely wanted to protect Earth.
"Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Mo, our newly appointed technical consultant at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Nick Fury said calmly in response to Ross's questioning.
"Considering the destructive power of what the military created this time, we've taken every precaution to keep the situation under control."
"What is he?" Ross asked, "One of your enhanced soldiers? Does he have superpowers?"
From Ross's point of view, the military had been secretly researching super-soldier serum. The experiment failed, resulting in the creation of Abomination. Now it looked like S.H.I.E.L.D. had a more mature version of the tech, and Mo was one of their "successful" super soldiers.
"This is an internal matter of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it's not convenient to disclose details at the moment," Nick Fury rejected directly without hesitation.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Ross blinked.
"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division," Fury explained. "The name's too long, so we're just calling it S.H.I.E.L.D. from now on."
"Fine, S.H.I.E.L.D." Ross didn't care about the name at all. "You didn't submit your enhancement technology to Congress for review, did you?"
"This is classified technology," Fury said smoothly, lying without a blink. "It's already been secretly approved by Congress — they just didn't inform every department, like the military."
"You think I can't tell when you're bullshitting?" Ross sneered. He had significant influence within the military; there was no way he wouldn't have heard whispers. "I'm reporting this to Congress today."
"Of course," Fury said calmly. "We'll also report to Congress that due to unauthorized military experiments, an enhanced soldier went rogue and destroyed an entire neighborhood, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had to step in to clean up the mess..."
"Fury!"
At this point, Ross exploded. It was true he hadn't submitted the Blonsky (Abomination) project to Congress. Originally, he might have been able to find an excuse, but if Fury reported it this way, he'd be in serious trouble.
"General Ross, I hope you understand the reality," Fury continued. "The military can't control the Hulk. Hand him over to us. You saw it yourself: Hulk gets along just fine with our technical consultant."
"You know nothing!" Ross roared. "The Hulk kidnapped my daughter! And it's your damn consultant's fault — he handed Betty over to that monster!"
"Come on now, it's not the first time your daughter's been taken by Hulk," Mo couldn't help but laugh. "If anything were going to happen, it would've happened by now. Maybe in a few months you'll be holding a grandchild, and you won't even need to mess with super-soldier serums anymore..."
"What did you say?!"
Ross's face turned green, as if he really imagined that horrifying scene.
"Alright, General Ross," Fury quickly interjected. "I suggest you deal with tonight's mess first. Things got way too public. You don't want Congress removing you from office, do you?"
"But my daughter's still with the Hulk..."
"We'll handle that too," Fury promised. "After tonight, I think you'll realize the military can't control the Hulk. Just look at tonight's situation — you set another monster loose and had to unleash the Hulk just to fight it. You clearly can't deal with these things. Let S.H.I.E.L.D. handle it. We're professionals."
"I don't have the authority to hand over the Hulk," Ross said irritably. "You'll have to apply to Congress yourself."
"I will," Fury said, locking eyes with Ross.
Ross still seemed like he wanted to argue, but before he could, a phone started ringing. Fury pulled out his phone, glanced at it, and then turned and walked away.
Mo, curious, followed.
Strangely, Fury didn't answer the call — he just let it ring endlessly.
"Pick it up, why don't you?" Mo said with a grin. "You're the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., your calls must be important."
"..."
Fury glanced at Mo but said nothing.
"TNND, why aren't you answering?!" Mo suddenly pretended to growl menacingly. "Answer the call or prepare to die!"
"Are you done acting?" Fury asked dryly.
"Huh?"
Mo froze, then smiled sheepishly. "You saw through me that easily?"
"My psychological profiling is full marks," Fury replied, silently adding a mental note about Mo: **"Highly attention-seeking."**
"Full marks in psychology?" Mo said curiously. "So you must have great emotional control too, right? Would you get mad if I insulted you?"
"I would," Fury said bluntly. "But now's not the time for chatting. Stark's in trouble."
"Hmm?"
Mo was surprised. Fury hadn't answered the phone, so how did he know?
"Bone conduction micro earpiece," Fury explained, as if reading Mo's mind. "Magic isn't omnipotent, right?"
"Fair enough," Mo shrugged. "So what's up with Stark?"
"Obadiah has captured Pepper Potts," Fury said calmly. "He's threatening Stark, trying to get something out of him — we suspect it's the Iron Man suit technology."
"The arc reactor, right?" Mo instantly connected the dots. "The Mark 1 armor isn't particularly advanced. Anyone with the blueprints could improve it. But the miniaturized arc reactor — now *that's* hard to replicate. I bet Obadiah can't make one."
"How do you know that?" Fury asked, surprised. His agents had been monitoring Stark but hadn't picked up anything like that.
"Technology isn't omnipotent either, right?" Mo smirked, throwing Fury's own words back at him.
"..."
Fury said nothing, but silently added another note about Mo: **"Holds grudges."**
Just then, another phone rang — this time it wasn't Fury's but Mo's.
Mo froze — he hadn't given his number out yet. How was someone calling him?
Before he could react, Fury, in a perfect imitation of Mo's earlier line, said:
"Pick it up, why don't you?"
"..."
Mo's face darkened. Damn, this petty bastard.
Still grumbling internally, he answered the call. Stark's voice immediately came through: "Thank God, Mo, you finally remembered you have a phone..."
"Stark?" Mo asked, already guessing what was up. "What's wrong?"
"Pepper's in trouble! Obadiah grabbed her and he's threatening me to hand over the arc reactor," Stark said urgently.
"So did you hand it over?" Mo asked.
"Of course not!" Stark said. "It's literally keeping me alive — the electromagnet in it's stopping the shrapnel from reaching my heart. But Obadiah only gave me thirty minutes. If he doesn't get the reactor, Pepper's life is at risk."
"Got it," Mo nodded, even though Stark couldn't see him. "You want me to help. No problem. Meet you at your house in ten minutes."
"My house?" Stark sounded confused. "Uh, wait, which one? I can't remember how many houses I own..."
"You capitalist bastard," Mo twitched. "The seaside mansion where you built your suit! Stay put. Your working-class savior will find you with a streetlamp."
"A streetlamp? What the hell?" Stark obviously didn't get the joke but was too anxious to care. "Fine, I'll head there now. Hurry — Pepper's life depends on it!"
"Don't worry, she's not going to die."
Mo rolled his eyes and hung up.
"Looks like we got the same intel," Fury said. "Are you sure Pepper won't be hurt? Did you foresee that with your magic too?"
"I foresaw you turning to dust someday," Mo muttered as he walked toward a nearby helicopter. "Enough chit-chat. Let's go save her."
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