Chapter 13: When poaching from under each other's feet, it's all about who is faster!

At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director Nick Fury could finally breathe a sigh of relief for a couple of days. Currently, he was reclining in his seat, taking a short nap.

Lately, things had been happening one after another, and the emergency calls had never stopped. He was nearly on the verge of arrhythmia from the constant shocks! He was terrified that if he were to drop dead one day, it would be a tragedy if his prestigious seat as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. fell into the hands of an outsider.

Therefore, Nick Fury felt that since things were quiet for once, it was absolutely necessary to take a good rest and recover his strength! As for work, he could just let the secretary handle it. Wasn't there a saying that made perfect sense: "When there's work, the secretary does it!" What was the second half of that phrase again? *Ahem*, never mind! He would just close his eyes and rest for a while, hoping no tactless fool would come to disturb him.

Nick Fury felt that for a recent period, almost all the trouble had been related to that little girl named Annie. Fortunately, she had started attending school normally, providing a rare two days of peace. According to the reports from Coulson and Melinda, no major chaos had been caused, which was good! He was satisfied!

As for that illegal organization called Kamar-Taj, those lawless, bastard sorcerers gave Director Nick Fury a feeling of being somewhat at a loss for how to proceed.

He had sent people to investigate thoroughly, yet they found nothing! Even the satellites S.H.I.E.L.D. could deploy had scanned the entire globe, but aside from discovering several illegal smuggling bases that allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents to make a small windfall, there was still no harvest.

His incompetent subordinates even reported: this organization called Kamar-Taj doesn't exist at all! New York had been searched entirely, and there were no temples to be found! If Nick Fury hadn't personally seen that bald woman named Ancient One, he might have almost believed them!

It seemed that when dealing with these non-normal humans, ordinary agents were unreliable! Therefore, Nick Fury felt he needed to start preparing to create a new special affairs squad—a special squad dedicated to dealing with abnormal incidents!

As for the name of this special affairs squad, why not call it: The Avengers! Excellent! The name sounded high-end, grand, and sophisticated, yet low-key, luxurious, and profound. Abbreviation: The Avengers Initiative!

As for the squad members, Director Nick Fury already had a few suitable names in mind: the first was the little girl who was an alien sorceress—Annie!

After two or three days of observation, Nick Fury found that this little girl was quite reliable! Not only was she powerful, but she was also quite easy to fool! She was just a little girl, after all; as long as he treated her well and let her undergo a period of "brainwashing" at school to fully integrate into Earth, perhaps she could be used by him with peace of mind! She was a candidate worthy of heavy cultivation, a super ace in his hand!

The other was the Hulk, the green giant named Bruce Banner! Two days ago, after being beaten by that flame giant bear, Tibs, he was taken back by the military! However, according to his agents, he had successfully broken out of prison once again!

Nick Fury held a relatively positive view of this green-from-head-to-toe brute; he possessed immense strength and could take a lot of punishment, making him perfect to serve as a meat shield or cannon fodder in the special squad! Moreover, he was the kind of cannon fodder that gave one peace of mind, because he wouldn't die easily!

The only trouble was that this Hulk didn't seem to follow orders very well. If this dimwit were willing to be disciplined, he might have already held a significant military rank, wouldn't he? Since this green block of muscle didn't belong to the military yet, Nick Fury could feel safe reaching out to poach him!

Although the Hulk was famously disorganized and undisciplined, it didn't matter! Nick Fury believed the Hulk would eventually choose S.H.I.E.L.D., because S.H.I.E.L.D. was not the military! The military exists for war, but S.H.I.E.L.D. never participates in war! Instead, they exist to prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect world peace, and to implement love and true justice! Yes, exactly like that.

How was it? Look, the slogan is loud enough, right? The Director believed that a fool like Bruce Banner, who only knew how to do scientific research and had high IQ but low EQ, would definitely take the bait! When the time came, he would send someone to sweet-talk him, and he would surely show up to report for duty with a wagging tail. Once he joined, he would give him a good lecture on the importance of discipline! If he dared to disobey, *ahem*, where was Annie's little bear? There's a green bun here that misses it very much!

Mm! Good! Perfect! If he added the existing Natasha and Hawkeye from S.H.I.E.L.D., then the Avengers would have four members! Although the strength of the latter two was relatively weaker, their loyalty was rock solid! Bringing the two of them into the Avengers would help Director Nick Fury maintain control over the squad! This was extremely important!

"Oh! Look who's here! General Ross? How surprising!"

While Nick Fury was conceptualizing his grand plan, he suddenly discovered someone had barged in without announcing themselves, which infuriated the Director! Which tactless bastard was it? Truly rebellious! When he opened his eyes to look closely, he realized it was his old rival—that old bastard, General Ross!

"Please, come in. By the way, what wind blew you here?"

"Hi! Nick, your words are so hurtful! Can't I just come to visit an old friend?" General Ross stepped forward to give Nick Fury a hypocritical hug and then sat down on the sofa.

Walking back to his desk, Nick Fury took out a cigar and lit it. He turned to look at his old rival Ross on the sofa, without even asking if he wanted one, and didn't even have his secretary pour a cup of tea or coffee. Nick Fury didn't believe for a second that this bastard was here to visit an old friend. What kind of "friend" was this? Damn it! Who was his friend?

"Speak. What's the matter?" After taking a few puffs of the cigar and flicking away a bit of ash, Nick Fury looked at the other man with composure. "The excuse of 'visiting an old friend' isn't very convincing."

"..." Staring at Nick Fury for a moment, Ross felt that this dark-skinned fellow probably wouldn't let this visit go too smoothly.

"Fine, I'll get straight to the point: that little girl is one of yours, isn't she? You should know who I'm talking about!" Staring at the one-eyed man, Ross asked cautiously.

"What little girl? I don't know what you're talking about." Nick Fury turned around, playing dumb, and continued to puff on his cigar, even blowing a large smoke ring.

Ross barely managed to suppress the urge to shoot that dark head, deciding it was better to get to the point! If he kept bickering with this man, his high blood pressure might act up again.

"Stop acting, Nick Fury! My subordinates have found out that your people live with that little girl! Let me think... oh, right! The seaside villa? Julia Academy? Annie Haste? See, I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"So what? I don't believe S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to report to your military for everything we do," Nick Fury said coldly, looking at Ross. This bastard had set his sights on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assets more than once or twice! He had never let him succeed, yet here he was again?

"Very well! Let's not talk about the little girl for now; let's talk about that flame giant bear!" Ross stood up, walked in front of Nick Fury, and stared at his dark face. "That flame giant bear shouldn't be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s property, should it?"

"And then?" Nick Fury realized; so this guy was here for the bear?

Tsk tsk! So that was it. It seemed the military wasn't satisfied with having the Hulk and was now eyeing the flame bear, Tibs! Now that he knew the intention, Nick Fury had already thought of the wording to deal with this old man.

How interesting! He was just thinking about how to poach his Hulk, and now this bastard wanted to poach his flame bear? Had they even investigated the intelligence on the flame bear? Did they even know its name was Tibs? That was Annie's little bear! He actually dared to reach for it?

"We believe: that bear is a massive security risk, extremely dangerous! A monster like that should be managed by the military." This was the purpose of Ross's visit today. The military had long been salivating over that flame bear that could easily defeat two Hulks at once!

After gathering enough intelligence and evidence, General Ross had finally come to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters to show his hand. It wasn't just direct pressure on Nick Fury, but also maneuvering on various other fronts. In short! The military had to get that bear, or rather, the manufacturing process of that bear!

To this day, they still believed that the bear was likely a product created by some special method, just like their Hulk! And that was exactly what the military wanted.

"What am I hearing? Is today April Fool's Day? The one that's a security risk is your Hulk, isn't it? Let me count—how many times has it run loose and caused trouble? Twice? Or three times?"

Nick Fury looked at General Ross with disdain, even rudely blowing a large cloud of thick smoke into the man's face while smoking his cigar. He even maliciously wondered if he should just take this bastard to Annie to ask for the bear himself, to see if little Annie would just throw a fireball the size of a washbasin at him.

"All I know is: in the beginning, it was your military's Hulk that was causing massive destruction! Slaughtering civilians! And then... our people cleaned up the mess you left behind! Now, the two Hulks locked in your laboratory were caught with our help, weren't they? Who exactly is the security risk? Oh! Sorry, I almost forgot again—there's only one left in your lab now! That Hulk ran away again, didn't he?"

Here, Nick Fury subtly swapped the concept, making Ross feel that Annie and the bear belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D., when in fact they did not. At most, Annie was a guest of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Of course, Nick Fury wouldn't tell him that; he'd let him continue to misunderstand!

"So, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't intend to cooperate?" General Ross's face darkened slightly. It seemed today was another wasted trip. Although he had suspected he might return empty-handed, he still couldn't stand this frustration at the final moment!

"Hill, see him out!"

Agent Hill, who had been waiting outside the door, entered at the appropriate time and made a gesture for General Ross to leave.