Chapter 8: I, Tiberius, Never Hold Grudges; I Settle Them on the Spot

The "Three Monsters Championship," which had raged across several streets in New York for nearly an hour, finally drew to a close. Evidently, it ended with a decisive victory for the toy flame giant bear, Tibbles, who secured a double kill against the two opponents.

The onlookers in New York had just witnessed a breathtaking monster battle for free. Aside from a few unlucky souls who lost their lives, the survivors would have excellent dinner conversation for a long time to come.

It wasn't until a little girl in a red dress sat upon the shoulders of the burning toy bear monster and departed that General Ross, his soldiers, and the police dared to cautiously approach the battlefield.

Seeing the two Hulks lying in the still-burning massive crater, Betty Ross, Bruce Banner's girlfriend, rushed down to check on the Hulk's condition. Fortunately, the Hulk was indeed powerful; despite being attacked by such a terrifying monster, he had not died. Aside from countless scratches and burns, he was merely unconscious and exhausted.

"General! Should we send someone to intercept that little girl?" a subordinate officer beside Ross inquired.

General Ross looked at the two Hulks in the crater, then at the flaming giant bear departing in the distance with the little girl sitting on its shoulders, and remained speechless for a long time.

Uncertain of the situation, he did not dare attempt to send anyone to intercept her. His logic told him absolutely not to provoke the opponent lightly; they couldn't even handle these two Hulks, let alone a flaming giant bear that could take them both down so easily!

Regarding the major who had just suggested intercepting the girl, Ross decided that as soon as this matter was over, he would immediately transfer that idiot to the front lines in Africa.

This kind of fool! Wasn't his trouble enough already? Or did he have designs on the General's position? Was he trying to pull him down? If that was the case, then he should go to the front lines to train early; wherever it is most dangerous, that is where he should go! If he hadn't died in a few years, Ross would consider a promotion.

"Take them both away!"

General Ross waved his hand, and soldiers naturally went down to bind and package the two Hulks, dragging them onto a large transport helicopter.

Looking at the surrounding wreckage, General Ross felt that perhaps he needed to take some time to think about how to handle the aftermath. He hoped the Council and the high-ranking military officials wouldn't make things too difficult for him.

***

The same day, evening, S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.

Coulson was standing in front of the Director's desk, looking somewhat awkwardly at a displeased Nick Fury. The veins on the Black Director's forehead were bulging slightly; it seemed the Director was in a very bad mood.

"If I recall correctly, it's almost time to clock out." Nick Fury's one eye glanced at the mission report in Coulson's hand. Thinking he had come to report a completed mission, Fury felt a hint of impatience.

"The mission report can go straight to filing. If I have time, I'll remember to check it." Director Nick Fury was a very busy man. If he had to be briefed on every single mission, what was the point of having so many people in S.H.I.E.L.D.? Were they just decorations?

"Uh, Director, I think you'd better look at this first." Ignoring the Director's ill temper, Coulson pressed the remote for the Director's office multimedia player, switched to the video he and Melinda had just uploaded, and began playing it from the beginning.

Nick Fury glared at Coulson, then frowned and turned to the screen: one Hulk was causing massive destruction, then another Hulk ran out, and the two began fighting... destroying streets and causing many deaths.

Nick Fury remembered that this green thing was likely a project of his old rival, General Ross, right? Good! That old man had been constantly working against S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury had long since grown tired of him! Seeing a project from an adversary run into major trouble was quite pleasing to Nick Fury.

However, that was no reason to disturb his rest. Since when did S.H.I.E.L.D. agents become so idle? Instead of doing their jobs, they were busy gloating over others?

"Coulson! I remember quite clearly, this shouldn't be your mission, should it?"

Nick Fury turned to look at Coulson. He had clearly sent him and Melinda to deal with that mutated little girl, and what had he done? Gone to watch two Hulks fight? And then come to him to curry favor? For the first time, Nick Fury felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. should implement a demotion system for inactive agents.

"Director, if you watch with a bit more patience, you'll understand." Coulson shrugged, signaling the Director to keep watching.

If Coulson hadn't always been a capable lieutenant with an excellent track record, Nick Fury swore he would have kicked him out with a single foot. The Director was a very busy man!

Just as Nick Fury was becoming extremely impatient, the footage on the monitor took a turn. A flaming bear (toy bear?) descended from the sky and began a chaotic brawl with the two Hulks. The sound, visuals, and flame effects were comparable to a Hollywood blockbuster!

The footage was intermittent, lasting nearly half an hour. Some parts were from nearby street surveillance, some from television live broadcasts, and some were likely filmed on-site by Coulson and Melinda, as Director Nick Fury saw the two of them in the video.

What surprised Nick Fury most was this: after half an hour of combat, the two Hulks were actually defeated by the flaming bear? They were instead pinned in a massive crater and given a "barbecue" beating? This was quite strange. He knew the strength of the Hulk, so how could a flaming monster that was even stronger than the Hulk suddenly appear? And one that neither Hulk could defeat?

Seeing this, Director Nick Fury fell silent for a moment. He needed to think and digest this information! As the video played, the final scenes showed a little girl sitting on the bear's shoulders as they departed, followed by General Ross and his army arriving to handle the aftermath.

The video ended, but Nick Fury still found it unbelievable. Where did that flaming bear come from? He knew the combat assessment of the Hulks; this was General Ross's project, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been monitoring it closely. The combat power of one Hulk was already terrifying! And the combined power of two Hulks was definitely not as simple as one plus one equals two! But what had he just seen? Two Hulks being beaten so badly by a single flaming bear that they couldn't even function?

Wait, that bear? No! That little girl on the flaming bear's shoulders looked familiar? Nick Fury quickly grabbed the remote, rewound, and paused the frame on the final scene of the girl sitting on the bear's shoulders.

"What on earth is going on? That flaming bear? And that little girl?" Nick Fury organized his thoughts, beginning to realize the crux of the problem. He finally understood why Coulson had come to report to him at this specific time.

"Uh, it's a long story..." Coulson organized his words and gave a complete report, from the moment they received orders to contact the girl to the moment the flaming bear took down the two Hulks.

Nick Fury leaned back in his chair, rubbing his bald head in frustration. Things had gone somewhat beyond his expectations!

A seemingly ordinary mutated little girl was actually this powerful? And, it seemed she wasn't even a mutant? An alien? From the continent of Valoran? Belonging to an organization called the Gray Order? She had a seemingly even more powerful father called the Mystic Sorcerer, Gregory Hastur? And a mother called the Shadow Witch, Amolin? And they were the leaders of this group of magic-users called the Gray Order?

Alright, this was a big deal! Nick needed time to reorganize his thoughts. If he hadn't seen the video and witnessed that miraculous and powerful flaming bear, Nick Fury might have thought Coulson was playing an international joke on him!

"Leave the files there. Don't worry about it anymore! I'll take over the rest. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Coulson handed the files to the Director. Since the Director was taking over, it meant the matter was at least a Level 10 classified secret, requiring him to remain silent and, if necessary, it was best to forget it.

"Then, what about our follow-up mission?"

At this stage, the first thing Nick Fury thought of was absolute secrecy! Furthermore, S.H.I.E.L.D. absolutely could not use the same methods they used on ordinary mutants against that little girl, otherwise, it would be a massive problem! A colossal problem! It might even provoke a war between that magic-user organization, the Gray Order, and S.H.I.E.L.D.?

One could figure that out with common sense! If you kidnap someone's daughter and lock her in a cryogenic prison, wouldn't her parents fight you to the death? If they were just ordinary people, perhaps they would have to endure it! But were they ordinary people? Look at their titles: Mystic Sorcerer? Shadow Witch? It was obvious these weren't titles held by ordinary citizens!

Director Nick Fury believed that if S.H.I.E.L.D. actually dared to act recklessly, they might accidentally trigger an interstellar war between planets (Earth and an alien planet? Valoran?)! And if that happened, S.H.I.E.L.D. would become a criminal in history!

"How about this: the little girl's name is Annie, right? Then you and Melinda will continue to maintain contact with her!"

Director Nick Fury felt that since things had reached this point, the fewer people who knew, the better! In that case, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he would let those two handle it. Thinking of this, Nick Fury suddenly had a strategy.

"So, your next mission is to try your best to keep her stable! Coax her! Do your utmost to prevent her from doing anything extreme again! Understood?"

"Yes, Director! We guarantee we will do our absolute best! However, as you know..." Coulson didn't dare give a hundred percent guarantee. After all, despite her being a little girl, her combat and destructive power were evident to all. Aside from letting off a burst of fire to burn away three disgusting thugs, the girl hadn't shown much more magical power, but her pet toy bear's strength was already off the charts—even two Hulks were no match for it!

"That's it. S.H.I.E.L.D. will allocate resources to support you. You may go." Nick Fury waved his hand weakly. He disliked this feeling of being out of control. For now, this was the only way to handle it.

What else could he do? He couldn't arrest the girl, and he didn't dare fight her! Aside from assigning people to watch over her like a twenty-four-hour nanny, what else could he do? The world was getting more and more chaotic lately; not only were there endless, strangely powered mutants, but now even aliens were starting to appear on Earth!

Director Nick Fury felt that the strength of field agents seemed increasingly insufficient to deal with these special events. It seemed it was time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to bolster its power? Some extraordinary power? Perhaps he really did need to start planning ahead!

"By the way! Where is Agent Melinda? Why didn't she come back with you?" Looking at Coulson reporting alone, Nick Fury had felt something was missing, and now he finally realized—someone was missing! Melinda!

"Well, I told her to continue following the little girl. As you know, we can't let her wander around freely."

Coulson would never tell Director Nick Fury that he had actually accidentally offended that toy bear named Tibbles, so to prevent it from biting his head off, he had slipped away early under the guise of reporting the mission to save his own skin!