Chapter 57

Wong couldn’t help but sigh.

Steam billowed from his favorite cup as a teabag steeped. It had been a stressful past week. Mordo’s resignation and subsequent disappearance, combined with the revelation of the Ancient One’s crimes, had left Kamar-Taj reeling.

The Masters were no greenhorns when it came to leadership, but having two of their leading figures cut from the chain had made things... difficult. Wong couldn’t help but be grateful for Kaecilius. The man had seemingly found a new sense of determination after his injury from Dormammu.

If only that were the end of their problems.

Wong would’ve never guessed that even monsters like Dormammu could throw tantrums. The past few days had seen Earth’s barriers battered like never before.

Still, even with all the power of the Dark Dimension behind it, the attacks ultimately amounted to nothing. Despite Dormammu’s best efforts, Kamar-Taj had ensured the barrier held strong. 

It was quite... tiring, though.

Wong had always been rather confident when it came to his endurance, but spending multiple days reinforcing the Sanctums had made him reconsider that assessment.

Still, no matter. He had earned his break!

Grabbing his cup, Wong took a deep breath, savoring the wonderful aroma.

His phone rang.

Wong stared at it for a moment before reluctantly picking it up and glancing at the screen.

A long sigh escaped him as he placed his untouched tea back down.

…Hopefully this would be quick.

With a practiced motion, Wong opened a sling-ring portal and stepped through, emerging into the biting cold of a snow-covered field.

“Jack, you called for—?”

“Hey.” Jack waved, an awkward smile crossing his face. “Weird question, but do you guys know any cleaning spells?”

Wong felt his eye twitch as he finally looked past him.

The entire field was covered in titanic masses of flesh. Some of the masses were as large as buildings, dotting the snow-covered ground. 

Just perfect…

—

Well, it took fucking forever, but it was done.

I let out a sigh of relief as I pulled back the Empty Key and tucked it into my bag of holding. Wong had really come in clutch. His portals made moving all the larger pieces into the Empty Key’s pocket dimension actually possible. Bucky had also discovered a cache of napalm, so once all the massive fleshy tentacles were gone, we torched everything that remained.

By God, it had taken a long time, but we did it.

I was just glad to be back at the SHIELD hideout. I was done with the cold.

“Thanks.” I patted Wong on the shoulder. “I owe you one.”

“No problem. It is my pleasure to help an ally of Kamar-Taj.” Wong paused before adding, “Although, may I ask if you still require my presence...?”

I winced as I got a better look at his face. The guy looked exhausted.

“Nah, man, you’re good.” I nodded. “I meant it, by the way. You need anything, give me a call.”

Wong gave me a small smile. “Then I accept your thanks in the spirit it was given.” He turned toward the rest of the room. “A good evening to you all.”

Orange-gold sparks burst into the air, forming a portal that Wong quickly stepped through.

“Fucking wizards,” Logan muttered before shaking his head and taking another drink of his beer.

Steve and Bucky simply sat side by side without commenting on the exit. Magneto and Mystique stood near the kitchen, quietly whispering to each other.

Humans were surprisingly adaptable.

Get enough crazy shit thrown at you in a single day, and I guess anyone could become inured to it. A regular human wizard probably didn’t even register as weird anymore compared to an eldritch abomination.

Still, I couldn’t let this strange mood persist. We won!

Sort of.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

I clapped my hands together. “So, who’s up for a victory dinner?” I asked with some forced cheer.

An awkward silence followed as nobody in the room answered.

“I think I’ll take you up on that.”

A door clicked open.

A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped into the room, a long black trench coat hanging from his frame. An eyepatch covered one eye while the other swept across the room with a sharp, focused gaze.

Nick Fury.

His attention settled squarely on me.

“You and I’ve got a lot to talk about.”

—

Honestly, I’d been expecting this for a long time. You didn’t taunt the cyclops with knowledge and expect it not to come running.

Although this was not how I imagined our first meeting going.

“You have a pizza oven here?” I couldn’t help blurting out.

Nick Fury had removed his black trench coat and donned a white apron, using a pizza paddle to pull a steaming hot pie from one of those wood-fired ovens.

“If I needed someplace to hide, you’d be damn sure I’m getting my pies.” Fury scoffed as he slid the pizza onto a plate and quickly cut it up with an experienced hand.

I reached for a slice, only for Fury to pull the plate out of reach.

“Hey, what gives?” I pouted.

“Don’t you know you gotta respect your elders?” Fury raised an eyebrow before passing the pizza off to Sharon, who quickly moved to serve it to the impromptu nostalgia dinner party.

It was kind of a funny sight, watching Logan, Magneto, Steve, Bucky, and hell, even Mystique get caught up in a conversation talking about the war and the old days. Honestly, it was probably fascinating to listen to.

But this conversation was long overdue.

“Don’t get your pants twisted.” Fury leaned against the counter. “Another pie will be ready in a bit. So, how about you and I have a little chat?”

“Didn’t the Captain brief you on everything already?”

“Sure did,” Fury said. “But that’s a can of worms I’ll open later.”

His good eye settled directly on me.

“What do you want?”

“...Sorry?” I asked, taken aback.

“You heard me, kid,” Fury grunted.

“No, yeah, I did.” I nodded. “Just surprised... well, you’re being so...”

“Blunt?” Fury snorted. “Well... I’ve been doing the secret agent stuff for the past twenty years...” His voice turned bitter. “And look how that turned out.”

I winced.

Yeah, finding out nearly half your organization had essentially been usurped by Nazis probably didn’t feel great.

“So I thought I’d try something new for a change.” Fury chuckled dryly as he picked up the pizza paddle and rotated one of the pies.

I couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Seeing as you ain’t chopping me up with your batshit abilities, I’d say I’m off to a great start.” Fury shrugged. “Most of the motherfuckers I know who could take you in a fight are either indebted to you or wouldn’t listen to my orders in the first place. So yeah, all polite and such.”

“Didn’t think about calling your friend from the stars on me?”

Fury paused in front of the oven before shooting me a dirty look.

“...Of course you knew about that too.” He shook his head with a sigh. “My friend’s not what you would call subtle.”

Yeah...

I wasn’t sure if this was the MCU, comics, or some show version, but Captain Marvel was usually loud. Still, even if she was kind of an asshole in most continuities...

“You might wanna keep that call ready,” I said. “With the things that are coming... well, having a heavyweight like her around would do a lot.”

Fury’s face hardened. “Oh?”

“You asked what I wanted? Well...” I drummed my fingers against the kitchen counter. “I want the world to be safe. I’m not arrogant enough to claim I want world peace, but... I’d really like it if the world wasn’t teetering on the edge of destruction twenty-four-seven.”

“The world’s gonna be destroyed?” Fury stared at me intently. “That’s... a big claim.”

“Well, not soon,” I replied. “...Hopefully.”

Thanos, Apocalypse, and Dormammu were potentially the closest active world-enders based on what I’d seen in this universe. There was always the chance some other crazy thing I’d never even heard of could pop up, but I wasn’t omniscient.

I’d just have to focus on what I knew.

“You’re not exactly filling me with confidence here, kid.” Fury gave me a flat look. “Anything I should be worried about?”

“No. Probably not, unless something popped out of the Tesseract,” I joked.

Fury went silent.

The dark look he gave me immediately wiped the smile off my face.

“No...” I groaned as my face fell into my hands. “What happened?”

Fury’s lips thinned. “There was an attack on the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility four days ago. The attackers stormed the base, caused significant damage, and were eventually driven off. The Tesseract lab was destroyed, and the cube itself has yet to be found...”

“Were they human, or...?”

“The corpses weren’t alien, no. Seemingly just regular black-ops soldiers.” Fury shook his head, anger bleeding into his voice. “But tracing the origin of the attack is... difficult under the current circumstances. My sources tell me nearly every HYDRA infiltrator is being pulled in to secure the scene. I wouldn’t trust a single damn report from there now.”

His good eye narrowed.

“Was this another one of the threats you were talking about?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure.”

This didn’t sound like Loki. Plus, it was too early for him to have returned yet.

Although maybe I shouldn’t trust the MCU timeline either. Ugh.

Nothing I’d done should’ve reached Thanos yet, so... another villain?

I scoured my memory, trying to remember if there was anyone who’d pulled a scheme like this for the Tesseract, but I came up blank.

Well, at the very least, HYDRA wouldn’t be tinkering with the Tesseract anymore...

“An explanation of these threats would be appreciated,” Fury remarked as he used the paddle to pull another pizza from the oven. “I need to know what I’m up against.”

He cut the pizza into slices before offering me a plate.

“We both want the same thing, kid.”

I snorted as I accepted the proffered plate. “You’ll have it.”

“Good. Now—”

“Of course, you’re gonna need to do a few little things for me first.” I shot him a smile before taking a bite. “Great pizza, by the way.”

Fury scowled before massaging his forehead.

“...I’m listening.”

“Few things. First, I’m gonna need some legal help dealing with the kids HYDRA trafficked. Get them home safely, or set them up somewhere if that isn’t possible.”

“Done.” Fury nodded as he grabbed a bottle and popped it open. “What else?”

“I was hoping SHIELD could help grease the wheels for my mutant friends. Make sure the law doesn’t suddenly turn against them.” I nodded toward Magneto. “I’m hoping you’d be willing to keep things cooperative, of course.”

“SHIELD is a protective agency,” Fury remarked. “Politics aren’t our remit.”

“And... look how that turned out.”

Fury scowled before taking a deep drink. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Perfect.” I nodded. “Finally... I want to be kept in the loop. No secret weapons projects behind my back, no human experimentation, no batshit crazy deals. Nada. No secrets like that, and you’ll get your information.”

“A man in my position sometimes has to make difficult choices.” Fury glared at me. “For the sake of the world, someone might eventually have to take the plunge.”

“Sure, I get it.” I grinned right back. “Then you can kiss your secrets subscription goodbye. I’ll give you the threats of the now, but lose my trust and, well... you can kiss the hundred others in the future sitting in my head goodbye too.”

Fury slowly lowered the bottle.

“...You’re bluffing. A hundred world-ending threats?”

“Am I?” I simply hummed. “Honestly, I think I might be underselling it. You and I both know how big the galaxy is.”

Fury stared at me for a long time. I just gave him the most serene smile I had.

He stared down at his beer before chugging down the rest.

“I’ve accepted worse.” Fury shook his head and offered his hand.

[Feat Achieved! A Deal with the Director]

[+1 Gold Ticket]

“Nice doing business with you.” I grinned as I shook his hand.

***

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