Chapter 18: Chapter 18 (Remastered)
Inside one of the facilities of Shield,
"What a terrible day it has been." Director of Shield and arguably the best spy in the world, Nick Fury, frowned as he leaned back in his chair, his head throbbing from the mess that he hadn't created but needed to clear out.
He had just finished attending a meeting with the World Security Council which had left him frowning at their decisions.
Three monsters have decided to duel it out in Harlem, destroying everything in it. The military was slammed hard by the public and worse than that, now they were trying to stop Shield from interfering.
"They are just creating more trouble for the world." Fury muttered as the door opened and his right-hand man, Phil Coulson walked in with some reports.
"How's the situation?"
"Pretty intense. I tried my best to get Emil Blonsky under our care, so he doesn't try to destroy an entire city again, but Ross is adamant saying that Emil is his soldier."
"Bullshit." Fury cursed. "So, it seems like we can only send him to the Vault."
"Seems so. Military will never give up custody of Blonsky." He remarked, then asked about Fury's meeting with the World Security council. "How did the meeting go? As expected?"
"Yeah, they want to consider Blonsky for the initial draft. I refused but they are adamant because of his military background."
Coulson nodded his head, already expecting the council to react like this.
He placed a file on the desk and slid it to Fury.
"I found what I could about Dr. Bruce Banner. He's on the run currently but he seems to be quite unlucky." He smiled. "How are we going to proceed with him?"
"They want to blame him for the Harlem incident, thinking he was the main cause. But I don't think so. He could be really useful." Fury said, picking up the file.
"As a weapon?"
"More than a weapon. His genius can be of major help."
"So, are we going to go with him?" Coulson asked, tilting his head. The initiative was something they had worked hard for a long time and the final product was soon going to be ready. Just they needed to pick the right players.
"For now, just monitor him. We can't have another incident." He said, then added. "We need to focus on Ross and his plans for now. He's a very ambitious and stubborn man."
"Yeah, especially after he lost his station. He will try everything to get it back and the council is with him."
"It's not the first time. They have tried to interfere in every one of our projects that seemed interesting to them, especially the Avengers initiative. They have tried to shut it down a lot of times."
Coulson agreed, familiar with the ways the council worked. He moved on to the next topic, seemingly excited about it.
"Should I handle the Arctic?"
"No." Fury refused, seemingly unconvinced. "They don't need you there. Our team will handle it. I need you to go to someone tougher and more stubborn."
"Who?"
"Stark."
Coulson frowned as soon as he heard those words.
He still was confused whether Tony Stark would be an ideal candidate for the team or not. But Director Fury was convinced.
"Are you sure about him? I seem to have been hearing a lot of bad things about him."
"According to Romanoff, things will just get worse. But we need him. Both for his armor and his brain. Moreover, I need him to handle Ross."
"Do you mean?" Coulson raised an eyebrow and Fury nodded his head, convincing Coulson as to why they were trying so hard for a rich playboy.
With that done, they moved over the last line of discussion, which was also the most important. Hulk and Blonsky were enhanced humans turned monsters while Stark was a genius, but their last subject was completely different.
Him being that powerful was inexplainable as he wasn't a military project, genius nor alien.
"Did you get his file?" Fury asked.
"We are still gathering information." Coulson answered. "The code name we are using is Titan."
"Straight from the myths."
"That's the only name that seemed appropriate after looking at the footage available. What do you think he is? Enhanced or an alien?"
"We don't know and that's the problem." Fury replied with a grunt. "We will know about it eventually. The only thing we need to know is whether he's a threat or not."
"He saved a lot of people during the incident and ended up defeating the Abomination too. So, we can at least regard him as a candidate." Coulson said, then thought back to him chucking the manhole cover. "Should I list him down on the Index?"
"Yes, I will personally handle him." Fury said, then asked.
"Something wrong sir?" Coulson asked noticing Fury's frown deepening.
"It's weird, he was not exactly hiding his tracks."
"Raise the observation level." Fury said, thinking that the number of candidates was increasing. It was a good thing but at the same time, it was a headache.
Having a lot of people who can do a lot of destruction roaming around freely was never a good thing. At least that's what Fury believed.
Just one wrong step and a lot of people would die.
"We need to keep a close eye on Mercer, weeks ago he was fighting regular thugs and now he's able to take down Blonsky."
"I understand that, Sir."
Coulson nodded and after a bit more discussion left the room. Sitting alone, Fury thought back to the candidates he had in mind. Every single one was way different from the other in both abilities and personality.
A soldier out of time. A genius playboy with armor. A former Russian assassin. A man with a bow and arrow. A scientist turned monster and now, a kid who grows abnormally fast.
He wondered what was next as he stared out of the window. Maybe a god straight out of the sky?