Chapter 727: Coulson’s Team

Kabuto looked at Coulson, smiled, and said, "I knew it—you wouldn't die so easily."

Coulson also smiled and responded, "I thought the same, so here I am, alive again."

"But at that moment, my heart stopped for 50 seconds."

Kabuto remained indifferent, commenting, "50 seconds? That's a brief moment."

Coulson thought to himself, 'A miscalculation—holding one's breath for a while probably means nothing to a ninja.'

He then asked, "Can I still trust ninjas?"

"Or, if more wandering ninjas show up, should I recruit them?"

Kabuto pondered for a moment, thinking, 'Could it be that Lord Charles has brought more wandering ninjas into this world?'

"What I say doesn't matter," Kabuto replied.

"What matters is how you feel about it, isn't it? More importantly, how do you plan to keep them?"

Coulson nodded thoughtfully. Indeed, it was up to him to decide how to retain the ninjas, and if given the chance, S.H.I.E.L.D. would likely recruit them again, even if they were spies, to extract as much knowledge as possible.

Just the small bits of training they had gathered from Kabuto had already been highly beneficial to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Coulson pulled a stack of documents from his pocket—Kabuto's intelligence file, containing information S.H.I.E.L.D. had purchased from Charles agency.

"Given our relationship, can you tell me if this information is accurate?"

Kabuto took the documents, scanning through them. Though the details were incorrect, he still reviewed them.

After closing the file, Kabuto placed it back on the table and nodded. "Indeed, this is accurate intelligence from the Shinobi world. No mistakes."

Coulson whispered, "Thank you."

Kabuto wiped his mouth with a napkin, then softly said, "Thanks for the meal."

He stood up and left the restaurant.

After Kabuto departed, Coulson stared at the file in front of him. His main concern had been whether the intelligence provided by Charles Agency was genuine.

If it were false, could S.H.I.E.L.D. still trust them? How would they verify future information, or should they abandon this intelligence source altogether?

Surprisingly, Kabuto confirmed the information as true. If Kabuto wasn't lying, it meant that he might have been covertly recruited by Konoha's shinobi later on.

However, if Kabuto was lying, then Charles Agency might no longer be trustworthy.

Coulson pondered for a moment. He partially believed Kabuto but wasn't entirely convinced.

Still, the fact that Kabuto was willing to meet with him suggested the possibility of future cooperation.

Having resolved some of his doubts, Coulson left money for the bill on the table and exited the restaurant.

…

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters-

In the hangar, a black Quinjet was parked. Ward, carrying his luggage, walked towards it.

As the cargo door beneath the Quinjet opened, Ward removed his sunglasses and stepped inside.

Two team members were busy organizing their luggage when they quickly began arguing over something. Seeing this, Ward dropped his own luggage, the thud catching their attention.

Ward spoke up, "Fitz, Simmons?"

Simmons pointed to her male companion and said, "Fitz."

Fitz, in turn, pointed to Simmons and introduced, "Simmons."

He then added, "I specialize in engineering and mechanics; she specializes in biochemistry."

"Are you Agent Ward?" Fitz asked.

Ward took out a communication receiver from his pocket and said, "Coulson mentioned my receiver needs encoding."

"I don't know if you've used one of these before, it's..."

Before Ward could finish, Fitz walked over, took the receiver, and promptly smashed it with a small hammer before Ward could even react.

Ward paused for a moment, then calmly said, "New one."

Simmons, standing nearby, explained, "He's going to reset the intrusion detection and recognition system chip."

Fitz used tweezers to extract the chip from the device and said, "The in-ear communication system no longer requires an external receiver."

Ward removed the earpiece from his ear and asked, "So how do I...?"

Before he could finish, Simmons approached him with a cotton swab and, without warning, poked it directly inside of Ward's mouth, saying, "Silicone gel embedded with your DNA and nerve endings. Very trendy."

Ward sensed Simmons' sudden move but restrained himself from reacting.

Simmons placed the swab in a test tube and smiled, "Are you excited to join our exploration mission?"

Ward, adjusting his mouth, replied dryly, "Feels just like Christmas."

At that moment, Coulson drove up in his beloved car. Fitz, noticing it, commented, "One of Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. antiques—a flamethrower, the world's first GPS. He's obsessed with that junk."

Coulson stepped out of the car and warned a ground crew member who was about to touch it, "Don't touch Lola."

Fitz, chuckling next to Ward, remarked, "He even gave it a girl's name."

Coulson led Ward towards the plane, saying, "Lola is more than just a collectible. People always assume that newer means better."

"This mobile command center was running full throttle throughout the 1990s, but then we got the Helicarrier."

"Have you ever heard the joke about the guy afraid of flying?"

Ward responded, "I successfully completed a night jump into a drop zone under heavy firepower, Coulson."

"I can handle it."

Coulson smiled, "Just kidding."

At that moment, Melinda May emerged, addressing Ward, "If you need to unpack, you'd better hurry. We're taking off in five minutes."

She then handed a file to Coulson and said, "We might have found a Rising Tide organization's route."

Coulson took the file and nodded, "Good, we need to follow up on the latest intel."

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