Chapter 231: Fury Appears

Knock, knock, knock~

A white woman in a tight leather suit stood before a crumbling house, expressionless as she rapped lightly on the door.

Boom! The door collapsed with a crash. Behind it stood a Black man in a tank top and slippers, gripping the doorknob in one hand and holding a Chitauri weapon in the other.

"Those damn bugs wrecked my door," he said, grinning as he spotted the woman who had instinctively stepped back. "Hey, Hill. What brings you here today? You asking me out to dinner?"

"Fury, haven't you rested long enough?" Agent Hill's tone was laced with irritation.

"Is that so? I was starting to think I'd reached retirement age." Fury's dark face remained unreadable. "You're here to recruit me for H.A.M.M.E.R., aren't you? Then my answer is no."

Hill stepped over the fallen door and strode into the house.

"No, this time, it's the President who sent me. Osborn is better suited to running his weapons company than managing a security agency." She tossed a spherical holo-projector onto the table, and grim images flickered to life—scenes of devastation from across multiple cities after the war.

"Eighty percent of American cities have been completely destroyed. Over a hundred million people are homeless. And H.A.M.M.E.R. failed to mount any effective defense—over half their forces were wiped out in the first engagement."

Without S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had little access to intelligence. He only had a rough sense of the devastation from his immediate surroundings. But he hadn't realized it was this bad.

"And? What do you want me to do about it? Maybe you should be looking for Garus."

"Oh, I intend to find him," Hill replied. "And I need you to come with me. The President is forming a planetary defense network with world leaders, scientists, and arms manufacturers. He wants you there."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a thick dossier. "This is S.W.O.R.D.—a project for monitoring extraterrestrial threats from Earth's orbital perimeter. The President wants you as its director."

Fury flipped through the file, skimming the organizational structure and core facilities of S.W.O.R.D.

He had proposed a similar idea after the first Chitauri invasion, but the cost had been prohibitive, and Earth's technology had been insufficient. The plan was shelved.

"This sounds... ambitious."

"Take it up with the President. I'm just the messenger." Hill checked her phone and headed for the door. "Your ride is here. And tomorrow, we're meeting Garus."

Outside, the roar of a Quinjet's engines grew louder. A black-clad agent descended the ramp.

"Well, I guess my vacation's over." Fury didn't bother changing out of his casual clothes as he stepped onto the aircraft.

Seated inside, he gazed down at the ruined landscape. Buildings smoldered, colossal insectoid corpses littered the streets, and even the Statue of Liberty had been severed in half.

Their flight brought them to Washington, D.C.—or what remained of it. The White House grounds were filled with construction crews working around the clock.

Yet, even after everything, this was still the safest place in the country. The Chitauri had failed to breach it, a testament to its defenses.

On the lawn, a group of mutant children basked idly in the sun—students from the Mutant Academy, no doubt.

Descending into the White House bunker, Fury found the President slumped at his desk, his face haggard. Ashtrays overflowed with cigarette butts, and smoke curled through the dimly lit room.

Seeing Fury, the President forced himself to sit up straighter. "Fury, Hill's already briefed you, right?"

Fury nodded and grabbed a chair. "S.W.O.R.D. is urgent. The alien threat isn't going away."

"But it's expensive," Fury pointed out. "And given the state of the country, scraping together that kind of funding won't be easy."

Millions dead. Countless refugees. The economy shattered. The entire world had suffered. No nation could afford to bankroll this alone.

The President nodded. "True. But I've spoken with other world leaders. Every country will contribute funds. S.W.O.R.D. will be an international effort. They'll also send their own superheroes. This benefits all of us."

He paused before continuing. "My concern is leadership. We need someone capable of commanding these people. That's why I want you as Director. And I want Garus as Deputy Director. Each country will provide advisors, and Hill will join S.W.O.R.D. as well. Our best agents will be assigned to it."

Fury considered this for a moment. "I accept."

Since stepping down from S.H.I.E.L.D., he had found himself restless. Leaving had been necessary at the time, but this arrangement suited him just fine.

"I also need you to convince Garus. We want him as Deputy Director because of the advanced technology he's acquired from the Skrulls and the Kree. If we can get access to some of that..."

Fury sighed. "I'll do my best."

"One more thing—Latveria. They were the only country to successfully repel the invasion. I need you to meet their leader."

They all knew who ruled that small European nation. Victor von Doom.

"Understood. I'll handle it."

The two men continued their discussions late into the evening. No one knew exactly what they talked about.

As Fury finally turned to leave, the President called out, "One more thing. Coulson has been leading the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. You should get in touch with him."

He handed Fury a slip of paper. "His number."

The truth was, the President had wanted Coulson as Director of S.W.O.R.D., but he had refused. He preferred to work behind the scenes.

Fury pocketed the note and left without another word.

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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— PATREON.COM / PRIMALDEMON