Half an hour later, a Harrier jet slowly descended into the crater.
"When did you come back?"
Nick Fury stepped off the plane, the roaring engine winds whipping his coat dramatically. "Do you realize how much trouble you caused by disappearing without a word last time? The position of technical consultant doesn't come with paid leave…"
"Where's the shield?"
Mo couldn't be bothered with Nick Fury's complaints and got straight to the point.
"Captain America sank into the ocean with that ship decades ago, and no one's been able to find any trace of him since," Nick Fury replied without batting an eye. "So naturally, the shield…"
Mo said nothing. He simply waved his hand, and Steve silently placed a large gold block beside him.
"…"
Seeing this, Nick Fury instantly fell silent.
"24K pure gold," Mo smiled, patting the gold block beside him. "It's about 19.32 tons. I was actually worrying about how to transport it, but it seems that's not a problem anymore."
"Coulson."
With a dark expression, Nick Fury issued a command to Coulson, "Go get the Captain's shield."
"Alright, Director."
Coulson nodded helplessly. As a devoted fan of Captain America, he truly didn't want anyone else touching that shield. But he also understood his Director's temperament—and frankly, the offer was just too much.
Who could say no to a whole block of gold?
Soon enough, the vibranium shield adorned with the American flag was placed before Mo.
"So, can I ask something?"
Nick Fury, watching Mo caress the shield, finally gave in to his curiosity. "Why do you want the shield? Is it for that hammer over there?"
Yes, Nick Fury had noticed the hammer in the crater as soon as he landed.
There was no meteorite in the crater—just a bizarre hammer. With Mo's sudden and mysterious reappearance and his request for Captain America's shield, Fury instinctively linked everything together, suspecting Mo had orchestrated the whole thing.
"I've been studying advanced alchemy lately, and I need to research rare metals."
Of course, Mo wasn't going to tell the truth. Who would believe him if he said he was unlocking modules? So, while stroking the shield, he started making things up: "Anyway, I'm close to mastering it."
Just as he spoke, a system notification suddenly sounded in his mind.
[System Message: You have analyzed the internal structure of 'Primitive Vibranium'. You have obtained 50% download access to a new module.]
Upon hearing the system notification, Mo finally set the shield down.
The system's feedback matched his expectations.
Vibranium and Uru had together granted him 80% download access, meaning he was likely missing only 20%. He figured he'd need to study metals like palladium, meteoric iron, or Tiberium to complete it.
"You know where I can find meteoric iron?"
With that in mind, Mo directly asked Nick Fury, "Or anything like Tiberium, Valyrian steel, lava crystals, abyssal metal, or element zero will do…"
"I've never even heard of those things,"
Nick Fury said, exasperated. "So you're not even going to explain what's going on here? A crater and a random hammer—this is your doing, isn't it? Did you come back just to cause me more trouble?"
"You call this trouble?"
Mo patted the gold block beside him. "Look at its pure luster, then try repeating what you just said."
"…"
Nick Fury fell silent again.
"Director, if this really is gold, then our Harrier jet won't be able to transport it," Coulson reminded him. "It's too heavy—beyond the jet's load capacity."
"…Then start cutting it into smaller pieces,"
Nick Fury gritted his teeth. "Call in a few more jets for transport. Handle it now!"
"Got it."
Coulson replied, then went back to the plane to grab some tools.
"Anyway, you owe me a proper explanation," Fury said again once Coulson was gone. "Where exactly did you go during your disappearance?"
"Didn't I leave you a note?"
Mo countered, "Didn't it say clearly that I needed to return to my world for a bit and would be back soon?"
"There were only two sentences on that note,"
Nick Fury said with a scowl. "The first said you were going back to your world. The second said I'd better give the golden apple to Tony Stark and not hog it—or else face the consequences."
"See? I explained everything clearly."
Mo shrugged.
"You do realize how dangerous you are," Fury said. "Do you know how the people in Congress questioned me after you vanished? They think I can't control you. And when those fools are faced with an uncontrollable threat… there's usually only one solution…"
"What, drop a nuke on me?"
At this, Mo just laughed. "You think nukes would work on me? If they dare cross me, I could wipe out this world in minutes."
In this, Mo wasn't lying.
There were far too many world-ending items in the Minecraft mod universe.
The collapse factors from Mystcraft, endlessly multiplying bacteria, the bamboo hot spring machine, the World-Destroying Bucket, the dragon stacks from Dragon Research—he could even summon a titan-level boss if he wanted. Causing chaos was child's play to him.
"I won't let them do that."
Upon hearing this, Nick Fury immediately responded.
As the king of spies, he was good at reading people. He could tell Mo wasn't lying—which made it even more terrifying.
Unlike the politicians, Nick Fury didn't want to turn superheroes into enemies.
Think about it: Captain Marvel, Hulk, Captain America, Tony Stark, and now Mo—if these people got pushed to the brink and decided to team up to destroy the world… that would be humanity's complete annihilation. Even Nick Fury couldn't imagine what that would look like.
He knew exactly how terrifying these beings were.
That's precisely why he wanted to form an alliance—to unite them and protect Earth.
He was smart. And that just happened to be the reason Mo was willing to work with him.
"Alright, enough of that,"
Seeing Nick Fury's tense expression, Mo instantly knew what he was thinking and waved his hand to change the subject. "I've been waiting here forever, and now I'm suddenly craving a late-night snack… Oh right, what day is it today?"
"Thursday."
Nick Fury, clearly happy to change topics, answered immediately. "Why? Got something in mind?"
"Send me 50 bucks. I wanna order KFC's Crazy Thursday deal."
Mo replied bluntly.
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