"You..."
Seeing Artoria's actions, an Special Agent who looked very young, likely a rookie, prepared to step forward to stop Artoria's actions, but was stopped by Phil. This made the rookie look at his superior with some confusion. Facing the rookie's confusion, Phil waved his hand to signal him to step back. The rookie looked at Artoria and then at his superior, finally retreating unwillingly. Could such actions be hidden from Artoria? Facing such a situation, wasn't this just S.H.I.E.L.D. showing their goodwill to her! Facing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goodwill, Artoria chuckled in her heart. Using the telekinesis that had become increasingly strong recently, she cut off a part of the tissue of Ego's avatar and put it into the prepared container. Watching a part of the unknown biological tissue being cut by an invisible force and flying into the container Artoria had prepared, the surrounding Special Agents also understood that this person's identity was not simple.
Only Special Agent Phil's expression and even demeanor did not change at all, as if he had known for a long time that Artoria possessed such abilities. Indeed, although the number of times Artoria appeared to eliminate difficult incidents was not large, she was still valued most by Nick, because he felt that the power on Artoria was always a mystery. The power Artoria exposed during the Battle of New York was already enough to destroy an asteroid, and even though Artoria was exhausted at the end, her danger level had risen by three stars. Nick attached great importance to Artoria, or rather, everyone in the stark family was very extraordinary.
"Give my regards to Nick, and by the way, tell Natasha that she hasn't been to work for several months now."
After finishing this, Artoria turned to Phil. Since they had met, she had to mention Natasha, who was still skipping work. Even though she wasn't working right now, Artoria's work was always on point. But it had been so long, and that one-eyed Nick Fury had actually been hogging her employee for so long without letting her come to work. Was he ignoring her existence? Even if the company wasn't big and the business wasn't that busy—just releasing a few more skins would be fine—but her employee had to be on the job! She wasn't paying money for nothing.
"I will, Ms. Artoria."
Upon hearing Artoria's words, Phil acted like a lackey, his tone of voice extremely soft. This left his subordinates on the side stunned. Was this really the usually kind Director? Why did he look so much like a dog? The completely confused Special Agents could only watch as their superior respectfully saw Artoria off. After Artoria left, Phil returned to his previous demeanor, and the Special Agents didn't utter a word about what had just happened. They knew this Director's reputation in S.H.I.E.L.D. was notorious. Following this Director meant risking the danger of being completely wiped out. There had already been several times when many excellent Special Agents, while executing missions with this Director, had not returned at all due to sudden changes in the situation.
"Continue working. Hurry up and cut these things, then contain them. Don't let anyone in."
After seeing Artoria off, Phil let out a deep sigh of relief. He had finally sent this little ancestor away. Phil silently wiped the sweat from his forehead. If she were to throw a tantrum, he couldn't afford it. Even if Artoria beat him up right now, he would just have to grit his teeth and accept it. Fight back? Don't joke. He was just an ordinary person, only slightly stronger than the average Joe. In the end, the matter would just be dropped, and his superior would advise him to look on the bright side and take the extra medical fees. After sighing inwardly, Phil told his subordinates to speed up and hurry to pack up this big thing. Although the surrounding residents had been dispersed under the pretext of a toxic leak, those persistent media outlets were like sharks smelling blood, wanting to frantically break the news. Artoria coming here meant that the news had already leaked. He didn't know how long Director Nick could hold on, so the following operations had to be faster. Directing his subordinates to speed up, Phil reported what had just happened to Nick.
"I know."
When Phil heard this word over the phone, he showed an 'as expected' expression. It seemed that even Director Nick couldn't handle this little ancestor. He guessed that only the Howard couple could handle her. After hanging up, Phil thought a lot, but ultimately decided to finish the task at hand first. According to Natasha, the benefits at Ms. Artoria's company were very good, especially the salary, which was always paid on time. The pay was quite good, much better than Phil's current situation of not being paid for several months. Phil wondered if he should switch professions. With his hairstyle, learning programming shouldn't be too hard, right? If Nick Fury knew what his subordinate was thinking, he would probably be so angry he'd get a heart attack, or perhaps feel very guilty.
"This girl, forget it, now is not a good time."
After hanging up on Phil, Nick kept staring intently at the surveillance video. Inside was the experiment Victor was currently conducting. Nick had a deep understanding of the Symbiote's characteristics. He hoped that Victor could put a 'collar' on the Symbiote and turn this man-eating alien life form into a power to harvest the world. Nick's starting point was good, but the progress of the experiment seemed exceptionally slow. He had already told Victor the Symbiote's weaknesses, but even with the knowledge of its weaknesses, applying shackles to the Symbiote was a very strenuous task. Victor was very interested in this matter. Even though he had failed the experiment hundreds of times and had almost tortured the Symbiote to Death, he still patiently continued the experiment.
Nick shook his head helplessly at this situation. If it weren't for the fact that the people he had in mind couldn't be used for various reasons, he wouldn't have taken the risk to bring such a character in front of the Symbiote. The most suitable people to study the Symbiote would be Dr. Banner or Tony. Unfortunately, Dr. Banner's body could turn into Hulk at any moment. The research wouldn't have even started before the laboratory was smashed—that was not a good thing. Nick watched Victor's experiment, which he didn't know how many times it had been, and shook his head helplessly. If the Symbiote matter wasn't so important, then the person executing the containment mission in the park definitely wouldn't have been Phil; he would have gone himself to see what exactly it was.
"Just keep watching!"
Victor was very clear about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance, but he was just the type of person who dared to challenge things. He had actually already made the 'collar,' only these idiots didn't know it. He had hidden it very deeply, and he had taken a part of the Symbiote's tissue and secretly cultivated it. The plan was proceeding very smoothly. As soon as the tissue in the culture tank grew into a mature Symbiote, he could put the collar on it and control the Symbiote. In this way, he would be able to obtain a Symbiote suit. All of this was being done right under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose, with most of the plan completed without anyone knowing.
"Don't be so nervous, Big Bird, I'm just going to the bathroom."
After testing the division speed of the Symbiote cells and their erosive power on ordinary cells, Victor walked out of the laboratory. Greeting him was a pair of sharp, cyan eyes like an eagle's. Seeing these eyes, a flamboyant smile appeared on Victor's face. After mocking Hawkeye, he walked toward the bathroom on the side. Facing Victor's near-provocative actions, Hawkeye's face didn't change at all. He knew this person wasn't honest, but he couldn't find any evidence. He also didn't dare to rashly search Victor; otherwise, the transactional relationship would be broken.
"Don't mind his words, Special Agent Barton."
How could Nick, who was watching the surveillance on the other side, not know what had happened here? He opened his headset and expressed concern for his subordinate. After all, this matter was his responsibility, and it was also his fault that his subordinate had suffered such an insult. In order to strengthen S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power, Barton had to endure this bit of grievance. Nick still needed to show his responsibility as a leader in caring for his subordinates; he offered Barton some dry consolation.
"I will keep a close eye on him."
Although Nick's consolation wasn't as practical as greenbacks, Barton was quite sensible. After all, as a married man, he needed to raise his wife and children; he couldn't afford to lose his job. Hawkeye said to Nick, and he stood at his position, staring at the direction of the bathroom, waiting for Victor to come out so he could monitor him again. Anyway, there was surveillance equipment placed by Nick in the bathroom, so he didn't need to go in to inspect whether the other person's excretion was smooth.
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