Unfortunately, Pierce threw cold water on the idea. "The technical name for this thing is a plasma arc reactor. It's fusion, not fission—so it's not a nuclear reactor."
Pierce was getting on in years, but he'd spent the entire afternoon studying the documentation. Now, facing the pudgy politician, he couldn't help feeling a twinge of intellectual superiority.
"But can it power hundreds—thousands—of Iron Man suits?" Senator Stern only cared about one thing.
Pierce looked deflated. He shook his head.
Sitwell jumped in to explain on his boss's behalf. "Based on the blueprints, all we can build is an identical oversized reactor. Unless we're also building a helicarrier, the reactor isn't much use to us."
He was the only person in the room with any technical background. He patiently walked them through it.
The plump, pale senator furrowed his brow and thought hard. Poor man—his brain had never once entertained concepts like peak output, frequency, or electromagnetic coupling. All he understood was that even with the blueprints in hand, they still couldn't build a reactor.
But he had his own approach. "What if we get that Daisy Johnson to build an Iron Man suit too? Then you'd have access to her blueprints, right?"
He clearly thought he'd come up with a brilliant idea.
Pierce considered it, then shook his head again. "I can't directly suggest that Nick Fury do something specific. Pushing it through back channels would take too long."
"Then kidnap her," Stern offered.
This time Crossbones answered. The warrior with his morally ambiguous air had little patience for politicians, and his tone was almost dismissive. "Daisy Johnson is an exceptional hand-to-hand fighter with pinpoint marksmanship. Unless I handle it personally, nobody's grabbing her. You'd have better luck snatching Stark."
The discussion had come full circle. By every measure, kidnapping the billionaire Stark offered the best return on investment. A multibillionaire weapons expert—if they could capture and brainwash him into joining HYDRA, the payoff would be enormous.
The plan was settled. They figured grabbing a playboy with minimal combat ability had to be easier than going after Daisy.
But the very next day, Crossbones brought them bad news. He'd spotted Black Widow at Stark's side. The two appeared to be on very familiar terms.
Nick Fury's fingerprints were all over it.
"All operations cease immediately. We cannot risk exposure. Tell Baron Strucker we're working on it." Pierce shut everything down on the spot. One Iron Man suit wasn't worth blowing his cover.
With massive material investment and ample manpower, one month later Daisy had assembled a giant plasma arc reactor spanning nearly a hundred square meters and standing fifteen meters tall.
Design parameters met every specification. Fusion was far cheaper than fission, safe, and pollution-free. Total construction cost came to roughly three hundred million dollars. Daisy reported it as four hundred and seventy million. The paperwork involved too many line items and subcontractors for anyone to trace. Nick Fury spent half an hour flipping through the documentation before signing off.
Both the current and former directors of S.H.I.E.L.D. stood before the massive reactor, visibly impressed.
"A single reactor like this could power S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters for a century." To let them experience the results firsthand, Daisy had routed the entire headquarters' power supply through the reactor.
S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ wasn't just the three buildings above ground. Daily power consumption wasn't limited to office equipment like printers and projectors. The real drain was underground: supercomputers, subterranean facilities five times larger than the surface footprint, weapons fabrication plants, advanced science laboratories. The daily electricity bill was a staggering figure.
"Miss Johnson is truly a genius." Pierce's compliment was genuine. S.H.I.E.L.D. had no shortage of elite operatives and even more scientists, but someone who could bridge the gap between theoretical science and practical application? Right now, Daisy was the only one. As former director, he knew exactly how much the daily power bill added up to. A day or two was manageable, but the cumulative cost over months and years would terrify an ordinary person.
Even the perpetually stone-faced Nick Fury expressed his appreciation, though he immediately ordered Daisy to keep S.H.I.E.L.D.'s use of the oversized arc reactor a secret. He didn't explain why. Daisy suspected he planned to keep claiming the old power consumption figures as a cover to siphon extra funding from the Security Council.
"Now that this reactor is connected to headquarters, proceed with the original plan: produce two more reactors for the helicarriers. And you need to accelerate your research on the turbine engine technology."
The two directors made their decision quickly. Daisy Johnson would directly lead the Science Division. With her existing command of the Intelligence Division and her indirect oversight of the Operations Division—still nominally under Sitwell—she effectively controlled two and a half departments. Her current Level 7 rank was starting to look inadequate.
"Miss Johnson's capabilities fully meet Level 8 standards. John Garrett's Level 8 opening happens to be vacant. I believe she's earned the promotion." This was the kind of proposal Pierce typically floated. Fury needed to maintain his directorial gravitas, so when his old partner made the suggestion, he went along with it.
Fury knew the construction figures she'd submitted were inflated. But everyone tacitly understood, and nobody said a word about it. This time he authorized eight hundred million directly, with orders to produce two more reactors.
As for whether the reactor's underlying technology and patents still belonged to Tony Stark, none of the three brought it up.
Within a day, news of her promotion had spread among the senior agents.
Daisy had always been well-liked. Level 8 placed her firmly in the leadership tier. Apart from Victoria Hand, who was smashing cups in her office, everyone else offered their congratulations.
"Moving up pretty fast..." Hill's tone carried a faint edge of jealousy. She'd been ordered to participate in the carrier refit. As Fury's most trusted confidant, he'd appointed her captain of the first helicarrier.
She'd learned about Daisy's promotion the moment she arrived at headquarters. When they met, her voice turned a shade wistful.
Fortunately, they'd established a certain unspoken understanding. Nothing showed on the surface.
"I'm leaving my Iliad to you for the refit. Don't push yourself too hard—take care of yourself..." Seeing that no one was around, Hill dropped her voice. Daisy had been working nonstop for days researching how to integrate Wakandan turbine engines with the arc reactor.
Her hair was a mess. She looked like someone who'd been buried in work without proper rest for far too long.
Daisy waved her off, signaling she was fine. Hill finished the handover quickly. S.H.I.E.L.D. had its own carrier designers, and the ship came with engineers and mechanics—the captain didn't need to worry about the technical side. Seeing how swamped Daisy was, Hill didn't linger. She left Washington and headed home to Chicago for some time off.
Wakandan technology was formidable—no question about that. But their tech had been developed on an entirely different scientific foundation from the rest of the world's, and that gave Daisy an enormous workload.