After Agent Hill hurried off with her mission.
Nick Fury stood up, stretched his limbs, and stared fixedly out the floor-to-ceiling window at the Potomac River.
The slowly flowing river water seemed eternally unchanging, as if it could soothe his agitated mood.
"One wave hasn't even settled before another rises. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strength alone isn't enough to protect this world. Perhaps it's time to go find Professor Charles, who has been living in seclusion for years, for a chat."
Suddenly, a bizarre, strange gust of wind blew into the office from outside the window, blowing the hat right off Nick Fury's head.
"Shit! Is my luck really this terrible today?"
Cursing, Nick Fury picked up his hat from the floor and placed it back over his smooth, bald head.
As he looked up again.
A blinding flash of red light was hurtling straight towards him!
"Holy..."
BOOM—
A violent explosion drowned out Nick Fury's cursing.
The Triskelion building in the center of Roosevelt Island immediately erupted with piercing air-raid sirens.
"Wooo—Wooo—"
Fortunately, everyone in the building was a highly trained elite agent.
The field department was the first to regain their composure, swiftly dispatching fully armed agents to calm the personnel in the building and search for any trace of the attacker.
Two minutes later, Level 7 Agent Grant Ward rushed in with a team, kicking open the door to the Director's office.
He found the injured and unconscious Director amidst a pile of architectural debris and rubble.
"Hurry! Apply a basic dressing to his wounds and administer epinephrine. Notify the medical department to prepare to receive the patient..."
Watching the medical staff transfer Nick Fury onto a stretcher and carry him away, Grant Ward was just about to follow them out when he suddenly stopped.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the scattered, messy documents covering the floor.
[Top Secret File 084]
[Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters]
"What is this?"
Grant Ward had heard of the code '084'; it represented certain highly dangerous, unknown objects.
But he had never heard of a file acting as an 084 object.
Therefore, this file was definitely not simple.
He looked around. Besides the still-burning, smoking debris, the office was completely empty.
The surveillance cameras had long since stopped functioning.
Grant Ward swiftly picked up the file, shoved it into his bulletproof vest, and then walked out of the Director's office as if nothing had happened.
————————————
Meanwhile.
The culprit who caused the chaos at the Triskelion, Harvey.
He finally found Dr. Maya Hansen in an interrogation room on the 3rd basement level of the Triskelion.
When Maya Hansen saw a stranger suddenly appear on the other side of the tempered glass, she didn't even have time to ask a question before being hit by a Stunning Spell.
Taking advantage of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention being drawn away by the explosion, Harvey quickly took out a Pensieve from his spatial bag.
At the same time, he aimed his wand at the unconscious Dr. Maya Hansen, copying her memories and transferring them into the Pensieve.
One minute and thirty seconds later.
Noticing that the surveillance feed for the interrogation room had gone blank, two armed agents came to investigate the cause with vigilant expressions.
"Fuck! An unknown intruder killed the prisoner. Notify command immediately!"
Seeing the high-priority prisoner lying motionless on the floor of the interrogation room, they hastily grabbed their walkie-talkies to contact their superiors.
Half an hour later.
The chaos at the Triskelion subsided.
In a ward of the logistics department, Nick Fury slowly woke up. Rolling his eye, he found himself wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
"Cough, cough... cough... Did you find the cause of the attack?"
Standing beside the hospital bed, Natasha slowly shook her head. "The specific cause is still under investigation. However, Dr. Maya Hansen, who was being held in the interrogation room, suddenly fell into a coma. I suspect the intruder was targeting her."
"Dr. Maya Hansen? Cough, cough... There aren't many people with the ability and motive to target her. Who do you think it is?"
Nick Fury spoke between coughs. Even though his injuries were severe, it was clear how seriously he took this supernatural case.
Natasha considered her words for a moment, casting a hesitant glance at the medical staff in the ward.
Taking the hint, the medical staff tactfully turned and left the room, leaving behind a quiet space for them to talk.
Once the unrelated personnel were gone, she spilled all her speculations at once.
"According to the investigation of the surveillance footage, although the attacker's true face wasn't captured on video, the attack methods used by the enemy were highly likely magical in nature."
"Coupled with Maya Hansen's sudden coma, I believe the only person capable of infiltrating headquarters so elusively is that sorcerer, Harvey!"
After listening to the Black Widow's speculation, Nick Fury narrowed his eye, a cold glint flashing through it.
"Everything has a motive. Why would that mysterious sorcerer attack us? Or was he specifically targeting Dr. Maya Hansen?"
"It's impossible that even a sorcerer has his eyes set on the Extremis virus serum, right?"
Nick Fury couldn't quite figure Harvey out; he always felt the man's goals wouldn't be that simple.
But in reality, Harvey's goals were nowhere near as complicated as the Black Egghead thought.
This time, you could say Nick Fury's paranoia went a bit too far.
However, after Natasha thought about it seriously, she actually agreed with the Director's viewpoint.
In their understanding, these secretive sorcerers definitely had strong purposes behind their actions.
It was impossible for him to risk tearing up all goodwill and attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters just to knock Dr. Maya Hansen unconscious, right?
That would be too ridiculous!
"I will find a way to investigate the true motive of that mysterious sorcerer. Director, you should focus on resting and recovering. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't function without you."
Natasha offered some rare flattery to show her loyalty.
During this period, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s affairs had been incredibly complex. The Director had been working late into the night every single day, often working continuously for days and nights on end without even a moment of vacation time.
Having seen all of this, Natasha naturally didn't want the Director to collapse.
And through this attack, Nick Fury also deeply understood a truth. When facing a sorcerer with such bizarre and unpredictable methods...
If he wanted to keep his life and continue contributing to maintaining world peace, he absolutely had to have the capital to fight back.
He decided that the moment his injuries healed, the first thing he would do was pay a visit to Professor Charles.
...
That night, at the estate in the northern suburbs of New York.
After acquiring the ten doses of Extremis virus serum and the experimental data, Harvey only kept two finished serums as backups and handed the rest over to Professor Snape.
He hoped that his tool-man Professor could draw analogies and perfect the recipe for the physique-enhancing potion much faster.
At this moment, he had just stepped out of the cross-world portal when he saw Wanda and Cho Chang fully dressed in combat gear, ready to fight.
Wanda had somehow gotten her hands on a form-fitting red leather jacket, paired with tight black pants and knee-high boots. While it accentuated her proud, voluptuous curves, it was also highly practical for combat.
Cho Chang was even more exaggerated. She wore a long black robe made from high-quality magical fabric that offered a certain degree of defensive capabilities.
Underneath was a simple, elegant light-blue shirt, paired with a red cravat that highlighted her competent aura.
Harvey could even see a delicate silver crest representing her status as an Auror on the chest of her robes.
She had even equipped herself fully with magical bracers, greaves, and a spatial belt.
If Harvey didn't know for a fact that Cho Chang hadn't applied to become a female Auror at the Ministry of Magic after graduation, he would have truly been confused right now.