S.H.I.E.L.D.
Headquarters, Director’s Office.
Natasha pushed open the door and placed two sample tubes carefully on Fury’s desk.
“Fury, the mission’s complete.” Fury’s single eye swept over the tubes before he locked them away in a drawer.
“So?
What’s your preliminary assessment of our new agent?
And why did you suddenly call for backup earlier?” Natasha leaned back in her chair and raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t think my assessment should be the first thing you hear.
You should probably see what he actually did out there.” “Oh?” Fury’s curiosity was immediately piqued.
“Show me.” Natasha smiled without answering and placed a USB drive on the desk.
Fury picked it up, inserted it into his computer, and started the recording.
The footage began with Calvin standing on the roof of the abandoned apartment building and proceeded to document the increasingly ridiculous series of things he had done afterward.
When Fury watched Calvin throw a grenade several hundred meters, his expression barely changed.
The investigation into Calvin had already established that the man could kill someone from hundreds of meters away by throwing a rock.
Hurling a grenade over a similar distance was hardly shocking anymore.
The unusually powerful explosion did not surprise him either.
Calvin’s file described him as exceptionally skilled with his hands, so Fury could reasonably accept that he had modified or constructed unusually powerful explosives.
Then the next grenade curved in midair.
Fury’s eye widened.
He leaned toward the screen.
“How the hell did that grenade turn a corner?” His brow furrowed.
“That doesn’t even obey physics.” S.H.I.E.L.D.’s miniature field cameras were extremely advanced, and there had been enough artificial light around the warehouse district that the footage remained relatively clear despite the distance.
Fury enlarged the image and replayed the sequence.
The result did not change.
The high-explosive grenade should have continued along a normal ballistic trajectory.
Instead, it abruptly changed direction in midair and flew straight through the open entrance of a warehouse.
Watching it happen was about as believable as seeing Hell’s Kitchen win an award for being America’s safest neighborhood.
The footage continued.
Now Calvin was holding a Barrett anti-materiel rifle and firing it so rapidly that his hands blurred, apparently treating recoil as something that happened to other people.
Fury was still processing that when the recording reached the underground laboratory.
His surprise vanished.
Cold fury replaced it almost immediately.
SLAM!
Fury smashed one hand down on the desk hard enough to send office supplies jumping.
“Motherfucker!” His face hardened.
“Those sick bastards.
The gang, the Hand—every last one of them.
They were doing this under our noses?” S.H.I.E.L.D.
had known for some time that the Japanese criminal organization was involved in human experimentation, but they had only recently confirmed the laboratory’s location.
The Hand was another matter.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
knew relatively little about the organization.
Its members operated in extreme secrecy, possessed abilities that frequently defied normal explanation, and were notoriously difficult to infiltrate or track.
More troubling still, the Hand appeared to have ties to certain people within official institutions, which made moving against them far more complicated than simply raiding a criminal hideout.
After seeing the laboratory footage, however, Fury made up his mind.
Whatever political complications existed, S.H.I.E.L.D.
was going to start tearing this operation apart.
Natasha broke into his thoughts.
“You’ll want to pay close attention to the weapon Calvin used at the end.” Fury dragged the playback bar forward.
A few moments later, his expression froze completely.
“What the hell is that?” Fury had spent decades dealing with aliens, enhanced individuals, experimental weapons, and phenomena most people would never believe existed.
He still had no framework for what he was looking at.
One grenade had simply erased an entire section of the warehouse complex.
No conventional blast pattern.
No ordinary debris field.
The target area had been wiped away with absurd precision, like someone had deleted it from reality.
It looked more extreme than some of the superweapons S.H.I.E.L.D.
had quietly investigated.
And why the hell did the grenade shout Hallelujah when it detonated?
Was it blessed by God himself?
Natasha watched his reaction with open amusement.
“Well, Fury?
Any ideas?” She crossed her arms.
“Calvin told me a member of some church gave it to him.
Do you think that’s even remotely possible?” Fury rubbed his forehead.
Several possibilities flashed through his mind, none of them particularly reassuring.
Eventually, he sighed.
“Give me your assessment of Calvin first.” Natasha answered without hesitation.
“Extremely strong.
Unconventional thinker.
Decisive.
Cautious when it matters.
He clearly has more abilities than the ones we’ve documented.” She paused briefly.
“He isn’t easily distracted by seduction, and he appears to have at least some genuine sense of justice.
I still don’t know where his moral limits are.” Then she added, “One other thing.
He seems to have a particular hatred for the gang we hit tonight.
He was genuinely enjoying himself when he took them down.” “And he’s definitely short on money.
He spent most of the drive back asking whether S.H.I.E.L.D.
had any more assignments for him.” Fury nodded and pressed both hands against his temples.
“All right.
Leave it there.” “We don’t need to dissect every strange detail about him right now.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
is severely understaffed, and having a powerful enhanced operative who’s willing to cooperate makes life easier for everyone.” He considered something for a moment.
“From now on, I want his assignments routed through me personally.” “And have him attend a psychological evaluation tomorrow.
I want to know whether wiping out an entire criminal organization affected him more than he’s letting on.” Natasha agreed with the decision.
She had dealt with enhanced individuals before.
Far too many of them developed a god complex the moment they realized ordinary people could not stop them.
Laws became suggestions, morality became optional, and they started doing whatever they wanted simply because they could.
Compared to people like that, Calvin was practically a model citizen.
He had not used his abilities to terrorize civilians or build himself a criminal empire.
Instead, he had somehow spent months working himself half to death for money.
It was bizarre.
After Natasha left, Fury sat silently for a moment.
Then he picked up his phone and made a call.
The name displayed on the screen was: Alexander Pierce — Former Director …
Meanwhile, Calvin was sitting in the waiting area when the system finally delivered the notification he had been hoping for.
[Side Mission: Anomalous Test Subject — Complete.] [Rewards Obtained: EXP +5,000.] [Item Obtained: Physical Enhancement Serum ×1.] [Item Obtained: Vitality Tonic ×2.] [Item Obtained: Adaptive Halberd ×1.] [Physical Enhancement Serum: Consuming this serum greatly enhances the body’s overall physical functions without any side effects.
Due to the ingredients used in its creation, the flavor may be somewhat unusual.] [Vitality Tonic: Strengthens the body and restores stamina.] [Evaluation: One bottle puts some pep in your step.
Two bottles keep you going all night.
Three bottles might make you immortal.] [Item: Adaptive Halberd] [Effect: Can transform into various melee weapons according to the user’s will.
Despite its traditional appearance, it is actually an advanced high-tech weapon.] [Evaluation: Somewhere out there, your impossibly beautiful warrior princess is still on her way.] [Level Up!] [Free Attribute Points +3.] [Lottery Chances +1.] [Current Level: 7 (3,200/15,000).] Calvin stared at the rewards.
“…?” Aside from the Adaptive Halberd, the other two rewards seemed a little underwhelming.
The Vitality Tonic was especially suspicious.
The description claimed three bottles might make someone immortal, yet the system had only given him two.
Seriously?
Still…
This was system-produced medicine.
It might be worth trying.
Purely to test its effects, of course.
Absolutely not because Calvin needed any help in that particular department.
‘Another lottery chance too.
I’ll use it when I get back.’ He glanced toward the hallway.
‘Why is Natasha taking so long?
Fury better not be making her sit through some ridiculous after-action interrogation.’ While Calvin’s thoughts wandered, footsteps approached from behind.
“Agent Calvin, the mission has officially been submitted and closed.” Natasha walked toward him with a smile, every movement carrying the effortless grace of someone who knew exactly how much attention she attracted.
She stopped behind Calvin and rested one hand on his shoulder.
Then she leaned closer and softly breathed against his ear, her voice carrying just enough teasing warmth to make the intention obvious.
“So…
are we still getting that winner’s chicken dinner?” Calvin rubbed his tingling ear and answered with complete seriousness.
“Sorry, Agent Romanoff, but eating this late isn’t good for you.” He shook his head solemnly.
“And it’s already way past midnight.
I need proper sleep or my mission efficiency will suffer tomorrow.” Natasha stared at him for a moment before privately giving up.
‘Hopeless.’ The man truly had no sense of romance.
She pulled a phone from inside her jacket and handed it over.
“Your mission bonus has already been deposited into your account.
Future assignments and other S.H.I.E.L.D.
information will be sent through this phone.” Then she added, “And remember, you have a psychological evaluation tomorrow.” Calvin accepted the phone with obvious delight.
Apparently, tonight’s performance had been good enough to earn S.H.I.E.L.D.’s approval.
If that was the case, there should be plenty more missions coming his way.
As for getting a late-night meal with Black Widow…
The thought had never seriously interested him.
Women would only slow down his mission-grinding efficiency.
Right now, Calvin wanted exactly two things.
Go home and use his lottery draw.
And hatch that egg.