S.H.I.E.L.D.
Headquarters, Director’s Office.
Nick Fury stared at the footage playing on his computer, his expression growing steadily worse as sweat gathered on his forehead.
The video was Calvin’s recording of the so-called Field Boss.
When hundreds of bones began rising from the ground and assembling themselves into a skeletal Tyrannosaurus-like monster, a vein visibly throbbed on Fury’s forehead and his single eye widened almost comically.
He was starting to wonder whether he understood this planet at all anymore.
What the hell was any of this?
How did vampires lead to a bone dragon?
Were those bloodsuckers secretly trying to open Jurassic Park?
By the end of the recording, however, Fury watched the skeletal monstrosity get obliterated by the same absurd holy grenade he had seen before and finally released a long breath.
At least they had someone on their side capable of dealing with things like this.
Otherwise, Fury honestly had no idea what S.H.I.E.L.D.
was supposed to do.
Some of the experimental weapons he had authorized in secret were powerful, but “stable” was not a word he would use for most of them.
There was always a reasonable chance they would kill S.H.I.E.L.D.’s own people before they killed the target.
“Ahem.” Fury cleared his throat and turned toward the man sitting across from him, currently scrolling through his phone as though the video they had just watched was perfectly ordinary.
Privately, Fury was relieved he had recruited Calvin when he did.
If someone this powerful had been left completely unsupervised, there was no telling what kind of disaster might eventually have happened.
Which meant S.H.I.E.L.D.
needed to keep him.
Whatever it took.
Fury adjusted his expression and made an effort to sound genuinely appreciative.
“Agent Calvin, you performed extremely well on this operation.
I’m increasing the mission bonus again.
Instead of triple pay, you’ll receive five times the original amount.” Calvin finally looked up.
Fury had called him shortly after the Field Boss went down, and Calvin had hurried straight to S.H.I.E.L.D.
without even using his new lottery draws.
He had assumed there was another mission waiting for him.
Apparently, Fury had only summoned him to talk about money.
Still, extracting this much cash from a man as notoriously tight-fisted as Fury was an achievement in itself.
“Thanks, Director.” Calvin leaned forward expectantly.
“So…
got any more assignments?” Fury shook his head.
“No new missions at the moment.
However, your clearance has been raised to Level Four.
Given your current capabilities, you’re more than qualified.” “To advance beyond that, we’ll need more extensive evaluation.” It was not that Fury lacked work for him.
The problem was that Calvin’s missions had an alarming tendency to create even more work for everyone else.
First, he had wiped out several hundred members of a criminal organization in a single operation.
Then he had deployed some ridiculous large-area weapon that erased an entire underground laboratory.
Now he had fought a goddamn skeletal dragon in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen, and the roar had been loud enough for half the neighborhood to hear.
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cleanup teams were drowning in damage control.
Government officials were demanding answers.
Fury himself had been fielding calls almost nonstop.
For the moment, everyone would benefit from Calvin taking a quiet day or two.
Calvin visibly deflated.
No mission?
Then why the hell was he still sitting here?
He did not care about agent levels.
He could be at home rolling the lottery right now.
Fury’s expression turned serious.
“There is something else you need to know.” “Not long after you destroyed the bone creature, a bounty appeared on the dark web.
Ten million dollars for information revealing your identity.” He paused.
“Another fifty million for your death.” Calvin raised an eyebrow.
“And Kingpin has increased his bounty on you by another twenty million.” Fury folded his hands.
“Our assessment is that the new bounty came from the Hand.
We also have reason to believe the Hand and Wilson Fisk are cooperating to some degree.” “So until we understand more, be careful.
Hell’s Kitchen has become significantly more unstable.
If you need operational support, S.H.I.E.L.D.
will provide it.” Calvin nodded without much concern.
As far as he was concerned, the higher the bounty climbed, the more clearly it demonstrated that his enemies had run out of practical ways to deal with him themselves.
Fury studied him for a moment.
“How much do you know about the Hand?” At this point, far too many recent incidents traced back to that organization.
Unfortunately, the Hand was also one of the areas where S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intelligence remained frustratingly incomplete.
Calvin knew quite a bit.
Dragon bones.
Chi.
The Black Sky.
Several other details from the stories he remembered.
But why would he hand Fury all of that information for free?
The system had not triggered a mission.
Giving away valuable intelligence now would only cost Calvin future rewards.
He was not running a charity.
Better to save the information until the relevant mission appeared.
“What I know is basically what I’ve already told you,” Calvin said, shaking his head.
“Nothing beyond that.” Then he added, “I have heard that the Bronx has the largest vampire population in New York.” Calvin drew one finger across his throat.
“So…
want me to handle that?” He watched Fury hopefully, trying to bait out another mission.
Fury shook his head.
“If vampires have begun gathering there again, then the situation is more complicated than you think.
I need time to put the proper pieces in place.” “If I need you, I’ll contact you.” His tone became firmer.
“For now, keep a low profile and make sure the Hand doesn’t identify you.
Continue monitoring Stark, and do not do anything unnecessarily conspicuous.” Calvin almost laughed at that last part.
Fury continued before he could respond.
“Keep your phone on you.
An emergency assignment could come in at any time.” Then he added almost casually, “And in a few days, a former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
wants to meet you.” Calvin’s eyes immediately brightened.
A former Director?
That could only mean Alexander Pierce.
One of HYDRA’s highest-ranking leaders inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
If Pierce wanted to meet him personally…
‘Is HYDRA finally going to recruit me?’ Calvin almost felt emotional.
‘My second paycheck is finally coming.’ …
Elsewhere, in a secluded room, an enormous bald man sat on a sofa.
Wilson Fisk wore a custom-tailored white suit, although even the reinforced fabric struggled to contain the massive muscles underneath.
He opened a drawer, selected an expensive cigar, and slowly lit it.
Smoke drifted through the room.
Across from him sat an elderly woman whose face appeared and disappeared behind the haze.
“Madame Gao.” Fisk calmly tapped ash from his cigar.
“The laboratory was destroyed.
Every vampire at the club is dead.
Even that valuable dragon bone was reduced to nothing.” His voice remained controlled, but the accusation beneath it was obvious.
“Do you have anything to say about that?” “The power behind those vampires is not someone we can afford to offend lightly.” Madame Gao smiled.
The wrinkles across her face deepened.
“Mr.
Fisk, those losses are ultimately insignificant.” “At the very least, our joint experiment proved that the concept works.” She spoke in heavily accented English.
“All we need to do now is continue the research step by step.
Progress should come quickly.” “The military has already begun moving in the direction we wanted.” Her smile became knowing.
“Soon, both of us will have the opportunity to realize our respective ambitions.” As she spoke, her fingers moved through a slow, rhythmic pattern beneath the table.
Wisps of black energy invisible to ordinary eyes seeped from her fingertips and began curling quietly throughout the room.
Fisk noticed none of it.
He merely gave her a knowing smile in return before asking another question.
“With all the resources at the Hand’s disposal, you still haven’t identified the man who killed my people?” “The vampires gave us his location once, then became too frightened to go near him again.
They couldn’t even tell me what his face looked like.” Fisk’s expression hardened.
“Now they’re all dead, and whatever intelligence they had died with them.” Madame Gao’s smile deepened.
“We believe the man who killed your operative and the one who disrupted our plans are the same person.” “There are very few individuals in Hell’s Kitchen capable of what we’ve witnessed.” Then something approaching religious fervor appeared in her eyes.
“However…
through guidance from my god, we have captured something extraordinary.” Her voice lowered.
“When my god assimilates it and uses it as a vessel—a physical incarnation through which its will may act in this world—nothing will remain hidden from us.” For once, Fisk looked genuinely curious.
“What did you capture?” Madame Gao answered slowly.
“My god calls it an Animal Totem.” Her smile widened.
“Or, in another sense…
a god in its own right.” …
Calvin eventually returned to the new home S.H.I.E.L.D.
had arranged for him.
A beachfront villa.
He had to admit, S.H.I.E.L.D.
had an absurd amount of money.
Or rather, Fury must have perfected creative accounting to a degree Calvin could only admire.
Who gave ordinary field agents beachfront villas?
Not that Calvin intended to complain.
More importantly, he finally had time to collect his rewards.
He took a long shower, changed into clean clothes, then opened the system interface.
[Mission: Extermination — Complete.] [Rewards Obtained: EXP +3,000.] [Item Obtained: Power Spinach ×1.] [Item Obtained: Third Hand ×1.] [Field Boss Eliminated.] [Rewards Obtained: EXP +10,000.] [Item Obtained: Diamond Pickaxe.] [Item Obtained: Sealing Scroll.] [Ability Obtained: Armament Haki.] [Lottery Chance +1.] [Power Spinach: Consuming this item temporarily increases Strength and Constitution for five minutes.] [Third Hand: A metallic arm that can materialize and move freely anywhere within five meters of the user.
Its strength and durability increase alongside the user’s attributes.] [Diamond Pickaxe: Capable of breaking through most minerals and stone.] [Evaluation: Given enough time, digging through the planet is entirely possible.] [Sealing Scroll: A successfully sealed target is transformed into a stone statue.
The weaker the target, the greater the chance of success.] [Ability: Armament Haki] [Effect: Max-level Armament Haki.
Enhances offensive and defensive power and allows the user to strike entities that conventional physical attacks cannot affect.
Includes all applications of Armament Haki.
Overall strength scales with the user’s attributes.] [Evaluation: “Only Haki can transcend all!”] [Level Up!] [Lottery Chance +1.] [Free Attribute Points +3.] [Current Level: 8 (5,000/15,000).] The rewards this time were excellent.
Practically everything was useful.
Calvin was especially pleased with Armament Haki.
It directly strengthened both offense and defense, filling one of the biggest gaps in his current abilities.
Still, one part of the status screen puzzled him.
“How exactly is the EXP requirement calculated?” Before Level Seven, every level had required ten thousand EXP.
Now it had increased to fifteen thousand.
Maybe the required EXP rose in tiers rather than increasing every single level.
Calvin stared at it for a moment.
Then shrugged.
“Whatever.
Lottery first.” He distributed the three new attribute points evenly as usual, then clasped his hands together with complete sincerity.
‘Lady Luck, RNGesus, Jesus, God, every saint in heaven, and every benevolent cosmic entity still taking requests…
give me something good.’ “System, lottery!” [Congratulations!
You have obtained Item: Horse Talisman.] [Congratulations!
You have obtained Ability: Divine Illumination.] Calvin’s eyes widened.
[Horse Talisman: Cures illness, expels harmful external forces, and repairs physical damage.] [Evaluation: The noble Horse keeps you healthy through every deadline, all-nighter, and endless shift—perfect for becoming the ultimate workhorse.] [Ability: Divine Illumination] [Effect: An enhanced form of the legendary illumination magic wielded by Middle-earth’s greatest wizard.
Provides numerous beneficial effects, including attribute enhancement, holy purification, wound recovery, stamina restoration, banishment of darkness, increased courage, strengthened willpower, and more.
The effectiveness of all blessings scales with the user’s attributes.] [Evaluation: When the light comes on, everyone starts wondering how much damage it does.] Calvin stared at the two rewards for a moment.
Then a huge grin spread across his face.
“Hell yes!”