Nick Fury POV
"Am I reading this right, Fury?" General Anderson asked. The balding, taciturn man was the replacement for Senator Kelly on the World Council after the very public lashing he received for his involvement with that mutant hate group.
Upon our approval, Kelly's mind had been promptly cleared of all of our secrets by our Novan allies, and he was unceremoniously sent on his way. Given how compromised he was, it was a wonder he got appointed at all.
Candidates for his replacement, in contrast, had been run through the wringer several times over before General Matthew Anderson was approved.
"He turned his hand counterclockwise and just reversed the flow of time in every borough in New York?"
"That's what the GDN and SHIELD agents observing on the ground said."
"So, he is openly using the Time Stone," the British Councilwoman Hawley concluded. She was a former head of MI6 and was a distant cousin of a duchess. "Doesn't he understand that'll mean even more pressure from our partners?"
"Of course, he does," the Chinese councilwoman Yen snorted.
She had a hawkish face with intense frown lines and a military background, which was rare given her country of origin. "He does not care. You've read the reports from my agent. He sees himself as above us."
"And he's proven himself to be," Councilman Singh said. "His accolades and the contributions of him and his team are too many to count. We like to call this council and complain every so often about his attitudes and moves, but we're reluctant to deliver pushback or challenge his power. Like it or not, the ambassador sees him as a more legitimate leader than every elected leader on the planet."
"The Indian councilman speaks the truth," Councilman Abraham said. He represented Australia. He mostly stayed quiet during these meetings. "Perhaps it's time we accelerated the Prometheus program again."
Councilman Okoye raised a brow. The Wakandan representative was still finding his feet in the deep water of geopolitical espionage and statecraft, but he adapted easily enough. The hidden nation had been forced out of the shadows and taken a more central role in the defense of the planet when they noticed the proliferation of Novan technology. Suddenly, their Vibranium wasn't so hot after my discovery in the Arctic and Dante's Arcanite flowing around.
"There's a reason why there can only be one Black Panther in Wakanda at a time," Okoye said. "We struggle to manage the five Prometheans and enhanced agents we already have. The only person who can contend with Sentry is Captain Marvel, and she's set to leave." Okoye leaned into the table he sat at. "We cannot risk expanding our enhanced forces."
"And yet we must," Councilwoman Yen said. "We need more soldiers that are, at the very least, on the level of America's Captain if we're to control our destinies. It's the only way we can strong-arm him into handing back the Space Stone and cutting off his support to that utopian nightmare, Krakoa. We all know what will happen to project INTEGRATE if it doesn't fail miserably."
The mention of the project drew sharp and uncomfortable looks from the members of the council present.
Ah. Project INTEGRATE.
It was the brainchild of former Councilmember Kelly and Yen. They planned on recruiting more powerful SHIELD and GDN agents by converting the more temperamental and powerful mutants and superhumans we've apprehended into agents. And that was only Phase 1.
Phase 2 was bastardizing Xavier's legacy, opening a sanctuary for mutants in every country where the best and brightest can receive instruction on how to use their gifts legally and, if they're open to it, for the government of their respective nations.
Of course, there were still plans to collar, monitor, and, if need be, imprison the undesirable and dangerous. But that had to wait until they were certain they could get away with it.
Every member on the council had vehemently pushed back against it at first, but then the Red River incident happened. A young psychic accidentally drove an entire town of 5,000 mad during her awakening and promptly killed herself shortly after.
No one knew about the incident. Not even Jean Grey. She'd been in Dante's dimension when it happened. The GDN had responded quickly, but it'd been over when they arrived. We managed to keep it out of the news, but the event had been enough to tip the scales in Yen's favor.
There had been a push for more oversight, even from Okoye. And with the help of a few Wakandan scientists and our Novan partners, we'd developed next-gen mutant suppression collars that should work on alpha levels and down.
With it, we'd gotten more aggressive in our pursuit of mutant and superhuman criminals, capturing the likes of Emma Frost, Azazel, Typhoon, and a few other mercenaries. Unofficially, they worked for us. They were why Dante hadn't discovered the moves we'd made. They were why we could even meet in secret like this.
A very powerful Technopath was ensuring our line was secure on top of whatever protections the Novans supplied.
"It wouldn't matter if we had 20 GDN soldiers and another Sentry." I spoke for the first time that meeting. "According to Dante, he doesn't have the stones, not anymore. He claims they were destroyed alongside most of his Widows, the X-Men, his Sentinels, Rin, Spider-Man, and Yelena Romanoff."
I also told them about Dante's victory over Lauren and Shin and how the Eldritch threat was firmly behind us.
There was a beat of silence as the various members processed the news.
"I have to hand it to the boy; he certainly knows how to win." General Anderson spoke first.
"It was the least he could do," Yen hissed. "He brought that thing into our world."
"Technically he didn't," Singh corrected, "not if the files we've been able to recover about Lauren's whereabouts are accurate."
"Doesn't change the fact that trouble follows him around."
Nobody disagreed.
"Fury, do you believe his story?" Hawley asked.
"About the Infinity stone or our troubles with the Outsider god?" I asked.
"Both."
"Possibly," I answered diplomatically. "Only the Novans can confirm his story about not being in the dimension when he fought Lauren. I believe he's being honest about the death of his closest friends, but I doubt the Infinity Stones are as lost as he claims."
"I concur," Hawley said. "It's doubtful he can pull off Time Magic on such a scale without the Time Stone. From your file, it was never his strong suit."
"Or that is what he simply wanted us to believe," Singh countered. "His runes let him use magic on a level that impresses even the Asgardians—a race wrapped in magic and mysticism. Given his performance against Thanos's army. Intricate manipulation of time is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. But it doesn't mean he doesn't possess the stones."
Singh was my favorite councilman for a reason. The man was smart. Sometimes too smart for his own good.
"So what are our options?" Okoye asked. "A frontal assault is ill-advised, even if his ranks are diminished." He gave Yen a purposeful look. "He can always make more Widows, Sentinels, and recruit more mutants. He has no shortage of options, not that he needs it."
"Sentry could match him," Yen pointed out.
"I'd prefer not to risk our strongest asset," Hawley said. "And cutting him out would mean losing all of our enchanted armors, technology, and protections."
At this juncture, I also pointed out that Dante had promised updates to our current armory. That drew an actual groan from Hawley.
"How goes the effort to duplicate his runes?"
"Dead in the water," Singh said. "The expert we found made it clear we would need a demon lord or, at the very least, a prince powerful enough to carve the rune arrays embedded in the armor set our soldiers are currently wearing. He, however, did offer to help us create pieces that are a step or two below it for a ridiculous amount of credits."
"Just how much credits?" Hawley asked.
"Enough to bankrupt the United States," Singh said. "Alternatively, he's offered to do it for free for a chance to study the Mind Stone."
Anderson rubbed his forehead. "The Novans warned us the news would spread quickly."
"All the more reason we should attack and retrieve the stones, lean on the Novans if we have to, and risk another Sentry," Yen pushed again. Hawley seemed to have finally had enough. The meeting was seconds away from devolving into a shouting match when I spoke up.
"Council members," I interjected. "If I may, I think a mixed response will serve us best. I suggest we use the Asgardian connection to our advantage. They owe us a personal debt for Loki's crimes. We could demand technology and magic as repayment. As for Krakoa, we let the media handle it. There are no shortage of skeletons to dig up."
"And what if Dante and Jean Grey stand with Magneto?" Abrahams asked.
"Then we allow the media to dig deeper," I said. "Declassify Dante's earlier crimes, and let them know who is responsible for the professor's death. That should give them something to chew on. As for the Infinity Stones, we should let the Novans take the initiative. Dante and the Novans can keep each other distracted while we concentrate on solving our super-soldier problem. I already have plans drawn up for a remote-triggered failsafe and several other contingency plans."
Anderson blinked. "You've given a lot of thought to this."
"It's the job," I said neutrally.
"There's a high chance that none of what you're suggesting will work," Okoye said.
"We don't need it to," I said, looking to Yen. "We just have to buy time to get answers, gather more weapons, and prepare. Dante plans to go to the demon world soon and return with thousands of displaced mutants...I don't need to emphasize how much of an opportunity and potential problem it could be."
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