After a sleepless night, Pietro and Zemo went to work early.
The grilled meat of the Ox-Horse Beast left them with boundless energy, which they could only expend through high-intensity work.
"We absolutely cannot eat Darian's barbecue again!"
The two swore silently as they worked.
Of course, they would still find it delicious next time; it was a universal law.
On this very morning, Darian also received a message: Stark Industries proposed an aid plan to Sokovia, willing to fund the reconstruction of the country's schools, hospitals, and infrastructure, and would also provide advanced related equipment.
It seemed the knife Darian had twisted that day had worked.
For such a willing benefactor, Darian naturally accepted everything without ceremony.
However, Darian did not appear in person. Instead, he assigned this task to Zemo, giving him full responsibility for liaising with Stark Industries and, incidentally, having him play the victim to try and extract as much funding and equipment as possible from Tony.
Sokovia now needed money everywhere, and even Darian's hundred small goals wouldn't be enough.
Darian had no psychological burden about freeloading off Tony.
Furthermore, he wasn't completely freeloading off Tony; he could use this opportunity to help Tony clear his name and reduce the hostility of the Sokovian people towards him.
Now that Sokovia's noble royalty had become a rare species, the Sokovians no longer had the most obvious enemy, so they set their sights on Stark Industries and Tony as its face.
The hostility of other Sokovians was irrelevant, but Wanda and Pietro's hostility was truly deadly.
Not to mention Wanda, who controlled Chaos Magic, Pietro alone could chop Tony into mincemeat before he even put on his Iron Man suit.
As for how to clear his name, it was also very simple: just blame everything on Stane, the dark side of Stark Industries.
By helping Tony reduce two major enemies, this deal was a win for the other party no matter how you looked at it.
Darian, as usual, came to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to pick up his daily missions.
He had just walked out of the Director's office, ready to send the mission to X Squad, when he saw Coulson leading a woman with East Asian features and delicate modeling towards him.
[NPC: Skye (Daisy Johnson)]
[Codename: Quake]
[Affection: 0]
[Evaluation: One of the World's top hackers, who has repeatedly infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems. She infiltrated S.H.I.I.E.L.D. solely to find out about her past. She is also an Inhuman, with the ability to generate and control vibrations.]
If this continued, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system would become a public restroom like Hammer Industries, where anyone could come and go freely.
Darian complained inwardly, but he was very interested in Skye's other identities, especially her Inhuman identity, which sounded like a special race similar to Mutants.
He stopped and asked, "Coulson, who is this?"
Coulson smiled and introduced, "This is Skye, a new member who was just recruited. She's currently in the training phase."
Training phase meant she wasn't even a Level 1 Agent, just a pure rookie.
Darian chuckled, "As expected of the rookie village chief of S.H.I.E.L.D., you, a dignified Level 8 Agent, are actually personally responsible for recruiting new people."
"She's a new member of my team," Coulson explained.
Hill had him form a rapid response team, and Skye was one of his most recent recruits.
Coulson also introduced Skye, "Skye, this is Darian, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 7 Agent."
"I know him, he's the Iron Glider."
Skye stared intently at Darian.
Darian said in surprise, "Oh? You've heard my story?"
Skye nodded, "Of course, I was a former member of the Rising Tide organization. I know a lot of hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. data. I also know that you sent the nuclear bomb into the portal, which saved Manhattan from being blown up by those politicians, but S.H.I.E.L.D. covered it up."
The Rising Tide was a hacker organization. They called themselves a public welfare organization, using their superb hacking skills to dig out information hidden by various agencies and make it public.
Simply put, they were a large paparazzi group, specializing in spreading gossip about various agencies.
And S.H.I.E.L.D., an intelligence organization with countless secrets, naturally became the main target of the Rising Tide. They believed that S.H.I.E.L.D. infringed upon people's right to know and freedom, and had always tried to expose all the secrets S.H.I.E.L.D. was hiding.
This philosophy and modus operandi were typical of the U.S.!
At this point, Skye lowered her voice and said, "To be honest, I think this is very unfair. You saved all of Manhattan, but you didn't even get a public commendation."
"Ahem, that was a choice made out of concern for causing public panic," Coulson couldn't help but interrupt Skye.
If they continued to discuss it, his new member might be shot in the back a dozen times and ruled a suicide, after all, Skye was not yet an official S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and was not protected by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Darian had no such worries and looked at Skye with appreciation: "You're absolutely right, rookie, you're going places. Are you interested in joining my team?"
Coulson: "???"
Recruiting my person right in front of me, do you really think I don't exist?
Coulson rubbed his temples, trying to reason: "Darian, Skye was recruited by me. Besides, with your lone wolf combat style, you shouldn't need teammates, right?"
"Who said that? Even the strongest ADC needs a support to place wards. I just happen to be missing a top hacker for support, and I think this rookie perfectly fits the bill."
Darian indeed didn't need teammates, but his X Squad desperately needed them. Having a top hacker in the team would save a lot of trouble.
Moreover, Skye's Inhuman identity seemed very worth exploring; it might be a hidden side quest.
"She hasn't undergone any systematic training yet, and she doesn't even have the most basic field mission experience."
Coulson argued forcefully; he was truly unwilling to let go of such a rare technical talent easily.
"It just so happens that I can personally guide her. I have a simple mission at hand that is perfect for a rookie to practice on."
Darian took the cue and turned to Skye: "If you join my team, I guarantee that you'll be promoted from intern to full-time within a week."
This promise instantly made Skye's eyes light up.
It should be known that under normal S.H.I.E.L.D. procedures, a new recruit would need to undergo several months of training and assessment to become an official Agent, and the conditions Darian offered were undoubtedly a shortcut to rapid promotion.
For an intern, what could be more enticing than rapid promotion?
"Can you really guarantee that?" Skye couldn't help but confirm.
Darian's lips curved upwards: "Of course. It only took me a few days, less than a week, to go from joining to becoming a full-time Agent. With me around, I guarantee you'll speedrun missions."
"Deal! I'll join your team!"
Skye agreed without hesitation.
With a veteran like Darian personally guiding her through missions, why would she need anything else?
Hearing this, Coulson shook his head helplessly but did not refute.
Although he was also a veteran player of S.H.I.E.L.D., having started earlier than Darian, a diligent and hardworking ordinary player like him was far from being able to compare with a cheater like Darian.
He treated daily missions as dungeons to complete, while Darian treated dungeons as daily missions to play. The two were simply not on the same level.
Therefore, Coulson couldn't make the promise of leading Skye to speedrun missions and get promoted within a week.
"Darian, isn't stealing people a bit much?" Coulson tried to make a final struggle.
A small bottle appeared out of thin air in Darian's hand: "Take this bottle of hair growth serum. With it, you'll have a head of dark, lustrous hair and no longer have to worry about baldness."
Hearing this, Coulson's gaze instantly locked onto the small bottle.
He snatched the bottle with lightning speed, carefully tucked it into his suit's inner pocket, and his face immediately cleared, a sincere smile spreading across it.
"I'm much more at ease with Skye joining your team!"
At this point, he knew he couldn't win against Darian, and getting this bottle of hair growth serum wasn't too bad of a trade.
Skye, standing by, witnessed the entire scene and her lips twitched slightly.
"Are all of you in S.H.I.E.L.D. like this?"
Darian chuckled, "You don't understand. Most S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents have this problem. They have too many confidential missions to handle every day, and the excessive stress naturally leads to more hair loss."
"The higher the rank of the Agent, the faster their hair falls out. Level 8 Agents like Coulson are still okay; although their hairline is in distress, they can at least maintain a style."
"Our former Director, Nick Fury, I heard he even had some hair when he was young, but later he became completely bald. That's why he was capable of being our Director."
Darian patted Skye's shoulder: "In S.H.I.E.L.D., seeing hair is like seeing rank. In the future, when you see Agents with thinning hair in S.H.I.E.L.D., they are basically high-ranking Agents, and you should show them some respect."
Skye: Σ(°Д°)
Uh, I suddenly don't want to be promoted anymore.
The mission Darian accepted this time was a retrieval mission.
According to intelligence, a local gang in Los Angeles had somehow obtained the corpse of a Chitauri soldier and was planning to sell it at a high price to a certain foreign power.
Their mission was to infiltrate this gang's stronghold and either completely destroy the alien remains or stealthily steal them.
However, this gang was quite large in the area, with a large number of gang members. If their whereabouts were exposed, it was highly likely that intense firepower clashes would erupt.
Skye listened to the mission content, dumbfounded.
"Are you sure this is a rookie mission?"
Darian said matter-of-factly, "Isn't this a rookie mission? No aliens, no superpowers, no supervillains, just dozens of ordinary people with automatic rifles. I can't think of a simpler beginner's tutorial than this."
Skye: "."
S.H.I.E.L.D. is so dangerous, I want to go back to the Rising Tide organization.
For most S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, this would undoubtedly be a tricky mission requiring careful planning.
But for Darian, such a difficulty was indeed nothing.
Darian drove a black car borrowed from the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters entrance, taking Skye to the abandoned factory district in the suburbs.
"What should we do next?"
Skye observed the factory in the distance through the car window, a little nervous.
This was her first field mission, and it was such a high-difficulty infiltration operation from the start, causing her to involuntarily clench her hands.
"It's very simple, follow me."
Darian pushed open the car door and swaggered towards the factory.
Skye quickly followed suit and asked in a low voice, "Aren't we afraid of being discovered like this? Could it be that we already have an undercover Agent inside this research facility who will come to meet us later?"
Darian did not answer, but walked directly towards the factory gate.
Two lookout gang members immediately spotted them, raised their guns, and glared fiercely at the two of them.
"Stop! This isn't where you should be—"
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots suddenly rang out!
The two gang members, with their brains blown out, went offline at light speed before they could even finish a complete line.
Darian lowered the arm holding the Golden Desert Eagle and looked at the dumbfounded Skye.
"See, this way no one will find us. Did you learn that?"
Skye: "."
What could I possibly learn from that?!
Before she could recover, she saw Darian had already kicked open the rusty iron gate of the factory.
The huge impact echoed in the empty factory building. The gang members, already alerted by the gunshots outside the gate, all turned to look at the two uninvited guests at the entrance, raising their guns in shock and anger.
"Damn it! Kill them!"
However, Darian's actions were faster than their reactions. He raised his Golden Desert Eagle and pulled the trigger without even aiming.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!
A continuous volley of gunshots rang out, and each shot was accompanied by a gang member falling to the ground.
They didn't even have a chance to fire before they were accurately taken out by bullets flying from who knows where.
Because Darian made such a huge commotion, all the enemies in the entire factory were activated. The mini-map clearly showed red dots, and there was no need to search for them at all.
Skye hid behind Darian, her ears filled with deafening gunshots, watching Darian clear out all the enemies in the entire factory in less than a minute, faster than she played FPS games!
Darian nodded in satisfaction after confirming that all the red dots on the map had disappeared.
He turned to Skye and said, "Our stealth was very successful; no one was able to discover us."
Skye: "."
You call that stealth!?
Afterward, they successfully found the Chitauri soldier's remains and easily completed the mission.
Excluding travel time, the entire operation took less than five minutes!
It was truly a speedrun mission!
With a powerhouse like Darian guiding her, Skye completed several difficult missions with Darian in just three days.
Although she was mostly just a pure moocher, she still shared a good amount of mission credit, and after demonstrating her superb hacking skills, she directly skipped her internship and was promoted to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 1 Agent.
Of course, this was entirely out of respect for Darian.
Otherwise, with Skye's vague and somewhat sensitive past, S.H.I.E.L.D. would never have allowed her to become an official Agent before thoroughly investigating her background.
Even so, Skye held the badge representing a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, but she felt no real sense of accomplishment, let alone much joy.
God knew what she had been through these past three days!
For stealth missions, Darian would just go berserk; for intelligence missions, Darian would directly tie up the target and interrogate them face-to-face; for elimination missions, Darian would use an RPG to blow up the target along with the building!
It was a good thing Coulson had received the mission about her and brought her to S.H.I.E.L.D. back then.
If Darian had been the one to complete that mission, she probably wouldn't even know what was happening before she was sent flying.