Not only was Darian dumbfounded, but even Steve was stunned.
Who could have expected Nick Fury to pull such a stunt right from the start.
But Steve wasn't the type of person who could be fooled by a few words, and the wariness in his eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest.
He asked directly, "What is going on here?"
Nick Fury sighed, "Back then, S.H.I.E.L.D. lacked manpower, so I thought about enlisting the help of these Aliens to protect Earth together."
"At first, only a few dozen Skrulls stayed on Earth, and they were all very cooperative, so I gradually let my guard down. When I was too busy, I even let them disguise themselves as me to handle matters."
This wasn't a lie.
Over the years, Nick Fury had frequently let Skrulls fill in for him while he hid in the Base to slack off; there was evidence of this.
"But I never imagined that some Skrulls had long since harbored ulterior motives."
Nick Fury's face displayed a timely expression of resentment, his inner actor taking over, "They actually went behind my back and used my authority to conduct many shady operations in private, such as embezzling S.H.I.E.L.D. funds, collecting genetic samples of superheroes, researching the Tesseract, and even conducting a bunch of inhumane experiments."
Darian: "..."
Did these Radicals even know they had done these things?
Nick Fury became more and more agitated as he spoke, "Not only that, they smuggled more Skrulls onto Earth, wedging their spies into S.H.I.E.L.D. at every opportunity. They even disguised themselves as HYDRA, collaborated with former HYDRA member Dr. Zola, and tampered with the Insight Project I originally proposed."
"On the surface, this plan was for HYDRA to eliminate resistors, but in reality, it was the Skrulls who wanted to eliminate the humans standing in their way, so they could control the entire Earth!"
Since Gravik had played a game of "counter-plot," Nick Fury decided to play a game of "counter-counter-plot."
He was just worrying about having no one to take the blame, and Gravik had jumped out to cause trouble himself, so why be polite?
Nick Fury decisively dumped all his own mess onto others, and while he was at it, he dumped all the dirty deeds HYDRA had done onto the heads of the Radicals led by Gravik.
Anyway, when he was eavesdropping at the door, he had heard that Gravik was already dead.
Now that there was no proof, he could make up whatever he wanted.
Poor Gravik, he never imagined until his death that he would become Nick Fury's tool to balance his accounts.
Nick Fury continued, "By the time I realized it, it was already too late. S.H.I.E.L.D. was crawling with Skrull spies, and I didn't dare to make a scene. So, I secretly hired a group of French Pirates to hijack the satellite ship and steal the information on the Insight Project, which is how I found out what they were actually trying to do."
"As it turned out, Gravik discovered I was investigating them and sent people to attack my car. By the time I woke up, I was already here."
"He can actually spin it back like that!?"
Darian watched, and in his heart, he had to admire it; Nick Fury's ability to lie with his eyes open was truly masterful.
His story was seven parts true and three parts false, with the truth and lies woven together seamlessly.
There was no better way to frame someone than this.
Most of the things he said could stand up to investigation.
They had actually happened, so even with an in-depth investigation, no evidence contradicting his words could be found.
"Is that so?"
After listening to Nick Fury, although Steve didn't believe him completely, he wasn't as wary as he had been at the beginning.
After all, what Nick Fury said did align with many things he had discovered himself.
It was just... he felt like something was off.
"It's all my fault for wrongly trusting these Skrulls."
Nick Fury's tone was sorrowful, "After they captured me, they tried to steal my memories to obtain important classified S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence. I refused, and with my tenacious willpower, I resisted with all my might, and as a result, they beat me up like this."
As he spoke, he specifically showed off the injuries on his body.
Darian: "..."
He could even pin this on the Skrulls.
It really has to be you, you evil Bald Egg.
He even started to feel a bit of sympathy for the Skrulls; they had done so much dirty work for Nick Fury, and in the end, they hadn't found a home and still had to carry one scapegoat pot after another for him.
What kind of Skrulls are they?
Might as well rename themselves the Scapegoat Aliens.
Steve glanced over; Nick Fury had several broken ribs and was bruised all over.
The wariness in his eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a bit of sympathy.
He patted Nick Fury on the shoulder, "That must have been hard for you."
Seeing this, Nick Fury knew he had temporarily dispelled Steve's doubts and was secretly pleased.
He stared straight ahead, his face full of righteous indignation, "It's not hard. It was my fault to begin with. There's no point in talking about this now; we should hurry and catch those Skrulls inside S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Officer, the Skrulls at S.H.I.E.L.D. have already been cleared out," Natasha reminded him.
"Huh?"
Nick Fury was stunned; he really hadn't expected this.
He was very clear about the Skrulls' camouflage abilities, which could be described as indistinguishable from the real thing—not just realistic, but truly realistic.
He had already verified this with his own Skrull wife.
Steve saw that Nick Fury's surprise didn't seem to be an act, and he believed him a bit more, "It's true. Darian has the ability to see through Skrulls. After we discovered the Skrulls, we cleared out all the ones hidden inside S.H.I.E.L.D. that very same day."
So it was Darian; then it was fine.
Nick Fury was long since used to Darian's miraculous operations.
Just like Captain Marvel back in the day; even if the other party defeated an even stronger enemy, he wouldn't feel the slightest surprise.
Nick Fury asked, "So, what is the situation outside now?"
Darian happily took over, "We disguised ourselves as Skrulls, and in the name of the Conservatives, we attacked the Radicals' Base. Now Gravik is dead, and the remaining Radicals have all surrendered."
"Now the Skrulls are leaderless. We were thinking we need to find a reliable human to take over these Skrulls to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, so we need your help."
Steve nodded, looking at Nick Fury with sincere eyes, in a "you are the only one" manner.
Nick Fury's single eye lit up.
To be honest, he really couldn't bear to part with these Skrulls. They were a group of natural spy tools, perfect for a spymaster like him.
But because the Skrulls' conspiracy was already completely exposed in the open, Steve and the others definitely wouldn't leave these Aliens alone. Plus, since he hadn't fully cleared his own name yet, Nick Fury had originally thought he couldn't continue to let the Skrulls work for him.
But now it seemed there was still a turning point.
The way Darian and Steve were acting, it was clear they still wanted him to continue taking charge of this batch of Skrulls!
Nick Fury's mouth curled up slightly, and he immediately patted his chest, looking righteous.
"For Earth, I am duty-bound!"
Darian nodded vigorously, "With those words from you, I can rest easy."
Soon, a meeting was held within the Skrulls.
This meeting was attended by all the Conservatives, as well as several captured high-level Radicals, to discuss the future path for the Skrulls.
Darian naturally also participated in this meeting, sitting around the round table with the other Skrulls.
A Conservative Skrull spoke up first, worried, "Now we Skrulls are completely exposed to the eyes of the Earthlings. Worse yet, because of Gravik's actions, the Earthlings' impression of us is terrible. I'm worried that the Earthlings will take action against us Skrulls."
A Radical Skrull scoffed, "What are you afraid of? If the Earthlings dare to come, we dare to fight!"
Talos frowned, "Haven't you woken up yet? If it weren't for you Radicals insisting on your own way, how would we Skrulls have ended up in this situation?"
That Radical member slammed the table, "Can you blame us? It's all that bastard Nick Fury! Back then, he personally promised that as long as we worked for him, within three years at most, he would find us a habitable Planet."
"As a result, three years and another three years, it's been decades!"
"Until now, we are still hiding in this dump as Earthlings, not even daring to show our true faces, living our lives wearing someone else's face every day. He clearly just treated us as tool people!"
Talos paused and said in a low voice, "He said... he has been trying hard to find one."
"Find one, my foot!"
Hearing this, the Radical member got even angrier, "He hides in other Bases on vacation every day, and we do all the work! It's only because we work hard that the S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership thinks it's all Nick Fury's credit, and that guy gets to fly a Helicarrier!"
Even Talos, with his Earthling heart, couldn't refute this.
Indeed, that bastard Nick Fury simply doesn't do human things.
Another Radical member nodded in agreement, "Exactly, exactly. Since Nick Fury won't fulfill his promise, we'll just take matters into our own hands and seize Earth to become our new home. What's wrong with that!?"
"Right, it should have been like this from the start!"
"It was all him forcing us!"
"What did we do wrong!"
The Radical members were all excited, and no amount of persuasion would work.
"Ahem!"
Darian coughed lightly, and the previously excited Radical members instantly quieted down, even straightening their sitting postures.
This was the ruthless person who had taken out Gravik.
Although they were Radicals, that didn't mean they weren't afraid of death; how could they dare to provoke him?
"What do you think, Layla?"
Talos couldn't help but turn his gaze to Darian; he knew this person was a pure Earthling and certainly wouldn't agree with the Radicals' argument.
Darian pondered for two seconds, "I think they are right."
Talos: "Huh?"
No, aren't you an Earthling? How did you side with the Radicals?
Darian added, "What I mean is, Nick Fury really is a bastard."
Talos's mouth twitched, "Can you say something we don't know?"
"So, I brought Nick Fury here."
Darian raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
At the door of the conference room, Steve walked in, escorting a tightly bound Nick Fury with his mouth stuffed full.
Nick Fury: "Mmph mmph mmph!"
"When I found him, I happened to read his memories. Guess what I discovered?"
Darian's expression was resentful as he pointed at Nick Fury, "This bastard never intended to help us find a home from the very beginning. His plan was to make us work for him forever, using our abilities to be his tools for a lifetime!"
"What!?"
The round table instantly exploded into chaos.
All the Skrulls widened their eyes, looking at Nick Fury in shock.
Nick Fury: "Mmph mmph mmph!"
Don't look at me, I just found out about this script too.
Darian sneered, "That's right, we were all deceived by Nick Fury. Finding a new home is all fake; being his tools is the only truth."
"This bastard! I knew he had been deceiving us all along!"
"So, we risked our lives for him for decades, and it was all for nothing!?"
"This black-hearted slave owner!"
"Kill him!"
"Kill him!!"
The crowd was furious, and a few Skrulls even stood up, their eyes starting to turn red.
Nick Fury looked at this group of Skrulls before him who couldn't wait to tear him apart, feeling like crying without tears.
So this is the favor you wanted me to help with!
"Don't do it! Definitely don't do it!"
Darian tried to persuade them otherwise.
As a result, this only reminded the Skrulls, who immediately swarmed up and gave Nick Fury a beating.
Nick Fury's mouth was stuffed tightly, and he could only make muffled, indistinct sounds, his single eye desperately signaling to Talos.
However, his loyal Alien little brother was currently looking down and counting ants, his gaze focused, ignoring the affairs of the outside world.
Talos, of course, knew that Darian reading memories was fake.
But the fact that Nick Fury had used the Skrulls as free labor for years and kept delaying his promises was indeed true.
It was true that he had an Earthling heart, but that didn't mean he had no resentment. If he wasn't worried about offending Nick Fury, he would have taken advantage of the chaos to throw a few punches himself.
Seeing Nick Fury get kicked to the ground, Darian finally stepped forward to stop them, "Calm down. Even if we kill Nick Fury now, it won't solve any problems. The most important thing for us right now is to think about our new home. Since Nick Fury can't be relied upon, we have to rely on ourselves."
A Conservative member was furious, "Since Nick Fury deceived us, then we will just seize Earth! Whoever dares to stop us, we will kill them!"
The Radical members: "..."
That's our line!
Darian shook his head, "We can't do that. It was Nick Fury who deceived us, not other Earthlings. Besides, Earthlings are not that easy to deal with. Don't forget they have not only superheroes but also supervillains."
"Once we launch a full-scale offensive against Earth, those super-humans, no matter how much they fight to the death normally, will likely join forces in the face of an external enemy. By then, what we Skrulls will have to face won't be just a few mere superheroes, but the entire extraordinary combat power of Earth."
"Although we Skrulls have over a million, how many true warriors are there? The Earthlings could wear us down just by attrition, and the final outcome awaiting us would only be a dead end."
"Gravik's fate is a ready-made example."
The Skrulls: "..."
Um, Gravik was taken out by your own hands, what does that have to do with Earthlings?
Darian understood their looks and kept a straight face, "Gravik couldn't even beat me, and he wanted to fight Earthlings? If that's not looking for death, what is?"
"As far as I know, there are plenty of people on Earth stronger than me, especially that Earthling named Darian. Don't look at how handsome and extraordinary, friendly, humble, low-key, and wise and brave he is... in reality, the strength he hides is terrifyingly strong!"
"Although I fused with his genetic sample, at most, I only have one percent of his strength."
Nick Fury: "..."
Steve: "..."
Ptooey!
Shameless!!