S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Triskelion, Director's Office.
"Carol, how are the preparations for your Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Center coming along?"
Nick Fury asked the short-haired woman opposite him, who was holding an orange cat, with a smile.
She was one of the few friends he trusted, and also Maria's best friend.
Once an ace pilot in the military, after experiencing the Kree invasion together, she had been in charge of establishing S.W.O.R.D., a special department dedicated to dealing with aliens.
This was a rare visit from her Base in outer space to see him.
The orange cat Carol was holding was no ordinary cat; it was a Flerken, one of the most dangerous creatures in the Universe. His blind eye was a result of being scratched by one of these Flerkens.
"It's basically on track. Maria told me you ran into some trouble two years ago. Do you need my help?"
Carol stroked her pet Goose's head, a hint of concern flashing in her eyes.
Nick Fury immediately waved his hand:
"Minor issues, I can handle them myself. You should still focus on S.W.O.R.D. and the Skrulls. Our biggest enemies are those aliens whose civilizations are far more advanced than ours."
In his mind, Earth's problems weren't big problems. Mutants, though powerful, were only a small fraction, and most of them were not as good as his well-trained Agents.
What truly made him uneasy were those alien civilizations, especially the aggressive Kree.
Through the intelligence Maria gathered during her years living on the Kree homeworld of Hala, he deeply felt the power of Kree civilization and the cruelty of the Universe. The Kree had annihilated and conquered countless Planets with a civilization level like Earth's.
In recent years, he had been frantically expanding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence, hoping to make S.H.I.E.L.D. the strongest force on Earth, working with S.W.O.R.D. to prevent potential alien invasions in the future.
He never placed his hopes in those incompetent politicians, because all they cared about was money and profit. They were masters of infighting, but useless when it came to actually getting things done.
"If you need help, you can always find me. Goose and Talos can both assist you."
After chatting with Nick Fury for a while, Carol left S.H.I.E.L.D. with her pet Goose.
Soon after Carol left, Hill walked in with a computer.
"Director, these are some images just captured by satellite."
"It's him!"
The image showed Hawking standing on a tree trunk, flying through the air towards New York City.
After the battle three years ago, Nick Fury had listed Hawking as a key person of interest, second only to Professor X and Magneto, and had been diligently collecting intelligence on Hawking.
However, currently, all he knew was that Hawking was adopted by a couple during the Sokovia War three years ago and later came to New York to join the Mutant School.
Before that, due to the war, no other intelligence could be found.
Over the past three years, through cooperation with the X-Men, he had gained a deeper understanding of Mutant intelligence.
Sometimes, in order to obtain intelligence, he even orchestrated several crises himself to ask the X-Men for help, just to gather more detailed information on every threatening Mutant.
When he told Carol earlier that he could handle the Mutant problem, he wasn't boasting; he genuinely felt it wasn't a big issue.
If an unmanageable conflict truly erupted, as long as he was prepared, the advantage would be his.
For Professor X, a psychic dampener could prevent him from using his abilities, and given Professor X's overly idealistic and morally upright nature, he could easily leverage a moral high ground to control him.
As for his subordinates, many Mutants like Cyclops, Storm, and Jean were indeed very powerful when they unleashed their abilities, but if preparations were made in advance, a sneak attack combined with long-range sniping could eliminate them before their abilities fully erupted.
More dangerous ones were like Wolverine and Death Woman, who couldn't be killed by conventional weapons, but there were many ways to contain them.
As for Magneto's side, Captain Marvel could simply go in and overwhelm them. Besides Magneto, there weren't many capable fighters.
The one who truly made him feel threatened was precisely Hawking, who could transform into a giant ape. To this day, he still hadn't figured out how many abilities the opponent had, what his limits were, or what his weaknesses were.
He was already so strong at twelve years old, and now three more years had passed.
The key was that he couldn't get any intelligence on Hawking, because the X-Men who had cooperated with him were very tight-lipped about Hawking's information. He only vaguely knew that Hawking's strength seemed to be unsustainable.
Now that the opponent had suddenly left the Mutant School, and in this manner, flying to New York City, how could he not be worried?
After thinking for a moment, he immediately picked up his phone and dialed Professor X's number.
"Professor Charles, I've found Hawking appearing in..."
"Director Fury, don't worry, it's nothing. Little Hawking just read some comic books and, on a whim, wanted to use his abilities to help people in need.
He's still a child, you know. He might get bored in a few days."
Hearing Professor X's explanation on the other end of the phone, Nick Fury finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If it was merely playing Superheroes and fighting crime, such matters were, of course, insignificant, at most causing some damage to public facilities, which wasn't a big problem.
"But it can't go on like this forever."
Putting down the phone, he turned to Hill and asked:
"How is Magneto doing lately?"
"According to intelligence from our Agent infiltrated in the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto has recruited a new Mutant who can sense Mutant power levels. He is now extensively recruiting high-level Mutants through this Mutant."
Agent Hill reported the prepared intelligence one by one.
Not every Mutant identifies so strongly with their identity. Mutants are just humans with a special X-gene; essentially, they are still human.
And humans have emotions and desires, so they can be recruited as Agents by S.H.I.E.L.D. through various means.
The Brotherhood of Mutants is an organization that accepts any Mutant with strength, so infiltrating it only requires demonstrating one's abilities.
Therefore, Nick Fury had always been aware of the Brotherhood of Mutants' movements.
In contrast, Professor X's Mutant School was more troublesome. Firstly, the school primarily only recruited underage Mutants, and secondly, Professor X's telepathic abilities made it impossible to send people to infiltrate.
They could only extract intelligence from the X-Men through cooperation.
"This Magneto, he's definitely going to cause trouble sooner or later."
After listening to Hill's report, Nick Fury frowned. He knew Magneto's ideology was a ticking time bomb for humanity, liable to explode at any moment.
"How is the antidote research coming along?"
"There has been initial progress. We found a special gene in the blood extracted from Jimmy's body. It is this special gene that allows him to nullify Mutant abilities.
With a little more time, perhaps we can create a special weapon that can turn Mutants into ordinary people."
Hill scrolled through the computer, and a projection appeared on the wall. The photo on the projection was of a bald little boy.
"Very good. As long as we can create a weapon that can target Mutants, then whether it's Professor X, Magneto, or even Hawking, they will no longer be a problem."
Upon hearing this good news, Nick Fury's lips gradually curled into a smile.
This game of three-way checks and balances was about to end, becoming a sole dominant power.
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