It worked.
Grief and anger are always the strongest catalysts.
Fury withdrew his gaze and turned around, looking at Steve and the others who were still immersed in pain and self-reproach. He spoke as if to himself, yet also to everyone present: "This concept... in hindsight, perhaps it's already outdated?"
Fury's words plunged everyone into a long silence, but that originally dejected atmosphere was quietly undergoing a qualitative change.
A cliché provocation tactic, but it had never been as effective as it was now.
However, there was one person present who was not infected by this sorrowful atmosphere at all, and even had a hint of doubt in her expression—Maria Hill.
The deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was currently standing not far behind Fury, watching her Director talk eloquently with deep emotion, churning out inspirational nonsense. Not only was she not moved to tears, but her brow was furrowed, and her expression was quite strange.
Of course, this was definitely not because Hill disliked Makima.
Quite the opposite, within S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps even Hill herself hadn't realized—
Among so many colleagues, the one she liked most was actually Makima.
However, as an ultimate workaholic who had dedicated her life to S.H.I.E.L.D...
If Hill's level of love for work was a 10, then her love for her colleagues might only be a pitiful 0.1. For Makima, this level of liking could even be raised to 0.3, or even 0.5!
As for Hill's level of liking for Fury... it was probably about 1...
Well, -1...
It could only be said that Makima's work efficiency was truly astonishing.
In Hill's eyes, this red-haired woman was simply a perfect machine that never tired and never made mistakes.
Over the past year, every time Hill and Makima partnered to handle official business, the mountain of pressure on Hill would drastically decrease.
So, if Makima was really hammered to death by that alien brute, Hill would definitely be saddened—there would never be such a useful partner again to help her carry S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mountainous workload!
Hill was already shaped by Makima... if she lost her, Hill would be in great pain.
But the problem now was... Makima...
Is she really dead?
...
Half an hour later.
As the Avengers left the bridge, each carrying the fire of revenge, to prepare for the upcoming counterattack, Hill arrived at the Helicarrier's medical department.
She carried a tray filled with medical cotton and povidone-iodine, navigating through the twists and turns to reach a room in the deepest part of the mothership.
She pushed open the door; the light in the room was dim.
On a comfortable single bed, the Makima who was supposed to have died a heroic death was currently draped in a clean coat. After receiving simple bandaging, she was quietly lying there with her eyes closed, resting.
"Are you feeling better?"
Hill placed the tray on the nightstand and asked in a low voice.
Makima opened her beautiful light green eyes, forced a smile, and nodded.
"Thank you for your concern, deputy director Hill. It's just a few broken bones; it's no big deal."
Of course, she couldn't die.
With the Devil Contract signed with Fisk, any fatal damage Makima received would be transferred to the mobsters in Hells Kitchen.
Unless the hundreds or thousands of gang members under Fisk all died at the same time.
Otherwise, Makima would never face true death.
Back in the ruins, after Thor recalled Mjolnir and flew away, Makima quickly welcomed her second "full health resurrection."
However, when she stood up from the debris and happened to encounter Fury, who had rushed over anxiously to check the situation, Makima immediately realized—she absolutely could not walk out unscathed.
A mortal Agent without any superpowers, beaten and thrown around by a god of Thor's level, only to get up, brush off the dust, and not even have a scratch?
This would clearly be too terrifying.
So, Makima repeated her old trick, forcing herself into a state of near-death from heavy injuries to deceive Fury's eyes.
But Fury, that old fox, had more schemes than anyone.
He rushed into the ruins, saw the horrifying pool of blood at the scene, and then looked at Makima's dying, miserable state.
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind.
Facing the then-disintegrating Avengers, Fury decisively came up with this wicked plan—let Makima fake her death and use her "sacrifice" to forcibly increase the cohesion of this group of superheroes!
Su Modie didn't have any objections to Fury's proposal; instead, she thought it was quite interesting.
However, she naturally had Makima put forward a request—
This play could be acted out, but Fury must take full responsibility.
If Tony or Steve discovered it in the future, all the anger and blame would have nothing to do with her, Makima.
It was all you, Nick Fury, this black-hearted Braised Egg, who forced a virtuous woman like her to do this for the sake of the big picture.
In order to knead the Avengers together, Fury had reached a state of obsession.
Facing this request, he agreed without even a stutter.
In this way, Makima successfully retreated behind the scenes and was happy to be idle.
After this battle, Makima had truly caught Fury by the short hairs.
The dignified Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., not hesitating to fake the death of a meritorious official just to win over the Avengers, deceiving the feelings of Captain America and Iron Man.
With this bargaining chip in hand, once this mess was over...
At that time, should she have Fury give her a raise? A promotion? Or naturally take over several top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. projects, using her authority to rake in a huge amount of profit and expand her influence among the human upper echelons?
Wouldn't that be perfectly reasonable?
Thinking of this, a pleasant curve appeared at the corner of Makima's mouth as she lay on the hospital bed.
She comfortably enjoyed the patient's meal brought by deputy director Hill, and after simple bandaging, she rested comfortably, letting that black-hearted Braised Egg outside direct and act in such a soul-stirring revenge drama.
While Makima comfortably retreated behind the scenes, what was Su Modie's other avatar doing?
What is Miss Reze doing right now?
Rewinding time to more than half an hour ago.
"Whoosh—!!!"
Ten thousand meters in the air, the bone-chilling astral wind howled and tore.
Above the clouds, the temperature plummeted to dozens of degrees below zero, and the air was so thin that ordinary people couldn't breathe at all.
The massive Helicarrier rapidly shrank in Hulk's vision.
In this dizzying high-speed fall, Hulk, who had been kicked out of the mothership by Reze, was smashing toward the ground like a giant green meteorite.
Following closely behind was a black dot that was growing larger and larger in Hulk's eyes.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion erupted above the clouds.
Reze brought her feet together, and a blinding high-heat tail flame immediately sprayed from the soles of her feet.
The Directional Blast produced a strong recoil, making her whole body like a black supersonic intercontinental missile, diving straight toward the Hulk below!
This wasn't a fall; it was a pursuit!
Regarding the humanoid missile part
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