Of course, that was the last resort.
Not to mention that even if Killian fully laid his cards on the table, with the backing of both Kennedy and Ross, S.H.I.E.L.D. would not necessarily dare clash with him head-on.
After all, those people could influence both S.H.I.E.L.D.'s money supply and its weapons pipeline.
Cut off the cash with one hand and the weapons with the other, and what exactly would S.H.I.E.L.D. have left to maintain that lofty pride of standing above everyone else?
"Go on."
After hearing Killian's words, Nick Fury already understood his attitude. So he said nothing more, only darkening his already dark face as he motioned for him to continue.
"Second, regarding this incident, S.H.I.E.L.D. must provide compensation. I don't care about whatever confidentiality rules you claim to have. Publicly, you can say the spy was sent by any random company you want. I don't care. But there must be compensation of no less than one hundred million dollars, and the responsible personnel must receive corresponding punishment."
"This is our bottom line. No matter what, if you sent someone to steal our company's intelligence and that person got caught, compensation is inevitable."
"And in the future, I will recommend to the President that similar corporate espionage cases be punished quickly, heavily, and strictly."
"Because no matter how nicely some people phrase it, they're still acting under the banner of national security. And what if another person like this shows up later under the same excuse, but then turns around and sells our company's confidential material elsewhere? At that point, we'd have nowhere to cry."
"So this kind of thing has to be crushed in the cradle. We have to be ruthless starting now."
Killian showed absolutely no politeness toward this wealthy target and laid out his demands directly. And when Fury looked like he was about to say something about confidentiality, Killian cut him off before he could even start.
Of course, that so-called punishment was mostly for show. Fury was the head of a global intelligence agency. Even if someone really decided to punish him, who would actually dare carry it out?
But Killian did not care about that.
What he wanted was the attitude behind it.
As the company kept expanding, spies from every direction, even from within the U.S. government itself, could eventually come snooping around. So after Natasha's incident, Killian had already decided to make an example of it and strike first against the American upper ranks.
If he was this harsh the very first time, then the next time someone wanted to try the same thing, they would have to think very carefully about whether they carried enough weight to match the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Fine. No problem."
After a long silence, Fury looked at Killian and ultimately compromised.
The compensation would not come out of his own pocket anyway.
As for punishment, an internal punishment could be anything. A fake disciplinary measure like sending someone off to the Maldives on paid leave would be enough.
He did not believe this small company CEO could plant eyes inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Third, as long as you complete the corresponding compensation procedures, then this incident will be considered fully settled. Afterward, we will not continue to pursue the matter. But I also hope you won't keep using this incident as a topic to stir things up."
What surprised Fury was that Killian's third condition was nothing like the first two. Instead of making another outrageous demand, he sounded almost as though he were offering peace.
"Of course. No problem."
For some reason, Fury felt that something was off.
But looking at Killian's expression, he could not figure out what it was for the moment, so he could only grit his teeth and nod.
...
After that, Killian continued listing the conditions that had already been discussed with Ross and the government officials who had just arrived.
With all of them cooperating, Fury could only keep agreeing, his face growing darker and darker.
"Tenth..."
"Don't push this too far."
Just as Killian was about to continue, Fury finally spoke through clenched teeth, his forehead lined with black fury.
He had originally thought that once Killian learned his identity from Ross, he would just throw out a few demands for form's sake and leave it at that.
Instead, it looked like the man had gotten addicted to it, as though catching one sheep meant he intended to keep shearing it forever.
"Alright. Then we'll leave it there for now."
"I hope Director Fury will honor his promises."
After hearing Fury's words, Killian, who had actually only wanted to test how much the old man could still endure, decided to stop there.
To begin with, their real expectation had only been to get Fury to agree to around six or seven clauses.
Anything beyond that was simply Killian testing Fury's limit.
And apparently that limit was slightly higher than they had expected.
To be honest, aside from the first three conditions, most of the ones afterward were really just points of struggle between the military, the government, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
The reason Killian had been the one to state them was simple: they were allies.
After all, those people had stepped forward for him, built the stage, and waved the banners on his behalf.
It would not exactly be right for Killian to grab all the benefits and run off happily while leaving them empty-handed after they had come all this way.
And Fury understood that perfectly well.
This negotiation was not really between him and Killian, the CEO of a company.
It was more like he was negotiating simultaneously with military and political representatives from the upper ranks of the American government.
The only reason he had to spit things out this time was because he had clearly been caught crossing the line.
"Hmph."
After giving Killian a cold look, Fury turned and walked toward the aircraft in the distance. As the view of the cabin interior slowly faded from sight, everyone understood that he had already boarded and left.
"Well then, Mr. Killian, I'd say this matter has been handled quite successfully. We won't stay any longer."
After seeing Fury leave, several of the government officials at the side smiled happily, shook hands with Killian in a friendly manner, and said their goodbyes.
As far as they were concerned, they had made a tidy profit this time, so they needed to hurry back and discuss the exact division of the benefits.
"Of course. Thank you very much for your help this time, gentlemen. These are Pioneer Technology's Vanguard phones. They're different from anything on the market. Every one of them uses cutting-edge design, with no external sale of this version anywhere."
Looking at the officials, Killian smiled as he spoke.
Then he signaled to his subordinates, who each brought forward a high-end tech gift box containing a Pioneer Technology phone and handed one to every official.
Each of them cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make, since every specification had been pushed to the highest level possible.
And the officials clearly knew that.
So every one of them accepted the gifts with even brighter smiles.
After that came a warm and overly friendly scene, to the point that they looked ready to become sworn brothers with Killian on the spot.
As for how much of that was genuine, that was another matter entirely.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]