"Go on, Fury. Have a seat. Why aren't you sitting?"
"Let's just get to the point."
Nick Fury's mouth twitched. He subtly stepped farther away before speaking.
"I knew the moment you got back, you'd start settling accounts with certain people. So I prepared a list in advance."
"It includes every council member who approved the nuclear launch—and a few others who stirred the waters behind the scenes. Their level of involvement is all documented."
As he spoke, Fury pulled a stiff paper file from his leather coat and flicked it toward Leon like a throwing knife.
Leon didn't move.
From behind him, two slender fingers reached out and caught it steadily.
Bast stepped out of the shadows in her classic black-and-white maid attire. She accepted the file and knelt respectfully before Leon, acting as his "living bookshelf," opening it and turning the pages for him one by one.
"Good girl~"
Leon held Maria Hill in one arm while casually stroking Bast's silver hair. His fingers brushed over the tip of her long, elfin ear.
The sensation made her ear tremble faintly, but her hands holding the file remained perfectly steady.
"Let's see…"
There were several familiar names on the list.
The most familiar of all: Alexander Pierce—current member of the World Security Council, serving concurrently as U.S. Secretary of Defense. The very man who had once brought Nick Fury into S.H.I.E.L.D.
He also carried several identities well-known to certain audiences:
The biggest mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
Leader of HYDRA.
Handler of the Winter Soldier.
Architect of Project Insight.
"You and Pierce are practically inseparable," Leon said with a meaningful smile. "And you're just handing him over like this?"
"No," Fury replied calmly. "I simply compiled everyone involved. Whether punishment is necessary—and how severe—that's for you to decide."
"If I excluded Pierce because we're close, that might make things more dangerous for him later. Wouldn't it?"
He met Leon's gaze steadily.
After the Battle of New York, Fury had reached a conclusion:
Serving Leon was like serving a tiger.
In Fury's eyes, Leon's presence now sat at the same table as Captain Marvel in terms of both danger and reassurance.
A little humility and deference in exchange for planetary security? That was acceptable.
Fury's official accusation against Pierce was straightforward: as Secretary of Defense, he had failed to mobilize military reinforcements for New York and allowed the nuclear proposal to pass.
Fury understood Leon well.
In Leon's worldview, inaction at a critical moment was also a crime.
Better to "sell out" his old friend now than wait for Leon to investigate and pass judgment later.
Even now, Fury believed he was protecting Pierce in his own way.
Meanwhile, Pierce was quietly plotting how to remove Fury from the board altogether.
With Project Insight nearing completion, Fury—its public overseer—was becoming an inconvenience to a man who intended to use it for global assassination and rule through fear.
"You've been thoughtful, Fury."
"I'll handle it."
Leon rose from the ice-crystal sofa and left without further discussion, arm around Hill, returning downstairs to resume the celebration.
Bast—currently one of the Avengers' top combatants, second only to Leon, Tony, and Thor—remained impeccably dressed in her maid uniform, following faithfully behind him.
No matter the time or place, she executed every order without hesitation.
An exceptionally dangerous personal attendant.
After Leon left, Fury cautiously examined the large sofa beside him.
It no longer felt quite as cold.
He tentatively sat down.
Crash!
The ice shattered instantly upon contact, dumping Fury onto the floor.
"Motherfu—"
"I knew it!"
…
The next day.
When Leon awoke on his massive bed—large enough to accommodate twenty-five people comfortably—it was already afternoon.
The bed had been yesterday's Daily Sign-In reward.
Under optimal circumstances, Leon had decided to put it to immediate use.
Warm golden sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a glow over his sculpted physique—like a Greek statue carved from living marble.
"Helen? Eve? Sharon Carter? Christine? Supergiant? Arcee? 2B? Bast?"
"Master, I'm here."
Leon lazily reached out beside him—empty.
Too comfortable to open his eyes, he called out each name.
Only Bast responded.
A sweep of Observation Haki confirmed it—the enormous bed contained only him, sprawled in a starfish pose.
Bast emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a white bath towel, silver hair tied into a bun, droplets of water still clinging to her skin. She moved silently to the bedside and knelt, looking up at him attentively.
"Just you?"
"Where's everyone else?"
"Eve and Sharon Carter are handling company operations. Christine has returned to the newsroom to publish coverage of Captain Homelander and Iron Super-Man's return."
"Supergiant, Arcee, and 2B are in Dr. Cho's laboratory."
"Tony is there as well."
She added the last line deliberately.
"Oh?"
Leon extended his perception toward Helen Cho's lab.
Tony was there—working on the Mark VI Armor, hammering and tinkering aggressively.
A faint, unpleasant sensation—like sympathetic dental pain—rippled through Leon's mind via the portion of Living Adamantium integrated into the armor.
"Hiss—"
He immediately severed the connection.
With a backward flip and perfect superhero landing, Leon sprang out of bed.
He attempted a dramatic instant transformation—
But Aionsega malfunctioned.
No one-second suit-up.
Instead, Leon stood in full "emperor's new clothes" mode, unconsciously striking a Thinker-like pose while facing Bast.
"OwO."
"…"
Master and maid locked eyes.
Aionsega floated lazily out of the bathroom, a trace of white foam still clinging to its surface.
Under Leon's darkened expression, the shield drifted casually forward—then, with drunken precision, slipped directly into Bast's bathrobe.
Silence.
The air froze.
The world flickered blue.
Reality skipped a frame.
In the next instant, Aionsega appeared properly affixed to Leon's left wrist—initiating full armor deployment in one smooth second.
…
Dr. Helen Cho's Laboratory
At the center of the room stood the completed Regeneration Cradle, sleek and silver-black, connected to numerous external cables.
Nearby stood Tony and his independently mounted Mark VI Armor.
When Leon arrived via portal—stroking Bast now in her small "Hakimi-form"—Tony was in the middle of a forceful deconstruction attempt on the Living Adamantium Mark VI, assisted by Arcee (A2 Mode) and 2B.
Supergiant, meanwhile, had been restrained to a metal surgical table—hands and feet bound—eyes vacant, as if she had been left there for quite some time.
Dr. Cho sat before a monitor, rapidly typing.
On-screen was an entirely new 3D armor design—sleek, seamless, fully integrated. Unlike the bulky muscular silhouette of the previous Mark VI, this version looked form-fitting, almost slender.
Like a tailored combat suit.
But Iron Man.
"What are you all doing?"
With a flick of telekinesis, Leon freed Supergiant from the table.
The moment she touched the floor, she threw herself into his arms, trembling.
Bast was squeezed awkwardly to the side, her feline face flattening in mild resignation.
"Master~"
"You're finally here… they're all demons!"
Supergiant's eyes shimmered with tears as she complained pitifully.
It was hard to believe this was once the domineering member of the Black Order who bowed to no one.
Look what they'd turned her into.
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