Chapter 84

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["Unfortunately, just as a real team was finally formed after much difficulty, a civil war broke out not long after."

"The Avengers were fighting fiercely at a German airport, turning it upside down."

"Although they did not truly seek to kill each other, the fact remains that the Avengers began to split from that moment on, an incontestable truth."

"Many Avengers were even officially arrested and detained in an underwater secret prison, which is truly sigh-inducing."]

Civil War?

Split?

What's going on here?

Nick Fury's brows furrowed slightly.

He had thought everything was back on track when he saw spoilers in the diary that the Avengers had become a true team after bonding through the Battle of New York.

But then the devil quickly made a comeback, presenting Nick Fury with a rapid turnaround.

The Avengers, on track one moment, the next a civil war breaks out?

We're talking about a group of superheroes who possess extraordinary powers!

Just releasing that power could cause massive destruction.

And now they've caused chaos at a German airport?

Is this just a free-for-all amongst those with extraordinary abilities?

Nick Fury had a headache just thinking about the chaos, akin to a tangled mess, a disaster of epic proportions.

But what exactly was the cause?

None of the Avengers are villains, much less extremists.

What exactly happened that prevented them from resolving their issues amicably and prompted such extreme actions?

Nick Fury might not be clear on the details of the battle, but he knew that several heroes being arrested meant the situation was serious.

For the Avengers, this was a significant weakening and loss.

Of course, the Avengers haven't been successfully assembled yet, but Nick Fury was already formally advancing this endeavor.

So naturally, he had an intrinsic desire to prevent this civil war before it even started.

It all came back to one crucial question.

What ignited this civil war?

Nick Fury instinctively looked to the diary, hoping to find further answers from its pages.

Unfortunately, that was where the content of the diary ended; there were no further updates.

Nick Fury withdrew his gaze, sinking into contemplation.

His reflection wasn't about the wealth of significant news revealed in the diary.

He pondered how he should treat this diary.

On the one hand, Nick Fury was highly skeptical of the identity of the "time-traveler who knows the future," created by that Satan; he didn't believe it.

On the other hand, this person had accurately "foretold" many things.

His own journey towards establishing the Avengers, the dealings with the Skrulls, the list of the Avengers Initiative, and so on.

These things made it impossible for Nick Fury to ignore.

The reason he had not made a final decision yet was that Nick Fury still needed more evidence, more solid facts.

Anyway, Natasha was already on her way, right?

And according to Coulson's information, it was highly likely that Natasha, like himself, had received this mysterious diary.

When the time comes to meet with Natasha, he would be able to decide how to deal with the diary.

Ding ding ding!

Not much time had passed before someone knocked on Nick Fury's office door.

Glancing at the monitor with his one eye confirmed the visitor was indeed his loyal subordinate, Natasha Romanoff.

Without wasting any words, Nick Fury let her in.

The diary!

It was that diary!

As soon as Black Widow entered, the very same diary she was holding in her hands entered Nick Fury's field of view.

"Diary!"

At the same time, Black Widow also reacted exactly the same way as Nick Fury.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to the diary on Nick Fury's desk.

It's true!

Her superior had indeed received this magical diary.

Black Widow felt a surge of excitement.

Heaven knows how terrible it felt to know so many secrets but be unable to tell anyone, forced to keep it all to herself. She had finally found a "companion" after such a long time.

"You have one too, this diary which I can't decide whether to call strange or miraculous."

Nick Fury nodded, then his expression showed surprise.

He had just mentioned the diary without being choked by that mysterious force!

Was it because they were both holders of the diary?

"And obviously, you can see it too!"

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Nick Fury casually picked up the diary.

Sure enough, Black Widow's gaze followed the movement of the diary.

"Yes, Director, just as you can see the diary in my hands, I can see the diary in yours."

"And... in front of you, Director, I can speak about the diary's existence."

Black Widow hurried to Nick Fury's desk and shockingly found out that the indescribable diary could now be freely discussed.

"OK!"

Nick Fury nodded, "All right then, let's see what's the difference between these two diaries!"

So they began to place the two diaries side by side and carefully compare them.

Flip-flip!

The office temporarily fell silent except for the periodic sound of pages turning.

"Director, from what we can see so far, our two diaries are identical."

After a moment, Black Widow spoke solemnly to Nick Fury.

Nick Fury didn't say much. After the comparison, he also found this to be true.

The two diaries were identical.

Whether it was the style of the diary or the content recorded within, both were exactly the same.

"Natasha, you've had the diary much longer than I have. Tell me what you've concluded."

Nick Fury then commanded her with his piercing single eye.

"Yes, Director!"

"I received this diary about half a year ago. I trust you're well aware of how it suddenly appeared, Director, so I'll skip that part."

"I believe what you want to hear from me is not this but rather my thoughts on the diary, right?"

"Your question about my conclusion? My conclusion is that we can take the information recorded in this diary to be true."Black Widow was very prudent, using phrases like "I think" to describe her thoughts.

She believed that her superior must have had doubts about the authenticity of the diary.

After listening to Black Widow's report, Nick Fury remained composed outwardly, but internally he was stirred.

The fact that an agent of Natasha's caliber deemed the source credible was telling.

The reason for her trust wasn't hard to guess; there was only one explanation.

"It seems that the events 'predicted' in the diary for the past six months have all occurred, right?" Nick Fury stated with certainty.

"Yes, Director."

"When I received the diary, Tony Stark was still the arrogant, egocentric Iron Man."

"At that time, the diary mentioned that Tony Stark would be kidnapped, be trapped in a cave to build an armored suit, and pointed to Obadiah Stane as the mastermind. It also said Stark would shut down his weapons manufacturing division."

"You know what happened next, Director; everything came true."

"It wasn't just about Stark. In fact, everything recorded in the diary that I was able to understand and verify has come to pass."

Everything has come true? Nick Fury's expression suddenly turned very serious.

If that was the case, then his attitude towards the diary genuinely needed adjustment.

Although not all the information inside could be taken at face value, it still had to be considered a crucial source of intelligence and analyzed as such.

If necessary, appropriate strategic planning and deployment would need to follow.

"If that's the case… Natasha."

Nick Fury quickly collected himself and posed another question to Black Widow, "Do you truly believe that SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA sleepers to the extent described in the diary?"

To Nick Fury, this spoiler still seemed highly farfetched.

"Yes, Director. While it's shocking and somewhat absurd logically, and I have my doubts, if I have to choose between 'believing' and 'not believing', I choose to believe," Black Widow confidently provided her answer.

"This is unlike you, Natasha," Nick Fury said, his voice taking on a more profound tone.

Black Widow did not elaborate further but instead laid out some related documents in front of Nick Fury.

"The diary initially mentioned the Red Room was still operational, which I doubted at first."

"I thought, could this piece of intelligence be incorrect? That not all entries in the diary would be accurate?"

"I had spent considerable time investigating the Red Room but couldn't find any leads."

"Until two months ago."

"That's right, I found it—just some faint traces, but they indeed indicated that the Red Room still exists."

Nick Fury began to review the documents Black Widow had placed before him, his demeanor growing increasingly grave.

Black Widow was right.

Though the evidence wasn't irrefutable, it was sufficient to prove the existence of the Red Room.

"So, if the Red Room, which was thought to be non-existent, still exists, why couldn't HYDRA, which was also deemed gone, still be around?"

"And logically analyzing it, there is indeed such a possibility. Director, you haven't forgotten about Operation Paperclip, have you?"

Operation Paperclip! That thought slightly stirred Nick Fury.

As the Director of SHIELD, how could he not be aware of that operation?

After HYDRA was destroyed, not all HYDRA personnel were dealt with.

Many scientists and researchers were directly absorbed by SHIELD.

The most notable of them was Arnim Zola.

After being brought into SHIELD, that man even held a high position and researched the Tesseract alongside Howard Stark!

While these were researchers, differing from spies and agents, this was indeed a loophole and a breach.

Of course.

This plan alone didn't prove anything.

There was no evidence suggesting that the presence of these scientists enabled HYDRA's survival.

But given this vulnerability and breach, who was to guarantee that there were no others?

"Although the extent of infiltration described in the diary is absurd, I think we are missing some critical intelligence."

"As for what that intelligence is, it seems we can only wait for the diary to be updated."

Nick Fury was momentarily silent across from her, not making any comment.

Black Widow's hypothesis was a possibility, and Nick Fury could not deny it.

Moreover, considering almost everything in the diary had been validated, Nick Fury could only assume the unsettling truth that "There are more HYDRA sleepers in SHIELD than loyal agents" as a fact.

And based on this, make corresponding plans and arrangements.

The reason he said "almost" was that there were also things in the diary that had not been verified or even contradicted reality.

For example, Obadiah Stane being arrested earlier than expected.

For example, Tony Stark's "Call me Destroyer" line.

These were clearly inconsistent with the diary, which even puzzled Satan himself.

Nick Fury also raised this sharp question to Black Widow.

"Director, I have two guesses."

"First, as Zhou Cheng said, it's possible that this universe is not universe 199999 but a highly similar one."

"Thus, some events may deviate slightly."

"Second, Tony Stark might have the diary just like us."

"He found out about Stane from the diary, which is why he was able to uncover the evidence against Stane so quickly and put him in jail."

"Considering Stark's personality, it's not too hard to understand that he might want to play a humorous game with the diary's owner."

Black Widow quickly offered her theories.

Nick Fury remained noncommittal about the first theory.

There was no way to verify such things, and contemplating them further was a waste of time and effort.

But the second theory immediately piqued Nick Fury's interest.

He recalled when he approached Tony Stark.

At that time, Iron Man was impressively brash and overwhelmingly knowledgeable, holding a tight grip from start to finish, demonstrating an extensive breadth of knowledge that astonished Nick Fury.

But if Stark's knowledge came from the diary, wouldn't that make more sense?

After all, it would seem odd for Iron Man, in his usual routine, to show any interest in SHIELD, aliens, superheroes, and similar matters.