45 The Prelude

"And also, the current Director of SHIELD, which stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistic Division," said Nick Fury while showing his badge. Of course, I knew who he was even if he didn't introduce himself.

"Neat. Which was made first? The acronym or the sentence?" I teased.

"It's classified information," he replied, curtly.

'Classified my ass.'

The room was shrouded in silence, amplifying the sound of the ticking small clock on the desk. What I was concerned about currently was what he wanted and how he found out about me.

"How did you know me?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh please, Edward. You made it far too easy. It even looked like you were screaming for the world to find you right away." answered, Nick Fury, while throwing various pictures toward me from his pocket.

On catching one of the pictures, I was frozen stiff. It was my small figure when I was in France a month ago. I eventually realized how precarious the circumstances I was currently in. If SHIELD knows, others might have noticed as well and I need to find out who. Furthermore, there was a high chance that Umbrella knew my identity as well.

"Don't worry, we already covered your tracks. If not for the X-Men telling me about your deed, it might have been too late to hide you. Still, there might some people that find out about you earlier than us."

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Too many to count."

"Investigating my identity, covering my tracks, even bothering to look for me. You seem to put me in high regard, Mr. Fury."

"I knew it," said Nick Fury while smirking. He continued, "You're far too intelligent for a toddler, Edward. What are you? Skrull? Kree?"

"Neither, Mr. Fury. I'm a genuine human and 8 years old, nonetheless." I answered, not realizing my blunder.

"Interesting, you seem to know what I was talking about. Even knowing about Skrull and Kree." He said, catching on my words.

'Ahh... Crap. I fucked up.'

"I... have my source of information."

"Someone that even we don't know?"

"How could you be sure that SHIELD knows everything, Mr. Fury?"

SHIELD might have been a know-it-all organization in the movie. But that was only when the Avengers were officially formed, giving Nick Fury an excuse to get more resources and authority.

"Fair enough."

"Could you stop, and just tell me what you want, Mr. Fury? My aunt will arrive soon."

"Don't worry, we have enough time for chit-chat."

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Somewhere else, at the same time. Claire bumped into a blind middle-aged man, looking for an address.

"I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" asked the middle-aged man. It was Phil Coulson in disguise. Until Nick Fury has done talking with Edward, he was ordered to stall Claire from going home.

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Back to the room. Nick stood and walked around.

'Hmm? Is that?' My eyes couldn't help but glance at the box beside Nick Fury's feet. He brought it earlier with him.

Looking at where my eyes directed, Nick Fury, explained the content. "Ahem, I forgot to tell you, I found these after accidentally apprehending a suspicious guy. It might be yours."

"How convenient for you to find the thief. Did he travel to your house and press the bell as well." I replied, feeling suspicious. Nick didn't say anything and just stood there, whistling while looking at his nails. I started browsing my long-lost treasure.

"Where's issue 120 to 130?" I asked after finding out it wasn't complete.

"Apparently, the thief hasn't finished them yet, and asked for leniency until he's done," replied Nick Fury. I looked at him while squinting my eyes and he kept evading it. This bastard IS the thief. I suddenly found something. On my hand was another comic book that was suspiciously wet.

"Ewhh... you dropped milk on it!"

"Ohh... that's not a milk," he interjected.

I was shocked and dropped the comic book on the floor out of disgust. Seeing my crumpled expression, he corrected, "Bitch! What the hell are you thinking about. It was a whipped-cream."

"Damn it, Nick! I was going to read that!"

"Hey, don't you dare call me Nick." He raised one of his eyebrows and snapped, "My boss calls me Fury. My mother and her mother call me Fury. Even my wife and children call me, Fury."

"You have a wife?"

"Yea, her name's Sharon Hannah Imogen Emmanuella Lara Davis."

"Did you call her SHIELD at home?"

"And why the hell not?"

"Alright. Cut the crap, Nick. What do you want from me?"

"Hey...!" He wanted to protest again but gave up. He returned to the cool facade he usually had and said, "Fine! I might need your help, Edward."

"What do the adults need from a toddler like me?" I replied, crossing my arms.

'At least I knew that I was not a problem for him.'

"The world is not as peaceful as you think, Ed. We are surrounded by threats, a knife to our throats that could slice it up, whenever they want." He turned his back on me with both hands behind him, while reminiscing his experience.

He continued, "Years ago, I started to realize that we are not alone in this world. Since you know about Kree and Skrull, you must have known what I'm talking about."

I just nodded to his words, letting him continue. I knew what the future holds, but I still need to know what the past wrote on its wall. The world that I knew wasn't the same anymore.

"The tale our grandparents told us, they might have not been a mere tale, but the truth for us to discover. For example, the existence of Demons and Angels might have not a mere fiction written on the Bible." He glanced at a picture of Dante with me next to him.

I realized that he knew about the Devil May Cry events that had occurred in the past. Did he also take part in it? It was possible. The scale of Devil May Cry events was huge enough to be a threat to humanity's existence.

Seeing that he didn't continue, I asked, "so? What's your point telling me that?"

"I'm forming a team, Edward. A group of people that could protect our homeworld from those threats. A group that could put down the knives hanging on our throats. I called it, The Avengers."

My heart skipped a beat. He wanted me to join the team. As much as I feel excited about it, I was worried that I'm not strong enough. I still need time to grind my body and mind.

"I'm sorry, Nick, but I'm still far too young for that."

"Could anyone your age, defeated what us, adults, couldn't with ease?" He turned his head to look at me.

I knew what he meant with. He was talking about the event in Paris. "I was just lucky, and they were weakened by hundreds of years of hibernation."

"You seem to know them as well," he commented while raising his eyebrows.

"As I said, my informant is rather... special."

"So, you're in or what!?" he grumbled.

"Okay, fine. But I have four requirements."

"Please, do tell me," he said while massaging his forehead.

"One, I don't want to be tied. I'm not your properties for you to use however you want. Two, I only take orders from you. No government bullshit or anything. I don't want to get involved in some political maneuverings. Three, I'm a mercenary, I won't simply take orders, I will be given a choice if I will accept or deny. Don't worry, I'll do my job. Even complying with all your requirements as a bonus."

Nick was surprised after hearing about my requirements. It was too detailed to be made by 8 years old. Well, he could acknowledge it because the kid in front of him wasn't a normal kid. "I need time to think about it. What's the last?"

I turned serious and said, "evacuate the residents of Raccoon City, as soon as possible."

Hearing the unexpected sentence, he also turned serious and asked, "And why I should do that?"

"Do you know where we are?" I said, giving him the first clue.

"Raccoon City, home of-"

Before he could continue, I followed up, "-Umbrella. Right... When I was in France, I stumbled upon information that U.S. Umbrella has a secret laboratory, code-named NEST in the outskirt of this city. Inside them, they are developing something that would be a threat to us. I can't tell you more about it yet, but I suggest that you do it before you start regretting it."

Although I lied about finding it on the European branch, I didn't lie about their research. The Golgotha Virus or the G-Virus that William Birkin develops, was so dangerous and more effective than the T-Virus Umbrella had. A single drop of them could infect the whole city in a matter of a night.

"It's going to be hard, Edward. I need permission from the Government. Besides, how could we evacuate more than 100.000 civilians? Where would they stay? How would we keep or feed them? There will be mass panic and no one would simply leave their hometown without good enough of a reason."

I knew it was hard. I even knew that the government wouldn't give Nick Fury a single pass. Umbrella had the backing of an old organization called The Family, who controlled the government behind the scene. It was not only Hydra that I have to worry about.

"If it's impossible, then I suggest you ask for a backup. A whole lot of them, enough to fight against more than 100.000 walking dead."

Walking Dead? Suddenly Nick recalled the report he read a month ago, about the zombified people. "How sure are you?"

"For now, 70%." I didn't miss his change of expression. It seems that SHIELD already knew about it as well. I couldn't be sure yet about the future, as I haven't found any development in the event. Raccoon City was eerily quiet up until now. I need to find a way to infiltrate NEST as soon as possible.

"It's that high?" 70% was enough to say that the threat is imminent if nothing was to be done with it. "How can I believe you?"

"You already did, Nick. You know what I was talking about. You know about what happened two months ago, aren't you? From the train accident until the Spencer Mansion's suspicious explosion."

He took a seat on my bed again and massaged his shiny forehead, "I'll do what I can, but you need to pray that you aren't wrong, kid, or else..."

"Ohh... You don't know how much I wished that I was wrong, Nick."

Suddenly, I heard the sound of the door opening and footsteps. It seemed to be Claire.

"I'm home," said Claire, notifying me. She saw my shoes near the front door and put it on the rack for shoes. "Ed, come to the kitchen, I bought Chinese foods for dinner."

"In a little bit, Aunt Claire," I replied. I didn't want her to come to the room as Nick was still here. I materialized a golden card inside my pocket and gave it to Nick Fury. "Take this, I'll contact you later if I found any evidence."

Before Nick could ask what the golden card is, I leave him alone in the room to not make Claire wait for long. A decision that I would regret soon.

Claire and I had dinner while talking about what we did during the day. Chris would be back by noon, tomorrow, at least. This friend of his, I think I know who it was. I heard the voice of a woman when he made the call. Chris didn't have any female friends except those from his division. The rookie Rebecca and the famous Jill Valentine. I hope it was the latter.

Once dinner ended, I went back to my room. Nick Fury already left and kindly closed the window. At least he still had some conscience.

My eyes moved to the previous box he brought. "Hmm? It wasn't there."

Although the comic book was still here, neatly stacked on the floor, the box was missing. Suddenly, I had a bad epiphany. I turned around and searched for a small chest under the bed, where I stored the rest of my comic books.

"It's... It's gone. That motherfucker took them."

[...] Regina wanted to say something, but she just stays silent and let me curse however I want. She just asked me to tone it down a bit so that Claire wouldn't hear me.

'I'll fucking shoot his leg the next time we meet!'

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3 days later. 22nd September. 11 PM.

A group of heavily armed soldiers was walking into an elevator hall, leading to a secret laboratory. On the floor was a symbol of Umbrella's logo with the word NEST written over it. Outside the hall, there were several bodies of UBCS (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service) soldiers laying lifeless on the floor. Blood painted the other red and white logo on the wall.

One of the soldiers, presumably the leader of the team went ahead and explained, "Our mission is to seize the G-Virus along with Dr. William Birkin. The UBCS were bribed by Dr. Birkin to protect them, you will be given the permission to kill them on the spot. Are we clear?"

""Yes, Sir!"" they replied, orderly.

This group was the U.S.S. (Umbrella Secret Service) Alpha Team, sent by the Headquarters. The team leader that just briefed them was HUNK. Since the UBCS who were tasked to guard NEST had been bribed by William to betray the corporation, he asked for reinforcement.

Another team was deployed to support them. It was the new Delta Team, informally referred to as Wolfpack. The Wolfpack would infiltrate the facility through other elevators and rendezvous mid-way with the Alpha Team.

(A/N: I'll post Wolfpack's picture on the comment.)

The elevator went down and sent them to the steel gate where Edward was stuck not knowing how to open it. The alpha team had a universal card that could access the NEST. HUNK gave them a signal to be ready and open fire as soon as the gates opened.

Even before the steel gates completely opened, the UBCS behind the gate started bombarding them with their guns. The Alpha Team didn't flinch and returned fire as well.

The alarm started resounding inside the facility. Reinforcement upon reinforcement was running around to fill the withering numbers of UBCS soldiers. Hunk and his team were swiping these mercenaries like swatting flies. They calmly walked on the corridor while shooting down the defending UBCS.

No matter how many bullets they sprayed, the Alpha Team's number never decreased. They always found a cover and a way to go around them and stab them from behind.

Halfway along the road, the Alpha Team met with the Delta team, the Wolfpack. They were geared with more futuristic equipment than the alpha team. Even with only 6 members, they wiped the floor with the UBCS soldiers' lifeless bodies.

LUPO, the Delta Team Leaders, reported to HUNK of their arrival. Together, they started mowing down the already dwindling numbers of UBCS soldiers. Moving down toward William's main lab.

HUNK split the alpha team in half, ordering them to move through ventilation to clear each locked room while the other half would go straight from the main corridors.

Although it took longer than expected, they finally reached William's laboratory. The resisting UBCS soldiers already gave up and throwing their weapons on the ground.

While LUPO and her teams waiting outside, HUNK led his team to confront William. From his radio, he heard one of his teammate's report.

"Got eyes on the G-Virus."

HUNK nodded at the team next to him, and replied, "We're going in."

Together with the team on the ventilation, they confronted William who was in distress after packing the G-Virus into the briefcase.

"Doctor Birkin, you'll come along with us quietly," said HUNK, calmly. However, it agitated William even more.

"You think I didn't know you were coming?" He said, while his left arm was holding the briefcase, his right arm was reaching for a gun under his lab coat. "This is my life's work. "I'm not handing over... anything!"

Seeing that William was reaching for his gun, HUNK, calmly repeated. "We have our orders, Doctor Birkin. I'll ask you one more time..."

However, the agitated William pulled out the pistol. Out of reflex, the other team members gun him down.

"Stop! Hold your fire!" shouted HUNK. He turned around and snapped, "What the fuck were you thinking! Our orders were to bring him in alive!"

Hearing no reply from his team member, HUNK, left with no choice reported to the Headquarters.

"We're in, Sir, but we had a snafu." His voice was being helpless, as it was part of his fault as well. He continued, "Target resisted. We had to take him out."

From the other line, he heard a reply, asking if they already got the samples.

"That's correct, sir." confirmed, HUNK. Soon, an order to return was sent for him.

"Roger that. Just the samples, then. Let's move." he said while glaring at his team members.

Unbeknownst to him, William was still alive, holding another G-Virus sample. He pressed a button behind the tube, and a small needle protruded from the other ends of the tube. He muttered something, before stabbing the needle to his chest.

Meanwhile, on the front gate of NEST, a fleeting shadow was lurking, finding his way inside. The small shadow muttered, "Fuck. I hope I'm not late."