Chapter 156: Fury’s Hypothesis

Chapter 156: Fury's Hypothesis

In the base underneath the dam. 

"Try to remember his actions. He managed to stabilize the country in just a few hours after the incident," Fury said to the Avengers that came to bring him in. "How could he have done this if he didn't know what would happen?"

Carol, Thor, Tony, and Steve were the ones who came. Natasha had disappeared, while Kai and Ryan were busy with their current work. Ryan was helping the country while Kai was helping the prisoners inside the Vault. 

"Yeah, 'cause he is a competent person. One might even say the Oracle," Tony said in a dissatisfied tone. 

He equipped his Iron Man suit just in case Fury decided to do something. His chest reactor started shining brightly in the dim room in which Fury was chained in. The ex-director was caught by Captain America and is now tied up on the chair. 

Fury had created a contingency plan for every single one of them and they saw it during the battle, causing dissatisfaction onto SHIELD. They feel the need to create countermeasures for the pirate, thus all of them were in full combat mode. 

That is also why Bruce didn't follow them in case Fury wanted to play 'who can anger the beast'.

"Is he?…or was that his plan all along?" Fury said instigatively. He shared his hypothesis with the visitors that Ryan should be the real Tarot because he was the only who was able to gain the most from this genocide – even if he wasn't, he still had something to do with this incident.

"Ryan was the only one among you who entered the helicarrier system. He was also the one who provided the virus to stop the tri-carrier from attacking. We need to check whether he had tempered with the insight algorithm," Fury said urgently.

"A carrier that was launched even before its scheduled time? The carrier that you built?" Steve said. He was in disbelief of Fury's boldness to skirt off his responsibility.

"That Hydra built," Fury clarified.

"That was proposed by you," Steve revealed. They already knew all the data leading to the creation of the tri-carrier.

"I only did that because Pierce asked me to," Fury said in his defense. 

"And Pierce is what? THE head of THE Hydra?" Tony snided. "Not only did you befriend him, you even did his job for him. A lot of evidence showed that,  your approved mission is beneficial to Hydra, not SHIELD."

" I've already checked if a person can tamper with the Tri-carrier remotely but it's impossible. Not only Hydra's sentient A.I.  Arnim Zola provided the defense and almost destroyed JARVIS with his capability, Ryan only had a few hours before the Insight Carrier launched and he worked together with us, WITH your AGENTS!  It is impossible to do so, and you're besmirching the name of a good man," Tony said angrily. 

"Added to Stark's outburst, It is impossible, Nay Improbable for Man of Fire and Ice to commit such acts. He didn't have any magic, and Tarot the Card of Destiny was overflowing with it," Thor interjected calmly. He gave the name for Tarot and forced the Avengers to accept it. 

"Wait Thor I know it's impossible but why improbable?" Carol asked casually. 

Thor smirked and said, " Because he is a good man who cares for other people."

Especially him who could exchange his Asgardian currency with Ryan when he was rejected by Stark. He spent it all on the Krabby Patty, causing Domingo to grin everyday as he received free publicity from the God of Thunder. 

"And where were you that day Fury. Why did you feel that you needed to run?" Stark asked accusingly. 

"I only did what I had to do. Someone needs to find out the real truth!" 

Fury's answer caused Steve to frown. He wanted to teach Fury a lesson but someone else chimed in. 

"Fury…How could you be sure…that you aren't brainwashed by hydra?" Carol said in a low voice and a sad tone when seeing her old friend. Steve walked toward her and patted her shoulder to give her some strength. 

She and Steve were quite similar. They reappeared on Earth when everything they remember has changed. So they started to cling on to the only things that were familiar. A family. Or a friend. 

"Because if I did, I would have already revealed to them about our 'friends',"Fury replied slowly, insinuating the Skrulls that both of them knew. 

Carol was silent after that and fell into a deep thought. She started to hesitate about Fury, however she was confident about Ryan and never doubted him. 

Fury never did mention the shapeshifters to SHIELD. He used them for his personal benefits only. 

"You mean the Skrulls?" Thor said, surprising Fury. 

"H-how," Fury widened his eyes, then he remembered that Thor is from outer space. The Skrulls are a refugee race. He thought that a race like Asgardians should already know about them. 

"That is right. I haven't told Pierce about any of them."

"But you yourself didn't know that they infiltrated the country," Steve said, shocking Fury to his core. 

Not only did The Avengers already know about the Skrulls, they have also made a contingency for the shapeshifters. 

"Yeah, Ryan already knew about the Skrulls from their corpses around the President. He created a pair of glasses that could be worn to detect the illegal aliens," Tony said. 

Ryan created some copy of his appraisal glasses he received as a quest reward and sent the Templars equipped with the glasses to sweep the entire government members. 

"If they could copy the secret service agents. How could you be so sure that they won't copy and replace the president? Oh by the way, Madam President is a Skrull."

Fury's one eye shook. He ignored the tidbit that Stark gave though. The President had awakened a tendency for things other than humans to go to bed and even joined some Reddit threads for Furry lovers after that. Luckily, they wear masks during their activities so no one will ever find out. 

 "They are refugee Stark. They need to go somewhere where they can feel safe and to call that place a home!" Fury tried to appeal to the team's humanity. If the Avenger's started to fight off the Skrulls, his promise to the aliens will be broken. 

"We're not killing them. But they committed a crime of impersonating members of the government. Lots of them have killed the real person to take over their place, so they had committed a murder," Carol said unexpectedly, causing Fury to frown. 

She already contacted Talos, who was also shocked to hear that there are other Skrulls on Earth. It's either he really doesn't know about it, or Talos is a great actor. 

'Also, he seemed to be hiding something…' Carol thought secretly as a sharp glint flashed on her eyes. 

"The condition for them to stay here is to not interfere with the humans. But they have now gone overboard. Even Talos agreed with me and will help us to round out the criminal Skrulls…"

Fury was silent. However, his mind was spinning very quickly. Something was disturbing him, but he didn't know how to convince the people in front of him. His eyes became sharp as he stared at the team.'They were already brainwashed by the Knight!' 

"See, don't you find that suspicious?" Fury said suddenly. He planned to try and pique the Avenger's curiosity.

"What?" Thor bit the hook.

"Ryan Knight came out with something to detect the Skrull in what- Three days? Something that even all of SHIELD wasn't able to do? Not to mention that his people were there when the President saw the aliens, making the President trust only him!"

"Open your eyes! He's manipulating you. He's manipulating all of us. He already knew about this, and he needed a way to prevent you from interfering with his work by putting you in a wild goose chase.. Whatever the hell his plan is, we need to know!"

"Well I know his plan. His plan is to make sure some delusional, Twisted, People like you wouldn't destroy the world any longer," Tony said while grimacing his face. 

"Nicholas J Fury. You are now hereby arrested," Steve said while putting handcuffs on the ex-director. 

Then, he was thrown into the Vault. A prison that he built for dangerous people that will become the most dangerous if they were let loose.

"One day Stark. You'll know I'm right. And when you need me… I'll be right here…" Fury said as he sat obediently on the chair inside his prison cell. The metal bar was slammed on his face as the Avengers walked towards the elevator.

The Spy Mastermind was playing with the wrong information from the start. It will take some time for his eyes to be opened towards the consequences of his actions. He truly believed that his actions were for the good of the world, however his method of hiding everything from the public during the Era of major changes was bringing more danger than good for the society. 

Once Ryan completes the reform for SHIELD and the world, Fury will be taken out so that he can see for himself what he missed out on. If he wants to contribute later on, Ryan will allow him to without any hesitations. 

"I can't believe that guy. How did I ever listen to him before…" Tony muttered in dissatisfaction. 

"While we're here, let's go meet Kai. He's a few floors down at the medical ward…" Steve suggested. They entered the elevator and waited for the last person.

"Ahh, the swordsman. He is also a doctor," Thor mumbled in a late realization. Then, he walked into the elevator with a proud face. Tony rolled his eyes at the god of thunder and pressed the button to Kai's medical center. 

The moment the elevator arrived at the doctor's floor and the door opened, the group widened their eyes to see the sight of Kai eating together with a giant red robot. 

"Dynamo! You've escaped?!" Tony muttered urgently. 

Steve hurriedly said, "Avengers!Asse-" 

"No No, don't assemble," Kai cut off the announcement. He had a half-sandwich inside his hand and his eye bags were extremely prominent. 

"Kai, what is the meaning of this?" Steve asked. 

"Dinner…" Kai took a bite of the sandwich…"Or maybe lunch? Wait. What time is it outside?" 

Kai slid the entire sandwiches to the girl who barely took off her helmet for picking two of them and urgently closed her helmet back when the group walked in. 

Kai stood up from the chair and walked to the Avengers calmly. He threw the rest of the sandwich inside his mouth as he faced Steve. 

"Why are you guys here?" 

"We are here to send Fury in. Why is she out?" 

"She is a nice girl. Just a little lost," Kai said in a low voice, making Galina unable to hear. 

"No, we meant, why is she out?" Tony interjected. Galina stared at him, and he too did the same. 

"If not, then she'll die of starvation." 

She hasn't been eating for days. Not going to the toilet, or even having any sleep, fearing that her armor will be taken away from her if she did.

Kai finally took her out of the cell to coax her to eat as if she was an abandoned animal. The girl around Skye's age walked hesitantly outside and sat across Kai at a table he dragged into the medical ward for their lunch. 

He also showed her the mechanism of the cell. He had cut off the sleeping gas muzzle from her cell and allowed her to check the truth multiple times to convince her. He knew she wouldn't escape as she felt that it was useless to do so with him here. 

"You did good doctor," Thor patted Kai's shoulder. "No mortal should ever die of starvation. You should bring her the Krabby Patty sandwich to bring up her appetite."

"Wait, are you the reason that all the food I want for lunch is over before I can get some?" Kai narrowed his eyes at Thor. 

Thor whistled and walked away from him.

"He did. He didn't even give me a single one of it, " Carol exposed the God of Thunder. 

"He even stole the one from Hulk's batch, causing a fight," Tony shook his head as he said that. He has to fork out 3 million dollars worth of damage inside the Avenger tower in barely 3 days since Thor lives there. 

"Kai. I know you have a good impression on her. But she helped Hydra before…" Steve said. 

"She was tricked. If you have a chance to know your parents' killer, won't you do the same?" 

Kai's answer caused the team to become quiet."Besides, she is at Skye's age. She just needed some guidance. Like we all did once before." 

Thor smiled as he remembered his father's trial in New Mexico, where he met Jane. Tony remembered Yinsen who he met inside the cave. Steve remembered Dr. Abraham Erskine who was with him even before his transformation. Carol remembered Maria Rambow, who she planned to visit later today. 

"Also, Galina!" Kai turned to the walking robot and yelled, snapping the Avengers from being lost in their memory. 

"What?" she answered curtly. 

"Go back to your cell when you're done eating." 

She grabbed the plate of sandwich and headed to the elevator. Tony put on his guard, but she only stared at him before she harrumphed on Kai, "I'll go even if you didn' asked me too!" 

"Yeah sure. Come back tomorrow. It's a little lonely eating here alone," Kai said playfully. 

She was silent for a while and she nodded slightly before the elevator door closed on her. She scared a lot of agents by moving alone, but all of them sighed in relief when she entered the cell obediently.

Kai had promised her to bring her out soon if she behaved. She only attacked him during the battle. 'By law, if I didn't want to prosecute, her charges would be dropped. Too bad SHIELD has a lot of complicated procedures. Otherwise she would have already gotten bailed out.' 

He didn't realize yet that his little act of trust changed her fate completely. The always alone girl will become a thief, trying to complete her father's invention. She will always fight Stark and Spidey — even become entangled with a lot of different villains because of her obsession. 

Slowly, she will turn into a complete villain as she can't trust anyone. Not her country. Not the villains she made a deal with. And others. Spiderman comes really close to helping her, but still, she will always be alone. 

"Anyway, you guys found out where Barton and Nat are?" Kai asked. 

"Barton is back at his home. We don't know where. Natasha is however…" Tony said with a hint of guilt inside his voice. He was the last one to see her before she disappeared. 

"Hmm. Doesn't matter then. I know she will come back one day. Maybe even soon," Kai said dismissively while showing the group what he was working on. 

'Is she really a Hydra agent?' Steve thought to himself. 

"Oh and Peggy was here this morning. Some convicts had escaped. You know that right?" 

"Yeah, she told us. We have been running scans for the convicts and will update you soon." 

"Okay. If you ever find Chen Wu. Please tell me first before you go. I want to ask him something." 

Tony interjected as he felt anxious when it wasn't him who was talking and leading. " Talk about what?" 

"Whether he had an estranged daughter or something," Kai said casually. The group tilted their heads in puzzlement when they heard it. 

"There is a girl here who suddenly awakened radioactive abilities. She could only live inside a contained cell for now," Kai explained. 

She was making out with her boyfriend inside his car near a quiet lake when it happened. He died unexpectedly after that. Even her dog died afterward before she knew she was the reason. 

She was caught by a biotech company but she didn't remember who had done it. They experimented on her until her power went out of control. 

Kai was trying so hard to cure her and some other pitiful people there that he didn't go home for a few days. After his hard work, he managed to come out for a cure for the first person inside the prison. 

"This is.." 

"Such Monstrosity!" 

Tony and Thor exclaimed when they saw the prisoner in front of them. The 2 meter long dog looked at them with her pupiless eyes, trying to understand the newcomer that came to visit her. The dog has a burgundy hair on its head. A long human hair. 

"Name. Nina Tucker. Five years old. Her father experimented on her with the gene of their family's dog, trying to combine them. Something went wrong and she became like this," Kai said as he opened the door to the cell. "Now, she's nine years old. And she lives her life in the cell even though she hasn't hurt anyone."

"Kai wait," Steve said in some fear of Kai's safety. Kai had walked in without using the safety suit that the agents usually wore and walked in casually. The monster seemed agitated when Kai approached her. She backtrack into the corner of the cell, trying to avoid Kai in fear. 

"STOP! DON'T HURT HER AGAIN!!!" A male prisoner wearing an orange prisoner jumpsuit yelled and banged at the cell door. Thor turned slightly to see the man furiously banging on the door until his fist was bloody, trying to stop whatever it was the doctor was doing. 

"The agent's here did try to help her. They harvested her blood, marrow, and even brain cells to figure out what was happening to her. But all they did was give her intense pain every time…" Kai said as he took out a capsule. The others watched him with worry and with a bitter feeling inside their guts after hearing what she had to go through.  

"Then a year before, they gave up on her after they couldn't cure her."

Nina seemed to be extremely agitated by Kai's approach. The memory of her being stunned with painful voltage that is lethal for a normal human and endured the inhuman experiments surfaced inside her simple mind. "GRRRR-"

"*BANG* STOOOOP!" The prisoner on the cell directly in front of Nina yelled again. Nina became scared and attacked Kai!

She bit his arm with her long, sharp teeth, digging into his flesh. "KAI!" Steve yelled. Tony and Thor wanted to attack the monster, but Kai held his arm out and gestured to them to stop. Then, he slowly brushed Nina's head slowly, trying to comfort her. 

"It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you," Kai said calmly while he kept brushing her hair. Nina's teeth were on his skin, but it couldn't penetrate his defenses. He took a minute to calm her down until she released him on her own. 

"Good girl Nina. Here, have some candy," Kai said while holding the capsule to her. She ate it without any hesitation after she became trustful toward Kai. 

"NOOO, YOU MONSTER WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!" The prisoner yelled again, fearing that the agent's had given up on the kid and was trying to cut the cost by killing her. 

Nina's body started to let out some steam, causing the prisoner to kneel in sorrow. His tears fell like a stream, and he desperately banged his head on the cell door. He wanted to break out. He wanted to bring the girl out with him. 

The imprisoned man for 5 years only has the little kid to talk with for all this time. He committed a crime using an experimental technology that caused him to lose control and killed his mafia boss and his target that he was supposed to rob from. 

The experimental technology that was actually an Asgardian Berserker Staff was lost after that. He was sentenced to a life-long imprisonment for a crime that he made under the influence of a magical item. 

Nina's body became smaller and smaller, until she returned to herself during the time she was five years old. Nina looked at her paw that turned into a small palm. 

Her small body was picked up by the doctor and he quickly checked her for any abnormality. He also wrapped some clothes around her, covering her naked body. 

Kai walked out to the Avengers while holding her inside his arm. The Avengers had a smile on their face as Kai walked out.

"Now, she can go home," Kai muttered. The prisoner in front watched the sight where Nina turned into a human, and this time he shed a tear of relief and happiness. 

"Nina.." He muttered. Although he will be separated from her, he felt glad that she will continue living the life that she deserved.

But to his puzzlement, Kai walked toward his cell and opened it. "Mr Dwayne, will you take her from me? My arm hurt," Kai said while giving the girl to the thief. Dwayne was stunned and picked her up automatically. 

"She will need to have a lot of food when she wakes up. And even some breast milk as she is currently being reborn. I will bring it all here, and can you help me feed her?"

"Y-yeah. I will make sure she eats," Dwayne replied, seemingly knowing why Kai asked him to do so instead of the agents here or any of the Avengers there.

 Although he doesn't know about the Avengers as he was locked up in here for so long, he could sense that the people there were not someone he could mess with. 

Kai walked out of the cell and closed it. However he didn't lock it. 

"Why do you do that?" Danvers asked. The man was a robber and a murderer. However Kai left the little girl with him. 

"Because, the only reason she is still alive today was because of him," Kai replied casually. Dwayne was the one constantly talking to Nina as if she was human, and he was also the one who convinced her to keep eating and drinking to make sure she didn't starve herself. 

Dwayne was more of a father to Nina than her bastard father that turned her into that thing. 

Danvers widened her eyes when she heard what he said. Her heart has been thumping faster when she saw the scene, but her training in the army has been keeping her face stoic. 

Ryan will make sure that Dwayne will get a justified trial after this. He had hired an attorney named Jennifer Walters to make sure that he could be released from the cell and live a happy life together with Nina outside of the glum prison. 

"Okay. Now I need some food. Tony, Thor, Danvers… Go fly and bring some of it to me," Kai said playfully. 

He was playing around as he had already ordered the agents there to get it before he cured the girl, but the heroes nodded quickly and moved hurriedly to go pick up the food before he could say anything. 

Even Steve couldn't stop them. "Ahh, I wonder if they'll get mad after this."

"If they get mad I'll say it was your idea Steve," Kai said.

Luckily for them, they won't get mad. The Avengers will eat together with Nina in front of the cell and have fun with her with the excess of food that they have brought. 

It will be a rare happy memory for Nina to eat with the silly adults inside the Vault before she moved outside on foster care – waiting for Dwayne to gets out of the prison.

…

After the Hydra incident. 

Natasha returned her SHIELD allocated base to pick up her stuff to be brought to New York. The base is in Washington and given to her for free to ensure she was near the Triskelion building to answer a mission. 

She let out a long sigh after she picked her stuff up. She didn't really mind Barton suspecting her as she was one of the rare few people in the world that knew what he was going through. 

The rest of the team didn't have any strong attachment to SHIELD, but Barton married an agent. 

After picking up her stuff, she wondered where she might go now. Kai doesn't really have a house anymore in Hell's Kitchen, and the Avenger Tower is packed. 

Suddenly, she felt that someone was in front of the door to her hidden base. She became alert and took out her widow bite, thinking that the person in her house was a remnant of Hydra agents. 

However, what she feared didn't happen. Something much worse happened instead. 

A girl with an Oni mask intruded her house and said menacingly to her.

"So, you slept with my fiance?"

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