Chapter 141

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Are we talking about the Avengers?

Thor was immediately lost in thought.

Before getting the diary, more precisely, before witnessing Captain America wielding his hammer in battle against the Destroyer, Thor would never have considered such a thing.

With pride not at all inferior to Tony Stark's, and having been raised as an Aesir, how could he humble himself to be equals with mere mortals?

But it's a bit different now.

Although Thor's exile to Midgard wasn't too long, the Thor of now is indeed no longer the Thor of old.

Being unable to lift his hammer and treated as a mental case, along with other major setbacks, had made Thor realize he might not be as extraordinary as he thought.

And here was Captain America, a "mere mortal," momentarily holding off the Destroyer, and Tony Stark, relying on armor of his own creation, also able to duel with the Destroyer.

These realizations made Thor understand that the mortals of Midgard are not as weak as he had imagined.

Though he was reluctant to admit it openly, Thor knew deep down that he had come to acknowledge these people.

These Midgardians, indeed, deserved to stand as equals with the great Thor!

Not to mention,

Thor now placed a considerable amount of trust in the diary.

Considering the harrowing future described within, forming alliances with some of the strong beings at this time seemed like a good choice.

After all, did not a future version of himself do just that?

Or rather, did not another version of himself from an alternate universe do just that?

"You don't need to give me an answer right now."

Seeing that Thor was clearly persuaded by his discourse, Nick Fury began to play hard to get, "Take your time to think about it."

After all, Thor truly couldn't return to Asgard at the moment, and Fury had already made his decision.

During Thor's confinement on Earth, he was going to fully exploit this chance and go all out in recruiting Thor!

Even if it meant trying to make Black Widow romantically involved with Thor, or fostering a strong friendship between Captain America and Thor through the hammer, along with other strategies.

In short, Fury was set on securing Thor.

"You know, over the course of more than a thousand years, I've led the finest and most outstanding warriors of the Nine Realms through all kinds of arduous battles."

"However, leading a Midgardian combat unit is indeed something I've never done before."

"It does sound interesting, I'll think about it."

Thor, as arrogant as Tony Stark, feigned deep thought then reluctantly nodded his head.

Nick Fury: "..."

Don't ad-lib, hey!

When did I ever say that you're going to lead the Avengers?

It's just about joining!

"Get ready, Thor. We'll be moving in half an hour."

After a bit of internal grumbling, Nick Fury put on a serious face and let Thor know.

"Moving?"

"Where are we going?"

Thor paused, then asked with curiosity.

"When you get there, you'll know."

Nick Fury mysteriously teased Thor about the destination.

Where to move?

Naturally, it's to the new secret base.

The current base was quite remote, which was extremely inconvenient for Fury.

Also, the commotion from the transport of the Warriors Three and the Destroyer had been quite significant.

The "First Avengers vs. Destroyer" battle had been likewise, and this secret base wouldn't be inconspicuous for long.

Indeed, it was not suitable to stay for too long.

So, as soon as the diary spoiler had ended and while Thor was still attempting to lift his hammer, Nick Fury had already made a series of arrangements.

After returning from Thor, Fury went back to his temporary office and made some other related arrangements.

Once everything was ready, he left with the other Avengers aboard a Quinjet.

They arrived at another prepared secret base.

After settling Thor, Captain America, and others, Nick Fury, tired, returned to his office.

He rested for a few minutes but then sat up straight and got back to serious work.

"Barton!"

"The mission in New Mexico is over; now, I want you to take on another task."

Fury called Hawkeye Barton immediately, giving him an important mission.

"Director, don't I get any time off?"

Hawkeye Barton spread his hands in front of Fury, of course, just jesting.

Field agents like them hardly spoke of vacations.

"The task I'm assigning you is even easier than a vacation."

Fury spared no time for chit-chat with Barton, "Peggy Carter. I want you to keep a close watch on her."

Peggy Carter?

Hawkeye Barton was genuinely surprised.

Such a well-known figure he definitely knew, and precisely because of that, he didn't understand.

Peggy Carter, by now, should be almost a hundred years old, right?

He remembered she hadn't passed away, but being so aged, she'd been left behind by the times, hadn't she?

Why would the director suddenly have him observe such a person?

"I've received reliable intelligence that another version of Captain America might be lurking around Peggy Carter."

"So yes, your real target is that other Captain America."

Before Barton could ask, Fury continued to explain.

Another Captain America?

From the director's tone, could there be more than one Captain America?

This was truly unusual.

Why hadn't he ever heard of such a thing?

"Director, is there anything else you can tell me about this other Captain America?"

After a moment of contemplation, Barton asked Fury a key question.

"He's a Captain America who looks almost identical to Rogers."

Fury pondered for a while but did not reveal the full truth to Barton, only summarizing the traits of the future Captain America to facilitate Barton's mission, without divulging any unnecessary information.

Almost identical?

Could this be a die-hard imitator of Captain America?

While Barton still had his doubts, it was clear that his director had no intention of elaborating, so he did not inquire further. After greeting Fury, he briskly got up and left.

"Natasha."

After Barton left, Fury called Black Widow to his side.

"The task of investigating the Black Captain America and the serum is on hold for now."

"The Hulk-related matters are also suspended for the time being."

"Your task for now is to remain at this base and work on improving your relationship with Thor as much as possible."

"The best outcome I hope for is that you can replace Jane Foster!"

Fury made no attempt to conceal his ambition and indeed tasked Black Widow with the mission to woo Thor.

"Are you sure about this, sir?"

Black Widow raised her eyebrow, expressing her skepticism to Nick Fury, "Thor is Asgardian. Isn't this playing too big a game?"

"Don't tell me you don't want Thor to prepare a spell just for you, to become a female Thor like Jane Foster."

Nick Fury looked entirely convinced it was the right approach.

Fury had already considered that relying on a flawless moral character to wield the hammer was hardly within Black Widow's reach.

After all, Black Widow had done plenty of dirty work for him over the years.

Not to mention her past in the Red Room, which could qualify her as a thorough villain.

So Nick Fury felt the chances of succeeding with this "conventional method" were slim.

But the notebook also revealed that there's more than one way to lift the hammer.

Besides following Odin's enchantment, you could also follow the path of Thor's.

If Black Widow actually won Thor's heart and he granted her a unique spell, wouldn't that be just as good?

Fury thought this approach was still worth a try.

"I'm a spy, sir."

Black Widow's response to Nick Fury was loaded with meaning.

Spies need not have personal desires; they only have orders to obey.

"Very well!"

Fury nodded in satisfaction, waved his hand, and dismissed Black Widow.

Following Black Widow, Nick Fury tasked Coulson with a series of missions before rising to leave the base.

He had arranged a secret meeting with Tony Stark.

"Here are some clues and information I've found, which I'm sure will be very useful to you."

Nick Fury handed a paper dossier to Iron Man.

These were secrets about Hydra that Nick Fury had uncovered recently, all offline, invisible to Jarvis.

Tony Stark expertly stashed away the materials, reflecting the feel of a spy exchange.

Since the attempted assassination by Hydra, the two had worked together against Hydra, and this wasn't their first clandestine collaboration.

Iron Man was used to it.

"It seems you have something else to say; you know me – I don't like beating around the bush."

"So if you have something to say, just spit it out."

After securing the documents, Tony Stark glanced at Fury with a sharp look, clearly expecting more.

"Good, I like it straightforward too," Nick Fury said, getting to the point with no more small talk with Tony Stark, "It's about the Tesseract..."

"Nick Fury!"

Before Fury could finish, Tony Stark interrupted him, "God, do you ever learn from your mistakes?"

"Are you really planning to gamble with the safety of the entire planet?"

Iron Man was visibly getting angry.

The notebook had already spoiled the true cause of the Battle of New York, and now Nick Fury was still up to something?

What was this Fury thinking?

"No, Stark, you misunderstand."

Nick Fury shook his head and earnestly explained to Iron Man, "I'm not inviting you to research the Tesseract. I want to invite you to develop a whole new security system."

That changed things.

Iron Man's expression softened, and he agreed without hesitation.

In fact, even without Nick Fury's prompting, Iron Man was planning to do just that.

After all, the Chitauri invasion was facilitated by the Tesseract!

It was too important to risk Loki getting his hands on it.

The pair pleasantly reached an agreement.

Afterward, Fury and Tony Stark left as if nothing had happened, even pretending to be strangers – a sign of extreme caution.

Little did they know that their highly secretive meeting had already been clearly observed by someone else!

Who?

Certainly not Zhou Cheng, who had no hobby of snooping on others.

Nor was it Hydra, though they had always kept a vigilant eye on Nick Fury.

But Fury, as the king of spies, had no trouble dealing with Hydra.

Then who was secretly watching Fury and Iron Man?

The Ancient One!

"This scene is not among the countless possibilities of the future that I foresaw."

In the vast chamber of Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One looked at the image projected in front of her, her brow furrowing slightly.

As someone who had lived for countless years and, more precisely, as the guardian of the Time Stone with the ability to foresee the future, the Ancient One's life was rather dull.

After all, she knew exactly what the future held.

It is like watching "Detective Conan" and knowing who the culprit is in advance – boring to the point of frustration.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the Ancient One wanted to retire.

Because to her, life indeed lacked excitement.

But who would have thought that two years ago, everything began to change.

The Ancient One discovered that the future she had seen was starting to become blurry.

Many of the previously observed possibilities vanished or simply became murky, beyond even the Ancient One's observation.

The Ancient One was surprised by this, having never encountered such a phenomenon before.

And since then, the blurred possibilities of the future became more and more numerous.

So much so that events in the real world could no longer be foreseen by the Ancient One!

Just like the scene she had just witnessed.

What exactly was happening was unknown to the Ancient One.

She had conducted countless investigations to no avail.

It seemed that a powerful hand was covering the source of all the changes, making it impossible for the Ancient One to see through.

The Ancient One knew that whatever this force was, it was beyond her capabilities.

She couldn't figure anything out; all she could do was continue observing the future—that was all she could do!

With that thought, the Ancient One stopped talking, placed her hands in front of her chest, and gestured lightly.

The Eye of Agamotto opened, revealing the Time Stone, which gleamed with dazzling light.

Using the power of the stone, the Ancient One once again peered into the future.

This time, she suddenly opened her eyes, her face full of shock.

"The future has become a blur!"