Namor!!!

"What are you?" Coulson asked calmly.

The blue-skinned alien didn't respond, just shook his hand and struck Coulson's head with the weapon he was holding.

Caught off guard, Coulson let out a muffled groan, and his body limply sank into the water.

The alien let out a strange cry, dove into the water, and fished Coulson out, continuously making strange noises.

A massive black shadow suddenly surged up from below, swallowing both of them whole.

…

In the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, within an ancient civilization that had been hidden for millennia.

Coulson, drenched from head to toe, shivered twice, then violently spat out two mouthfuls of salty seawater before painfully opening his eyes.

"Cough, cough…"

He patted his chest, struggling to clear his airway and lungs of the trapped seawater, squinting with heavy eyelids as he discreetly surveyed his surroundings.

He was inside a palace with a unique style. There was no one around, except for a strange figure seated on a golden throne not far away.

The person sitting on the throne was burly, with sharply angled eyebrows. He held a trident and wore a black suit adorned with fish-scale patterns. His presence was imposing.

What was surprising, however, was how human-like this individual looked. His skin was just like a human's.

Coulson had expected to see someone similar to the blue-skinned alien who knocked him unconscious, but instead, he woke to see someone resembling a human, apparently a high-ranking figure.

"What is your name?"

The man seemed to have noticed Coulson waking up, only speaking after Coulson finished surveying the surroundings.

Coulson, no longer pretending, struggled to get up and, somewhat surprised, asked:

"You speak English?"

"Is that so strange? I know a lot about you," the man said in a commanding tone, fixing his gaze on Coulson.

"Which organization are you from?"

Upon hearing the sharp question, Coulson remained silent for a moment.

This guy speaks English and claims to understand humans well—could they have been observing humans from the shadows all along?

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Coulson realized he needed to regain the upper hand. He responded with a question of his own:

"Who are you? Aliens, or humans?"

The alien gave Coulson a cold, critical look before suddenly leaping toward him.

With his left hand, the alien grabbed Coulson's jaw, easily lifting him overhead, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

"Do you think you're in a position to ask questions?" he sneered.

"Cough, cough…"

Already injured, Coulson's face turned bright red from the crushing force, unable to speak.

"Hmph!"

The alien snorted coldly and finally released Coulson, tossing him to the ground. Looking down from above, he repeated his question:

"I'll ask you one more time. Who do you serve?"

Gasping for air, Coulson had faced death by suffocation several times in just a few hours. Now he wished he could store up a few breaths for future emergencies.

"I serve humanity."

Naturally, he wasn't about to reveal anything about S.H.I.E.L.D. This guy clearly had ill intentions. How could Coulson possibly tell the truth?

"Even if you don't tell me, I can guess."

Unexpectedly, the alien merely scoffed at Coulson, his tone icy as he continued:

"CIA or FBI?"

He sneered, his gaze lingering on Coulson's suit as he went on:

"I can smell the stench on you!"

Coulson said nothing, his expression seeming to confirm the alien's assumption.

He knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was different from these organizations. It answered only to the World Security Council, and the incidents it handled, as well as its authority, far surpassed any single nation's agencies.

Since this guy had mistaken him for someone from the CIA or FBI, Coulson decided to let the misunderstanding persist.

However, this alien seemed overly confident. Coulson decided to try and extract some information.

"Why did you attack us?"

Coulson's voice was weak, his face filled with sorrow as he said:

"My colleagues are all dead! You killed them!"

He wasn't feigning his grief. The mission had indeed suffered great losses.

In the past, when facing the deaths of his comrades, Coulson had kept his emotions hidden, for a good agent must bury their grief and prioritize the mission.

The alien seemed satisfied with Coulson's display of weakness. A sinister smile spread across his face as he spoke coldly:

"You crossed the line. This is the price you pay!"

"Is exploring the ocean a crime? We only stumbled upon your presence by accident..."

Coulson's weak protest hardly resembled the seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and trusted lieutenant of Director Fury.

"Of course it is!"

The alien returned to his throne with swagger, declaring:

"We are the true rulers of the sea!"

He raised his trident and pointed it at Coulson, his murderous intent rising:

"You foolish beings. For years, how much pollution have you dumped into the ocean? We haven't even held you accountable yet, and now you dare to explore the depths?!"

Coulson quietly listened, gathering valuable information as he wished.

The true rulers of the sea?

Are they underwater humans?

When did they appear?

Why have they been in hiding?

…

"I'm sorry, but we had no idea that there were friends living in the ocean," Coulson said, looking earnestly at the high-ranking figure. His face was full of genuine apology.

"If you would communicate with the humans on land, I think such incidents wouldn't happen in the future."

"Rubbish!"

The alien's face initially softened when he heard Coulson's apology, but he quickly became irritable again after hearing the rest of Coulson's words.

"Do you think I'll believe you?" he said angrily. "You humans are foolish, greedy, short-sighted... One day, you will destroy yourselves!"

Seeing his strong reaction, Coulson frowned.

Had this alien communicated with humans before, only to be deceived in the end?

"I admit that some people are like that, but many more are wise and far-sighted..."

"Enough!" the alien interrupted impatiently, stepping down from the platform and standing before Coulson.

"Do you want to die, or stay here and serve me?"

Coulson gave a bitter smile and replied, "I don't want to die."

"A wise choice."

The alien smirked mockingly, unsurprised by Coulson's response.

"This place is better than the land. You'll come to like it here."

"I don't think so..."

Coulson replied helplessly, noticing a shift in the alien's attitude. He tentatively said, "You know, if I go missing, they'll send someone to investigate."

"Don't worry about that!" The alien looked confidently into the distance, as if he could see above the ocean's surface. "The sea is my domain. No matter how many come, they will mysteriously disappear."

Hearing the words "mysterious disappearance," Coulson sighed inwardly and hesitated before saying, "I think there might be other, more friendly ways..."

"Enough." The alien waved his hand and turned to leave. "Stay here. Someone will help you adjust."

"What's your name? Where are we?" Coulson shouted, trying to get answers before the alien left.

"This is Atlantis. I am Namor, King of Atlantis and Ruler of the Seven Seas!"

After a while, Namor's voice echoed from the distance.

"Atlantis?"

Coulson stood in shock, muttering to himself, "Atlantis became an underwater civilization? Namor, the ruler of the Seven Seas? Do they control all the oceans?..."

…

In the same waters where Coulson had disappeared, a nuclear submarine silently sailed through the depths.

"Any findings?"

Inside the control room, Natasha asked one of the technicians.

"Nothing yet."

"Stay alert," Natasha instructed, then turned to the desk to review the details of the entire incident once again.

A few days ago, Coulson and his entire ship mysteriously vanished while conducting a survey mission in the Atlantic.

A massive ship, weighing thousands of tons, along with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people, had disappeared without leaving a single message.

It was a terrifying revelation, clearly involving a huge secret.

Director Fury had initially wanted to send other senior agents to lead the investigation, but Natasha had volunteered for the mission.

After much deliberation, Fury agreed, allowing Natasha to take charge of the investigation.

The available data showed that before their disappearance, Coulson and his team had been conducting a routine underwater survey until...

Natasha picked up a photo—an image of the Atlantis person Coulson had discovered.

In fact, the ship's instruments had been transmitting data to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in real-time, but no one had paid attention to it at the time.

It wasn't until they realized Coulson's team was missing that S.H.I.E.L.D. closely examined the data and found this image.

After analysis, S.H.I.E.L.D. speculated that Coulson's team had discovered an unknown civilization and been attacked, leading to their mysterious disappearance.

Fury, who had access to countless classified S.H.I.E.L.D. intel, even shared his own theory with Natasha...

This blue-skinned figure from the Atlantic might very well belong to the ancient human civilization of Atlantis, a society long thought to have sunk into the ocean.

Atlantis had developed advanced technology that surpassed modern humans thousands of years ago, but for unknown reasons, the civilization sank into the sea and vanished from history.

But now, it seemed they hadn't disappeared. Instead, they had been reborn underwater and developed a unique undersea civilization.

This discovery could shake the entire human world!

Given the magnitude of this revelation, Fury decided to conduct a private investigation first.

Natasha's mission was to make contact with this civilization, gather as much information as possible, and convey a message of goodwill from humanity. Rescuing any survivors was secondary.

"Massive marine creatures, extreme weather anomalies..." Natasha listed off the causes that S.H.I.E.L.D. had identified as likely reasons for the ship's sinking.

The sinking was easy enough to explain, but the "disappearance" was not.

Even if the ship had sunk, there should have been debris left on the ocean surface.

But now, there was no trace of the ship at all, as if it had been swallowed whole by a prehistoric monster.

Or perhaps the Atlanteans had cleaned up all the evidence.

"What is that?"

A technician exclaimed in alarm.

Natasha frowned and walked over, only to see a terrifying scene on the monitor.

A black-clad man wielding a trident was floating in the water, and behind him was a mass of indistinct marine creatures stretching beyond sight.

Suddenly, the black-clad man waved his trident, and the sea creatures surged forward as if following his command, launching an attack on the submarine.

"Full speed! Fire torpedoes!" Natasha ordered, unfazed. She knew that most marine creatures couldn't match the speed of a nuclear submarine, and once they gained enough distance, a couple of powerful torpedoes would take care of the threatening creatures.

The control room staff calmly followed her orders, but Natasha felt uneasy.

These creatures alone couldn't have sunk a massive ship like Coulson's.

They looked more like...

Bait?

No, something was wrong!

Just as Natasha was about to issue a new order, everything began to spin.

"Is it a giant sea creature?" she shouted, but no one answered anymore...