Reed drew in a sharp breath. Just moments ago, thanks to his newfound superpower, it felt as if infinite wisdom had opened the door to an entirely new world.
But now, Doom had dumped a bucket of cold water on that feeling, telling him he wasn't even qualified to step into that world. That spot had already been reserved by someone else.
He felt unwilling to accept it. Still, he couldn't deny what Doom said was true.
Intelligence alone couldn't solve everything. Knowledge was what truly mattered. And if he didn't follow the path LexCorp had set, they wouldn't even give him the time to gain that knowledge.
Reed realized that once this research was over, if he still held onto his powers, the moment he walked out of the lab, LexCorp would come after him.
Infinite intelligence wouldn't be enough to block Reid's deadly telepathy. And truthfully, it wouldn't even take the man himself to kill him. One well-aimed laser bullet could end it.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
After a brief silence, Reed looked at Doom. "You want this power too, don't you?"
"That's the choice you have to make." The man smiled slightly. He didn't bother to hide his own desire for this power.
Boundless intelligence. For someone like him, the only thing more tempting was ruling the world.
"If you give me the power, I'll be willing to risk everything. I'll challenge both Luthor and Reid. What do you think?"
Reed turned his head away, avoiding Doom's aggressive gaze. He knew the man wasn't joking. If he really handed over the power, he would go all in, unleashing his full arsenal to wage war against LexCorp just to keep it.
And that was precisely why he couldn't give it to him. He would not allow such a meaningless war to break out. Even if he couldn't keep the power, even if the one who held it couldn't use its full potential, it still had to belong to someone who carried true justice in their heart.
Doom walked away.
The answer was obvious. Reed would rather die and take the power with him to hell than hand it over to him. Ever since he became leader of the resistance, despite the current King of Latveria being a tyrant and revolution supported by the will of the people, Reed was too stubborn to ever choose him.
The one he would choose had been clear from the start.
Both men looked over at Captain America, who was tirelessly combing through data, doing his best to help Hank rescue Janet.
He was the only person who could carry this power and survive in front of Reid.
Following this small episode, the research continued, with Reed watching Steve closely the entire time.
* * *
Meanwhile, LexCorp launched their final strike against S.H.I.E.L.D.
And Vought was the blade they used.
Over the years, the agency hadn't just stood by. Alongside the rise of LexCorp came the public exposure of mutants.
The chaos caused by Scott in New York hadn't just revealed the existence of Xavier's School. It had also outed many mutants who had been living quietly among the public.
Once Charles was forced into the open and could no longer use telepathy to help them stay hidden, their abnormalities were noticed by more and more people.
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands, even millions of mutants emerged across the United States. Without any countermeasures, the very structure of society risked being thrown into chaos.
It was S.H.I.E.L.D. that stepped in to prevent things from spiraling out of control. But at the time, the agency was still under Pierce's command, and their methods were far from gentle.
Not only did the troublemaking mutants vanish, but even many who cooperated peacefully, who submitted to investigations and registration, disappeared without a trace because their abilities were considered to have value.
But those mutants hadn't all been alone.
They had families.
Maybe their families had struggled to accept the changes in their loved ones at first, but after they disappeared, those same people began to miss them.
Back when S.H.I.E.L.D. still operated in the shadows, they could handle those situations. They could use excuses or tactics to calm grieving relatives. But now, after being crushed by LexCorp, they couldn't even reveal their identities in the U.S., let alone fix things.
During this period, while Vought was building up their superhero brand, they also used their growing influence to gather intel in ways people found acceptable. Once enough public sentiment had been collected, they delivered a fatal blow against S.H.I.E.L.D.
Relatives of the missing mutants started to speak out.
They brought out documents, both real and forged, and recounted the cruel actions the agency had taken. They told the world how many families had been torn apart, how many lives had been destroyed.
* * *
Among all this, Fury was caught completely off guard.
He had just felt slightly relieved after learning that Reed, Tony, and Steve were still safe and hadn't been captured by LexCorp. But he hadn't expected that even without Reed's involvement, the company still found another way to strike them down.
What made him even angrier was that after hearing of the incident, he personally reviewed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s past mission reports and discovered that during that period, there were countless discrepancies between the reports and what had actually occurred. Many of the agency's methods had been shockingly brutal.
"How is this possible? Was that period really like this?"
Fury had already been moved to a desk job then. Technically, he should've had some impression of these operations. But seeing this now, the only explanation he could come up with was infiltration. Spies had clearly been moving on a large scale, and all the non-spy agents had been kept in the dark.
"No. There's one person who definitely couldn't have been fooled."
He suddenly thought of someone. Back then, he was just an administrative agent, and not even directly under Pierce. It made sense that he had been misled.
But Alexander Pierce was the Director. There was no way he'd been kept out of the loop. Everything that happened must have been allowed by him.
Driven by anger, Fury went to confront Pierce and demanded the truth.
And clearly, the man had been prepared for this meeting. He sighed softly and said in a quiet voice.
"Nick, you've probably noticed by now. Everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. has their own agenda. But very few still think from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s point of view. The ideals Howard and Carter once gave us... how many even remember them anymore?"
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