Gwen and Peter were crouched atop the tallest building at Greenwich University, overlooking the entire campus. It had already been a week without any news from Karl, and neither of them knew how he was doing.
Down in the camp below, Skye, Wanda, and Felicia were working alongside Natasha and the others to deploy the detectors. Among everyone present, Wanda was by far the most sensitive to dark energy. The moment a gateway between the Nine Realms opened, she would sense it before anyone else.
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury was hardly idle. He kept a constant eye on the situation at Greenwich University while coordinating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations on the ground. He had already taken dozens of calls.
Fury stared at the helicopter footage displayed on the large screen. A full week had passed since Karl had provided the intelligence, and everyone—including Fury himself—was waiting for the eclipse. Although Fury trusted Karl, that didn't mean everyone else in S.H.I.E.L.D. did, especially those Hydra troublemakers stirring things up behind the scenes.
Alexander Pierce slowly strolled into Fury's office.
"Nick, it's been a week," Pierce said casually. "I still haven't seen any of the phenomena you mentioned. The World Security Council is putting more and more pressure on us. You'll need to provide a reasonable explanation."
Pierce sat down on the sofa and looked at Fury. Though his expression was calm, he was secretly delighted. He had embedded Hydra's remnants deep within S.H.I.E.L.D. to ensure their survival under Fury's cover. But in recent years, Fury's actions had grown increasingly unpredictable—some operations even bypassed him entirely. That made Pierce uneasy.
This operation was the perfect opportunity to rein Fury in and remind him that, even if he was no longer director in name, Pierce still wielded absolute authority within S.H.I.E.L.D. In his eyes, Fury was nothing more than a puppet.
Fury glanced up at Pierce. To him, no one was truly trustworthy—especially after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s earlier internal purge. Aside from Coulson and a select few he genuinely trusted, Fury instinctively kept everyone else at arm's length, never granting full confidence.
Pierce's sudden appearance only heightened his suspicion. The operation had been approved by the World Security Council, and the timeline was clearly stated in the plan. There was no reason for the Council to be in such a hurry.
"Alexander," Fury said coolly, "the time hasn't come yet. There are still ten hours until the eclipse. I trust Karl—he wouldn't lie to me."
He spared Pierce a brief glance before returning his attention to the screen.
Pierce's eyes flickered, his thoughts unreadable.
"Very well," Pierce said. "I'll continue dealing with the Council for now. But are you sure that kid is really worth trusting? You even sealed his file. I can't access it myself."
The remark sounded casual, but it concealed Pierce's true intent.
"Not just his," Fury replied without looking at him. "All Avengers' files have been sealed. No one has clearance to view them."
In truth, sealing the original Avengers' files made little difference. None of their identities were truly secret anymore.
Natasha and Barton were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to begin with—Hydra's embedded operatives already knew them well.
Steve Rogers had lived within S.H.I.E.L.D. ever since being thawed from the ice.
Bruce Banner's military records were extensive, and his identity was an open secret within the armed forces.
As for Thor—an alien—whether he had a file or not was irrelevant. Pierce couldn't even locate him, let alone threaten his family. Odin was hardly someone a human bureaucrat could intimidate; doing so might get the entire planet destroyed.
Then there was Tony Stark. Touch him, and S.H.I.E.L.D. would undergo another massive purge the very next day.
That left only Karl.
Karl's sheer power made Pierce feel utterly helpless, as though handling a live grenade. Investigating Karl's background would have been easy—he didn't hide his face or use an alias. The son of the NYPD commissioner meant nothing to Pierce. But Karl was too powerful. Everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. knew he was responsible for the destruction of the Capitol, yet no one dared speak of it. They all pretended not to know. Even Fury had helped suppress the truth.
Pierce felt a wave of exhaustion. He wanted access to Karl's file only to identify his real parents, hoping to use them as leverage.
What Pierce didn't know was that Karl's biological mother had been a cultivator who died shortly after his birth, and his father was unknown—almost certainly no saint either. Karl himself didn't care. To him, the Stacys were his true parents.
Pierce coveted Karl's power with an almost obsessive intensity. Obtaining Karl would mean Hydra's dominance was virtually assured. That terrifying body and world-shattering strength haunted Pierce's dreams—strength capable of catching a nuclear missile barehanded. It was exactly the kind of power Hydra craved.
Two men with hidden agendas sat in the same office, silently staring each other down. Fury focused on directing the Greenwich operation remotely, sparing little attention for Pierce.
At the Greenwich site, everything was finally in place. All that remained was to wait for the detectors to activate—and for the eclipse.
Everyone stayed on high alert. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents conducted one final patrol, checking for any potential gaps in the perimeter.
In the West, after all, "freedom" was sacred. And at times like this, there were always idiots who tried to sneak into restricted zones under the banner of "exploration." This operation involved extraterrestrials and interdimensional gateways—there could be no room for error.
Coulson had even issued a direct order: if anyone attempted to infiltrate or forcibly breach the quarantine zone, regardless of age or gender, they were to be shot on sight.
Everything had levels. In an ordinary situation, intruders might simply be escorted away. But this was a top-level event. Any suspicious individual was to be eliminated immediately—no exceptions.
In the realm of the Dark Elves, the ship continued weaving through the ruins. The group sat in silence aboard the small craft, while Jane gazed up at the dim sky.
Karl reached into his system inventory and pulled out cheeseburgers, sandwiches, and drinks. It was an old habit—keeping large amounts of food and water stored away. Time inside the inventory was frozen; whatever went in came out unchanged. No matter how long it had been stored, the food was exactly the same.
Even the burgers and sandwiches were still warm, the patties sizzling as grease dripped from them.
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