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Nick Fury led S.H.I.E.L.D., devouring one powerful spy organization after another.
Before this, he was quite confident that S.H.I.E.L.D. had developed to a point where no one would dare claim to be number one in the World if he claimed to be number two.
Although Natasha's Level Seven Agent clearance was insufficient to understand all of S.H.I.E.L.D.
However... the information a Level Seven Agent possessed was still top-tier in the World.
Country bumpkin?
A grandeur never before seen?
Listening to this description, it seemed insufficient to describe the other party's level.
Nick Fury fell into deep thought.
When he first discovered this mysterious organization (MIB), he carefully assessed its power level.
At most, it was on par with HYDRA, or at best, consistent with the level S.H.I.E.L.D. displayed.
Therefore, this time, he not only sent Natasha but also the equally excellent Coulson.
Before they left, he specifically instructed Coulson to expose himself if necessary to buy Natasha an opportunity.
Remembering Coulson, Nick Fury quickly asked, "How is your big brother?"
"Oh, him... he was found to have some criminal records. He confessed honestly, so it's not a big problem," Natasha replied.
Was it that easy to find problems?
Nick Fury sighed inwardly, fortunately, he had made two preparations, otherwise, there would have been a big problem.
Natasha continued, "The other interviewees also had more or less some issues. After they confessed, the Boss didn't mind. Oh, by the way... I just made a friend, and she's waiting for me."
"It's fine, I had someone delete your records beforehand, so it doesn't matter if they mind or not. Alright, go find your friend, don't keep her waiting too long."
Nick Fury meant... he had already deleted all of Natasha's information, allowing Natasha to act with confidence.
Upon learning that someone might be monitoring Natasha, he also told her to go back quickly to avoid arousing suspicion.
"Understood, goodbye."
Natasha was also decisive, hanging up the phone.
She looked around, found no abnormalities, and exhaled deeply.
The moment she made the call, she was gambling that MIB wasn't monitoring her.
If they were, then even using code words would be useless; at most, she'd be able to talk tough for a few more sentences when caught.
Now that the call was over, she wasn't sure if she had won the gamble, but she inexplicably felt... that MIB didn't care about her small actions at all.
Natasha couldn't tell if it was an illusion.
She always felt that the BOSS didn't put any of them in his eyes.
"Ugh, it's really a headache."
...Unlike Natasha's confusion, Nick Fury hung up the phone, his emotions highly excited.
Worry... tension... fear of the unknown... all these put together made up two words: challenge!
Looking back at the history of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s development, what did it start with?
Mergers!
Back then, HYDRA was at its peak, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was just a newly established shrimp.
What happened in the end?
The first Director, Peggy Carter, led S.H.I.I.E.L.D. to defeat HYDRA, absorbing HYDRA's technological essence, laying the foundation for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rise.
During his tenure, he also merged many organizations, bringing new glory to S.H.I.E.L.D.
A new challenge was right in front of him; if he could take down this "unimaginable" organization, how much further would S.H.I.E.L.D. grow?
Just thinking about it made him excited... Nick Fury knew that this challenge was hellish, but he hadn't felt this passionate in a long time.
Moreover, losing didn't necessarily mean a complete sacrifice; he was a man with backing, after all!
...New York City.
The new recruits were executing the mission quickly, but the progress was not ideal.
No choice, the BOSS gave them a difficult task.
In the past, after completing a mission, they could erase the memories of passersby.
This time, the mission requirement was: no memory-wiping sticks allowed, and minimize Cybertron's impact on Earth.
At the beginning of the mission, the Autobots and new Agents were grouped, searching for the allspark according to existing clues.
On the way, a team consisting of Black Canary, Bumblebee, and an old Agent named P, encountered an attack from two Decepticons not long after setting off.
With the old Agent slacking off throughout, Black Canary, wielding a tiny cricket, cooperated with Bumblebee, and after an intense firefight, successfully shot down a helicopter Decepticon codenamed "Vortex."
It's worth mentioning... Black Canary was not injured in the battle, but she was repeatedly thrown back by the powerful recoil of the tiny cricket, leaving her dizzy and disoriented.
Fortunately, it was in the suburbs, sparsely populated, and the battle didn't attract too much attention.
Time slowly passed, and it was afternoon.
Lin Luo and Lorna sat together eating lunch.
Hamburgers, cola, chicken nuggets, fries.
"Why did Teacher Wanda suddenly resign?" Lorna asked curiously.
She was annoyed that Wanda had stolen a march, but she had to admit that Wanda was a gentle and meticulous good teacher. Parting like this inevitably left a little regret.
However, it was strange, even though it was a bad thing, why had her appetite suddenly improved today?
"Some ill-mannered people wanted to cause her trouble. She was afraid of implicating me, but it's not actually that much trouble. Don't worry, I'll handle it for her," Lin Luo replied.
"Huh?"
The hamburger in Lorna's hand instantly lost its appeal.
Who would worry about that!
Compared to having regrets, she certainly preferred Wanda, this big danger, to leave quickly!
"By the way, I took half a day off this afternoon to deal with company matters and also help Wanda. I'll leave after this meal," Lin Luo said.
Upon hearing this, Lorna lost all appetite, quickly stood up, her eyes wide with anticipation, asking, "Can I come too?!"
"You just stay in school obediently and try not to get involved in these disputes," Lin Luo stood up, placed a hand on Lorna's head, and made her sit back down.
"Alright."
Lorna took a fierce bite of her hamburger, her angry little expression as if she wanted to eat Lin Luo.
"Just don't forget our date..."
"Don't worry." Lin Luo's lips curved into a smile, and he said confidently, "Even if the World ends the next second, I will insist on finding you for our date, and then, I will love you three thousand times."
Lorna's face flushed, and her little temper largely dissipated, "Hmph, you better keep your word."
...Outside the campus.
Natasha and Catwoman leaned against the front of a Rolls-Royce, each holding a wrap.
In front of the luxury car, two beautiful women in high-stocking OL attire, eating without regard for their image, presented a peculiar sight at a glance.
Before they could finish eating, Lin Luo walked out, hands in his pockets, his casual clothes gone, replaced by the black suit he wore during the audit.
Natasha and Catwoman saw Lin Luo's figure, and without waiting for him to approach, they quickly finished the remaining wraps in a few bites, scrambling to open the car door for the BOSS.
Ultimately, Catwoman, with her advantageous position, opened the car door first and even made an elegant 'please' gesture.
But look at their stuffed cheeks, so cute... Beside them, Natasha, seeing Catwoman's fawning behavior, whether out of urgency or pretense, couldn't swallow the food in her mouth, her face turning red from holding her breath, pounding her chest and stamping her feet.
"Ugh! Ugh ugh ugh!"
Lin Luo was about to get in the car when he saw Natasha's unusual movements, turned around, walked up to Natasha, and patted her on the back.
Catwoman watched this scene blankly, slowly narrowing her eyes, "Heh!"
After a few pats, Natasha gasped for air, her complexion gradually returning to normal. She bent halfway, hands on her knees, her cleavage faintly visible from the side.
Only after half a minute did she stand up, her throat dry as she coughed out thanks, "Th-thank you..."
"Very white, good, keep it up next time," Lin Luo praised simply and directly, without any further nonsense, turning to get into the car on Catwoman's side.
He was playing a game of spreading his favor evenly.
Catwoman laughed out loud on the spot, looking provocatively at Natasha, clicking her tongue and shaking her head.
"Tch..." Natasha pouted her face and returned to the driver's seat.
She seemed to have lost this battle, but in fact, she had won.
Bang—!
Closing the car door, Natasha turned back and asked, "BOSS, where would you like to go?"
"New York City center, to see how their mission is progressing," Lin Luo replied calmly.
!!!
Involving MIB's mission, Natasha and Catwoman were stunned, immediately becoming fully alert.
This was crucial for their next steps.
Natasha activated her Chip, quickly obtaining the mission progress and locating other Agents.
She found them converging on a single point.
Manhattan Center.
"I'm in a hurry, press the red button on the dashboard," Lin Luo said.
"Is this it?"
Natasha found the red button and pressed it.
Buzz—!
The Rolls-Royce emitted a slight hum, its body instantly turning silver, entering stealth mode.
The front of the car changed shape, four Rocket boosters rose from the rear trunk, and wings extended from the car doors.
A luxury car transformed into a fighter jet in the blink of an eye.
The control panel inside the car also switched from a steering wheel to an aircraft joystick.
Witnessing the series of changes, Natasha smiled and said, "It was indeed correct to learn a few more certifications. See... it's being put to use right away."
...The new Agents and Autobots searched for clues along a route, ultimately arriving at an unexpected result.
The location of the allspark was actually in the Empire State Building, the tallest building in Manhattan Center!
Thinking of the impending battle with the Decepticons, the new Agents collectively found themselves in a difficult situation.
Manhattan was densely populated, the district with the highest pedestrian traffic in the entire U.S., and the Empire State Building was one of the U.S.'s iconic buildings.
Under these circumstances, once a battle broke out between the two sides, even with memory-wiping sticks, it would be difficult to control the impact, let alone without them.
It was simply an impossible mission.
Empire State Building, rooftop.
Lin Luo got out of the car, and in front of Natasha and Catwoman, he took out a silver, rune-engraved cube.
According to the data provided by the Autobots, this was their mission objective... the allspark!
"What?"
Natasha and Catwoman exchanged glances.
Two heads, four big.
"BOSS, please don't tell me that what you're holding is the allspark the Autobots are looking for?" Natasha asked incredulously.
"Yes," Lin Luo did not hide it, casually placing the allspark on the stand, waiting for everyone to arrive.
Natasha and Catwoman weren't stupid; they quickly figured everything out.
This mission was a setup by the BOSS.
First, he spread clues, letting the new Agents and Autobots investigate. Then, once they got the results, the BOSS would arrive at the destination a step ahead and produce the target object.
But the question arose: why was the BOSS doing all this? And why did he set such harsh mission conditions?
Was it merely to train the new recruits?
Impossible.
While they were better than ordinary people, they were certainly not so outstanding as to warrant MIB expending so much effort.
So, what exactly was it for?
What for?
For humanity.
Lin Luo had originally planned to proceed gradually, using the allspark Battle for the Stake as a prelude and the Chitauri invasion as a finale, slowly bringing the truth to humanity.
As it turned out, before his plan even began, human civilization was about to stir up another big mess on its own.
This matter had to start with Wanda.
Lin Luo went to investigate the reason Wanda wanted to resign.
The Brotherhood of Mutants, dormant for many years, under the guidance of Magneto, was preparing a huge disaster that could overturn human civilization.
He lacked powerful Mutants under him, so he sought out Wanda and Quicksilver.
This was the reason Lin Luo changed his plan.
Leaving aside whether Magneto could succeed, even if he failed, the impact would exacerbate or even completely ignite the conflict between Mutants and ordinary people.
After all, a merged World was different from a single X-Men World.
Population base, various faction backgrounds, etc., too many factors could influence the situation, and no one knew what would happen after the butterfly flapped its wings.
Alas~
The Brotherhood of Mutants and Magneto should be grateful that MIB currently had no intention of interfering in human civilization's internal strife, and even more grateful that Lin Luo was a principled BOSS, otherwise... "I'll tell you a secret in advance."
Lin Luo, with his back to the two women, said to himself, "MIB has been striving for four stages for a hundred years."
"The first stage, Solitary Bravery: concealing the truth of aliens from the World, protecting human civilization in the shadows."
"This, the older generation has already bravely completed for you. For a hundred years, they have driven away countless aliens who wanted to invade Earth."
"The second stage, Truth: guiding humanity to accept the truth of many aliens on Earth, making humanity realize its own insignificance."
"With Cybertron as the catalyst, the second stage can be considered to have begun. I have entrusted the execution of this stage to you."
Natasha: "..."
Catwoman: "..."
Listen to the goals of their organization; it is entirely based on human civilization.
Natasha sighed.
What was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s previous name again?
Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division!
Operating under the guise of a World organization, backed by the World Security Council, yet its fundamental interests still lay solely with the U.S. as a single nation.
How embarrassing... As humans, they too were once protected.
She would not suspect MIB of having other motives, because merely keeping aliens in check proved that there was no civilization on Earth that could contend with them.
Catwoman also felt heavy-hearted.
Whoosh—!
The deafening sound of air currents interrupted their thoughts.
Looking up... two fighter jets soared through the sky, leaving a boundless white contrail.
The fighter jets entered the city center and launched four missiles at several cars on different streets.
Boom—!
Boom—!
Boom—!