"What do you mean, 'huge energy'?" Nick Fury asked sharply, leaning forward in his chair. "Be specific."
"Sir, it was detected by the new device we just installed," the agent explained quickly, trying to catch his breath. "The monitoring system we set up last week."
It was a device that had been newly launched by S.H.I.E.L.D. specifically to monitor for Arc Reactor technology usage around the world. A detection network designed to track energy signatures matching Tony Stark's revolutionary power source.
It had already become impossible to stop all the countries from developing the technology, from trying to build their own Arc Reactors. That ship had sailed the moment Tony released the schematics to the public. So instead, S.H.I.E.L.D. had decided that they would at least keep tabs on who was building what and where. Track the proliferation, monitor for potential threats.
"But what the hell is Sokovia?" Nick asked, his brow furrowing. The name didn't ring any bells.
Almost sensing Nick Fury's confused expression, reading the lack of recognition on his face, the agent quickly explained. "It's a small country that is located close to the Russian border, sir. Eastern Europe. Very small, relatively insignificant on the world stage."
Sokovia. After trying really hard to remember, searching through his mental database of geopolitical information, Nick finally recalled it. "It's that small country that split from Russia, right? After the Soviet Union collapsed?"
"Yes, sir," the agent confirmed.
"The fuck do you mean they have an Arc Reactor?!" Nick's voice rose, his composure cracking. "How?!"
This didn't make any sense. Tony had released all the schematics of the Arc Reactor to the public, yes—the complete technical specifications, the theoretical framework, all of it. But he actually hadn't made the precise manufacturing process public, hadn't shared the exact procedures and techniques.
So even though it was now a million times easier for everyone to build an Arc Reactor compared to before, when it had been completely secret, it still needed to be developed through countless experiments. Trial and error, refinement, testing. And that required huge resources—funding, facilities, materials, expertise.
So according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predictions, according to their analysis, the countries likely to develop working Arc Reactors first would be major powers. Japan and Britain, who had already started to openly negotiate with the United States for technical assistance and cooperation. And also maybe China and India, who might get help from Russia through back channels. And even for these major nations with massive resources, it would still take approximately 5 to 10 years to develop functional reactors.
But where did Sokovia suddenly pop up from? A small, impoverished nation with barely any technological infrastructure?
"Did you bring all the available information about Sokovia?" Fury asked the agent, his voice tense.
"Yes, sir," the agent said, handing over several thick documents and folders stuffed with papers.
Fury quickly began to skim through the files, flipping pages rapidly. Natasha, who had been standing quietly to the side during this exchange, also came over and picked up one of the files to read, her trained eyes scanning for relevant details.
After almost 40 minutes of intense reading, absorbing every piece of information available, Fury finally put down the files slowly. He rubbed his temples where a massive headache was forming.
"Why can't things go normal for a change?" he muttered to himself. "Just once. Just one goddamn time."
The picture painted by the intelligence reports was troubling.
Just some time ago, only months earlier, Sokovia had been embroiled in a brutal civil war. A conflict that had been quietly incited and fueled by both the United States and Russia, each supporting different factions as part of their ongoing proxy conflicts. But then the Hulk incident in Harlem had happened, drawing everyone's attention. And later, everyone got busy with the Arc Reactor situation, with dealing with Tony Stark's public release of the technology. Intelligence agencies and governments didn't have the time or resources to pay attention to this small, insignificant nation and its internal problems.
And so, taking advantage of this distraction, Sokovia's previous monarch had somehow managed to bring back the monarchy system. The royal family had returned to power, and they'd ended the rebellion relatively quickly and decisively.
That was it. That was all the information they had. There was nothing else of significance in the files.
Reading this sparse, useless summary, Nick almost cursed aloud. "All fucking useless information! Can't you just tell me this in two or three lines instead of forty pages of filler?!"
"Is there nothing else besides this basic history?" he demanded, glaring at the agent. "No current intelligence? No recent observations?"
"Yes, sir, only this much," the agent admitted, looking uncomfortable. "Before this situation, we really didn't pay any attention to Sokovia at all. It wasn't considered strategically important. And because of the civil war and instability, no tourists go there anymore. Most countries don't allow people from Sokovia to travel internationally, so there's very little traffic in or out. We only know this basic information."
"But," the agent added quickly, "we're already preparing to dispatch field agents to go there and investigate on the ground. Get real intelligence."
"No, stop that," Fury ordered immediately, holding up a hand. "Tell them to stand down. Don't send anyone yet."
The agent looked confused but nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Go back to your station," Fury said. "This is not as simple as it looks. I need to think about this carefully."
After the agent left, closing the door behind him, Fury turned to Natasha.
"What do you think about this situation?" he asked, valuing her opinion. "Your assessment?"
"I don't know for certain," Natasha replied thoughtfully, her expression serious. "But it's definitely unnatural, definitely suspicious. The timing is too convenient. I can only think of one explanation that makes sense—Russia must have given them the technology. Provided them with a working Arc Reactor."
Nick Fury nodded slowly. He also couldn't think of anything else that made sense, couldn't come up with an alternative explanation.
But there was also a significant problem with that theory, a logical inconsistency that bothered him.
After Tony released the Arc Reactor schematics to the public, the technology's value had naturally been reduced very much. It wasn't the exclusive, priceless secret it had been before. So Russia giving the technology to another country, sharing it with an ally or puppet state, didn't sound completely unbelievable on the surface.
But there was a timing problem that made this theory questionable.
It had only been days since Tony released the schematics publicly. Just a few days. So it was completely impossible for Sokovia to have developed a working reactor according to Tony's publicly available technology in such a short time. Absolutely impossible.
But if the reactor had been given to them before Tony's revelation? That created a different problem.
Before Tony revealed the Arc Reactor to the world, it had been extraordinarily valuable—if not the most valuable piece of technology in the entire world. Strategic importance beyond measure. How could Russia just give something like that away? Even to an ally?
Even if Sokovia was being secretly controlled by Russia now, even if it was essentially a Russian puppet state, Fury really couldn't think of any benefit for Russia in creating a large Arc Reactor installation there. What was the strategic value? What were they planning?
It didn't add up.
"Natasha," Fury said finally, making a decision. "I need you to go there personally. Investigate the place, find out what's really happening."
"Understood," Natasha replied with a slight nod.
One Week Later - Unknown Forest on the Russian-Sokovian Border
In an unknown section of the dense forest, two people could be seen traveling through the thick vegetation and towering trees.
The man who was leading them, a local guide hired through back channels, suddenly stopped walking.
He took out a worn map from his jacket and looked at it carefully, checking their position against the landmarks.
"Okay, agent," he said in heavily accented English, not looking at her directly. "This is as far as I am ordered to escort you. Just go in a straight line from here, keep heading east, and you can reach Sokovia's border."
He handed over the map to Natasha, and without waiting for her answer or acknowledgment, he turned back and directly left, heading back the way they'd come. His footsteps faded quickly into the forest.
"And also, agent," he called back over his shoulder, his voice carrying a warning. "Please be careful of tigers. There are rumors that a 10-foot-tall tiger hunts in these woods. Probably just stories, but... be careful."
Natasha didn't stop to think about it, didn't waste time. She just continued her journey deeper into the forest, moving silently through the underbrush.
Because of the civil war and general instability, no tourists often came to Sokovia anymore. The country was effectively isolated. So she couldn't just fly in on a private plane, could she? Although this poor, backward country might not have any sophisticated air defense system, they had somehow gotten their hands on Arc Reactor technology. That changed the equation entirely.
So Natasha didn't want to take the risk of being detected by any potential sensors or radar systems. She'd decided to go on foot through the large forest between Russia and Sokovia, infiltrating the old-fashioned way.
The forest was quite large, stretching for miles in every direction. It took almost two more full days of constant travel for her to finally approach Sokovia's border region.
Looking at the last water bottle in her hand, now less than half full, Natasha sighed helplessly.
Because of some unknown reason, some kind of interference she didn't understand, when she'd gotten close to the border area, her compass had suddenly gone haywire. The needle had started spinning randomly, pointing in all directions, completely useless.
At first she hadn't noticed it, trusting her equipment. She'd continued walking confidently in what she'd thought was the right direction. And when she finally noticed the compass malfunction, it was already too late. She was already completely lost, miles off course.
After looking at the stars at night, using celestial navigation like she'd been trained, she'd eventually found the correct path again. But it had already cost her precious time and resources. Even though she'd packed quite a large amount of food and water for the journey, anticipating a week-long trek, it was already almost finished. Another day, maybe two at most.
So if this situation continued, if she didn't reach civilization soon, she might actually need to hunt and forage to survive out here. She didn't mind that particularly—she'd had extensive training in wilderness survival. But the main problem, the thing that really worried her, was that she hadn't encountered a single animal on her path so far.
Not a predator, not prey. Not a small animal, not any large animals. Not even birds singing in the trees or insects buzzing around.
Almost like all of the animals that could remotely move, anything with legs or wings, had deliberately moved far away from here. Had fled from something.
That was deeply unnatural. Forests were supposed to be full of life.
While she was grimly thinking that she, the famous Black Widow, one of the world's most deadly assassins, might actually need to eat bugs to survive out here, the sun was already going down quickly. Shadows lengthened between the trees.
So she started looking for an open place to set up her camp for the night. Otherwise, she'd need to sleep in a tree like she had the previous nights, tied to a branch to avoid falling. Not comfortable.
But fortunately, after walking a little farther, she actually found an open clearing in the forest.
She was just thinking about setting up her camp, about getting her sleeping bag and supplies ready, when suddenly she caught something in the corner of her vision.
Was that... light? Artificial light?
Had she already reached Sokovia proper? Had she made better time than she thought?
According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence reports, this border region was supposed to be broken and devastated by several years of war. Abandoned villages with broken houses everywhere, infrastructure destroyed, most of the population displaced. She'd planned to just mix in with the refugees and displaced persons, blend into the chaos, and start living there quietly for a while to gather intelligence.
So seeing the light in the distance, she suddenly felt happy, relieved. "Finally!"
She started taking large steps toward the light source, moving quickly but quietly out of habit.
But after taking several more steps, getting closer, she suddenly felt something was wrong. Something didn't match her expectations.
After getting closer still, she found out that it was a wooden house. A cabin, really. Simple but well-constructed.
There was nothing inherently wrong with a wooden house in a forest. That made perfect sense.
But the light source... she recognized it immediately. Her training kicked in, analyzing the color spectrum, the quality of the illumination.
It was an Arc Reactor. A small Arc Reactor, like the one in Tony's chest, providing power to this remote cabin.
Her head suddenly became confused, her thoughts racing. What was happening here?
This looked like just a normal civilian house, a simple dwelling. But it was being powered by an Arc Reactor? One of the most advanced pieces of technology on the planet?
What the fuck?
Was the owner not afraid of this being stolen? Arc Reactors were worth fortunes. Governments would kill for this technology. And here it was, just... casually powering a cabin in the woods?
The next second, she felt hot breath landing on the back of her neck, blowing her red hair forward. Warm, moist air.
Her blood ran cold.
She slowly turned around, moving carefully, every muscle tensed.
And she found herself staring directly into two glowing eyes looking down at her from above.
You guys can check out my patreon with 40 advance chapter, and want to support this story.
patreon.com/LMStar666