"This kid, he finally agreed."
After hoodwinking Stacy, Nick arranged for her to train properly. Once she completed a certain quota of missions to become a Level 5 Special Agent, she would be allowed to see her father's files. That genius figure made Nick feel it was a pity; he hadn't expected him to actually go mad. Nick felt that talent was wasted. When Hill brought over the documents Tony had signed, Nick breathed a sigh of relief. Now he just had to see if that Prince of Asgard had any interest.
"Captain, how has the recovery been lately? Special Agent Phil."
Shifting his gaze to Phil, whose hairline was starting to recede as much as his own, Nick asked with concern. After all, in his plan, the Captain was an indispensable figure. He would be the core leader and model for the Avengers; how all operations went would largely depend on him! He didn't want to hear any bad news right now.
"We recently gave the Captain a major check-up. His physical fitness and bodily recovery are excellent, but his mental state seems to still..."
"You have to give the Captain confidence. He's a good soldier; he can manage his own mindset."
How could he not know about the issues Phil mentioned? But even knowing, he had to say it. Their time was tight, and the Captain had to move past his psychological issues as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Avengers they were assembling would be nothing but a heap of loose sand.
"Natasha, how is the progress on your end?"
"Progress is slow. I cannot communicate directly with Artoria."
There weren't many issues left with the Captain, but the situation with Artoria was becoming a bit problematic. Nick had instructed Natasha to ensure the girl didn't develop ill will toward S.H.I.E.L.D. and to be subtle, but it seemed the order hadn't been executed well. Natasha had no chance to talk to Artoria properly about S.H.I.E.L.D. matters. Recently, Natasha's opportunities to contact Artoria had decreased. With Hope, plus the bickering pair of Helen Cho and Maya, and then Susan, the four women had collectively excluded her, taking up almost all of Artoria's time.
She couldn't get close and couldn't get her alone, so there was no progress at all.
"If necessary, just speak directly. We can't leave her in the dark; the risk of her being attacked by unknown forces is too great. We can't take that risk. Even if it makes her a bit resentful, you must make her believe what you say! Just don't reveal too many secrets, Natasha."
"Yes, Director."
Hearing Natasha's progress, Nick frowned. There was really no other way. He could only give up the method of waiting for Artoria to come to him and switch to a direct recruitment tactic. This had pros and cons. If he waited for her to come, he would have more say; if he recruited her directly, he would have to agree to some of her demands, which would lessen his control.
But that wasn't for right now. If an emergency occurred, like if he were attacked, he could have Natasha tell Artoria directly that unknown forces were moving and to be careful. He was already prepared to be attacked. If things were truly as he and Howard suspected, then S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer a safe place.
He believed that as long as it concerned Artoria, whether it was Howard, Maria, or that kid Tony, they would all take it very seriously. He wasn't worried about Artoria's safety, plus he had long suspected she held some secret. He just hoped Artoria's strength would live up to the expectations he had for her.
"master, the hyperion has completed its overhaul. There are no issues, and all data is normal. Energy is being supplemented by three new giant reactors and three hundred small reactors. According to the data, it is now capable of space travel."
"That is truly good news."
Artoria sat quietly in her executive chair, rapidly twirling an expensive fountain pen in her hand. Perched on her head was the little kitten she had just picked up. At the moment, the kitten's eyes were staring curiously at the ahoge standing up on Artoria's head. Occasionally, it couldn't help but stretch out a fluffy little paw to swat at the ahoge. Unfortunately, the ahoge seemed to have eyes of its own; whenever the kitten swatted, it dodged, acting like a cat teaser and capturing all the kitten's attention.
The wireless earbud in her ear played Saturday's synthesized female voice reporting to her. Hearing Saturday's report made Artoria very happy. One could say the day she would travel away from the planet was not far off.
"Reed's space station is already one-third assembled. As expected, scientists in Marvel are all 'Green Skins'. According to his calculations, all preparations will be completed in a bit over three months at the slowest. The speed is astonishing. Also, Saturday, keep a good eye on information in New York. When an anomaly appears, use all our computers to start recording and analyzing that large space portal."
"Yes, master."
Thinking of the portal opened by the Tesseract, Artoria's eyes lit up. If the analysis was successful, maybe the hyperion could even perform space jumps. That would be a great skill—if you can't win, just run! While there's life, there's Hope. She didn't want to die in battle in space. She definitely had to get her hands on some Kree technology. Even if she couldn't get a Kree corpse, the wreckage of their ships might provide some surprises.
Back then, Captain Marvel had shot down quite a few Kree ships, so S.H.I.E.L.D. should have kept a fair amount of wreckage. The most research-worthy thing was still a Kree corpse; it might be the key to unlocking genetic doors and evolving humanity to a new height.
"As expected, I still need to 'borrow' some things from S.H.I.E.L.D."
Over the years, Artoria had often set her sights on S.H.I.E.L.D. That black technology and the resurrection technique were truly mouth-watering, especially for Artoria's future plans; they could play a vital role. Thus, she couldn't help but keep them in mind. Saturday had grown quite well; Artoria decided to let Saturday slowly infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network. However, she was somewhat wary of that fellow Zola.
During the Civil War, that guy didn't waste much energy; he directly altered the core chips in the Helicarriers, turning the mission from 'eliminate Hydra' to 'eliminate S.H.I.E.L.D.', specifically targeting those who might become enemies in the future. That was quite impressive. Artoria likely fell under the category of subjects Zola's algorithm needed to eliminate.
Right now, Artoria didn't know if Saturday could actually compete with Zola. She felt it was a long shot. This guy was originally a Hydra scientist captured during World War II. At the end of his life, he digitized his thought patterns and personality, becoming a true artificial intelligence. Saturday might not be able to contend with him.
"You need to grow up quickly, Saturday."
"...Yes, master."
Though she didn't know what was happening, Saturday upheld the principle that the master's words were always right and seemed to understand something. Tiny bits of new data began to be born within Saturday's code.
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