After hanging up, Kennedy immediately began calling several of his allies one by one.
The moment they learned that someone had gone after the golden goose they had stakes in, each of them flew into a rage, as if they themselves had been the ones attacked.
At that moment, the more than ten percent of shares Killian had previously distributed began to show their true power.
For a time, the President of the United States was hit with joint complaints from all kinds of high-ranking domestic officials, including several cabinet-level figures.
The core accusation was direct and simple.
A foreign intelligence organization had investigated a legitimate American company without going through any legal process whatsoever.
Not only that, they had secretly dispatched an agent to conduct an on-site operation, only for that agent to be caught red-handed by Pioneer Technology.
Just investigating a lawful company without authorization was already a stain.
But the second part was even worse.
You were supposed to be a covert intelligence agency known for operating in the shadows, and yet one of your own people had been captured.
That too was a major disgrace.
Of course, Kennedy did not explicitly reveal that it was S.H.I.E.L.D.
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence was still classified to the public.
In fact, even among top U.S. officials, very few people knew about it.
But did that really matter?
All Kennedy needed was for his allies to know that a foreign spy organization had tried to secretly steal Pioneer Technology's confidential information, threatening to deal a severe blow to the company.
That alone was enough.
At this moment, when the President first received the sudden flood of reports from his subordinates, he was completely baffled.
He had no idea when foreign intelligence organizations had become this bold.
They were now daring to operate directly on American soil?
Only later, when Kennedy personally contacted him and reported that the culprit might be someone from S.H.I.E.L.D., though he was not yet certain and was still investigating, did the President finally understand the root of the problem.
This was not S.H.I.E.L.D. conducting an investigation.
This was S.H.I.E.L.D. reaching into those officials' vaults and trying to drag the money out.
So he immediately contacted Nick Fury.
"Nick Fury, I need an explanation from you."
The moment the call connected, the President spoke with a dark expression and a stern tone.
"My apologies, Mr. President, but I'm not sure what specific matter you're referring to."
To be honest, when Fury received the President's call, he was confused.
Aside from filing a bit too much reimbursement lately, he could not think of anything that would warrant a direct call from the President.
Still, instinctively, Fury thought of Natasha's operation.
If there was any recent mission that required an explanation, it was probably that one.
But that did not make sense either.
Natasha was the best ace agent under his command.
Even infiltrating a Soviet command center would have been well within her capabilities.
There was no way she could trip up over some small company.
"One of your people. Female. Red hair. Soviet. Don't tell me she has nothing to do with you."
"At this point, the complaints about her have piled up so high that even while I'm talking to you right now, my secretary's phone is still ringing nonstop."
Hearing Fury continue to play dumb, the President forced himself to suppress his anger as he spoke.
His next election was not far off.
He still needed the support of these people.
If this was handled badly, then next term he might be the one getting pushed out of office.
And Fury's actions really had gone too far.
Pioneer Technology's revenue was not only driving Miami's GDP sharply upward, it was also lifting the entire American tech stock market along with it.
Everything was rising together, like one lush green field after another.
For the United States, that translated into gains worth far more than trillions of dollars.
Not to mention that Pioneer Technology's influence was already far from small.
Whether for public reasons or private ones, the President needed Fury to give him an answer.
"..."
"I will give you an explanation, Mr. President."
After hearing the President's words, Fury had not expected that Natasha, the Black Widow who was famous throughout the underground world and whom he had believed would never make a mistake, had actually run into trouble.
After a long silence, he finally gave his answer.
"You'd better handle it."
With that, the President hung up and turned to dealing with the fallout of the incident.
...
After ending the call, Fury also received the intelligence his subordinates had gathered.
While dozens of complaints had been filed against them, they had also investigated the matter online and pieced together the general outline of what had happened.
After the information was compiled, it was placed in front of Fury.
"The military, the Senate, top government figures... Pioneer Technology really does have influence on an entirely different level."
After reading the material in front of him, Fury pinched his dark forehead and said with a headache.
The whole reason he had sent someone in covertly was to avoid being discovered and to avoid giving anyone grounds to use against them.
After all, many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations were not meant to see the light of day.
The moment they did, they became liabilities.
And now...
Natasha had very nearly exposed them.
At this point, Fury had only two options.
One, deny everything.
Refuse to acknowledge Natasha's connection to them under any circumstances.
If he chose that, Natasha herself would be imprisoned as a spy, probably under heavy confinement for the rest of her life.
But the advantage was that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself would not have to step into the open.
The second option was to admit involvement.
Fury was convinced that the reason the other side had made such a big scene instead of simply handing Natasha over to the police was because they already knew the force behind her was no ordinary organization, and they had likely gotten confirmation of that from Ross.
At that moment, when Fury saw Ross's call records, and especially the part where Ross had even tried to help Pioneer Technology extort concessions from S.H.I.E.L.D., his headache only got worse.
The military and S.H.I.E.L.D. had always been bitter enemies.
And because S.H.I.E.L.D. usually handled its affairs with great caution, they had never left the military with anything solid to use against them.
That was why the military had always hated them but could do nothing about it.
But now...
Fury could already predict that if he went in person, the other side would absolutely demand a king's ransom.
It would not even be surprising if they tried to make him spit back out everything S.H.I.E.L.D. had swallowed over the years.
To be honest, Fury's rational side really wanted to abandon Natasha.
But she was too capable.
One person like her could accomplish the kinds of tasks that an entire state-level branch base could not.
He had thousands upon thousands of adequate subordinates.
But truly outstanding ones?
Only a handful.
If he gave her up now...
At that moment, in the already dim room, Fury's eyes grew even more thoughtful.
...
"Hahaha, Killian, you've really done me and the military proud this time."
"You have no idea, the man behind that organization has never gotten along with us. Every time I see his face, it feels like someone owes him millions."
"But now... I'm finally going to let him feel that same way."
On the other side, after Ross arrived at Killian's island with a battalion of men, he stepped out of the vehicle and eagerly strode over to Killian. After giving him a warm hug, Ross laughed loudly and said those words.
(End of Chapter)
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