An unremarkable roadside restaurant. The bald Sitwell was eating with gusto after a busy day. Behind him, Coulson, also dressed in a suit and tie, pushed open the door, walked straight to him, and sat down.
Sitwell put down his coffee and wiped his mouth. "Are you hungry too? The food here is pretty good."
Coulson didn't speak; his expression was somewhat complicated.
"Looks like there's a problem?" Sitwell asked.
"Exactly. They've made a stupid and rash request." After a pause, Coulson lowered his voice, "They want Bronski to join the team."
"Abomination?" Sitwell looked surprised.
Coulson hurried to say, "Don't call him that, at least not in front of the Council."
"What about the Harlem incident?"
Coulson shook his head. "They plan to pin it on Banner."
"Banner?"
"Yes, the guy you wouldn't want to provoke. Of course, that's the public story; in reality, they want that group of unidentified people to take all the responsibility."
Sitwell adjusted his glasses. "Then why not just publicly announce that other forces were involved?"
Coulson replied, "For General Ross, for the Military, they don't want the public to know that people outside the Military were firing cannons in the city; it's a disgrace to the Military. Furthermore, they killed a major drug dealer in the suburbs before, and many people still see them as heroes. The Harlem incident is the same; their actions did reduce a lot of potential losses. Now, all the credit goes to General Ross."
"Interesting, that's how they're thinking?" Coulson licked his lips. "They see Bronski as a war hero and hope to clear him of all guilt from the start, even giving him credit. Although Bronski's whereabouts are still unknown, those people already view him as one of us."
Sitwell suddenly laughed. "If they can't even find the guy, what's the point of talking about this?"
"General Ross hasn't given up the search. He's already found where Bronski came ashore."
Sitwell's smile vanished.
Coulson continued, "We must assume General Ross can find Bronski. After all, he was one of his men, and he's been tracking Banner before, leaving him almost nowhere to run, so he's really experienced in this regard."
"Does Director Fury really want Bronski?"
"Of course not, but he can't directly ignore the explicit instructions of the World Security Council, so everything we do must be based on that premise."
"So what should we do?"
"I don't know either. But we must send someone to see General Ross within twenty-four hours."
Sitwell frowned. "So, according to the World Security Council's instructions, we have to send someone to see General Ross and ask him for a Bronski we don't even want?"
"Exactly." The atmosphere fell silent for a moment, both of them looking helpless. After a moment, Sitwell suddenly withdrew his gaze from outside the window.
"I have an idea."
Coulson immediately looked at him.
"We arrange for a blunderer to mess up the mission, let him cause trouble so General Ross refuses to release Bronski. I could do it; I'm very good at that."
Coulson raised his eyebrows, thoughtful. "Yes, that's a good idea... wait, I have a way too. We can't do this so directly. We can find someone who can truly piss off General Ross."
"Go on."
"We need someone very arrogant, easily disliked, who genuinely despises those in power and can easily make General Ross lose his temper to the extreme."
Sitwell suddenly realized, "You mean that consultant?"
Coulson immediately shook his head. "I didn't."
"You mean him."
"No, I wouldn't let him go." Abroad.
Tony, who was watching pole dancing on a plane, received his first mission after becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant.
"A mission already? I thought I was just a consultant who didn't need to worry about anything. Let me see... General Ross, Colonel Bronski, so it's the Harlem incident... Hmph, if I hadn't been drunk that night, there wouldn't have been so much trouble? But these people actually want a cold-blooded monster to join the team..."
Looking at the mission briefing, Tony's eyes flashed.
The third basement level of the manor.
Crackling sounds echoed in the secret room, mixed with various wails of pain and screams, which were quite chilling.
After a moment, Hong Fei walked out of the room, disappointment evident on his face.
Inside the room, Samuel Sterns was curled up in a corner, his large head hanging low, looking like a little daughter-in-law who had just been bullied.
It had been three days, and Samuel's head was still growing, yet he still hadn't dropped a skill card.
His skin had recently begun turning green, clearly intending to show the same origin as the Hulk and Abomination.
Hong Fei said, "Keep him locked up. Notify me when his head stops growing."
"Yes."
Turning toward the room next to the Armory, he pushed open the door. Frank was lying under a Tank, performing an inspection.
"How is it?"
"It's in great condition. All the parts are new, with no signs of ever being started. It's in perfect factory condition."
After a while, Frank crawled out and asked, still not giving up, "How on earth did you do it?"
"It's a secret."
This kind of thing wasn't easy to explain, and saying it would be pointless because only he could see the skill cards.
Frank shook his head and sighed. "Fine, if you won't say, forget it, but I have another question."
"Go ahead."
"How do you plan to get it out? The corridor isn't that wide, and we don't have an elevator big enough for it."
"No rush. If I could get it in, I have a way to get it out."
Frank stared at Hong Fei for a long time, then slowly looked away and picked up his toolbox. "Then you deal with it. I'm going to get some shells; those things aren't easy to buy."
Hong Fei immediately bowed, grinning. "Thanks for the hard work!"
After Frank left, Hong Fei turned to face the Tank. He took a breath and placed the skill card into the slot again, injecting energy. The process repeated itself, and a brand-new Tank appeared before him. At the same time, the first Tank began to crack and dissipate, inch by inch, like a virtual projection. It merged into the void and vanished completely. The second Tank appeared in its entirety, and the first Tank was gone. Hong Fei felt some regret, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.
The regret was that he couldn't create multiple Tanks at once... but this was expected. The reason he felt relieved was because of the transportation issue. The new one appeared; the old one disappeared. This meant he could summon a brand-new Tank anywhere, at any time, without needing to worry about transporting it. This saved a huge amount of time and energy while also reducing the risk of exposure. Even if this Tank were captured, Hong Fei could simply abandon it. At worst, he could just make another one later.