"Chloe, anything interesting today?"
Returning to the base after a long day, Jason showered and sat on the living room sofa, reaching out as he usually did. A row of AR devices stood in the center of the room, allowing him to launch video conferences at a mont’s notice.
As soon as Jason spoke, Chloe’s virtual projection materialized.
"Is it the sa as before? Still nothing?"
Swirling a glass of Cuba Libre, he couldn’t help but mock himself, a trace of bitterness in his expression. Thirty thousand people working for an entire year and still nothing in Africa—even the most patient man would crack, let alone soone as impulsive as Jason.
Chloe said, "If you had asked five minutes ago, the answer would have been ’yes’!"
Jason froze, his indifferent gaze suddenly flashing with intense excitent. "Africa paid off?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not about Africa," Chloe replied.
Jason’s heart, which had just soared to the peak, plumted back into the valley. He took a sip of his drink and muttered, "Since when did you learn to be so cryptic? Fine, out with it."
"Abnormal energy activity has been detected in Texas," Chloe stated.
Jason’s expression remained unchanged. "Energy activity? Details."
"It happened five minutes ago. Sensors at our Texas base picked up an anomaly. The energy levels are currently continuing to climb."
"How powerful are we talking?"
"Equivalent to one thousand tis the ’Fat man’ atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima."
Jason frowned, his expression turning grim as he set his glass down on the coffee table. An energy explosion of that magnitude could kill him a thousand tis over; even being on the periphery would be a death sentence. He had to be cautious.
Since she said the energy was still climbing, it likely wasn’t a standard nuclear weapon. Was the governnt conducting so sort of secret experint?
Jason zeroed in on a target. "Have you asked Stanfield? Is S.H.I.E.L.D. behind this?"
"I asked. He’s in the dark too. All he knows is that there’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret base near the epicenter. The security clearance is so high even he can’t get in."
Jason said, "Hmph! S.H.I.E.L.D. again. They stayed quiet for a year and finally couldn’t resist pulling out a trump card."
For the past year, Jason had been guarding against Thor and cosmic threats, nearly forgetting about his old rivals. But what exactly did S.H.I.E.L.D. have up their sleeve?
Lighting a cigar, Jason began to filter through every piece of intel he had on S.H.I.E.L.D. He sat in silence until the cigar burned down to the nub, the heat against his lips snapping him back to reality.
"Sir, are you going to go? It’s too dangerous. The energy level has now reached ten thousand tis that of an atomic bomb," Chloe said. Being a supercomputer, multi-threading was second nature to her.
"The way you put it makes even more uneasy. I’d better go take a look." Jason tossed the cigar butt and prepared to leave without even changing his clothes.
"Wait!" Chloe shouted suddenly.
"What is it?"
"That energy... it just vanished!"
Jason hesitated for a mont, then laughed. "Did the S.H.I.E.L.D. experint failed? With that much energy, is Texas a smoking crater? There should be at least a magnitude 10 earthquake."
Chloe didn’t respond imdiately, focusing on data collection. A few minutes later, she said with disappointnt, "There was no explosion. Texas is still there. To be precise, the energy didn’t vanish—it was used. It wasn’t a simple release; it was consud."
"Consud?" Jason’s confusion deepened. "What the hell requires the energy of ten thousand atomic bombs?"
Chloe searched the system again and shook her head. "I don’t know."
"Forget it, I’m still going," Jason said, walking toward the door. "Also, pull Harley and the others back from Africa. I have a feeling this is about to get complicated."
*
Texas.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. base was a field of ruins, with scattered fires licking the debris. Hundreds of agents were buried beneath the wreckage. Rescue teams arrived quickly, working with agents on the surface to clear the rubble bit by bit.
Hours later, the search concluded. Of the hundreds buried, only a handful had survived. The event had been so bizarre that the agents on the periter had no idea what had happened. Seeing a few survivors who were still conscious, they crowded around, peppered them with questions.
The rescued agents were trembling with terror, unable to process the reality of what they had seen.
"Here, drink so water."
"We need bandages over here!"
"What the hell happened down there?"
The agents took a few sips of water, trying to steady their nerves. Just as they were about to speak, a cold, detached voice drifted from behind them.
"I’d like to know the answer to that question too."
The agents looked up, and their souls nearly left their bodies.
"Oh my god! It’s Jason!"
Even after a year without conflict, Jason’s face was etched into the DNA of every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After the initial shock, a hail of S.H.I.E.L.D. specialty rounds slamd into his body. Jason didn’t flinch. He looked at the few survivors and said flatly, "Think hard. I’ll co back to ask you in a mont."
With that, he vanished. A split second later, the sound of agonizing screams filled the area as he dealt with the periter guards.
The surviving agents looked at each other, their eyes filled with grim resolve. This involved S.H.I.E.L.D.’s greatest secret; Jason could never be allowed to know. They knew they weren’t strong enough to endure the Joker organization’s torture. Their best option was to end it themselves.
With a shared nod of understanding, they reached for their holsters. They fumbled with the safeties, offered each other a sad, final smile, and shoved the barrels into their mouths.
Farewell, brothers.
"Hah! Now that’s what I call conviction!"
A voice of mock approval drifted from the air. Following it, several thin laser beams instantly sliced their handguns in half.
Jason descended slowly, landing before them. "Even if you want to kill yourselves, wait until you’ve talked."
With their suicide thwarted, the agents’ faces were masks of despair. One spat out, "You’re dreaming, monster. We’ll never tell you anything."
Jason looked at them with a smile. "Everyone says that before the torture starts."
"Look at ."
He pulled out his phone, snapped a group photo of the agents lying on the ground, and sent it to Chloe. Seconds later, their entire lives were laid bare—college grades, dating history, family addresses.
"Tell , are these your families?"
Jason held the screen up, showing them photos one by one. As the agents looked at the happy, smiling faces of their loved ones, their resolve shattered. They weren’t afraid to die, but no one was prepared to see their families dragged into the abyss.
"Talk," Jason said, sitting cross-legged on the ground like an old friend catching up. "Talk, and your families stay safe."
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You can read advance Chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon/GreenBlue17
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