> "The world doesn't fall apart from explosions.
It falls when no one notices the fuse."
— Nick Fury, Director of Everything
---
[Location: Earth-199999 – Mid-MCU Timeline]
Somewhere deep within a defunct S.H.I.E.L.D. facility buried beneath New Mexico desert sand, a man sat at a flickering desk, reviewing twelve files that didn't exist.
He wore black leather.
He had one eye.
And he had seen too much.
Nick Fury didn't get vacations. He surveilled them.
---
[Morning – The Undetectable Office]
Maria Hill (over comms):
> "Sir, you've been off the grid for 48 hours. The Council's getting antsy."
Fury (without looking up):
> "Let them twitch. I'm auditing multiversal interference patterns."
Maria:
> "From an abandoned base with no coffee?"
Fury:
> "The best files are the ones left behind by the scared and forgotten. And yes, I brought a thermos."
He flipped open a dossier marked in red:
> "ESSENCE DRAIN INCIDENTS – NON-LOCAL PATTERNS"
Scribbled in Sharpie underneath:
> Too many gods, not enough grownups.
---
[Midday – Files That Shouldn't Exist]
He reviewed footage of corrupted champions.
He traced the energy spikes of collapsed worlds.
He stared at images of the Blank One standing in realms that shouldn't survive.
Fury (muttering):
> "You've got a plan, Shadow Boy. I just haven't cracked it yet."
A small folder blinked into existence on his monitor. Unauthorized, unsigned.
> [FROM: SYSTEM SHOP // TO: FURY]
"Congratulations! You've earned:
1x Black Budget Stim-Pack
1x Satellite Cloak Upgrade
1x 'Nick Fury's Eye Drops of Truth' (Do Not Use While Driving)"
He sighed.
Then took the eye drops anyway.
---
[Afternoon – Chat Ping in the Background]
Fury (half-typing):
> "No major movements. Shadowfall fallout contained. Earth-1610 is still bleeding, though."
Deadpool:
> "You ever sleep?"
Fury:
> "I have nightmares for that."
Kazuma:
> "Do you even have fun?"
Fury:
> "Fun is not being vaporized by cosmic threats. I call that hobby-grade survival."
Batman:
> "He doesn't sleep. He doesn't blink. He watches. That's the job."
Buggy:
> "He scares me more than you."
Fury:
> "Good."
---
[Evening – Rooftop of Facility 42]
He stood beneath the stars, phone in one hand, coffee in the other.
He watched the constellations flicker—not because of beauty.
Because he knew some of them were dying.
> "We're not just holding the line anymore. We're redrawing it."
He looked at a single encrypted message sent to the Chat Admin.
To: Blank One
Message:
> "When the final gate opens…
I'll already be on the other side.
Watching who walks through."
He closed the file.
And turned to prep for war.
---
End of Chapter 23: Nick Fury