"I have to say, Omni, the more I learn about you, the more impressed I am. You've saved the multiverse three times now, cured cancer, and you're constantly working on new ways to make the world a better place. You're still young, but you're already proving yourself to be one of the world's greatest heroes," Fury said.
"Thank you," I replied.
"That's why I want you to join S.H.I.E.L.D.," he said.
"What?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has connections and resources you can't even imagine. With our help, you could accomplish so much more, and—"
"I'm good," I said, cutting him off.
He looked genuinely surprised.
"Look, no offense, but thanks to Tony, I know a lot about you. And honestly, I don't think you and I would work very well together," I said.
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. works for the government, and the government is a little corrupt. Don't try to deny it—we both know it's true. My goal is to help the world. I plan on curing more diseases, cleaning up the planet, and improving people's lives. Hell, I've got a meeting with Aquaman next week.
"If I worked with S.H.I.E.L.D., there'd be rules, regulations, and a lot of red tape slowing me down. Then there's the fact that you'd spend half your time trying to figure out who I really am, which I'm not comfortable with. And let's not forget that you most likely already know about my Omnitrix."
Fury didn't even bother hiding it.
"Yes," he admitted.
"Which also means you want your scientists to take a crack at it, and I'm telling you right now, that's not going to end well for them," I said.
"I will release their personal information to their coworkers and the internet if they attempt to tamper with me," Trix added.
Fury didn't look surprised in the slightest when the Omnitrix spoke.
"So, I'm going to have to respectfully decline your offer and continue doing my own thing," I said.
"And your own thing is causing you a lot of trouble. If you join S.H.I.E.L.D., I can help you," Fury said, still trying to convince me.
I let out a small laugh.
"I fought an army of robots alongside the Justice League and the Avengers, and I saved the Multiverse from an evil version of Batman. And I helped stop a Zombie Queen from wiping out entire worlds. I've fought Ultron twice, and just last month, I took down an alien warlord. I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself."
I paused before adding, "Besides, I've got my own team now."
"I've noticed," Fury said. "Spider-Man, Silk, Dragon Queen, and the three Legacies. I haven't seen the Cosmic Staff in years."
My eyes widened in surprise.
"You know about Starman?" I asked.
"Of course I do. He was one of the greatest superheroes of his generation, right alongside Wildcat and White Tiger," Fury said. "I heard rumors that Starman died years ago. I knew he had a family, but he kept them well hidden. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't find them. I'm guessing that girl is his daughter."
"Yeah."
Fury nodded.
"If the Cosmic Staff chose her, then she's worthy of wielding it. I don't know everything about that staff, but I know that much."
"I can't say too much because my knowledge of it isn't exactly extensive either, but from what I've seen, it made the right choice," I said carefully.
"Agreed. From what I've seen of her, she has talent. She's not perfect, but she has potential. With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help, she could become something special."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Are you trying to recruit her or me?" I asked with a grin.
Fury's expression didn't change.
"All of you."
That answer caught me off guard.
"I can see potential in every one of your teammates," Fury continued. "Given the right guidance, each of them could become a great hero."
The sincerity in his voice surprised me more than I wanted to admit.
"I can't let any of them join you," I said.
"Why not? That should be their choice."
"They trust me to lead them," I replied. "And right now, I'm making this decision for all of us. S.H.I.E.L.D. is just too dangerous."
For the first time, Fury looked genuinely curious.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"I was actually planning to talk to Natasha about this, but I guess now's as good a time as any."
I shrugged.
"Since the first day we met, I've been curious about your organization, so I hacked into all your systems."
"What!?" Fury blurted.
"Which only took me about an hour, by the way. But we can come back to that later," I said casually.
He just stared at me.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole is pretty interesting. There are some things you guys do that I don't agree with, but I can see the reasoning behind them. Honestly, I was planning to reach out and try to work out some kind of partnership. You know, I make you some tech, and in return you provide resources."
Fury narrowed his eye.
"And why didn't you?"
"Because I was worried about what S.H.I.E.L.D. would do with that technology," I replied honestly. "Especially since not everyone in your organization is a good guy."
For the first time, Fury looked genuinely confused.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission is to protect the world," he said. "That doesn't always keep our hands clean, and you might not agree with our methods, but everything we do is for the good of Earth and humanity. The methods aren't always pretty, but they get the job done."
"You're not getting what I'm saying, Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't really S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. It's compromised."
A green hologram burst from my armor, projecting dozens of files into the air between us.
"I found all of this about a month ago while digging for dirt I could use to blackmail S.H.I.E.L.D. into helping me shut down the Sentinel program."
Fury shot me an annoyed look at the mention of blackmail, but he quickly focused on the holographic files.
As he read through them, his expression darkened.
Unauthorized transfers of secret funds.
Illegal assassination operations.
Kidnappings that had never been approved.
Agents operating under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s authority whose names didn't exist in any official database.
And on every single file, hidden in different places but always present, was the same symbol.
Fury leaned forward, his remaining eye scanning the evidence again and again.
The anger on his face slowly shifted into disbelief.
Then realization.
"Hydra," Fury whispered.
"If I join S.H.I.E.L.D., and my team joins with me, then you'll eventually learn our secret identities. You'll find out who we are, who we care about, and who we love. That puts all of them in danger."
I dismissed the hologram with a thought, and the green projections vanished from the room.
"So once Hydra is dealt with, I'll consider working with you."
Fury leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead.
I couldn't really blame him. Finding out that the organization he'd devoted years of his life to had been secretly infested with Hydra agents was probably a lot to process.
The room fell silent as he thought everything over.
Finally, he spoke.
"You said we? Whose we?"
"The Omni Warriors, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Justice League, and whatever's left of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hydra is far too big of a threat to take lightly, so we're going to need all hands on deck to bring them down.
I've already put together a list of confirmed Hydra agents, but I can tell it isn't even close to complete. They're spread across the world, buried inside governments, military organizations, intelligence agencies—everywhere. I can identify them all eventually, but by myself? That would probably take six to eight months.
But with Tony, Mr. Terrific, Cyborg, and Reed Richards helping me? And that's not even counting some of the other geniuses in the Justice League. Together, I'm pretty sure we can map out every Hydra agent on the planet."
"How long do you think that'll take with all of their help?" Fury asked.
"My best guess? Two to three months," I said. "Maybe even less if some of the other brains in the Justice League get involved."
"And how do you know the Justice League isn't compromised?"
I shrugged.
"A couple of months ago, Batman and I had a bit of a problem. While dealing with it, I hacked into the Justice League's systems and learned every hero's identity. And when I say every hero, I mean all of them. So I can say with complete confidence that neither the Justice League nor the Avengers have any Hydra spies among their members."
Fury raised an eyebrow, looking more than a little impressed by that revelation.
"Impressive. Not even my best hackers have managed to get into the Justice League's systems. But I do have one question," Fury said.
"Thank you. And what's that?" I asked.
"What about the scientists and non-combat personnel working in the Watchtower? Did you run background checks on them?"
I blinked in surprise.
"No," I admitted. "But to be fair, they do have telepaths up there."
"Who can be Trick, if they couldn't I wouldn't have agents up there," Fury pointed out.
That caught me off guard again. Fury had basically just confirmed he had people embedded in the Justice League, and honestly, the fact that he'd managed to place agents there at all was impressive.
"Okay, that's fair," I said with a nod.
"I'm assuming you have some kind of plan?" Fury asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Originally, I was going to pass all this information to Natasha, but since you're already here, we can skip a few steps."
Fury motioned for me to continue.
"Two weeks from now, I'm organizing a meeting at a neutral location. The Justice League, the Avengers, you, and several others will be there. We'll go over everything we've gathered and come up with a coordinated plan to take Hydra down."
"Why wait two weeks?" Fury asked.
"Because I want more evidence," I explained. "The information I have now is enough to prove Hydra is a massive problem, but I want as many files, names, locations, and connections as possible before everyone sits down at the same table. The more prepared we are, the harder it'll be for Hydra to slip through the cracks."
Fury nodded thoughtfully.
"Can you give me a list of agents that aren't Hydra?" he asked.
"I can send it to you as soon as I get back to my base," I said.
"All right," Fury said. "And after we're done taking down Hydra, would you consider joining S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"I'd consider working with S.H.I.E.L.D.," I corrected. "Joining is a different story. I'm not looking to become one of your agents, but I'm perfectly fine working alongside you when necessary, just like the Avengers."
Fury studied me for a moment before nodding.
"Ok," he said.
I was about to continue the conversation when my HUD suddenly lit up inside my helmet.
A video feed appeared, showing Superman fighting two enhanced individuals—and, surprisingly, he was actually struggling.
My eyes widened as I watched one of them fire heat vision directly at him while the other blasted him with freezing breath.
Only one thought came to mind.
They had to be Kryptonians.
"Sorry to cut this little talk short, but it looks like Superman might need my help," I said.
I activated my Omnitrix and slammed down the dial. A bright green flash engulfed me as I transformed into my Kryptonian form.
"We can talk about this in two weeks. Until then, just act like everything is normal and don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourself."
Without waiting for a response, I turned and flew out of the building at super speed, heading straight for Metropolis.
Nick Fury POV
In an instant, Omni flew out of the tower, disappearing before I could say another word.
That left me alone with my thoughts.
I had come here intending to convince Omni to join S.H.I.E.L.D.
Instead, I was leaving with the knowledge that S.H.I.E.L.D. itself is compromised.
The realization filled me with a mixture of anger and unease.
S.H.I.E.L.D. has done a lot of bad things over the years. I've done a lot of bad things myself in its name. But at the end of the day, it was always for the benefit of humanity.
Or at least that's what I believed.
But now a question kept creeping into my mind.
How many of those actions had I carried out for S.H.I.E.L.D.?
And how many had I unknowingly carried out for Hydra?
The thought made my blood boil.
Part of me wanted to tear the entire organization apart and start hunting for answers immediately. But anger wouldn't help me. Charging in blindly would only make things worse.
I needed to be patient.
I needed a plan.
Once Omni sent me that list, I'd start identifying agents who were truly loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. Then I'd quietly build a task force capable of striking Hydra when the time came.
The Avengers would be a major asset.
The Justice League would be another.
And Amanda needed to hear about this as soon as possible.
I also needed to think about Dad, Franklin, and Beth.
If Hydra was as deeply rooted as Omni claimed, then they could become targets. Maybe I should get them out of New York for a while. If that wasn't possible, I'd assign people I trusted to protect them.
Either way, I couldn't leave them exposed.
For now, though, all I could do was wait.
As I stared out the window, another thought surfaced—one that had been bothering me since the moment I met Omni.
There was something familiar about him.
Something I couldn't quite place.
I didn't know why, but the feeling refused to go away.
_________________________________________________________________________
AN: I bring some bad news, I'm going on hiatus for a while. I'm not going to drop the story. I like writing it, but some things are just coming up, and I can't focus on it, so instead of just continuing to write and giving you some bad chapters, I'd rather just stop and come back with some good chapters. Hope you guys are not too angry, and understanding I will try to get back to the story as soon as possible.