Donny wouldn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. easily, even if they repeatedly expressed their goodwill. S.H.I.E.L.D. was a global organization. Beyond the five Security Councils, it wielded a terrifying amount of authority, even possessing the power to execute without prior approval. S.H.I.E.L.D. branches existed in every continent and country, each of which, in turn, governed countless agencies and departments. This global political and military organization harbored countless intruders.
Its unique status necessitates its acceptance of the control of several major powers. Accepting this control requires either allowing or acquiescing to the presence of personnel from these powers. Within each of these powers, countless vast interest groups operate, scheming against one another and balancing interests. This creates a complex mix of good and bad within S.H.I.E.L.D., a place that could easily overwhelm anyone. Only a seasoned agent like Nick Fury, with decades of experience, could manage this complex relationship and manage it in a coherent and orderly manner.
Downey didn't mind cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D., but if Fury really wanted him to join them at this critical juncture and become a regular, it was impossible. Even if he did join, it would have to be after Hydra was eliminated. Even if he did join, it would be to join the Avengers, or at worst, Batman's Justice League.
Even though the Avengers were formed by S.H.I.E.L.D., in the end S.H.I.E.L.D. lost the support of the people, and even the extraordinary team it formed no longer trusted them. By the time they fought Ultron, the Avengers had basically withdrawn from S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a semi-civilian organization. The funds and equipment they consumed on a daily basis were completely supported by Tony Stark.
If you want to cooperate with an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D., you have to be careful and vigilant, as you may be plotted against by a faction within it.
In fact, even if he doesn't join these two camps, Downey himself is a powerful mutant. His natural level four is enough to allow him to remain on the sidelines for a long time.
During this period, he should get a group of his own people, as fighting alone would be a bit disadvantageous.
Let's start with this cunning old bartender.
"Hey, old man, is he dead?" Donny dragged the old bartender into the house, threw him in a corner, took out a brick and waited quietly.
The old bartender clearly felt a chilling murderous aura and opened his eyes with a start.
"Ouch, why does my head hurt so much..." As soon as he woke up, the old bartender covered his head in pain. He was shocked to find that his head had become bigger and felt a little panicked.
"What did you do to me?! You bastard!"
The old bartender was filled with grief and anger. No one had ever treated him like this in his life. What had happened? An unreasonable bastard rushed into the bar, kidnapped him, and then beat him to a pulp?
Donnie sneered. If it weren't for the scene in the bar, he would have been fooled by the old man's acting. A bartender in a vampire bar who was neither a vampire nor a ghost, it would be a miracle if he said there was no problem.
"Put away your acting." Donny gestured with the vibranium in his hand, pretending to hit it, and threatened: "Tell me who you are. At least I dragged you out of that den of wolves, you have to learn to be grateful."
The old bartender immediately responded: "I am just an ordinary person. They arrested me and wanted to turn me into a vampire, that's all."
The old bartender spoke in a decisive and direct tone, as if it had become instinct after rehearsing it thousands of times. He sincerely expressed his gratitude to Donny, claiming that Donny had saved his life and that he would definitely repay him in the future. After saying that, he wanted to leave.
Donnie lost his patience and knocked him down with a brick, hitting him hard. "If you're trying to pique my curiosity and my competitive spirit, you've succeeded. But my patience is limited. Just tell me, who are you, and why did the vampire kidnap you?"
Donny was really impatient. This old fox was a slippery guy hanging around in the vampire territory. If the old bartender really didn't intend to cooperate, he would really choose to kill him.
He had a violent conflict with the vampire clan.
There was a possibility of a full-scale war breaking out at any time. Even out of caution, it was impossible to let the old bartender go away so easily and watch him be captured by vampires and reveal his information.
"You should understand that even if I dragged you to the parking lot and brought you back, I won't allow you to leave me like that. You've seen a lot of things you shouldn't have seen." Donny gave an ultimatum directly.
The old bartender covered his head and was silent for a while. Finally, he spoke and expressed his willingness to cooperate with Donny and tell Donny everything he knew.
"Do you have any beer? I'm thirsty." said the old bartender.
Bang!
The old bartender finally calmed down as he touched the big swelling again.
"My family has been the Hagui clan for generations, and has followed the Thompson family for generations. We were originally loyal to them."
The old bartender slowly recounted his family's past to Donnie, and the first sentence made Donnie frown. Every vampire family had a large number of Hagui members, and some Hagui were even organized into families, dedicated to the pursuit of immortality and working for vampires, dealing with all kinds of matters under the sun.
The old bartender tells Donnie that his family has been vampires for generations, but things changed during the bartender's father's generation. The bartender's father found an ancient artifact in a ruin, left behind by a vampire ancestor. Rumor has it that it holds a great secret. Once discovered, such artifacts are immediately sealed away by the vampire clan, never to be seen again. The vampires want to uncover the secrets within.
"It's a piece of human skin cloth with ancient words on it," said the old bartender.
Vampires have spent hundreds of years trying to decipher this text, but to no avail. Even though they have more and more human skin cloth, it is useless. They simply cannot decipher it, and many vampires have even given up.
"Did your father succeed?" Tang Ni frowned.
"Yes." The old bartender stood up, found the refrigerator, and took out the beer inside. "At least he succeeded in part. My father deciphered some of the secrets of the human skin cloth. With the help of the most advanced computers of the time, coupled with his extremely high IQ and literary attainments, he was able to decipher part of it by guesswork."
The old bartender told Donny that these human skin cloths contained the method of creating gods. As long as a vampire mastered this method, he could create a god for the vampire clan.
It's really horrifying, it's actually creating a god!
"The spirit of the vampire is supreme. Even if it is artificially created, it still has incredible power. My father is deeply intoxicated by it." The old bartender drank a bottle of beer in one breath and took out a second bottle, behaving a little crazy.
"He's gone mad, his mind full of thoughts of becoming a god. Even though he's a Hag, he longs to become the sole god of vampires, ruling over the lives and deaths of vampires. The possibility of transforming from a slave to a master has driven him crazy, and he can't care about anything else."