The Savior of American Comics? I'm the Subspace Evil God!

Chapters 558, 1032, and 1033: Fury is bewildered; who is the mole? (Part 1)

A few hours later.

Somewhere in Washington, D.C.

A light rain began to fall, tapping against the window of a dilapidated building deep within a neighborhood that had not yet undergone reconstruction.

This is a secret safe house that is not even recorded in the highest-level database within S.H.I.E.L.D., and very few people know about it.

Cold raindrops meandered down the grime-covered glass, leaving streaks of mud, as if slicing the gloomy Washington sky outside the window into pieces.

The room was dimly lit, with the only light source being an old table lamp on the wooden bedside table.

The light bulb had a very low wattage, casting a dim, weak halo around the headboard. It barely dispelled the darkness in the corner, but it also added an air of oppression and despair.

The air was thick with the stench of blood and the acrid smell of disinfectant, all of which originated from the simple iron-framed bed next to the desk lamp.

At this moment, there, lay a corpse that had long since become cold and stiff.

However, unlike ordinary humans, this corpse was covered in green skin, had a broad forehead, no hair on the top of its head, no eyebrows above its eyes, a flat and wrinkled chin, and pointed ears like those of a goblin from a fantasy movie.

It was the corpse of a Skrull... or more precisely, Talos, the current leader of the Skrulls!
In the dim light, Talos's green skin appeared deathly ashen.

The thick, green blood that had been gushing from the wound had already soaked through his clothes and left a large, shocking, dried, and dark patch of bloodstains on the gray-white sheets beneath him.

Talos's face still bore the complex expression he had before his death: reluctance, contortion, shock, pain, and an overwhelming disbelief.

Those unclosed yellow pupils stared blankly at the gray ceiling; it's likely that even until the moment of death, he still couldn't find the true answer to the question in his heart.

Beside the bed, a Skrull woman with the same green skin, a slightly slender figure, and wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's uniform, was kneeling helplessly on the cold floor.

Sauron gripped Talos's cold, stiff hand tightly, pressing it against his tear-stained cheek, as if trying to draw the last bit of warmth from it, or attempting to pull his beloved back from his eternal slumber.

Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and she let out suppressed, intermittent sobs, looking as weak and helpless as a wounded wild animal.

The unspoken grief was almost tangible, nearly engulfing the small room completely.

boom--! ! !
Just then, a violent, unexpected explosion shattered the sorrowful atmosphere inside the room.

The old, not-so-sturdy wooden door of the safe house was kicked open from the outside in an extremely violent manner.

The sound of the metal latch breaking was extremely harsh. The door panel twisted and slammed against the inner wall, then bounced back slightly, creaking under the strain.

The faint, indistinct light coming from outside the door was immediately blocked by two tall figures.

Nick Fury was wearing a wet black leather jacket, with water droplets still dripping from the hem. His single eye burned with a fury that seemed about to burst forth, and his already dark face was now so gloomy that it looked like it could drip water.

He strode into the house, his leather shoes making a heavy thud on the wooden floor.

Maria Hill, his second-in-command, followed closely behind. Her expression was equally grave. She first gave a sharp, quick scan of the room, then closed the wooden door that hadn't been completely kicked down. Next, she placed her right hand on the holster at her waist and cautiously peered out through the crack in the door.

"Fuck you! Talos..."

Nick Fury's roar exploded like long-suppressed thunder in the small room, making the air buzz.

"Tell me, what the hell is going on here? Are you and the captain out of your minds or what? Why are you fighting in broad daylight, on the streets of Washington?!"

"Do you fucking know how much trouble this is going to cause me? How many eyes are watching?!"

"If it weren't for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Insight System taking immediate action to control the relevant content online, the world's media would probably be reporting news like 'Captain America turns against S.H.I.E.L.D. and assassinates the S.H.I.E.L.D. director in the street' by now."

"You two are making S.H.I.E.L.D. look bad... Huh?!!" Nick Fury, who had been spewing insults since he walked in, suddenly stopped abruptly, as if a duck had been grabbed by the neck.

His sharp, single eye finally adjusted to the dim light in the room and clearly saw the green corpse on the bed and the glaring green bloodstain on the sheets.

His one eye suddenly widened, and his pupil contracted sharply in shock.

All the rebukes and anger that were about to come out seemed to be instantly gripped by an invisible hand, choking them back down their throats.

His tall frame froze on the spot, the anger on his face instantly solidified, then quickly dissipated like the receding tide, replaced by extreme astonishment and disbelief.

His chest was still heaving violently from the shock and lingering anger of the sudden event.

Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds at that moment.

The room fell into a deathly silence, with only the patter of rain outside the window and Soren's suppressed but still clearly audible sobs.

After a few suffocating seconds of silence, Nick Fury took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Maria Hill, who was behind him, had obviously seen this as well. A look of shock flashed across her usually cold face, but she quickly regained her composure. However, her hand on the holster tightened unconsciously.

Clearly, the situation here has far exceeded their previous expectations.

Nick Fury's lips twitched slightly. He slowly stepped forward, lowered his voice, and tried to make his tone sound calm as he looked at the grief-stricken Skrull woman by the bedside and asked:
"Sauron, tell me... what exactly happened? How did Talos die?!"

Soren seemed to awaken from his immense grief at this moment, slowly raising his head. Through his tear-filled eyes, he recognized Nick Fury and Maria Hill standing before him. Shaking his head with a sorrowful expression, he said, "I...I don't know what happened..."

“We…Talos and I originally just wanted to contact you to report the recent anomalies we discovered regarding the [Lemurian Star]…” Her voice was hoarse and broken, her words fragmented and choked with sobs, and she was repeatedly interrupted by choking back tears in her short sentence:

"I just didn't expect that Captain... Steve Rogers would just drive out from the street corner like that, attacking us without saying a word, forcing our car to stop... and then attacking relentlessly, trying to smash our car windows and sticking one... no, two pieces of [C4 plastic explosive] to our windows... Talos died protecting me..."

By the end, she was sobbing uncontrollably, and her words were completely interrupted, clearly unable to continue.

Overwhelmed with grief, she lowered her head again, burying her face in her husband's cold hands, her shoulders heaving violently.

Suppressed sobs echoed again in the small room, heartbreaking.

Nick Fury's brows were furrowed, forming a deep "川" shape, and his single eye was filled with a terrifying indifference.

After a moment of silence, he asked somewhat uncertainly, "Soren, are you sure... that person is really the captain?!"

Although he knew he shouldn't bring up this issue at this time, as it would make him seem cruel.

However, there are some things he needs to clarify now, otherwise it will seriously affect his accurate judgment of this incident.

"It's him! I absolutely can't be wrong!!!"

Soren abruptly raised her head, her emotions instantly surged with intense agitation. Her yellow, vertical pupils contracted violently with extreme anger and sorrow, and she almost screamed, her voice tearing through the air:

"He was wearing that blue combat suit, holding that Stars and Stripes shield... I watched him, he stuck the C4 bomb to our car window... That familiar face, those cold eyes that wouldn't rest until we were dead, and that figure... I have no doubt about it, that person is Steve Rogers, it was him... who killed my Talos!!"

"Commander Fury, you must avenge Talos..."

Nick Fury and Maria Hill could clearly sense that when Captain America's name was mentioned, Sauron's eyes flashed with intense fear and a deep-seated, bone-chilling hatred.

This state of being is something that absolutely cannot be faked.

"Soren, please accept my condolences..."

A flicker of sympathy and pity crossed Maria Hill's eyes. She stepped forward and gently placed a hand on Soren's trembling shoulder, attempting to offer the alien woman, who had just lost her husband, a small measure of comfort. She whispered:

"We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy... but please believe us, we will use all our resources to find out the truth as quickly as possible, catch the culprit, and bring justice to Talos!!"

However, just as Maria Hill was trying to comfort Soren, Nick Fury fell into an unsettling silence once again.

His single eye, sharp as a knife, was fixed on Talos's corpse and the grief-stricken Sauron, while his brain raced, trying to piece together the fragmented information he had seen earlier with the account Sauron was now giving him.

In fact, long before he secretly made his way here, he had already seen the shocking footage of Captain America assassinating him on the streets of Washington through videos that S.H.I.E.L.D. had intercepted online.

Although the videos were filmed in an extremely chaotic manner, with violently shaky footage, blurry quality, and filled with screams from the filmers and various noises from the street.

But Nick Fury could still clearly recognize that the burly figure wearing the Stars and Stripes suit, wielding the Vibranium Shield, and launching a frenzied attack on a black SUV was Captain America, Steve Rogers.

To be honest, when Nick Fury first saw this scene, he felt like his blood was about to freeze on the spot.

Shock, absurdity, horror, and a hint of betrayal and rage... all sorts of emotions mingled together and instantly seized him.

He could hardly believe his eyes.

Captain America?
Steve Rogers?

That living fossil of World War II that represents justice, order, and the American spirit?

How could someone assassinate the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in broad daylight, on the streets of Washington, D.C., like a terrorist?
No, what kind of hellish joke is this?
Is it because I woke up wrong today, or has the captain's brain, which has been frozen for seventy years, suddenly broken down?

It's no exaggeration to say that the truth of this matter is even more absurd than hearing that 'Loki is going to conquer the earth tomorrow'!
But just a few seconds later, he came to his senses and his rationality quickly returned.

According to the intelligence he had previously gathered, Captain America should be at Hawkeye's house right now, right?

New York is more than 300 kilometers away from Washington, D.C. It is absolutely impossible for the other Avengers to arrive here alone and assassinate 'himself' without the other Avengers' knowledge.

Furthermore, he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but while watching the video, he always felt that there was something strange about Captain America.

Although their appearance, physique, and equipment were almost identical, there was a deeper, inexplicable intuition that told him there was something off about that 'Captain America'.

But for a moment, he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong...

So, in order to verify his guess, he risked contacting Hawkeye using an absolutely secure encrypted line.

The other party confirmed over the phone that Captain America and Black Widow had already traveled to Wakanda in Africa this morning aboard a Quinjet to investigate possible clues left behind by Ultron and information related to vibranium.

New York is at least 10,000 kilometers away from Wakanda, and even if the Quinjet were flying at full speed, it would still take at least ten or twenty hours.

Therefore, Captain America and Black Widow are probably still on their way.

Furthermore, unless even Black Widow betrays him and secretly colludes with Captain America, using some means far superior to S.H.I.E.L.D. to bypass all flight path monitoring and satellite surveillance, it would be impossible for her to appear undetected on the streets of Washington and stage such an assassination.

But this is simply impossible...

(End of this chapter)