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

Chapters 559, 1034, and 1035: Fury is bewildered; who is the mole? (Part 2)

First of all, even if Captain America really went crazy, Nick Fury would never believe that Black Widow would betray him along with him.

He might be suspicious and distrustful of many people around him, but Natasha Romanov was an exception; he had considerable trust in this female agent who had experienced many hardships.

This trust did not stem from emotion, but was based on countless life-or-death trials and his deep understanding and control over Black Widow's personality, motives, background, and all the dark secrets surrounding her.

Therefore, Nick Fury believed... no, he should say he was absolutely certain that the possibility of Black Widow betraying him was almost zero!

Because the other party will neither do that nor dare to do it.

This was not blind confidence, but rather an absolute confidence in his control that he had honed over the years as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. amidst countless conspiracies and betrayals.

Since Black Widow did not betray her, she would never allow or even assist Captain America in such a crazy and utterly pointless and foolish operation.

This is neither logical nor consistent with the personalities of the two individuals.

Therefore, he quickly came to a preliminary conclusion: someone impersonated Captain America and deliberately carried out this meticulously planned assassination attempt, which was intended to frame someone and was ultimately successful.

Thinking about it this way, Nick Fury couldn't help but feel a headache coming on; the problem suddenly seemed to have become quite complicated...

If the person who attacked the Talos in Washington wasn't the real Captain America, then who was this guy who could almost pass for the real one?
Looking across the world, who can imitate Captain America so perfectly, even successfully fooling the Skrulls, who are known for their ability to disguise themselves?
Nick Fury doesn't believe the Talos wouldn't recognize that the Captain America who attacked them was an imposter.
After all, no one is better at concealing their true nature than these two top masters of disguise.

Their keen observation of the details of disguise and their sensitivity to flaws in imitation have exceeded the imagination of ordinary people.

Trying to fool them and impersonate someone they know is as difficult as climbing to the sky!

This requires not only an absolute resemblance in appearance, but also a deep-seated understanding of the imitator's behavioral patterns, micro-expressions, and even fighting habits!

Looking around the world, Nick Fury doesn't know anyone who can do this much.

But now, even they are absolutely convinced that the attacker was Captain America himself...

And, most importantly, aside from the fact that his appearance, physique, skills, and even fighting style are almost identical to Captain America's, the "imposter" is also holding that unique [Vibranium Round Shield]!
Keep in mind, that's the culmination of Howard Stark's painstaking technological efforts, a unique 'artifact' on Earth. Its unique vibranium formula and molecular structure are so advanced that even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most advanced technology labs can't replicate it, let alone anyone else...

So, who can achieve such a perfect disguise?
Who has the capability and motive to orchestrate such a meticulous assassination attempt against Nick Fury and successfully frame Captain America?
Nick Fury's brow furrowed deeply, forming a deep "川" shape.

He kept his mind wandering, trying to find even the slightest flaw in any clue.

Wait a minute, as if suddenly remembering something, a terrifying thought, like a venomous snake suddenly darting out from the darkness, sent a chill down Nick Fury's spine.

His single pupil contracted sharply, and his gaze refocused on Sauron, who was now lying beside Talos's corpse, weeping bitterly... or more precisely, on her green skin, so different from that of a human.

At that moment, the green of her clothing, illuminated by the dim light, appeared particularly glaring to Nick Fury, as if carrying a silent mockery.

Could it be... the work of the Skrulls?
Indeed, perhaps only the Skrulls themselves could achieve such a flawless disguise, one that even their own people could not easily see through.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, it was like being doused with ice water, sending a chill down Nick Fury's spine!
Damn it, could there be a traitor among my Skrulls?
The thought that his backyard was on fire made Nick Fury panic.

Because all along, this group of homeless 'Skrug refugees' has been his most secretive and most useful trump card.

In his mind, the strategic value and importance of these Skrulls were even comparable to the ultimate 'trump card': Captain Marvel Carol Danvers.

Over the past two decades, his relationship with Talos and his group of Skrull refugees has been delicate, more like a symbiotic relationship where each party gets what they need than a master-servant relationship.

Nick Fury promises to provide temporary shelter, resources, and a search for a new home for Talos and others who have fled to Earth…

In return, the Skrulls used their unparalleled shapeshifting abilities to carry out countless extremely dangerous and clandestine secret intelligence, assassination, infiltration, and other dirty work for him.

The cooperation between the two sides had always been "pleasant," and they had been mutually dependent for nearly twenty years without incident. The Skrulls under Talos's leadership were also very well-behaved and even held him in deep gratitude.

Therefore, Nick Fury has always been confident that he has enough control over these green-skinned 'alien refugees'.

To some extent, they even regard them as their "private property" and one of their ultimate weapons.

But now, reality has given him a harsh slap in the face!

Who would have thought that a traitor would appear among the Skrulls?
why?
Why did they betray us?

Nick Fury felt an indescribable anger and bewilderment at being stabbed in the back.

He simply couldn't understand how this group of 'alien vagabonds'—who had lost their home planet, were homeless, nearly wiped out by the Kree, and barely survived by relying on him—could dare to do such a thing!
For the past twenty years, I have provided you with food, clothing, and necessities, given you a safe place to live, helped you evade capture, protected you from being discovered by the Kree and other forces, and even promised to find you a stable new home in the future!

This is an immense debt of gratitude that you could never repay even if you worked like oxen and horses your whole lives. What more could you possibly want?
Shouldn't you be grateful and loyal enough to die for me?
Is this how you fucking repay me?!

To secretly stab me in the back at a time like this?

What an ungrateful bunch! Ungrateful alien bastards!

A strong sense of self-blame welled up in Nick Fury's heart.

He is too careless!
Perhaps due to his over-reliance on the Skrulls' shapeshifting abilities, or perhaps due to his excessive trust in Talos's management, he had indeed neglected the internal management and loyalty monitoring of these alien immigrants. He had always believed that the promise of a 'homeland' would firmly bind these exiles, thereby securing absolute control and loyalty.

They thought that as long as they controlled Talos, the leader, they could easily control the entire tribe.

However, they overlooked the fact that during their long years of exile and hiding, the Skrulls may have already developed internal divisions and resentment.

These negative emotions had all been well hidden before.

So much so that he didn't even notice.

And now, the loyal and reliable Talos is dead, and his death is shrouded in mystery!
There was clearly a problem within this group, and he, as their "benefactor," was completely unaware of it.
What's even more troubling for Nick Fury is how to find that Skrull traitor.

As is well known, Skrulls can transform into anyone and even imitate each other.

Without Talos's help, Nick Fury had almost no way of quickly identifying the imposter Captain America from a group of Skrulls capable of changing their appearance.

An even more pressing issue is that Talos has always been the most prestigious leader among the Skrull refugees and the bridge with which Nick Fury has cooperated the longest and has the most stable relationship.

Now that the bridge is broken, the Skrulls are leaderless. If they don't quickly establish a new leader who is both loyal and respected, this secret force that they consider their trump card could easily spiral out of control and even become their most formidable enemy.

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Nick Fury's mind.

He suppressed the urge to immediately order a full investigation of all Skrulls, as doing so would likely only alert them and might even provoke the traitors hiding among them to act desperately, leading to even more uncontrollable consequences.

So he first told Hawkeye over the phone not to tell anyone that he was safe and sound, to pretend he knew nothing, to wait and see, and then to secretly observe everyone's reactions.

Although he was almost 100% certain that this matter had nothing to do with the real Captain America, Nick Fury, whose paranoia was deeply ingrained, would never easily trust anyone at a time like this.

As for his original plan to help the Avengers track down Ultron, he completely forgot about it.

He stubbornly believed that internal strife was far more deadly than external threats, and that the priority should be to purge the ranks and find that Skrull bastard who dared to impersonate Captain America's double to assassinate him and thus instigate trouble!
So he forcibly suppressed his turbulent thoughts, and his face regained its usual unfathomable gloom.

Their gazes returned to Sauron and the already dead Talos.

Now, another question arises.

That's the detail about the [Lemurian Star] that the other party just mentioned.

Perhaps this is not a coincidence?

After thinking for a moment, Nick Fury looked at Sauron, who was still immersed in grief, and spoke again, bringing the topic back to where it all began:

"Soren, you just said that you and Talos discovered something amiss with the [Lemurian Star]. What exactly happened?"

Soren seemed bewildered by the sudden change of topic. She looked up at Nick Fury with teary eyes, puzzled as to why he would suddenly be concerned about a sanitation launcher at a time like this.

But she still choked up, answering haltingly:
“Yes, Talos… he inadvertently discovered during a routine check of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s global security network nodes and special equipment scheduling that the Lemurian Star's scheduling frequency had recently increased abnormally…”

"It frequently travels to specific areas in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean to carry out clandestine launch missions that are not on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s established schedule..."

Nick Fury raised an eyebrow and narrowed his single eye, interrupting, "Launch mission? What kind of launch mission?"

“I don’t know…” Soren shook his head blankly, a hint of confusion and barely perceptible fear in his voice: “Talos found something suspicious and wanted to retrieve the specific details and authorization documents for these missions, but…”

"He discovered that even with the highest level of privileges (director level), he still couldn't access the encrypted files... The system displayed 'Insufficient permissions!'"

"What did you say?" Nick Fury truly lost his composure this time. His one eye widened abruptly, and for the first time, undisguised astonishment appeared on his face. His voice instantly rose:

"You're saying even the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have the authority to access those files?"

This is simply ridiculous!
In S.H.I.E.L.D., the director has the highest authority and can theoretically do anything, unlocking all intelligence and secrets!

“Yes…yes!” Soren nodded firmly, a look of confusion appearing on his green face. “Talos was also surprised at the time. At first, he thought it was a system malfunction or a permission misidentification…”

"So he began to try to use his director privileges to force overwrite access, and even tried to rewrite the access logs of files that were prohibited from being accessed."

"And the result?" Nick Fury's voice dropped to a deep, menacing tone, as he pressed on with a sense of impending doom.

"But then something even stranger happened..."

Soren stared into the other person's eyes and continued, "The system seems to be fighting against him. Every time he enters a command to try to obtain information, the system generates a higher-level encrypted command almost instantly, rejecting, canceling, or even directly rewriting the log to erase the trace of his attempt to access the information!"

"It's like there's an invisible ghost on the other end of the network, constantly and specifically blocking all his operations in real time!"

“Talos said this is definitely not a simple system error or permission conflict. It’s more likely that someone with extremely high privileges has set up even higher permissions at the system’s lower level, or some backdoor program that we don’t know about, to deliberately conceal some extremely sensitive matters related to the [Lemurian Star]…”

(End of this chapter)