On Earth, when Nick Fury woke up from his coma, his already dark face was now terrifyingly gloomy.
Looking at the Homeland Defense Bureau headquarters, which had become a ruin, and the Agents around him who were all more or less injured, Fury felt a mix of emotions.
If Captain America hadn't, at the critical moment, forced himself to use the Green Lantern Ring to create a protective barrier, saving most people, then these people might have died in the aftermath of the battle between Sentinel and Hulk.
Even so, Captain America, having used strength beyond his limits all at once, fell into a deep sleep after his willpower was exhausted.
Fortunately, after examination, it was found that he was not seriously injured; he only needed a good rest to recover his mental energy and would be fully healed!
This time, the Homeland Defense Bureau suffered heavy losses. Now Captain America is temporarily incapacitated, and Hulk and Sentinel, the two strongest combat forces of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Strike Team, have both gone missing. The only ones left to handle emergency incidents are Ghost Rider and Blade.
Although they knew Hulk was taken into deep space by Sentinel, their current strength made it impossible to search for him.
And the mysterious entity that could easily take Sentinel away was beyond their imagination.
Nick Fury truly regretted taking on the Director position. He thought back to how much easier it was to be an Agent on missions.
Now that the headquarters was destroyed, fortunately, there were still branch Bases; otherwise, they would have nowhere to go.
As for all the data, because it was underground, not much was lost.
At this moment, Fury pondered alone about where the most suitable place would be to rebuild the Homeland Defense Bureau headquarters.
In the sea, or in the sky, or completely submerged underground—anywhere but built on the ground like it was now!
However, that would require massive funding and technical support, and he hadn't even figured out how to explain what happened this time to the old gentlemen of the Security Council.
Now, if they didn't remove him, that would be merciful. If he had to ask them for such a large sum of money again to build a new Base, Fury truly couldn't imagine how he would say those words.
"Director Fury, Mr. Howard has a call. Should I transfer it to your private channel?"
Suddenly, the phone in the room rang; it was an Agent under him.
"Transfer it in!"
With that, Howard's voice immediately came through Fury's ear.
"Old friend, interested in coming out for a drink?"
Howard was, of course, aware of what had happened at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Now he wanted to collaborate with Fury again.
"Howard, you know, with such a big thing happening, I'm swamped right now, I don't have..."
Before Fury could finish speaking, Howard on the other end of the phone immediately said:
"Don't you want to know who took Sentinel?"
That one sentence directly stopped Fury from saying anything else.
"Alright! See you at the usual spot!"
With his usual Agent style, without any hesitation, Fury hung up the phone after speaking.
He had no doubt about Howard's words, because it was a trust built over many years of acquaintance.
Soon, Fury arrived at a high-end cafe three blocks from Stark Tower, where Howard had already been waiting for a long time.
When he was still a few meters away, Fury sharply noticed the changes in Howard.
His graying hair was clearly dyed, and the wrinkles on his face also revealed some flaws. Instantly, Fury began to doubt the true identity of the Howard in front of him.
"You're not Howard. Who exactly are you?"
Fury sat down calmly and then asked the person opposite him seriously.
"Heh! Fury, your senses are still so sharp, but do you really not even recognize an old friend?"
Howard didn't mind being questioned about his identity; instead, he chuckled and said.
Then he habitually clasped his hands in front of him.
With that familiar tone and demeanor, Fury could only conclude that the person was indeed Howard himself.
"What exactly is going on?"
Fury asked, frowning.
However, he also had some guesses in his heart. Perhaps the reason Howard asked him out was also related to the changes in his body.
"A gift from a God!"
Howard was very satisfied with the rent Kytheron paid him, because he and his wife had become decades younger out of thin air.
"A God? Did he take Sentinel?"
Fury immediately connected this to what Howard had said earlier.
"That's right, that one is a truly immortal God, not just a powerful alien."
Howard was initially skeptical of Kytheron's identity, but after some memories were restored, and after learning many secrets of the Universe from Kytheron, as well as Kytheron's subsequent actions, he no longer had any doubts about Kytheron.
"How did you come into contact with that God? And what is his background?"
Fury asked with a frown. As the Director of the Homeland Defense Bureau, his own duties naturally made him instinctively resistant to a powerful, unknown, and uncontrollable entity like Kytheron.
After all, he couldn't be sure what Kytheron's intentions were for Earth.
"To be honest, that God proactively sought me out, and at the most critical moment, saved my life, even allowing my lifelong wish to come true."
"I'm not very clear about that God's background either, but he himself said he came from Apokolips."
"And the golden warrior, Sentinel, was his purpose for coming to Earth this time."
Subsequently, Howard revealed most of what he knew about Kytheron, even some things about the Universe.
And Nick Fury firmly etched the name Apokolips into his heart; this was an outsider.
"Howard, I think you didn't ask me out today just to talk about these things, did you? You can say whatever you want now!"
At this, Fury picked up the coffee in front of him, took a small sip, and then spoke.
"Fury, you must be troubled about the new Base, right!"
"What if I have a way to help you? Look at this!"
Saying this, Howard placed a small virtual image projector in front of Fury.
After it was turned on, a blue light flashed, and then the design blueprint of a floating warship slowly unfolded.
Seeing this, Nick Fury's heart suddenly stirred. This was exactly what his dream headquarters looked like.
The reason Howard brought this out was that after synthesizing the new element, he had solved the most crucial energy problem.
As long as there was enough power to send this warship into the sky, then anti-gravity devices could be used to maintain it at a stable altitude.
"Why are you doing all this?"
Although Fury was very tempted, he knew that Howard wouldn't offer this for free.
"Perhaps it's for an elusive future! However, I hope that after the new Base is completed, your organization can change its name."
"Change to what name?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"S.H.I.E.L.D., that's not a bad name. I'll include it in the plan, but do you truly have no other demands?"
"I hope to establish a brand new team of Superheroes, with me responsible for all their affairs, and the government needs to grant it legal existence!"
After hearing about the events experienced by the Avengers in another timeline, Howard decided to have this team born under his own hands.
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