Chapter 50: Extorting the Egghead

The more a person knows, the more their imagination grows, and the more possibilities they consider. No one exemplified this better than Nick Fury.

If Luke truly hailed from S.P.E.A.R., Fury would have to ask him what he intended to do on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s turf. If not, all the better.

The Apostle had already amply demonstrated his abilities. More importantly, the Apostle was only seven years old! Such a supremely gifted and malleable prodigy was precisely the kind of recruit his Avengers Initiative needed most right now...

In fact, the moment Fury heard Luke had built yet another six-meter-tall mech, he had already resolved to meet the boy in person.

A six-meter war machine! The image formed clearly in his mind, and the place Luke occupied in Fury's estimation gradually rose to rival that of Iron Man himself.

He had originally pinned his hopes on Tony to lead the Avengers, but Tony’s rebellious nature was a constant headache. Now, it seemed, there was another option.

Fury had always been a man of swift, decisive action. He immediately called for his deputy, Maria Hill, and ordered her to make the necessary arrangements. He would go himself to meet this child prodigy.

“Yes, sir,” Hill replied, her eyes glinting with a hint of amusement as she looked at Fury.

“What is it?” Fury asked, eyeing her. “Is there a problem, Maria?”

“Oh, nothing at all.”

Hill suppressed a laugh as she recalled her own research into the nickname “Egghead.” She had looked it up online and almost burst out laughing at the image comparison. Still, such a racially charged moniker was nothing to joke about, especially not aloud.

She couldn't understand what had gotten into Hawkeye today, spreading the nickname around so carelessly. Now, everyone in the agency knew the Director’s new alias.

Fighting back the urge to laugh, Hill hurried off to arrange the meeting.

...

After sending off the S.H.I.E.L.D. trio, Luke finally had time to sit and reflect.

From his first encounter with Black Widow in Hell’s Kitchen, to her testing him at the wheel, to the way things had escalated now—the entire affair had served as a wake-up call.

Compared to Black Widow and these truly elite agents, he was still rather green. He’d wanted to act more his age and deliberately let slip some flaws, but his plan had backfired.

He knew exactly where he’d slipped up. At the time, he’d been somewhat distracted by Black Widow’s...

Ahem.

Still, no matter how extraordinary his abilities now, at heart, he was still the same nerd he’d been before coming to this world.

He was still himself.

Luke knew he was no protagonist in a novel—he wasn't about to magically transform from a shut-in into some preternaturally clever superman just by crossing into a new world.

“Ah, protagonists always have their plot armor. People like me have to make their own way…”

He felt he’d already tried very hard. After all, people grow slowly, don’t they? Perhaps that was the essential difference between this flesh-and-blood reality and those wish-fulfillment novels...

“Fury wants to see me?”

When Luke received Black Widow’s call, informing him that Fury himself had requested a meeting, he was hardly surprised.

Fury couldn’t sit still any longer—he was coming to see him, which meant Fury, just as Luke had guessed, saw something in him...

“Does he want me to join the Avengers?” Luke found it amusing. “He thinks far too highly of me. Has he forgotten I’m only seven?”

He couldn’t imagine Tony’s expression when he discovered that the kid who’d sold him hamburgers was the same Luke. That moment would be priceless.

In any case, Luke had no intention of joining the Avengers. He remembered all too well how things unfolded for them—always under government scrutiny, plagued by internal strife, repeatedly falling apart. He had no desire for such troubles.

Come to think of it, there was a crucial point he’d overlooked. If he’d known Fury valued him so highly, he should have demanded a ransom before letting the trio leave...

“Damn, I missed out on a fortune!”

He really was short on funds. Building the G-0 Warlord was a money pit. The five million dollars in medical expenses he’d received upfront from the “Big Dog” were already spent. The rest would have to wait until their deal concluded.

Still, it wasn’t too late to make up for it.

“Yes, yes! Time to plan carefully how to extort Fury this time…”

Gazing at the G-0 Warlord—even in its unfinished state already a magnificent sight—Luke had a clear idea of what he wanted to ask Fury for.

...

The meeting took place on a bright, sunny morning.

When the Chevrolet SUV stopped outside his warehouse, Luke immediately spotted the gleaming, jet-black bald head and the iconic eyepatch.

Clad in his trademark black trench coat, Fury stepped out of the car. With him were Black Widow, Hawkeye, and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents unfamiliar to Luke.

Luke stood outside the warehouse, his young face expressionless as he watched Fury approach.

Fury fixed his gaze on Luke as if trying to read something hidden there.

They could be said to have “known” each other for some time already.

Without wasting words, Fury got straight to the point: “What is your connection to S.P.E.A.R.?”

Luke blinked. “Huh? Spear? What spear?”

S.P.E.A.R. was the acronym for the Strategic Pioneering Enhanced Armament Regiment—S.P.E.A.R. In English, “spear” meant, well, spear. It was a counterpart to S.H.I.E.L.D., whose name played on the word “shield.”

Fury was asking Luke about his ties to this organization.

But Luke genuinely had no idea that there was a S.P.E.A.R. in the Marvel universe. As such, he completely failed to grasp Fury’s meaning.

His knowledge of Marvel came mostly from the movies and TV shows, if he was honest. He was something of a fake fan, drawn in simply because the films were so entertaining.

Luke’s reaction made Fury pause.

He wasn’t from S.P.E.A.R.?

With the sharp eye of a seasoned agent, Fury could tell Luke wasn’t pretending. The boy really didn’t know about S.P.E.A.R.—unless his acting skills were so advanced that even Fury couldn’t see through them.

A super-genius could be born, but acting? That took life experience.

And what life experience could a seven-year-old possibly have?

Since he wasn’t from S.P.E.A.R.…

Fury’s confusion deepened, but he was also quietly relieved.

Not from S.P.E.A.R.—that made things much easier.

Today, then, he would do his utmost to recruit Luke.

It was almost like offering amnesty to a rogue.

Luke wasn’t one for beating around the bush, so the conversation quickly cut to the chase—Luke’s chase.

Luke demanded compensation.

In the car, Black Widow had already warned Fury that Luke was slippery and to be on his guard.

Fury thought, Here it comes. He was curious to see what Luke was up to.

Fury’s voice was low: “Compensation? Give me one good reason why I should compensate you.”

“I just think that you all came to make trouble for me, wasting a lot of my time. You see, my time is very valuable—billions by the minute. You wasted my money; shouldn’t you compensate me?” Luke felt his reasoning was impeccable.

“I’m afraid I can’t accept that kind of loss,” Fury replied, unmoved.

“Then what about emotional damages? All of you came to frighten a child—this lady tried to run me over with a car, this man shot arrows at me. As for the other woman, well, she’s not here today, so never mind.”

Fury was left speechless.

He had prepared several lines, confident that his years of negotiation experience would make recruiting a child easy. He hadn’t expected this kind of conversation. Why was this kid so fixated on compensation?

“I insist that S.H.I.E.L.D. owes me damages for emotional distress. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what I might do!” Luke declared righteously.

“Are you threatening me?” Fury asked, his face darkening.

“Of course not,” Luke replied with a shrug.

“What do you want?” Fury thought, Let’s see what this little devil is really after.

At last, Luke smiled.

His grin was radiant. “I want Captain America’s shield.”