Standing in an office with paper, pens, and many other objects on the floor, a one-eyed man in a black duster glared at a nearby TV displaying footage of an interview with two relatively unknown reporters and none other than the creature that’s been causing many problems for SHIELD lately.
“I want it down now!” Fury shouted over the phone, “The longer it stays on air, the more people will see it!”
“We already did! But someone leaked it! It’s all over social media!” The agent on the other end of the line panicked.
“Motherfucker!” Fury cursed, slamming his fist on his desk, angry.
While the footage from the interview was invaluable to Fury, the fact that it was posted on live TV and now social media as a whole means Fury and SHIELD would no longer be able to keep any sort of control over the cafe. If the entity known as ‘Zeref’ was able to easily shrug off multiple tank shells and even several missiles, if the Simulator was to be believed, there was nothing that Fury had that would be able to stop that entity unless he were to pull out some of his ‘secret weapons’ and Projects SHIELD has confiscated and developed over the years since its foundation.
With what ‘Zeref’ revealed in the footage in the interview, the value of his cafe has, without a doubt, skyrocketed. The simulator especially caught Fury’s attention. Imagine being able to train a group of people to that of seasoned military veterans within hours and train said men to become highly-skilled Killers with actual combat experience.
Being able to churn out soldiers on par with Special Forces would greatly increase a country's power within weeks, not to mention the other things that Zeref offered in his cafe.
Fury knew that he couldn’t keep the information out of foreign hands, not anymore, at least now that the footage was released to the public. Zeref would undoubtedly soon begin catching the attention of foreign nations and organizations, and Fury could already feel a headache beginning to form.
“Fuck!” Fury once again cursed, realizing he would have even more paperwork than he needed to do after today when the mess started.
As he sat on his desk, watching the rest of the footage, Fury frowned. If Zeref was telling the truth...Fury learned far more than what he could have hoped to imagine...Then there was Zeref's new...employee. Someone that the female Reporter, Lois, Fury thought her name was, managed to grill off as much information as possible, something Fury definitely appreciated, though he would have to confirm through one of his agents through a more...private interview.
To think that not only was Zeref capable of bringing forth items from other realities...but people as well...
Without a single doubt, Fury believed that's how Zeref got most of his goods, and Fury believed it might also be the reason why all of the goods available in the store were shown off throughout the games. Why else would Zeref show off these...worlds like a collector showing off their collection?
Fury was worried. What were Zeref's motives? He highly doubted that this really was just a 'vacation' for the God-like entity. Was it an 'Uplift' scenario? It made sense. Some of his more...paranoid scientists were convinced that some kind of alien...organization was trying to uplift humanity. They believed that these Aliens were helping Hdyra back in World War 2, that they believed that's how Red Skull and Hydra managed to obtain such advanced weaponry and technology that allowed them to stomp on the Allies and the USSR before being stopped only because their own technology was used against them, they were outnumbered, and because we had a Supersoldier on our side.
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Now that Fury thought about it, it started making sense. How else did they get their hands on whatever energy source allowed them to power their technology? Said technology got lost somewhere in the Arctic before being found not too long ago by SHIELD along with the still-living Steve Rogers, Captain America.
Even then, it was hard to believe, but...Fury was starting to believe that must have been Zeref's goal, the uplifting of humanity, but why? Was he the one helping Hydra out in WW2? No...he said he was new to this Earth.
I'll have to look into that as well...but why was Zeref trying to uplift us? Was there a reason, or was he doing it for fun?
Grimacing, Fury felt his headache worsen.
Then he felt his office phone ring.
Feeling his head throb, he reached down and picked it up.
Immediately, a voice shouted from the other end, "SIR! Rogers is up! He's escaping into Manhattan!"
His headache throbbed even worse.
...
Meanwhile, across the world, in an ancient monastery hidden from the world by magic, both old and new, a bald-headed woman in orange robes could be seen sitting at the center of a rather large open room at a small table, sipping tea.
While she didn't show any outward signs of emotion, across all of the monastery, portals were constantly opening and closing as robed men and women constantly left and returned to the monastery, many seeming to have minor injuries across their bodies.
Stepping into the room, a man with a strange sword and boots sat down before the woman, silently waiting for the opportunity to speak.
Opening her eyes after taking another sip, she gave a small nod.
"Ancient One...what do you want us to do? There's no way we will be able to keep them out if this continues. Even with the ward over the planet, there are still too many getting through for us to take them all on," the man voiced his concerns.
"I know," the woman answered simply, but that wasn't enough for the man. You know? Yet you sit here, doing nothing while so many of us die fighting against the Earth's enemies alone!" the man accused, angry and sad.
She put down her cup of tea.
"I know you are concerned, and I know you feel loss from those who have died, but do not worry. Help will soon arrive," The woman answered.
"Help?" The man asked, confused.
"You realize we are not the only practitioners on this planet, do you not? I have...contacted some old friends. They'll help us, as this is their home too," The woman informed the man, noting that the man began calming down, regaining their composure.
"What about the Eye?" the man asked, still concerned. "Have you found out why it is not working?"
The woman shook her head, "No. I have used a wide variety of divination spells, yet I still cannot find the source that prevents me from peering into time."
That only seemed to concern the man more, "Do we truly not have a way to find the source that is blocking the Eye?"
"I have one lead that may lead us to the source, but that lead is reclusive, indifferent to mankind, and it will not easily agree to help," the woman informed the man.
Before the two could discuss the topic further, an Asian man stormed the room, "Ancient One!"
"Yes? Wong? What is it wrong?" The Ancient One asked, seeing the fearful expression on the man's face.
"One got loose!" Wong spoke, taking quick breaths.
"What do you mean? What got loose?" The other man sitting across from the Ancient One asked, concerned upon seeing his friend's fear.
"Look!" the man said, raising his phone to show what looked to be an Eldrich Creature fighting the US Army in a burning city.
"Where is this?!" The man sitting across from the Ancient One asked, jumping to his feet.
"Metropolis!"
Getting their answer, the Ancient One immediately cast a divination spell to get a good look at the situation, only to find that the city was perfectly...fine?
Shaking her head, the Ancient One focused the Divination Spell to find the creature. After failing the first few times, it eventually got through, and she was surprised to find that while she looked upon it, the creature seemed to look back at her.
Frowning, she wasted no time in opening a portal herself, getting up from her feet. It was time to confront whatever this creature was and discern its intentions. She had never seen this creature before through the Eye, and it was an enigma; she would deal with this engima herself.