Once Kakashi and Creel, Blonsky, and Clint were alone, they began their discussion about the events while the others were gone.
Clint looked at him and spoke, "While nothing major happened on our side, there are still some things that you should know about while you were gone."
Clint leaned forward and shared what he had observed in New York during their absence. "There is some guy called Spider-Man in New York City. He has super strength, super speed, and enhanced reflexes from what we have gathered. A weird choice of name though. Who calls themselves after a spider?" Clint said with a small smile.
He described how the masked hero swung between buildings and helped people in trouble. The archer explained that the young hero seemed determined and skillful even if his costume looked homemade.
Kakashi listened carefully and asked, "Is he causing trouble?" He wanted to know if this new person was a threat or an ally before making any decisions.
"No, in fact it is the opposite. He is just helping people around. Stopping criminals, handing them over to the police, and saving civilians from accidents," Clint replied.
He added that Spider-Man had stopped several robberies and even helped rescue people from a building fire. The people of the city were starting to talk about him in a positive way on the streets and online.
"Then there is nothing to worry about. Just tell Jarvis and the hounds to keep an eye on him," Kakashi said. He believed it was better to watch new heroes from a distance at first rather than interfere.
If Spider-Man continued doing good work, they might reach out to him later as a potential ally. For now, monitoring was enough to make sure he stayed on the right path.
Blonsky then gave his report about another part of the city. "Hell's Kitchen while you were gone had also become a wreck with Kingpin, the Hand, and mafias again starting to operate. But it seems that a couple of new heroes have emerged there too."
He described how crime had increased quickly after Kakashi left that area but that mysterious figures had begun fighting back against the criminals.
Kakashi said, "Now that is some good news that I have not heard in a lot of time. New heroes to lower our workload. Sounds good to me. Anything else?"
He felt a small sense of relief knowing that other protectors were stepping up in different neighborhoods. It showed that the spirit of heroism was alive even when the main Avengers were away.
"The Asgardians that went with you on your space mission had given Thor a message to be delivered for you. They had new leads on the Power Stone that they are following and they would like your and Avengers help once they finally narrow down its location to acquire it if it involves combat," Blonsky said.
He explained that the Asgardians had been working hard during their absence and had found promising clues about one of the very powerful Infinity Stones.
"Very well," Kakashi said. Kakashi was previously taking a hands-off approach with Infinity Stones but that had changed after he had come back from the alternate universe.
'I have understood the power of cosmic powers like Jean and the Infinity Stones are said to operate on the same scale. So it is better to keep them with us rather than the enemy. We already have the Tesseract, the Space Stone so that is protected well and the Time Stone is being protected by Ancient One. The Mind Stone was previously with Thanos but with Loki betraying him and taking the stone for himself, it could lead to trouble down the line. But it is better to prevent others from acquiring the Infinity Stones.' Kakashi thought carefully about the dangers.
He continued reflecting on the situation. 'After seeing what happened with Jean and the Phoenix, I cannot take any chances. One wrong person getting even one stone could cause disasters worse than anything we have faced. We need to collect them safely and keep them under our protection. Working with the Asgardians on the Power Stone seems like a smart move. It will strengthen our alliances too.' These thoughts made him more determined to change his earlier passive strategy.
Kakashi finally focused back on the conversation that he was having. He looked at the three men seriously. "You three, I gave you a mission to do something while we were gone. Have you completed it or do you need more time?"
Clint said, "Yes, I am sure SHIELD is compromised. I could not believe it when you told me about your suspicions but after I remembered my own experiences it seems like what you said became more true." Clint took a deep breath and began explaining everything they had discovered in detail.
"When Thor had arrived to this world, Agent Sitwell had taken Foster's notes for himself. Sometimes during missions Agent Sitwell would take over some of the missions that should have gone through normal channels," Clint explained.
He described how Sitwell often appeared at important moments and redirected resources without clear reasons. Clint had cross-checked old mission logs and noticed patterns that did not make sense at the time but now raised big red flags.
He went on with more evidence. "During our investigation, we found out that it goes far in. Many individuals report not to their higher ups but to different ones. Sitwell himself reports to Pierce and not Fury." Clint shared how they had followed quiet movements and overheard conversations that showed a separate chain of command inside SHIELD.
Some agents seemed loyal to certain council members instead of the official director.
"More importantly there is another SHIELD Academy that your hounds managed to find out that neither I nor Fury knows about. And most of these recruits are the ones reporting to Fury. Heck I am sure this faculty is not even in SHIELD's database. I had taken Jarvis help to hack into SHIELD database only to find no information about it," Clint continued.
The discovery had shocked them because it suggested a group working inside SHIELD but completely off the official records.
Creel said, "Clint had shown me photos of many scientists and researchers working with SHIELD. I recognised some of the scientists that SHIELD has worked with previously. They were responsible for experimenting on me." His voice grew rough with old anger as he remembered his own painful past.
Kakashi thought a lot as he heard their reports. Clint was someone that was in SHIELD for a very long time so he was the best person that Kakashi could think of that could find out what was happening within SHIELD.
And that is why before leaving he decided to give him this task. Kakashi trusted Clint's experience and instincts completely. The archer knew SHIELD's internal workings better than most, which made his confirmation of the compromise very reliable.
Blonsky asked, "What is our next move?"
"Now more than ever we have to act," Kakashi said firmly.
"We cannot let them get to know about the mutants. Or the same thing would happen that happened in their previous world. For that we would have to infiltrate this rogue SHIELD academy," Kakashi continued. He wanted to gather solid proof and understand the full extent of the secret group before making bigger moves.
Protecting the new arrivals from the X-Men was now a top priority.
"Would you be infiltrating them?" Clint asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I will be busy with other tasks but I think that I know someone who is a new Avenger and is someone very skilled at infiltration," Kakashi said.
-----Author Notes---------
Y'all can now read the next 15 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
[No star]
Thankyou for your support!