"Everyone, the purpose of this meeting today is simple," Nick Fury said coldly. "Tell your subordinates this — for now, no one is to provoke that man."
His single eye glinted dangerously as he leaned forward.
"If any of you act on your own and provoke him… then shooting yourself will be the best outcome. Don't drag the rest of us down with you."
The silence in the room was suffocating. Fury's gaze swept across the faces of every agent present, sharp as a blade.
"Did you all hear that clearly?"
"Clearly!" they responded in unison.
"Louder! Didn't you eat?" Fury snapped.
"CLEARLY!!!"
Their voices echoed through the conference room, raw and trembling — a scream mixed with obedience and fear.
Fury nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Meeting adjourned."
For now, his authority was firmly reestablished. But this wasn't just a show of dominance — he truly needed time. And time was running out.
Leo's sudden appearance had completely thrown him off balance.
When Fury finally returned to his office, exhaustion hit him like a wave. He dropped heavily into his chair and rubbed his temples.
"Sigh… why am I so damn tired?" he muttered. "Guarding against this, guarding against that… do I have a persecution complex?"
He chuckled bitterly, the sound echoing through the empty, soundproof office.
"Hahaha! Pathetic. Pitiful. Absolutely pathetic."
It was a laughter filled with self-mockery — eerie and hollow.
He didn't even know why he felt the need to guard against Leo so much. It wasn't logical. It felt… instinctive. As if something deep in his survival instincts told him Leo was danger itself.
He laughed until his eyes watered, until his chest hurt. If the room weren't soundproof, people would probably think Director Fury had finally gone insane.
Finally, he stood up and walked over to his personal safe — a high-security vault requiring fingerprint, iris, and voice verification to open.
With a weary sigh, he muttered, "Looks like this plan has to be moved ahead of schedule."
He opened the safe and carefully pulled out a thick, classified document. Fury preferred paper files over digital records — computers, after all, were never truly safe.
On the cover, in bold letters, were the words: The Avengers Initiative.
If Leo had been there, he would've immediately realized what this meant — his very existence had accelerated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s timeline.
The flap of his butterfly wings was already shaking the entire world.
Fury flipped through the pages slowly. Inside were countless reports — shocking incidents, superhuman crimes, and events that the public would never know about.
Every single one had been suppressed. The truth was brutal.
the ones maintaining world peace in the shadows were the very Mutants humanity feared.
It was ironic, almost painful.
Why can't humans protect themselves? Fury thought bitterly. Why must we always rely on those we fear the most?
His gaze landed on the first name listed in the file: Tony Stark.
The genius billionaire — arrogant, reckless, but brilliant beyond measure. Fury had initially approached him hoping to recruit that brain of his for technological support.
He never expected Tony to build the Iron Man Armor — a weapon capable of standing toe-to-toe with gods and monsters.
A mortal, yet one who could fight Mutants with machines of his own creation.
Fury smirked slightly. "If Stark keeps this up, he might actually stand a chance."
Then came the second candidate: Dr. Bruce Banner.
A walking nuclear bomb — unpredictable, unstable, but with unmatched destructive power. Fury thought grimly, A ticking time bomb is still a weapon if pointed in the right direction.
If Banner ever found out, he'd probably explode — literally.
The third candidate: Natasha Romanoff, codename Black Widow — the perfect spy, capable of infiltrating anywhere and anyone. An indispensable intelligence asset.
The fourth: Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye — the marksman. Every team needed a reliable ranged fighter.
Fury frowned slightly at the list. "A tank, a damage dealer, a support, and a strategist... what's missing? A mage?"
He smirked. "If only mages actually existed."
And that was The Avengers Initiative — Fury's grand plan.
A plan still trapped on paper, too ambitious to realize. But now, with Leo's unpredictable power shaking the balance of the world, Fury had no choice.
It had to happen. No matter how slow the progress, the Avengers must be formed.
"Sigh... I hope everything goes smoothly," he muttered softly. "Don't push me, Leo."
He opened the bottom compartment of the safe and pulled out a small, worn pager — an old relic from the previous century.
To anyone else, it was outdated junk. But to Fury, it was priceless.
He gently brushed his fingers across it like a holy relic.
This wasn't just a piece of technology.
It was Earth's last lifeline.
When the time came — when Earth faced an unstoppable threat — this pager would summon a being of unimaginable power.
An invincible woman who could cross the stars to reach him.
Fury believed in her. Even if she wasn't the so-called "Universal Overlord" that Leo once mentioned, she was still Earth's trump card.
"Leo… oh, Leo," he whispered to himself. "I don't care if you're a Mutant or an alien from the M788 Nebula… just don't push me."
He looked up through his office window at the starry night sky, his expression solemn.
Because above all, Nick Fury was a survivor. And survival meant having a plan — and a backup plan — and a last resort.
The Avengers Initiative was self-salvation.
And that pager…
that pager was the last light of hope.
He prayed he'd never have to use it.
But deep down, Fury knew one thing — if it ever came to that…
he'd press it without hesitation.
Even if it meant dragging the strongest man on Earth down to hell with him.
Only then could he die in peace.