"Did Squad 3 find anything?" Fury asked, looking at his best technical employers working to the fullest extent of their abilities.
"No, sir."
"Nothing at all? There must have been signs or traces left behind?" He could not accept such a sudden change without a hint or detection. The door suddenly opened, and a woman walked into the room.
"Hills, tell me you found something?"
"Sorry, sir, but all traces were wiped out," Maria Hill replied. "The process was so clean that it's uncanny."
"That seems like an excuse to me."
"I'm sorry. I'll try harder."
"People, keep moving," Fury yelled. "I need answers."
Peep!
He looked at his watch and frowned. Fury headed to his private quarters and activated the communication device.
"Secretary."
"Director, you need to calm down and stop sending agents everywhere. You're wasting resources."
"You already know?"
"Shouldn't I?"
Nick Fury frowned. "The situation is —"
"I know of the situation and why it's happening. That's why I'm telling you to stop wasting your time," Edward said before sending him many files. Fury quickly read them, and with each passing second, his complexion became more severe.
"You've always known this?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Since I took over."
Fury clenched his fists. He just learned Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD at such a deep level, but that was not even the worst part.
"Why haven't I been told of this?"
"There was an operation to control Hydra and use it for our benefit. Once that operation ended, you would have been notified?"
"On then? What is the point of being the director if I cannot know such information?"
"There are greater forces at play, Director," Edward explained calmly. "And before the time is right, some information is above your paygrade."
Nick Fury took a deep breath to calm down. Ever since this new director replaced Alexander Pierce, he had a feeling he was not in control for a long time. But today, he finally had the confirmation.
"So, what happened to the operation?"
"It went haywire," Edward explained. "An unknown force intervened, and now Hydra is free from my control."
"What now?" Nick Fury. Although he wanted to make a snide comment, he knew this was not the time — especially since he could easily be blamed for allowing Hydra to infiltrate so deeply into SHIELD.
"Focus on finding Tony Stark."
"Him?"
"Yes. Once he returns, the world will enter a new era," Edward said with squinted eyes. "And SHIELD will also be busier." The clone ended the call, leaving Fury to his thoughts.
Earth-125:
With his knowledge from Kamar Taj, Edward entered Earth without any trouble. He floated above the sky while invisible. This place looked exactly like his Earth, which he named—Earth-003, after his codename in the Bones Council. However, he knew this place was different because Black Widow, Hawkeye, Tony, and Captain America died during Albion's invasion.
Edward slowly flew atop a building and said softly, "You have something that belongs to me." A space crack appeared next to him, and the Ancient One walked out.
"You're the dragon's owner?"
"That is correct."
"Your friend has caused a major disaster on this planet?"
"I'm aware, and I don't mind paying reparation for his actions."
The Ancient One was quiet for a few seconds, "How did you bypass Earth's defense?"
Edward glanced at her, "It seems a peaceful solution is impossible."
"You're a security risk."
"Alright, let's fight in the Mirror Dimension," Edward declared as he opened a space crack himself to his destination. The Ancient One did not waste time or mess around and immediately accessed the power from the Dark Dimension. Her senses told him this man was compared to a Demon God and not the low-level kind.
The Ancient One pointed her hands above the sky to open a dark portal, which then fired a terrifying dark beam capable of annihilating this entire mirror universe.
'It truly is weird,' Morgana said. 'Her body is as weak as Tier 3, which is still in the human category. Her soul is only Tier 6, but her attack is as high as Tier 10. I don't think I'll ever like these worlds with a non-linear power system.'
Edward calmly raised his hand to open a portal that teleported the beam behind the Ancient One. However, her body turned translucent, and the beam passed through her, heading toward Edward, who was standing in the front. So, he opened a portal to the dark dimension to send the attack to its source.
Meanwhile, the Ancient One continued her offense using the Time Stone attached to her neck. She was not a stubborn person. In such a situation, she and the entire Earth will be in serious trouble if she has to worry about breaking the rules of nature.
She summoned two mirror dimension shards and sent them toward Edward. However, they disappeared after a green light swallowed them before traveling less than two meters.
'Directly attacking my timeline? Sadly for you, I'm also a master of time,' Edward thought as he raised his hand to manifest a small magic circle above his palms. Then, the two-dimensional shards appeared on his palm.
Hundreds of thousands of black bands rushed from the sky to capture Edward. This spell looked like the [Crimson Bands of Cyttorak]; however, they were dark and contained the aura of the dark dimension. Edward generated a shield around it, but the bands were rapidly corroding.
The Ancient One was about to continue her offense when her face changed. Myriad magic circles appeared above her head and started firing these purple orbs. Her danger senses warned her, so she turned into a black mist to teleport. The building they were standing on instantly disappeared as soon as the first orb touched it. Then, the others followed the Ancient One, and with each passing second, their speed started to increase.
In the end, the Ancient One realized she could not evade and created countless black Mandalas as a shield around. This shield only lasted a few seconds, and once the attack ended, she was nowhere to be seen.
'Interesting. She jumped a few seconds into the future,' Edward thought. As expected, the Ancient One appeared.
[Dark Wind of Watoomb]
The Ancient One pushed her hand forward to create a truly terrifying tornado. In less than a second, the thing grew to the size of a galaxy cluster, and it continued growing and shredding everything in its path until there was nothing in the mirror universe — except for the two of them.
The Ancient One was not surprised the latter survived this attack. Her main objection was to buy time. She held a black orb between her palms as she floated in the void.
'She perfectly combined the darkness from the dark dimension and the energy from the time stone,' Edward commented.
'You need to hurry since you cannot block this attack,' Morgana said.
'How strong is it?'
'Upper Demon God level.'
'So powerful?'
'Yes, but her soul will probably collapse afterward,' she added.
'Do you think our Ancient One is this powerful?'
'Probably not. This one seems to have tapped deeper into the power of the dark dimension in order to deal with you,'
'So, she has the potential,' Edward remarked. 'Alright, let's end this fight.' He clapped his hands, and suddenly, the sphere in the Ancient One's hands disappeared, followed by the dark dimension mark on her forehead.
How could someone like him not plan how to deal with the Ancient One in case their relationship sour? And the answer to that question was easy — cut off her connection to the dark dimension to weaken her.