"My God, I really didn't expect all of you could come back," Shiller embraced Captain America, voicing his sadness. "I thought you had died by the treacherous shots of your own people, and all I could do was seek revenge for you..."
Having said that, he turned to Nick Fury, speaking with genuine sincerity, "Director, I never expected that at such a critical moment, you would have additional measures to reverse the situation. Without you, I'm afraid I would never see them again..."
Nick stepped forward, patted Shiller on the shoulder, and said, "That's the responsibility of the S.H.I.E.L.D Director. I'm not like those who resort to backstabbing. Remember what I said? This is humankind's only chance to step into the Star Ocean; we must seize this opportunity."
"What exactly is going on?!" Iron Man, now in his Mecha, stepped forward, raising his voice, "Our deaths couldn't possibly have been an accident! Who is the mastermind behind all of this?!"
Nick shook his head, saying, "Tony, don't dwell on this now. We need to come together and can't let these minor matters distract us."
"I must find out who's behind this! If we can't root them out, there will never be peace for humanity! Even if we manage to venture into the cosmos, there will always be those trying to hold us back!" Iron Man insisted.
"Tony, we should focus on the whole picture," Captain America stepped forward, standing between Nick and Iron Man. He said, "No matter who did this, we're alive now, aren't we? We should focus on doing something constructive."
"Right, right..." Iron Man spread his hands and replied sarcastically, "You're great at forgiving those who have hurt you, tried to kill you. You're the world's greatest Captain America..."
Iron Man looked at Captain America, "Are you trying to impose your moral standards on me? Like you asked me to forgive that killer?"
Nick Fury shook his head helplessly, "Stop arguing, you two! That's all in the past; we should focus on the present. You've been gone for quite a while, and you must have a lot of work piling up. Go back and sort out your personal affairs first..."
Just then, Nick's phone rang, he picked it up and said, "Hello? Hill, what's up? What? The largest warehouse in Pennsylvania exploded? What happened??"
Nick hung up the phone, furrowed his brow and motioned to the other three. "Let's head back to the main base, there's been an incident. Doctor Shiller, I need you to come along."
As Nick was walking out, he turned to speak to Shiller. "Resurrection has its side effects, memory damage is just the lightest consequence. We'll need you to keep a close eye on the Avengers. Should any of them cause trouble due to these aftereffects, it's going to be a real mess."
Shiller nodded, "No problem. I had planned to stay at the Avengers' base for a while anyway. We all know those backstabbers are still on the loose, and if they learn about the superheroes' resurrection, they might strike again. I can provide early warnings."
Nick nodded and continued walking ahead. The other three trailed behind him. When they returned to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s main base, Nick turned to Hill with a serious face and asked, "What exactly happened? Why did the warehouse explode?"
Holding her forehead, Hill replied, "Natasha is injured, traces of mutants were found at the scene, it's complicated, you should take a look yourself."
Nick's face became stern; he glanced at the three and said, "Sorry I don't have time to throw you a welcome party. Let's get ready to go, everyone."
Nick Fury, Coulson, Captain America, Spider Man, Iron Man, and Dr. Shiller, took the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s special plane and rushed to the starting point in Pennsylvania as fast as they could.
This place was in the north of Pennsylvania, a considerable distance from New York, but with the speed of the airplane, it was just over an hour. Upon landing, the first person they saw was Natasha.
Hawkeye Barton was providing first aid to Natasha, and Nick approached and looked at her.
She had a wound on her shoulder which looked like a slash that spread all the way to her back from her neck. A lot of blood had been lost, the bandages removed were all soaked red, and the newly wrapped bandage was still seeping blood.
"What happened...how did you get so seriously injured, Natasha? Who attacked the warehouse?" Nick asked angrily.
Natasha's face was slightly pale, but her expression was still determined. The female agent would never show any weakness. She began to reply, "I was caught off guard. The other party seemed well prepared."
She let out a sigh and began her story,
"Recently, S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered a batch of equipment in illegally operated military bases. According to previous orders, Barton and I were responsible for delivering these into the designated warehouse."
"Hill told me that Director Nick Fury had been resurrected. I wanted to rush to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately, but this batch of equipment was critical, so I had to stay here and keep an eye on them. Then, Hill said she needed an inventory list from the warehouse, so I intended to complete the warehouse inventory before heading back."
"However, during the process of entering the warehouse, I lost consciousness for a while, experienced a memory blank, but I wasn't aware of it then. Instead, I continued with the plan, entered the warehouse, and logged the equipment."
"Someone took advantage of my entrance into the warehouse to mess with my mind using telepathy, causing me to neglect whether the warehouse door was securely closed. Right when I was about to leave with the inventory list after logging the majority of the equipment, someone triggered a large explosion."
"I'm not sure what model of bomb they used, but it was very powerful. During the successive detonations, I heard the first bomb go off, so I immediately decided to evacuate, but it was already too late."
"The doors were closing, and I wasn't sure that I could break out in just a few seconds. If I got locked in, I would definitely die, so, I chose to exit through the emergency exit."
"The intense explosion affected the mountain structure, and I got hit by falling debris when I was exiting through the emergency exit."
Natasha sighed and said, "Fortunately, I reacted in time, and I managed to escape, bringing out the inventory list that had been registered."
Natasha pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Nick. When Nick saw what was written on it, he slightly narrowed his eyes.
"Near-Earth Orbit Weapons, Space-Based Weapons, Star Explosion Device..." Nick read out the names of these devices in disbelief, then looked again at the depot that had been destroyed.
If he wasn't black, his face would have shown a very obvious change at this moment, but he nonetheless incredulously walked toward the depot entrance.
The massive entrance that allowed the Sky Carrier to enter and exit had already collapsed halfway. On the right side of the trapezoidal entrance, the beam supporting above had crashed down, the row of support columns on the side had fallen forward onto the ground, and Nick bypassed these support pillars and looked at the destroyed large equipment.
He turns and looks at Iron Man, who also flew in from mid-air, and asks, "Tony, can you figure out what this equipment is?"
Iron Man lands and squints at a massive piece of debris in front of him. "This is a molten steel-made shell, possibly part of some weapon or rocket launch equipment..."
Finishing his statement, he continues walking in to look at the scattered equipment components around him. "These devices are all made with new materials, and they should be recently developed aerospace equipment. Also, these huge machines are most likely for mining, they could also be used as weapons..."
"Isn't the Solar System Development Project under your supervision? Don't you have records of these types of equipment?" Nick asked in a low tone.
Iron Man slowly shook his head. At that moment, Barton came up and said, "These military bases were unexpected finds when we were conducting regular maintenance. Most of them come from some radical factions within the military. They're always creating weapons to expand their power."
"They have ample military funding, so their progress in research is incredibly rapid. They bought and put them to use as soon as new materials arrived on Earth."
Barton looked at the pile of wreckage before him and said, "These things were still half-finished when we moved them here, only missing assembly and power. If they were assembled, they might have been immediately usable, but unfortunately..."
"Who the hell did this?!!" Nick's tone sounded murderous. He turned his head to look at Natasha and asked, "Hill mentioned traces of mutants nearby. What's going on?"
"It's just my speculation," Natasha stepped forward to say. "As I said, I had a period of blurred memory while walking towards the warehouse. It might have been some kind of mind control. I suspect it might be a mutant's ability."
"You're talking about Professor X?" Nick immediately increased his vigilance.
Natasha shook her head and said, "I don't think it'd go that far. If Professor X had intervened, he wouldn't let me find out. He could silently tamper with anyone's memory without detection. But I can clearly feel a gap in my memory, suggesting a more brute-force method."
"I'm not sure, but in the memory of that time, I might have had hallucinations. I saw two figures with golden hair, perhaps a man and a woman. They followed me into the warehouse."
"Also..." Natasha turned her head to look at the wreckage and said, "I suspect that the bomb might not have been made using human technology. Otherwise, considering the explosive force, I shouldn't have survived."
Iron Man pressed on his face guard, apparently Jarvis told him something, and he then said, "That's right. According to Jarvis's analysis, if this amount of explosives were used, the whole mountain would have been blasted into the sky. It's impossible that it only destroyed the equipment inside the depot."
Natasha lowered her head and said, "As far as I know, there are numerous members among the mutants who are experts in explosion abilities. Their explosions often involve air compression or magnets. These explosions are extremely controllable, powerful, and can produce burning effects, just like now."
Following her words, Nick looked at the surrounding scorched land and said, "Mutants... What do they want?!"
"We have to talk to Professor X. He has to intervene." Natasha moved forward to Nick and said, "No matter what, the mutants fall under his jurisdiction. He shouldn't be lenient with his own kind, damaging S.H.I.E.L.D's property. These are also humanity's valuable treasures."
"Director, you need to talk to him." Barton also came forward and said, "Although our relationship with Professor X has always been good, this time, they've really crossed the line. Even if it was the people from the Brotherhood, Professor X should warn them..."
But at this moment, Nick's originally angry and gloomy face turned slightly awkward and hesitant. This expression only lasted a moment, and then he said:
"Don't you... find this situation a bit suspicious?"