Seeing Nick's expression, Shiller understood everything, yet he didn't show the slightest sign of realization, maintaining a carefree smile instead.
"My attitude is very serious," Nick said.
"I'm not joking either."
"I'm talking about the space station," Nick rolled his eyes and continued, "This is a crucial step towards independence for ordinary people, and you are absolutely not allowed to engage in any grand conspiracies…"
"You'll break my heart if you think that way about me."
"Then have your heart broken," Nick was unsparing, "You have to promise me that you won't make trouble, you owe me that much."
"It's not totally out of the question," Shiller replied, "As you know, I've never been one to start trouble…"
"In other words, you like to cause trouble passively."
"If you want to put it that way, I can't help it," Shiller decided to play dumb to the end, "All I can assure you is that as long as no one provokes me, I will definitely not…"
"Don't try that with me, you're the best at getting others to provoke you," Nick huffed before adding, "I'll assign you a role so you can get involved in this as an ordinary person, on the condition that you, do not, cause trouble!"
Shiller displayed a satisfied smile. As the spokesperson for ordinary people, Nick was set on not letting the group of superheroes directly interfere in the space station affairs this time.
But he also knew that if he just let these psychos watch, any one of them might suddenly snap. It was better to make arrangements in advance.
"What's my position?" Shiller rubbed his hands together.
"Of course, a psychologist... stop looking at me like that, S.H.I.E.L.D. pays you a high salary, and you only work a few days a year? This is your responsibility!"
Shiller sighed but soon perked up again, asking, "Who will I be treating mainly?"
"You'll have your opportunity to shine," Nick emphasized once more, "but let's be clear, you must follow orders, carry out all work transparently, and you're absolutely not allowed to act on your own."
Shiller crossed one leg over the other, took a sip of water, and said, "You make it sound like I'm one of your agents."
"Then consider it that way," Nick stated firmly, veiled with a murderous intent, "Don't force me to expose your true face, damn Hydra."
"You too, Hydra number two."
"Alright, seriously now," Nick composed himself and took a deep breath, "I've been worried about this for a long time now. I've got this feeling that these chaotic, crazy ordinary people are going to pull something big. Rather than living in fear every day, it's better to do everything that can be done as soon as possible."
Shiller turned to look at him and said, "I knew you weren't that kind-hearted or optimistic. In essence, it's not about giving ordinary people the initiative; it's about doing everything you can to prevent them from finding fault."
"This way, they won't throw all the blame on superheroes when they suffer big losses, accusing us of not protecting them properly," Nick also shared his true thoughts, "You know how likely that is to happen, but superheroes are human too, they can feel hurt. It's their duty to protect their kin, but to accept unfounded criticisms is not."
"Gratitude for a pail of rice, enmity for a chest of gold..." Shiller translated the proverb and said, "If you give a hungry man a bowl of rice, he'll be tearfully grateful, but if you give him a mountain of gold, he might complain why you didn't give him another gun."
"Exactly," Nick agreed, "Teaching ordinary people to be independent is also for the superheroes' sake; to keep helping them out this way will inevitably lead to thankless efforts someday."
"Helping them with disaster drills, instilling a sense of crisis, making them realize that sometimes superheroes simply can't reach everywhere, and they must save themselves. At the very least, when danger arises, they will try to save themselves first rather than frantically calling for superheroes and blaming them if they don't show up," Nick explained.
Shiller nodded, understanding Nick's concerns. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., an organization managing superpower users, Nick would be the first to be held accountable and suffer the consequences should such an event occur.
In short, it's about preventing the majority of the human race from developing the habit of lying on the ground expecting Superman to save them whenever there's a problem. If Superman doesn't come, it becomes all Superman's fault.
Setting aside notions of ethics and morals, doing nothing and waiting for superheroes to come to the rescue greatly diminishes their chances of survival. Self-help measures and waiting for superheroes are not mutually exclusive.
So the first step is to find a way to keep the superheroes busy. Shiller couldn't help but ponder this, and then he spoke up, "How are things in the Andromeda Galaxy lately? What about the Centaurus constellation?"
"The Mutants are still farming in Mexico," Nick immediately caught on to what he meant and said, "They have signed the Katte Trade and Friendship Treaty, increasing imports of Mexican agricultural products. Due to almost infinite demand, it's a give and take with America's industrial farming."
"I hear Erik's been making some moves lately?"
"He's got his sights set on two civilizations in the Centaur constellation," Nick said, stroking his chin. "Looks like he wants to get directly involved in their civil war to unify the two civilizations and collect taxes as a vassal state."
"Not hard to understand," Shiller said after taking another sip of his tea. "You need money to buy food on Earth, too, and the precious metals they brought over from the Andromeda Galaxy are almost spent. It's time to establish other colonies."
"Guess who he's picked as the vanguard?"
"It can't be the Guardians of the Galaxy," Shiller sat up and looked at Nick. "Did you refer them? You really want them to stir up trouble, don't you?"
Nick revealed a mysterious smile and said, "After all, if there's no trouble, how would our superheroes get busy?"
On Katte C193-2 colonization planet in the Centaurus constellation, Star Lord opened the hatch, dusty and weary, only to see a raccoon, a yellow-furred rodent, and a little girl happily playing a game, with Gamora preparing fruit for them on the side.
"Anya!... Anya!! It's time for you to recharge!!" A blue figure appeared at the end of the corridor, shouting in that direction. The little girl stood up unwillingly, and if you looked closely, you could see a faint glow emanating from her body, different from everyone else present.
Instead of walking, she floated over to where Nebula held what looked like a crystal ball, then Nebula connected the crystal ball to a power source, and Anya fell asleep inside.
Groot squeezed in through the main hatch behind Star Lord, trying to lower his body as much as possible, but the ship was still a bit too small for him.
"When can we return to the mothership?" Gamora asked as she cleaned her ears. "I'm fed up with listening to their constant clanging every day."
"Soon, now those blue-skinned guys have pushed Katte into a corner. I reckon it won't be long until their last colony surrenders. We just need to send a message to the mutants, and our job will be done in no more than three days."
Gamora leaned against a nearby counter and sighed. They had been here for half a month already. To avoid being detected by their target, they had to cram into this small ship, bored to death every day.
"Come on, don't be so down," Rocket hopped onto the counter, busying himself with his weapons while adding, "Sure, we're supposed to keep an eye on those mutants, but nobody said we can't go out and pick up some leftovers. I've seen their secondary cannons; they're quality stuff, don't look home-made. More like bought from Xia, any chances there?"
Pikachu raised an eyebrow and also hopped onto the table; the heads of everyone in the conference room quickly huddled together, and Star Lord waggishly said, "You sure you didn't see it wrong? Even the Empire's discarded military goods are valuable, and that's just what our ship is missing, some powerful weaponry."
"What are you implying? Are you questioning the sight of me, Rocket Raccoon?!" Rocket Raccoon bared his teeth and then said, "Empire's cannons have a signature three-stage barrel rotation before firing, which seems to be a safety lock for long-distance warp, unique in the cosmos. No mistake about it!"
Gamora glanced left, then right, and said, "I'm about to suffocate here anyway. Are we doing this or not?"
Star Lord coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said, "We're on a mission right now; we are the most professional mercenary team in the cosmos..."
"Cut the crap, just tell us if we're doing it or not!"
"Damn it, let's do it!"
Two days later, Stark received a familiar yet unfamiliar call, and with a hint of surprise, he said, "You say you've been captured in Katte's new zone? What did you guys do?"
At the same time, another call came through. Thor's somewhat helpless voice rang in Stark's ear as he said, "There's a small civilization in Centaurus that called us, saying they've caught a creature that might be human, asking if it's one of ours that got lost. Seems the name was Peter Quill. I've sent Loki to deal with it..."
The moment he mentioned that, Stark abruptly hung up the phone, quickly called Nick, and said, "That Peter Quill has been caught stealing and got complained to Thor, Loki's taking care of it... What???"
Startled, Stark stood up and said, "Peter Quill is missing, suspected dead?!"
He soon breathed a sigh of relief and said, "So he's just been dragged away, leaving some bloodstains... Isn't that the same as being dead?!"
"Great, I'll remind Loki, tell him not to inform Thor at first—would be troublesome if Thor gets enraged and decides to attack Centaurus, especially since it's a human matter... Alright, Steve and I will go over."
As Stark put on his outerwear, he called Steve and rattled off, "A human has gone missing in Centaurus, seems to have been caught stealing, then imprisoned, and just as that prison planet was attacked by another civilization, their whole squad disappeared."
Walking briskly outdoors, Stark continued to the phone, "And just as the leader of this civilization finds one that might be human, he tells Thor he's got people there. Right after Thor tells them they've sent an envoy, the person disappears, which Asgard could take as a provocation."
"Nick suggests we calm Thor first, tell him it's an internal human affair that we'll handle ourselves. We can't have him attacking Centaurus over this..."
"Okay, I'll pick you up. Before you leave, don't forget to inform Peter; he's been frantic lately about Gwen. If he finds out we're all gone, he'll definitely worry. Alright, that's it, see you later."