"Huff...huff... What do you really want?"
Lying on the ground, Nick Fury was starting to weaken.
Even though he had managed to patch up his wound, the massive blood loss had left him feeling helpless.
Especially when faced with such an overwhelming opponent!
Yet Nick Fury never expected what happened next—Ronan lifted his foot and pressed down hard on Fury's wounded leg.
The wound, which had started to clot, was ripped open again, blood spraying out violently.
"Aaaah!"
Fury let out a scream like a stuck pig.
The sound pierced the walls of his office, and the agents outside couldn't hold back any longer.
The door burst open, and over a dozen agents stormed in, guns drawn and aimed at Ronan.
"Stay back!" Steve Rogers shouted desperately at the doorway.
Having witnessed Ronan's strength, he knew these agents were only marching to their doom.
But it was too late!
The agents hesitated to fire, fearing they might hit Fury, who was right under Ronan's foot.
And that hesitation would seal their fate.
"Sigh, you guys get paid so little, why throw your lives away like this?" Ronan shook his head, raising his left hand toward the incoming agents.
A blue light radiated from his hand.
"Get out of there!" Steve Rogers yelled, flinging his shield at Ronan while he sprinted forward, following close behind.
But he was too slow.
In Hawkeye and Black Widow's view, a vortex materialized at the doorway.
The whirlpool enveloped the entire group of agents who had just rushed in.
In the blink of an eye...
The vortex spun rapidly!
A powerful suction force emerged from the center, pulling all the agents standing in its range toward the vortex.
They were about to be swallowed whole!
"Grab the rope!" Hawkeye shouted, firing arrows embedded with steel cables into the wall.
The desperate agents clung to the cables like lifelines, grabbing hold in a final effort to survive.
Black Widow acted quickly, securing herself with a rope tied to the window and wrapping the other end around her waist, hoping to pull the agents back from the brink.
"It's... a bit too late."
Ronan caught Steve Rogers' shield mid-air with one hand, using it to knock Rogers back.
His muttered words sounded like the grim reaper's scythe.
Snap!
The taut cables snapped under the vortex's force, and in an instant, all the agents were sucked into the swirling void.
Black Widow managed to save one, but she could only watch as the others disappeared before her eyes.
"No!"
Hawkeye screamed in rage, firing arrows wildly at Ronan.
He had served with those agents the longest, and his bond with them was stronger than any words could express.
After watching them vanish, "anger" didn't begin to capture his feelings.
For he knew there was little hope for any of them now.
"Oh, come on! Why so mad all of a sudden?"
Ronan dodged Hawkeye's arrows effortlessly, even glancing down at his HUD.
[Killed Hydra Agent: +10 XP]
[Killed Hydra Agent: +12 XP]
[Killed Hydra Agent: +7 XP]
[Killed Hydra Agent: +14 XP]
Interesting!
Whether by coincidence or not, every single agent who had charged in to "rescue" Nick Fury turned out to be Hydra.
If Ronan didn't know Fury's background, he might have thought the man himself was shouting "Hail Hydra!"
Just imagine—Hydra agents risking their lives to save the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now that would be touching.
Pow!
Ronan's punch sent Hawkeye flying, leaving him with a black eye and out cold.
Probably dreaming of stars.
"Motherf—!"
Seeing his top agents defeated so swiftly, Fury couldn't help but shout his signature expletive, this time with renewed vigor.
It seemed he truly hadn't realized what was happening.
In Fury's view, this "Iron Man" was undoubtedly here to show him up.
Or more accurately, to get revenge for Fury's investigation into his identity.
Ronan had single-handedly taken down S.H.I.E.L.D.'s three strongest fighters, one by one.
And he had done so without a scratch on him.
The only dirt on his clothes was from the floor upstairs.
Ronan's actions seemed to be sending a message: without magic, none of you are a match for me.
And as for the agents who rushed in afterward? His response was magic, making a statement to Fury.
One-on-one, they had no chance. Against a group, even less.
If he decided to use magic, every single S.H.I.E.L.D. agent here would be a sitting duck.
Fury took a deep breath, glancing at his remaining team.
Of his three best agents, one was unconscious, and another was barely holding on.
Only Captain America, Steve Rogers, seemed capable of putting up any sort of fight.
But even three of them had fallen to Ronan. What chance did Steve have alone?
Fury's only remaining hope seemed to lie in his pager.
Did he really need to call her?
Instinctively, Fury reached into his pocket.
"Oh, are you planning to call that one backup?"
"What's her name... Danvers? Carol Danvers, right?"
Ronan noticed Fury's hand movement, as if reading his mind once more.
Fury's heart sank.
How could he know everything?
No! It couldn't be!
Given his age, there was no way he could know about what happened back in the day.
But still...
"Don't tell me you really thought I didn't know about that incident in 1995?"
"Or that spaceship crashing out of the sky?"
"Or your so-called Project Pegasus?"