Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 228 31. Confrontation

At 11 o'clock in the evening, the hands of the clock hanging on the wall of Fury's office had just crossed that node, and the door was pushed open.

Under Fury's gaze, with the sound of the cane being tapped on the ground, Merlin in a windbreaker appeared in his office.

Fury seemed to be prepared for Merlin's arrival. He looked at his best subordinate, and he saw Merlin's pale face, slightly disheveled hair and poor mental state.

This means that Merlin has not recovered from his physical weakness, and it also means that Merlin has not had a good rest these days.

Of course, it could also be because something bad happened to him just now.

Merlin walked into Fury's office, closed the door with his hand, sat on the chair opposite Fury, and put the cane in his hand aside.He looked up at Fury.

The latter reached out and picked up two documents from his hand, and put them in front of Merlin's eyes in such a silent manner.

Merlin looked at the document, it was a personnel file, and he almost didn't need to open it to know what was inside.It seems that Fury also knows why he came here tonight.

"I'm sorry, Merlin."

Fury interlaced his fingers on the table, and he said sincerely:

"About Richard and Mary..."

"That's not what I want."

Merlin didn't touch the documents on the table, he looked at Fury, behind the rimless lenses, there was a gleam in those eyes, like a burning flame.

He said to Fury in an indifferent tone:

"My brother-in-law lost his only family a few hours ago."

"My nephew lost his parents a few hours ago."

"My sister is a soft-hearted and emotionally fragile person, and I also lost two friends...family members who I just met and didn't know very well."

"I mean..."

Merlin clasped his veined hands on his knees. He looked at Fury, and the light above his head danced a dim light on his pale face. He said:

"How do you...how do you tell them this?"

Fury looked at Merlin's calm face, and the director, who was already familiar with Merlin's emotional changes, had a headache because he realized that Merlin came tonight to ask for the answer and the truth.

But the problem is, Fury doesn't have that stuff either.

Richard and Mary's accident happened so suddenly that there was no warning at all.

But anyone with a little brain would not think that this was just an ordinary crash.

There is something hidden in this, but the problem is that the cruel reality does not seem to leave enough time for Fury to find the buried truth behind the accident.

"Teach me, Fury."

Merlin took off his glasses, he took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and while wiping the lenses, he looked at Fury with his ember-like eyes, and his voice became softer.

As if afraid to disturb the two weeping ghosts.

"You have participated in the war, you must have witnessed the death of many companions and friends. Teach me, how do you tell these damn news about death to those desperate relatives without hurting others ...how do you get through the pain of losing friends, losing family?"

"You should calm down."

Fury said:

"I didn't ask you to tell Ms. Mei and Mr. Ben the news about their relatives' accidents. There are special personnel for this kind of thing..."

"enough!"

Before Fury finished speaking, he was interrupted by Merlin.

The level 7 secret agent said to Fury in a voice of suppressed anger and grief:

"I knew from the day I became a special agent that even though we risked our lives to do a lot of terrible but right things, no matter how many people we saved outside or how many people we killed, once we got home, Those things just don't make sense."

"I also follow your instructions and separate my work from my family. I can realize the threat of my work, and I work hard to protect those I value. But Fury... .This time, it's different."

Merlin looked at the personnel files on the table, and said:

"Although I only met them once, you should know, you already knew...they are my family, Fury."

"I came here to ask you a question. I hope to go back with an answer, and I hope to tell my sister and brother-in-law all this after I have settled this matter thoroughly, so... please tell me .”

Merlin looked up, he looked at Fury, he said:

"Who did it?"

"I don't know, Merlin."

Fury sighed, and the Secret Service Chief, who always seemed to be winning, seemed to be discouraged at this moment.

He leaned back in his seat, looked at Merlin, and said:

"I really don't know. Less than 7 hours have passed since the incident happened. I just received the site survey report. There is no useful information in the black box of the plane. I know this accident is not accidental." , I also want the truth, they are my subordinates, you know me, if I can, I will give everything to save them."

"But the question now is, the disaster has happened, if you want to know the truth and the answers."

Fury knocked on the table, he said to Merlin:

"You should at least give me some time."

"You asked Richard and Mary to raise the dragon for you, Fury."

Merlin closed his eyes, and he said wearily:

"I can understand your thoughts, and I also know your purpose of doing this. But if their work is really so important, you should at least pay more attention to them, instead of finding ways to make up for it after bad things happen."

"Who told you that?"

Fury's one-eyed narrowed at this moment, he looked at Merlin, and he asked:

"How do you know what Richard and Mary do? Did they tell you?"

"By now, are you still concerned about your secrets?"

Under Fury's gaze, Merlin asked back:

"Do you know how many unfriendly stares a Muggle organization raises dragons in private?"

"It's not that I didn't warn you, Fury! South America also has their magical organization, and those wandering dark wizards will do whatever it takes to get what they need. You think you've kept it secret enough, but when you can search the memory In front of your wizard, everything you do is meaningless!"

"boom"

Something was thrown on Fury's desk.

It was a twisted metal blade that looked like it was part of an aircraft engine.Merlin sat upright in his chair, and he said to Fury:

"You can't get results from your technical tests. It's not an accident that Richard and Mary lost control of the plane. There was a wizard who teleported into the plane. It was the Transfiguration Curse that destroyed the plane's engine..."

Merlin looked at Fury, his face full of disappointment.

"You're trying to master a power that you don't understand at all, and you shouldn't get your hands on it, but you don't have enough ability to protect your secrets, and you don't even want to tell me the dangerous things you are doing! If you tell me, this thing, it won’t happen.”

Merlin's tone became cold:

"It was your wanton behavior that killed them! Fury."

Merlin's yelling echoed in the office, but Fury didn't respond immediately. On the contrary, he looked at the twisted wind blade on the table, and he fell into a kind of thinking.

"Why don't you talk, Fury."

Merlin asked:

"Are you confessing?"

"I'm just wondering who the hell planned this."

Fury reached out and pressed his hand on the cold wreckage. He glanced at Merlin, and said in a firm tone:

"But from what I've seen so far, it's clear that someone is deliberately misleading you, Merlin."

"what?"

Merlin frowned.

Fury paused. He turned the computer screen around and showed Merlin some of the information on the screen. He said:

"Richard and Mary's mission to keep and observe the hornets ended 5 months ago. Those dragons were handed over to some other biologists. Your loved ones didn't die because of those dragons, at least That's not the main reason."

Fury's one eye was filled with a kind of calm thought, and he whispered:

"But the people behind the scenes obviously know about your existence, and they also know about your relationship with Richard and his wife. They know that after you hear about the accident, they will definitely go to see it in person, so they deliberately left these traces. Your attention has been diverted to matters related to magic, and they obviously don't want you to see the truth, Merlin."

"Of course, I don't rule out the possibility that black wizards are involved in this matter."

Merlin glanced at Fury, and he clicked on the document on the computer. Indeed, as Fury said, Richard and Mary withdrew from the Horntail research project 5 months ago, but at the end of the few pages of the document , Merlin noticed a sign marked "S".

That should be Richard and Mary's last mission before they die.

"what is this?"

Merlin pointed to the secret mission, and he asked:

"Another hidden secret?"

"That's not what you should know."

Fury said:

"Don't ask, I won't tell you."

"I have a right to know!"

Merlin said stubbornly:

"If Richard and Mary died because of it, then I have a right to know!"

"You just get carried away with anger and pain."

Fury said without hesitation:

"What you should do now is to go home and have a good sleep to wake yourself up. You are being led by the nose by those behind-the-scenes black hands. Even the quarrel between you and me may be their plan."

After finishing speaking, Fury's tone became milder, and he persuaded Merlin:

"Trust me, Merlin, give me a little confidence."

"You realize that you are at the center of a conspiracy. What you have to do is not to try to break the situation outrageously, but to calm down and observe. I promise you, I will solve this matter. Regarding May and Ben, I will also find a way To appease their emotions, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Bureau will take care of Richard and Mary's sons. I can't do much for them, but I will definitely do my best."

Fury looked at Merlin:

"Trust me, okay? Finding clues is a process. This process takes time. You should be able to understand that everything has a process."

Merlin saw the sincerity in Fury's eyes, and for a moment, he really wanted to leave these matters to Fury to handle.

Just like before, he does the action and Fury the finishing touches.

They can still work together as seamlessly as before.

However, the deaths of Richard and Mary were like a switch that was turned on, activating those suppressed emotions in Merlin's heart, like rolling black shadows, making Merlin ignore those who were already facing The threat of his invasion.

Those hands hidden in the darkness have already begun to threaten the people around Merlin.

Richard and Mary may just be the first victims, and Eric, May, and Coulson may be next.Maybe even Fury will become one of those victims.

he can not...

Silent again as before.

The threats could no longer be ignored, he had to do something.

"I know, it's a process, I know ... I just wonder if it will work out."

"I really want to trust you, Fury."

Merlin stood up, he looked at Fury:

"We've known each other for 10 years, we've been working together for 8 years, and I really... really think of you as my best friend, Fury, even if you have such and such a secret, I think, you should be A person with a good heart, we should be the same people, all wanting to do good."

"But you've changed, Fury."

Merlin took out a few pieces of paper from the pocket of his windbreaker that had been cast with the No Trace Extending Curse, placed them on the table in front of Fury, and pushed them in front of Fury.

"The secrets you hide, they make you a little unknown to me."

Fury looked at Merlin's papers. There were many things written in beautiful fonts, but they were fragmented and unsystematic.However, the few key words exposed in it made Fury's brows twitch fiercely.

The first is a circle of arrows representing the flow of cash flow, in which Fury sees his and Hill's names, and the names of several banks used to hide the cash flow, and at the end of those arrows, pointing to two projects.

One is the "Avengers" project he's already told Merlin about.

The other was marked with a question mark, which seemed to mean that Merlin hadn't been able to find out what it was either.

Beneath that cash flow diagram, there is another simple hand-drawn map, a circle with "Quebec, Canada" written on it, and within that circle, another small circle with a small question mark inside, and a Callout for short secret base.

On the second page, it says "Sector Seven" of the Ministry of Defense.

Under that heading, three branches sprung out.

Where did NBE-1 go?

Where is the source of fire?

Who leaked my identity to the Department of Defense?

After the third branch, there is a dotted line, and at the end of the dotted line, is written a sentence that made Fury's heart shudder.

"In S.H.I.E.L.D., there's an insider!"

The third page is a fragment of a diary. The font on it is not Merlin's font, but the missing Ms. Peggy Carter's font that Fury is very familiar with.

That's a few words.

"Fury intends to recruit some special members to join S.H.I.E.L.D., similar to our 'paperclip' operation at the time. He seems confident, but I still have some concerns."

"Can Fury fully guarantee that S.H.I.E.L.D. under his leadership will not be infiltrated?"

"Fury's ambition is a good thing, but can he really ensure that S.H.I.E.L.D. will not go astray?"

"Maybe Fury, who was recruited into this system by me, hasn't noticed it yet. Even at the beginning, SHIELD is expanding too fast. In the midst of the chaos, he can really ensure the security of all information." Maybe? Maybe, I should find a time to remind Fury."

Fury looked at the three pieces of paper in front of him. After a few minutes, he raised his head and looked at Merlin with a look mixed with anger and disappointment. He said word by word:

"Merlin, you...doubt me?"

(End of this chapter)