Chapter 28: Reporting Fury for Corruption

Taking out the smartphone prototype Tony had gifted him, Luke gave its features a spin. The OS felt virtually identical to the smartphones from his previous life, though the selection of apps was still painfully sparse. He'd have to wait for major software companies to partner with Stark Industries to develop mobile-compatible applications.

Booting up his computer, Luke posted the exclusive photos he'd snapped at Tony's Malibu mansion onto his blog. Predictably, the post triggered a massive surge of traffic—after all, the general public was insatiably curious about the lavish, behind-the-scenes lifestyle of a billionaire superhero.

Even though Luke hadn't posted any interior shots of the house—opting instead for a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean captured from Tony's floor-to-ceiling windows—the post still garnered millions of views.

Luke scanned through the comment section for a minute, then assigned a Shadow Ninja to act as a human moderator, ordering it to ruthlessly delete any hate comments or trolling.

Recalling Tony's worsening condition, Luke pondered his options. He decided it was time to drop by S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. However, given his rocky history with the agency, he figured he should give them a heads-up first. He pulled out his phone and dialed Coulson.

"Coulson, where are you?"

"At my desk in the Triskelion, handling paperwork. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just calling to make sure you aren't slacking off on the job."

"..."

"Alright, fine. I want to visit S.H.I.E.L.D. and have a quick chat with Fury."

"Understood. I'll clear it with the Director and text you shortly."

After hanging up, Luke stepped outside to wait. A few minutes later, a confirmation text from Coulson chimed on his phone.

Glancing at the message, Luke raised a hand and drew a Sling Ring portal directly to the secluded alleyway near the Triskelion—the exact spot he had landed during his previous visit.

He walked down the street toward the massive glass building, but to his surprise, there was no black SUV waiting to pick him up this time.

"Cheap bastards," Luke muttered, shaking his head. He promptly sank into the shadows and shadow-stepped straight to the main courtyard of the Triskelion.

Manifesting back into human form, Luke took just two steps toward the lobby before Coulson materialized right in front of him.

"Decided to finally grace us with your presence?" Coulson greeted him with a dry smile. "Director Fury was actually debating whether to lay you off for absenteeism."

"Didn't you guys tell me I wouldn't have routine assignments?" Luke shot back. "Besides, didn't I just help you guys pull Tony out of the desert?"

Coulson chuckled, escorting Luke into a high-speed glass elevator.

As the lift ascended, Luke looked out over the sprawling atrium, watching hundreds of agents and clerks bustling about. "S.H.I.E.L.D. really has a ton of personnel, huh?"

Coulson followed his gaze, pride evident in his eyes. "Well, we handle extraordinary crises across the entire globe. Naturally, it takes a massive workforce to keep the wheels turning."

It was clear Coulson genuinely loved his job. In his eyes, S.H.I.E.L.D. was the ultimate shield protecting world peace.

Luke kept his mouth shut, but internally, he felt a wave of pity. Poor Coulson had no idea S.H.I.E.L.D. had long been hollowed out from within by Hydra. Over half of the astronomically inflated budget Nick Fury managed to scam out of the World Security Council was actively being funneled straight into Hydra's black projects.

Alexander Pierce, the top Hydra head sitting on the Council, probably viewed Fury as the ultimate middle-management worker bee—a guy who single-handedly funded half of Hydra's global infrastructure without even realizing it.

'Though, did a master spy like Fury really never notice his secret slush funds hemorrhaging money?' Luke harbor serious doubts about that.

Lost in thought, the elevator chimed, arriving at the executive suite.

"Straight down the hall," Coulson gestured toward the double doors at the end of the corridor.

Luke nodded and walked over.

At that very moment, across the building, Alexander Pierce received an encrypted ping on his terminal from his right-hand man, Agent Sitwell, reporting Luke's arrival.

Recalling the terrifying combat data Luke had demonstrated during his initial encounter with S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce stroked his chin thoughtfully. He decided to send a few undercover operatives to gauge Luke's true stance on Fury. Pierce was never one to turn down raw power, and Luke's capabilities far exceeded S.H.I.E.L.D.'s initial threat assessment. It was well worth taking a calculated risk to try and recruit the kid into Hydra's ranks.

Organizing his briefing folder, Pierce prepared to head into another tedious meeting with the World Security Council. He intended to bicker with the council members to squeeze another few hundred million dollars out of their budget, which he would then pass to Fury to build more infrastructure for Hydra.

Unaware that Hydra was already plotting to recruit him, Luke pushed open the doors to Fury's office.

"What brings you here today?" Fury didn't look up from his desk, his single eye scanning a stack of classified reports.

"I came to see if S.H.I.E.L.D. has any bright ideas on how to help Tony," Luke said, leaning against the edge of the desk. "His condition is getting worse by the day. He's practically getting his affairs in order."

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"Why ask me? Don't you have a solution?" Fury countered, raising his head. "Surely the cosmos has plenty of exotic elements. Is there really nothing out there that can replace his Arc Reactor core?"

Luke rolled his eyes. Exotic cosmic elements? He knew jack shit about alien chemistry! But since he had locked himself into the 'traumatized alien abductee' persona, he had to play it through to the end; otherwise, Fury would be knocking on his door every single day asking for a background check.

"My ship was completely pulverized during re-entry," Luke lied with a straight face. "To scrape together enough cash to survive in New York, I scrapped the wreckage and sold it to a junkyard. I have no way of flying back into deep space to scoop up rare periodic elements."

Fury glanced at a newly arrived report confirming that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had pinpointed Bruce Banner's location at a soft drink bottling plant in Brazil. He nodded slightly—the kid's intelligence had been dead accurate.

Filing the report away, Fury folded his hands on the desk. "Why do you assume S.H.I.E.L.D. has the means to save Stark?"

"I certainly don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. has any scientific geniuses capable of inventing a cure," Luke scoffed. "But you definitely have the resources to keep him alive long enough to figure it out himself."

Setting aside the extended S.H.I.E.L.D. television universe, the movie version of S.H.I.E.L.D. was surprisingly lacking in top-tier R&D intellect. Sure, the Helicarrier looked impressive, but it was essentially a Frankenstein monster cobbled together from existing advanced military tech across the globe.

Luke didn't hold an ounce of faith in S.H.I.E.L.D. synthesizing a new element on their own. Even though Howard Stark had left incredibly blatant clues in the Stark Expo diorama, S.H.I.E.L.D. had possessed the model for decades and still hadn't figured it out. Ultimately, Fury would have to hand the diorama back to Tony so the genius could synthesize the element himself.

"That's a rather harsh assessment," Fury remarked dryly. "However, I've already ordered our medical division to synthesize a palladium lithium dioxide palliative. It should temporarily neutralize the toxicity in his bloodstream, though it's merely a temporary fix."

Fury's tone was entirely detached, as if he truly had no ultimate solution.

Luke shook his head. The old spy was playing his cards close to his chest. Fury wouldn't drop the real prize—Howard's research—until Tony was at absolute rock bottom. But when push came to shove, Fury would definitely save him; after all, his Avengers Initiative desperately needed a flagship hero, and Tony's potential was unmatched.

"Can you give me a few doses of that palliative then? I'll bring them to Tony."

"The medical team hasn't finalized the compound yet. Give it a few days."

Luke sighed, feeling his confidence in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efficiency drop even lower. "Text me when it's ready."

Turning on his heel, Luke walked out of the office. He couldn't tell if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s incompetence was due to the Hydra moles actively sabotaging operations or if the agency was just naturally bureaucratic. It baffled him how the World Security Council willingly threw billions of dollars at them every year.

Leaving the Triskelion, Luke felt a wave of irritation. He could easily steal the Stark Expo diorama from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vault and drop it in Tony's living room, but prematurely disrupting the timeline would create a chaotic butterfly effect he'd have to clean up later.

"So annoying," Luke grumbled. Transmigrating into another world was supposed to be about living freely, yet here he was, tiptoeing around timeline continuity like a nervous janitor.

Suddenly, his phone rang. The screen displayed an unknown, unlisted number.

Trained by years of anti-scam awareness campaigns in his previous life, Luke's instincts immediately screamed 'telemarketer.'

"I don't want a loan, I'm not buying a car, and I don't need real estate. Stop calling me," Luke snapped into the receiver before hanging up.

Buy real estate in New York? Was he insane? The Chitauri invasion was right around the corner! Even if the alien invasion didn't level his building, New York was a magnet for supervillain attacks every Tuesday and Thursday. Who could tolerate living here long-term?

Before he could put his phone away, it rang again. Same unlisted number.

Frowning, Luke realized it might actually be something important, so he picked up.

"Hello, Mr. Luke. We are not a sales agency or a scam operation," a polished, female voice spoke rapidly before he could vent again. "We are an oversight committee under the World Security Council tasked with auditing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operational expenditures. We have recently detected several financial irregularities within S.H.I.E.L.D. and would like to consult with you regarding their internal affairs. If you doubt our credentials, you may verify our department through official S.H.I.E.L.D. channels."

The woman's tone was sweet, yet laced with an undeniable authority. As a committee capable of auditing an agency as massive as S.H.I.E.L.D., their political clout was immense.

'How did these guys target me? Why are they asking me about financial audits?'

Anyone else might have started spilling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets, but Luke immediately sensed an anomaly. He had literally just stepped out of Fury's office, and this committee called his private number seconds later. This wasn't oversight—this was real-time internal surveillance.

'Hydra?'

Luke hung up, dialed Coulson, and casually asked about the oversight committee. Coulson confirmed that the committee indeed existed and that all S.H.I.E.L.D. budget requests had to be vetted by them before reaching the World Security Council.

'Fascinating. A committee that directly controls budget approvals?'

Recalling the countless secret bases S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed globally—a military footprint far exceeding what the World Security Council would ever officially authorize—Luke felt ninety percent certain this oversight department was a Hydra front.

Alexander Pierce was the primary liaison between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Council. It made total sense for Hydra to run the auditing committee, whitewash Fury's bloated budget requests, and rubber-stamp them so Hydra could siphon billions into their own black-budget operations.

Grinning wickedly, Luke dialed the number back.

"Actually, I do have a major financial irregularity to report," Luke stated, his tone dripping with absolute conviction. "Director Nick Fury is spearheading a massive embezzlement scheme! He requests hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter, yet S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal operational budget is constantly running dry. Fury is definitely pocketing the money!"

The Hydra operative on the other end of the line froze, completely stunned into silence.

'Bullshit! Those funds are being funneled straight into OUR Hydra research facilities! Nick Fury is completely innocent!'

Of course, she couldn't actually say that out loud. Clearing her throat, the operative quickly recalled her primary mission—gauging Luke's relationship with Fury.

"I see... And what specifically leads you to suspect Director Fury of embezzlement? How do you feel about him personally?"

"My impression of him is utterly terrible!" Luke launched into a passionate, dramatic rant. "Ever since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. as a consultant, I've worked tirelessly! Yet my salary hasn't increased by a single cent! I can barely afford groceries in New York! When I found out how much funding Fury requests every quarter, my heart shattered! I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was a noble, underfunded non-profit saving the world, but it turns out we have billions in the bank! Yet us lower-tier employees are living in poverty! He's definitely embezzling our paychecks! I want my back pay! Tell that bald bastard to refund my money!"

Luke was practically screaming into the phone, fully committing to the bit. Before he could launch into a string of colorful profanities, the operative hurriedly cut him off.

"Understood, Mr. Luke. We will launch an immediate, thorough investigation into Director Fury's personal accounts and update you shortly."

The line went dead.

Luke chuckled, putting his phone away. He'd have to check later to see if his official S.H.I.E.L.D. paycheck mysteriously got a raise.

Meanwhile, across the city, the Hydra operative saved the call recording and immediately forwarded it to her handler.

As for launching an actual investigation into Fury's embezzlement? Everyone in Hydra knew Fury was squeaky clean on that front. But to keep their newly recruited super-powered consultant happy, they'd probably just quietly double Luke's official S.H.I.E.L.D. salary out of Hydra's black budget.