[Vol. 3] Chapter 15: S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Invitation

“What do I get out of joining S.H.I.E.L.D.? What level of classified information can I access? How much do I get paid a month? Are room and board included?” Finn asked.

He wasn’t interested in speeches about saving the world and keeping the peace. Working for S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a straightforward employment arrangement: he provided value, they paid him. Simple as that.

Hawkeye took out a tablet and mechanically read off the prepared terms.

“We’ve already discussed your case. As a foreign recruit with special status, you won’t have to start at Level One. You’ll come straight in as a Level Three agent, with an annual salary of sixty thousand dollars, a year-end bonus, weekends off, and a travel allowance.

“If an emergency requires you to work overtime, you’ll receive double pay. There’s also a fifty-dollar daily meal allowance, and the cafeteria at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters is free. As for housing, we’ll provide an upscale apartment, rent and utilities included.

“Trust us. A superhero can accomplish much more with a bigger organization behind them. We have resources and intelligence you’d never have access to working alone.”

Finn considered it. He needed to find recruits with limitless potential for the Spacetime Destruction Bureau, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was also on the lookout for people with superpowers. Having access to its resources would certainly make his search easier.

“All right. I’m in.”

“Excellent!” Hawkeye said, delighted. “We haven’t been able to find anything on your background, but you’re not a Hydra mole, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Never mind. Even if you are, what’s one more?” Hawkeye sighed.

He held out the tablet for Finn to sign the employment agreement. Just like that, Finn became a Level Three S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

“There’s actually a more important reason I came here.” Hawkeye put the tablet away, his expression turning serious. “Our investigation suggests that Kingpin is very likely building a large-scale spacetime collider!”

He pointed at Fisk Tower in the darkness.

“That machine is beneath Fisk Tower! Once activated, it could destabilize spacetime and cause multiple parallel universes to overlap. It would destroy New York!”

Daredevil looked thoughtful. “I saw Doctor Octopus with Kingpin a while back. Is that what he’s been working on?”

“Exactly. Kingpin hired Doctor Octopus to build it. He’s also hired Bullseye and the Green Goblin to handle security. And he’s struck a deal with the Hand. They’re supplying guards and transporting materials for him.”

The Hand was a supervillain organization, a notorious group of ninja assassins with its fingers in all sorts of criminal enterprises. Its leader was an elderly Chinese woman, Madame Gao. She was an elder from K’un-Lun who had been exiled for trying to extend her life with fossilized dragon bones.

In theory, the Hand had a Chinese background, but its methods and assassins were all straight out of the Japanese ninja playbook. It was a Frankenstein’s monster of Chinese and Japanese culture.

Considering that most people outside China couldn’t tell China and Japan apart, and Japanese culture had a bigger international presence, it wasn’t hard to see how that had happened.

One of the Hand’s defining features was its ability to produce a horde of black-clad ninjas anywhere, anytime, whenever the plot called for it.

Finn had always suspected they possessed some kind of ninja-summoning technique. At a single command, hundreds of ninja foot soldiers would materialize out of the void, ready for the protagonists to mow down while showing off.

“Why would Kingpin build a spacetime collider?” Daredevil asked, puzzled. “It has nothing to do with his business.”

“From what little intelligence we have, he seems to be looking for a woman he loves in a parallel universe. He’s gone to all this trouble to build a collider just to find her.”

“Vanessa Fisk. His wife.” Daredevil immediately grasped Kingpin’s motive. “Three years ago, she died in a mass poisoning at a dinner party. Kingpin went mad trying to find whoever was behind it, but he never did.”

He sighed. “Ever since Vanessa died, he’s only grown more coldhearted. His methods have become more unhinged and extreme, too.”

“I don’t care who Kingpin wants to find in a parallel universe. Building that collider is incredibly dangerous. We have to stop him before he gets innocent New Yorkers killed!” Hawkeye said firmly.

He turned to Finn. “Beacon, your first assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D. is to destroy Kingpin’s spacetime collider. Will you accept?”

“Of course.” Finn smiled. “That couldn’t be easier.”

Hawkeye extended the invitation to Daredevil as well.

“Daredevil, we’d like you on this operation, too. You’ll have S.H.I.E.L.D.’s full support!”

“If you have evidence that Kingpin is illegally building a spacetime collider, why not just arrest him?” Daredevil asked unhappily. “If law enforcement won’t do its job and leaves everything to vigilantes like us, taking down Kingpin won’t change anything. There’ll always be more kingpins waiting to take his place.”

“Well…” Hawkeye looked embarrassed. “The evidence of Kingpin’s illegal activities was obtained through… illegal means.”

“Illegal means?”

“Since we’re all on the same side, I’ll be frank. S.H.I.E.L.D. has a program called PRISM. It lets us monitor ordinary citizens’ phone calls, text messages, emails, video and voice communications, and social media.

“Even when we get evidence through these covert methods, we can’t make it public. So we need superheroes to take down a supervillain like him.”

Daredevil’s expression darkened. For a long time, he said nothing.

“Do you have floor plans for Fisk Tower? I’d like to know where his vault is,” Finn asked.

Hawkeye gave Finn a username and password for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s internal network, then sent him a set of files.

“His vault is protected by alloy steel plates five meters thick. You won’t get it open without the code.”

Daredevil suddenly raised a hand.

“Watch out,” he said gravely. “The Hand’s ninjas are closing in around us!”