"Aliens do exist!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, you all saw the war a few days ago or even experienced a near-death situation brought by that moment. Regardless of how you're thinking, but right now, I believe we should make amends on some of our false cognitions and judgments."
"Choosing to tie our own hands together and allow our enemies to laugh at us even as we see the threat. This is not something any normal human being would make..."
In Alexander Pierce's office, this tough elderly was talking eloquently while sitting on his office chair, on the screen before him were the representatives from the World Security Council.
This was a video conference.
Currently, all the nations are doing their best to deal with the mess brought by the previous Kree war. As most people now know about the existence and hostility of aliens, the government couldn't keep the truth a secret.
How to sustain the current order after the exposure of such an alarming secret was the biggest problem faced by the people in power.
"I'm busy, Pierce."
The female European representative of a certain country from before rubs her aching forehead and says to the preaching Pierce:
"I'm really exhausted these few days, so just say out whatever you want to say."
She was not the only one, as the other representatives were also exhausted.
"Alright."
Pierce who had not slept for a full day picks up the cup of coffee by his hand, takes a sip of the thick coffee, then says to the representatives:
"What I mean is, we cannot anticipate and prepare for the same thing with the intelligence organizations currently under the WSC. If not for Nick Fury noticing some things, we would not have been prepared at all when the crisis struck."
"What I need to remind everyone is that when we were panicking, it was Nick Fury who led the agents of the past SSR into space and eliminated the threat..."
A light flashes in Pierce's eyes as he says:
"I've decided to rebuild the SSR as it has proven its worth! I wish to be supported by everyone here to allow me to persuade the stubborn senators in my country, and truly transform the rebuilt SSR into an international defense and logistics organization."
Pierce's words made the conference silent, a few seconds later, he explains:
"I can understand your worries, what I mean is once the SSR is rebuilt, it will no longer be limited to North America, its command will be given to the WSC, which means that this organization will be directly managed by our council. Nominally it won't belong to any single country, and it will observe and deal with supernatural events across the globe."
"The range of their interference will not be extended to the political stage..."
"People, the Kree war, the mysterious creature, the light on the moon, including the mutant affairs and the secret research underwent by every nation related to supernatural events, those are the affairs that the rebuilt SSR will deal with...these are also dangerous tasks that no normal intelligence organization can handle."
Pierce pauses, he then says to the other representatives earnestly:
"The time of isolation has passed, we see the threat from space, in this era, only united will we achieve great things. We can't fight amongst ourselves anymore."
"I agree principally."
An elderly man in a suit nods and says maturely and prudently:
"But we must first discuss the infrastructure of this organization and the enforcement scope, most importantly, its clearance issue across the globe. We alone cannot decide on the intelligence sharing with and between the other intelligence organizations."
"I understand completely."
Pierce's tone becomes gentle as he says:
"This is not a decision we can make on such short notice, we have enough time to discuss these. What I need right now is your support, this will allow me to receive authorization from the Parliament effectively...in fact, I'm more inclined on using North America as a testing ground to check out this new organization's capabilities."
"I believe that once there is enough evidence to prove the usefulness of this rebuilt SSR, it shouldn't be too hard for you people to make your decisions."
"If that's the case...then I also agree."
The Slav representative fiddles with the pen in his hand and nods at Pierce.
"What about you? Miss Julia."
Pierce looks at the silent female representative of a certain European nation, the latter hesitates and nods:
"Alright, I agree principally."
"Excellent, all passing votes!"
An earnest smile flashes on Pierce's face, he stands up and says to the other 4 representatives:
"Then, I will begin preparations for this shortly afterward and propose this initiative during the next WSC meeting. They'll handle some of the more tricky issues, I trust that our agent Nick Fury and the agents under his wing will most certainly give us a satisfying answer sheet."
A black car stops outside a base deep in the deserts of Nevada, behind the car was a military vehicle.
Merlin with his sunglasses and an indifferent Fury opens the car door and walks towards the base entrance. Behind them, the special forces unit under SHIELD also jumps out of the military vehicle.
But unsurprisingly, Merlin and Fury were stopped by the armed soldiers guarding the entrance.
"Level 6 agent Nick Fury of SHIELD!"
Fury waves his identification in front of the soldier and says:
"Call out your superior! I have some things to talk to him with."
"Hey, agent, this is a base under the Ministry of Defense! We cannot allow you to go through without clearance!"
The captain wearing sunglasses and chewing bubblegum says to the two agents before him with a hint of disdain:
"Colonel Hale doesn't like people who hide in the shadows, neither do I, so you can leave. If you want entry, come back when we received clearance."
"No, it's not yours anymore."
Merlin takes out a document from his pocket and throws it at the captain in front of him, saying:
"This is the document from the Department of Defense, give it a look, captain; we'll be taking over this base now!"
His words made the captain's expression change, he lowers his head and carefully reads the document, there was a stamp from the Pentagon which verified the document's authenticity.
"Wait here!"
The captain says so tactlessly, turns around, and enters the base.
A few minutes later, a black jeep drives out of the base and stops in front of the checkpoint.
The car door opens, and a female colonel wearing a grey combat uniform and sunglasses steps out from it; she takes the document from the captain, scans it, then walks towards Fury with a gloomy expression.
"I'm Hale, rank Colonel."
She tells Fury:
"Supervisor of this base."
"What a coincidence, Miss Hale."
Fury shrugs:
"I was a colonel too before my retirement. But now's not the time to say this, officer Hale, please open the checkpoint and allow my men to enter. We will give you a week to evacuate, but you cannot take any confidential data above level 4 clearance with you."
Fury even 'reminds' them considerately:
"This was once base 0084 under the SSR, therefore we know better than you how many classified intel files and items there are here. To not cause unnecessary trouble, I hope the soldiers under your wing will keep their hands clean. Not to take anything that isn't theirs."
Colonel Hale's expression turns even gloomier.
She could easily hear a hint of warning from Fury's tone.
But the document from the DoD in her hands made her unable to respond to such strong demands.
Colonel Hale knew well that if possible, the generals from DoD would not so easily return the base and resources they 'took' from the SSR.
But now, the document in her hand proves that the DoD must've been pressured by the higher-ups, forcing those unyielding elderly generals to take a step back.
The SSR that was once suppressed by multiple organizations joined together seems to have regained the upper hand...it was like an awoken beast trying to take back what it'd lost.
The return of base 0084 was just the beginning, Colonel Hale could easily associate that in the following period, not only the DoD, but also the CIA and NSA will have to return what they took from the SSR one by one.
Under the bright sunlight of Nevada, Colonel Hale couldn't help but let out a sigh.
She knows that the bout between the higher-ups had ended and that the tide had turned.
"Open the checkpoint!"
The colonel was a decisive person, she waves her hand and grants them passage. As the DoD soldiers watched in anger or relief, the black-uniformed special forces soldiers gets back onto the military vehicle and enters the base.
"Hah, what's lost is found."
Fury leads Merlin as they walk into the underground warehouse of the base, in the warehouse were multiple file cabinet-like containment devices fixed to the wall. In them were several dangerous items the SSR had collected till now since WWII.
Fury takes a deep breath in the warehouse, he turns around and takes off his glasses; the black eyepatch on his left eye was so conspicuous it gave Fury a hint of fierceness on top of his original temperament.
He inserts his sunglasses into his pocket, takes out a new identification from his pocket, and hands it to Merlin:
"Here, your new ID. We have a new signet, a new name, a new future; I believe that you should also have a new identity."
Merlin takes the ID, opens it, and gives it a look.
The gray eagle signet on the ID had changed, on the ID was a black eagle formed with several shapes, the background was a ring with a white interior with black borders, on the ring was a brand new name.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."
Merlin reads out the long name, he looks up at Fury and says:
"This is even more complex than the name Keller gave us, it'll probably take me a while to introduce where I work to others."
"So you can use the short name."
Fury shrugs:
"S.H.I.E.L.D.! I call it SHIELD, how is it? Nice name right?"
"Mmm, it is much simpler."
Merlin nods, the simple name was much better than all the previous titles, and it had a special temperament.
He lowers his head and looks at his ID once more.
It was still that serious ID photo, the issue date was on the 18th of February, 1992; that was the day he followed Fury and Barton on a hunt for Black Widow, which was also the day of his formal induction.
Time flies, as 2 years have already passed.
But what confused Merlin was the 'level-5' title of his ID, he looks at Fury, who says:
"Don't look at me, Pierce was the one to fix it. The agent leveling Keller made was alright, so we kept the tradition. Pierce believes that you've contributed enough in this event, added with Garrett and Victoria's acknowledgment, I also need some truly trustworthy people."
"So, you're now a level-5 agent, same as Natasha and Barton."
"Although I think that these titles are useless."
Merlin keeps the ID and says to Fury:
"Level-5 agent does sound pretty nice, so thanks."
"Don't thank me yet."
Fury sits on a box, he puts his left hand in his pocket and lightly taps with his right, he says to Merlin:
"Keller has resigned, but there's a lot of mess he left behind, so I'll need a long time to bring SHIELD back on track. For the time being, aside from taking back what we lost, there are some very important things that I need you, Natasha, and Barton to handle."
"What mission?"
Merlin asks calmly:
"Say it."
"Before Keller resigned, he revealed to us several confidential intel regarding the other organizations."
Fury says in the deep tone:
"Pierce also used this victory to make an agreement with the other organizations. A lot of secret projects have been transferred to be managed by the WSC, and as a special force specialized in handling all sorts of supernatural events; SHIELD needs to assess these projects, and when necessary, regulate them."
"This is the authority given to us by the WSC, as well as our duty."
"And you, Merlin, will be the ace agent under me who'll deal with those supernatural events. So for the following period, you'll be very busy."
Fury says:
"There are several projects that need you to assess, I'll send some specialized people to go with you."
"Mmm, the first project, let me see..."
"Right, this one!"
Fury takes out a document with an NSA signet from his suitcase and gives it to Merlin, the latter takes it and sees a large logo on the front cover of the aged document.
It was like the claw marks of a wild beast.
.Merlin reads out the name of this project.
"Project Monarch."
-End of Arc 3-
