"According to the intelligence we have, there are a total of 127 criminals to be captured, with no one missed! Among them, two individuals' identities are uncertain and need further verification."
Fury let out a deep sigh of relief. "I can't even imagine, these are just the leaders hidden within SHIELD."
"To be more precise, they have the ability to make contact with the outside," Arthur added.
At this moment, the office contained only him, Fury, Steve, Natasha, and Hawkeye.
Hawkeye had joined after the operation started, and now he was looking at Arthur with curiosity as if he had something to say but wasn't speaking up.
But clearly, now was not the time for casual conversation with Hawkeye.
Everyone gave their reports, and Fury summarized the information he had on hand.
After everything was organized, two quiet hours passed.
The office door opened, and a blonde woman entered.
"It's ready; we can begin the interrogation."
The woman spoke, but her gaze seemed to drift towards Arthur. After giving him a quick once-over, she looked away.
"We're leaving," Fury stood up, but Arthur waved his hand and said, "From here on, it's your business."
"With the results right in front of you, don't you want to taste the fruit of your labor?" Fury looked at Arthur.
Arthur smiled. "My fruit is you."
The others' expressions varied upon hearing this.
The blonde woman who had just entered glanced at Arthur, frowned, and muttered, "Just like the rumors say, a bit hard to like."
Arthur, with his sharp ears, caught this and looked at her curiously. He didn't speak but instead turned to Hawkeye. "Why do I get the feeling you have something to say to me?"
"Well… actually, I really want to know why you took my bow?" Hawkeye hesitated for a long time before finally asking.
That was a good question. Arthur was stunned for a moment, then turned to Fury and said, "I think you guys will be busy today, and I'm planning to go home and get a good rest. So, unless there's anything else, I'm off."
Fury nodded and left with his team.
Natasha stayed behind, glanced at Arthur, and said, "Her name is Sharon Carter."
Arthur thought for a moment and then realized, "Oh, she's Peggy Carter's niece."
"So, she has very complicated feelings about you."
Natasha shrugged. "I'm leaving now."
"Goodbye."
Once Natasha closed the door, a light from a portal appeared in front of Arthur.
This time, Arthur was bold. He directly drew the portal in Fury's office, right in front of him, and even planned to do the same in SHIELD's headquarters afterward.
Fury was a hundred percent against it and insisted that if Arthur really wanted to do that, he would prepare an office for him in SHIELD's headquarters.
Arthur firmly refused and stuck to his original plan.
Fury, helpless, gritted his teeth and said that if Arthur actually went through with it, he would move out!
"Who are you trying to scare?"
Arthur stepped onto the portal, and in the next moment, he was back in his long-missed room.
Looking at his bed, he felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
Since Harry had secured his base for him, he hadn't been back, constantly dealing with Hydra's issues.
Because dealing with Hydra now is happening earlier than in the movies, there's no reference for many things, and he constantly has to be extra cautious, deliberating and rethinking everything. As a result, since that day, his sleep has been far from ideal.
Especially recently, he hadn't slept for several days.
Now, seeing the bed, he almost wanted to just stay there forever, never getting up again.
But not yet! There were still some things to take care of…
There was still a group of people in the underground of Camp Lehigh that needed to be brought back.
So, he called Harry to make preparations, and the next second, he appeared directly at Camp Lehigh.
He brought Professor Mark, his students, and even little Spider-Man to Harry's meeting room.
Arthur held a meeting with everyone, mainly asking for Professor Mark's opinion on whether he wanted to join his team.
Arthur realized that, as of now, his team was probably the strongest on Earth when it came to combat power.
Such combat strength couldn't be underestimated, even in the universe.
However, the logistics side of things was severely lacking.
Tony was great, but he didn't have a clone. They couldn't just rely on his abilities to have him fighting on the front lines and doing research on the back end… Even if he were Colossus, he couldn't keep up with this much work.
So Arthur thought he needed to properly set up a logistics team.
One that would be responsible for various research tasks!
Professor Mark had been effective in this role, and if he was willing, Arthur could bring him directly into the team.
It turned out there were no doubts about this. Professor Mark's loyalty to the OsCorp Industry was unquestionable, and with Harry's nod, the professor immediately agreed.
Harry was also 100% supportive of Arthur's idea, even willing to fund a new research base for it.
However, Arthur wasn't keen on letting Harry pay for it himself.
He thought that to set up such a logistics institution, it would need to be a joint effort between him, Harry, and Tony.
If OsCorp Industry and Stark Industries could reach some sort of cooperation, it might open up new possibilities for their future.
For now, that was all for this matter. Arthur decided to talk to Tony about it in a few days.
At this time, Fury also sent an encrypted email. When Arthur opened it, it contained the interrogation results of Alexander and that agent, Jasper Sitwell.
Arthur's earlier concerns about Zola's algorithm and Project Insight had all been fully clarified.
Fury's tone in the email was somewhat relieved.
This made Arthur speculate that Fury might have been scared, though he wasn't sure whether it was a hard-boiled egg being turned into a soft-boiled one.
Regardless, it seemed that this matter had at least temporarily reached a satisfactory conclusion.
At least, it was so for SHIELD.
Back at home, Arthur took out the small device Tony had given him. Thinking that it might contain Zola's brain, he couldn't help but smile wryly.
"Could Zola's brain have slipped into this device with all the data from his computer?"
Arthur had a sudden thought but quickly dismissed it, realizing it might be too fanciful. However, just to be safe, he resisted the urge to sleep well and instead stepped onto the portal, appearing in Tony's office at Stark Industries.
(End of Chapter)
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