Natasha's expression was natural, but internally, she was cursing Hawk. He really is treating me like a subordinate, isn't he?
If I wasn't still looking forward to the next Smith squat...
Still, Hawk's movements were faster than she'd anticipated. Clearly, he was also targeting the Foot Clan, or perhaps the deeper powers behind them.
Fury turned, his single eye sweeping over the core commanding officers and senior agents behind him, including Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Agent Coulson, and a few others qualified for the task.
"This investigation," his voice was low, "requires absolute secrecy and maximum efficiency. The selection..."
He paused, his gaze sharply assessing everyone present. Hill was an excellent executor, but her workload was already saturated; the other senior agents were either busy with existing missions or lingered on Fury's "suspicious list."
Fury's sight finally settled on Natasha. She was exceptionally capable, possessed a complex background, yet was completely under his control. Although her performance in the Hawk incident had been less than satisfactory, she currently seemed like the cleanest and most immediately available candidate.
Natasha felt Fury's gaze and her mind raced.
The objective was to delay the investigation, and it had to be under her leadership to control the tempo. Preventing a full-scale scan by a network the size of 'Looking Glass' was almost impossible, but manipulating the 'personnel' and 'pace' of the investigation... there was still room to maneuver.
She didn't speak immediately but subtly took a half-step forward, her eyes fixed on the core Foot Clan member data scrolling across the main screen. A plan instantly formed.
A few seconds later, she let out a very light, slightly uncertain intake of breath. The sound was conspicuously sharp in the quiet analysis room.
Fury's gaze snapped over. "Romanoff?"
Natasha appeared to hesitate, her brow slightly furrowed as she pointed to a name rapidly scrolling across the screen: "Director, this person... 'Razor' Carlos Montoya. The Foot Clan's Chicago branch tech broker."
Fury looked at the file of the unremarkable South American man. "What about him? Records indicate he's just a middleman."
"His file is very 'clean,' befitting a low-level tech peddler." Natasha's tone was professionally cautious. "But last year, when I was handling the 'Nightingale' smuggling network in Budapest, I intercepted an encrypted communication of his. The sender used a Ghost Protocol with seven layers of jumps, and the recipient ID was completely wiped. But the encryption shell used at one of the anomalous jump points... the underlying code features have an extremely high similarity to an experimental encryption module, unused, that I found in a backup server log of Lane Technology three years ago while chasing 'Viper' in Brazil."
As Natasha spoke, she brought up the relevant mission record and displayed it for Fury.
"Lane?!" Fury's brow furrowed. That name alone was enough to detonate his sensitive nerves, especially when involving high-end alien technology and potential leaks!
"Similarity doesn't equal direct correlation, Director," Natasha immediately added, appearing calm and objective. "It could just be something Lane Technology borrowed and modified from an open-source project years ago, or it could be a simple coincidence. But the problem is—" she shifted the focus back to Montoya's name on the screen—"this encryption shell appeared on a Ghost comm jump point of a low-level broker seemingly unrelated to the Foot Clan's core, right around the time I intercepted the communication. And Hawk Lane, or The Traveler, is known to have a vast intelligence network and top resources through the Lane family. If..."
She didn't finish, but the implication was clear: If Hawk or his forces had already, through some extremely covert channel, prematurely infiltrated or contacted even the outermost members of the Foot Clan, then S.H.I.E.L.D. using a large-scale, high-intensity network scan like 'Looking Glass' would be tantamount to banging a drum under the nose of any surveillance network Hawk might have, effectively announcing, "Look! S.H.I.E.L.D. found the Foot Clan's alien treasure and is going all out to trace the source!"
Fury's expression became exceedingly dark. He could almost see Hawk's slightly roguish yet incredibly astute face, hiding in the shadows of a data stream, mocking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s actions, or even using the investigation's results to seize the initiative—or... set a trap.
That 'damned Lane kid' would absolutely do it!
Natasha's words perfectly tied his deepest fears to the most sensitive ongoing operation.
"Your concern... is valuable, Romanoff." Fury's voice sounded like it was dredged from an ice cellar. "Any shadow related to Hawk is enough to raise the risk assessment of this investigation."
He paused for a few seconds, his mind rapidly weighing options.
Having Hill use 'Looking Glass' for a full scan would be the most efficient, but the disruption would be too great, and the risk uncontrollable. Anyone else? Who could guarantee they weren't somehow connected to Hawk or the Lane family? Who could guarantee they wouldn't compromise the mission under the immense temptation of alien technology?
Fury's single eye finally locked onto Natasha, a look of scrutiny mixed with a forced reliance:
"Plan change. The 'Looking Glass' network will temporarily only be used to support peripheral intelligence gathering and physical lead tracking. Cease direct deep scanning of the Foot Clan's core network nodes."
Fury made his decision.
"Natasha Romanoff, you are tasked with executing an independent infiltration investigation. The objective remains the same: trace the source of the Foot Clan's alien technology. But the method of operation is now 'Lone Star' mode. You may requisition necessary resources, but secrecy and counter-surveillance are the primary principles for all actions."
The so-called Lone Star mode meant: Single-line (reporting only to Fury); Offline (maximum physical contact, minimum electronic footprint); and Low-speed (prioritizing the acquisition of absolutely reliable, undetected intelligence).
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