Natasha, Rogers, and Corin walked together.
"You're quite famous around here. I thought Coulson would pass out the moment he saw you."
Agent Natasha had no liking for Corin. What filled her ears instead were all the heroic legends of Steve Rogers, Captain America.
By comparison, she naturally chose to strike up a conversation with Captain America, "Did he ask you to sign one of his collectibles?"
"Collectibles?", Captain Rogers clearly did not react to what Natasha meant by "collectibles."
Corin stood about two steps away from Natasha, watching this petty-minded agent continuously chat idly with Captain America.
She had no intention of acknowledging him at all.
He shrugged indifferently and thought to himself, 'This Black Widow is probably the most "magical" member of the Avengers. Sexiness as a weapon.'
That's right, zero actual combat power to speak of.
In Corin's view, Natasha was just a decorative vase forcibly stuffed into the Avengers lineup.
And judging by body figure alone, Natasha was about on par with Alyssa.
In terms of looks, Alyssa was no less impressive either, which made Corin completely immune to Natasha's so-called sexy aura.
Watching Natasha fawn a little as she talked to the national idol Captain America, Corin had zero interest.
At this moment, they ran into Banner, who was helping secure things near a fighter jet.
Colonel Rogers had heard Coulson say that Dr. Banner was a genius on par with Hawking, so he regarded him with respect and proactively stepped forward to shake his hand, "Dr. Banner!"
Banner was dressed in a plain yellow-brown suit, a dark shirt, with messy hair, looking exactly like a down-and-out scholar.
No one could possibly imagine that inside this man's body lurked an explosively powerful green monster.
Seeing Captain America Rogers greet him so proactively, Banner's tone carried a sense of honor, "I heard from them that you were coming."
"I heard you can find the Tesseract?"
Banner thought his strange experiences would pique the captain's curiosity, but clearly Rogers cared more about the Tesseract.
"You only heard about that?", With a trace of a U.S. soldier's arrogance, Rogers steered the topic straight to the mission.
"I only care about that."
This made Banner feel somewhat awkward. Their first exchange clearly did not leave him feeling pleasant.
And the Eastern man beside them was someone he did not recognize. Natasha also showed no intention of introducing him at all.
"Flight crew, take positions! Check the deck."
At this moment, warning announcements sounded over the carrier's broadcast system, and all the staff on the deck immediately became busy.
They secured each fighter jet to the deck and began clearing the area.
"Gentlemen, we need to hurry. In a moment, it won't be possible to breathe here."
Natasha reminded the three very different men in front of her, with a hint of pride.
But she received no response.
"Is this a submarine?"
Feeling the vibration beneath his feet, combined with Natasha's claim that it would soon be impossible to breathe, Banner thought the carrier beneath them was about to transform and dive underwater.
"Looks like they want to lock me into a metal can and sink me into the sea."
Banner did not fully believe SHIELD's claim that they brought him in just to research the Tesseract. He had a concern.
That was that the authorities had never given up on studying the Hulk inside him.
As a massive vortex formed on the sea surface below, four enormous turbines rose from beneath the carrier.
Behind them, Natasha's eyes lit up with excitement.
She had long heard Director Fury say that the agency had been secretly developing an aerial fortress for many years.
Today it was finally going to take off, and she, as a core SHIELD agent, was standing right on the deck of the carrier.
This filled her with soaring ambition.
With such a powerful combat fortress, she was confident they could defeat any enemy.
———
Inside the command room, Nick Fury wore a confident smile. As the director of SHIELD, he shared the same feelings as Agent Natasha.
In fact, Fury was even prouder, because the carrier project had been personally pushed forward by him.
Years of work, hundreds of billions invested, and it was finally setting sail.
Like thunder roaring in their ears, under the thrust of the four massive turbine engines, the carrier slowly lifted into the air.
Suddenly, the hull experienced an irregular tremor, and the upward momentum abruptly stalled.
Everyone on the deck was thrown off balance by the sudden change.
Dr. Banner failed to steady himself and fell flat onto the deck, staring blankly at the sea ahead, "This seems worse than I imagined."
"Someone tell me what's going on here?"
Nick Fury, standing tall at the command position, instantly lost the confidence on his face, gripping the railing tightly.
His suppressed anger echoed above the heads of the operators responsible for controlling the carrier.
Agent Hill stepped up beside Fury and explained in a low voice, "Director, the carrier hasn't taken off many times. The agent responsible for Engine Three was hospitalized due to illness. That team is missing its core member, and they lack sufficient flight experience."
At this moment, the control team for Engine Three was like ants on a hot pan, "RPM eight thousand!"
"Angle offset, unit five…"
"Synchronize! Synchronize!"
This carrier was the director's prized possession. If something went wrong on its very first real operational takeoff, they would undoubtedly face severe punishment.
Right now, the carrier's clumsy ascent looked like a child who had just learned how to walk.
The tilted angle caused all the aircraft on the deck to slide toward the same direction at once, until they were tightly held in place by the safety tethers.
Natasha led Rogers, Banner, and Corin quickly into the control room.
"Circulatory power check complete, stabilizing position."
"Maintain global power at five percent, increase after stabilization."
"Fix it right now!"
The tight coordination of the staff and Director Fury's angry roars echoed through the control room.
Rogers, holding onto a railing as he came to Fury's side, joked, "So this is the different world you were talking about?"
At this moment, Fury's face was getting darker.
A flaw on the very first real operational takeoff. He wasn't worried about a major accident, but he could forget about the majestic, domineering image of a massive warship rising smoothly into the sky.
He had even proactively proposed a bet with Rogers, wanting to let the captain see a different world.
And now this happened.
"Director! The balance coefficient has dropped below the minimum value. We recommend aborting and taking off again."
At this moment, Agent Hill summarized the control data, reached a conclusion, and reported quietly to Nick Fury.
"What?"
Nick Fury's one remaining eye widened. They were already airborne, were they supposed to sit back down and redo it?
If this were during the testing phase, you could land as many times as you liked.
But this was a real operation. Even though there were no enemies around now, what if there were?
Every minute of delay in takeoff meant one more minute of danger, possibly even total annihilation.
"I refuse to land! Treat this as an emergency. I want to see whether you so-called SHIELD elites can handle this problem!"
There was no need for Agent Hill to relay it. Everyone present clearly heard Director Fury's furious voice.
The entire control room instantly fell into dead silence, leaving only the clacking sounds of control equipment and keyboards inputting commands.
A few minutes later, the carrier rotated half a turn in the air, but still failed to return to a level state.
The veins at Nick Fury's temples throbbed visibly, showing just how furious he was.
Agent Hill once again compiled the control data and reached a conclusion, her face full of difficulty as she moved toward Fury.
Clearly, it wasn't good news.
Agent Hill's eyes darted around as she thought about how to explain this to the director.
Suddenly, she saw the late arrival of Destiny.
For some reason, her sixth sense told her that Mr. Silver Duke might be able to solve this problem.
She immediately cast a pleading look toward Corin.
Corin had originally just wanted to watch the show and eat some popcorn, but when he saw the pleading look Agent Hill sent over, watery-eyed, like a pitiful little puppy, thinking about all the coffee she had made for him on ordinary days, even though he never really got used to drinking it,
He scratched his chin and decided to help her this once, "Director Fury."
Nick Fury heard someone call him and, gripping the railing, turned around with effort.
He saw Corin raise one hand. A powerful magnetic field poured out from his body, instantly enveloping the entire warship.
Under everyone's shocked gazes, the carrier slowly returned to a level state.
"Don't bother…"
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