"A reward that will absolutely satisfy me?"
Hearing Natasha's promise, Eren's interest was mildly piqued.
He looked at her and asked casually, "What if I said I wanted the Tesseract? Would S.H.I.E.L.D. hand that over too?"
The Tesseract.
At the mention of that familiar name, Steve Rogers' expression instantly darkened.
In Steve's memories, the Tesseract was nothing short of a disaster.
Back in the war, HYDRA used the Tesseract to develop terrifying weapons of mass destruction, causing devastating losses to the Allied forces.
Logically, the Tesseract should have sunk into the ocean along with him. So how had it ended up in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands…?
Wait.
A thought struck him—he had been recovered by S.H.I.E.L.D.
So it wasn't unreasonable that the Tesseract had been recovered alongside him.
But still, that didn't make its presence in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s labs any less troubling.
"…Kid," Steve said seriously, "I don't know how you even know about the Tesseract, but trust me—it's not something you want to mess with. It's more dangerous than you can possibly imagine."
Smiling, Eren responded, "Captain, I know its dangers even better than you do. But it seems your S.H.I.E.L.D.—or more specifically, your Director Nick Fury—doesn't think so."
"Right now, as we speak, he's gathered a whole team of scientists at some base to study that very 'dangerous item' you're talking about."
"I can even tell you this—it's precisely because of that experiment that a disaster will befall humanity in the future."
"I want the Tesseract… because I want to prevent that disaster."
Eren turned his eyes to Natasha as he spoke.
He wasn't lying.
When Nick Fury conducted his research on the Tesseract, it unintentionally sent out signals—signals which, to certain cosmic empires, were basically an invitation to war.
It was like Earth had fired a flare gun straight into the stars, begging to be invaded.
Had Thor not shown up and eventually taken the Tesseract back after the Battle of New York, Earth would've been caught in endless interstellar warfare.
Not to mention, the wormhole created by the Tesseract was what allowed Loki to arrive—and that led to the Battle of New York.
Had the Avengers not destroyed the wormhole in time, and if the Chitauri army lying in wait had made it through…
Well, no one knew what kind of catastrophe humanity would've faced.
…
Steve Rogers slowly turned to Natasha, eyes locked on her.
Being stared at by both Eren and Steve, Natasha frowned and said, "Don't look at me like that. S.H.I.E.L.D. is compartmentalized to prevent information leaks. I've heard of the Tesseract, but I've never even seen it, let alone know what Fury's doing with it."
She paused—then added firmly, "That said, I know Nick Fury. He's cautious to a fault. He would never endanger humanity like that."
"If the Tesseract really is that dangerous, I'm sure Fury has contingencies."
Clearly, despite Eren's warning, Natasha remained skeptical.
She wasn't dismissive—but not entirely convinced either.
"Oh?" Eren said flatly. "Then maybe you don't know Nick Fury as well as you think. Or maybe… he's just not as competent as you think."
Eren didn't doubt Fury's ability to survive.
But his judgment, and loyalty to Earth? That was another story.
Seeing Natasha's rising urge to argue, Eren cut her off. "Hold on. If he really was competent, would HYDRA have been able to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. right under his nose? He's the Director, isn't he?"
Even with help from Alexander Pierce and others, it still would've taken HYDRA years to slowly penetrate S.H.I.E.L.D. to such a level.
Fury had been director for decades.
And he'd known nothing.
That wasn't just incompetence.
That was delusion. Blind ambition with no talent to back it up.
Eren had to admit—Pierce had a good eye for choosing successors.
If not for him promoting Fury, any slightly more capable director might've made it impossible for HYDRA to spread so easily.
…
Natasha wanted to defend Fury.
But in the end, she couldn't find the words.
Eren was right.
Fury was the director.
And yet HYDRA had flourished under him. That alone spoke volumes.
If he'd had a stronger grip on the organization, the assassination attempt on him wouldn't have even been possible.
Even Steve and Gwen, who'd never met Fury, couldn't help nodding slightly.
Their confidence in Fury had been shaken.
…
Seeing doubt flicker in both Natasha and Steve's eyes, Eren smiled.
"Well, I suppose we've gone off-topic. We're not here to evaluate your director's leadership skills."
Phew.
Natasha's tense expression eased slightly.
But then she shook her head. "Sorry. The Tesseract is classified. I don't have authority to access or transfer it. So I can't promise anything."
She paused—then gave a sly smile. "Don't worry though, I won't tell Director Fury what you just said about him."
Eren chuckled. "Tell him or don't, I don't care. But aside from the Tesseract, I can't think of anything else S.H.I.E.L.D. has that interests me."
"So go ahead—tell me what you want help with. Then I'll decide."
He casually picked up a shrimp dumpling and took a bite, letting the juicy flavor burst in his mouth.
Natasha sighed at his nonchalance. "Actually, the request isn't dangerous or difficult. Your divination skills are famous. We just want you to help locate some people and some stolen items."
Clearly, she had done her homework and knew about how Eren had found Helen.
As she spoke, she handed him a folder.
"Last night, a group of unknown terrorists broke into the home of World Security Council Minister Alexander Pierce. They murdered him, a Cardinal of the Church, two church staff, and the agents assigned to protect them. They also looted his basement."
"We'd like you to divine where those terrorists are… and where the stolen items are now."
Eren flipped through the pages, a strange glint in his eye.
Wow.
Those "terrorists" she was talking about?
Yeah. That was him.
Okay, fine—the Cardinal was killed by Pierce. Eren wasn't taking blame for that.
And as for the stolen items?
They were currently stored nice and neat… inside his Greed Ring.
Good thing he was keeping his head down, eyes focused on the folder. If Natasha had seen his face just now, she'd definitely have caught the flicker of amusement.
Then Steve added, "We suspect that after the attack on Fury's chopper, Minister Pierce may have uncovered something—and was killed for it."
"There's a good chance those items in his basement contained important HYDRA intel. That's why we need your help."
The amusement in Eren's eyes grew stronger.
They think HYDRA killed Pierce? This just gets better and better.
Though they were wrong about the killer, they were right about one thing:
Pierce's basement did, indeed, hold extremely sensitive information—including a full roster of HYDRA's embedded agents.
Still…
After the plan that had formed in Eren's head last night, he had no intention of handing that intel over.
Snap—he shut the folder and tossed it lightly onto the table.
"Reading stuff like this first thing in the morning really kills my appetite."
"I'm not interested in your war with HYDRA. Divination isn't as easy as you think. And if I help, I'll be stepping right into the crossfire."
"If a high-ranking Council member like Pierce can be murdered so easily, what do you think they'll do to a civilian like me?"
He glanced at Gwen—and squeezed her hand.
"Of course… if S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me the Tesseract, maybe I'd consider it."
At that moment, Gwen, who had been silently listening, suddenly reached out and gripped Eren's hand tightly.
Then she shook her head gently.
Gwen might not know much about HYDRA or S.H.I.E.L.D.
But she did understand what kind of person a World Security Council minister was.
If someone like that could be assassinated, then whatever Eren was about to get into… it wasn't safe.
She didn't want her boyfriend, whom she'd only just gotten close to, dying young.
…
Eren patted her hand gently.
"Don't worry. I know my limits."
Then he turned to Natasha and Steve. "As you can see, even my girlfriend doesn't want me involved in something so dangerous."
"So… if there's nothing else, please see yourselves out."
Natasha looked like she was about to protest.
But Steve held her back.
"He's right. This isn't as simple as we thought."
"If Eren really did locate the attackers—or those stolen items—HYDRA would come after him immediately."
"We can't let a kid risk his life for our mission."
With that, Steve led Natasha toward the door.
But just as they reached it, he turned back and said,
"Oh—and thanks for the food. Those dumplings were delicious."
(End of Chapter)
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