Fury actually discovered the enemy was the National Guard as soon as he engaged in battle, but he is both dark-skinned and black-hearted. He knew the only solution was to kill all these people, as there was definitely no time to heal them one by one.
Not knowing the principle behind how the enemy controlled humans, the simplest cure was to use bullets, one at a time.
Sadly, he thought it was going well, keeping it from his subordinates and letting them fight as usual, but he forgot he had Captain America with him!
Steve was the second to discover the enemy was actually their own people. In the middle of his killing spree, he had just used his shield to slice a man's neck when a set of dog tags inadvertently fell in front of him. Picking them up, he instantly felt as if drenched in cold water on a winter night.
Immediately, he shouted for a ceasefire, ordered the SSR team to retreat, and using all non-lethal means to stall the opponent. Meanwhile, he swore to find the mastermind behind it and the antidote to save everyone.
This made Fury miserable, for the Super Soldier could play like this, but his fine lads couldn't!
Although Steve was retired, as soon as he donned that uniform and held up the shield on the battlefield, he automatically gained command authority because it was 'the Captain's order'.
After the last Inhuman Director incident, Fury's vigilance went up another notch. Secretly, he formed an unknown division to tackle the current situation.
While screening new recruits to avoid infiltration by other forces, he specifically selected newly enlisted, ideologically pure idealists, preferably those who admired Captain America as passionate youths.
He thought this was reliable, ensuring no infiltration by Hydra.
However, now the side-effect was appearing.
The new squad immediately followed their idol's orders, initiating a delay battle without authorization, causing the battlefield situation to collapse, and they were beaten fiercely by the opponent. Moreover, Steve also left unannounced, running into the night like a headless fly to find the enemy's leader.
Now, beside Fury, only Dum Dum Bullet Dugan and a few old pals from the Roaring Assault Team still carried out his orders, feeling weak and very frustrated.
So when he saw Deathstroke, his first reaction was a headache, but then he immediately looked up, his eyes turned, as though he'd thought of something.
Deathstroke had come from above; did he know the situation here?
Then tricking Deathstroke into first killing the 'German Ghosts' to resolve the crisis, and afterwards dumping the blame of killing their own people onto this mercenary, and the military secretly providing economic compensation, wouldn't that work?
This both preserved Captain America's good reputation and removed the immediate threat, the mercenary benefited and wouldn't care, and Fury would appear like a competent commander, good for his future career.
What a windfall.
"Deathstroke! Over here!"
Doing it swiftly was the hallmark of a great special agent who adapts to circumstances, and Nick Fury trusted his plan had no issues. He immediately extended a hand from cover and waved amidst the hail of bullets, loudly shouting Deathstroke's code name.
Su Ming curled his lips. In the middle of the night, who could see this black-clad black man waving his hand? This dude really had faith in Deathstroke's eyesight.
If not for Strangulation being sensitive to sound, Su Ming might truly not have been able to find the camouflaged Fury. This stealth ability was a godsend, naturally fit for being a special agent.
But since Fury was so eagerly inviting him, exposing his position on the battlefield just to call him over, he might as well take a look.
However, flying over and landing in cover, before the floating white teeth could start speaking, Su Ming sensed from the atmosphere that this guy didn't have good intentions. After hearing him spout nonsense, he realized he was using the same rhetoric Su Ming had used to fool Xiaowan.
Su Ming shot Fury a disgruntled glance; this guy was quite bold:
"Wait and see, I have a special team battle expert coming to handle it, and prepare the appearance fee for me. I'll pick it up later at SSR; I don't want money; prepare me a prototype electronic computer developed by Dr. Zola."
"He hasn't completed it." Fury frowned, how did Deathstroke know about SSR's internal affairs and even the crucial research progress?
"That's why I said 'later,' meaning whenever he finishes his research, I'll come to pick it up." Su Ming tossed Fury a cigarette, for lighting up was a better way to indicate one's position when calling people at night: "Where did Captain America go? I didn't see him."
"North."
Fury was still contemplating internal espionage. Was this information something Deathstroke, as a solitary mercenary, acquired from elsewhere? But meeting him like this, SSR definitely had a spy.
"See you later, don't die."
Deathstroke looked into the northern sky briefly, then kicked off with his legs, flying away.
When Nick Fury refocused on the battlefield situation, he also saw the so-called 'team battle expert', a young man riding a flying manhole cover, effortlessly gliding through dense gunfire towards him.
"WTF?!"
Fury immediately ordered a ceasefire on his side; those Deathstroke knew were indeed monstrosities; where did this floating person crawl out from on Earth?
The SSR team was hiding behind cover, so the enemy immediately shifted their target to the exposed Magnetic King. Bullets and shells trailing hot fumes shot towards the sky.
Magnetic King sneered, seeing these enemies seemingly devoid of thinking ability. The icy anger in his heart resurfaced, as if he returned to that hell on earth.
That's how Hydra's army was, crazy fools who only obeyed orders and never thought.
But it was different now; he was no longer a novice whose superpower had just awakened, he was Magnetic King!
Without any major action, he simply raised his finger, and the dense bullets halted before him, as if caught by an invisible web, fixed in the air.
They gradually formed a wall entirely composed of bullet heads, spanning the battlefield.
With the continuous gunfire, this wall grew thicker, the copper-colored bullets glinting eerily under the moonlight.
"Die!"
Magnetic King growled lowly, fingers splayed forward, and the bullets and shells suspended in midair immediately flew back at a greater speed than before, as if they had eyes, precisely hitting their former owners.
The vast battlefield suddenly quieted; the thousand-strong army were no match for Magnetic King; they all lay dead.
He slowly folded his hands behind his back, raised his chin, and looked down from the corner of his eyes to admire his work.
This was the power of mutants.
He glanced at the other group of people still alive below, saw the star-spangled banner on their armbands, knew they were allies, and after nodding indifferently, prepared to leave.
"Wait, how should I address you?!" Fury yelled from below.
Magnetic King looked down, but couldn't tell where the voice came from, was it an invisible person?
Maybe his compatriots; maybe working for Americans, how sad.
"Don't ask, I am different from you; I am an Avenger."
Indeed, maybe some compatriots live decent lives, but he differed from them. Magnetic King would seek justice for mutants treated unfairly, it was his mission to live, he could only be an Avenger.
With just this statement, Magnetic King swiftly left, riding the manhole cover. There were other places in the city with German ghosts, and his task was not yet done.
Unknowingly, hearing this below, the shadow-blending Fury was thoughtful, seemingly understanding something.
"An Avenger, huh? We should have our own Avengers too..."
Fury seemed very intrigued by this term, muttering to himself, sitting on the cold ground with a thoughtful expression, under Dugan and others' worried glances as if they were watching a madman.
He too wanted a group of superheroes independent of any institution but cooperatively operating with him, responsible as enforcers while he provided intelligence and logistical support.
They do the dying, he takes the blame—isn't this quite a reasonable collaboration?