Faced with Steve's words, the young people in front of him could only remain silent.
In this age of information, there weren't any great truths that young people didn't understand.
But when such things happened to them, none of them could easily, like Steve, truly put those great truths into practice.
Especially for Wanda and Pietro, they were only Guardians because it was the job Chaldea had given them.
Steve gave Shen He a look.
He could have said those words to the Guardians long ago, but the Guardians were different from him.
That's why he called Shen He.
"Ahem." Shen He cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention to him, "Of course, as for this article and the voices on the internet, the fault isn't yours. You've done a good job. Propaganda and public opinion guidance are the work of the Guardians' logistics, so you don't need to worry too much, because everything is only temporary. We've already prepared a counterattack."
That's what Shen He really needed to say to them.
Not viewing the Guardians as heroes, but merely as employees, or rather, celebrities. After some inexplicable public relations crisis, they needed their boss, the director of Chaldea, to give them some reassurance.
No one else could do this for Shen He.
"Really? Sir," Skye and the others perked up. "What do we do?"
"I'll tell you when I need your cooperation," Shen He said with a stern expression. "But for now, all of you get back to work. Otherwise, tomorrow's papers will read 'Little Brat Heroes Who Can't Take Criticism.' You should really learn from Spider-Man; he doesn't care about any of this."
Parker was indeed unaffected by public opinion.
Or rather, he was affected, but it had a positive effect thanks to love. Because the girl he had a crush on openly defended Spider-Man in class.
Among these young Guardians, perhaps only Parker would grow into a true hero in the shortest amount of time.
After seeing the contrast, Wanda and the others felt somewhat ashamed.
Immediately, they went to change their clothes, organized their equipment, and continued to go out to help people, led by Steve.
Shen He glanced at the article in his hand, no need for superheroes.
Heh.
Shen He didn't actually care about the public opinion farce. The reason was also simple; this was the Marvel world.
In this world, the military and the state were utterly vulnerable in the face of a crisis.
They could only rely on superheroes.
"Coulson." Shen He turned and left the area, contacting Coulson, "Have the military representatives arrived?"
"That's right, sir. The person here is General Ross," Coulson replied.
"General Ross?" Shen He was taken aback. "The General Ross I'm thinking of? After all, there are quite a few English names with similar pronunciations."
"Sir, there's only one General Ross in the military right now." Coulson paused, then added, "I don't know if you're aware, sir, but General Ross also has a problem on his hands, a problem that even the old S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't want to touch."
"Of course, I know. But the plan remains unchanged, Coulson." Shen He only asked one question and then hung up the communication.
After the initial surprise, he wasn't surprised by this outcome.
Up to now, the ones who had issued warnings, or rather threats, to Chaldea were all from the military.
Because they had military power.
And General Ross was probably the only general in the military who had come into contact with special powers after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Because he had Abomination in his hands.
However, for Chaldea right now, the outcome would be the same no matter who came.
On the other side, Coulson, after ending the call with Shen He, straightened his clothes and prepared for the upcoming meeting.
General Ross didn't barge in arrogantly, but rather arrived at the company with only a dozen people, keeping a relatively low profile.
This showed that they also had concerns.
"General Ross, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Coulson strode over. They didn't know each other, but after the incident with the Hulk, they could be said to have had a rather unpleasant confrontation.
"Coulson, you're a wanted criminal now." Ross didn't put on a friendly face. "We've long held evidence that the Virtual Reality Company is harboring wanted criminals, and now it's conclusive."
This was a show of force.
All former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, excluding some research personnel, who hadn't joined the government were now wanted criminals.
"In that case, General, you can arrest me," Coulson said, his smile unchanged. "We have quite a few wanted criminals here. These ten or so probably won't be enough."
"Hmph, it's the police department's job to arrest you," Ross snorted coldly. "If I receive military orders to assist in the arrest, do you think I'd be polite?"
This statement actually revealed the current relationship between Chaldea and the military.
Because they were wary of the strength of this group of non-humans, the military wasn't willing to act rashly. But if the entire country decided to make a move against them, the military would take the lead.
At that point, it would mean they had torn their masks off with the outsiders.
"In other words, General, you're not here to fight?" Coulson asked, feigning ignorance.
"You're not here to fight, so you must be here to negotiate."
General Ross's face darkened.
Although he knew that Chaldea had gathered a group of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and that Coulson was among them, he hadn't expected Coulson to be the one to speak with him.
Wasn't this implying that he wouldn't even get to see the real boss of Chaldea?
"Coulson," Ross emphasized, looking somewhat heartbroken, "In the past, even though we weren't in the same department, we were all dedicated to our country. Are you really going to work for a group of aliens? They're not even human. Do you really believe that nonsense about protecting humanity?"
Since they decided to let him try to communicate as a representative, they would naturally tell him some things.
In fact, this information was still the Chaldea information recorded by S.H.I.E.L.D. before, as for the new characters that appeared later, and even some of Chaldea's actions, they were completely in the dark.
The World Security Council already had an urgent need to re-establish an intelligence department.
"Whether it's bullshit or not, I'll judge with my own eyes, General." Coulson remained completely unmoved, even adding a reminder, "I am a senior agent, you know."
A senior agent wouldn't be a senior agent if they were so easily swayed and surrendered.
General Ross also knew that saying such things was pointless, his face turning ashen, but he couldn't lose his temper.
He simply plopped down onto the sofa.
"I'll just say it directly, Loki and his Scepter must be in our hands. He killed one of our majors!"
This dimwit Coulson knew at a glance that Ross was just being used as a pawn in this incident.
Otherwise, Ross wouldn't have such a strong attitude.
It should be known that the arrival of Thor and Loki was enough for some people to realize that they were not the most powerful force in the world.
In this situation, it was clearly not wise to offend a mysterious and powerful outsider like Chaldea so severely.
General Ross was merely brought in as a pawn to test the waters.
These were old tricks, frequently used by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past.
"General Ross." Coulson sat down as well, his gaze seemingly sincere. "It's not that we don't want to hand over Loki, but he's safest here."
"Safe?" Ross sneered. "I've been a general for so many years; only strength in hand is truly safe."
Too much could be gained from an Asgardian prince.
The secrets of a powerful body, the secrets of magic, not to mention the Scepter that could control minds, and even the methods for using the Tesseract.
Moreover, according to previous records within S.H.I.E.L.D., Asgard was not a brutal civilization, but one that considered itself the guardian of Earth.
This was a huge opportunity because Loki had made a mistake on Earth, and they had the advantage.
Hearing this, Coulson knew that this time, the military, or rather, those World Security Council members, were determined to capture Loki.
"Then let's proceed according to plan."
Coulson seemed to be silent for a moment, even putting away his signature smile, becoming formal.
"General Ross, as you just said, everything we've done in the past has been to protect the world, and it's no different now."
Protecting the world, a slogan that an ordinary person would laugh at or dismiss, was indeed a core belief of S.H.I.E.L.D.
At least, it was the surface-level belief. How many people truly believed it was another matter, not to mention the Hydra agents acting in secret.
General Ross frowned.
He wasn't familiar with Coulson, but he knew this man was Fury's most trusted subordinate.
In fact, in their intelligence analysis, they also didn't understand why Coulson had joined Chaldea. He wasn't the type to choose to work for aliens.
Unless he was a mole Fury had planted in Chaldea.
"I wonder how much General Ross knows about Chaldea?" Coulson didn't wait for Ross to answer, instead continuing on his own. "Believe me, they are far more powerful than we imagine. If your intelligence is decent, you should know that in India, Hulk was utterly helpless in their hands."
Ross's expression became slightly unnatural.
He knew how strong Hulk was; he completely disregarded the military. Even the Abomination he had was only kept in check by the effects of the anesthetic serum.
"This is just information about their combat strength," Coulson handed Ross a stack of photos.
The subjects in these photos were men and women. Ross could easily recognize several of them, who were members of Chaldea.
But that's not the point. The point is that these were obviously taken on a massive battlefield.
The background shows the ruins of a city destroyed by artillery fire, a sky filled with warplanes and tanks, and even a highly shocking armored force, a steel torrent that looked like alien fighter jets. General Ross's face grew increasingly solemn as he looked at the photos. Many of them showed Chaldea members in a victorious pose on the battlefield, and some were even taken during combat.
Could the scene of tens of thousands of tons of water being lifted into the sky really not be a movie effect?
Releasing laser beams from their fingers, slashing tanks with long blades, and withstanding missiles with their bodies. Each person in the pictures reminded General Ross of the fear he felt when his worldview was dominated by a naked green giant.
"Where is this?" General Ross couldn't help but ask.
If a war of this scale had broken out on Earth, they wouldn't have been unaware.
"In another world, who knows where?" Coulson shrugged. "They're not just 'protecting' us; they're also protecting other worlds. These photos are screenshots I took secretly from a video."
"There's a video? Where's the video?" Ross couldn't help but ask.
If there was a video, it would allow them to understand Chaldea's strength more intuitively.
It could be said to be extremely important.
However, Coulson just handed over another photo.
On it was a little girl who was clearly not human, in the middle of a bunch of light screens.
"She is Hubie, a newly appeared member of Chaldea. In fact, we still don't know how many people are in Chaldea, but she can monitor all the wireless networks around the world, broadcasts, television, hospitals, transportation, and even satellites, everything you can imagine, so only photos are the safest." Coulson's face returned to his signature smile, only a little helpless, "To be honest, based on my experience working here, humans are not their match at all."
General Ross subconsciously touched his body, only then realizing the significance of their phones being taken away.
"These monsters." He couldn't help but grit his teeth and curse.
Whether it was Hulk or these people, he didn't understand why such existences would appear in the world.
Making the military a complete joke.
However, General Ross was a general after all, and his psychological resilience was still quite strong, so he was also thinking rapidly in his mind.
"So," he looked at Coulson, "you're a spy sent by Fury?"
"You could say that." Coulson nodded. "There are quite a few of our people here. Because they don't care about these things at all. For them, Earth is just one of their workplaces. When you are stationed in other countries, don't you also recruit some locals to work for you?"
"" Ross didn't know what to say.
The photos in his hand, the information that Coulson in front of him was "one of their own," and the strength of Chaldea, all made him understand that he had no cards to play.
He had even realized the sinister intention behind bringing him here this time.
"I need Loki." But Ross was still a bit unwilling. "Do you have any way?"
The World Security Council needs to establish a new intelligence organization.
Whoever captures Loki will be in charge of this new intelligence organization.
General Ross is here because of how much power S.H.I.E.L.D. had in the past.
"I am still considered trustworthy by Chaldea," Coulson's smile didn't change, "but why should I help you?"
"You!" General Ross angrily pointed a finger at him.
But he didn't even know what to say.
Even if Coulson was a mole, he was Fury's mole, not his, so he certainly didn't need to listen to him.
But if he didn't want to listen to him, why did he say so much?
Of course, it was using his words to relay the information here, and then let the World Security Council understand that if they wanted to succeed, they still had to rely on Fury.
This was using his incompetence to highlight Fury's abilities, even allowing Fury to take the initiative to gain greater importance and power.
"Fury really has a good subordinate!"
Having understood everything, General Ross was about to explode with anger. He stood up directly; he didn't want to stay here for another moment.
First, he was tricked into coming here to find trouble with these non-humans, and then he was tricked by Coulson to create momentum for Fury.
However, before he left, he tightly held those photos in his hand.
This was the only gain he had from this trip.
-----------------------
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