UNKNOWN LOCATION, UNDERGROUND
Director Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is the legendary, eyepatch-wearing Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. As a master spy and the primary architect of the Avengers Initiative, his work involves protecting Earth from both intergalactic and domestic threats. Fury has often operated in the shadows to maintain global security.
He would admit that he has crossed lines of civil liberties in pursuit of the greater good. After all, what use are liberties if an extraterrestrial civilization colonizes Earth?
In 1995, a younger, two-eyed Nick Fury—an ordinary S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, if such a thing exists—encountered Carol Danvers, later known as Captain Marvel, marking his first contact with extraterrestrial life and the catalyst for the Avengers Initiative. He learned that Earth was vulnerable to cosmic threats, shifting his focus toward recruiting super-powered individuals rather than relying solely on conventional weapons.
But—
Today, he was not facing laser-eyed aliens—which, in his opinion, would have been easier. No, today marked the seventh day since the fateful 9/11 attack that shook his home country to its core.
S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division) typically intervenes in high-level threats that exceed the capacity of conventional military or law-enforcement agencies. They focus on counter-terrorism, super-powered, extraterrestrial, and supernatural threats, often acting as a global intelligence and peacekeeping organization to protect humanity. Nick would agree that the 9/11 attacks checked every box for their intervention.
The attacks were planned by an extremist group known as Al-Qaeda, whose origins date back to the late 1980s. The plan itself was not particularly complex. In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. had conducted major counter-terrorism drills at airports, malls, and other public areas throughout the mid-1990s. Yet, for some reason, the terrorists were able to bypass these measures.
An inside job, perhaps?
But—
What baffled every three-letter agency across the world was that three of the four hijacked planes were mysteriously saved, and a total of fifteen hijackers were killed by what appeared to be colored pencils used by primary school children.
Nick's world had gone weird half a decade ago, and he thought nothing else could surprise him anymore.
He was wrong.
Fury read the current report on the Hill Forest incident in Washington, D.C.
According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best data analytics, if the third plane had not been diverted from its trajectory, American Airlines Flight 77 would have struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, at 9:37 a.m.
Civilians aboard the plane described being in the air one moment—with the hijackers still alive—and on the ground the next, with the terrorists dead. No descent. No makeshift runway landings. Similar reports appeared from the first two planes outside New York.
What made Flight 77 unique, however, was that civilians also described a black wall surrounding the plane—one they could not cross—which vanished after roughly fifteen minutes.
Additionally, a significant portion of Hill Forest had been destroyed by what appeared to be a high-ordnance missile, yet no missile residue was found within the blast radius, according to S.H.I.E.L.D. field teams.
Nothing about this case made sense.
He scrolled through the report until he reached an image taken by a high-resolution satellite owned by one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s subsidiary companies. The image showed a black blur.
Enhanced humans?
Aliens?
Fury didn't know—not yet. But he would find out. He always did.
HILL FOREST, WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Ancient One had lived for over 700 years by drawing power from the Dark Dimension to extend her life, though she appeared far younger due to her magic. It was her duty to protect Earth from mystical threats and defend its native reality—at least until Doctor Strange arrived at the gates of Kamar-Taj.
She had used precognition through the Eye of Agamotto several times in her life, but the price of channeling cosmic energy through a human vessel was immense. She used it only in apocalyptic situations.
Kamar-Taj was founded by Agamotto as a place where sorcerers could train and control their powers. People often arrived broken—physically and psychologically. Once healed, they could choose to join the Masters of the Mystic Arts or return to their previous lives.
She had been the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth since her youth. In her early years, she heard myths of sorcerers capable of wielding the same energy used by one of humanity's greatest domestic threats: cursed spirits.
But—
After reading records left behind by Agamotto himself, she knew those stories were no myths.
The Golden Era of Jujutsu, he called it.
Sorcerers capable of manipulating the negative energy naturally produced by their bodies, rather than relying on dimensional energy like most modern sorcerers.
Agamotto wrote of an event known as the Doom, after which the number of naturally born sorcerers declined drastically. Witnessing the collapse of jujutsu society, he left to seek another path of power—and succeeded, becoming the first human to contact a dimensional being. Through that pact, jujutsu society survived the Doom and countless tribulations afterward.
She was proud of what she had achieved using dimensional energies. She had reached the pinnacle of sorcery and protected Earth not only from cursed spirits, but from countless interdimensional threats.
Over 10,000 unexplained deaths and disappearances occur annually per 100 million people due to cursed spirits and their influence. These incidents stem from curses born of human negativity and include both confirmed killings and disappearances.
Applied globally, with Earth's population in 2001 estimated at 6.1–6.2 billion, this would amount to roughly 620,000 unexplained deaths or disappearances per year.
A staggering number—but one that every sorcerer of Kamar-Taj worked tirelessly to reduce, even if only by a fraction.
Kamar-Taj was dangerously understaffed, making global coverage nearly impossible. Calling the life of a Kamar-Taj sorcerer "thankless" would not be inaccurate. The wiser ones often fled after encountering a Grade-One cursed spirit.
But—
Something unusual had occurred.
Her precognition had changed.
The 9/11 attack—which should have happened—had not.
She had allowed the attacks to proceed originally because they were not mystical in nature—merely human, though no less monstrous. Just as she had remained uninvolved during the world wars, human-on-human conflict was not her domain.
Secondly, those attacks directly motivated the rise of one of Earth's mightiest heroes: Iron Man.
But now, standing near the crater in Hill Forest, she could distinctly sense the cursed energy signature of a Special Grade cursed spirit.
Had she been wrong?
Was a cursed spirit involved in the hijacking?
And that wasn't all.
There was another signature—definitely Special Grade, but…
Not a cursed spirit.
She sat on a nearby flat stone and activated the Eye of Agamotto, peering into the past. Reality warped as her vision shifted, until she found herself staring up at the Special Grade cursed spirit.
Ah…
It looked familiar.
She had personally exorcised this War Curse in the mid-1700s, during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763).
Before she could fully grasp what was happening—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
What she could only describe as sonic booms erupted from the direction the curse was staring. The spirit looked shocked.
In the next heartbeat, multiple cursed-energy cannons struck it.
She turned to see a red-black blur circling the Special Grade—darting in and out of shadows cast by nearby objects.
She didn't pause the vision.
Distracted by the blur, she barely noticed when a massive python—several stories tall—clamped its jaws around the curse.
Space distorted around the cursed spirit's face.
Black lightning flashed.
Before the curse could recover, more cursed-energy cannons slammed into it. Even one would have exorcised a Grade-One spirit—of that she was certain.
Black lightning flashed again.
This time from behind.
She didn't know when the blur moved there—but her heart clenched when she saw the Special Grade deploy its Domain. Even with her experience, being trapped in such a Domain would be dangerous.
GROWL!
She looked up.
A pink mammoth descended from the sky, slamming into the Domain's outer wall and cracking it. Moments later, a compressed torrent of water burst from inside, shattering it completely.
Everything unfolded in seconds, reminding her of her youth—when she hunted demons across dimensions.
She smiled, unknowingly.
As the Domain dissolved, the War Curse vanished—exorcised completely.
In the distance, she noticed what appeared to be a pre-pubescent child lying on the ground with a fatal wound.
Was that the blur?
A child?
The wound was deep—far too deep.
He wouldn't survive.
Was this her fault?
Had she looked more closely into 9/11, would she have noticed the cursed spirit's involvement?
Doubt gnawed at her—until the wound began stitching itself together.
Miraculously.
Even Kamar-Taj's most advanced healing techniques weren't this fast.
When the child rose, she saw his expression—a manic smirk.
She remembered one of Agamotto's writings:
To be a jujutsu sorcerer, one must be a little mad.
She had always agreed.
In that battle, she had witnessed two forbidden techniques—last seen in the Golden Era of Jujutsu.
Nothing in Kamar-Taj was forbidden, but such techniques had vanished with the extinction of naturally born sorcerers.
Agamotto's records described the black lightning as Black Flash, a phenomenon that amplifies damage to the power of 2.5.
And the healing…
That could only be Reverse Cursed Energy, an art considered difficult even during the Golden Era.
Does this mean—
A natural sorcerer…
One who can wield cursed energy…
Has been born?
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