As Nick Fury finished speaking, both Captain America and Iron Man shifted their gazes back to the options on the big screen.
After getting some critical information from Nick Fury, they quickly pieced things together.
"If Nick Fury is dead and S.H.I.E.L.D. is leaderless, then Pierce, as the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., taking over at that time does make sense."
Captain America said in a deep voice, giving the answer that Nick Fury was trying to get across.
"So the correct answer is B, 'Captain America refused to reveal the intel Nick Fury gave him before he died'?"
Although Iron Man phrased it as a question, his tone was very certain.
Whether it was about replicating the serum, refusing to sign some agreement, or any other reason — any attempt to arrest Captain America could only be ordered by Nick Fury, the current director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Unless Nick Fury was no longer alive.
With what Iron Man and Captain America said, the atmosphere turned a bit grim. Nick Fury's face darkened.
He was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the legendary bald tough guy. And in the future, he'd actually be killed?
"Nick Fury, this question is about S.H.I.E.L.D. and you. Why don't you be the one to answer it?"
Iron Man broke the silence, making a suggestion.
Captain America had no objection — this was his first time answering these questions, and he still wasn't sure what was going on. Naturally, he didn't want to answer recklessly.
"I choose B: Captain America refused to reveal the intel Nick Fury gave him before he died."
Nick Fury didn't hesitate much. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke firmly to the screen.
[Correct Answer!]
The system notification rang out immediately.
That made Nick Fury's already dark face look even darker — as if it had been painted in soot. He looked utterly displeased.
He couldn't believe the thing he least wanted to accept was true. In the future, he would actually be killed!
But he quickly returned to normal. Even if that was originally his future, so what?
Now that he knew it ahead of time, he wouldn't let it happen!
"Nick Fury, did I ever tell you that the futures shown by the quiz system are actually from parallel universes?"
Seeing the expression on Nick Fury's face, Iron Man couldn't help chiming in.
"Parallel universes?"
Nick Fury raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he had heard Iron Man mention that theory.
"Exactly. The moment this quiz system appeared, the future of our timeline had already changed, right?"
"So these future clips are just references, not something set in stone. They may not actually happen."
Iron Man nodded as he spoke to Nick Fury.
"That's right. I'm not someone who dies so easily!"
Nick Fury declared firmly, a cold gleam flashing in his one eye.
Whoever wanted to kill the bald king of S.H.I.E.L.D. better be ready to get counter-killed!
[Congratulations to quiz participant Nick Fury for receiving the reward: One Plasma Lightsaber]
As the system announced this, Nick Fury suddenly felt a weight in his hand — a metallic, cylindrical handle had appeared.
At first glance, it looked like a flashlight.
Almost immediately, all the technical information about the plasma lightsaber flooded into Nick Fury's mind.
"Where did that come from?"
Captain America asked curiously.
He was certain Nick Fury hadn't been holding such a weird metal object a moment ago.
And Nick Fury had been standing right in front of him the whole time — he hadn't seen him pull anything out.
"Is that the hilt of the lightsaber?"
Iron Man's eyes lit up as he urged excitedly, "Nick Fury, let us see it in action."
Nick Fury was clearly a bit thrilled too. He took two steps back, pointed the handle in a safe direction, and pressed the switch.
Buzz!
A brilliant purple glow erupted from the handle, forming a lightsaber made entirely of pure energy!
The sword was dazzling, and both Iron Man and Captain America could feel the energy it contained.
Nick Fury stepped toward a nearby metal table, raised the lightsaber, and swung it down.
CLANG!
The entire metal table was sliced cleanly in half, like it was made of tofu.
"Whoa, this thing's no joke!"
Nick Fury nodded repeatedly in satisfaction. "Just gotta make sure not to hold it backward."
"Cool! This is insanely cool!"
Iron Man couldn't help but exclaim. "To condense plasma energy into a solid form like that — this is condensed energy beam tech! It's a cutting-edge field! I could integrate this into the Iron Man suits!"
The moment the thought struck him, Iron Man's eyes lit up even more.
The Iron Man suit wasn't without flaws — and his fight with the Winter Soldier exposed a major one: poor melee capabilities.
Or rather, it simply lacked melee weapons.
The suit only carried a limited amount of weaponry, and once those ran out, Iron Man was left relying on hand-to-hand combat.
Against regular people, sure, that worked. But against someone like the Winter Soldier, that would get ugly fast.
But what if the Iron Man suit could conjure a lightsaber on demand?
Iron Man was already barely containing his excitement.
"Nick Fury, let me borrow that sword for research! The tech in it would be incredibly useful for me."
Iron Man immediately made his request.
"Sure, no problem."
Nick Fury agreed almost without hesitation. "But I want access to your research findings too."
"Deal!"
And just like that, the two made their happy little trade.
Captain America, watching from the side, frowned deeply. The scene reminded him of Red Skull.
Hydra had originally just been a research division of the Nazi regime, nothing more.
But it was because Red Skull used the Tesseract to develop all kinds of superweapons far ahead of their time that he became a major threat.
So when it came to researching overpowered weapons, Captain America instinctively resisted the idea.
"We shouldn't be developing weapons we can't control. That only leads to chaos and disaster."
Captain America said sternly to both Nick Fury and Iron Man.
"Cap, you've been asleep too long. This world isn't the one you knew anymore."
Nick Fury replied meaningfully. "Trust me, once you truly understand the current world, you'll realize: we need weapons like this — and more of them."
Captain America completely disagreed, but having only known Nick Fury and Iron Man for less than a day, he didn't feel it was his place to argue further.
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(End of Chapter)