The Black Lion - In the belly of the Beast. (Patreon)

Nick Fury, The Black Lion – New York

His body… hurt like never before, but that was good.
At least it meant he was alive—very sore, but alive.

What the hell had happened? He remembered… Project Pegasus, the strange readings and… the attack.

THE ATTACK!

Fury shot up, gasping, moving his hand quickly over his body, desperately searching for his weapon.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. rolled off the bed he was on, hitting the floor with a dull thud, the cold metal touching his body.

“Shit,” Nick muttered as he stood up easily—far more easily than he had felt in many years.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. looked around, focusing his gaze on the window of the room, giving him a beautiful view of the Black District, the richest and most prosperous place on the planet.

Fury hadn’t seen this clearly in a long time, since…

With a trembling hand, Fury brought his hand to his right eye, and to his surprise—

He could see.

His left eye, previously shattered and completely blind, had been restored.

“You have rested! Your recovery is complete, Fury, Nicolas!” said a mechanical voice, managing to surprise him for the first time in a long while.

Fury turned around, observing with surprise an elegant white drone with a kind of green lens at its center. It had a cross-like shape and was about one meter tall. The mechanical being looked at him with obvious curiosity.

“Who the hell are you?” Fury asked, still overwhelmed by the situation.

The drone moved with something akin to excitement, its mechanical eye shifting colors continuously, as if the thing were… excited somehow.

“OHHHH, my apologies! I am Poppy, a Synthetic Intelligence created by my father Harrison Evans to coordinate the medical wing of Evans Technologies. A pleasure to meet you!” said the drone, who, without waiting for a response, flew toward Fury and began scanning him from head to toe.

Fury stood stunned for a moment before quickly shaking his head and stepping back, looking at the thing more cautiously.

“What the hell are you doing?” Fury asked, clearly on edge.

The drone looked at him steadily before responding.

“I am analyzing the condition of your body. You were in critical condition when my mothers brought you in, along with the others. You required a long time inside the Gaia chamber to recover. Now stay still so I can check you,” said the drone, beginning to scan Fury again just as the door opened.

And Agent Romanoff entered.

“Let her work, Director. She’s just worried about your health,” said the redhead, dressed in a kind of robe made of a material Fury had never seen before.

It looked like fabric… but liquid, in a way. It clung to Natasha’s figure, with metallic plates fitted onto certain parts of her body that enhanced her elegant shape and provided some protection.

The metal plates looked like technology, but Fury had no idea of their nature.

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice when the drone finished analyzing him.

“Scan complete. All parameters within established limits for a common elderly human male. You are in excellent health, Mr. Fury, Nicolas,” said the drone, pleased with itself.

The bald director looked at it with indignation, but before he could respond, Natasha intervened.

“That will be all, Poppy. Check on the other patients and keep me informed,” said Agent Romanoff with a smile, causing the drone to emit various sounds of happiness.

“Yes, mother! I won’t disappoint you!” said the mechanical voice, and immediately afterward, it rose into the air and disappeared through an opening in the ceiling perfectly sized for it.

“Don’t judge her, she’s just a child,” said Black Widow with amusement.

Fury took a deep breath to steady his heart and said:

“Natasha… the others… what happened? How did they find us?” the director asked, fearing the worst.

Black Widow didn’t respond for a moment, looking at him in complete silence.

“The tower detected a spatial incursion directly over a clandestine installation. When we went to investigate, we found the place completely destroyed,” said Widow, not looking directly at him, but out the window toward the imposing view of the Black District.

“What is Project Pegasus, Fury?” the redhead asked, her brow furrowed, clearly furious.

The director simply shook his head and began to say:

“That is…”

However, in the middle of his sentence, Fury felt Natasha’s hand strike his face—a sharp blow that shook him completely.

The hit wasn’t particularly painful, but that Agent Romanoff had dared—

“Don’t you dare… say it’s classified. The sentinels detected thousands of bodies. Thousands of lives were lost—THOUSANDS! Former colleagues of mine, acquaintances and friends. What is Project Pegasus? I will not ask again,” Natasha snapped, truly furious this time.

A part of the director wanted to reprimand her for her audacity—to remind her she worked for him, that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets were classified.

But that was exactly the problem.

Natasha no longer worked for him.

Not for a long time.

And although they maintained contact and a friendly relationship, Black Widow’s absolute loyalty belonged to the Black Lion—not to S.H.I.E.L.D.

And if there was someone Fury never wanted to anger…

It was Harrison Evans.

Besides—

He owed her.

Not just Natasha, but every soul that had died in that attack.

It was the least he could do.

So Fury began to speak.

About the Tesseract.
About the project.
About the council’s stupidity.

It felt strange…

Telling the truth for the first time in a long time.

It was… liberating, in a way.

Widow simply listened, her face impassive, her eyes cold.

And when he finished, a long silence filled the room, the tension almost tangible.

“You’re lucky Harrison isn’t on the planet, you know that?” she said calmly, while activating her omni-tool and moving her fingers rapidly across multiple holographic screens.

“What are you doing?” Fury asked cautiously.

“Sending messages to our allies. We need to prepare. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s stupidity brought enemies to our planet—and you can be damn sure we will defend it,” Natasha said with determination.

For several minutes, Fury watched in silence as the redhead moved her fingers without paying him the slightest bit of attention.

“Who survived?” Fury asked cautiously.

Natasha stopped for a moment, lifting her gaze.

“You, Hill, Clint and Selvig, we found no other signs of life—”

Fury clenched his fists tightly, trembling with fury at his catastrophic failure, those agents were his responsibility.

He had to fix this.

“I have to return to the Helicarrier, as soon as possible, if that thing is still out there… we must stop it,” said the spy with total determination.

It was the least he could do, for all those men and women who lost their lives under his command.

Natasha, without lifting her gaze, simply replied.

“I know, the boys are preparing the Raven, we leave as soon as possible, Hill and Clint woke up, Selvig is still resting, don’t bother him,” said the redhead, sending the last message and nodding to herself.

“A drone will guide you to the hangar in ten minutes, I must prepare myself and my team, your tunic is in that wardrobe,” said the Russian woman as she left the room.

Leaving Fury completely alone, lost in his turbulent thoughts, his mind returning to every agent who had lost their life because of his stupidity.

He would not fail them again, neither his people nor the Earth.

“So, the Kree have returned,” said the director to himself, remembering his past adventures.

“But this time, we are far from defenseless,” Fury said to himself.

The aliens had struck the first blow and had won a battle.

But the humans would win the war.

No matter the cost.

Phill Coulson, Hellicarrier - Atlantic Ocean.

Everything had gone to hell, there was no other word to describe what was happening.

First, they had completely lost contact with the Project Pegasus base, the director was not responding, and neither was Hill, so Phil was the acting director until the crisis ended.

Although at the rate things were going, the most likely outcome was that they would end up dead.

The Hellicarrier, one of the most advanced pieces of technology on Earth, was being attacked, and what was worse.

They had not the slightest idea who was responsible.

“Give me visual, I NEED to know what is attacking us!” ordered Phill, gripping the command console at the moment another explosion shook the entire ship.

In an instant, Phil watched with suspicion as several screens turned red, while warning signals began to accumulate.

“GIVE ME IMAGES OF OUR ENEMIES!” Coulson ordered fiercely.

Alas, fate could be cruel, like today.

“They are moving too fast, the Quinjets that were on deck were destroyed, we have no eyes in the air,” said an officer, while another impact struck the Hellicarrier.

“I have visual from the exterior cameras!” said an agent, showing what could only be ships.

Their design, color pattern and the absurd speed at which they moved revealed their nature.

Those things were not human.

The design did not match any known pattern, strange angles, disturbing textures, and their weapons…

Coulson knew that this fight was lost, there was no way to defend against such a thing.

“INCOMING ATTACK!” shouted a young agent, seeing how three of the ships released what appeared to be some kind of energy attack toward one of the ship’s turbines.

There was no possibility whatsoever of defending against these things, the Hellicarrier would be brought down, of that he had no doubt.

“ACTIVATE SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR A FORCED DESCENT, ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL PREPARE FOR EVACUATION AND GENTLEMEN…” said Phil, pausing his speech as he watched with complete helplessness how the projectiles approached with lethal precision toward his position.

“It has been a pleasure,” said Coulson, just as the attack struck the side of the Hellicarrier.

And hell was unleashed.

The side of the Hellicarrier exploded, engulfing the ship in fierce flames, while at the same time the ship began to lose altitude, falling toward the ocean.

The impact was so strong that everyone, without exception, fell to the ground, completely disoriented.

“ACTIVATE DEAD MAN PROTOCOLS! IF WE ARE GOING TO DIE WE WILL TAKE THOSE SONS OF BITCHES WITH US! SEND OPEN S.O.S SIGNALS!” ordered Coulson, struggling to stand, the angle of the falling Hellicarrier making it very difficult to keep his balance.

“The controls are dead, Director Coulson, we are in free fall, personnel is preparing to get out, but with those things out there it would only be target practice,” said the communications agent, visibly affected.

Coulson could not really blame her, the situation they were in was fucked, nowhere in the SHIELD manual did they prepare you for alien ships taking down the Hellicarrier in fucking minutes.

“We have no choice, order all our pilots to launch all operational Quinjets, we will give as much cover as possible. If a single transport ship escapes… then we will have done our job.”

Everyone on the bridge obeyed, accepting death with dignity, the Hellicarrier was falling faster and faster and upon impact with the sea, it would be the end for all, without exception.

“They are coming again,” said an officer cautiously, seeing how the enemy ships appeared again, now in dagger formation, ready to deliver the final blow.

At this point, it was more than evident that they were simply playing with them.

Phil inhaled deeply, prepared to die, he would make sure to give as much time and cover as possible to the transport ships.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a pleasure,” said the agent, watching as the swarm of ships approached at absurd speeds.

Alas, it seemed fate had other plans.

Just when what Coulson assumed were the enemy weapons prepared to fire, something incredible happened.

The ship leading the attack was struck from above, being hit by two emerald plasma projectiles, quite familiar to Phil.

The impact was so powerful that one ship was completely vaporized, while a second, heavily damaged, fell toward the ocean out of control.

An instant later, the remaining ships broke formation and retreated in different directions, just as a familiar ship appeared, filling everyone with relief and hope.

Natasha’s Raven.

And with it.

“Coulson, this is Fury… we are here to assist,” said the director using short-range channels.

“A pleasure to hear you safe and sound, director,” said Coulson with a huge smile.

“Phil, Clint and I will take care of these ships, we will provide assistance to the Hellicarrier, Nat out,” said his former partner, and Coulson knew her well enough to detect that she was truly furious.

“Agent Coulson, we have allied readings, affiliated with Evans Technologies codes, thousands of them positioning themselves on the sides of the Hellicarrier, but there is something else, something… powerful, it emits frequencies similar to the Stingray, unknown technology,” said the communications officer.

“Give me an image,” ordered Phil, watching as a group of Evans sentinels placed a kind of unknown device.

It was a kind of tower, with a green core that emitted powerful electromagnetic waves. Coulson did not know the nature of the object, and under normal circumstances he would never allow the installation of unknown technology on the Helicarrier.

But to be honest, he was not in a position to refuse any kind of help, and he trusted Harrison and his technology far more than the security council that ran S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was thanks to them that they were in this damn mess to begin with.

“Monstrous energy readings on deck, Coulson, that thing is some kind of generator, purpose unknown,” said another agent, intrigued, watching as the mysterious technology began to emit a kind of green glow that spread rapidly throughout the ship.

Moments later, Coulson felt the Helicarrier stop, as if gravity had ceased to exist.

“Phil, I don’t know what the hell that thing is, but it allowed us to control the ship, we can land on the ocean, it will be rough, but we’ll be alive,” said a relieved agent, as the Hellicarrier was slowly stabilized.

“What the hell is that technology? This thing weighs a hundred thousand tons and it stopped it like nothing—”

“That’s a good question,” Phil replied, watching with absolute respect as Romanov and Barton began tearing through the alien ships, to the evident pleasure of everyone present.

The Raven was larger, but moved with the same agility as the hostile ships, and Barton’s aim was doing wonders in the dog fight.

Within minutes, all enemy ships—except for two that disengaged—were shot down, just as the Hellicarrier landed on the ocean, completely out of combat.

But still operational, at least partially.

“Damage report, people, I want it ASAP, I’m going to see the director and find out what the hell is happening,” ordered Phil, and without waiting for a response, he ran toward the deck, right where Romanov’s Raven was landing.

Phil ran as fast as he could toward the deck, observing the interior of the destroyed Hellicarrier solemnly.

Bodies of agents were scattered everywhere, some familiar faces, others not, but each one filled Phil with a feeling of fury and an unmatched thirst for vengeance.

Upon emerging, Phil found that the Evans sentinels were putting out several fires, while a pair guarded the mysterious and powerful artifact that, even now, kept the Hellicarrier afloat.

“Director,” Phil said with relief upon seeing Fury descend from the Raven solemnly, looking around with evident regret and fury.

Behind him, Hill followed, as quiet as a mouse, but looking around solemnly.

“What happened?” Phil asked cautiously, which turned into concern when he saw Fury sigh heavily.

“Problems, serious problems… the Kree are here,” he said, causing Phil to freeze for a moment before simply saying:

“Oh.”

Followed by total silence.

Moments later, Romanov and Barton stepped out of the Raven, both wearing combat suits that looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

They looked like action figures, and both were furious, observing Fury and Hill with veiled contempt.

What the hell had happened?

“I spoke with Emma and Jean, the damn ship was detected, heading toward New York. The Black District is secured and defenses at maximum capacity, the Rock is in bastion mode and the AATIS have begun emerging from New York Bay, the radio beacon has also been activated, let’s hope Harrison can receive it and come back to help us with this disaster and—”

Phil doesn't know what an AATIS was, but it sounds powerful.

Natasha’s words were interrupted when, on the horizon, a blue glow appeared out of nowhere.

One terrifyingly familiar to Coulson.

That mysterious light was identical to the one emitted by the Tesseract in the research facility.

“Shit,” Clint said, while Natasha raised her wrist urgently.

“Hermione, dear… where is that light coming from?” she asked, fearing the worst.

The seconds it took the A.I. to respond were the longest in Coulson’s life.

“From the alien ship, which is currently above New York. The planetary defense systems of the Rock are active and holding, but…” at this point, the A.I. hesitated.

“But what, Hermione? What is happening?” Natasha asked urgently.

“The invading mother ship activated a kind of energy field around the planet. Nothing can enter and nothing can leave Earth. Not ships, not the Bifrost, nothing. The Pathfinder cannot return, and neither can Harrison. We are alone,” she said, with something close to fear.

Everyone present fell into total silence.

All thinking the same thing.

They were fucked.

Emma Frost, High Command of the Black Rock – New York

“Planetary defenses established. The second black star is operational and functioning. The orbital shield is active, and the AATIS defense cannons are emerging around the bay. Drones, sentinels and armed forces of Evans Technologies, Frost Industries and Potter Enterprises have been alerted,” said Hermione with total efficiency.

Emma nodded, moving around the command table, observing a precise holographic projection of the city.

At least, the part of the city that interested her.

The planetary shield that Harry had installed after the Sentinel attack now covered the entire area of influence of Evans Technologies, guaranteeing a safe zone, just in case—

“AATIS operational, seven orbital defense platforms assembled and ready, evacuation protocols initiated,” said Hermione.

Emma nodded and asked:

“Did you warn the rest of the city?” asked the White Queen, as she walked toward the window of the command center.

“Yes, the mayor and the army dismissed the alert as an unfounded rumor and urged calm. However, since the warning came from official Evans Technologies channels, a large part of the population listened. At least three quarters of the city are moving toward the Black District,” said Hermione.

“Then we will make sure to give them as much time as possible,” Emma said to herself, just as Stephen entered the command center, holding a kind of metallic sphere in his hands, to Emma’s curiosity.

“What is that?” asked the White Queen.

The Sorcerer looked at the object before looking back at Emma.

“Something important, something that must be protected. This is the safest place on the planet. Wong, Ilyana, Wanda and I will be on the streets securing as many civilians as possible, but in case the worst happens, you must deliver this to Harrison,” said Stephen solemnly.

Emma simply nodded, placing the mysterious object on the operations table and focusing on reports from the other lionesses and allies.

Tony had been warned, and from what she last knew, he had managed to create an imitation of the Rock’s shield for his own tower. Jean and Ororo would coordinate with the X-Men, who were on standby, while Sai would lead a regiment of tactical drones to create disruption in case of a ground invasion.

and not even counting Steve Rogers, waiting in Olympus station and the little surprise they had prepare...but they need time, as long as they can gather.

And White Queen hoped it would not come to that, to be honest, if Olympus station emerges, things with the world governments will get really difficult.

In an instant, the alarms of the Tower began to sound, marking the beginning of the battle.

“Enemy ship in low orbit above the city. AATIS in motion. Beginning attack,” said Hermione.

A second later, the imposing orbital cannons moved slowly, locking onto the colossal enemy ship.

“Fire at will, Hermione,” said Emma, hoping the power of the defense weapons would be enough to bring that thing down.

The A.I. did not respond, but the cannons began firing powerful spears of burning plasma toward the enemy ship, creating projectiles the size of entire buildings moving with lethal intent toward the alien vessel.

The moment of truth had arrived.

And the siege of New York had begun.