The mention of General Ross was enough to give Nick Fury a headache.
The attack had taken place on a U.S. military installation. Naturally, someone with Ross’s rank would hear about it almost immediately.
What Fury hadn’t expected was for Ross to insert himself into the situation and intercept S.H.I.E.L.D.’s recovery operation.
If it had only been General Talbot refusing to cooperate, Fury had a dozen different ways to remind the Army where S.H.I.E.L.D.’s jurisdiction began and ended.
Ross was different.
It wasn’t that Fury feared him.
Nor did S.H.I.E.L.D. lack the legal authority to claim the mutant corpses.
The problem was that Ross was a master at bureaucratic warfare.
If Fury demanded the bodies, Ross would simply manufacture excuses.
Military property.
Battlefield evidence.
Army jurisdiction.
None of them would hold up under serious scrutiny.
Both men knew that.
But Ross didn’t need a convincing argument.
He only needed an argument.
The moment lawyers and oversight committees became involved, the issue would descend into months of political infighting. By the time the World Security Council finally ruled in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s favor, Ross would have dissected every corpse down to the last cell.
Unfortunately, Fury couldn’t simply ignore the political fight.
S.H.I.E.L.D. carried baggage of its own.
And that baggage had a name.
The Hulk.
After the success of the Super Soldier Program that created Captain America, the U.S. government had spent decades trying to reproduce Abraham Erskine’s formula.
Dr. Erskine’s death and the destruction of the remaining serum had made that nearly impossible.
Every subsequent attempt relied on reverse-engineering Steve Rogers’ transformed physiology.
Every attempt failed.
The failures consumed enormous amounts of money, manpower, and lives.
Volunteers either died or suffered catastrophic side effects.
Eventually, the program was officially shelved.
Officially.
General Thaddeus Ross had never accepted that decision.
For years, he lacked the resources to continue the research.
Then he found Bruce Banner.
Banner was a once-in-a-generation scientist whose understanding of gamma radiation surpassed almost anyone alive.
Ross believed he’d finally found the missing piece.
Ignoring repeated warnings from S.H.I.E.L.D., he quietly revived the Super Soldier Program.
Progress came quickly.
Then Banner made the decision that changed everything.
Confident in his calculations, he became his own test subject.
The experiment succeeded.
Far too well.
Instead of creating another Captain America, it created something vastly more powerful.
The Hulk.
Measured purely by combat capability, the Hulk eclipsed Steve Rogers in every conceivable way.
Unfortunately, he also possessed one crippling flaw.
He couldn’t be controlled.
Ross tried containment.
He tried capture.
He tried force.
The only thing he accumulated was an ever-growing casualty list.
Eventually, the Hulk disappeared.
Ross never stopped hunting him.
At one point, he’d even requested S.H.I.E.L.D.’s assistance.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had declined.
Repeatedly.
From Fury’s perspective, Ross had created the disaster himself after ignoring every warning they had given him.
Bruce Banner had never been a malicious man, and the Hulk had remained out of sight for a long time.
That suggested Banner had found some way to suppress or manage his transformations.
If a creature nearly impossible to stop had chosen not to cause trouble...
Perhaps leaving him alone was the smartest decision.
Trying to hunt him down sounded like volunteering for a very short career.
Ross, naturally, saw things differently.
In his eyes, S.H.I.E.L.D. had refused to deal with one of the world’s most dangerous beings while withholding valuable intelligence.
The resulting arguments had become legendary.
Ross accused S.H.I.E.L.D. of negligence.
S.H.I.E.L.D. accused Ross of creating his own catastrophe.
Every conversation between the two sides inevitably circled back to the Hulk.
Which was precisely why their relationship had deteriorated beyond repair.
And now...
The bodies Fury desperately wanted had landed squarely in Ross’s hands.
Given Ross’s lifelong obsession with creating controllable super soldiers, there was virtually no chance he would surrender specimens that might represent a breakthrough in artificial human enhancement.
Even if they held no scientific value at all, he’d probably keep them just to spite S.H.I.E.L.D.
Fury sighed.
Then reached for the phone.
"Director’s priority line."
He waited a moment.
"Connect me to General Ross."
A military sedan sped down the highway.
General Thaddeus Ross sat comfortably in the back seat, wearing an expression of unmistakable satisfaction.
After reviewing the reports and photographs from the assault on the classified depot, he hadn’t felt anger.
He’d felt excitement.
Years of researching human enhancement had given him an experienced eye.
The creatures in those photographs were no natural mutation.
Someone had engineered them.
The possibility alone was enough to reignite every ambition he’d ever had.
If he could fully analyze those bodies...
The Super Soldier Program might finally become reality.
History would remember the man who succeeded where everyone else had failed.
His phone rang.
Ross answered immediately.
"Ross speaking."
A grin spread across his face.
"Director Fury."
"What a surprise."
"To what do I owe the honor?"
Fury ignored the sarcasm.
"Enough games."
"Transfer the bodies to S.H.I.E.L.D."
"You know we have jurisdiction."
Ross leaned back comfortably.
"I’m a soldier, Director."
"I follow orders."
Fury almost laughed.
At Ross’s rank, very few people still had the authority to order him around.
"I don’t think either of us wants to spend the next six months arguing before the World Security Council."
"So let’s make a deal."
"No."
Ross didn’t hesitate.
Rejecting S.H.I.E.L.D. outright was surprisingly satisfying.
"You don’t even want to hear my offer?"
Ross was already preparing to end the call.
Then he paused.
Could Fury really be willing to negotiate?
Perhaps...
Perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. would finally agree to help locate the Hulk.
If so, there might actually be room to bargain.
Ross lifted the receiver back to his ear.
"Fine."
"I’m listening."
Fury answered without missing a beat.
"My offer is simple."
"You can keep two of the bodies."
Silence.
Ross’s smile vanished.
The muscles around his eye twitched.
Fury wasn’t offering him a concession.
He was offering him permission to keep what he had already managed to steal.
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