New York, Manhattan, below the Stark Industries headquarters building, a black Chevrolet sports car was parked in the Stark Industries underground parking lot.
A precise reverse parking, then unbuckling the seatbelt.
The white man in the driver's seat turned and saw the distracted Asian woman beside him, softly calling her name a few times: "May? May? Melinda May?"
The Asian woman in the passenger seat stared blankly at the front windshield, somewhat dazed. Hearing the person next to her calling her name, it took her a while to react: "Coulson, what's wrong? Is there a situation?"
"Please, we're on duty right now. Your current state isn't suitable for approaching the target, let alone pretending to be a North American Cup fencing champion later," the man named Coulson complained.
Melinda distractedly rubbed her temples, then unbuckled her seatbelt and complained: "If you've been staking out Hell's Kitchen for a month, just finished your shift, and before your head even hit the pillow, your boss calls you for another mission, then you're bounced around in a car for two hours, you'd be as easily distracted as I am!"
Hearing Melinda's complaint, Coulson immediately comforted her: "Alright, alright, my fault, my fault. But you know, our line of work is inherently tough. Who told our department to specialize in these things? While we still have time, want to rest a bit longer...?"
"No need, I'll adjust my state quickly."
Melinda gently patted her cheeks to wake herself up. Then she pulled out a mint-flavored energy bar from her pocket to replenish her nutrients.
The strong minty scent rushed to her brain, making Melinda feel much more energized.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work environment is extremely complex, requiring not only frequent overtime but also constant danger.
After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. was established to protect ordinary civilians from supernatural events or advanced technology, safeguarding their lives.
Generally dangerous work is left to the police and military; only tasks beyond their capabilities are left for S.H.I.E.L.D. to handle.
Complaints aside, Melinda had long grown accustomed to this intensity of missions since joining S.H.I.E.L.D..
Especially field work, which greatly tests the patience and attention of the staff, sometimes even requiring them to inject themselves with illicit drugs to maintain focus.
Coulson pulled a laptop from a briefcase in the back seat, opened it, and showed Melinda some files.
Melinda ate her energy bar while looking at the computer screen, then asked Coulson: "The mission location this time is Stark Industries headquarters? Did our playboy make some big news again? Were terrorists in the Middle East kidnapped him again, or did he receive a cholera email, or did he develop a new deadly weapon?"
Melinda still harbored some resentment towards Tony Stark. The speech draft Tony threw away was something she had polished for half a day, yet he not only failed to follow it but publicly admitted to being Iron Man.
This kind of target-setting behavior caused S.H.I.E.L.D. agents a lot of headaches. Besides being Iron Man, Tony Stark is also a world-renowned super-rich man, a great scientist, and a great philanthropist, with significant social influence, which made it impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D. to "pacify" him like ordinary citizens.
Of course, there was another reason: his father was Howard, one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D.. To ensure Tony's safety, S.H.I.E.L.D. had no choice but to assign a group of agents to secretly monitor and protect him twenty-four hours a day, preventing him from being retaliated against by terrorists.
Tony in his Iron Suit was formidable, but without that suit, he was just an ordinary man.
An accident, a bullet, a car crash, an explosion could all endanger Tony Stark's life.
"This mission has little to do with Tony Stark, but it is somewhat related."
Coulson swiped his finger on the computer screen a few times, bringing up an electronic document.
Melinda clicked on the mission document and was slightly surprised to see the face of an Asian child: "Isn't this the lucky child the media called Tony Stark's secret illegitimate son, who inherited 12.5% of Stark Industries? Are terrorists after him, planning to kidnap him?"
Melinda had heard of this child named Chen Yu, especially about him inheriting 12.5% of Stark Industries, which made people envious and jealous.
The news of Stark Industries announcing the share transfer made many onlookers wish they could take his place.
With 12.5% of the shares, let alone drifting for half a lifetime, if the lord does not abandon me, I am willing to worship Stark as my godfather.
Even just one percent of Stark Industries shares would cause many people to fight tooth and nail.
Coulson then pulled a stack of red-covered documents from his briefcase and handed them to Melinda: "Don't underestimate this child. According to some investigations, his first appearance was when Tony was kidnapped, helping Tony escape; his second appearance was directly in New York, and before that, no information about him could be found at all."
"Can you believe that an eleven or twelve-year-old boy, with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s capabilities, we couldn't find any information about him? Whether it's medical records, school education, or social connections, absolutely nothing could be found before Tony Stark's incident. It's as if this person popped out of a rock, and he also controls special powers. These are some photos our agents took at Stark Industries."
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents usually do not put important documents on computers, for fear of super hackers invading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers and causing information leaks.
"Level seven clearance, it seems quite special indeed. No wonder this mission wasn't assigned to the youngsters below."
Melinda raised an eyebrow, skillfully opened Chen Yu's file, skipped past the introduction which contained nothing but his name, gender, and a passport photo, and then froze on the second page. Pointing at the giant monster wagging its tail in the photo, she asked, "What is this? A dragon? And on top of the Stark Industries building? Am I still dreaming, or is the intelligence department playing a joke?"
The background of the photo was precisely the Iron Man battle that had occurred above Stark Industries not long ago.
Obadiah lay on the ground, Tony, controlling a battle-damaged Iron Suit, stood beside the Asian boy, and most strikingly, a mythical dragon-like monster was wagging its tail and breathing fire into the sky.
Coulson shrugged; he too was startled by the photos in the file at first.
"In fact, this little boy seemed to only summon the dragon to say hello to Tony. According to the intelligence personnel who were monitoring at the time, that dragon was as obedient as a puppy, and the little boy made the dragon disappear very quickly."
"This little boy has other abilities. If you scroll down, there are other photos."
Melinda continued to turn to the next page of the file.
"At that time, we happened to have a private S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite monitoring Tony Stark, and these are the photos we coincidentally captured."
In the photo, the little boy was riding on a broom, with the golden-red Iron Suit, painted in a flashy color, pulling him behind.
Although the photo was very blurry, Melinda could still distinguish that the figures in the photo, one in front and one behind, were Tony Stark and this little boy named Chen Yu.
"Flying on a broom? Is this little boy a magician from a storybook?"
Melinda continued flipping through the remaining document photos.
The next photo showed Tony's Iron Suit falling, and the little boy emerging from a door made of starlight to rescue Tony.
Coulson also added: "This photo is suspected to be a scene where Tony Stark encountered trouble while testing the performance of his Iron Suit at high altitude, and this little boy used some kind of spatial ability to save Tony."
The next few pictures were a continuation of this incident. Merlin flipped to the last picture and, pointing at the taxi in the image, asked, "What about this one?"
"This is the taxi the little boy first took when he came to New York, captured by street surveillance. Our intelligence personnel found this taxi driver and tried to get information from him, but he didn't remember ever having this little boy as a passenger, and there was no extra money in his daily revenue records. So we suspect this little boy might also have hypnotic abilities, allowing him to erase the taxi driver's memory."
Hearing that the little boy didn't pay for the taxi, Melinda was a bit surprised: "Taking a taxi without paying, does that mean the other party doesn't really abide by social rules?"
Melinda had seen many people who, after awakening superpowers, began to disregard social order and commit evil deeds.
Taking a taxi without paying was hardly a big deal.
"Ahem... that's not necessarily true. It could also be personal retaliation. After all, this taxi driver often overcharges passengers, especially tourists, and has received many complaints..."
Hearing Coulson's words, Melinda was a bit surprised. She had heard of New York taxi drivers specifically charging exorbitant fares to tourists, but she never expected to hear about it in a file that required Level 7 clearance.
She didn't know whether to say the other party was ignorant and fearless, or that they deserved it.
"So, based on the intelligence department's assessment, the little boy is currently known to possess at least the abilities of summoning monsters, flying, spatial travel, and hypnosis. Other information is unknown."
After committing the reviewed information and photos to memory, Melinda returned the file to Coulson and asked, "So what's our mission this time? Is it to directly contact this little boy, monitor him, protect him, or eliminate him?"
Coulson continued to bring up several computer documents for Melinda to view.
"Since the little boy suddenly appeared at Stark Industries two days ago and used the Stark Industries official website to post a recruitment announcement for a fencing coach, offering a monthly salary of 4 million US dollars, this caused a huge stir not just in the fencing world, but in the entire sports world. Many famous athletes are preparing to apply for this position."
"The Director probably thinks that since you have an Asian face and are skilled in combat, you might make a better impression on him in terms of appearance, which is why this mission was assigned to you."
"Oh, and this is your work resume."
Coulson handed Melinda another stack of documents, all containing forged resumes.
Melinda was accustomed to such methods of forging resumes.
The information on them was verifiable and real. If S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't even guarantee that, then they shouldn't be operating internationally.
Melinda glanced at it a few times, memorizing the information, then tucked the S.H.I.E.L.D.-made resume under her arm and took out her makeup to start getting ready, making herself look more like the description in the resume.
Coulson continued to explain the mission: "The Director needs you to defeat the competitors to get the fencing coach position, get close to this little boy, and ideally gain his trust."
He brought up several computer documents again.
"These are your competitors."
"Petrescu, male, a legendary figure in Italian fencing, with outstanding performance in men's foil fencing. He has won the world championship title and represented Italy in international competitions multiple times."
"Albert Roman, male, an outstanding Swiss fencer. He has demonstrated exceptional skill and strength in men's épée, winning multiple World Championships and European Championships, and representing Switzerland in several Olympic Games."
"Verekofsky, male, a legendary Russian fencer. He achieved great success in men's sabre, becoming the first person in history to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals."
Melinda scrolled down the computer document, finding a large number of applicants, roughly hundreds of people after a quick scan.
Besides the world-class fencing champions Coulson mentioned, Melinda also saw world-class martial arts champions, world-class Sanda champions, and world-class gymnastics champions applying.
It seems that a monthly salary of 4 million US dollars is a considerable temptation for these famous figures in the sports world.
"In fact, besides these legitimate athletes from the sports world, there are also some individuals who operate in the grey areas who want a piece of the pie. Among them, you especially need to pay attention to this person: Wade Winston Wilson."
Coulson pulled up Wade Winston Wilson's information and had Melinda read it carefully.
"Wade Winston Wilson, known as 'Deadpool,' was originally a Canadian mercenary, highly skilled in swordsmanship, with a record of slicing bullets. To cure his terminal illness, he participated in the Weapon X program, where he was injected with the genes of another mutant with super healing abilities, which cured his cancer and granted him regenerative powers. However, due to the instability of the experiment and the mutual rejection between his regenerative abilities and cancer cells, his face became disfigured and his body covered in scars."
"It is inferred that due to excessive brain cell growth, Wade became somewhat deranged after his cancer was cured, enjoying nonsense and often talking rubbish. Relying on his super healing ability, he frequently engaged in various self-destructive behaviors."
"He enjoys life very much and loves money very much, often using 'just give me the money' as his catchphrase. He works for whoever pays him more, so it's not surprising that he was attracted by the high reward offered by the little boy. However, he is very troublesome, and it's best not to get into a conflict with him unless absolutely necessary..."
Coulson's words piqued Melinda's interest, and she raised an eyebrow, asking, "What's wrong? Will it become very troublesome?"
"No, it will become very embarrassing..."