Nick Fury and Maria Hill were actually green-skinned aliens!
This revelation caught the audience off guard. Strange thought for a moment before speaking, "I have a vague impression of this. In one of Fury's future videos, I saw these green-skinned aliens. I think they're called Skrulls. Their home was destroyed, so they wandered to Earth and had some kind of history with Fury and Carol."
Back then, the Skrulls seemed to have a good relationship with Fury and Carol, so why was one of them now impersonating Fury?
Pietro raised an eyebrow. "Hydra?"
His first thought was of Hydra, which had once infiltrated and parasitized S.H.I.E.L.D. Could these Skrulls be following the same path—secretly plotting to take over the organization Fury had built and manipulate the Avengers and superheroes from behind the scenes?
Doctor Strange shook his head. "No, they have nothing to do with Hydra. But there's definitely someone higher up calling the shots."
The video continued, showing a conversation between two Skrulls. The female Skrull wanted the male Skrull to report their findings, but the male, named Talos, hesitated.
Looking somewhat embarrassed, he muttered, "That kid has already been dealt with. We helped too. No need to report it, right? Fine, I admit I made a mistake, but who would've thought it was all fake? Everything looked so real—the acting, the visuals, the story, the costumes—it was all so convincing... But it was all a lie. That's just humiliating for a shapeshifter, isn't it?"
Skrulls were supposed to be masters of deception, yet they had been outplayed by someone like Quentin Beck. That was beyond embarrassing.
In the end, though, Talos took out his phone and reported the situation to his superiors.
This left the audience wondering—who was calling the shots behind the Skrulls?
Their answer came soon enough. The next scene revealed a bald man with an eye patch, lounging on a beach chair, looking completely at ease. But as he stood up, the ocean, the sky, and the beach slowly faded away, revealing a massive space station!
Nick Fury, looking very much like a taskmaster, waved his hand, directing the surrounding Skrulls to get back to work. The video ended just as he started looking for his shoes.
Outside the screen, Coulson's lips twitched. He wanted to laugh but held back.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Wow, looks like our director's ambitions have outgrown Earth."
Fury leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "It's not ambition—it's called motivation. Everyone's making progress. Even Peter can fight in space now. Why should I limit myself to Earth?"
Then he smacked his thigh and added, "I knew something was off about future me in that video! Turns out it was Talos. At least he was looking out for me—didn't want his people to look bad."
Natasha smirked. "No, I think even if it were really you in that situation, you would have been fooled."
Coulson interjected, "Alright, so what do we do about Quentin Beck? The guy was quick—almost managed to flee the country."
Fury pondered for a moment. "Same approach as before… No, actually, this guy's still useful. Time to squeeze the rest of his value out of him. Leave it to me."
Natasha sighed inwardly. Not only was this guy a master of siphoning funds and skimming resources, but now he was blatantly exploiting people too.
Fury had started stockpiling resources for himself back when he was dealing with Hydra. To support his long-term plans of hoarding money, securing safe houses, and building secret bases, he had sidestepped S.H.I.E.L.D. altogether and set up a separate covert organization—most likely the early version of S.W.O.R.D.
His operations were so discreet that even Natasha and Coulson hadn't been fully aware of them. If it weren't for Wanda's future video exposing some of S.W.O.R.D.'s activities, the Avengers might have remained in the dark.
That video had caused an uproar among Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest. Eventually, they tracked Fury down and forced him to reveal his secret projects.
By now, it was clear that many of the so-called "talents" exposed through the quiz game had, aside from the obvious villains, ended up under Fury's control.
Take Quentin Beck, for example. At this point in time, he was just an ambitious scientist who was passionate about his project and hadn't broken any laws. But in the future, his crimes had been exposed. Officially, there wasn't much they could do about someone like him right now.
After some secret discussions with Batman, Captain America, and Iron Man, the heroes decided to temporarily cooperate with Fury.
For the Avengers, dealing with future villains revealed by the quiz game was tricky. At the end of the day, they weren't a disciplined, structured organization like an official government agency or even a villainous syndicate. They were more like a loosely connected group of freelancers.
Of course, there were other solutions. Batman and Tony were working on a project—an advanced AI-driven surveillance system combined with space-based satellites to prevent crime before it happened. Essentially, a version of Skynet.
But their plan met resistance from other heroes, including Peter Parker. Many felt it was too extreme.
While the audience and contestants debated the issue, the quiz game continued.
After a brief break, a new question appeared:
[Next up is a 'Watch and Answer' round. A video will play, and after watching, you'll need to answer the question. Pay close attention!]
The screen lit up, showing a continuation of the previous scene.
After taking down Mysterio, Peter was caught off guard by a final act of revenge. Mysterio had manipulated footage to expose Peter's identity as Spider-Man to the world, branding him a murderer.
When Peter returned to May's apartment, the place was already swarming with reporters. Every news channel was broadcasting the shocking revelation on repeat.
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Translator's Note:
[Tony Stark]: Okay, team, we've got a situation. The translator needs more Power Stones to keep this multiverse spinning.
[Spider-Man]: Wait—Power Stones? Like, actual Infinity Stones? Or the Webnovel kind?
[Doctor Strange]: The Webnovel kind. Though both could technically bend reality, only one helps the translator update faster.
[Deadpool]: So you're saying if the readers don't vote, the story might slow down? Yikes. Quick, everyone, smash that Power Stone button like it's a chimichanga!
[Thor]: I shall summon the Bifrost and personally bring thee a vote… but my hammer's out of WiFi.
[Loki]: Typical. Always the dramatics. Just ask the readers nicely.
[Tony Stark]: Fine. Pretty please with arc reactor sprinkles—drop some Power Stones if you're loving the chaos!
[Spider-Man]: And maybe help me survive the next fight, yeah?
Translator:
Thanks, true believers! Every Power Stone helps fuel the next big Marvel moment. Let's keep this universe expanding—see you in the next chapter!