Kitty Pryde's lips parted slightly. Daisy's top-secret mission was a bit like something out of a game or a novel—two sides fighting to the death, and then the protagonist quietly making off with the treasure. She had to admit, it was thrilling! Still, she was a little worried about her own safety; phasing might not be enough to carry her straight across a battlefield.
"It is a little dangerous out there, but I'll send someone to protect you. Come here, Drew!" The ever-shrewd Daisy had read the girl's misgivings at a glance and waved Spider-Woman over.
In Daisy's telling, Miss Drew—Spider-Woman on her very first day on the job—became a seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She had Kitty memorize the route, then sent the two of them off to quietly retrieve the Tesseract.
Even if Kitty told Charles about it afterward, there was nothing to fear. With the information imbalance, the old professor would have no way of knowing whether Daisy had taken the Tesseract on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s behalf or her own. That was precisely the advantage of her position as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Deputy Director—she could switch between her personal role and her organizational one at will, and outsiders had no way to verify a thing.
"Emma, keep an eye on them with your telepathy. I don't want anything going wrong—it'd be hard to explain to old Charles if it did."
Miss Drew might have gaps in her knowledge, but she truly had the makings of a great commander, and Kitty was just as impressive. With the two of them working together and the White Queen watching from the shadows, Daisy felt quite at ease.
It was Kitty's first time shouldering such a heavy responsibility. She crept out of Xavier's School through a side door, and the sky ablaze with war outside made her shiver despite herself.
But her innate heroic spirit—and the promise of a game console—gave her the courage to take that first step.
She wanted to say something to Miss Drew to ease the tension, but Spider-Woman kept her head down and pressed on, and Kitty couldn't think of what to say.
Little did she know, Miss Drew was busy steeling herself as well. She figured Daisy had entrusted her with an important job: protecting Kitty beside her, who looked like something of a liability.
I'm a grown-up now! She kept pumping herself up inwardly. Miss Drew believed that since Daisy treated her as an adult, she had to live up to that trust. She cranked her spider-sense to the maximum and led Kitty weaving through the streets and alleys.
She's amazing! Kitty had no idea of Drew's mental age. Seeing her curvy figure and hearing Daisy call her a professional agent, Kitty assumed she was much older, and for a moment she was filled with nothing but admiration.
To prove her own worth—or really, out of a bratty kid's urge to show off—whenever they couldn't dodge in time, she'd grab Drew and phase them both through with her power.
A wall? Phase through it! Metal? Phase through it! An enemy? Phase through and kill them instantly!
Experiencing phasing for the first time astonished Miss Drew, and on its heels came a sense of kinship: she wasn't the only freak in this world after all. That was wonderful.
The two of them dodged when they could and phased through when they couldn't.
The bulk of the Chitauri had left the excavation site, leaving only a few wounded stragglers to guard it. Slipping past those sentries and pulling the Tesseract up from underground was no great feat for the two of them.
Tiptoeing, snatching the treasure right under the enemy's nose—the two girls were so excited their hearts nearly leapt out of their chests. They quickly found the cube, sealed it in the specialized S.H.I.E.L.D. case, and then Kitty, her heart set on that game console, grabbed Miss Drew and ran back the way they'd come.
Meanwhile, Daisy had run into a small snag. Xavier's School could hold just fine on the strength of its few mutants, but Captain America's side lacked the firepower to break through. Thor and Iron Man had taken to the air several times, only to be met by concentrated fire, forcing them to fight as infantry alongside Cap.
"Daisy, I'm truly sorry. I need a little more time." After Daisy urged him for the third time, Captain America apologized, breathing hard.
In truth he had little strength left. He'd organized seven charges in a row, and every one had been beaten back by the Chitauri's dense firepower. Leading from the front, he'd taken several rounds, and blood had long since stained that flag-waving battle uniform of his red.
"Where's Dr. Banner?"
"Dr. Banner was lured away by the enemy. He's probably lost control."
Daisy mulled it over for a few seconds. "Hold on. Reinforcements are on the way."
She cut the line to Captain America and patched through to Fury. "Cap's side is short on breaching power. We'll have to use that guy—he's not much of a danger to society anyway."
"...Fine." Fury put down the phone and turned to the massive shipping container beside him. Locked inside was none other than the Juggernaut, hauled in from a secret base.
"Head north from this intersection, turn left, and you'll find a giant metal fortress. Smash a passage through it for me and I'll give you eight thousand dollars. How's that?" Nick Fury asked the fuming Juggernaut.
That eight thousand dollars wasn't just a figure Daisy and he had pulled out of thin air—it was the top rate they'd dug up from the international mercenary trade. The Juggernaut's combat power was formidable, but sadly he had no brains, so his hiring price was low. Eight thousand dollars actually counted as generous.
Sure enough, the Juggernaut couldn't have cared less about pardons or serving out his sentence. All he cared about was that bit of pocket money, and the moment he heard of a fortune like eight thousand dollars, his eyes went red.
Fury very carefully opened the high-tech prison, and the Juggernaut walked out like a mountain of flesh.
There was no howling at the sky about being free at last, no grandiose declarations of freedom. The big lug just glared with his ox-like eyes. "Where's the money?"
Given that the guy couldn't use a bank card, Fury had prepared nothing but cash—a jumbled assortment of it: some $100 bills, some $50s, and plenty of $20s and $10s.
It filled a whole box and made for a very impressive-looking pile.
When Daisy first heard the idea she'd backed it too, even laughing a couple of times—she thought Fury's method was a fine one.
What Fury hadn't told his Deputy Director was that all that loose change had come straight out of her office.
With New York's streets in chaos and the banks all shuttered, Fury really couldn't lay hands on cash on short notice. Luckily his powers of observation were exceptional. He'd noticed that Daisy, being a foodie, often sent her people or went herself to buy snacks. There was no way to pay by card for a burger or a cola, and there was no WeChat Pay here either—the street vendors took cash only—so there was no shortage of cash in Daisy's office...
And that was more or less the case. Fury packed a full box of money—he reckoned it had to be at least eight thousand.
"Fifty! A hundred—a hundred fifty, two hundred!" The Juggernaut showed not the slightest joy at regaining his freedom. Crouched on the ground, he counted the money twice over. Huh—seemed like there was two hundred-some dollars extra?
Did this idiot overpay? The Juggernaut decided not to tell the guy standing in front of him. Let him stew over it!
He slammed the box shut, signaling the deal was on, and asked in his muffled, booming voice, "Where is it? That metal fortress you mentioned?"
Fury carefully led the way, and before they'd gone far the two of them caught sight of the all-metal fortress the Chitauri had built out of their troop transports.
"That's the one. Smash through it and the deal's done!" Fury had figured out that with a blockhead like this, there was no need for mind games—plain honesty did the trick.