"This wasn't the arrangement you made yourself earlier?"
"You said the Avengers handle affairs on Earth, and the Men in Black handle matters beyond it."
Lyon said, "So it's not a problem for the Men in Black to act independently, right?"
Tony set the bottle down on the table. "Are you sure it's not a problem? God, you don't even like sharing good news with your big brother anymore! I guess I really should go back to my Kansas farm and keep harvesting wheat."
"You're joking again. Can you be serious for once?" A vein twitched on Lyon's forehead. "You just said the Skrulls are gathering intel on me?"
"Yeah." Tony nodded.
"But I haven't heard anything like that."
Lyon frowned.
"So that means they must be planning something, or maybe it's Nick Fury investigating me?"
Even when suppressed, Lyon's super hearing could still pick up anything related to himself.
But he had never heard anyone planning to steal his information from the Avengers.
"They're being cautious about you—they won't even say your name, so of course you wouldn't hear anything."
Tony said, "Everyone on the planet knows that, except for lead, you can see through anything, and your super hearing can cover the entire globe."
"In situations like this, anyone who wants to target you has to take your powers into account, right?"
"Wouldn't be surprised if the Skrulls even have a codename for you—like Voldemort—they probably just call you 'You-Know-Who'."
Tony sat down beside Lyon and slung an arm over his shoulder.
"Relax. I know your super hearing and vision don't work once people start deliberately shielding themselves."
"That's why JARVIS and I have already started looking into this. We'll have results soon."
Lyon shook his head. "Actually, my weakness to lead is no longer a problem."
"You're serious?" Tony looked skeptical.
Lyon said, "Just a few days ago, I destroyed several military bases that were using lead-lined chambers to secretly carry out activities targeting me."
"Now, all those people—along with whoever was behind them—have returned to the cycle of nature. You probably noticed that a few Senate seats have gone empty recently. That was them."
"Of course, I didn't touch the facilities using lead shielding purely for protecting scientific research secrets."
Lyon spread his hands. "After all, people still need a sense of security, right? No one likes the feeling of having zero privacy."
"You're so damn kind," Tony muttered. "But when did you fix that whole lead problem? Secretly getting stronger on your own again, huh?"
"It was all thanks to the changes brought by the Swallowed Star world. I even brought you a gift when I came back, didn't hide it from you," Lyon said.
"Oh, that world? Then it makes sense…" Tony suddenly understood.
Lately, he had been studying the optical brain from the Swallowed Star world—updating his knowledge daily.
Even though the optical brain didn't contain a complete scientific system and was mostly focused on weapon technology, Tony was still utterly fascinated by it.
He dared to say—No one understood the scope of that world's technology and personal power better than he did.
Not even Lyon could have a more in-depth grasp than him.
As Tony pondered this—
On the other side, Lyon had already used his super hearing and vision to find the answer he was looking for.
"It was Nick Fury. That guy always plans for everything," Lyon said as he withdrew his cosmic gaze.
"It's really that bald bastard?" Tony was shocked. "Wait, you already found out the truth just like that?"
Lyon nodded. "He built a lead-lined room inside the S.W.O.R.D. space station. All the files are stored there—details about my identity, upbringing, personality analysis, and behavioral predictions."
"Hmm, judging from what I saw, he probably understands me even better than you do now."
"He even has a project—something called the New Avengers Initiative."
"He let the Skrulls infiltrate your Avengers just to gather more data on my combat ability, trying to recruit me to his team... That guy really knows how to fantasize."
Everything locked away in Nick Fury's lead-lined room had now been laid bare by Lyon.
"Lead really doesn't work on you anymore!?" Tony exclaimed. "Good thing you're not a detective, or every sleuth on Earth would be out of a job starting today."
After marveling at that, he stood up again. "Nick Fury really is up to something. No wonder all those old subordinates of his are still in touch with him. So it was all to plan a new Avengers team."
"But you got one thing wrong just now, Lyon—there's no way he knows you better than I do!"
Tony suddenly raised his index finger.
"A couple files? Please. I know you so well that the second you raise a finger, I can tell whether you're about to pick your nose or scratch your butt crack!"
"Really?" Lyon said flatly, raising a single finger and poking Tony right in the chest.
The next second, Tony let out a wheeze as a surge of brute force shoved him deep into the couch cushions.
It was smooth as butter—only his bewildered head remained sticking out.
"Sorry. I wasn't picking my nose or scratching my ass. I was actually planning to poke you to death."
Lyon stood up and waved his finger. "Figure out how to get out of there yourself. I'm heading to the Helicarrier to arrange the next phase of the girls' operation."
The plan to expel the Skrulls had originally been meant to proceed gradually.
But since Nick Fury couldn't sit still—
—it was better to kick him out of orbit as soon as possible!
"Wait! You still haven't told me why you want to dismantle S.W.O.R.D.!" Tony, still wedged into the couch, craned his neck and shouted.
Standing at the door, Lyon replied, "S.W.O.R.D., huh? That's the agency founded by former Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau, with help from Nick Fury. It's meant to deal with interstellar conflicts."
"Its members include both humans and Skrulls. The Swordblade is their space station."
"They also report to the Security Council and have a high clearance level, but their authority and functions fall far short of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Now that Fury has moved up to the Swordblade space station, it's very likely he'll recruit all the 'unemployed' ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to expand S.W.O.R.D.'s power. You can look into the rest yourself."
As he finished, Lyon called toward the back room, "You two done eavesdropping? Time to head out!"
As his words fell, the door to the inner room opened, and the Natasha sisters stepped out fully geared up.
Both were dressed in black combat suits. After giving Tony a nod, they followed Lyon out and closed the door behind them.
After two unexpected visitors back-to-back, the sisters had woken up even from their deep sleep.
They had been listening to the conversation from inside the room and had been waiting for Lyon to say "let's go" for quite some time.
As the apartment door slammed shut, Tony was still buried in the couch.
"S.W.O.R.D., the Swordblade space station?" he muttered, "Nick Fury… just how many backup plans do you have…"
...
Five days later.
In the early morning in New York, a video suddenly shot to the top of all major news portal homepages without warning.
The video opened with a person clad in jet-black battle armor standing before a backdrop, speaking directly to the camera.
"Our world is undergoing a secret invasion by alien forces!"
No melodrama. No long-winded exposition.
The woman's voice from within the armor presented what at first seemed like an absurd claim—followed immediately by a barrage of evidence.
Nearly everyone who clicked on the video immediately recognized that the person in the black armor was one of the MIB agents.
______
Read ahead of WN at Patreon.com/LiveLifeLove