FBI: Chapter 44/45

Chapter 44: Mission Ended with Deception

Inside the Airbus, still hovering above the North Pole.

The lounge was pure chaos.

Everyone was red-faced and mid-scream in what had devolved into a full-blown shouting match.

Everyone except Hela and Clark.

Hela had long since gone from being impressed by Clark to being flat-out bored. She'd swiped Dante's phone and was now scrolling through IG reels with an expression of practiced indifference.

Clark wasn't angry, but he definitely looked flustered. He glanced at Hela like he was silently begging her for help.

"Oh, young God of Humanity, you must grow accustomed to these absurd quarrels," she said flatly.

"This... I really don't think I can."

Clark gave a helpless smile.

In front of him, Coulson had taken off his gentlemanly mask. His suit jacket was off, his tie was loose, shirt sleeves rolled, and watch stowed.

He slammed the table like he was about to throw hands with Dante.

"...If Clark Kent has feelings for Lois Lane, why can't he just confess?! What's he waiting for—another fake death and years of separation?! You want to live in regret forever?!"

Coulson's eyes were red as he shouted.

He couldn't help but think of Audrey—the cellist he'd loved before his "death." She had been his calm, intellectual White Moonlight throughout his entire agent career.

But after everything that happened… after dying… he could never show up in front of her again.

Most of the time, he could suppress that pain.

But today? Too many emotional spikes. Then Dante randomly started dissecting Clark's relationship drama and even turned to Coulson—him—for thoughts?

What did he think?

Coulson said he saw it with his own two eyes!

So yeah, Clark's emotional issues had somehow sparked a full-blown debate between Coulson and Dante.

Then Ada Wong got dragged in.

Then Loki.

Harley Quinn? No help at all—she was just there to stir the pot.

"Yeah Coulson's right!"
"Me too!"
"I, Harley Quinn, hereby officially support this ship!"

She threw in whatever sounded most chaotic.

"Sure, Lois Lane has plenty of admirers," Dante argued with a smirk. "But Clark is the most special one. Plus, she's a career-driven power woman. Let him take his time. Wait it out. And when it matters, just show up as Superman and drive the competition off!"

He grinned. "As the old saying goes—'All's fair in love and war.'"

"You're a damn emotional scammer! Liar! Feelings fraudster!"

Ada's eyes flashed. The elegant femme fatale twisted her waist and sent a spinning kick flying right at Dante.

"Hey! We're talking about someone else's love life! Don't use this as an excuse to unleash your inner Fire-Type, Ada!"

"Hmph. You short-lived mortals are all so shallow," Loki scoffed. "Love? Romance? What foolishness. We Asgardian gods are born to rule the cosmos."

"Shut up, thousand-year-old virgin!"

The entire group turned on Loki with synchronized disdain, and the room hit another crescendo of insanity.

Clark looked around, completely at a loss for who he was supposed to be listening to.

Then Hela finally looked up.

Her presence immediately suppressed the chaos like a sword had dropped into the room.

"Clark Kent. God of Humanity from beyond the Nine Realms," she said, her voice low and commanding. "Your power may be great, but your heart has not yet caught up."

She set down Dante's phone.

"I've lived thousands of years. Let me give you a piece of advice…"

"Please," Clark said, nodding solemnly. "I'm listening, Ms. Hela."

"Don't listen to others. Follow your own heart."

"Follow my heart… I understand now. Thank you, Ms. Hela!"

Clark's brow finally relaxed. He nodded to Hela with genuine gratitude, then—using his signature method—opened the hatch and exited the Airbus.

As usual, the perfect mix of brute force and courtesy.

"What did he even understand?" Hela muttered. "I don't even understand what I said."

She yawned and stood up. "Whatever. That guy flew off at high speed the second he stepped outside."

As soon as she said it, the whole room froze.

Coulson straightened his tie. Dante stretched and cracked his back.

Ada walked off to check if the drone storage units were still intact, and Loki poured himself a martini—something he'd only allow himself post-mission.

Only Harley Quinn looked genuinely confused.

"Eh? Why'd everyone stop yelling? Keep going! I was feeling that!"

"Insane," Dante muttered, rolling his eyes at her.

"Ohhh my Pudding~ That look you gave me just now—mmm, so intense! Excuse me, everyone, I need to go check if I packed spare shorts."

Harley tossed out a one-woman monologue no one asked for, then bolted toward her room on the ship.

"Not bad, Coulson," Dante said. "You really sold that scene. I almost thought you were actually fired up."

"...Ahahaha, yeah, yeah, totally. Acting. All acting!"

"…You weren't actually acting?" Dante squinted at him. "You still hung up on someone?"

"Of course not! I'm a cold, ruthless, seasoned FBI agent!"

Coulson's awkward smile said otherwise.

Dante sighed.

It was supposed to be a performance to throw off Clark Kent, but Coulson had made it personal.

Nick Fury really needed to start monitoring the mental health of his agents more closely.

"Dante, memory cores on all three drones are wiped," Ada reported.

"Yeah… Clark Kent's simple, but not stupid."

Dante waved it off. He wasn't interested in the Fortress of Solitude anymore.

He'd officially met the Big Guy now. So sooner or later, they'd cross paths again.

Maybe the Avengers and Justice League would merge someday...

Call it the Justice Avengers or something.

Just a thought. There wasn't a universe-level threat yet that could force all these lone-wolf types into cooperation.

"All right, Ada—set a course. We're really heading back this time."

With the coordinates locked in, the Airbus finally pulled out of hover mode.

This particular model was old, and hovering burned way too much fuel.

On the return trip, Dante had already decided—he was going to hit up Nick Fury for more funds.

As the Airbus rose higher into the sky and left the North Pole behind entirely, the system prompt finally chimed in.


---

[Mission: The Perfect Frozen Man – Complete]
[Mission-Related Characters: Coulson, Captain America, Loki, Hela, Superman]

[Acquired Ability: Kree Blood (Phil Coulson)]
[Acquired Ability: Super Soldier Serum (Captain America)]
[Acquired Ability: Astral Projection (Loki)]
[Acquired Ability: Necromancy (Hela)]
[Acquired Ability: Heat Vision (Superman)]

(To be continued.)

Chapter 45: Hello, Grant Ward

How to describe Dante's mood?

Comfortable.

Sure, he still didn't fully understand how the System chose its so-called "mission-related characters".

But hey, at least this time confirmed one thing:

Characters could show up again.

And best of all?

Clark Kent was still in the prize pool.

A guy like that would never drop some garbage-tier ability.

And looking at the results? Way beyond expectations.

First, Coulson.

As charming as the guy was, Dante hadn't expected much in terms of raw combat capability.

Yet the System dropped Kree blood.

A literal key to unlocking Inhuman abilities.

In other words, if Dante ever got his hands on a terrigen crystal? Boom—Inhuman unlocked.

Who knew what kind of power he'd get, but whatever it was, it was already light-years beyond Coulson's basic field skills. That was a full-on SSR drop.

Then came Captain America's Super Soldier Serum.

No need to explain. Just pure, no-frills, high-end physical enhancement.

Clean. Reliable. No downside.

Next up: Loki's Astral Projection and Hela's Necromancy.

The term "Astral Projection" sounded vague on paper, but once you got it translated to "your soul leaves your body but still punches people in the face"—well, that was very intuitive.

As for Hela's Necromancy? Naturally overpowered. Sure, it didn't exactly fit the FBI's official aesthetic, but Dante knew better than to care about PR.

He wouldn't use it in crowded urban zones, obviously—raising the dead kind of tended to cause more panic than a supervillain on a Tuesday.

And last but not least: Heat Vision.

Among Superman's Swiss-army-knife set of OP powers, it wasn't the flashiest.

But it was a staple.

It outclassed Cyclops' optic blasts by miles, and the energy modulation made it surprisingly versatile.

Need to cauterize a wound mid-fight? Done.

Laser-slice a tank in half? Also done.

And for Dante personally, it filled a huge gap: a dependable long-range attack, other than the occasional Green Lantern ring swipe.

In short?

Chef's kiss.

—

"So you're saying this guy—Superman—has some alien fortress in the shape of a pyramid in the North Pole?"

Fury's one eye widened as he stared Dante down.

"That's right. But don't even think about it," Dante warned. "Let me put it this way—there's no one on this Earth who can afford to piss that guy off. My advice? Forget this conversation ever happened. Delete the file in your brain. Don't do anything dumb and get us all nuked."

"…It can't be that bad. You've got the Goddess of Death on your side—"

Fury still wasn't fully convinced.

It was an alien fortress, after all. Who knows how many otherworldly black-tech toys were inside?

Forget raiding the whole thing—just getting one or two items could rocket Earth's science forward by a century.

"Fury," Dante said, cutting him off. His expression was stone-cold serious. "As long as you don't try to manipulate him—or anyone he cares about—he's the purest force for good we've ever seen. He saves people because he wants to. But if you ever make him give up on humanity…"

He didn't need to finish the sentence.

Injustice Superman was all the warning he needed.

"Fury, Agent Dante is right," Professor X added calmly from the side.

He didn't even need to read minds to know where Fury's head was at.

"I've seen what lies in people's hearts. Trust me—Superman is only dangerous if we make him dangerous."

"…Fine."

Fury rubbed his bald head and finally dropped the argument.

Dante knew he hadn't fully given up, but until an opportunity fell in his lap, he'd probably let it go.

"That's it for the mission report. I'm heading out."

"…What kind of mission report was that?! You just told me about Superman!"

"Huh? That's not the most important part?"

"Where the hell is Captain America?!"

"Med bay."

"Coulson?"

"Bathroom. Emo-ing with old photos of his ex."

"…Okay. You can go now."

Fury waved him off before this man stressed him into a second imported bottle of heart meds.

—

Dante didn't go straight home this time.

He dropped Hela off with Ada and Harley, letting the three women babysit each other.

Then, after dragging Coulson out of the thirty-first-floor bathroom with Loki, he made his way to the Coulson Team's airborne command post.

Technically, the Airbus belonged to him now—Fury had given it to him—but S.H.I.E.L.D. still had a whole fleet of similar airborne command platforms.

"Dante, you've seen everyone's files, so I won't introduce them one by one," Coulson said.

Dante scanned the room full of excited and composed faces, matching names to files with ease.

"H-hi, Agent Dante, you and the Star Team have basically become legends in the Bureau," said Fitz, clearly nervous.

"Fitz, not the time to stutter—Agent Dante," Simmons jumped in, eyes gleaming. "I heard you have incredibly advanced self-healing. Would it be possible to extract a sample of your tissue for research purposes?"

The Science Babies struck fast.

Dante smirked. These two were definitely indoor Agents to the core.

And Simmons? She had all the makings of a mad scientist in the making.

"Fitz, cool her down before she dissects him," Coulson muttered with a sigh.

They were great kids—brilliant—but very excitable.

"It's fine, Coulson," Dante chuckled. "But looks like not everyone's here. Where's Grant Ward?"

"Reporting, Agent Dante!"

Skye stepped up, trying to act cool and failing slightly.

"Agent Grant Ward is currently in the lounge. He's still debating whether he wants to join this team."

"Oh? That so? Guess I'll go say hello." Dante turned to Coulson. "Cap's been in the med bay long enough. He should be waking up soon. Might be good for your team to be there when he does. Guy's been on ice for almost a hundred years. Probably gonna need a moment."

With that, Dante waved and headed toward the lounge.

Halfway there, he glanced back over his shoulder at Skye.

"Next time you wanna sneak a peek, just do it openly. No need to lurk like a cartoon burglar."

He kept walking without waiting for her flustered response.

As he reached the lounge, he casually disabled the surveillance system along the way.

Time for a real conversation.

He stepped through the door.

"Hello, Grant Ward."

"As a HYDRA agent… you really don't feel even a little uncomfortable sitting here?"

(To be continued.)