Chapter 905: Skrull Misfortune Strikes (Part 1)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

Ever since the Skrulls disguised themselves as Nick Fury and other superheroes officially took the stage, they realized that things weren't unfolding as they had anticipated.

Initially, the Skrull leader disguised as Nick Fury had hoped to assume the roles of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a superhero, aiming to exploit the resources and connections held by these individuals. However, shortly after becoming Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., reality dealt him a harsh blow.

According to Nick Fury's own memories, over the years, he had exploited various loopholes within S.H.I.E.L.D., securing a substantial amount of funding and establishing numerous secret bases. These secret bases were scattered across the United States, with only he and a handful of core agents knowing their precise locations.

The contents within these warehouses were incredibly valuable, including heavy equipment that couldn't be accessed by ordinary people and held strategic significance. This was all crucial to the Skrulls.

As one of the Space's three major Empires, the Skrull Empire had faced a tumultuous history. They originated in the Andromeda Galaxy, where their civilization had reached an advanced stage. Unfortunately, their homeworld fell victim to Galactus's appetite, forcing them to relocate.

Internally, the Empire was far from tranquil, often plagued by civil wars. After a massive upheaval, many Skrulls fled their homeland, with the group that arrived on Earth following an ancient religious fable, believing that Earth was their land of rejuvenation and sought to control it.

Their initial actions were successful, with many Skrulls infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. as agents. They made contact with the superheroes and, during these interactions, prepared to replicate their appearances and abilities.

As superheroes started to meet their untimely deaths one after another, the Skrull leader realized this was an unprecedented opportunity.

Their replication ability was not without flaws. Firstly, they needed to be in close proximity to the target for a period of time, not necessarily physically touching but not too far away for an extended duration, or the replication would fail, necessitating them to start over.

Furthermore, their replicated abilities had an upper limit and were likely to fail when confronted by the original owner, especially those with magical or psychic powers.

Another crucial point was that the same target could only be replicated and impersonated by a single Skrull; multiple Skrulls couldn't simultaneously replicate the same ability.

Moreover, there was a cooldown period for changing appearances and abilities, roughly spanning ten years. However, Skrulls were not an immortal species, with lifespans of approximately 220 years, only two to three times longer than that of humans.

In other words, they had to be cautious in their choice of replication targets; otherwise, they would have to wait for a decade to change and imitate another target, which was highly detrimental.

This raised a significant problem: if they wanted to take the stage in the identity of another person, they would have to eliminate that person. However, their abilities had already been weakened, making them incapable of defeating their targets.

They couldn't replicate the same potent ability with several individuals and engage in group combat, nor could they replicate powerful abilities before assuming the useful superhero identity, given the extended cooldown times. Their resources were insufficient.

Furthermore, engaging in open combat would attract too much attention. Their goal was to infiltrate human society quietly and control its upper echelons, not engage in a full-scale battle with humanity.

After living in human society for such a long time, all Skrulls understood just how suspicious and xenophobic this race could be.

They even divided their own people into countless factions, constantly vying against one another. If they ever found out about a terrifying alien capable of completely replicating their appearance and abilities planning to infiltrate Earth, the Skrulls would face dire consequences.

The Skrull leader disguised as Nick Fury had initially planned to start with more vulnerable targets, like Coulson and Hill, core agents, and seize an opportunity to eliminate them completely, slowly infiltrating from there, and ultimately targeting Nick Fury.

In reality, they had never considered physically confronting the superheroes. The reasons were twofold: the commotion would be too significant, and they couldn't afford the losses.
There were numerous superheroes among humanity, along with mutants, and the Skrulls who had arrived on Earth were not in great numbers to begin with. After some internal divisions occurred, the faction led by Skrulls disguised as Nick Fury consisted of less than 20 individuals.

In the event of a direct confrontation with superheroes, whether it was Captain America or Spider-Man, even if there was a chance to defeat them, they could at least capture one or two Skrull members. This group of superheroes had a policy against killing, but not against dealing with aliens, and they couldn't tolerate such casualties.

With these thoughts in mind, they continued to wait for the outcome, never expecting that a golden opportunity would fall right into their laps.

Nick Fury had died, and the three most popular superheroes in New York had also perished.

Such a perfect moment couldn't be missed. The impostor Nick Fury stepped in to take over, only to find himself trapped in a whirlwind.

He intended to use the resources accumulated by Nick over the years to develop the Skrulls' own base and weapons. However, within just two days of taking office, bases all across America began to explode.

Hydra seemed to suddenly remember that S.H.I.E.L.D. was their eternal enemy, and those Nazi sympathizers recalled the glory days of the past. This time, they aimed to achieve even greater glory by invading the American continent.

In a span of just two days, out of more than 120 bases per week, over 80 bases were attacked. Within a single day, the damage rate exceeded 40%, and the loss of resources could only be measured in astronomical terms.

The real Nick had stored these resources for strategic reserves, and during the rapidly advancing Solar System development plan, he didn't feel an urgent need to use these materials and equipment.

He wasn't in a rush, but the impostor Nick was in a hurry.

The impostor Nick was eager to put these materials and equipment to use for the Skrulls' revival, and he thought his first task after taking over would be to inventory all the supplies and then make use of them. However, the inventory was indeed taken, but it mainly accounted for losses.

At the same time, this incident plunged the impostor Nick into deep self-doubt because Nick Fury's memories told him that about half of the bases were known only to Nick himself, and another small portion required Nick's personal authorization to access.

This wasn't information he had heard; it was directly retrieved from his memories, so it should have been completely reliable.

Then, how did Hydra find and destroy bases that only Nick knew about and that had never been authorized for access by anyone else?

Any intelligent being, once caught in the vortex of doubting their own memories, would find it nearly impossible to escape. Once they discovered a single gap in their memory, they would begin to doubt every aspect of it.

Moreover, this Nick knew he was fake, which added to his unease.

This was also the problem faced by other fake superheroes. Their physical disguises were flawless, and their abilities were almost without flaws. The only chink in their armor was their psychology.

Fake goods knew they were fake, and that was their greatest vulnerability.

If someone knew they were fake, they would inevitably be anxious, and their behavior would be driven by one overriding command: "Try to prove you're real."

In the game of Werewolf, the biggest weakness of the werewolf was knowing that it was a werewolf.

Human memory and thinking inevitably drove their actions. After knowing that they were in an unverifiable identity, they had to take many actions to cover up their identity.

These actions were actually contrary to normal logical behavior. In most cases, regular people didn't need to prove who they were, and if they weren't in a game where everyone had to prove themselves, this abnormality would become even more apparent.
The expression of a superhero is such that they must act as superheroes, or else they will feel a sense of inadequacy, fearing that they might be exposed.

In the following days, trouble befell several impostor superheroes.

Spider-Man faced a major issue. Originally, Peter had portrayed Spider-Man in a way that led to his death in the public eye. Both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government couldn't possibly reveal the news of someone having the ability to resurrect, so the imposter Spider-Man naturally became the second-generation Spider-Man.

Everyone knew that the White Moonlight was invincible. If it remained beyond reach, it would forever shine as the brightest moon in the sky. However, if it were still alive, it would become just a grain of white rice, appearing ordinary and even annoying.

Human nature dictates that what one can't have is always the most desirable.

Spider-Man was not a perfect superhero, and when he was alive, there were plenty of criticisms directed at him.

On forums, some questioned his combat tactics, others criticized his behavior, and some maliciously wanted to investigate his background.

However, as soon as Spider-Man died, he immediately became the benchmark for superheroes.

According to some descriptions on the forums, he was a very noble young man - intelligent, wise, kind, and strong. He could reach the heights of the heavens and depths of the seas, defeating criminals, kicking out evil forces, and mastering all sorts of weaponry. He was adept at everything, except staying alive.

On the contrary, the so-called second-generation Spider-Man, currently in existence, was met with disapproval from every angle.

Some argued that he must create a costume distinct from the first Spider-Man's, or else he would be riding the coattails of the original Spider-Man's popularity, profiting from the dead.

Spider-Man's fans also voiced strong resistance. They would never accept someone who looked identical to their ideal hero but fell short in comparison. After several days of criticism in newspapers and on social media, the impostor Spider-Man finally gave in.

He made changes to his combat suit, making it different from the original Spider-Man. It was still handsome, but now the blue had turned black, and the red was even deeper, giving it a sharper look.

However, this new costume quickly raised new questions. Many people argued that the colors were too sinister, not fitting the young, vibrant image of Spider-Man.

So, the impostor Spider-Man had to adjust his image once again. He lightened the blue but kept the red, making it appear more cheerful.

But soon enough, people criticized this image as light, exaggerated, resembling a toy found in a toy store, giving an unreliable impression.

Apart from his costume image, his behavior was also constantly under attack.

When he tried to mimic the lively and chatty style of the original Spider-Man, people quickly labeled him as a talentless, oily imitator. However, if he remained silent and appeared cold in front of the camera, people said he had lost the friendly image of Spider-Man.

In just a few days, this impostor Spider-Man was nearing the point of collapse.

He was originally a young military officer with almost no experience in society. If you converted his age, he was about the same as Peter now. During the majority of his time on Earth, he had worked in S.H.I.E.L.D. and had never encountered ordinary society.

He had never realized how terrifying human beings could be.

He hadn't grasped that the essence of human nature was hypocrisy; when they disliked someone, everything they did was considered wrong.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

Next Chapter>>Chapter 906: Skrull's Misfortune (Part 1)