"What we give them isn't necessarily money." Nick, leaning back with his arms crossed, stood in front of the table and asked, "What version has the Spider App updated to now?"
Finally shifting his gaze from his coffee, a programmer in a plaid shirt sitting at the end of the long table rubbed his hands together and said, "It's now at version 1.0.8, having gone through eight version updates."
"What's our income and expenditure situation then?" Nick looked at the finance person next to the table, who sifted through a substantial report from the bottom of his documents. After scanning over it, he nodded, "Financial statements look much better than the field department. Spider-Men seldom ask for much. Often, they undertake a heap of work merely for some things that aren't too valuable for us."
"So, we can manage the superhero team in the same way, releasing an official hiring app. Any superhero can register on it, accept employment missions, earn points and redeem rewards."
Nick laughed, "From what I gather, these young people nowadays, if you bring up the 'Superhero Registration Act' or shove a survey in their faces for them to fill out, they'll undoubtedly rebel. But if you say that a new game requires all of their ability data, they'll fill everything out without blinking an eye."
Everyone around the conference table laughed. An African American agent sitting in the center of the table spread his hands and said, "If you ask me to work for money, all I want to do is laze around in bed. But if you tell me I can earn points to get cool skins by playing a few more rounds in the game, I'll get up earlier than anyone."
"Then it's settled." Nick nodded in agreement and looked toward the programming department's team members, "Work your magic, and have a rough framework for us in the next few days. We'll first test it internally on the superhero teams we're familiar with."
The programmer adjusted his glasses, "That's not hard. We've already built the Spider App and the Octopus App. We can just adapt the framework from there. However, New York is so safe now, where are we going to find tasks to assign to them?"
The Head of Field Operations, a woman, stroked her chin and suggested, "When in doubt, just assign them some petty things to take care of, like running errands. We still have a ton of those tasks, don't we?"
"No." Natasha shook her head to veto this proposal, explaining, "The first set of tasks must be quite official because we are setting rules. Meanwhile, it lets them appreciate the seriousness with which the authorities treat the matter so that they will take following tasks seriously."
"If we really end up giving them tasks like delivering letters as in the game, after the initial novelty has worn off, they'll surely become exasperated. They'll feel like they're being treated like nameless minions and then completely abandon them."
"Indeed." Nick nodded, agreeing with Natasha's point of view, then added, "The first batch of tasks must be methodic and of moderate difficulty, especially not too easy, to make it clear that there is a possibility that they might get hurt. This is a security hiring mission, not just role-playing for fun."
"This way, we can also discourage those who play superhero for fun but actually lack both the skills and the resolve, reducing their casualties."
The female head of Field Operations banged her forehead with her pen and queried, "So, the first set of tasks has to be combative tasks? Where are we going to find enemies for them? And even if we find an enemy, they might not realize how dangerous they are through the task description."
"The enemy needs to look very fierce at first glance." Mark extended his hand, "The kind that is so scary it makes a child cry. Every CIA agent has heard from their predecessors about our first mission being to defeat an alien with eight hands that can shoot mind-controlling waves. It sounds ridiculous, but it really does weed out the cowards."
Nick nodded his agreement, lost in thought. It seemed that he was searching through his mind for a fitting enemy, but the longer he deliberated, the deeper his frown grew.
After a while, he sighed, and with a bitter smile helplessly admitted, "Remarkably, Earth is quite safe. But that's not my fault; blame our psychoanalyst... Wait, has there been any word from Shiller lately?"
People down below looked at each other before shaking their heads. Nick glanced at the date on the clock then murmured, "Shiller has been missing for too long. I fear his plan this time is beyond imagination..."
"Beep beep beep—!!"
Suddenly, a sharp alarm rang out from the communicator attached to Natasha's waist. Raising an eyebrow, she picked up the communicator.
"Hello, what's going on? Grant, why are you activating the emergency comm?"
Hearing the voice of Grant Ward from the other end of the communicator, Natasha sprung up from her seat, eyes widened, "What did you say? Reed Richards sent out a Level One warning through the laboratory's security monitoring platform, warning of an invasion by the Antimatter Universe Worm Race?!"
"Reed Richards wants a face-to-face with Nick Fury. Director, do you want me to patch him through?" Natasha turned her head to ask Nick.
Nick nodded. After Natasha finished the conversation, she quickly walked to the projector at the front, plugged her communicator into it, and soon the giant half figure of Reed Richards was projected to the center of the meeting room.
Nick observed that Doctor Otto and Dr. Banner were also behind Reed, who had a serious expression and declared.
"While observing the Antimatter Universe, I found that a superorganism called the Annihilator was working with an entity known as Ravenous to open a passage from the Antimatter Universe to the Positive Matter Universe. Currently, countless terrifying bugs are invading our universe."
"According to the images transmitted back by Stark's observer robot left in Universe Space, the Three Great Empires have yet to muster a resistance. The horrifying bug swarm—akin to a terrifying Annihilation Wave—has, in just a few minutes of their arrival, already destroyed hundreds of surrounding dimensions."
"If this is not stopped, then today will be the day of total annihilation for our entire universe..."
"Wait a minute." Nick raised a hand to halt Reed from going any further. Reed assumed Nick was going to ask he knew, and as he prepared to explain, Nick interrupted.
"What did you say the thing that the Annihilator was collaborating with was called?"
"Ravenous."
Nick didn't even look at Reed before turning to the others in the meeting room and waving his hand.
"Shiller's grand plan is here. Get ready for work."
Near Pluto, within the former Kree guard ship, Star-Lord Quill, dressed in a NASA uniform, was squatting under a piece of equipment, repairing its internal parts with a wrench.
Rocket Raccoon sat beside him, munching on popcorn. Quill glanced over at him and said, "If you're just going to sit there, go to the storeroom next door and fetch me the directional detonator. These Kree spacecraft are tough nuts to crack without the right tools."
Rocket threw a kernel of popcorn into his mouth and huffed, "So, you're planning on being a mechanic for the rest of your life, huh? What about your dreams of space exploration? Your spirit of adventure?"
"Are you kidding me? I was originally an employee of NASA. I'm just going back to what I used to do," Quill stood upright, toyed with the part he had just removed, and said, "You really thought I enjoyed risking my life as a mercenary in the cosmos. Do you know how much money repair work can make?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's all for your long-lost love." Rocket jumped down from his post, snatched the part from his hands, repaired the damaged part of the ship quickly, and then sighed. He threw the wrench aside, sat on the ground and added.
"Fine, I'm a raccoon. I didn't feel quite what you did when you visited that horrific Cancer Universe. But you've had a long rest, haven't you gotten over the psychological shadow yet?"
Quill's hand paused on the table. He walked over to Rocket, sat down and said, "It's not all because of that terrible universe. Don't you feel that given the terrifying entities lurking in the depths of the cosmos, what we should do now is help humanity grow? What if they attack us one day?"
"Boring, boring, boring!" Rocket began to rant. He jumped up from where he was sitting, flicked his fuzzy tail and said, "If you want to live a peaceful life here, that's fine. But I'm about to start my own grand interstellar adventure. I'm leaving tomorrow, no need to see me off."
With that, he walked towards another compartment in the starship. Quill followed him and said, "Don't be like that, my good buddy. Weren't we just talking about visiting Half-World together?"
"You were the one who abandoned me first." Rocket kept walking, waving his hands behind him, "I thought we were brothers after we returned from that hellish universe."
"Of course we are, but...oh, hold on, Yondu just messaged me. I need to take this call."
Quill stopped in his tracks and looked at the communicator on his wrist. With a soft tap, Yondu's hologram appeared above the watch face. Yondu's expression was stern.
"Damn it, where have you been? Hurry back to Distant Star Port. We're under attack from those damn bugs and we've lost a lot of manpower. Get back here quick!!!"
"Wait, how did you guys get attacked?" Quill asked, puzzled. "Aren't the Ravagers on vacation right now? How could they be attacked while docked at the star port of one of the Three Great Empires?"
"The Three Great Empires got attacked! Damn Kree Empire can't even beat bugs! They want us to take their place as cannon fodder. We can't go, but we can't escape either. Where are you? Get back, nowhere in the cosmos is safe now!"
"I'm on Earth. Didn't I tell you? I planned on staying on Earth for a while, at least until I earn enough money to renovate my mom's old house."
Yondu stuttered for a moment, his facial expression changing rapidly. He said to Quill, "Oh, so you're in the Nine Major Kingdoms? Then forget about it, stay where you are, and don't go anywhere. Odin can surely beat those bugs."
Quill furrowed his brows as he heard a sense of wrongness in Yondu's tone. Suddenly, two explosion sounds came from the communicator, followed by the first mate's screams.
"The Star Port has been breached! The Kree Empire's escort ships have been shattered by those laser-shooting giant worms! Boss! We need to retreat immediately!"
"Bang! Boom! Zrrrr---- Zrrrr-------"
Yondu's hologram on Quill's wrist watch flickered a few times, then disappeared completely. Quill yelled at the watch, "Hello? Hello?!! Yondu? Ravagers? Anyone there? What the hell happened? Damn it..."
Quill hung up the communication device harshly, turned around and picked up his backpack. He said to Rocket, "Weren't you looking for fun? Does the demise of the star port of the Three Great Empires thrill you enough? Hurry up, we need to go to Distant Star Port and rescue the Ravagers!"
Rocket jumped onto his shoulder. Quill was going to reenact his old stunt of flying directly to the destination in this ship, but Rocket smacked him on the back of his head and said, "What are you thinking? Go to the Holy Sanctuary and teleport to Asgard, then take the Rainbow Bridge. Could the spaceship be faster than teleportation?!"
Quill suddenly understood. He arrived at the Holy Sanctuary according to Rocket's instructions, but the Holy Sanctuary said that the Supreme Magician was not around and they had no authority to teleport anyone to Asgard. The manager who was attending to Quill said that he could try and ask Asgard, perhaps Asgard could teleport him over.
Back then, Quill had met Thor at Thor's wedding, so he didn't think it would be a problem for him to be teleported over. However, Asgard responded saying the Divine King was not around and the Rainbow Bridge was temporarily closed to visitors.