Chapter 225: The Death of Nick Fury

"What are your plans afterward? Returning to Asgard?"

George continued to ask.

He knew it was only a matter of time before Thor picked up Mjolnir, so it wasn't a surprise.

"George, I appreciate your help, but I'm afraid I'll need to trouble you a bit longer. Through your books and TV shows, I've realized that the problems of humanity are much worse than those in our realm. Compared to Asgard, perhaps Midgard needs me more," Thor said, closing the book.

"So, I plan to stay on Midgard to help humans. With the Bifrost, I can always return to Asgard if needed."

"Is it because of Jane? I heard from Logan that you two have been dating recently."

George gave a knowing look, the kind only men understand.

Thor immediately coughed.

"Ah, well... that's part of it, but definitely not the main reason. As rulers of the Nine Realms, Asgard has a responsibility to protect them. As the God of Thunder and the future ruler of Asgard, I also have a responsibility to protect humanity."

"Alright, no matter the reason, we welcome you to stay."

George patted Thor on the shoulder and then headed towards the basement of the school.

There were still some upgrades to be made, like expanding the space of the battle simulation room with a seamless expansion spell, so the children could practice their superpowers and magic in a larger area.

This was just the first phase of the upgrades. Once his alchemy skills improved, he'd continue to modify the school further.

Not only would it gather the magical features of Hogwarts Castle, but he also planned to make it mobile like the moving fortress from Fairy Tail, along with adding extremely powerful attack magic circles.

In the future, if possible, he even planned to lift the entire school off the ground and create a floating city for added safety.

However, just as he was heading toward the basement, his phone suddenly rang.

"It's Black Widow," he said, looking at the caller ID before answering with a joke: "Natasha, what's up? Thinking of leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. and joining our school?"

"George, Nick Fury is dead, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is finished. We need your help!"

On the other end of the phone, Natasha's voice sounded exhausted.

George froze.

"Nick Fury is dead? Are you sure?"

Nick Fury wasn't particularly skilled in combat, but his ability to stay alive was top-notch.

Not only did he have Skrull doubles, but he also had a powerful ally in Captain Marvel.

Honestly, even now, George didn't think he could take on Captain Marvel in a fight.

After all, Captain Marvel could travel through space without equipment and had the ability to punch through the most advanced Kree and Thanos ships with just her body.

So, when George heard that Nick Fury was dead, he immediately thought that it couldn't possibly be true—Fury must have faked his death.

But Natasha's next words made him doubt that.

"We were ambushed by a large group of Winter Soldiers from Hydra. Fury was stabbed through the chest by one of them and died on the spot.

The Winter Soldiers are a batch of emotionless killers created by Hydra using a special serum. We thought there was only one, but it turns out there are many more."

In the movie universe, there was only one Winter Soldier—Bucky Barnes, Captain America's best friend.

After falling off a train years ago, he was found by Hydra, injected with the serum, and brainwashed, becoming one of Hydra's deadliest assassins. He even killed Tony Stark's parents, which eventually led to the Civil War among the Avengers.

"Could it be the Winter Soldiers from Hydra's base in Civil War, activated early?"

George suddenly remembered that besides Bucky, Hydra had also created over thirty other Winter Soldiers using their elite assassination squad, all of whom were eventually killed by Helmut Zemo during a mission.

According to Bucky, these soldiers were all multilingual, skilled in infiltration, assassination, disguise, and subverting governments, capable of erasing entire nations.

If they worked together, they could take down a small country.

But this wasn't the movie universe—this was an unknown Marvel universe, and with George's intervention, S.H.I.E.L.D. had learned about Hydra's existence early and had already started confronting them directly.

So it made sense that Hydra had activated those frozen Winter Soldiers.

Nick Fury could have been caught off guard and killed by one of them.

In some universes, not just Nick Fury, but even Iron Man and Captain America had died.
Captain America was now teaching at his school, and without Captain America's help, it was understandable that S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't take on Hydra.

"So, after Nick Fury's death, did his body start looking weird? Like turning green?" George asked.

"Turn green? George, I'm not joking. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been completely defeated. Hydra's next move might threaten the entire world. They are preparing to launch the space carriers they stole from S.H.I.E.L.D. and initiate Project Insight." Natasha's voice sounded urgent now, as Fury's death had thrown her into disarray.

The government couldn't be trusted, and they didn't know how many Hydra spies were hiding. The only group that could stop Hydra's Project Insight was George and his school.

Hydra's information had come from George, and Captain America was with him. The school was full of mutants with various abilities, making them strong enough to take on Hydra.

"Alright, where are you? I'll come to find you."

George said.

If it was a Skrull posing as Nick Fury, then after his death, his body would have reverted to its Skrull form. But since that hadn't happened, it seemed like Nick Fury had truly been killed.

If Fury was dead and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been destroyed, then without George's help, Hydra's strength would likely be enough to take over the world.

Odin, the Ancient One, and other powerful beings wouldn't intervene in humanity's civil war.
He remembered that in some Marvel universes, Hydra had actually taken over the world.

George certainly didn't want that to happen. Hydra ruled with an iron fist, as demonstrated by Project Insight.

What was Project Insight?

It was a program using Dr. Zola's algorithm to calculate who might threaten Hydra's existence in the future. Then, using three space carriers, Hydra would kill those people before they could become too powerful.

Everyone would be forced to obey Hydra's rule or face elimination.

George and his Superpowered Academy would have to bow to Hydra's authority to avoid being targeted.

But George would never submit to Hydra.

The only option was to stop Hydra's plan and make them understand that there were some people who should never be messed with.