The Ultimates: Against All Enemies Read Online Free PDF
Author: Alex Irvine
not known, but estimated to be less than .01916 solar year.
Appendix: Field Report
Priority human asset assimilated in. Mission security compromised by presence of human asset's mate and offspring, contrary to advance reports. Human asset's mate and offspring eliminated.
Priority nonhuman asset assimilated in. Priority human asset assimilated in .
6
Another day, another fruitless hour spent trying to reason with people whose minds were deadened and senses numbed by the onslaughts of multimedia consumer capitalism. Today Thor was in Nick Fury's office trying to convince Nick to throw SHIELD'S weight behind an effort to release the Stark screener technology. Normally this wouldn't be the kind of action he could endorse—what the world needed was less surveillance, not more—but Thor knew what was coming. He hoped to be able to impress the importance of this on Fury, but he wasn't optimistic. For all of Nick Fury's virtues, he was still a man of his times.
And this, Thor thought, is the difference. I am neither a man nor of any time. In this way it becomes impossible for us to understand each other.
Perhaps I understand Steve Rogers a little better than most, because he is lost in time as well. But he is also a creature of duty and obedience, and I understand only the first of those. In obedience I have not the slightest interest.
"So, Loki said something to me the other day," he began, just to get Fury in the right frame of mind.
"Oh, did he?" Fury said, not bothering to hide his skepticism. He was at his desk comparing two sets of figures.
"He said that of all the Ultimates, Steve Rogers was his favorite. I think your conversation the other night really made him a fan."
Fury put down his pen and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said with his eyes closed. "I get it. If I have to raise my right hand and swear that I believe you're the Norse god of thunder just to get you to leave, I'll do it." He raised his right hand, looking down at his desk. Ten seconds or so later, he looked up. "You're not gone."
"You're not very convincing," Thor said.
"Neither are you, Mister Son of Odin, or Wotan, or whatever we're supposed to call him. I don't believe in gods—any of them—and until you bring Jesus Christ himself in to walk across the Upper Bay from Battery Park to here, that isn't going to change. Far as I'm concerned, you're a garden-variety anti-globalization wacko who got hold of some tech that nobody can reverse-engineer. Doesn't make you anything special."
Thor had started smiling at "Wotan," and couldn't stop. "Quite a speech, General Fury."
"You provoke me," Fury said.
"Well. Let me provoke you to pay attention."
"Right now I'm paying attention to a question. Where's the belt and hammer?"
"Safe," Thor said.
"If you had to get them right now, could you?"
"Do I have to?"
Fury shook his head and laughed. "Here I go, getting sucked into a conversation about possibilities with a crazy man. Okay, never mind, crazy man. What did you come in here and screw up my day for?"
'You need to get Tony Stark's new technology into the—as much as I hate to say it—marketplace, General," Thor said. "Believe me or don't, but it's more important than anything else you can do right now."
"Okay," Fury said. "Let's say I believe you. How do you suggest I explain to the congressional inquiry that I knew I had to do it because of the word of the Norse thunder god?" Thor put away his smile. "Is that the worst problem you can think of?" Fury was about to answer when his office door opened at the same time as a knock came from the hall.
"Excuse me, General, but I just need—"
The uniformed man in the doorway was dark-haired, lithe, mischievous. Loki. Perfect , Thor thought as he looked back at Fury and saw on the general's face only the beleaguered annoyance of the desk officer who in
Appendix: Field Report
Priority human asset assimilated in
Priority nonhuman asset assimilated in
6
Another day, another fruitless hour spent trying to reason with people whose minds were deadened and senses numbed by the onslaughts of multimedia consumer capitalism. Today Thor was in Nick Fury's office trying to convince Nick to throw SHIELD'S weight behind an effort to release the Stark screener technology. Normally this wouldn't be the kind of action he could endorse—what the world needed was less surveillance, not more—but Thor knew what was coming. He hoped to be able to impress the importance of this on Fury, but he wasn't optimistic. For all of Nick Fury's virtues, he was still a man of his times.
And this, Thor thought, is the difference. I am neither a man nor of any time. In this way it becomes impossible for us to understand each other.
Perhaps I understand Steve Rogers a little better than most, because he is lost in time as well. But he is also a creature of duty and obedience, and I understand only the first of those. In obedience I have not the slightest interest.
"So, Loki said something to me the other day," he began, just to get Fury in the right frame of mind.
"Oh, did he?" Fury said, not bothering to hide his skepticism. He was at his desk comparing two sets of figures.
"He said that of all the Ultimates, Steve Rogers was his favorite. I think your conversation the other night really made him a fan."
Fury put down his pen and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said with his eyes closed. "I get it. If I have to raise my right hand and swear that I believe you're the Norse god of thunder just to get you to leave, I'll do it." He raised his right hand, looking down at his desk. Ten seconds or so later, he looked up. "You're not gone."
"You're not very convincing," Thor said.
"Neither are you, Mister Son of Odin, or Wotan, or whatever we're supposed to call him. I don't believe in gods—any of them—and until you bring Jesus Christ himself in to walk across the Upper Bay from Battery Park to here, that isn't going to change. Far as I'm concerned, you're a garden-variety anti-globalization wacko who got hold of some tech that nobody can reverse-engineer. Doesn't make you anything special."
Thor had started smiling at "Wotan," and couldn't stop. "Quite a speech, General Fury."
"You provoke me," Fury said.
"Well. Let me provoke you to pay attention."
"Right now I'm paying attention to a question. Where's the belt and hammer?"
"Safe," Thor said.
"If you had to get them right now, could you?"
"Do I have to?"
Fury shook his head and laughed. "Here I go, getting sucked into a conversation about possibilities with a crazy man. Okay, never mind, crazy man. What did you come in here and screw up my day for?"
'You need to get Tony Stark's new technology into the—as much as I hate to say it—marketplace, General," Thor said. "Believe me or don't, but it's more important than anything else you can do right now."
"Okay," Fury said. "Let's say I believe you. How do you suggest I explain to the congressional inquiry that I knew I had to do it because of the word of the Norse thunder god?" Thor put away his smile. "Is that the worst problem you can think of?" Fury was about to answer when his office door opened at the same time as a knock came from the hall.
"Excuse me, General, but I just need—"
The uniformed man in the doorway was dark-haired, lithe, mischievous. Loki. Perfect , Thor thought as he looked back at Fury and saw on the general's face only the beleaguered annoyance of the desk officer who in
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