Colson was driving quite steadily.

While Merlin is in a slightly worse condition now, Colson deliberately slowed down his car. After almost 20 minutes, he parked his car in front of a super-large building at the junction of Manhattan and Queens.

While Colson was parking, Merlin rolled down the car window and looked at the building nearly 150 meters tall in front of him with some confusion. On the surface of the building that looked glittering in the sun, there was an oversized S.H.E.L.D. black and white eagle logo hanging on it.

The building in front of us has a main body and two ancillary buildings of varying heights. They are connected by a glass plank road-like passage. There is also a huge square below the main building.

It looks full of momentum.

"This building"

Merlin asked:

"When did you move here?"

“3 months ago.”

Colson stopped the car and said to Merlin while shutting down the engine and pulling out the keys:

"This is the office building that Director Fury wants. It has been secretly built for several years. It claims to be a large commercial office building, but in fact, we all call it the "Trident" building. This is a comprehensive office building, and many scattered offices on the entire East Coast are concentrated here."

“The office of sl.d. is here too?”

Merlin asked.

Colson took out Merlin's wheelchair from the back box. While helping Merlin walk out of the car, he explained:

"There is only a liaison office here. We also have a new headquarters. The 6th floor underground office area of ​​the 21st Century Bell Telephone Company is now all of us."

"Old city."

Merlin placed his hands on the armrest of the wheelchair, and Colson thoughtfully laid a blanket on him.

While he was pushed toward the square of the Trident Building by Colson, he complained:

"Sure enough, those of us who do black work don't even have an office building in the sun, but it's fine. The old city is secret enough, and it looks a bit too eye-catching."

As he spoke, he glanced at the S.H.E.L.D. logo hanging outside the building in front of him. It was probably possible to see clearly a few kilometers away. He shook his head and said softly:

"It's not good for an intelligence organization to be so silly."

"But you can't deny it, sir."

Colson pushed Merlin into the elevator, saying:

"Intelligence work is only part of the huge system of SHIELD now, and is not the most important part. As a direct subordinate of the World Security Council, we should indeed have an official headquarters."

"The most important thing is that the Trident Building looks cool, doesn't it?"

"bite"

As the elevator door slowly closed, Merlin nodded, and he said:

"Indeed, it's really cool. Fury's long-cherished wish has finally come true."

A few minutes later, on the 24th floor of the Trident Building, Merlin met Fury.

His appearance was no different from what he looked more than a year ago, and he was wearing a black windbreaker, combat boots and military pants, an eye mask on his left eye, and a black turtleneck sweater that had not changed for thousands of years.

He was waiting for Merlin in a medical room. When Merlin was pushed into the medical room, he also saw Dr. Hall standing next to Fury.

The latter has changed a little more than a year ago, specifically, the hair is thinner.

It seems that this doctor has indeed been entrusted with important tasks over the past year. He seems very tired and under great pressure.

"Look at who is here."

Fury heard the movement and turned around. When he saw Merlin, he opened his arms and said in a slightly joyful voice:

"A lot of people are caring about you, Merlin, your awakening time is much earlier than we expected."

Merlin looked at Fury and he chuckled and said:

"In your opinion, how long will I have to sleep?"

"It will take at least 2 years."

Fury hugged his shoulders and he snorted:

"This is an estimate given by experts."

"Dr. Charles? Right?"

Merlin said:

"You'd better send me to the hands of the mutant who can detect people's hearts."

"How do you know?"

Fury looked at his subordinate in surprise, who leaned weakly in his wheelchair and shrugged:

"I can hear what you say beside me when I was in a coma."

"All right."

Fury smiled, he squatted down and looked straight with Merlin. He patted Merlin's cold hands, and he said:

"Anyway, it's good to wake up. I have a lot of tasks for you."

"I just woke up, let me rest for a while, okay?"

Merlin said with some headache:

"At least I can wait until I can move freely, can I say that?"

"Haha, I'm just kidding."

Fury stood up, and he waved his hand, indicating that Colson could leave. He pushed Merlin towards Dr. Hall, saying:

"Actually, you have the benefits of this, and finally you can stay in the office peacefully. New York has been a little uneasy recently. I mean, you'd better be able to solve this problem quickly."

"Believe me."

Merlin said:

"I've started to solve it."

"That's good."

Fury pushed Merlin to Dr. Hall, who said to Merlin with some guilt:

"Merlin, I wouldn't have changed your watch if I had known it. It was the graviton I gave you that hurt your body. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, Doctor."

Merlin looked at the guilty Dr. Hall and comforted:

"In fact, that miniature 'Gaia' system also saved me. Without your help, then Hill would have recovered it might be just a corpse."

"Maybe you can tell us what happened at that time."

Fury and Dr. Hall raised Merlin's body from left to right, and placed him on an instrument similar to CT next to him. The director stood beside Merlin, and he asked:

"What the hell is it that hurts you like this?"

“It’s Mandarin.”

Merlin lies on the slightly feverish treatment device, turning his head to look at Fury, he said:

"This matter is related to magic, but you can simply understand it as in a cave in Afghanistan, I fought with Mandalin across the air. I failed and was almost beaten to death but I was not as skilled as human."

"About that Mandalin"

Fury asked with a serious expression:

"Is there any other news to tell me?"

"there is none left."

Merlin shook her head, and before being sent to the treatment compartment by the slowly activated treatment device, he said to Fury:

"I know, I have told you all. Of course, I will tell you in detail after the treatment is over."

"Um."

Fury nodded, he looked at his watch and said to Merlin:

"I will come back in 30 minutes. I have some things to tell you."

30 minutes later, when Merlin was sent out from this silver-white treatment compartment, Fury prepared to return to the treatment room.

As Merlin returned to his wheelchair, he saw Fury walking into the room with a file bag covered with the S.H.E.L.D.

"I guess it should be good news?"

Merlin looked at Fury, who nodded and handed the file bag in his hand to Merlin, saying:

"This is really good news."

Dr. Hall next to them is sorting out the test data. To be precise, this treatment is to conduct a comprehensive test for Merlin's body to determine the subsequent treatment methods.

It has been almost 20 hours since Merlin woke up and now, and his control over his body is slowly recovering.

At least my fingers are no longer as shaking as before.

He untied the file bag in his hand, took out the files, took a look, and found that it was his resume, that is, the personnel file.

Nothing else has changed, except for Merlin's profession level, the original level 5 agent has changed to level 6, and after the sub-level position, there is another special mark, which is "η", which is "7" in the Greek letter.

Merlin noticed that the font used by this "η" is different from the fonts of other texts. Under the lights in the treatment room, it exudes a silver-gray feeling.

"What does this mean?"

Merlin looked up and looked at Fury:

"Isn't the highest level 6 for the agent title of SHIELD?"

"Now, welcome to level 7."

Fury leaned against the metal cabinet next to him with his arms.

He said to Merlin seriously:

"SHIELD is getting bigger and bigger, and the transactions we are responsible for are constantly subdividing. I realize that with more and more members joining our transaction framework, those confidential databases that were originally loosely managed but large in number need to be further divided into confidentiality rights."

"This is very important. Merlin, I cannot expose some confidential information that will endanger social order to a logistics agent who has been promoted to level 5 after a long period of work. Of course, this is just a less appropriate example."

Fury explained:

"In addition to you secret agents, most of the ordinary people in SHIELD who work for salary and benefits. Do you understand what I mean? I have to build a wall between them and you, not only to protect our secrets, but also to protect their safety."

"Now at level 6, there are still agents at level 7-10. In the entire S.H.E.L.D., less than 3% of people know your existence. We will screen out a number of truly trustworthy people from the huge S.H.E.L.D. staff, after time proof, to screen out a few truly trustworthy people."

"You're still like this, Fury."

Merlin put the files back into the folder, he looked at Fury, and he said:

"Always speculate on anyone with the greatest suspicion."

"It's a necessary caution, Merlin."

Fury took back the documents and he said to Merlin:

"Suspicion is much safer than being more open to everyone at the beginning and being stabbed from the back. You are also an old agent, and I believe you can understand this."

“I didn’t say ‘no’, didn’t I?”

Merlin smiled and said:

"This is good. The secret is the secret. The fewer people know the better."

"Okay, gentlemen, let's put your secret affairs aside first."

Dr. Hall walked to the two of them with the printed test results. He handed the few pieces of paper full of data to Merlin, saying:

"Your situation is recovering without a doubt, Merlin."

"Does this mean I will recover soon?"

Merlin looked at the data, and he put the test results aside with some headaches. He looked at Dr. Hall and asked bluntly:

"How long will it take for me to get back to my previous state?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

Dr. Hall pushed his glasses and said:

"Gratinium is distributed in your body in the form of a particle, and I have no way to extract it at the moment, but I'm working on it, it may take some time, but I've got some eyebrows."

"There has never been a precedent for this substance to be combined with the human body before. To be honest, it has surprised me that you can survive."

Dr. Hall sighed and explained:

"Gramophenium is essentially a special element, and many of its characteristics are not yet understood. Judging from the current data, it has not had too negative effects on your body except for the previous consciousness blockade, but this is temporary. No one knows whether it will change again with time."

"All right."

Merlin looked at his hands exactly the same as before and said softly:

"So that's it, Doctor, please inform me as soon as possible if you have any news about the equipment for extracting the gravity in my body, okay?"

"I will do my best, Merlin."

Dr. Hall said seriously:

"If any bad changes occur in your body, please notify me as soon as possible."

"Dr. Hall is currently helping SHIELD develop the 'Gaia Engine' project."

Fury explained:

"His project is now one of the important proposals of SHIELD, and the World Security Council also attaches great importance to it. He will be in SHIELD, so it will be very convenient for you to find him."

"Um."

Merlin nodded, he yawned a little tired, and said to Fury:

"If there is nothing important, then I'll go back and rest first?"

"Go."

Fury waved to Merlin:

"This is a good time to rest, and don't forget about the vampire."

"certainly."

Merlin turned the wheels of the wheelchair by himself, and he said without looking back:

“I will pay close attention.”

Colson waited for Merlin outside the laboratory, and he drove Merlin back to his home in Hell's Kitchen and left. During this period, due to the activity of vampires, SL.D. had a lot of affairs. Before Merlin officially returned to the leadership position of the mysterious affairs department, Colson still needed to continue to bear all the responsibility of the overview.

After Colson left, Merlin stayed in his living room. He looked at the familiar, almost unchanged things around him, and for a moment, he felt a little moved.

A few minutes later, Merlin leaned against the wheelchair and tried to stretch out his fingers. In the empty living room, with the bend of his fingers, the vase on the coffee table in front of him slowly floated up like an invisible hand holding it.

Merlin felt the weak force, and frowned, looking at the vase that was spinning in the air, he placed his finger in front of him.

After a moment, he whispered:
Chapter completed!