Chapter 119 – The Other Side of the Investigation

A few days had passed since the conclusion of the Duel Monsters Grand Prix.

For most people involved, the tournament was probably already becoming a fond memory. The crowds had gone home. The temporary infrastructure surrounding the event had been dismantled or was in the process of being packed away. The endless stream of spectators, competitors, reporters, vendors, and curious onlookers had dispersed back into their ordinary lives.

Phil Coulson was back in Midtown Manhattan. After spending the better part of the last several weeks investigating Duel Monsters and Industrial Illusions under considerably unusual circumstances, he was finally returning to his normal duties, or at least, what passed for normal in S.H.I.E.L.D.

Phil stepped through the entrance of the massive skyscraper that housed S.H.I.E.L.D. Central. The familiar sight of the building's polished interior greeted him, all clean lines, muted colours, reinforced glass, and the quiet efficiency that seemed to permeate every corner of the headquarters.

There were no crowds here, no cheering spectators, no enormous screens displaying tournament standings, no children arguing over cards or adults discussing strategies with the intensity of military tacticians. Instead, there were agents moving through the building with purpose, security personnel watching every entrance, and technicians carrying block notes and equipment between offices and laboratories.

The moment he entered, the familiar security procedures began.

Identification. Security checks. Verification. More security checks.

S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly known for taking chances when it came to the security of its headquarters.

Phil submitted to each checkpoint without complaint. He'd gone through the process enough times that it had become almost automatic, but after spending weeks outside the organisation, there was something strangely reassuring about the routine.

Eventually, Phil made his way through the various checkpoints and entered the core area of the building, took an elevator, and, once he reached the desired floor, he walked down the familiar corridors toward his destination: the Director's private office.

Officially, he was there to receive his next assignment after his period of leave; unofficially, he was finally reporting back to the man who had given him his unusual assignment in the first place.

Phil still wasn't entirely sure what to make of the whole situation. 'When the Director had first ordered me to investigate a card game, a game company, and the company's sixteen-year-old owner, I had expected something considerably different. I expected hidden money, illegal operations, corporate espionage, terrorist connections, perhaps some kind of weapons development being disguised as a children's entertainment company... Something. Because there had to be a reason. It's impossible that the Director would waste S.H.I.E.L.D. resources without one... And yet, despite everything I have seen, I still haven't found an obvious answer. Duel Monsters is strange in some ways, certainly, but not in the way I initially expected.'

While thinking that, Phil stopped in front of the Director's office and knocked.

"Come in."

Phil opened the door and stepped inside a spartan but well-organised office, and behind the desk sat the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nicholas Fury.

Nicholas Fury Sr. was a tall, broad-shouldered man with the powerful build of a lifelong soldier and boxer. His weathered face carried the hard lines of decades spent in war and espionage, framed by brown hair gone grey at the temples. His eyes were brown, though his left was blind and permanently hidden beneath the black eyepatch that had become his most recognisable feature.

The Director raised his gaze from a document and said, "Agent Coulson."

"Director."

The two exchanged the usual pleasantries before Fury gestured for Phil to sit down.

Phil took the offered seat, settling into it with the familiar ease of someone who had spent years in offices like this one, mostly in his previous experience in the U.S. Rangers.

Fury leaned back slightly.

"So," he said, "Did you notice anything?"

Phil knew exactly what he meant, so he nodded and replied, "I did."

"Let's hear it."

Phil took a breath before beginning his report. "When you gave me the assignment, you wanted me to discreetly investigate three things. Duel Monsters, Industrial Illusions, and Alexander Jones."

Fury nodded.

"I started with the game itself."

Phil briefly explained how he'd learned the rules and eventually entered the Illinois Duel Monsters Cup.

"I made it to the Top 8."

That earned a faint look of amusement from Fury.

"You actually played?"

"I figured it would be easier to investigate a game if I understood it."

"And?"

Phil shrugged. "It helped. Being an active participant in their tournament was an effective cover."

More than he'd initially expected, actually.

Learning Duel Monsters had given him a perspective that simply observing tournaments never could. He'd begun to understand why players cared so much about their decks, why individual cards could completely change the course of a match, and why experienced Duelists seemed to spend as much time thinking about what their opponent might do as they did about their own strategies.

He continued, explaining what he'd learned during the Illinois tournament and later during the Grand Prix.

He described the scale of the event, the number of players and spectators, and the sheer popularity Duel Monsters had gained.

He also explained some of what he'd seen from the strongest Duelists.

The more experienced competitors weren't simply playing cards and hoping for favourable draws. They were calculating probabilities, anticipating responses, managing resources, and adjusting their strategies on the fly; There was an almost military quality to some of it.

Different objectives, different tools, different strategies, and the ability to recognise when a carefully constructed plan had to be abandoned because circumstances had changed.

Once his summary was finished, Fury asked the obvious question, "Your opinion?"

Phil thought about it before he honestly replied, "It's a good game."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"No. There's more." Phil leaned back in his chair. "It's actually a lot deeper than I expected."

He explained that while luck played a role in Duel Monsters, good deck construction could minimise that factor.

"And some cards can actually exploit the luck factor rather than simply being hurt by it."

Fury hummed thoughtfully before he asked, "So you didn't find anything strange about the game?"

"Nothing overly strange." Phil paused for a moment before he added, "At least, nothing that I could actually identify."

That distinction didn't escape Fury.

Then Phil continued, "It's popular, it's entertaining, and there's a surprising amount of strategy involved. From what I saw, the better players aren't simply relying on luck. They're building their decks around specific strategies and adapting to what their opponents do."

Fury nodded.

The Director's expression remained neutral, but Phil had worked with people like him long enough to recognise the subtle signs of someone filing information away for later.

Then his attention shifted. "What about Industrial Illusions?"

Phil understood immediately. "I didn't find anything illegal or even concerning."

"Nothing?"

Phil shook his head and said, "Nothing. I looked into the company's finances, operations, employees, and general business practices. I couldn't find anything suspicious."

He'd expected at least one discrepancy.

A suspicious transfer, a shell company, an unexplained expense. Something that would give the investigation a direction, but instead, Industrial Illusions had been remarkably clean.

"And the employees?"

"I asked a few questions."

"Discreetly?"

"Of course." Phil gave Fury a small smile as he said, "I didn't exactly walk up to them and announce that S.H.I.E.L.D. was investigating their employer."

Fury's expression remained mostly unchanged. "But?"

"The interesting thing is that almost everyone I spoke to had basically the same opinion." Phil paused. "They love working there."

That seemed to interest Fury more than anything else. "Really?"

"Yes."

Phil explained what he'd learned.

Industrial Illusions provided reasonable working hours. Employees received paid vacation, paid maternity leave, and paid sick leave. The company appeared to treat its workers almost too well, at least compared to the usual standards, and Phil couldn't find anyone who had any serious complaints about the workplace, and that, more than anything, had surprised him.

Companies didn't normally inspire that sort of unanimous enthusiasm, not even successful ones.

Some employees were bound to complain about management. Others would dislike the workload. Someone would invariably feel underpaid or overlooked, but at Industrial Illusions, Phil had found remarkably little of that.

"Some of them were initially worried about Alexander being 16."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "That's understandable."

"Apparently those concerns didn't last long."

"Why?"

"Because he's competent." Phil shrugged. "They said he actually knows what he's doing."

Fury remained silent as he processed that information. 'A sixteen-year-old running a major company should have been a liability at least; that was what common sense suggests. But instead, the people actually working under Alexander Jones seem to believe he is capable of doing the job. It appears that Hugh Jones' education was quite thorough...'

"There was one thing I found interesting, though."

That immediately caught Fury's attention as he asked, "What?"

"Alexander has personally invested in a small private detective agency."

Fury's expression sharpened slightly.

Phil noticed and added, "But I don't think there's anything suspicious about it."

"Why not?"

"I believe it's because of the counterfeit products."

Phil explained the problems Industrial Illusions had been having with counterfeit Duel Monsters products and the various legal battles surrounding them.

"It seems like Alexander wanted a dedicated group looking into the problem. Someone who could investigate counterfeit operations, gather evidence, and help protect the company."

Fury listened without interruption.

"If I were running the company, I'd probably want investigators I trusted rather than relying entirely on outside firms."

Fury gave a small nod, but that information was clearly also being filed away for later.

"And Roxxon?"

Phil's expression became more serious before he declared, "There's no connection."

"None?"

"Not beyond Alexander being Hugh Jones' son." Phil shook his head and added, "Industrial Illusions hasn't received financial support from Roxxon. No resources. No assistance. Nothing that I could find."

Fury's eyes narrowed slightly. "Considering how quickly the company grew, that's impressive."

"I thought so too."

Phil had expected there to be something.

A hidden investment. A corporate connection. Some kind of support from Hugh Jones, but there wasn't, at least, not anything he could find.

That was almost more interesting than discovering a connection would have been.

Fury was silent for a moment, then he asked the question that had been waiting at the end of the report, "And Alexander Jones?"

Phil paused because this answer was more personal, as it revolved around his own impression. "I didn't find evidence that he's dangerous."

Fury waited.

"He's brilliant. Visionary, too." Phil considered his words carefully before he added, "From everything I saw, he genuinely loves what he created."

Fury watched him.

"He's not just trying to sell a product. He actually wants people to enjoy it."

Phil thought about the tournaments he'd attended.

The noise. The excitement. The players leaning over their tables with intense concentration. The cheers whenever someone pulled off an unexpected combination. The way Alexander interacted with players. The way he talked about the game. The way he seemed genuinely interested in seeing people have fun with something he'd created. There hadn't been the detached air of a businessman observing his customers. Alexander seemed to actually care.

Phil sighed and admitted, "I wasn't able to interact with him enough to really figure him out. But personally? I think what he's shown publicly is probably who he actually is, at least part of it."

"Not a persona?"

"I don't think so."

Fury leaned back once again, and for several seconds, he said nothing.

He simply stared at Phil while processing everything he'd heard.

The room was quiet, but beyond the closed office door, the headquarters continued moving. Agents walked through corridors. Phones rang. Somewhere, a door opened and closed, but inside Fury's office, there was only silence.

Eventually, he nodded and said, "Good work."

Phil stood and said, "Thank you, Director."

"Get back to your regular duties."

Phil nodded.

Then Fury added one final thing, "And Coulson?"

Phil stopped. "Yes, sir?"

"Your Level 1 Agent status will be coming through soon."

Phil blinked once, then he smiled, "Understood."

He gave Fury a salute before turning around and leaving the office, and soon the door closed behind him.

Fury was alone.

For a while, he simply sat there; his eyes remained fixed on the closed door.

Coulson's report had answered some questions, but it had also created several more, yet that wasn't unusual. In Fury's experience, the best investigations rarely ended with everything neatly explained. More often, every answer revealed another layer beneath it.

Eventually, his gaze shifted toward one of the drawers in his desk; he reached down and opened it.

Inside was a small case.

Fury took it out and placed it on the desk.

The case itself was unremarkable. Small enough to fit comfortably in one hand, with nothing about its appearance that suggested it contained anything extraordinary, but Fury treated it with considerably more care than its appearance warranted.

He opened the case and inside was a single Duel Monsters card, Gearfried the Iron Knight.

Fury carefully picked up the card.

The moment his fingers touched it, he felt it again, that presence.

It was steady, quiet and almost impossible to describe.

It wasn't a voice. It wasn't a sound. It wasn't even quite a thought. It was simply a sensation that had become impossible for him to dismiss.

Fury stared at the card.

He'd encountered supernatural phenomena before.

This wasn't his first brush with something that couldn't be explained through conventional science, but that didn't mean he was comfortable with it.

In fact, Fury had learned that the opposite was usually true.

The more experience he gained with the impossible, the less willing he became to dismiss it.

He remembered how he'd gotten the card.

It had been during one of his missions.

A gust of wind had suddenly blown the card toward him, and at first, he'd thought nothing of it.

Cards were light. Wind moved things. There was nothing mysterious about that. But then the card had somehow warned him.

There had been danger, immediate danger and Fury had reacted on instinct.

A moment later, a sniper's bullet had passed through the place where his head had been.

He hadn't had time to think about the card then, as there had been a firefight to survive.

Afterwards, he'd initially tried to convince himself that it had been a coincidence.

Perhaps he'd noticed something subconsciously. Perhaps he'd caught a reflection in a window. Perhaps his instincts had simply reacted to some tiny detail his conscious mind hadn't registered.

There were explanations, plenty of them and Fury himself preferred explanations as they were useful; they could be tested, they could be understood.

He'd even considered throwing the card away, but then he'd felt that presence again.

That same steady sensation, and somehow, he understood that it didn't want to leave or, perhaps more accurately, it wanted to stay with him.

Fury had been both wary and curious, so he'd kept it, and he'd started investigating.

It hadn't taken long for him to discover Duel Monsters, and at first, the discovery had seemed almost absurd.

A popular card game. Millions of players. Tournaments. Collectable cards. A successful company built around it. Nothing about that sounded like the sort of thing that belonged in an intelligence report.

But then Fury had encountered things that didn't fit. Small things, at first. Incidents that could be dismissed individually. Patterns that became harder to dismiss when viewed together. And now he had Coulson's report.

Industrial Illusions appeared legitimate. Alexander Jones appeared to be exactly what he claimed to be. The game itself appeared harmless. Yet Fury was holding a card that had warned him of a sniper before the shot was fired.

He looked down at Gearfried once more, and his instincts were yelling at him that there was more going on here.

The supernatural presence inside this card didn't appear to have any obvious connection to the Hydra elements he'd already uncovered within Roxxon, and that was already important because if the two were unrelated, then S.H.I.E.L.D. was potentially dealing with two separate problems; and if they weren't unrelated, that was an entirely different problem.

Fury's expression hardened as he turned the card slightly between his fingers, studying the artwork and thought, 'There is still so much I don't know. What exactly is inside the card? Why had it chosen me? Why had it warned me? And, perhaps most importantly, why did it seem to be connected to a game played by millions of ordinary people?'

Questions, too many questions, but Fury had never been particularly bothered by unanswered questions, not when there was a chance of finding the answers.

He looked down at the card in his hand and concluded, 'Whatever Duel Monsters really is, it is becoming increasingly clear that it isn't simply a card game. There is something else behind it. Something I don't understand yet. But I will.'

Sooner or later, Nick Fury was going to find out exactly what Duel Monsters was hiding.