Chapter 36: Negotiation and Settling Down
"Another form of cooperation? What is it?"
Nick Fury looked at Orion Cross, waiting for him to speak.
"You can use my name to recruit people and show off. You just need to pay me a usage fee."
Orion Cross tapped the table with one hand as he spoke to Nick Fury.
The turning point was already drawing close. When that time came, Orion Cross most likely would not need to worry about money anymore, so he only had to consider the present.
"Go on."
Nick Fury nodded slightly.
"That’s it."
"That’s it?"
Nick Fury looked at Orion Cross in astonishment. "You mean I can only use your name, and I have to pay you money for it? What do you think you are? An international superstar?"
"Don’t you think I’m more suitable than an international superstar to be this ’spokesperson’?"
Orion Cross smiled and asked in return.
Nick Fury thought about it carefully and felt that Orion Cross’s words did make some sense, but he was still unwilling to give in.
"Putting aside whether you’re suitable or not for now."
Nick Fury clasped his hands together and placed them on the table. "Do I look like someone who likes using other people’s names to go around showing off and... flexing?"
"Yes."
Orion Cross nodded. Just as Nick Fury was about to speak, he raised his hand. "Wait a moment. Pietro, it’s your turn."
"Um, pretty agent lady, do you have a phone? Can I borrow it?"
Pietro looked at Hill and asked.
"Here."
"Thanks."
Pietro took Hill’s phone, inserted the memory card, opened the file, tapped play, and turned the volume to maximum.
"You really have no idea. That guy Nick Fury is the biggest pencil case I’ve ever seen. Doesn’t he get tired stuffing himself with that many pens?"
"..."
Coulson’s "arrogant" remarks after getting drunk echoed through the reception room, and Nick Fury’s already dark face turned even darker.
"I think Agent Coulson would be better suited for the Siberian branch. Or the Africa branch. That would suit him very well too," Nick Fury said.
"Boss, don’t act out of anger."
Hill could not help finding it both funny and exasperating when she heard Nick Fury’s words.
"I’m joking."
Nick Fury stood up, turned off the playback, and returned the phone to Hill. "It seems Agent Coulson had a very pleasant trip. Pleasant enough that he forgot the basic rules of being an agent."
"That’s right. He needs to be punished."
Hill’s expression also returned to seriousness. She did not know that Coulson had gone to another universe. She thought Coulson had relaxed his guard in Sokovia, gotten drunk, and said those things.
"Have him report to the training department later."
Nick Fury finalized Coulson’s punishment, then turned his gaze back to Orion Cross. "So, how much are you asking for?"
"One price. One million."
"You might as well go rob someone!"
Nick Fury rolled his eye.
Orion Cross stood up and walked toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
Nick Fury froze. This was only his first rejection, yet Orion Cross was already leaving? Was he not going to bargain at all?
"To rob someone. Didn’t you tell me to?"
Orion Cross shrugged with an innocent look, then turned to Hill. "Beautiful lady, can you tell me how to get to the bank?"
"Sorry, I don’t know. But I can show you the way to prison."
Hill smiled and replied to Orion Cross.
"Forget it. How about this instead?"
Nick Fury took a stack of papers from behind him and placed it on the table. "Become our special consultant. We’ll pay you a salary. How does that sound?"
This contract had definitely been prepared long ago...
Orion Cross raised an eyebrow, stood up, picked up the thick contract, and began flipping through it. "Which page has the salary, benefits, and job duties? Mind telling me?"
The corner of Nick Fury’s mouth twitched. "Don’t worry. Special consultants are generally very free. You don’t need to do anything. The treatment isn’t extremely high, but it’s enough for you to live in this city."
"Fine."
Orion Cross directly picked up a pen from the side and signed his name.
As for whether there were any traps in the contract... there was no need to check at all.
Orion Cross believed Nick Fury would not be stupid enough to truly think a paper contract could bind him.
"By the way, I’ve already had someone arrange your residence. Pick one."
Nick Fury walked to the side, opened the display screen on the wall, and tapped downward. A city map was projected onto it.
Countless small points of light lit up on the city map, meaning Orion Cross could choose any of those houses. There were even quite a few remote little villas among them.
"Queens, then."
Orion Cross thought for a moment, walked forward, and tapped a house marked "Queens County."
"I thought you’d choose Manhattan."
Nick Fury glanced at Pietro and Wanda, somewhat surprised by Orion Cross’s choice.
Manhattan was the center of the city, the true rich district.
"I don’t like places that are too lively."
Orion Cross swiped across the screen, admiring the overhead view of New York. "But I’m also afraid of trouble, so Queens is neither too central nor too remote. It’s just right."
"You’re sure?"
Nick Fury asked.
"I’m sure."
Orion Cross nodded.
Naturally, he was not lying, but there was another more important reason. If the future did not change, the Chitauri army would appear right in the center of Manhattan, above Stark Tower.
Setting up his home on top of a ticking time bomb? Only an idiot would do that.