"When did you become this naive?"
Drex Valen's voice was cold enough to freeze steel.
"I promoted you to Deputy Director because you trusted nobody. Because you were cautious."
His eyes remained locked on Nick Fury.
The hearing was being conducted inside S.W.O.R.D.
A special investigative committee had been assembled, alongside members of the Security Council, to determine Fury's fate.
Technically, Drex wasn't supposed to be there.
He was no longer Director.
By procedure, he was an outsider.
Nobody objected to his presence anyway.
Nick Fury remained silent.
Drex continued.
"You've spent your entire career distrusting everyone."
"Humans."
"Superheroes."
"Agents who fought beside you for years."
His voice sharpened.
"And yet somehow you chose to trust an alien capable of impersonating anyone."
"You placed that alien in one of the most sensitive positions on Earth."
"You gave it access to intelligence, classified information, strategic assets..."
Drex leaned forward.
"Tell me, Nick."
"What exactly were you thinking?"
The room had become deathly quiet.
Heroes.
Agents.
Observers.
Everyone present was staring at Fury.
After all, many of them had unknowingly spent years interacting with a Skrull masquerading as one of the most powerful people on Earth.
And the more they listened, the harder it became to argue against Drex's reasoning.
"You don't understand..."
Fury finally spoke.
"They were refugees."
"Refugees with nowhere else to go."
"They had no contact with their homeworld..."
Drex cut him off immediately.
"And that's exactly my point."
His voice rose.
"When did you become this gullible, Nick Fury?"
"You are an intelligence officer."
"Not a scientist."
"Not an expert on extraterrestrial civilizations."
"So what qualifications do you possess that allowed you to conclude they couldn't contact their species?"
His gaze hardened.
"Because they told you so?"
"You never questioned it?"
The room grew even quieter.
Drex wasn't finished.
"Or was it Carol Danvers?"
The question struck like a knife.
"Did your trust in her become trust in everything connected to her?"
"You trusted an entire alien species simply because she vouched for them?"
Fury immediately stiffened.
The moment Carol's name came up, his composure cracked.
"Captain Marvel protected Earth."
His voice rose.
"She stopped the Kree invasion fleet."
"She saved this planet."
"And if she's gone now, it's because she's out there protecting people somewhere else in the galaxy."
The defense came instantly.
Without hesitation.
Drex stared at him for several seconds.
Then he sighed.
He suddenly understood there was no point continuing.
"The rest is your problem."
He looked toward the committee.
"I'm done here."
The others exchanged uncomfortable glances.
The focus of the hearing wasn't supposed to be Carol Danvers.
It was the Skrulls.
That was the entire issue.
The reason Drex had shot the fake Fury on sight was simple.
He knew exactly what Skrulls could become.
Left unchecked, they could eventually trigger a planetary-scale disaster.
A Secret Invasion.
After the destruction of their empire at Kree hands, desperate Skrull survivors would inevitably begin searching for a new home.
Earth was an obvious target.
And the moment one of their infiltrators gained unrestricted access to superhero intelligence, the damage became immeasurable.
Abilities.
Weaknesses.
Psychological profiles.
Family members.
Personal histories.
Operational secrets.
Everything.
Once that information spread throughout Skrull networks, every hero on Earth became vulnerable.
Trust collapsed.
Paranoia flourished.
Alliances shattered.
Heroes fought one another while Skrulls hid among them.
Humanity suffered for it.
And in Drex's view, the root cause traced back to one man.
Nick Fury.
The hearing proceeded.
Several hours later, the verdict arrived.
A representative of the investigative committee stood.
"Nick Fury."
"Based on the evidence presented, you are found guilty of compromising Earth's security and endangering humanity through unauthorized cooperation with extraterrestrial entities."
The official adjusted a stack of documents.
"Because no legal framework previously existed for crimes of this nature, a special ruling has been established."
The room remained silent.
"You are hereby sentenced to five hundred years of imprisonment on Hell Island."
Fury's expression darkened.
Unfortunately, they weren't finished.
A second investigator took the floor.
"Additionally, our financial review of your tenure as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. uncovered extensive budget discrepancies."
He flipped through another report.
"Large sums of funding remain unaccounted for."
"We suspect embezzlement and misuse of public resources on an exceptional scale."
Fury closed his eyes.
He already knew where this was going.
"An additional three hundred years will be added to your sentence."
Eight hundred years.
The room collectively winced.
S.W.O.R.D.'s investigators were among the best intelligence professionals on the planet.
Combined with the organization's surveillance capabilities, uncovering Fury's old secrets had taken remarkably little time.
One committee member shook his head.
"We still don't know how much information was leaked."
"Or how much intelligence that Skrull transmitted to its species."
"After multiple alien invasions, Nick Fury still chose to trust extraterrestrials without adequate safeguards."
The statement drew more than a few grim nods.
Drex stood.
"Assume additional infiltrators exist."
Everyone turned toward him.
"I'll develop detection systems specifically designed to identify Skrull replication."
His voice was calm.
"But that's only the first step."
His eyes narrowed.
"We need to purge every parasite already hiding on Earth."
Far off the western coast of the United States sat a mysterious island.
Legends surrounded it.
Some claimed it had once been the largest slave-trading hub in the world.
Others insisted it served as a secret playground for politicians and billionaires, where laws simply didn't apply.
There were even conspiracy theories claiming it was a meeting place for the shadowy elites who controlled world events from behind the scenes.
Most people knew it by a single name:
Hell Island.
Officially, the United States government denied it existed.
Unofficially...
It absolutely did.
The island contained extensive infrastructure.
Luxury accommodations.
Private facilities.
Underground complexes.
Entire sections beneath the island could easily be converted into research laboratories or military installations.
Whatever powerful individual had owned it in the past no longer mattered.
The United Nations had seized it.
And with Drex personally overseeing construction alongside countless mechanical workers, the facility had been transformed in a single day.
Into Hell.
A prison unlike any other.
Designed specifically for individuals too dangerous for ordinary incarceration.
Nick Fury never imagined he would become one of its inmates.
The prison population reacted with immediate interest when he arrived.
Most assumed he was there to interrogate someone.
Or oversee a transfer.
Then they watched guards escort him into a cell.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Laughter erupted.
"Well, look who finally joined us."
"Isn't that the old S.H.I.E.L.D. director?"
"Man, you're behind the times."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been gone for years."
Another prisoner pressed himself against the bars.
"Nick Fury."
A grin spread across his face.
"Remember me?"
"You locked me up a long time ago."
"Got transferred here recently."
His smile widened.
"Funny how fast things change."
"Now you're my neighbor."
Fury ignored them all.
For the first time in years, he had nothing but time.
Time to think.
Time to review every decision he'd made.
Time to ask himself a question he had never seriously considered before.
Had he really been wrong?
Meanwhile, Drex's response came swiftly.
Within a remarkably short period of time, he successfully developed a detection system specifically capable of identifying Skrull replication technology.
The hunt for infiltrators had officially begun.