Chapter 113: Arc 4: Chapter 1: Project Monarch

Fury didn't give Merlin a lot of data.

It's no surprise that the NSA would not so earnestly hand over all of its confidential intel to a newly formed SHIELD. The bout between organizations is a long process, Pierce and Fury will deal with the troublesome tasks.

And for Merlin, the document before him was nothing but another mission.

After experiencing Carol and the Kree's story, Merlin thinks that he would not be perturbed by any mission regardless of how odd it is.

But that night in base 0084, as Merlin opened the document in his room, he realizes that he still knows too little of the truth about the world.

Under the lights of the table light, Merlin carefully reads the document in his hands.

He realizes that these documents may not be given to SHIELD by the NSA, instead, it was more of an investigation report made by the predecessor of SHIELD, the SSR.

This means that Fury may have known about Project Monarch beforehand.

And the 'assessment' this time was just him putting his hand into the project aboveboard.

There wasn't much useful intel in the document, there were only simple descriptions on Project Monarch, mainly about how the project and the organization were founded, and the process of their evolution.

"Project Monarch began in 1943, on the Pacific Ocean during WWII, the ship which carried military supplies, the USS. Lawton was attacked and sunk by a large creature. The near thousands of people on board were all killed during the event. (Note: After investigation, the famous archaeologist Professor Randa was one of the few surviving members of the incident, Professor Randa later died during the exploration of 'Skull Island' in 1973.)"

"In 1946, to cover up the supernatural even behind the USS incident, President Truman secretly founded the 'Monarch' organization. This was a team that specializes in investigating unidentified large creatures on Earth."

"In 1954, using the victory of WWII, Monarch globalizes; on August that year, Monarch, for the first time, catches the trail of a large creature, to which the military was very apprehensive; later, General Eisenhower led the military to conduct nuclear tests with the hydrogen bomb in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean."

"Its real aim was to attack and annihilate the massive creature codenamed 'Godzilla' that appeared in the Pacific Ocean, however, the attack was a failure."

"During the cold war, Monarch remained independent outside the government with its funding and personnel structure, but after the Skull Island incident in 1973, the near-dissolution Monarch was adopted into the NSA, as to continue searching for traces of large creatures across the globe."

"However, due to the unexpected death of Professor Randa, Monarch lacked a qualified leader, thus leading to Project Monarch being put on hold once again."

"In May of 1995, the Japanese scientist Professor Serizawa and his assistant Vivienne Graham who had just joined Project Monarch discovered the third large creature aside from Godzilla and Kong in the volcano of Isle de Mona during their environmental inspection in Puerto Rico."

"The confirmed news attracted the attention of the NSA, and Project Monarch was officially restarted."

Reading here, the introduction written from SHIELD's POV ends.

Merlin frowns as he looks at the simple report before him, he could see 3 important details from the report.

Firstly, in 1954, the nuclear tests done on Bikini Atoll were historically accurate, supposedly it was the US making a demonstration to the USSR.

But now it seems that it was not that simple.

This also means that the first super creature discovered by Monarch was immune to nuclear attacks.

Secondly, in 1973, Monarch discovered a second super creature in a place called Skull Island named Kong; though there weren't many details regarding the discovery, Merlin could guess that their contact with Kong then was unsuccessful.

Lastly, in the West Indies, Monarch discovered a third super creature.

This means that this historical organization had very limited contact with super creatures until now, yet it truly exists.

Merlin shakes his head, he flips to the second page and discovers a black and white photo supposedly taken from the sky.

He picks up the photo, on the photo was a vast ocean with a massive shadow under the sea, there were 3 dorsal fins from the dinosaur-like creature's back above the ocean surface.

Behind the photo was the name Godzilla.

"Godzilla..."

Merlin squints his eyes, the creature in front of him looks similar to the large creature that appeared in the Pacific Ocean as the Kree fired their dismantling ray.

Fury had shown him the video taken by the nearby fleet, in the fuzzy video, the monster whose height was at least 120 meters absorbed the ray fired by the Kree's dismantling ship and retaliated with a blue beam, saving the Earth from utter destruction.

This means that this sea monster known as Godzilla was the real savior who saved the Earth.

"So, you're a kind monster."

Merlin taps on the photo in front of him and picks up the second photo, it was a satellite image that gazed onto the sea from the sky; on the satellite image was an island traced with red lines that looked like a skull.

Behind the photo were a few words.

"Kong - Skull Island."

The third photo was a colorful one, it was a volcano, along with many American soldiers building defensive structures around the volcanic crater. It should be an active volcano as smoke was still fuming from the crater.

Behind the photo were also a few words.

"Isle de Mona - Rodan."

This was all the data that Merlin had.

To be honest, Merlin was somewhat clueless as he read, although the existence of Godzilla had been confirmed, there were no photos of the other two super creatures to prove their existence, so Merlin could hardly imagine what they looked like.

But Fury had promised that tomorrow there would be Monarch personnel coming to bring Merlin to the West Indies, to undergo safety assessments of the two super creatures that have been located.

What Fury means is that Merlin was not only going for an assessment, it was best that he also finds out how Monarch is formed, as well as some of the secrets hidden inside the said organization.

This was not so difficult for Merlin.

And after reading the data, Merlin had a great interest in the super creatures that supposedly only exist in legends.

He was starting to anticipate tomorrow's assessment project.

On the second morning, Merlin rode on a helicopter and took off from base 0084 of Nevada towards the airport in Florida, where members of Monarch would be waiting for him there.

And Merlin was not going there alone, beside him was the 'specialized helper' Fury had arranged for him.

Coincidentally, that person was someone Merlin was familiar with.

"Miss Maria Hill, why are you staring at me?"

Merlin leans against his seat in the helicopter and looks to the young lady who was acting as a civil servant, she was dressed in a suit and glasses, with a suitcase and high heels.

She had short brown hair with slanted bangs on her forehead, she had a delicate and pretty face and calm light blue eyes. When she wasn't talking, she gave people a serious temperament.

But in fact, Merlin had seen her other appearance, that delicate weakness, along with the helplessness after breaking down, she looked no different from a college graduate back then. Seriousness and calmness is her disguise.

Indeed, this young lady was the rookie agent who was frightened by Merlin back in Pegasus Base.

It's been a few weeks, and she had finished her agent training and had become one of the recruits of a newly founded SHIELD.

And from the looks of it, Fury has high hopes for her, and he also trusts her a lot as to let her accompany Merlin on this time's evaluation mission.

But right now, this level-1 agent was using an angry yet curious gaze to look at Merlin, who was resting with his eyes closed.

She could not hide her small movements from Merlin, in his dark senses, agent Hill's actions are so clear that Merlin could not ignore them.

So he asks straightforwardly:

"Is there something on my face?"

Merlin's sudden speaking surprises Hill, she lowers her head, shakes it, and says softly:

"No, no, sir. There's nothing on your face."

"Then why do you keep staring at me?"

You are reading story The Path of Shadow in American Comics at novel35.com

Merlin opens his eyes and looks at agent Hill, he could sense the anxiousness of the newbie agent in front of him, so he says:

"Have you seen me before?"

'No, sir!"

Hill raises her head and looks at Merlin calmly, saying:

"This is our first time meeting."

"No! This isn't!"

Merlin shakes his head and says to the surprised Hill:

"You recognize me, don't you?"

Merlin's sharp gaze behind his glasses made Hill somewhat helpless, moments later, she purses her lips and nods.

"Yes, I recognize you, sir. You were the attacker in Pegasus Base who knocked down 25 agents in 5 minutes. You let me off that day, but it caused me and the other newbie agents to undergo yet another combat test before graduation."

"Alright, that's my fault."

Merlin shrugs, he looks at Hill and asks:

"But I'm more curious about how you recognized me?"

"Your voice, sir."

Hill did not hide, she says straightforwardly:

"I've learned music since I was young, and I would've become a musician than an agent if not for my parent's wishes. But one benefit of learning music is that I can recognize the special parts of every person's voice."

"You may have lowered your tone that day, but sir, in the area of voices, disguises like so are not enough."

Hill points at her ear and says:

"Unless you use a voice changer, I'll be able to identify your voice."

"Not bad."

Merlin nods, he leans against his seat and says to Hill:

"Now I know why Fury recruited you. You have special talents, this is good."

"Thank you for your compliment, sir."

Hill remained calm and expressed her gratitude. But Merlin's following words made Hill frown.

"Later when we get off the chopper, give me the gun in your arms and the knife in your sleeves."

Merlin looks at the airport that was getting closer and says softly:

"This is an evaluation mission, namely we're staff members under the WSC, and I don't want Monarch to suspect our identities. Don't bring anything that may expose you, including guns!"

"What if we get in danger?"

Hill asks in a low tone:

"What if we need to save ourselves? Weapons are very important then."

"Trust me, young Hill."

Merlin looks outside the window and says softly:

If you encounter danger on Monarch's turf, a small gun and knife won't be able to protect you...the things being researched by this organization cannot be defeated by just bullets."

"Then we should make preparations beforehand."

Hill frowns as she tells Merlin:

"Sir, preparing for the upcoming danger is a skill agents must have."

"Don't worry, young Hill."

Merlin turns around and presses his glasses, he lets out a gentle smile at Hill and says:

"I'm here."

"If you're in danger, I can at least get you out safely."

Merlin's answer surprises the newbie agent Hill, but as she recalls Merlin's combat back in Pegasus Base, Hill inadvertently nods.

Although Merlin is a scary opponent to deal with.

But right now, he was a teammate, a senior, an officer; this calms Hill's heart.

The helicopter lands on the remote edge of the airport after a few minutes, Hill gives Merlin her gun, knife, and ID in the box, which Merlin keeps in his spatial pocket and gives to her the fake ID used for disguise.

As the chopper lands safely, Merlin takes deep breathes to make himself look more like a public official.

This wasn't hard to do, Merlin's glasses had given him a bookish temperament, and as long as he doesn't show his aggressiveness, he looks just like a real researcher. Not to mention agent Hill.

She was different from an action specialist like Merlin, she learned the art of disguise in the academy, personally trained by Black Widow herself.

Hill puts on a set of round frame glasses from her pocket, brushes her hair, and puts light lipstick on her lips, making her look like an actual researcher assistant.

Merlin jumps off of the choppers, presses on his hair, and very gentlemanly reaches out to support Hill's arm.

In front of the two, a lady wearing a short skirt was already waiting for them.

"Hello, Professor Merlin, I'm a level-3 researcher of Monarch."

The young lady with a Latin American style extends her hand to Merlin, she smiles while introducing herself:

"I'm Vivienne Graham, you can call me Vivienne."

"Hello, Miss Vivienne."

Merlin smiles and exchanges a handshake with the lady, he says softly:

"I'm Merlin...Merlin Nicholas Grant. This is my assistant Dorris."

As he spoke, he let out a researcher's interest and says to the Vivienne before him:

"I can't wait to meet with Professor Serizawa. His research on the habits of ancient undersea creatures greatly infatuates me. Is he here right now?"

"No, my mentor isn't here."

Vivienne lets out an apologetic expression and points to the plane behind her:

My mentor is waiting for you in Isle de Mona, we're happy to be assessed and evaluated by the WSC, in fact, with things as it is now, we do need more resources to research those..."

"Ancient Titans."

 

You can find story with these keywords: The Path of Shadow in American Comics, Read The Path of Shadow in American Comics, The Path of Shadow in American Comics novel, The Path of Shadow in American Comics book, The Path of Shadow in American Comics story, The Path of Shadow in American Comics full, The Path of Shadow in American Comics Latest Chapter