The most important thing now was to improve his strength.
In the next few days, Bruce went about as usual. As for Duke and co., they despised him even more than before. In their eyes, Bruce was the fawning type. Which they thought was needless.
Because in SHIELD, everything depended on your strength. Without strength, you could only stay at the bottom.
Bruce did not care about the gossip of those people. Fighting was a punishable offense in the base. So Duke and they could do nothing but gossip.
...
At the time that Bruce was on duty.
There were five or six agents that stood not far from him; they looked in his direction from time to time.
"How did an idiot like this get into SHIELD in the first place?" said a tall white man. It was Duke – he had a high prestige among the level 3 and level 4 agents.
He was now a 4th level agent. If he performed well, he might even be promoted to a 5th level agent. He believed that his bloodline and race were inherently noble. So he always looked down on others, especially Bruce.
"Duke, the agent test will start in two days. You could knock him out or kill him directly when the time comes." Another agent said.
Agent assessments could also be called a type of contest. Except for the basic tests, the low-level agents were allowed to challenge others to a life or death fight. And there were deaths during the challenges quite a few times before.
This kind of event was very common among the circle of agents, and the top brass also turned a blind eye to this.
Without strength and ability, becoming an agent was just looking for death. So, people who could become agents were almost always ruthless, hardened and capable. They may not be as good as soldiers in a group battle, but they were extremely good in one-on-one fights.
Duke heard those words, and a chill formed in his eyes. He touched his chin and said, "Okay, I'll do that!"
"Hey, Duke. Bill cares a lot about Bruce." An agent said with some worry.
"Does he dare challenge me?" Duke sneered.
Those agents nodded with approval. Unless Bill wanted to die, he wouldn't dare. Duke's strength was among the top of level 4 agents.
After a while, Duke and co. dispersed. Bill saw them leaving and then walked up to Bruce.
"Hey Bill, good morning." Bruce greeted him. Bill looked at Bruce and shook his head. These days, Bill felt Duke and co's hostility towards Bruce. Which made him very worried.
"My friend, you're in trouble," Bill sighed.
"You're so good at joking Bill, what kind of trouble am I in?" Bruce certainly understood what Bill was saying.
"If my guess is right, Duke will challenge you during the assessment; he wants to kill you. I hope you don't participate in this test, my friend."
Bill stood by Bruce's side looking very worried. Bruce's strength, Bill knew about clearly.
"My friend, thanks for the reminder, but I have to join this assessment." Bruce's tone was steadfast.
"You will be killed," Bill cried. He really cared about Bruce. In his opinion, even he couldn't beat Duke, let alone Bruce. Of course, this was because he didn't know about Bruce's real strength.
"Bill, I hope you can understand me, this is something I have to do." Bruce smiled
"Okay, but I still want to remind you to surrender at a critical time. I don't want to lose you." Bill knew that Bruce had made up his mind, so he could only remind him again.
While they were talking, a harsh voice suddenly interrupted them. Bruce and Bill turned around and looked at the gate. One after another, jeeps appeared, arranged in rows. Some of the cars even carried heavy weapons.
"Damn it, everyone, back to work!" At this point, Ed Frank's voice came from the second floor. All the agents were in a formation and stood up straight.
The first black armoured-SUV stopped outside the base; then the door opened. Next, a middle-aged white man wearing a suit with a pair of black sunglasses walked out of it.
Bruce knew him, Phil Colson – a level 8 agent and a legend in SHIELD. But Coulson didn't go into the Avengers base directly and seemed to be waiting for someone at the gate.
Bruce looked straight into the distance without blinking. At this time, a man appeared in a tight black suit, holding a black longbow in his hand with black arrows on his back.
Standing there, his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's eyes. It seemed like everyone present was his prey.
Bruce's eyes widened, then confirmed his identity immediately. Hawkeye, real name Clinton Francis Barton!