At the height of the Second World War, the Allied powers began encountering terrifying
new technology and weapons under the command of an autonomous division of the Schutzstaffel
known as HYDRA.
In response, the Allies turned to the Strategic Scientific Reserve to counter HYDRA’s ambitions
and develop secret weapons of their own.
The end of the war brought with it new insights as to the nature of the universe and humanity’s
place within it.
To protect mankind from whatever threats yet undiscovered, the Strategic Scientific Reserve
was restructured into the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Divisions,
better known as S.H.I.E.L.D.
At its inception, S.H.I.E.L.D. was an American led organization based solely in the United States.
By the modern age, it had become critical enough to the defense of the Earth to warrant
international oversight.
The World Security Council, formed from politicians and specialists from the Earth’s most powerful
nations, functioned as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s highest authority.
Its status as a wholly independent and autonomous committee however, meant that its goals often
clashed with those of the organization it was intended to oversee.
The Word Security Council was often misled or even outright ignored by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s
internal Director who, in practice, was the person most responsible for guiding the entire
organization.
Directors could fundamentally alter S.H.I.E.L.D.’s priorities as the situation dictated and had
access to the most technologically advanced equipment on the planet.
The largest and most powerful assets available to S.H.I.E.L.D. were its Helicarriers, enormous
aircraft carriers capable of sustained independently powered flight.
Various classes of Helicarrier were introduced over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history, each serving
as mobile bases which could support and direct a variety of operations and mission types.
Modern variants have been equipped with retro-reflective panels across their hulls, making them invisible
to the human eye when necessary.
Conventional F-35 “Lightning 2” multirole fighters and other military aircraft were
assigned to Helicarriers, supplementing more advanced designs exclusive to S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Quinjet was first among these, combining the functionality of a conventional helicopter
with the long-range high-speed cruise performance of a jet aircraft.
Quinjets were capable of unprecedented maneuverability and typically used to transport and then extract
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and teams.
Larger aircraft based elsewhere included modified C-17 Globemasters and the Zephyr One, which
served as mobile headquarters for smaller S.H.I.E.L.D. units.
On the ground, teams were further outfitted with a wide variety of S.H.I.E.L.D.
designed or enhanced vehicles, weapons, or more specialized equipment.
So far reaching was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mission, and so critical that it succeed, that the
organization operated everything from highly advanced drones, requisitioned Naval ships,
and even orbital satellites with the accompanying support facilities.
S.H.I.E.L.D. bases operated on every continent, providing safehouses, research labs, containment
cells, and any other facilities that might be required.
Many of these were formerly operated by the Strategic Scientific Reserve or other elements
of the Armed Forces, while a select few were purpose built with S.H.I.E.L.D. in mind.
Triskelion was one such facility, built on the Potomac River between Washington, D.C.
and Virginia.
Triskelion would serve as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s primary headquarters for most of its modern
history, and home to some of its most secretive projects.
In 2012, S.H.I.E.L.D. was finally revealed to the public in the wake of the Battle of
New York, in which an invasion by the alien Chitauri was successfully and dramatically
repulsed by a S.H.I.E.L.D.
affiliated team known as the Avengers.
Composed of some of the most powerful individuals located on Earth and elsewhere, the Avengers
had been secretly assembled by Director Nick Fury in the weeks prior, to fight the battles
that S.H.I.E.L.D. never could.
Just two years later however, Steve Rogers, known to the world as Captain America, discovered
that HYDRA had not been completely destroyed during World War Two and instead had infiltrated
S.H.I.E.L.D. at nearly every level.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. granted renewed resources following the Battle of New York,
HYDRA intended to take command
of a new generation of Helicarriers and use them to kill over 20 million individuals deemed
a threat to their future plans.
Together with Director Fury and others, Steve Rogers was able to prevent HYDRA from enacting
its plans, but the effort destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters and their most sensitive information
was leaked to the public.
With the full extent of HYDRA’s manipulations still unknown, S.H.I.E.L.D. was disavowed
by its sponsor governments and its remaining agents were subject to a worldwide manhunt.
Scattered groups still loyal to the ideals of S.H.I.E.L.D. continued their work from
an assortment of secret bases, slowly gathering their resources with the aim of eventually
re-establishing the organization.
Agent Coulson, a long-time associate of Nick Fury, was most responsible for this effort,
recruiting mercenaries, former agents, and others to help fill his ranks.
Together with these S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists,
Coulson continued the fight against HYDRA, rival S.H.I.E.L.D. factions,
and far more dangerous threats that loomed on the edges of time and space.
Eventually, Coulson was appointed as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new Director by Nick Fury and legitimized
again following the signing of the Sokovia Accords which regulated the activities of
enhanced individuals.
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s return cost Coulson his position who resigned to keep his existence secret.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded with a simple mission: to protect mankind.
Across its history that mission has expanded to include superhuman powers, extra dimensional
forces and alien empires.
It has been destroyed, restored, and destroyed again, but S.H.I.E.L.D. is more than just
a name or an emblem, like the Avengers, it is an idea.
So long as men and women remain loyal to that idea, S.H.I.E.L.D. will remain.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
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