"The second project, and the most core one." Homelander's gaze sharpened.
"A time machine."
This was also the true purpose behind Homelander's elaborate efforts to create the Gulliver Tunnel.
Hope had always thought that the Gulliver Tunnel was an entry and exit point designed to open up the Quantum Realm.
But what she didn't know was that this instrument was actually the prototype for the "time machine" spearheaded by Skynet.
As a former super artificial intelligence that once dominated the World, Skynet possessed a profound foundation in the theoretical technology of time displacement and space-time travel.
However, in this Marvel Universe, the rules of time were slightly different, so some technological supplementation from this World was still required.
"Sir, after integrating the Pym Particles formula, the calculation model for the space-time displacement equation has gained complete theoretical support."
Homelander had previously instructed Skynet that in order to protect the absolute safety of his own timeline, he had to master the technology of time travel and timeline intervention.
After all, there were organizations in this Universe that toyed with time at will, even capable of arbitrarily pruning timelines that didn't suit their whims.
Homelander didn't want the empire he had worked so hard to build to be wiped away by these people as easily as trimming weeds.
"Understood, sir." Skynet turned and left, continuing with the new research and development process.
The three-week-long research work left Homelander feeling a bit bored.
He needed a place to relax, like going to Jessica for a glass of 37°C fresh milk.
But at that moment, a special audio frequency wave suddenly reached his ears.
...
The Nepal border, deep within the mountains.
A layer of mist always lingered in and around the valley, half-shrouding the quaint village within.
This village was called "Afterlife," a Shelter for generations of Inhumans.
Skye stood on the terrace, looking at the distant snow-capped mountains.
She had been in this village for some time now.
Recalling the day she first arrived, everything still felt like it was only yesterday.
In the temple in Puerto Rico, her powers had gone out of control, hurting Coulson and her friends.
Fear and guilt had made her flee desperately until a man without eyes suddenly appeared and brought her to this secluded mountain village.
At first, she was resistant.
But everything that followed overturned her understanding.
She learned that she was an Inhuman, an ancient race with genetic modifications from the ancient Kree.
She learned that the crystal in the temple was called a terrigen crystal, the key to activating Inhuman abilities.
What shocked her most was that her biological parents were both here.
The man who had been searching for her in the vast sea of people, Calvin Johnson—though he had a quick temper and was even a bit neurotic—the fatherly love in his eyes was plain to see.
And her mother, Jiaying.
The leader of this village.
She was elegant, steady, and had a temperament that made people want to be close to her.
They had been looking for her for over twenty years and had never given up.
The knot in Skye's heart that had troubled her for over twenty years was finally untied here.
Jiaying personally served as her mentor.
Under her mother's patient guidance, she learned to control the shockwaves within her body.
She was no longer afraid of her power; she could make snow-capped mountains collapse, or use a faint frequency to shatter a glass.
In the days following their reunion, the family of three spent a peaceful and happy time together.
Calvin would clumsily make her a breakfast that didn't taste very good, and Jiaying would tell her about the ancient history of the Inhumans at night.
Life here was very peaceful—peaceful like a pool of stagnant water.
Day after day, the villagers repeated their monotonous lives, maintaining extreme rejection and fear toward everything in the outside World.
But as time passed, this stagnant, secluded life began to make Skye feel suffocated.
She didn't belong here.
In her bones, she was still that girl who yearned for freedom and craved adventure.
She missed those friends at S.H.I.E.L.D., she missed Simmons and Fitz.
She missed even more... the man wearing the stars and stripes cape.
Homelander...
Skye looked down and touched the special watch on her wrist that Homelander had given her.
"What is he doing now?" Skye whispered softly.
She now possessed great power, and she didn't want to use this power to chop wood or shatter rocks in the valley.
She wanted to go back, to stand by Homelander's side and face those dangers with him.
Skye turned around, made up her mind, and then stuffed a few simple pieces of clothing into her backpack.
"Where are you going?"
The wooden door was pushed open, and Jiaying stood at the doorway, asking softly.
Skye zipped up her backpack and said straightforwardly, "I want to leave this place."
The smile on Jiaying's face froze, and her gaze became somewhat sharp.
"Leave? To where?"
"Back to New York, back to S.H.I.E.L.D., back to my friends." Skye met her mother's gaze without flinching.
"I've learned to control my abilities, and I won't hurt anyone. I can't keep hiding here forever."
Jiaying walked into the room and closed the wooden door behind her.
She sighed, placing her hands on Skye's shoulders.
"Skye, you don't understand. S.H.I.E.L.D. is full of malice toward people like us. They don't understand our power; they only fear us, and then they destroy us."
"There are friends of mine in S.H.I.E.L.D., they aren't bad people," Skye countered.
"That's because they don't know you're an Inhuman!" Jiaying raised her voice.
"Once they discover your true identity, they will reveal their true faces!"
Jiaying turned around, her back to Skye.
"You have no idea how cruel they are."
She slowly unbuttoned her shirt and let it slip below her shoulders.
Jiaying's back was covered with one shocking scar after another.
These scars crisscrossed, crawling across her skin like centipedes.
"These are what S.H.I.E.L.D. left me with."
"Decades ago, they found me. They strapped me to an operating table and vivisected me alive."
"They drained my blood and removed my organs, all just to study my abilities."
"I died. If it weren't for your father, Calvin, piecing my shattered remains back together bit by bit... I would never have been able to see you again."
Skye covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't imagine the torture her mother had once endured.
"I'm so sorry..." Skye stepped forward and gently hugged her mother.
"This is the true face of those friends you speak of. I will never allow you to follow in my footsteps."
"That wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D., Mom." Skye shook her head, trying to convince her mother.
"Those cruel experiments were done by HYDRA, who were lurking within S.H.I.E.L.D. Now, S.H.I.E.L.D. is different."
"HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D.—what's the difference?" Jiaying said coldly. "They are all minions of human power. None of them allow existences like ours to threaten their rule."
"But the current S.H.I.E.L.D. is under Homelander's jurisdiction!" Skye explained urgently.
"Homelander has already purged those cancers! He saved Earth, he protects everyone!"