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*****
Ultimately, Feini couldn't bring himself to do it. For him, killing these people was easy; the hard part was the precedent it set. If he encountered a similar situation in the future, would he have to keep killing indefinitely?
Looking at the dozens of Hydra operatives, Feini sighed. He decided to just "keep" them for now—in for a penny, in for a pound. After all, Captain America had already been defrosted. In a short while, both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. might cease to exist anyway.
Though he was keeping them, Feini couldn't be bothered to manage them personally. Fortunately, he had subordinates now. With a single phone call, he summoned Sitwell to take over the facility.
Upon receiving the call, Sitwell was beyond ecstatic. He secretly congratulated himself on backing the right horse; how long had it been, and Feini had already wiped out an entire faction? Once Hydra was unified, he, as a trusted confidant, would surely be given a position of great importance.
Unaware of Sitwell's delusions of grandeur, Feini felt a wave of relief after settling the matter. In contrast, Skye was caught in a state of deep inner conflict.
Cal and Jiaying wanted her to go back and live with them.
While Skye longed to live with her parents, she wanted to be separated from Feini even less. After agonizing over it for a long time, she finally made her choice as they prepared to part ways: "No. Feini still needs me to look after him. I can't go with you."
Cal's original home wasn't in New York, which was the root of Skye's dilemma. If they were close by, she wouldn't have cared nearly as much.
"That brat..."
Although the erasure of his memories had changed Calvin Johnson, the side effects of his formula weren't something that disappeared overnight. Cal was still prone to sudden outbursts of rage.
Fortunately, Jiaying's personality perfectly complemented his. She stopped Cal just as he started grumbling and looked at Skye with a gentle gaze. "If you want to stay, then stay. But if you get the chance, come visit us often. Besides... changing your 'status' a bit might actually be better for your future together."
Being a woman and a mother, her intuition had picked up on Skye's little secret. Unlike Cal, she didn't demand that Skye come along, choosing instead to let her remain.
Meeting her mother's tender eyes and hearing those meaningful words, Skye's face suddenly flushed. She didn't say much, only nodding earnestly.
In that moment, Skye suddenly had a desperate urge to learn the Kamar-Taj portals. If she knew that, she could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Then she thought of her vibration abilities—if she trained them to a certain level, perhaps she could even vibrate a space-time gateway into existence.
Cal remained reluctant, but after Jiaying pulled him into a corner and gave him a thorough talking-to, he eventually agreed. Shortly after, the two figures gradually disappeared down the street.
Watching the lingering Skye from the shadows, Feini felt a bit annoyed by her flimsy excuse for staying, yet a trace of a smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of his mouth.
The disappearance of Daniel Whitehall should have been a major event for Hydra, but Feini had left the cleanup to Sitwell.
Whether it was because he had done it so many times or because he was simply that talented, Sitwell's ability to invent excuses and bury the truth was impeccable. In the days that followed, the matter didn't cause a single ripple; it passed as quietly as a stagnant pond.
This honestly exceeded Feini's expectations. He had thought this incident might accelerate Nick Fury's discovery of Hydra's existence, but it had passed without a sound.
It was no wonder Hydra had stayed hidden for so many years. Aside from their deep infiltration, the sheer competence of their members played a significant role. Sitwell's skills were making Feini see him in a new light.
However, since things had turned out this way, Feini had no intention of proactively exposing the truth to Nick. Generally speaking, he didn't particularly like S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra.
With the matter of Skye's parents settled, Feini finally had the time to investigate something else.
Wheaton, New Jersey.
An abandoned military training base—the very place where Captain America had reportedly trained during the war.
Feini arrived here under the cloak of invisibility provided by Incursio. This was the location of Arnim Zola, as provided by Sitwell. Scanning the surroundings, Feini found no signs of guards or lookouts.
He approached a small building labeled as a supply depot, broke the lock, and entered. Following the instructions Sitwell had given him, he made his way deep underground.
Finally, he found the computers where Zola had transferred his consciousness.
From Sitwell, Feini had learned a few things about Zola's situation. For instance, Zola wasn't exactly here by choice—he was trapped. When he had transferred his consciousness years ago, the technology was still primitive. His mind became tethered to this specific hardware, unable to be transferred again.
In essence, these computers were Zola's new body. Because the equipment was so ancient, it couldn't be easily moved. However, for a digital entity like Zola, this didn't pose much of a hindrance to his online activities.
The room didn't seem to get many visitors. When Feini flipped the lights, he saw a thick layer of dust covering everything. He found the main switch and powered up the equipment.
The camera on the central console moved sluggishly. But as Zola scanned the room for the person who had activated him, he froze—the room appeared completely empty.
"Who is there?"
Zola's digital face flickered onto the computer screen. The camera panned left and right as his voice crackled through the speakers: "Who is in this room?"
Seeing Zola's tense expression on the screen, Feini deactivated his invisibility and gave a small wave. "Hello, Dr. Zola!"
"The Divine Punishment Knight!?"
Zola was stunned. He clearly hadn't expected Feini. His database was linked to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, and while it contained records of Feini's exploits, Nick Fury's secrecy meant there was no detailed identity profile. He recognized the armor, but he didn't know the man beneath Incursio.
"How are you here?" Zola asked, his digital voice laced with surprise.
"Why wouldn't I be here?"
Feini stood before the camera, looking at the black-and-white image of Zola on the screen, and got straight to the point. "I came here to ask you something."
"What is it?" Zola's curiosity was piqued.
"How did you separate your consciousness and store it in these machines?"
"Do you have a terminal illness too?" Zola blurted out instinctively upon hearing the question.
"..."
Feini stared blankly at the surprised face on the screen. He said impatiently, "Never mind that. Just tell me how you did it."
Actually, through Sitwell, Feini had realized that the current Zola wasn't as invincible as one might imagine. His strength lay in his massive data archives—a database spanning 200,000 feet of tape—which allowed him to create the algorithms for Project Insight to predict the future.
However, in other aspects of the digital world, he was severely limited by his "body's" performance. Compared to something like Ultron, he was primitive. There wasn't much he could actually do.
This reminded Feini of when he had stopped Skye from investigating S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past. Even if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database had been breached, Zola might not have even noticed or been able to counter-attack.
"Why should I tell you!?"
Zola knew of Feini's power from his files, but as a member of Hydra, he wouldn't break easily. He wasn't about to surrender just because of a few words. At the very least, he needed to hear a couple of threats first!
(End of Chapter)