"I advise you not to get your hopes up," Mavuika said.
"I don't think someone who would choose death without hesitation to avoid leaking more information is going to start talking."
"I know, but we have to try," Howard nodded, naturally aware of this himself.
The two opened the storage room door.
The Skrull immediately looked up, its yellow eyes flickering with a strange light in the morning sun.
Its disguise had been completely lifted, and its green skin was particularly striking under the indoor lights.
The wound Mavuika inflicted yesterday had already scabbed over; it seemed the Skrull's self-healing ability was quite impressive.
Howard brought over two chairs and sat down opposite the Skrull with Mavuika.
The storage room was small, the three were close together, and the atmosphere was oppressive and tense.
"What is your name?" Howard spoke first, his voice steady and professional. "Or rather, how do you Skrulls address each other?"
The Skrull remained silent, just staring at them coldly with its lips tightly sealed.
Howard waited a few seconds before continuing, "How many of you are on Earth? What is your purpose? How long have you been lurking?"
Still no answer.
The Skrull even closed its eyes, adopting a posture of non-cooperation.
Mavuika shrugged; as expected, the other party had no intention of speaking.
If Hela were here, she would likely have already become impatient and couldn't help but threaten it with her sword, but Mavuika and Howard were clearly not the types to resort to extrajudicial punishment.
So, if this Skrull was determined not to speak, there really wasn't any good way to deal with it at the moment.
Howard unwillingly asked many more questions, but still received no answer.
Seeing that Howard still wanted to continue trying, Mavuika patted his shoulder.
"Forget it, it won't talk."
Then Mavuika tapped his toe lightly. Following his movement, fine flames formed a magic circle-like pattern on the floor, which lit up for a moment before quickly fading away.
The Skrull watched this scene nervously, not daring to move, but after waiting for a while and seeing no reaction, it tentatively reached out its hand.
As its hand was about to cross the edge of the flame circle, a crimson barrier appeared out of thin air, blocking it inside.
This was a restriction Mavuika had set up, trapping the Skrull inside.
The restriction itself only had limiting capabilities and no destructive power; of course, if one wanted to forcefully break through with stronger energy, that might be a different story.
After all, this was Howard's home; Mavuika had no intention of killing it, and naturally did not want it to have the ability to harm anyone.
Mavuika looked at the Skrull inside the magic circle: "This should just be an ordinary soldier; what it knows is likely limited. To obtain more information, we need to find more Skrulls, or at least a higher-ranking Commander."
Howard also saw the effect of the magic circle and gave Mavuika a grateful look before finally standing up: "Then I need to make a trip to the agency to see if I can find more useful information."
Although Howard was retired, his status as a founder remained, so he could still enter and leave all areas of S.H.I.E.L.D. at will.
He paused and continued: "I'm not planning on telling anyone about the Skrulls. With their terrifying shapeshifting abilities, I can't be sure who in the agency can be absolutely trusted, so I think keeping quiet for now is the best choice."
Mavuika nodded in agreement: "A wise decision."
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was located in the basement of an inconspicuous government building in Washington, D.C.
From the outside, it was just an ordinary office building, but beneath it lay a massive facility covering tens of thousands of square meters, equipped with the World's most advanced security systems and research equipment.
Howard passed through layers of security checks: fingerprints, iris scans, voice prints, and even rapid DNA testing.
Every checkpoint kept his nerves on edge, because now he looked at every staff member with suspicious eyes.
That technician in charge of iris scanning, was his blinking frequency a bit unnatural?
That guard at the security gate, was his posture too standard?
That analyst who just brushed past him, was there a faint scent on him that didn't smell like Earth perfume...
Howard shook his head, trying to dispel these paranoid thoughts.
But he knew that after learning about the Skrulls' abilities, this vigilance was necessary, even if it made his behavior seem odd.
"Mr. Stark?" A familiar voice came from behind him: "Why are you here today?"
Howard was startled, his heart jumping. He turned around and found it was Nick Fury, that young Agent who had recently been promoted very quickly due to his outstanding abilities.
Fury was wearing a standard black suit, his gaze sharp and focused.
"Agent Fury." Howard tried to keep his voice steady: "Nothing much, just here to check some old files. You know, since retiring, I finally have time to organize past records."
Fury looked him over, keenly noticing that Howard's state was not quite right: "Are you okay, Mr. Stark? You look a bit... nervous?"
This sentence made Howard's heart tighten.
He realized that his behavior was indeed unusual; usually when he came to S.H.I.E.L.D., he was always composed, but today, his muscles were tense, his eyes were wandering, and there were even fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
"N-nothing," Howard forced himself to relax his shoulders: "Just had a bit of insomnia yesterday and didn't sleep well."
That was actually the truth.
Between the alien Skrulls and myths coming to life yesterday, he had indeed suffered from insomnia at night, tossing and turning in bed for a long time without falling asleep.
"Is that so?" Fury didn't suspect anything, but there was still concern in his eyes: "Then you should go back and rest early. At your age, health is most important."
"Hmm." Howard nodded: "I'm here to find some information and will be heading back soon."
After the two parted ways, Howard took a deep breath and continued toward the archives area.
He could feel Fury's gaze lingering on his back for a few seconds before moving away.
For the next two hours, Howard wandered around the interior of S.H.I.E.L.D. seemingly at random.
He went to the R&D department and chatted with a few old colleagues about the progress of the latest projects.
He went to the intelligence analysis center and flipped through recent security reports.
Finally, he arrived at the core archives room to review some historical records regarding anomalous phenomena and extraterrestrial contact.
Everywhere he went, he carefully observed the people he encountered.
Some subtle differences might be anomalies, but they could also just be coincidences.
What made him even more anxious was that everyone he encountered behaved completely normally.
Their speech and behavior, professional knowledge, and even memories of past shared experiences were all flawless.
If there were Skrulls mixed in among them, then their shapeshifting abilities had reached a desperately perfect level.