'Ambassador Yvan…'
Ambassador Yvan was his top suspect. He already boarded the plane back to Latveria. Unfortunately, Felix wasn't able to plant spider-bots on the plane to listen in on his conversations. In fact, there wasn't anything Felix could do while he was on that plane. The network was private and impossible to connect to, even with satellites. The plane moved too quickly to establish a connection.
That left Felix to investigate what was on the ground and the next best thing: Ambassador Yvan's background. Safely within his hideout, he could do all the necessary research.
"Hm…"
There wasn't much to it. Grew up in an elite family, enrolled in an elite school, and then took an elite job fresh out of his diapers. Ambassador Yvan was childhood friends with Latveria's Prime Minister, Kristoff Vernard. More importantly…
Camera footage. Hundreds of them from the last five years in airports and hotels. All hacked by the supercomputer.
"Every single time Ambassador Yvan comes to India, he secretly takes the Prime Minister with him. It's not made public. They're very sneaky about it. While the hotel doesn't keep records, they've gone to other fancy events and buildings. They're not as secretive."
This wasn't new information. Felix was pondering what he already knew. See, Kristoff Vernard had been one of his top suspects for being the Emporium Auction Master. Felix did his homework on him.
"But Prime Minister Kristoff Vernard wasn't here at all. The hotel itself was under Yvan's name. Through witness testimony, however, it wouldn't be hard to make a link. Did he leave the country alongside the Ambassador…?"
"NEGATIVE. PRIME MINISTER KRISTOFF VERNARD IS MEETING WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA."
"What?"
"PANCHAVATI IS NOT FAR AFTER ALL."
Felix curled a finger around his chin. "So does Prime Minister Vernard not know his childhood best friend got caught up in a murder? Did Ambassador Yvan really go that route and not inform his superior? Or…wait a minute. Diplomatic immunity. Right, right! The Prime Minister has it in spades whereas the Ambassador probably doesn't. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Prime Minister Vernard is telling India's PM about it right now!"
Shit, shit. So what was going to happen to Felicia? SHIELD didn't care. The Dora Milaje didn't care. Right now, she was holed up in a cell, unconscious. And once the Prime Minister of Latveria asked the Prime Minister of India for a clean-up, it was going to be all over for her. Execution would be immediate.
Did she deserve that? No. Felicia wasn't from this world. She, like Hobie, needed to go back.
"It'll take too long to get to India myself. As it is right now, Felicia is only being investigated for the death of a tourist. The police think Peggy's body is going to arrive at the American Embassy. They think they'll still be able to perform an autopsy if need be, not knowing SHIELD is already long gone."
So where were Agent Coulson and his people?
Felix looked over at the monitors. The Spider-Bots were doing their job and stealthily observing them. The car drove into the garage of a minor SHIELD facility disguised as a metal factory warehouse. The warehouse was a multi-level complex structure with two underground floors. In the garage, they were brought down. It was completely and totally like a movie. They were brought down, they got out, and they were confronted by the two SHIELD who handled the warehouse.
It was strange if he was being honest. When Agent Coulson spoke to the SHIELD agents, he said:
"Level 8 Clearance. Alpha Level mission."
Coulson received nods in return. Felix squinted. He knew what this meant: it was a top of the line mission with no questions. They gave some sort of card that signified Peggy Carter's authority on the matter. As a result, a jet was supplied to them, heavily equipped with guns and rockets and an invisibility cloak. It was an impressive piece of tech.
Through the Spider-Bots, Herbie quickly hacked through everything. The jet had a long, long path ahead of it that would open outside the city.
Coulson did not mention Protocol Resurrection either. He, Agent Blade, and the blanketed corpse of Peggy Carter boarded the plane and were set to New York. One spider-bot secretly hid in Peggy's pocket while the other crawled close to their feet. This was India, insects were insidiously common. Agent Blade seemed to catch it and click his tongue.
"Damn bugs…"
Yep, he was safe. The jet started up. He drove through the pathway. As expected, according to the spider-bot GPS, they were heading outside the city. A large panel opened up and the invisible jet took to the skies.
Beep!
"Huh….?"
A whole hour had gone by since Peggy Carter's murder. Felix assumed the beep was for the security camera footage he was getting pieced together.
It wasn't. Instead, it was a warning.
From…
"What? The hell?"
…the Faeth Mansion.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"WARNING, DR. FAETH. INFILTRATORS DETECTED AT FAETH MANSION IN NEW YORK."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"I get it, I get it."
He got up, only to stop stiff when he heard the second round of warnings.
"WARNING, DR. FAETH. INFILTRATORS DETECTED AT OSCORP IN NEW YORK."
His head whipped around. "Oscorp Tower too?" One of his very first acts with Master Control was keeping an eye out on Oscorp Tower at all times. Every face was scanned. Every individual was placed on a threat level using SHIELD's systems. Harmless frauds were ignored.
But these frauds, Herbie identified them as mercenary types. As people without a single proper source validating their existence.
Three unidentifiable spies - two men, one woman - were infiltrating Oscorp Tower. They did not go for a loud approach. They were discreet. They were stealthy. They approached with the proper documents and authority. They claimed they were visitors from Frost International.
"Herbie?"
"FROST INTERNATIONAL DID NOT SEND THESE PEOPLE. THEIR RECORDS APPEAR TO BE DEVOID OF TRUE AUTHENTICITY. I HAVE SELDOM ENCOUNTERED THESE TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS."
Czarina raised a brow but didn't say anything. She gave a stamp, alerted the security of these SHIELD guests, and told them to go into the elevator.
The three fake SHIELD agents entered the elevator. As guests, they were not allowed to press the buttons and go wherever they wanted. Rather, they had to wait for the security team to automatically take them to the desired floor.
'Should I stop them?' Herbie had remote access to all the elevators and tech in Oscorp Tower. He glanced at the security team, which included Jessica Jones. Jessica and her team were still conducting research on these people.
"Herbie, stop that elevator. Now. And make the Oscorp security team see a loop."
Only for it to not matter.
Bang!
The fake agents shot the camera with a secret gun and ended the feed from his perspective. The security were none the wiser. A millisecond before the feed went black, Felix saw them open up their suitcases.
'These fakers are up to something! They planned on hacking the elevator from the get-go!'
"Herbie, make the elevator go crazy. Now."
The elevator did just that. It suddenly started falling and he suspected the agents were jerking and bouncing in the box. At the same time, Felix called Czarina.
"Come on, come on, pick up the phone…!"
"Hello? Felix?"
Thank god! "Czarina, hey! Those SHIELD agents you just sent in through the elevator, they're fakes."
Czarina did not speak for a moment. "Is that right?"
"They're up to something. Be careful. I mean it."
He hung up. From here, all he could do was delay them. Which sucked, it really did, because he badly wanted to go and stop these people.
'Dammit, dammit! What the hell is going on!?'
As much as he wanted to help Oscorp Tower, he simply couldn't. Not when similar spies were infiltrating his mansion. Already suited up courtesy of the Symbiote, he took the emergency exit at the back. A narrow maintenance tunnel designed to accommodate one crawling human at a time. Built as a worst-case escape route, it had never once been used.
Until now.
'THEY ARE CLIMBING THE FENCE. SHALL I ACTIVATE SELF-DEFENSE MANEUVERS AT THE FAETH MANSION?'
'Yes—!'
Wait, no. Killing them willy-nilly was pointless. He needed information. He needed to eavesdrop and follow them.
'No, don't. I'll be there in a flash.'
He crawled fast. His arms and legs worked in unison with his thoughts. Extremis and Symbiote, brain and machine, man and spider. The smell hit him before he saw it. A thick, heavy stench of the New York sewer system.
Spider-Man didn't even blink. This was nothing to him.
He leapt out of the grating and two webs lashed out before the manhole cover fully closed. He was already invisible. The streets of New York were unaware of Spider-Man's return.
'No time to waste, Rash! We're going all out!'
He ran up the tallest building in the neighbourhood, the one directly beside the Daxter Building. Conveniently, there were a pair of antennas spaced ten feet away.
'Perfect!'
Thwip! Thwip!
Against Creature Z, he went Mach 6.
With his current power, he could slingshot at Mach 12. He yanked backward with all his might and walked back, back, back. Like pulling a bowstring, a superhuman tautness lined his entire frame.
And then—
SNAP.
The web lines snapped free.
He was launched.
Faster than the eye could track, Spider-Man became a blur against the cityscape. His web-wings deployed automatically. With microbursts of electricity, he fine-tuned his angle mid-flight while moving at Mach 12.
He cut through the air like a missile. In less than five seconds, he was already over Staten Island. He dipped, adjusted, and slid in a wide arc before descending rapidly.
The Faeth Mansion, formerly Alistair Smythe, did not take long to arrive. Not at all. The large mansion seemed innocent. No chaos inside so far. Herbie had detected the infiltrator while they were at the perimeter, not when they were already inside. And obviously, Felix did not waste time. He hustled the moment they opened the doors to their mansion.
The moment his feet touched the rooftop, his eyes flickered in his mask. Thermal, electromagnetic, motion tracking all clicked into place. Advanced Lens HUD projected data directly into his line of sight.
'Inside... three agents. Armed. Not Wakandan. Not SHIELD. Not HYDRA.'
Through the walls, he observed their movement. They were going through his private office on the second floor.
'Kiiilll them.'
'I know. I could activate the self-defence sequences and kill them with ease. But this isn't about just winning fights. It's about understanding, Rash. Think about it, it's not a coincidence that both Oscorp Tower AND my mansion were infiltrated right after Peggy Carter's death.'
There were three threads: Peggy Carter, his mansion, and Oscorp Tower. What connected them?
Invisible, he went in through the window that they opened and crawled inside. He clung to the inside upper side of the hallway. He, heh, snuck into his own room. The door was already open. He took to the ceiling. Being a mansion, he had dozens of rooms. This was on the second floor and, more importantly, his fake computer room.
Fake because, ya know, it wasn't the Fantastic Computer. It was simply for aesthetic's sake. For a situation just like this. There were laptops and computers and if a thief were a betting man searching for Oscorp secrets, it would be here.
'Norman advised me to build this. For once, I'm genuinely thanking him. This is fascinating.'
Below him, one of the agents flipped open a laptop. "We need any files relating to Project Rebirth II. Anything tagged with regenerative cell or Vita-Ray sequence."
The second agent rifled through drawers. He also seemed to be gloved and carrying a bottle and tracing paper. Strange, he didn't seem to be hounding for data like the others.
The third agent typed into the most advanced of the computers. It was locked. "This one has biometrics. Were you able to locate his fingerprints yet?"
'Look at that, he's searching for my fingerprints.' Felix narrowed his eyes. He watched the second agent use the tracing paper to get a copy of his fingerprints. 'Someone paid top dollar for this team. No logos. No dog tags. But…not mercs either.'
Too professional and quick-minded for anything unprofessional. Were these...SHIELD agents? That was his only guess. They were able to retrieve every single one of his fingerprints in what felt like a world record. It was almost amazing to see them at work. Once they got into the main computer, they jammed a USB stick. Felix wanted to chuckle.
'Sorry, guys, but there's nothing in there. And after putting all that effort into finding my fingerprints.'
The first agent pulled out the USB. "We've got everything. Let's move."
They left the room. They hopped through the window they forced open and were able to scale down the mansion via a grappling hook. Spider-Man was beside them all the way. They ran through the garden and the gravel, climbed the fences, and went into a black unmarked van. A driver was already waiting.
Spider-Man was perched on top of the black van, still invisible and still silent.
'Let's see who sent you.'