"You're emotionally unstable, Skye." Passing through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s isolation ward wasn't particularly difficult for Solomon, but he still chose to stand quietly off to the side. Agent Coulson sat next to him, arms crossed and visibly helpless. He had no choice but to agree to Solomon's conditions—only Solomon had the authority to conceal the movements of Coulson's team. Besides, there were agents in this base who had been saved by Victoria Hand on Solomon's orders, and Coulson wanted to introduce them to their new ally—Hand's new boss.
As for Agent Hand herself, she had arrived with Solomon aboard a Quinjet. The cold and ruthless senior agent wandered aimlessly through the base, arms folded, and every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who saw her quickly looked away and made themselves scarce. She and Solomon had booked their visit well in advance—otherwise, Coulson never would have shared this location with her.
That day, Solomon had carried Whitehall's head with him as he followed Agent Melinda May down the shaft beneath the mansion. The Obelisk had been taken down there by one of Whitehall's subordinates, and both Skye and Coulson had gone down to stop her. So after Solomon had finished his interrogation, the worried May had quickly followed, clipping in her rope for a fast descent.
To the Kree, Terrigen wasn't particularly special—it was merely an ancient technology from the Progenitor race, designed to activate certain functions of Celestial-engineered genes. By the time Earth experienced the second Celestial visitation, humans already carried the potential for powers gifted by the Celestials. The Kree, themselves a third-generation genetic product of the Celestials, scoured the galaxy to uncover the secrets behind that technology. Their grand experiment failed amidst a war with the Skrulls, so Kree biochemists pivoted to igniting latent gene fragments in humans—intending to turn Earth's empowered population into expendable frontline soldiers in a galactic war.
Solomon had explained all this to the Malik father and daughter. The result? Predictably, near-religious conservatives within HYDRA—especially Malik's daughter—found it hard to believe. The elder Malik had no true faith in HYDRA; to him, it was just a tool. Stephanie Malik, however, had gone through several phases—angry outbursts, despair, denial, and ultimately emotional collapse—before Solomon gave her a new purpose. That new mission helped her cope with the disillusionment of her former beliefs and her imagined divine purpose.
Of course, none of this had much to do with Skye, who now lay in a hospital bed. Still, Solomon was determined to prevent her from elevating her powers or their origins to something sacred. The same delusions plagued other half-breeds who believed themselves above humanity—and for that, they had to die. Once Agent Coulson identified their locations, the Eternal City's armies would eliminate them.
And so, the Kree homeworld of Hala would have to be destroyed.
As for the Inhuman base on the dark side of the moon—Solomon already had plans in place.
The sun-kissed, Eurasian mixed-race girl rolled her eyes in frustration.
Seeing that Skye was in a foul mood after her blood had been drawn, Solomon casually used invisible magic to swipe the pineapple-orange juice that Mockingbird Barbara had brought her—Skye didn't even react. So Solomon said something that made her leap from her bed.
"Have you considered getting sterilized?"
"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Coulson looked at Solomon, stunned by the absurd question. Even Skye, still sealed within the isolation room, widened her eyes in disbelief.
"I'm not some animal in heat, Solomon!" Skye's voice came through the glass in a muffled rumble. She hadn't even turned on the intercom. When it came to pissing people off, the arcane master had serious talent. He used to spar with Nick Fury himself—neither Coulson nor Skye were remotely in his league. The high-school-dropout hacker had already crumbled under pressure.
No matter how attractive or powerful he was, Skye wasn't about to forgive him.
"Relax. I was only joking," Solomon said lightly. Though in truth, he did intend to sterilize everyone whose DNA had been tainted by Kree interference. At least, that was one of the proposed contingencies—the final decision would depend on how those individuals viewed humanity.
"That's not funny, Solomon!"
"Cheer up, Skye. You're not dead, are you?" Solomon grinned as he tried to lift the mixed-race girl's spirits. "In fact, there's no need to worry—you're not contagious." He turned to Coulson. "Have you read the documents Agent Hand gave you?"
Coulson shook his head.
He hadn't yet had time to go through the massive file Hand had delivered—he'd only skimmed the appendix, which briefly summarized the Obelisk as an alien chemical weapon. The rest of it would take a specialist to decipher. Whitehall had never directly used the Terrigen crystals himself, but he had discovered the genetic differences between Inhumans and regular humans. His key sample had been Skye's mother—the woman he dissected alive. Her organs were what made the old Nazi young again.
Modern CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing could only be used on eggs, sperm, and embryos to alter unborn DNA. But the Extremis Virus could do more. Inhuman DNA, a hybrid of Kree and human, was far less stable than the Celestials' work. Many Inhumans developed grotesque organ mutations. For those already severely mutated, the Extremis Virus was lethal poison. For those still stable, however, it could be a perfect genetic modifier.
Solomon's plan was to compare this DNA to the human genome database and, with gene-editing technology—plus a little magic and alien tech—restore mutated individuals to human form. At least those whose mutations were minor.
"Agent Hand recently found intel on Dr. List and Bloom," Solomon told Coulson. The latter's face turned serious at the mention of HYDRA. "She suggested we cooperate with you on this operation, but I honestly don't mind if you handle it yourself." The arcane master raised an eyebrow. "Of course, that's just my opinion. Just leave a few targets for Hand to report back on—State's been pushing hard. Some people want their old political donors to disappear. Why else do you think they're in such a hurry?"
"HYDRA in the White House?"
"This country is HYDRA, Coulson." The arcane master lowered his gaze. Skye listened in shock as the two men discussed top-secret intelligence, momentarily forgetting her own situation. "The term 'political donations' was coined the moment fundamentalist capitalism was born—no, probably earlier. It's existed since power itself was born. I already told you—HYDRA isn't just some Nazi spin-off. Its history stretches back far beyond that of S.H.I.E.L.D. The group that Howard Stark founded and modern HYDRA's predecessors can both be traced back to ancient times. If you keep digging, you'll find that everyone is HYDRA."
"You mean the magical world too? HYDRA sorcerers?" Coulson felt like his spine had been run through by a thousand icy needles. Solomon's revelations were horrifying. The last thing he needed was to face hundreds of Solomon-like enemies.
"Maybe. I wouldn't know for sure. All I can say is—there are no HYDRA agents inside Kamar-Taj."
"You're certain?"
Solomon just smiled, and said nothing.
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Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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