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Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Henry activated his super speed, carrying Katie back into the living room. In an instant, he reappeared side by side with the Skrull-version of Henry—the one who had let the tiger attack the girl in the dining room.
Perhaps because he'd already faced the real thing before, the Skrull-Henry didn't immediately shout that the other was a fake—an action that would have looked suspicious at first glance.
Instead, he wore a confused expression and said in surprise,
"What's going on here?"
The Skrull-version of Katie, who had earlier been blasted away by a photon blast, also got back on her feet. She perfectly mimicked a tiger's posture—baring her teeth, letting out a low rumbling growl, lowering her forelegs as if ready to pounce again at any moment.
By contrast, the real Katie beside Henry looked like a clueless big cat. She simply sat down, tilted her head, and stared at the other "tiger" that looked identical on the outside but felt fundamentally different.
"Ms. Vers, do you have a way to tell them apart?" the real Henry asked, deliberately not showing how much he already knew about Skrulls. Instead, he threw the question to the person who should be most familiar with them—the Kree Starforce warrior.
"Skrull disguises are flawless, from appearance all the way down to DNA," Vers said seriously. "But they can only access short-term memories. Things from long ago, they might not know. Can you two talk about your past?"
The Skrull-Henry immediately dismissed the idea.
"Even if I did, who here could verify which of us is telling the truth?"
He said this up front because, aside from outward appearance, he couldn't obtain much additional information about the person he was imitating. Not to mention the Kryptonian DNA lock—even short-term memories required direct contact to copy.
He couldn't afford to fall into a self-verification trap.
As for the real Henry, he couldn't say much either. If the Skrull limit for short-term memory was six years, then six years ago Henry had still been in a Red Empire research institute in Siberia.
So what if he talked about it? That was something even he didn't want to remember.
Still, there was a way to break the stalemate.
Henry asked, "Ms. Vers, when Skrulls mimic someone, does that include the special abilities the original possesses?"
"No," Vers replied. "When Skrulls shapeshift, their physical capabilities remain their own. They can't use abilities they didn't originally possess."
"Then, Fury," Henry said calmly, "you should understand why I'm asking this."
The moment he finished speaking, a gunshot rang out.
Nick Fury fired a shot straight through the arm of the Skrull-version of Henry. The impostor immediately screamed,
"Why did you shoot me?! He's the fake one!"
Skrull disguises don't fail during sleep or injury. Only death forces them back into their original form.
So as long as the shot wasn't fatal, it wouldn't expose him yet.
But that single shot was enough for Barbara to confirm the truth. She raised her gun and aimed at the Skrull-Henry in the dining room, shouting,
"Alien! Reveal your true form!"
Then another gunshot rang out.
The real Henry cried out, "Hey! What was that for?!"
Nick Fury, who had fired again, didn't look the least bit embarrassed.
"You know—just to be safe. Had to double-check."
Rubbing his arm and pretending it hurt, Henry stuck his finger through the bullet hole in his clothes and said sternly,
"I'll let it slide this time. Do it again, and I won't be so friendly."
The Skrull-Henry stared at the real one in shock, feeling that his exposure was profoundly unfair.
Is this really how Kryptonians behave under a yellow sun?
Seeing himself and his tiger companion surrounded, he looked momentarily at a loss.
At that moment, General Talos—the Skrull leader—entered through the kitchen's back door. He maintained his original form, not disguised as anyone else.
In a calm, confident voice, he said,
"You don't really think the only alien you need to worry about in this house… is us, do you? The one you should truly be watching is the companion you call Henry. He is a notorious Kryptonian."
Talos's words sparked curiosity, confusion—and anger.
Barbara was the one who reacted with fury, shouting,
"What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Henry, on the other hand, was genuinely confused—at least on the surface. He put on a bewildered expression and said,
"What are you talking about? Kryptonian?"
Nick Fury, meanwhile, was intensely intrigued by this new information.
"What's a Kryptonian? Vers, have you heard of that term?"
"I only know that Kryptonians were once the most unhinged superpower in the universe," Vers replied. "But that's ancient history. Krypton was defeated long ago."
Oh? There's history like that too? Henry thought silently.
Talos grew more animated as he continued,
"Kryptonians weren't just a mad superpower. Their people were influenced by the color of their star—sometimes becoming insane, sometimes monstrous.
"And because their political system was a strictly controlled pyramid structure, no Kryptonian child was born naturally. From the moment of birth, their future role was decided.
"Under such a system, other worlds were either enslaved or destroyed. Peace was never an option. And do you know what ultimately happened to the planets whose resources they plundered?
"Their cores collapsed. The planets ceased to exist. No exceptions. Kryptonians were the most terrifying plague in the universe.
"Fortunately, we discovered their weakness. Green stars weaken Kryptonians to the brink of death. The annihilation battle in the Barrington System finally halted their insane expansion.
"After that, Kryptonians were confined to their homeworld. Their planet was surrounded by a cosmic trap of their own creation—the Phantom Zone—preventing anyone inside from escaping and anyone outside from entering.
"And all of this happened… well, by your planet's calendar, about nine thousand years ago. So tell me—why would a Kryptonian, who should be eternally imprisoned on his homeworld, appear here?"
The spotlight returned to Henry.
Naturally, he didn't answer a question he himself didn't know the answer to. He simply shrugged and put on a confused expression. Then, as if changing the subject, he pointed at the injured girl.
"Do you want me to treat her wounds?" Henry said.
"A bite like that won't cause fatal blood loss, but if it's left untreated and exposed to air, there's a risk of bacterial infection.
"There's also the risk of tetanus. As for rabies… well, is that something we need to worry about? I can guarantee Katie doesn't have it—but I can't say the same about that one. Who knows what kind of alien pathogens it might carry."
Perhaps being exposed to Henry's newly revealed alien identity frightened her. Maria Rambeau only tightened her hold on her daughter, watching him warily.
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