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Mutants might possess abilities like this. But the defining trait of mutants is how rare it is to find two exactly alike—even those with similar powers are uncommon.
Given that the person in front of them could shapeshift, and there was another corpse with a similar appearance sitting inside the car, the odds that they were aliens rather than mutants were extremely high.
After a series of confirmations, the one-eyed white-haired old man leading the group finally broke his silence and addressed everyone:
"Vince, move the one in the car onto the helicopter. Agent, lower your weapon—this one is being transferred to us. Then all of you get on the helicopter and come with us."
The muscle-bound giant wearing only a tank top—Warwolf Vince Marcus—lifted the dead Skrull from the passenger seat with one hand, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and carried it toward the helicopter.
Dum Dum Dugan retrieved the Rambo knife he'd lent to Henry. Without carrying any weapon himself, he escorted the Skrull being held by Barbara back toward the helicopter as well.
Barbara lowered her gun, but she didn't relax her guard. She stayed close to Dum Dum Dugan, watching the Skrull who was still trying to frame her as they boarded the helicopter.
It couldn't be helped—the reputation of the Howling Commandos was simply too great. Barbara had no reason to doubt their loyalty to the U.S. government and thus followed their orders without question.
Moreover, according to internal intelligence, the Howling Commandos were also part of S.H.I.E.L.D.—though Barbara had never seen them before. She had always assumed it was because her clearance level was too low. It never crossed her mind that there were effectively two S.H.I.E.L.D.s.
But when it was Henry's turn, although he walked with the group toward the helicopter, Kitty stopped once they got close enough.
The thunderous roar of the helicopter's engines made the tiger hesitate, unwilling to move forward.
Seeing this, Henry said, "Looks like my pet isn't meant to enjoy this flight."
The others continued straight past him and boarded the helicopter. Only the one-eyed old man and Barbara stopped, turning back to look at the man and tiger.
Waving a hand, Henry hooked a thumb toward the car behind him. "Are you taking this vehicle back immediately? Let me borrow it for now. No matter where I drive it, you can probably recover it anyway."
Seeing this, Barbara tried to turn back toward Henry. "Henry, I'll stay with you—"
But the man with the tiger stopped her.
"Bobbi, you have your duty, and I have mine. You need to report everything about those aliens, and I need to take care of Kitty.
"I can't just abandon her and let her roam around on her own so I can follow you. And don't forget—if something goes wrong on Fury's end, the only support he can rely on is you. That's your most important mission."
The girl pouted, looking aggrieved. "Fine…"
The one-eyed old man simply said, "Suit yourself," and walked away without looking back.
By nature, their unit wasn't meant to have too much contact with civilians—even civilians with special abilities.
Besides, who among their team didn't have something special about them? The other side wasn't all that unique.
The Howling Commandos had deployed for the aliens. And the fact that Henry knew to go through Tony Stark to reach them meant there was no need to worry about him leaking sensitive extraterrestrial information.
At their level, there was no need to bother with nondisclosure agreements. Anyone who leaked secrets would be eliminated. Anyone suspected of leaking secrets would also be eliminated. This was an unspoken consensus.
Signing a piece of paper—or not—changed nothing. Only the dead truly kept secrets.
Moreover, Old Nick Fury had no real desire to bring this man back to the Howling Commandos' secret base, let alone arrange transportation for him and that tiger back to the West Coast afterward.
If the man wanted to leave on his own, there was no reason to stop him.
However, these thoughts were completely overturned after they returned to base and interrogated the living Skrull. Everyone regretted not finding a way to bring Henry Brown back with them.
No one had expected that this man wasn't, as the reports suggested, an X-gene mutant. He was also an alien—specifically, a Kryptonian from Krypton.
Yet according to testimony from trainee agent Barbara Morse, even Henry Brown himself didn't know this. When it came to Krypton, this Kryptonian had to rely on Skrulls for answers.
During interrogation, the Skrull did everything he could to redirect this planet's indigenous authorities toward that Kryptonian, away from Skrull operations.
As a result, when it came to Krypton, he was not only forthcoming—he went out of his way to smear the Kryptonian's reputation.
After all, Krypton's reputation in the universe was already terrible. Blackening it further carried no psychological burden—despite the fact that these events had occurred nine thousand years ago.
In a secure line, Old Nick Fury reported the situation to Peggy Carter.
With such an identity involved, it was impossible not to pay attention. But according to Agent Morse's account, the man himself might have been completely unaware of it.
On the other end of the call, Peggy Carter asked, "If I remember correctly, the earliest records on Henry Brown only trace back to Alaska in 1990?"
"Yes. His time on a crab fishing vessel is the first publicly recorded trace of him."
Peggy Carter made a swift decision. "Send people to investigate further. Expand the search to the Yukon and Siberia. But keep it subtle—he's connected to Tony, after all.
"He's only just managed to make himself less conspicuous and move out of certain people's crosshairs. Don't let anything tied to him draw attention again. Choose the personnel carefully."
Old Nick Fury replied, "Understood. I'll handle Siberia personally. Alexei and Melina came to the U.S., and I didn't even greet them properly before they left. As an old friend, I should at least say hello."
There was a brief silence on the other end before Peggy Carter spoke again. "Know your limits, old man. We both know your time is limited. You're not like me—I can still linger on a hospital bed."
"Don't worry," Old Nick Fury said calmly. "I know this isn't the era where I can grab a machine gun and fight my way in and out alone. Even though the Red Empire is gone, not all of the old comrades are."
"You've got a plan?"
Old Nick Fury answered confidently, "That idiot Alexei wouldn't seriously think this era still needs a Red Guardian, would he?
"The same goes for the Iron Maiden. Once the intelligence they stole is proven false, how much credibility do you think they'll have in the new government?
"While contacting those people, I can also look for alien intelligence connected to Siberia—muddy the waters a bit, make it harder to tell what my real objective is."
"That plan is viable," Peggy Carter said. "I'll allocate whatever northern resources are available to you. Be careful."
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