A Chance at Redemption

Salomon had no intention of blaming Tita. Though he had instilled some knowledge in them when he created them, she was still far too inexperienced compared with Dr. Whitehall, one of Hydra's heads who had survived since World War II. The old bastard was especially skilled at turning and infiltrating others. Not everyone could be like the Arcanist or Natasha Romanoff, capable of spotting those subtle clues and following the trail to drag out hidden traitors.

This required professionals. Salomon entrusted the task of organizing a counterintelligence department to Agent Romanoff and Victoria Hand. Its personnel consisted of brainwashed agents from the Intelligence Department, "purified" girls from the Sisterhood, and certain special individuals who joined later. They had the authority to arrest and kill anyone outside the Sisterhood, the Praetorian Guard, and the senior research departments without reporting to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They answered to Salomon alone.

Although Natasha Romanoff still held a position with the Avengers and occasionally had to participate in missions to capture fugitive Hydra members, her primary focus had shifted to the City of Immortals. In some ways, Salomon had already infiltrated the Avengers. Yet the City of Immortals was not the only one to do so—agents from intelligence agencies around the world had slipped into it as well, becoming employees paid by Stark Industries.

Anyone with a functioning brain could understand just how dangerous a group of uncontrollable people with overwhelming destructive power could be. No matter how impeccable their morals were, they could never earn true trust. No one would gamble their lives or property on such people. To deal with the Avengers, Agent Hand received Salomon's help—first, Salomon used an Alchemical Simulacrum to take his classes for several days in a row, then vanished without a trace alongside Malphas and Phoenix.