The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division-at this point, S.H.I.E.L.D. did not yet have the aircraft carrier it would have later. Its base was still a building.
A shapely figure hurried toward the deepest part of the base. It was Natasha, who had not been seen for quite some time, and she was heading for Nick Fury's office.
Natasha frowned slightly. Nick Fury had just summoned her, but she could hear something grave in his tone. Something had most likely happened.
"Natasha, we've uncovered some clues about that robbery."
The moment Natasha stepped into the director's office, Nick Fury spoke to her.
"What did you find?" Natasha asked Director Fury immediately, surprised. She had thought they had discovered something else, but it turned out they had found clues about the robbery.
"You know that group of Hydra robbers plunged into the river. Today, though, our people found their bodies. Guess what we discovered?"
Nick Fury spoke slowly, explaining why he had summoned Natasha. He had found the robbers' bodies, and he had also discovered something extraordinary.
Natasha said nothing and looked at Nick Fury. She was in no mood to guess. She wanted the final answer.
"All right, let's not waste time. We discovered that two of them died from gunshots, not drowning!" Nick Fury tapped the desk as he revealed this startling secret!
Natasha's expression shifted slightly. She immediately understood what that meant!
They had already been dead before plunging into the river, and they had been shot. That meant something unknown had happened along the route before they entered the river, and that unexpected development was very likely the key to the mystery of this robbery.
Suddenly, Natasha remembered something.
Back at the bank, when she was about to run toward the orphanage, she had heard two gunshots. At the time, she had thought they were incidental, but now it seemed those two shots were no coincidence at all. They were where things had changed!
As for where the gunshots had come from, there was only one possibility: the orphanage. And at the time, there had been only one person in its courtyard!
A little brat with different-colored eyes!
Natasha's expression changed drastically, and she even involuntarily took a step back, utterly shocked. Could that child have been the unexpected factor in this incident?
Although Xia Zuo had left Natasha with some unpleasant memories, she found it hard to imagine a child being a mastermind. That was far too outlandish, downright absurd!
"What did you think of, Natasha?"
Nick Fury asked urgently. He had summoned Natasha to solve this mystery because she had been at the scene and experienced the incident herself. If he told her the clues, she might be able to uncover the truth. Now, seeing the drastic change in her expression, Nick Fury felt that his guess might very well have been right!
Natasha really might have figured out the truth!
At that thought, Nick Fury grew very excited. So many strange things had happened lately. Hydra had inexplicably robbed a bank, a Hydra Base had inexplicably been exposed, and a fierce gunfight had broken out there. Their opponent in that gunfight had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s outstanding agents, only for that agent to turn out to be a Hydra spy.
Everything that had happened during this time made Nick Fury extremely tense. None of it was under their control, and they had only learned about many of these things after they happened. Nick Fury deeply disliked that. Their very purpose was to monitor all kinds of threats, yet they had been kept in the dark the whole time. He desperately wanted to know the truth.
"Director, I've figured a few things out, but they're so shocking that I'm finding them hard to believe."
Natasha took a deep breath and spoke to Nick Fury. She still had not fully recovered from the shock.
"Tell me!" Nick Fury urged her.
"If I'm not mistaken, this so-called unexpected factor was very likely that child at the orphanage with different-colored eyes!" Natasha said slowly, revealing this shocking possibility.
"A child? This... what exactly is going on?" Nick Fury was dumbfounded too. He had not expected Natasha to give him such an answer.
"Here's what happened..."
Natasha slowly recounted everything she knew, even including her guesses.
"Something like that actually happened?"
When Natasha finished, Nick Fury was also somewhat dumbfounded. He had imagined several possible answers, but he had never expected this outcome. The unexpected factor in this incident had actually been a child. Yet taken together, the entire case and Natasha's recollections all pointed toward Xia Zuo.
"Director, what should we do?" Somewhat unsettled, Natasha asked Nick Fury.
"Whether this is true or not, Natasha, deploy a squad. Surround the orphanage first and bring that child back. Remember, whatever you do, don't hurt him!"
Nick Fury made his decision and ordered Natasha to bring Xia Zuo back to the base. That way, whether it was true or false, they would get Xia Zuo under control before discussing anything else.
"Understood." Natasha was somewhat agitated, but as a professional agent, she chose to obey the order.
Soon, Natasha left the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division with an armed squad and headed toward the orphanage.
Meanwhile, as Nick Fury made his decision, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses listened through a covert communicator in a secret base. He was Whitehall, one of Hydra's leaders, and he was listening to a report from a mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
"You certainly live up to your reputation as our old adversary, S.H.I.E.L.D. I knew you could give me a satisfactory result. A child from an orphanage? Interesting. I never imagined someone like that existed. Very good. I swear I'll devour you alive and flay you."
A trace of malice appeared in Whitehall's eyes. He had sworn to devour and flay the mysterious person who had left him in such a sorry state last time. Although he had not expected it to be a child either, none of that diminished his fury.
"Everyone, head to the orphanage and bring that child back to me. And wipe out that orphanage!" Whitehall gave the order.
For a moment, the eyes of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra were all fixed on the orphanage. A great catastrophe was about to descend!
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