"Little Asta, my goodness, are you all right? It's so dangerous outside! How could you run out here on your own?"
Xia Zuo watched Natasha leave. Just then, an anxious voice came from inside the building. Matron Mary hurried into the yard and swept him into her arms, nervously scolding him for running outside alone.
It was so dangerous outside. What if he got hurt?
"Matron Mary, I'm fine. Besides, Mrs. Steve just said she liked me."
Xia Zuo smiled as he spoke. Although Matron Mary's words held reproach, he could hear her concern, and his mood couldn't help but brighten.
What followed was straightforward. The police began clearing the scene. After all, robberies fell under their jurisdiction, and handling the aftermath was routine work for them. This time, however, the bank had been the main scene of the robbery, while the orphanage had merely been caught up in it, so the police paid little attention to the orphanage and focused their investigation on the bank.
Still, Xia Zuo was the only person who had seen the robbers leave, so the police inevitably came to ask him a few questions. But they couldn't possibly suspect Xia Zuo, because he was just a child now. After some routine questioning, they left.
The orphanage gradually returned to peace. Elsewhere, inside a heavily guarded-looking building, Natasha sat in a chair in her tight-fitting suit, looking helplessly at the shiny Nick Fury across from her!
No, a bald, one-eyed man. This was Nick Fury, director of what would later be S.H.I.E.L.D., currently the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
"So that's how it ended? You chased them to the river, and that whole gang of robbers just jumped in and killed themselves?"
Nick Fury stared at Natasha in utter bewilderment. He couldn't understand what they were doing. Since those Hydra agents had gone to that bank to rob it and had taken something away, they needed to return. Yet they had jumped straight into the river.
He couldn't quite make sense of such a bizarre move. Had someone been waiting underwater to receive them? Or had that item been so important that, after completing the handoff, they had chosen to silence themselves?
"Never mind. Natasha, keep following up on this."
Unable to make sense of what had happened, Nick Fury decided to let Natasha continue investigating. As for what the result would be, he wasn't sure either.
"I know. I'll follow up on it," Natasha said helplessly. Even now, she still felt that the whole affair was full of strange circumstances, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it too.
"By the way, according to the police report, a child at the orphanage seems to have been talking about you nonstop."
Nick Fury spoke suddenly. He was quite concerned about the robbery and had also been keeping an eye on the police records, so he had noticed that a child from the orphanage kept mentioning some Mrs. Steve in the report. Wasn't that the alias Natasha had used on her previous mission?
Natasha's expression instantly darkened as something unpleasant came to mind. That little brat was still thinking about her. She felt she needed to go to the orphanage and give Xia Zuo a beating. But when she thought about how Xia Zuo would inevitably pester her if she went there, she immediately began to shrink back.
"Just a little brat. It's nothing important."
Natasha spoke with a stiff expression. Nick Fury was somewhat baffled, but he didn't ask any further questions.
Elsewhere, in a space resembling a basement, the light was dim. A refined-looking young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses could just barely be seen sitting on a sofa. If Xia Zuo had been there, he would certainly have recognized him. A muscular man stood opposite the man with gold-rimmed glasses.
"So, Wickley, none of the men you sent out came back? The mission failed?" the young man with gold-rimmed glasses asked mildly, without a trace of emotion in his voice.
"Y-yes. None of them came back," the standing man said, trembling. This was Wickley, the robbers' commanding officer.
Wickley trembled terribly, because he knew how cold-blooded the man before him was. He had no idea what dreadful punishment awaited him for failing this mission.
"That shouldn't be. According to the information from the Homeland Logistics Division, they should have left by way of the river," the man with gold-rimmed glasses murmured. Wickley, standing before him, felt somewhat frightened. He seemed to have heard something he shouldn't have.
"Oh, right. That's secret information. It mustn't get out."
The man with gold-rimmed glasses suddenly realized that word of Hydra's infiltration of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division couldn't be allowed to spread. At that thought, he picked up a handgun, aimed it straight at Wickley, and pulled the trigger without expression.
Bang!
A muffled gunshot rang through the basement, and Wickley's body slowly crumpled.
"Useless fool. You failed your mission and still dared to come back. How are you any different from garbage? Better off dead," the man with gold-rimmed glasses said slowly. He had already intended to kill him; this had merely been convenient.
"The Scroll of Truth is still of some use. Having it out there is a bit troublesome, so we should retrieve it. Your body has just completed a stage of modification, so you can go. Investigate this matter thoroughly and retrieve the Scroll of Truth. I trust you won't disappoint me."
The young man with gold-rimmed glasses spoke into the empty basement. Behind the door, a cold-faced man stood silently.
"Fine. But in exchange, once this is over, I want further modifications." The cold-faced man considered it, then spoke and slowly walked out of the basement.
"The sole surviving result of the Death Warrior Experiment. Hydra poured a great deal of money into that experiment. I hope you don't disappoint me!"
The young man with gold-rimmed glasses turned his head, narrowed his eyes slightly, and murmured as he watched the cold-faced man recede into the distance. Xia Zuo, meanwhile, had no idea that although he had successfully removed himself from the affair, he still possessed something Hydra valued. They couldn't possibly let that item remain out there, and danger was approaching.
P.S. These two are characters from S.H.I.E.L.D. Can anyone guess who they are?
P.S. Please bookmark, please bookmark, please bookmark! Important things must be said three times!