A black SUV drove smoothly through the congested traffic.
Inside the car, Nina Williams sat in the back seat.
She silently watched the live feed transmitted from the drone on the car's screen.
In the scene, Vi's short pink hair, like an out-of-place Flame, rampages through the nursing home, crippling the so-called Skrulls.
Brutal, direct, and utterly unskilled.
But it works.
Nina gave a soft hum and then turned off the screen.
These superheroes are always so energetic.
She turned her gaze to the window and suddenly spoke, breaking the silence in the car.
" Los Angeles traffic is always this bad."
The driver was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man wearing Vought field agent's uniform.
He glanced at Nina in the rearview mirror and gave her a respectful but reserved smile.
"Yes, Ms. Williams. Santa Monica Boulevard is always packed, especially at this time of day."
"Yeah?"
Nina's gaze shifted from the window to the pair of eyes reflected in the rearview mirror.
"I thought you would prefer a more open environment, given how high the population density is here."
The tendons beneath the driver's skin twitched unnaturally for a moment.
"I'm just a driver, ma'am. Where we go is up to you."
Nina nodded slightly, leaning back in the soft leather seat, her posture relaxed, as if she were genuinely having a casual chat.
"Then tell me... what is the purpose of the Skrulls coming to Earth?"
He's been exposed.
But how could that be?
His disguise was perfect, replicating everything about the body at the cellular level, including memories and habits.
He could even clearly recall every detail of the argument he had with the "wife" he didn't know the night before.
How did she figure that out about the woman in front of her?
Before he could react, the Shadow of death loomed over him from the back seat.
Nina moved.
The moment she asked that question, her body was already like a fully drawn bow.
Just as the driver lost focus and the vehicle began to shake, the bowstring snapped!
Nina Williams pressed her entire body against the back seat, her left hand darting out and precisely hooking her fingers into the gap between his right shoulder blades.
The Skrulls disguised driver felt a piercing pain, and his hands involuntarily loosened their grip on the steering wheel.
He tried to resist, letting go of the steering wheel with his left hand and punching backward with his fist.
But Nina's attacks were relentless, giving him no chance to retaliate.
While gripping the other person's shoulder, she slammed her right elbow into the side of the driver's seat at a tricky angle.
Bang!
With a muffled thud, the entire steel structure of the seat underwent a slight deformation.
The impact caused the driver's body to tilt involuntarily to the left, and his head slammed heavily against the car window.
The cramped interior space actually became Nina's advantage.
All her attacks were short and deadly, showcasing the essence of close-quarters combat to its fullest extent.
The Skrulls let out a muffled groan; the pain jolted him out of his shock.
The genes within him began to stir, attempting to transform and break free.
"Too late."
Her voice sounded like a whisper from hell.
In an instant, his legs intertwined, his ankles hooking around the Skrulls's neck, while his other leg pressed down firmly on the Skrull's paralyzed right arm, forming a perfect strangulation triangle within the confined space.
The Skrulls felt an unprecedented fear.
He could feel the bones in his neck groaning as they were being squeezed by the other person's muscles.
Before he could even activate his transformation ability, his vision began to blur, and the air in his lungs was slowly being squeezed out.
In the shattered shards of glass, he saw Nina's beautiful but expressionless face.
"Snap!"
The Skrulls's neck was snapped, and his body went limp.
The out-of-control car crashed into a fire hydrant on the side of the road, sending a jet of high-pressure water shooting into the sky.
The car overturned and flew up under the enormous impact, landing on its roof and Spark sharply as it slid for about ten meters before coming to a stop.
The surrounding vehicles braked suddenly, and for a moment, horns blared and people screamed in alarm.
A few seconds later, the intact rear door of the overturned vehicle was pushed open from the inside.
Nina Williams emerged from the vehicle, her dark purple combat suit slightly dusty, but otherwise unharmed.
She straightened up and tidied her perfectly styled golden ponytail.
Ignoring the fear and curiosity around her Nina took an encrypted communicator out of her pocket.
"Recovery site, coordinates sent. Five minutes. I don't want to see any extra footage on the evening news."
Nina did not leave immediately after hanging up the call.
She then pulled a black device, about the size of a matchbox, from another pocket and pressed the button on its side.
The device's screen lights up, displaying a simplified map of the surrounding area.
A bright green dot was flashing regularly in the center of the map, where she was standing.
This point of light represents herself.
Nina stared at the lone dot on the map, then looked up again in the direction of the nursing home.
The tasks Ada Wong assigned her were always so troublesome.
While waiting, Nina took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked quite relaxed.
An inconspicuous black Ford sedan pulled up beside her.
The car door opened, and two people got out.
The leader was a tall Black man wearing an unremarkable suit.
Following behind him was a white man with a gentle smile on his face.
"Madam, what happened here?"
The Black man got straight to the point, his voice steady and powerful.
As he spoke, he pulled out an ID from inside his trench coat and flashed it in front of Nina.
Nick Fury, Strategic Homeland Defense, Attack and Logistics Agency.
On the document, an eagle perches on a circular badge.
S.H.I.E.L.D..
Nina ignored her.
Behind Fury, the white agent with a gentle smile stepped forward and took over the conversation in a relaxed tone.
"Madam, we mean no harm. It's just that this incident is somewhat unusual. We've received intelligence and need to take over the scene to investigate."
"This is none of your business. According to the law, Vought is in charge of the situation."
Fury frowned.
This behemoth has now infiltrated every corner of the state apparatus.
Even many of S.H.I.E.L.D..'s operations have to take its impact into account.
This is not an ordinary superpowered event.
Fury's voice grew louder.
"We have reason to believe that this involves external threats and falls under the category of national security."
"An external threat?" Nina repeated, feigning ignorance. "You mean the driver in the car? He was just an ordinary person who died from fatigue. Vought's legal department will handle the compensation matters."
Fury stared intently at her; he knew this woman was lying.
His intuition told him that the body of the "ordinary person" in the car was not so simple.