At 10 a. m., a cold rain began to fall in Georgetown, Washington.
Ada Wong walked past the antique shop, holding an umbrella.
Three men were still following.
The person in front stopped to check the road sign, and the two behind him continued forward by using a car parked on the side of the road.
They worked well together.
They've moved from Capitol Hill to here, and they've changed positions several times already.
Gun barrels were visible through gaps in the second-floor blinds.
Nina's voice came through the earpiece. "The one by the window is an Allies Intelligence Office sentry, and the one behind him is S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."
Half an hour ago, Nina, in her capacity as a senior liaison officer for the Allies Military Intelligence Office, had already completed the handover of defense duties for this area.
She also took over the responsibility of monitoring and dispatching patrols at the street corner.
It's not difficult to shake off the people behind you.
But since Fury has sent people to keep an eye on Vought, he probably won't let Thaddeus Ross off the hook either.
Ada also wanted to know how many escape routes the general had left for himself.
At the next intersection, Ada turned into the alley.
There are three-story red brick buildings on both sides, and a fire escape at the end. The alley entrance faces the second-floor window of the coffee shop.
She pressed the earpiece. "How many are you planning to keep tonight?"
"One, the leader."
Ada smiled and leaned the umbrella against the drainpipe at the end of the road.
"Then don't break him."
The soft sound of equipment being packed away came through the headset; Nina had left the observation point.
Ada waited by the water pipe for a while.
Outside the alley, the sound of leather shoes splashing in the water stopped and then started again.
The three men did not rush in; they checked the doors and windows on both sides before approaching the alley entrance.
This caution gave Nina ample time.
Ada took out the grappling hook gun and used the grappling hook to secure the fire escape ladder on the second floor.
The steel cable tightened, lifting her off the ground.
As the three agents rushed into the alley, all that remained in front of them was a black umbrella leaning against a water pipe.
"Target lost."
The man on the left pressed his earpiece, while the other two men separated, guns pointed at the closed back door.
A soft sound came from above.
Ada sat on the edge of the fire escape, looking down at them.
"Up there!"
The team leader raised his gun.
On the second floor of the coffee shop, the sniper also adjusted his rifle.
With the night vision goggles pointed at the fire escape, and his index finger just touching the trigger, the door behind him was pushed open a crack.
Nina quickly moved closer, covering his mouth with her left hand and tightening her right arm around his neck.
The sniper's elbow slammed backward.
She pressed his head down and twisted it to the other side.
Nina caught his falling body to prevent him from knocking over the gun rack, then removed his communicator and turned off the power.
After placing the body on the ground, Nina took the silenced sniper rifle from the windowsill.
In the alley, the team leader heard the notification that someone had gone missing.
"Sniper? Answer!"
There was no response.
"Withdrawal is a trap!"
Ada has loosened the clasp.
The hem of the red cheongsam-style trench coat was lifted up.
She jumped down the fire escape, gripped her pistol with both hands, and fired three shots in the second of her fall.
The gunman on the left was shot off course, and his gun fell into the water.
Another person was hit by two bullets in succession, suffering injuries to his wrist and shoulder blade, and crashed into the brick wall behind him.
Ada bent her knees and landed, her shoe tip turning half a step on the slippery stone surface to avoid the injured person who was falling towards her.
The team leader's gun was blocked by his comrade.
By the time he regained his firing angle, two muffled gunshots rang out from the second floor of the café.
The two wounded men had just reached for their spare daggers under their ribs when they collapsed one after the other.
After the team leader lunged at the trash can, he pulled out Flash from his waist and threw it toward Ada's location.
When she saw him raise his elbow, she turned to the side and closed her eyes.
A white light swept across the outside of my eyelids.
The headset's active noise cancellation module suppressed the popping sounds, but my ears still felt muffled.
Using the location she had previously memorized, she reached out and braced herself against the edge of the box, then flipped it over from the other side.
The team leader is drawing his spare pistol.
Ada swung her right leg, the tip of her shoe hitting his hand, the gun hit the wall and fell into the drain.
Before she could even turn over, the red heel stepped on her chest.
"Don't move."
The team leader coughed, grabbed her ankles with both hands, but couldn't move the shoe away.
He suddenly clenched his back teeth.
Ada did not stop her.
The capsule bursts open, releasing a refreshing taste into your mouth.
The team leader bit down again, pressed his tongue against his gums, and swallowed hard.
Ada was waiting for him.
"Mint flavor?"
He looked up.
"The capsules from this afternoon were switched," she said. "The logistics check was handled by my colleague."
Footsteps sounded at the alley entrance.
Nina walked over and squatted down next to the team leader.
A black leather glove gripped his chin, forcibly opening his mouth, while his other hand pressed down on the back of his neck.
"Stop biting, there's no second one."
Ada took the scanner out of her bag, read his iris, and connected it to her personal tactical terminal.
The unlock prompt light up.
" Cole, Level 7 Field Detective."
She turned the page.
"At 14 Oak Street, Silver Spring, Maryland, your daughter is in third grade."
Cole's struggle ceased.
"It has nothing to do with them..."
Nina loosened her grip slightly, allowing him to speak.
"Certainly."
Ada looked at the terminal. "I'm asking about tonight's mission, but if you die here, someone has to explain it to them."
Cole kept his mouth shut.
Ada didn't rush him; the scanner started reading the encrypted file in the terminal, and she showed him the progress bar.
" Fury will give your daughter a medal, but what about after that? She and her mother have many years ahead of them."
Nina tightened her grip on his jaw again.
Cole forced out a muffled growl and slapped his hand into the puddle.
In those three minutes, Ada only asked about the mission twice. The second time, Cole didn't wait for her to finish asking.
" The Shadow Audit Project... was personally approved by the director."
Nina loosened her grip slightly.
He said, "You have a ghost intelligence network inside you."
"The technology is wrong, the personnel don't match, and the leads go cold as soon as they get close to Vought."
"He wants us to take advantage of Thaddeus Ross's downfall to monitor your handover with the military and seize the original experimental data."
What happens after you get it?
"Take them back to the station. That's all I was told. I'm only in charge of this group."
Ada opened the action commands in the terminal.
Data is prioritized; personnel identities will be verified separately. Cole's statement aligns with this.
She continued scrolling down.
The recently received monitoring logs appeared in the list.
Cole quickly added, "And Thaddeus Ross, about ten minutes ago, we intercepted a signal coming from the safe house and connected to a civilian biology channel. It wasn't encrypted."
Who should I contact?
Samuel Stern, New York, Culver University.
Ada stopped swiping the screen.
" Mr. Blue?"
"Yes, it was him. Thaddeus Ross sent his personal guard to escort him to New York with the last remaining Blonsky mutation serum."
"The only one left?"
"That's what the recording says, you can listen to it, the address is in it too, I'm not lying to you."
Ada opened the record.
After a brief burst of static, Thaddeus Ross's voice came through the speaker.
After listening to the part about the sample, she pulled up the attached address and compared it with the location Cole had given her.
Cole hurried to move closer to her.
"I've told you everything I know. According to the rules, you have to spare my life..."
Nina suddenly lifted the hand that was gripping his chin upwards.
Cole's sentence trailed off, and he tilted his head to one side.
Ada's scanner was also connected to the terminal.
The statement has not yet been fully reviewed.
"Use the terminal." Nina released her grip and stood up. "We can't let him go back and tip off us."
Ada glanced at her but said nothing more.
She transmitted the audio recordings, action instructions, and coordinates of the Culver University laboratory back to New York, then deleted all records related to the on-site confrontation from the terminal.
This segment of the street surveillance footage will be completely erased by Motoko.
Before leaving, she took the double-headed eagle and skull badge from her handbag and placed it next to Cole's body.
The metal edges were damp with water, and only half of the counterfeit Shocker badge was visible.
Ada picked up the black umbrella from the wall and opened it again.
"Let's go, we still have things to do in New York."
Vought.
After listening to Cole's testimony, Lynn opened the listening logs again.
The address on the screen is located in the New York City area.
Culver University, third-floor biology lab.
After handing over most of his belongings, Thaddeus Ross surprisingly left behind a mutated serum.
Lynn rewound the recording a bit.
Stern, on the other end of the communication line, was pressing for information about the sample's condition. Before Thaddeus Ross could finish answering, Stern immediately inquired about the storage temperature, his tone revealing no hesitation.
Blonsky's serum was sent to the laboratory of the general college.
Lynn turned off the recording.
Kara's public appearance is already being arranged.
He didn't intend to change his schedule because of the trouble Thaddeus Ross left behind before he left.
The encrypted connection was established, Ada appeared on the screen.
" Washington has his men clean up the mess. You and Nina go back to New York tonight and bring Stern back."
Where are the samples?
"Take the samples and equipment with you; don't let him continue working at the academy."
"Understood. The special plane is already warming up at the landing field outside Georgetown."
Lynn ended the communication and left a floor plan of Culver University on the screen.
When Ada and Nina arrived at the landing field, the cabin door of the stealth vertical takeoff and landing special plane was already open.
The crew received the destination coordinates for New York and immediately took off.
On the return trip, Ada listened to Thaddeus Ross and Stern's communication again, while Nina sat opposite her, pressing the spare magazines one by one into her carrying bag.
"Did he know we were going?" Nina asked.
" Thaddeus Ross won't tell him."
Ada turned off the recording and zoomed in on the location of the lab.
"Getting the people out here is the priority; we can check the belongings later."
After their private plane landed in New York, the two changed cars and headed to Culver University.
The lights were still on on the third floor of the college building.
Samuel Stern stood in front of the lab table, not even bothering to take off his coat.
The newly delivered metal insulated box has already been opened, and cold mist is seeping out from the opening.
Two soldiers in combat uniforms stood guard by the door. One of them checked the time, then came back to collect the boxes.
"Don't move."
Stern blocked the lid of the box with his elbow.
"I'll only take a little, keep it at the current temperature, and don't take it into the hallway."
The soldiers stood beside the lab table, without putting away their guns.
Stern ignored him, put on his rubber gloves, and used a pipette to draw up the dark green mutated serum.
He placed the sample under the microscope and adjusted the focus.
The cells in the field of vision are dividing.
Stern looked up from the eyepiece, glanced at the test tube label, and then leaned down to check it again.
"This is incredible..."
Reaching out to pull the petri dish closer, I saw that the gamma nutrient solution inside was already prepared, and the tip of the pipette was suspended above the liquid surface.
A dark green liquid dripped in.
The color at the bottom of the dish suddenly spread out.
Stern was still adjusting the microscope when the culture medium began to rise up the glass wall.
He stopped, just as he was about to move the petri dish away, when cracks appeared on the explosion-proof glass.
"Retreat..."
The glass shattered.
The soldier standing next to him jerked his head to the side, but the shards still grazed his neck.
Blood flowed from the wound, and splattered green liquid also fell into it.
The soldier raised his hand and touched it.
Stern noticed his gloves were trembling.
The rifle crashed to the ground.
The man knelt down, his hands gripping his neck, the skin between his fingers bulging rapidly, and large veins extending all the way to his jaw.
Another soldier by the door rushed over, then stopped a few steps away.
The kneeling man screamed in agony, his shoulders and back buckled, and the seams of his combat uniform snapped one after another.
The sound of bones squeezing came from inside his body, and the lab table was pushed aside by him.
Stern retreated to the wall, his hands, still covered in culture medium, hanging in front of him, afraid to touch anything.
Just then, he heard footsteps in the corridor.
The sound of high heels.