Bella waved her hands repeatedly. "I'm just an ordinary person. This has nothing to do with me."
Frank Castle took a swig of alcohol, his voice raspy. He didn't even glance at the fish-man's corpse. "I'm just an ordinary grunt. This doesn't concern me either."
Both adopted a stance of complete detachment, leaving the problem back in Victoria Hand's lap.
She examined the fish-man's corpse. Its ferocious appearance and moss-green scales somewhat challenged her worldview. However, she had at least contained the Grim Reaper before, so she knew things most ordinary people didn't. Her earlier panic stemmed from being unprepared. Now, slowly calming down, she quickly organized her thoughts.
"Nick Fury definitely knows something. He has the highest clearance level. If even he doesn't know, then nobody on Earth does. Let's head back."
Victoria Hand's solution was very official: hand it over to the organization. When trouble hits, let the people in charge handle it.
Bella and the others had no objections. They were just extras—why get involved?
The three abandoned their shark-catching mission and returned to base.
As it turned out, Nick Fury knew far more than ordinary people. Seeing the fish-man's corpse, he showed no surprise whatsoever.
"Nick, I know the organization's confidentiality regulations, but this matter involves me. According to Article 15 and Article 19 of the Special Incident Protocols, I have the right to know the truth." The veteran agent spoke firmly.
Nick Fury touched the fish-man's arm, then pried open its mouth and tapped its sharp teeth.
He remained silent.
Bella didn't want to get involved, but that didn't mean she didn't want to know the truth. She tactfully retreated. "Should I step out?"
"Yes, please close the door on your way." Nick Fury took the opportunity.
Bella pouted, pulled over a nearby stool, and sat down heavily. She wasn't moving no matter what.
Frank Castle sat by the window, drinking one gulp after another. He appeared indifferent, but his attitude was clearly: 'I want to know the truth too. If you dare kick me out, I'll fight you.'
Nick Fury could only pretend not to notice their determination to eavesdrop.
Bella constantly downplayed how weak and helpless she was, but she was no nobody.
And Frank Castle, this old comrade—don't even mention it. His stubborn personality meant he wouldn't turn back even after hitting a wall.
Nick Fury pointed at the fish-man's corpse. "In 1963, during the Cold War, the U.S. military also captured one of these things."
"We conducted extensive experiments on this creature. Currently, we only know they come from the deep sea—humanity's expanding range of activities disturbed them. They have a certain social structure with strict hierarchical divisions. They're a group we know absolutely nothing about."
None of the three found this surprising. Anyone with half a brain could have guessed that conclusion.
"The experimental records are extensive. Evidence shows these creatures possess certain healing abilities. At the time, there was a janitor at the base named Elisa. She..."
Nick Fury hesitated, seemingly recalling records he'd read, then spoke in a very official tone. "She became attached to this peculiar creature. With help from a Soviet spy, she smuggled the creature out of the military base. Then, on a rainy night, they escaped into the ocean together."
"Together? What do you mean by 'together'?" Victoria Hand asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like. Elisa and this peculiar creature disappeared into the ocean. Nobody ever saw them again."
Nick Fury pointed at his own neck. "Elisa had strange wounds on her neck that prevented her from speaking. However, ten years ago, a military biologist proposed a theory. He believed... he believed Elisa might have also carried DNA from this peculiar creature in her body. She could breathe underwater. Her original wounds might have been gills. But this conclusion can no longer be verified."
"Hmph, what a ridiculous story." Frank Castle's tone dripped with disdain.
Bella examined the fish-man rather seriously. This thing posed no threat to her—not because it was weak, but because she was strong. Ordinary people underwater would be no match for a fish-man.
Some beautiful love story, sympathy for marginalized people—she couldn't relate to any of that. All she felt was dread. A strange species harboring heavy hostility had been hiding in the shadows observing humanity all along. What did that have to do with love?
"Many ancient texts record fish-men, mermaids, or sirens. Are you saying all those accounts were true?" she asked Nick Fury.
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps? So where have they been hiding all this time? Haven't human submarines found any trace of them?" Bella wasn't satisfied with such an evasive answer.
Nick Fury's single eye fixed on her. "What if I told you the Earth's core is hollow? That they can use countless passages unknown to us to travel underground? That they could be in California now and appear in Venezuela the next moment? What would you think?"
Bella raised her right fist to her mouth. She said nothing. Everyone was shocked by this hypothesis.
"I always thought Hollow Earth theory was an absurd assumption?" Victoria Hand asked uncertainly.
"Hitler's whereabouts remain a mystery. Two thousand German and Italian scientists disappeared with him. How did so many people vanish into thin air?"
Nick Fury looked at the three of them. "Ladies and gentlemen, this world is far more dangerous than you realize. Cherish your peaceful lives."
He turned and left rather dramatically.
Victoria Hand seemed quite familiar with this act. She snorted through her nose. "How cunning. Talked for ages but it was all hypotheticals—not a single concrete fact."
Bella and Frank Castle nodded in agreement. Indeed, he hadn't said a single truthful thing—all questions and counter-questions.
They rested briefly, then set out again. They captured all three sharks that had escaped to the ocean. Without exception, all these sharks had been bound to the ocean floor by fish-men. They remained on guard but didn't discover any more traces of the fish-men.
The three sharks were brought back to the laboratory. The remaining two sharks heading toward California beaches were also killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. A crisis that was neither major nor minor had been resolved.
Nick Fury placed the fish-man's corpse in a freezer and took it away. Whether S.H.I.E.L.D. would study it themselves or hand it over to the U.S. government in exchange for funding had nothing to do with the three of them.
Three days later, Hand Pharmaceuticals was officially established.
Hand Pharmaceuticals in western Mexico and Weyland Pharmaceuticals in the eastern Caribbean were established at almost the same time. Both companies, only famous within certain circles, demonstrated enormous profit potential.