As for the Kree ship, it should still be in dormancy and far away from Earth right now, probably somewhere near the edge of the solar system at the very least, so that option was unlikely.
The Inhuman royal family was not very likely either. Their whole purpose was isolation, and they were a people who believed in personal power above all else. Even on the Moon, their development in ships and large-scale structures had never been particularly outstanding.
So for Killian, that left only the last possibility.
S.W.O.R.D.
Of course, for now, that was still only a deduction.
While Killian was still thinking, a ripple suddenly appeared in the distance. Then, under his fighter's sensors, an alien ship approached from afar, slowed down just before collision range, and revealed itself by dropping its cloaking field.
At the same time, part of the giant hidden structure also showed its true form, something like the entrance to a space station.
As the outer gates slowly opened, the ship flew inside.
Then, once the gates shut again, the huge structure faded back into the darkness of space and vanished from sight.
"As expected. S.W.O.R.D."
With Baymax magnifying the image, Killian clearly saw the insignia on the gate the ship had entered, a stylized sword with a cosmic symbol.
At that moment, Killian began reassessing everything again.
There were already this many advanced technological factions around just one planet, never mind the vastly larger universe beyond it.
Right now, he still did not have the capital to settle down and relax. At the very least, if he wanted the entire Earth to hear his voice, he still had a long road ahead of him.
"Baymax, let's go back."
After taking one last deep look at the place where the ship had disappeared, Killian gave the order.
At once, the king-class intelligent fighter, still cloaked, turned around and left.
The region behind it looked as empty as it ever had, as if nothing had ever been there at all.
"You did very well this time, Burr. I'm extremely satisfied with this fighter."
Once he returned to the secret valley base, Killian was clearly in a very good mood as he praised Roman Burr.
This time, whether it was speed or stealth, the fighter had already reached the highest standards.
And Burr had not simply copied the original design Killian gave him. He had also expanded on it by integrating a number of AIM's internal technologies, perfectly merging them into the final craft.
He had truly improved it.
"Boss, you're too generous. This was all possible because of the blueprints you provided. All I really did was reproduce what the company asked me to build."
Roman Burr smiled and nodded.
To him, the most important thing was that the boss had flown the aircraft himself and nothing had gone wrong.
"Good. Then start moving on the next-generation fighter. That'll become our main force in the future."
"Don't worry about money. My requirements for it are simple. Tough, durable, highly stealthy, and heavily armed."
"As long as it achieves those, it's perfect. In overall performance, it should match or exceed the best current top-tier fighters."
"Do you have confidence?"
Seeing how calm and steady Burr remained, Killian grew even more satisfied and continued.
"Absolutely, Boss. If we're talking about a next-generation fighter, I'll need about one month for design and assembly, two more months for calibration, and in four to five months total, we should be ready for full production."
Roman Burr answered with the same composed smile.
After all, this base had existed from the beginning as AIM's dedicated aerial-power research facility. Even its production lines had been set up as a complete one-stop chain from the very start.
So Roman Burr had always understood what his mission here would be.
And naturally, none of the boss's orders surprised him.
"Excellent. Is there anything you still need here?"
"People, money, materials. Whatever you need, I'll approve it."
Killian spoke warmly.
"Thank you for your support, Boss, but for now the company has already supplied everything we need. At the moment, there's nothing lacking."
Roman Burr answered.
"Good. With you here, I'm at ease."
"Don't be afraid to do what needs to be done. Speak when you should speak, fire who you should fire. Inside this base, anyone who doesn't meet your standards is subject to your authority. You have full power over appointments and removals here."
"Don't carry any mental burden over it."
After patting Roman Burr on the shoulder again, Killian left the base aboard his new personal aircraft.
"Sir, detecting an unusually strong energy source."
But on the way back to headquarters, Baymax suddenly reported something that genuinely caught Killian's attention.
"A projection."
Killian answered immediately.
A red point appeared before him on the map, only a little over ten kilometers away, seemingly located on an island.
"Interesting. Move closer."
Seeing the strange energy signature, clearly different from any known Earth-based source, Killian smiled and, with full confidence in his own abilities, ordered Baymax to approach the target.
As they got closer and closer, the fighter eventually reached the airspace above the marked point, perfectly overlapping with it.
Baymax then very thoughtfully projected the scene below.
A woman was moving under cover of dusk, clutching a bag filled with what looked like crystalline minerals. A little girl followed close behind her as the two made their way slowly toward the edge of a town.
With the night-vision system zooming in, the woman's features became completely clear.
"Sir, according to comparison with global government databases, the woman carrying the unknown energy source is Eva Belikov, thirty-five years old, Russian national. Family relations... lifestyle habits... surveillance records indicate that she disappears each year during specific periods."
"In addition, scans show anomalous neural-wave activity similar to the Purple Man."
While Killian was still thinking, Baymax had already pulled together the woman's background in full.
"Carrying an unknown crystal, traveling with her daughter, vanishing every year, and showing Purple Man-level neural activity."
"Interesting."
Once he laid all of that out, Killian's smile deepened.
At this point, he was already certain what storyline this was.
A woman from the second season of S.H.I.E.L.D., a fugitive from the global Inhuman refuge who had stolen Terrigen crystals and run away.
Her ability allowed her to control others through touch, and the more pain they felt, the stronger her power became.
Her daughter had inherited that same power perfectly, and after awakening, her ability had evolved even further. With a touch, she could absorb other people's emotions, control them, and amplify her own power in the process.
The downside, of course, was obvious.
A path like that could only end in darkness.
Even outside the Marvel world, in the real world, a power like that would be the starting point for corruption and psychological collapse.
Every person carried darkness inside them. If not for laws and social structure, crime rates would multiply many times over.
That was also why so many countries had always supported games and virtual outlets. Reality was only one world, but games created countless parallel spaces for escape and release, giving people more paths and reducing pressure in real life.
But Eva's daughter clearly did not have that kind of release.
Or rather, even if she did, she would never choose it, because letting go of her dark emotions would mean weakening her own abilities to the point of near uselessness.
And if anyone asked honestly, if they had a power like that, would they really choose not to use it?
This was a power that could let you completely and harmlessly control others, make them obey without question, and the more you used it, the stronger you became.
Push it far enough, and the whole world could become your private playground.
That kind of temptation was difficult even for adults to resist, never mind a little girl.
That was why, in the end, the girl had gone dark. She controlled her mother to strengthen herself, then controlled the people in the town, and eventually even tried to control May, giving rise to May's "Cavalry" legend.
After recalling all of that and coming back to the present, Killian saw that the mother and daughter had already slipped into someone else's home.
They then calmly took control of the family inside and made them prepare food for them.
The whole routine was so smooth that it was obvious they had done this many times before.
What reassured Killian slightly was that the daughter merely seemed used to all of this, while the mother was the one actively using the power.
And from the look of it, the girl still had not come into contact with Terrigen Mist yet.
Which made sense. Awakening would require a safer environment. As a fugitive from Afterlife, Eva clearly knew how terrifying the teleporting Inhuman hunter there was, so she had spent all her time fleeing instead of focusing on her daughter's awakening.
But now, after they finished eating, she finally seemed ready to use it.
"Sweetheart, are you ready?"
Looking at her daughter, whose little face had become dusty and grimy from all the hardship they had endured together, Eva's eyes filled with tenderness. She wiped her daughter clean with a damp cloth, set it aside, then took out a Terrigen crystal from the bag and asked softly.
"Yes, Mom! I'm ready!"
"I'll awaken the strongest power and make you proud!"
"I'll make them all regret what they did!"
The little girl, only six years old, answered with total determination as she looked at her mother.
"Good. That's my daughter."
"I can't wait to see the moment you transform completely."
Eva smiled in satisfaction.
In that instant, she almost felt as if she could see the same fire in her daughter's eyes that burned within herself, defiance, hatred, and a need for revenge.
And that did not disturb her at all.
If anything, it excited her even more.
Because she understood that she herself was the same kind of person.
And her daughter would become the same kind of superpowered being, someone above the ordinary world, a true queen among people.
As for revenge, they were only taking back what had always belonged to them.
Then Eva raised the Terrigen crystal and prepared to smash it down.
But the moment she threw it toward the floor, she froze.
The crystal, which should have burst on impact, simply hung motionless in midair.
As if time itself had been paused.
Eva had seen enough in her life to immediately understand that an enhanced being had arrived, very likely an invisible one.
Her hand shot outward, and the family of three inside the house instantly moved to surround her and her daughter, protecting them in the middle.
"Diana! I know it's you!"
"Stop trying to drag us back. This was always my daughter's birthright. No one has the right to take it away!"
"I'm warning you. If you don't stop right now, I'll make these three die here."
Eva screamed at the empty air, her voice raw.
In her mind, the only people who could have pursued her all the way here and approached without making a sound were the enhanced people from Afterlife.
She had lived there for years. She had no idea how many powered people there really were, or how many strange abilities existed among them, because no one there was allowed to reveal their power publicly.
But that did not stop her from understanding how dangerous Afterlife really was.
Still, she believed that when it came to pure strength of ability, her own power was among the strongest, and then her daughter's as well.
As long as they had time, the world would crawl at their feet, and everyone would kneel to kiss them.
But to Eva's frustration, after she shouted what she thought should have forced Diana to show herself or back down, nothing happened.
Minutes passed.
The scene did not change at all.
Except...
Wait.
Where was the bag with the Terrigen crystals?
Only then did Eva realize what had happened.
Cunning Diana had distracted her with fear for her daughter's safety and stolen the entire bag.
In that moment, Eva wanted to massacre the entire town just to vent her fury.
But she also knew it would solve nothing and would only attract the local authorities.
"Damn you, Diana! Fine. You win this one!"
Looking at the now-empty bag, Eva hissed through clenched teeth.
At that moment, regret flooded her, regret that she had not awakened her daughter earlier, regret that she had not protected the crystals more carefully from the start.
"But just wait."
"I'm not giving up."
Clenching her fists tightly, Eva stared ahead with hatred in her voice.
...
"Heh. I didn't expect I'd actually get my hands on this. That's a nice surprise."
Inside the fighter, looking at the Terrigen crystal that one of the combat robots had retrieved with ridiculous ease, Killian smiled in amusement.
"Sir, scans indicate that the interior exists in gaseous form. The crystal shell is only a protective outer layer. Potential danger detected. Flammable, explosive, and hazardous-gas risks are present."
"Please handle with caution."
Baymax's voice sounded at once.
"That's fine. The danger isn't that great. This glass chamber is more than enough."
Killian answered calmly.
The greatest danger of Terrigen crystals was simple: if an ordinary human inhaled the mist inside, they would die and crumble away, but anyone with even a trace of Inhuman blood would be awakened completely.
That was why these crystals were essential to the activation of latent Inhumans.
Without them, there would be no Inhuman awakenings.
"Sir, I do not understand."
"My scans show an intense internal energy reaction."
Baymax asked, confused.
After all, Baymax could not understand how his boss could determine the danger level of an unknown energy crystal with a simple glance.
...
Meanwhile, as AIM continued expanding without pause...
(End of Chapter)
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