After walking out of the room with Johnson, the two of them began chatting on the way.
Regardless of how this matter developed, he was definitely going to prison this time, so he had to seize the time to have a heart-to-heart with his daughter.
"You know, I've always looked forward to meeting you. Even when you were just a little life in your mother's womb, I was always wondering what kind of person you would become."
When Johnson spoke of these things, his expression was very happy, as if he were recalling the emotions he felt when he first learned he had become a father.
Unlike her usual lively self, Skye just listened silently. This was the first time she had enjoyed true familial affection, taking a walk on the street with her father.
"You are truly remarkable."
Johnson stopped in front of the escort team and looked at Skye solemnly.
As an orphan wandering through foster homes, constantly being taken in and then abandoned—if it had only happened once or twice, Skye could have lied to herself that she hadn't tried hard enough to fit in.
But Skye's last adoption was a genuine attempt to find a home—unfortunately, that family kicked her out just for breaking a cup.
Growing up in such an environment and still being able to remain optimistic was indeed quite impressive.
"I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to get to know you," Johnson smiled kindly.
Sincere affirmation and encouragement from her biological father were very important to Skye. Now in her twenties, she had been drifting through society with almost no stable relationships. Although Coulson and the Oscorp took great care of her, recognition coming truly from family meant much more to her.
Everyone needs stable social relationships as support; even having had them once can make a person different.
Skye looked at her father, who was nearly seventy, and smiled slightly. "I'm also very happy to get to know you."
Bang!
The sound of a gunshot interrupted the warm moment between father and daughter, and both looked toward the direction the sound came from.
Skye's face was full of bewilderment, while the expression on Johnson's face was somewhat complex as an Osborn soldier nearby escorted him into the spacecraft.
A massive shadow loomed over the entire sky as some object pierced through the clouds and smashed into the ground around Afterlife. The thunderous impact sent everyone into a panic!
[terrigen mist detected. Absorb?]
[Mist absorbed. psionic ability enhanced.]
Before Harry turned into stone, the system provided a prompt. It seemed that as long as his prosthetic body had psionic organs, he could absorb these mists across space to enhance his psionic ability.
Stepping out of the pod, Harry stretched his body—the feeling of turning into stone and dying wasn't very pleasant.
The one he had sent to negotiate with Jiaying was just a cyborg bio-prosthetic body. He wondered what Jiaying would think when she cracked open the stone statue and saw the mechanical organs inside.
"She's gone mad, but those Inhumans might still be saved," Coulson said, having witnessed the entire negotiation process from the side.
"Is that so? Then it depends on their performance. You saw it too; I've given them plenty of chances."
Jiaying was indeed a lunatic; in the original work, this was exactly how she started a war with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Yet even the S.H.I.E.L.D. of that time had aircraft carriers, quinjets, various advanced weapons, and well-trained Agents.
The Inhumans under Jiaying included those who could control electric currents, create clones, and teleport. But time and again, only the teleporter was relatively difficult to deal with. Harry truly couldn't fathom where she got the courage to pull something like this.
Moreover, her methods weren't exactly brilliant, and her thinking was quite simple: turn Harry into stone, then use a stolen gun to wound herself to unite the Inhumans for a swift counterattack, solidifying the war while everyone was still bewildered.
"A, have those Riflemen take full control of Afterlife—casualties are prohibited."
"Considering there are superpowered individuals inside, such an order might result in heavy casualties."
Harry chuckled. Aside from those few awakened Inhumans, the rest were currently just ordinary people. If the Riflemen couldn't even handle this requirement, then they would have to face death.
After all, this was the very reason they donned that armor.
"The order stands. Those ordinary people are still very valuable."
From the moment Jiaying took out Harry's prosthetic body to when A deployed half a company of Riflemen here, the time interval was less than ten minutes.
As soon as Skye approached the house, she saw her injured mother walking out the door.
"Harry Osborn tried to kill me."
"What?" Skye was stunned, completely unable to grasp the current situation.
Before she could say much more, Riflemen descended from the sky, quickly surrounding the area. A loudspeaker built into the armor shouted:
"You are surrounded. Your schemes are in vain."
Inside the house, Gordon, seeing the urgency of the situation, immediately inserted a terrigen crystal into the modified Canary device—
Colorless smoke instantly spread out!
"The enemy seems to have used some kind of biochemical weapon. Activating filtration system," a Rifleman was reporting the situation, but soon an alarm blared from the armor!
"Filtration failed! I—"
Before the Rifleman could finish, he turned into stone.
And beside Jiaying, Skye also discovered that her arm was gradually turning into stone!
Facing her own transformation, Skye fell into a panic, while Jiaying said, "Skye, once you become one of us, you will understand our situation!"
The mist generated by the Canary device enveloped half of Afterlife, and soon the Riflemen and nearby townspeople turned into stone.
The chaotic town fell silent, and Jiaying began to think that having Gordon steal this thing was absolutely the right move.
As a device that was once highly controversial, Jiaying had naturally studied it—the conclusion was that this thing could help them transform Inhumans on a large scale.
However, in the past, her policy had always been isolation. Now, after coming into contact with Osborn, her crazed mind told her: it was time to step out into the World.
Relying on Gordon's teleportation ability, she could transform a large number of Inhumans, and then the transformed Inhumans could join her front.
But were there really enough Inhumans in Afterlife? One should know that in the original work, after Jiaying started the war, she didn't immediately increase the number of her own kind, but instead went to attack an aircraft carrier.
A modified quinjet hovered in front of her, and Coulson began to speak through the loudspeaker:
"You've gone mad! Stop your aggressive behavior! Think of your people!"
"You were the ones who attacked first," Jiaying waved her hand toward Gordon.
Sizzle—!
Gordon tried to teleport into the jet. His body became ethereal, but he didn't leave the spot; instead, he reconstituted right where he was—
With a thud, he fell to the ground!
"I... I'm trapped! How is this possible?!"
"That's science, you two." Harry's voice rang out again. The hatch opened, and he stepped out of the aircraft, walking toward them with his arms open.
Behind him followed a person wearing a cloak.
At the same time, more Riflemen dropped from the sky, the impact kicking up a large cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, Jiaying was surrounded once again.
"Transforming humans, making them the same race as you to join your war—you're being far too idealistic, madam."
Looking at the unscathed Harry, Jiaying nearly fell into a frenzy—had she not succeeded at all from the very beginning?
"Besides, didn't you know that important meetings like this are always recorded?"
Harry shrugged.
To be honest, what he understood least was why S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't record this meeting in the original work. However, this World was always so full of disasters; he had already gotten used to it.
With a crack, the rock layer enveloping Skye began to slide off—
Jiaying smiled—she had gained another subordinate, and this time it was her own daughter. She believed Skye could help her out of this predicament.
Harry was amused seeing this scene and ordered A, "Bring over two Titans."
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