According to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s confidentiality regulations, Liu A'dou wasn't supposed to know that Ada Wong was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. So a dramatic surprise encounter was needed—one that wouldn't raise suspicions from the others.
The two Microcosmos auras were growing closer. Time to switch gears and start the performance.
Black Widow led Liu A'dou down a long corridor when suddenly, Agent Ada Wong appeared from the opposite direction. She suddenly remembered—weren't Ada and A'dou husband and wife? But A'dou didn't know Ada had become an agent. He thought she had simply been transferred out of town for work. Black Widow came to an abrupt stop, unsure of how to handle the couple's unexpected meeting. Would they argue? Fight?
She hadn't expected to run into Ada here. Too late to turn down another hall—A'dou and Ada had already spotted each other.
"Wife?!" Liu A'dou finally showed a genuinely shocked expression, looking like he'd seen a ghost. His acting was spot on.
Ada also performed flawlessly, showing the awkward look of someone whose lie had just been exposed. She froze in place like a frightened little hamster.
The couple silently praised each other's acting skills while holding back laughter and staying in character.
"I thought you were transferred out of town. Why are you here?" Liu A'dou suddenly feigned realization. "You weren't transferred—you joined S.H.I.E.L.D. You've been lying to me this whole time." He put on a wounded expression.
"Let me explain," Ada said, trying her best to sound sincere.
Black Widow braced herself for a dramatic, cliché "I don't want to hear it!" scene—but instead, Liu A'dou's expression flipped instantly. "Okay, go ahead."
That caught her off guard. She'd been expecting a whole emotional drama, only to have Liu A'dou skip over the heartfelt part with a quick mood change.
Even Ada felt thrown off. Her husband had just skipped his cue and now she didn't know how to continue the scene.
Seeing there was no gossip-worthy drama unfolding, Black Widow decided to help by stepping in with clarification. "According to S.H.I.E.L.D. regulations, no agent is allowed to reveal their status. So it's not that Ada meant to hide it from you—it's the rules."
"I knew Ada wouldn't lie to me. It's your stupid S.H.I.E.L.D. regulations—always so secretive. Makes it seem like you're doing shady business all the time."
"…" Black Widow stared at him, speechless. Why am I the one catching strays here?
"Forget it, no point arguing. I can't believe you actually became an agent, Ada. I always knew you were amazing—now you're part of this top-secret organization. So cool!"
Black Widow had had enough. Can this guy be any more shameless? Even Ada couldn't take it anymore. "Honey, tone it down."
"Yes, Ada-jie, whatever you say."
Ada-jie? Black Widow thought. So it's an older woman-younger man relationship after all. Still, their bond seemed solid.
"In that case, I won't assign a separate room," Black Widow said. "Mr. Liu, you'll stay with Ada."
"Perfect."
Ada nodded without objection.
But Black Widow added a warning. "Agent Ada, even though he's your husband, there are still classified details you must not share."
"I understand."
Liu A'dou pulled Ada into a passionate hug, which made Black Widow cringe from the cheesiness.
"Come on, let's go back to our room." Liu A'dou was still a young man, newly married yet often separated from his wife—it had been rough. When it came to this, he was still a simple guy. Until they had kids, he doubted he could ever really hold back.
So the moment they got inside the room, he couldn't resist diving into a passionate kiss…
Doing it aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier—now that was a first. It felt amazing. Ada clearly felt it too. The thrill of something so intense, in her workplace of all places, made it a whole different experience.
"Honey, you're too much," Ada whispered, blushing and panting in Liu A'dou's arms.
A'dou grinned mischievously. "Only because Ada-jie played along so well."
Her soft fist landed gently on his chest. "You're asking for it."
"Okay, okay, no more teasing." Liu A'dou playfully surrendered. "Let's talk about S.H.I.E.L.D. How are things there?"
"It's complicated. There are a lot of moles inside S.H.I.E.L.D., and they seem to be part of some other organization. On the surface, everything looks normal, but I know they're ready to either seize control or bring it down completely at any moment." Ada's insight ran deep. In just a few months, she'd already tapped into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most classified inner workings.
"My brilliant Ada-jie, you're spot on. At least one-third of S.H.I.E.L.D. is working against S.H.I.E.L.D. Another third are being coerced or manipulated. Only the last third—people like Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye—are still loyal to Director Fury."
"It's really that bad. I can feel how much effort the director's putting in to hold everything together—dealing with pressure from above and trying to keep control below."
"These kinds of secret organizations are the most prone to rot from the inside," Liu A'dou said calmly. "There's barely any real oversight. I wouldn't even be surprised if one night S.H.I.E.L.D. went from being a global security force for America to a terrorist group starting wars and selling weapons to militaries around the world."
Ada nodded. "I've always sensed that the director's doing his best to resist the orders coming from the top. But if they ever get fed up with him, they could remove him with just one command. Without Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. really could fall."
"So your job's not exactly secure, Ada-jie."
"I'm not too attached to it anyway," Ada said proudly. "But you, Mr. Patriot—since when do you care so much about S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Liu A'dou stared at the ceiling and said, "Because Earth's already on the alien radar. If the U.S. wants to act like a meat shield, let them. That gives our homeland time to grow in the shadows. When humanity's truly ready to step into the galaxy, we'll rise from the deep, fully prepared. And honestly, I've already done more than enough."
"A'dou, I support you," Ada said. She agreed completely. Humanity couldn't afford internal strife. Letting the U.S. be the lightning rod was actually a wise move.
Liu A'dou's life aboard the Helicarrier officially began. Although unauthorized personnel weren't allowed to wander, he ignored that completely. He came and went as he pleased like it was his own home. It gave him a real look at how insane U.S. black tech truly was. He'd said he wasn't impressed, but compared to the world's current tech standards, S.H.I.E.L.D. was at least twenty years ahead.
Meanwhile, Black Widow continued investigating the background of the mutants who had attacked them, but there were no leads. Liu A'dou thought, Why don't you go ask Professor X? What he didn't know was that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the X-Men only had a limited, unofficial partnership—and Black Widow had never interacted with them. So she didn't even consider that route.
By the time she did, it was already too late.
After repeated assassination failures, Secretary of Defense William Stryker was furious. At last, he decided to launch his plan to wipe out the mutants ahead of schedule. He intended to hijack Professor X's Cerebro—his brainwave amplifier—to locate every mutant on Earth and kill them all.
It was genocide.
But in Stryker's eyes, it was a brilliant solution. Wipe them out once and for all, and the world would finally be safe.