Washington, D.C.—S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agent training headquarters. Ada was currently working there, responsible for training new agents under the Project Insight.
The Project Insight was a preemptive surveillance initiative launched under the proposals of two successive S.H.I.E.L.D. directors. They connected satellites and airships into a network, using cutting-edge tech to monitor global data and intelligence. If terrorist activity was detected, they would carry out strikes before any damage could occur.
Director Nick called it protection. Captain America called it fear.
Either way, none of that really concerned Ada right now. She was pregnant and far from the power struggle. Her current focus was training the new recruits who'd just been selected to become fresh forces.
Despite being pregnant, Ada still earned deep respect from the trainees—especially for her marksmanship, which was downright surreal and jaw-dropping.
Curved bullets. Even Black Widow couldn't pull that off. With skills like that, even Captain America's shield wouldn't be able to stop her shot.
Ada Wong had the most insane gun skills in all of S.H.I.E.L.D.—and no wonder, if she could curve bullets like that, how could she not be?
At first, some recruits didn't take kindly to a pregnant instructor. They questioned how someone like her could teach them anything. One curved shot around a pillar was all it took to shut them up.
This wasn't Magneto bending the bullet. It was a regular handgun, regular ammo. Ada had developed this technique through her own training. Others could try to learn, but without talent, it was impossible. Even Black Widow only managed to pick up basic gun kata.
That's what Ada taught—gun kata. As for curving bullets? No one had mastered it yet.
Liu A'dou disguised himself as Ada's assistant. He helped teach the trainees and got to stay close to Ada to care for her.
"Ada-jie, have some soup," Liu A'dou said. He'd picked up quite a few new skills recently, including making broth.
"Thanks, hubby."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. might not be stable for much longer," Liu A'dou said. After learning about the Project Insight, he remembered the movie plot—Hydra was about to make its big move. This time, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be hit hard and completely lose the trust of its leadership.
Thankfully, Ada wasn't embedded in any Hydra-controlled factions. She was aligned with one of Nick's political rivals. Hydra's plan was to rewrite the satellite system and use big data—credit card records, medical files, education histories—to identify and eliminate every person who opposed Hydra, then establish a terrifying, Hydra-dominated world.
Nick and Captain America eventually discovered the truth. But doing so also put a target on their backs. For now, everything still seemed calm, like the storm hadn't broken yet.
Liu A'dou shared all this with Ada, who simply smiled, like she'd already expected it.
"Ada-jie, you don't seem worried about Hydra."
Ada replied, "I got some intel from Madame Hydra. I knew they were going to move on the Project Insight. I just didn't know what for. Now I do. They're going anti-human. I've been prepared."
"You're not planning to kill Director Nick and take his job, are you?" Liu A'dou asked in mock shock.
Ada just laughed. Back in the biohazard world, she had moved fluidly between multiple factions. It showed she was a woman who understood the game of power, someone who thrived on the edge.
In that world, full of monsters and psychos, there wasn't much room for a spy—even a skilled one—to make real moves. But this world was different. Here, Ada had her Cosmos and a much stronger body. She wanted to climb higher. She had the ability and the ambition to do what was impossible in her last life.
"My informant inside S.H.I.E.L.D. has been feeding me intel. Captain America isn't happy about the Project Insight—it's starting to affect Director Nick. I think he'll push to delay it. But Hydra won't agree. I suspect they'll assassinate Director Nick to make sure the Project Insight goes ahead as planned. If they succeed, a lot of people will die," Ada said. "But even if Hydra fails, S.H.I.E.L.D. will definitely be reorganized—maybe even shut down completely. I think this is a perfect opportunity to take control of S.H.I.E.L.D. for ourselves."
"Uh… Ada-jie, do you actually think this is fun?"
"Of course it's fun," Ada replied, sipping her soup.
Alright then. S.H.I.E.L.D. had brought this on themselves. In their rush to grow, they recruited a bunch of Hydra scientists. Sure, that led to huge advancements, but it also planted the seeds for today's mess. Seeing that Ada had already planted spies in place, Liu A'dou figured he might as well let her enjoy herself.
"Jie, have your fun, but don't forget about our baby."
Ada shot her husband a look. "I'm the mom here. You think I wouldn't care more than you?" She rubbed her belly. "Diana's still waiting to be the godmother of our daughter."
"Uh!" Liu A'dou didn't expect Diana to be in on it already. He remembered the future photos Ada had shown him. Apparently their daughter would be trained by Diana. Would she end up becoming some kind of tomboy?
"Let's stop talking about S.H.I.E.L.D. How's the quantum Earth portal coming along?" That device could be key to preventing their daughter from living a rough life after she turned eight.
"I've been working on it. As long as we have enough power, we can activate the portal. I'm trying to stabilize it now. But it's random—no way to know what world's on the other side. It might be a post-apocalyptic wasteland, or a world ruled by dinosaurs. There are infinite universes, infinite Earths, infinite dangers."
Ada said, "All for our daughter. No matter how dangerous, we have to try. I'm not letting her start a life of hardship the second she turns eight."
"I know." Liu A'dou placed a hand on Ada's shoulder. "I'll figure out the quantum Earth portal coordinates and finish the system before she's born, so we can get back safely."
He had to travel with Ada before their daughter was born. If their daughter wasn't born in this world, she'd carry a bug and technically not belong to this world. Bringing her back afterward might fix that—at least in theory.
But until he was absolutely sure the portal was safe, Liu A'dou wasn't going to risk his wife and daughter.
He also knew there was no way to calculate the portal coordinates using just his brain. That's why he built a supercomputer in the South Pole to do the calculations. So far, no results.
Actually, an AI would make things go faster. Liu A'dou had access to some AI source code, written by a ten-year-old genius from the detective world—Beika Street's Ghost. But Liu A'dou wasn't a fan of artificial intelligence. Maybe he'd seen too many movies and always felt like Skynet was going to show up and wipe out humanity. So, he didn't like using it.
His attitude toward J.A.R.V.I.S. made that clear. He used it, sure, but he didn't trust it. He wasn't like Tony Stark, who put all his faith in tech.
"It's gonna be fine," Liu A'dou said, comforting Ada. "Our family will stick together, no matter what."
"I believe you."