After Skye collapsed, it wasn't long before a black Chevrolet pulled up from behind.
A woman in a leather jacket and pants stepped out of the passenger seat—it was Black Widow Natasha, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top operatives.
"Isn't that Herman's assistant?" Natasha spotted Skye unconscious on the ground and glanced at Agent Hill in surprise.
Agents were trained with near-photographic memory, and besides, they had filmed with Skye for days. There was no way they wouldn't recognize her.
"She's still alive."
Agent Hill checked Skye's condition. No visible injuries, no bleeding—just a slightly accelerated heartbeat.
It was unclear why she had collapsed here.
"Let's get her to a hospital. Coulson told me he's already on the other side of the street. He's better at handling these supernatural incidents than we are."
Natasha pressed her earpiece, listening to incoming orders. They had originally been deployed here for another mission, but instead stumbled into this chaos.
She looked toward the distant street where explosions kept thundering, and a trace of weariness crossed her face. The world was getting too crazy. Perhaps this was the price of progress—technology brought change, but also crisis.
"Wait."
Agent Hill's eyes fell on the metal ingot still clutched in Skye's hand and the black case lying beside her. Her expression instantly grew serious.
"If my memory's right, this is the missing Item 084. How did it end up in this girl's hands?"
Hill carefully pulled out a device.
Using a clamp-like mechanism, she pried the ingot from Skye's grip and placed it back into the black case.
"The Director said the disappearance of this item was connected to that rampaging enhanced human. Maybe this girl just happened to stumble across it."
Natasha's earpiece crackled with ongoing comms.
"This girl… the fact that she's still alive is a miracle."
Agent Hill studied Skye, surprised by her steady vitals. She knew very well—that ingot was lethal. Anyone who touched it should be dead.
If Herman were here, he might have recognized the ingot's true identity: the Obelisk. Hydra believed it held the power to "explain death itself."
But in truth, the Obelisk was just a Kree device used to transform humans into weapons, an artifact the Inhumans used to awaken latent abilities.
That was something S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't discovered yet.
Still, there were hints.
"On this point, I know a little more because I've been involved. None of the people around that big-shot director are normal."
Natasha didn't elaborate further.
Hill understood. Some information was clearly above her clearance—after all, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hierarchy was built on her authority as a Level 9 agent.
"Let's move."
Together, Natasha and Hill lifted Skye into the car.
Then, as Hill swung the vehicle around, Natasha raised binoculars and scanned the scene ahead.
"Looks like our Homelander is playing the superhero. Damn, does he really have that kind of power? Maybe we'd better keep an eye on his little girlfriend."
Hill snatched the binoculars, curiosity flashing across her face.
Moments later, she nodded.
"I think you're right."
...
"Help my child! God, what's happening?!" Along the road, injured civilians cried out in pain, their voices full of panic and despair.
Herman didn't hesitate. He reached out to help, pulling trapped survivors out from under wrecked cars.
A few tons, even over a dozen tons of twisted metal—Herman lifted them as easily as if they were tables.
"See that guy over there? The bald one in sunglasses? Go to him." Herman pointed the frightened civilians toward Coulson.
Then he dove straight into the heart of the chaos. He wasn't anyone's savior, but lending a hand when it cost him nothing wasn't something he minded.
"Damn it! Found you!"
Herman's eyes locked on the culprit behind the carnage.
A modified human stood at the center, laughing maniacally as he fed on the crowd's fear. A centipede-like device was strapped to his wrist.
"So it's a Centipede Soldier."
Herman immediately recognized him—one of the enhanced soldiers created by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s old enemies. It was said the Centipede serum was an imitation of the Extremis Virus.
Why it had already been developed at this point was puzzling.
Could it be that Killian, the man behind Extremis, had already allied with darker forces?
Or maybe the female scientist who first cultivated the original Extremis sample—after that infamous one-night stand with Tony Stark—had defected to Hydra.
Either way, Herman was sure it had something to do with his Cheat reshaping history again and again.
"Human! Have you come to bow before the new god?" The hulking modified man sneered at Herman, his ego swollen beyond reason.
"New god?"
Herman looked at him as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"You dare look down on me!?" The mockery on Herman's face drove the man into a frenzy. He roared furiously, the lava-like substance coursing across his body burning hotter by the second—a clear sign of the serum's instability.
"Now! No one can look down on me anymore!"
Like a tantrum-throwing child, he spun around, hefted a massive truck with ease, and hurled it straight at Herman.
"If you're a god… then what am I?"
Herman didn't move.
His telekinesis flared.
The truck froze in midair, suspended effortlessly above the ground.
"What did you do!? Damn it, what did you do!?" The modified man's eyes went wide, his voice cracking in disbelief.
"I'm showing you what real power looks like."
The instant the words left Herman's mouth, the pavement beneath his feet split apart with a thunderous crack. His body blurred, launching forward at terrifying speed until he stood right in front of the man.
His fist shot out.
It crashed into the man's face, the sheer force shattering his jaw and twisting his features grotesquely.
The modified man began to fly backward—but Herman didn't give him the chance. He seized the man's ankle and yanked him back with brutal force.
A chance to breathe?
Not happening.