Chaos! When the interior lights came on, revealing this room comparable to a small library, that was everyone's first impression on entering.
Thea ignored the others' gazes and looked around on her own. After seeing the vault of the three brothers—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—and then looking at humanity's own collection, she had only one thought.
This place was basically a junk heap! All sorts of random items were piled together. There were definitely treasures here. For instance, she immediately spotted a fully enclosed golden bell-shaped helmet quietly placed in a corner.
This was the spirit of Nabu, a Lord of Order. Anyone wearing this helmet could instantly merge with the god Nabu, becoming a powerful mage with a host of abilities including time travel, immunity to aging, and danger prediction. Records showed that eight people had worn this helmet, all calling themselves Doctor Fate.
Ridiculous! Thea scoffed at their self-designation. Being possessed by a deity, having your very form of existence assimilated, gaining tremendous power for a brief time—what meaning did that have? They couldn't even see their own situation clearly, yet dared to call themselves Fate. Utterly absurd.
Using the brief decades of human life experience and knowledge to comprehend a deity that had existed for tens of thousands of years? All she could say was: good luck with that.
This was a possession artifact. The only fortunate thing was that Nabu was relatively benevolent. Otherwise, he wouldn't need eight hosts—just one body would be enough for this god to revive.
Thea's divine sense briefly probed the helmet. The spirit within was still vibrant, but a god without a divine body was rootless—no matter how strong the mental power, there were limits.
She forcibly entered his mental world and found that while he wasn't evil, his understanding of order was far too narrow and completely incompatible with her Wealth godhood. Thea sheepishly withdrew.
She couldn't absorb this guy's divine power. Her personality and godhood both leaned toward neutral alignment, quite different from order. No value here! She mentally crossed off the helmet and continued pulling her mother along to observe.
Debris everywhere. A.R.G.U.S. personnel would throw any strange item they found into this room. They couldn't figure out what things were for, so their only solution was to pile everything together.
Divine power, magic, witchcraft—even energies Thea couldn't name—permeated this space.
Merlin's robes, African tribal totems, voodoo altars, Native American hunting spears—she even saw notes written by an onmyoji. A.R.G.U.S. must have stolen all this stuff, right?
These were the relatively harmless items Steve had placed outside. The contents inside were even worse.
"Colonel Steve Trevor, tell me—what is this thing?" Thea pointed to a long-dried human head hanging on a shelf and asked Steve.
Colonel Steve was quite earnest, pulling out his notebook and flipping through it. "It's from Central Africa, a small tribe called Kuka. It's an ancestral relic they worship."
Thea narrowed her eyes at the "relic." Having this thing hanging here was just creepy. "Colonel Steve, this thing doesn't have a trace of magical energy. Get rid of it immediately!"
Amanda responded with a mocking laugh. Nothing made her happier than seeing Steve suffer.
She turned and ordered her subordinates to handle it. Several underlings also found the thing ostentatiously hanging there to be an eyesore. They all looked disgusted as they tossed it into a bag for disposal.
Thea hadn't wanted to intervene, but the chaos here was truly unbearable.
That several-hundred-year-old head was her breaking point. What kind of garbage was this? It had been dried out for hundreds of years—even dogs wouldn't eat it—yet it was hung up like a treasure!
The Steve from a hundred years ago was much more fun!
Still, she didn't make things too difficult for A.R.G.U.S. For items carrying curses, she offered her suggestions. Whether they followed them was up to them.
Over the next few days, Moira began touring various locations. Considering that some places were genuinely dangerous, Thea accompanied her on another inspection of Belle Reve Penitentiary.
Located in the Louisiana bayous, this prison held America's most notorious criminals.
Thirteen thousand prisoners were incarcerated here. The guards all looked fierce and were heavily armed.
Americans had an interesting culture. Their incarceration rate was famously high—at times nearing one in every hundred adults. Prison culture had quite a market on certain levels. Shows like Prison Break and The Shawshank Redemption were products of this unique culture.
Mother and daughter, accompanied by numerous guards, followed the warden on a tour. Secretary of Defense General Lane and A.R.G.U.S. Director Amanda each brought their own people for protection.
The warden, his face covered in scars, was tall and imposing. Thea glanced at him once and lost interest. In this position, he'd definitely embezzled plenty of money.
Strictly speaking, most of Belle Reve Penitentiary was underground. The first level above ground held ordinary people who'd committed serious crimes.
Starting from the second underground level, there were criminals with abilities and organizational backing.
For instance, Captain Cold and the Bug-Eyed Bandit, both of whom Thea had dealt with before, were held on this level.
By the fourth level—the bottom level—numerous metahuman criminals could be seen. Several elite members of the Suicide Squad were held in separate areas here, with some cells specially modified for metahumans.
"The Suicide Squad..." Moira flipped through the Squad's mission records, somewhat hesitant.
Her uncertainty was understandable. Amanda was truly harsh on these people, sending them wherever needed, into the most dangerous places to do the most dangerous work. Their reward? Amanda's empty promise of "sentence reduction." As for their original sentences? Nobody knew! It was excessive.
The current Suicide Squad had five members: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Revenge Demon, and Bronze Tiger, the martial artist recently defeated by Oliver in Star City.
Under Amanda's anxious gaze, Moira solemnly closed the file. "Treat them with respect. Don't assign them suicide missions."
Amanda immediately proclaimed the leader's wisdom and vowed full support. Neither mentioned releasing these people. Too much dirty work was inappropriate for the government—it had to be done by these individuals.
After reviewing the general situation, Moira prepared to head back. Thea lightly squeezed her mother's hand, signaling her to wait.
She looked at Amanda with a half-smile, pointing downward. "There's another level below this, isn't there? You even poured a layer of lead under the floor? Ha, that's hilarious."
Amanda immediately turned to glare at the warden. You idiot, isn't this just making things more obvious?
Unfortunately, the prison still fell under A.R.G.U.S. oversight, so she could only force an explanation. "The prisoners below have very strong abilities and must be heavily guarded."
She insisted it wasn't to prevent unauthorized viewing, just to prevent prisoner escapes.
"There are even stronger criminals?" Moira, who'd been about to leave, suddenly became interested. With her daughter right beside her, she wasn't afraid at all. She'd just watch for entertainment.
Amanda shot Thea a resentful look. Thea smiled back harmlessly.
"Madam President, please follow me, but you must be extremely careful." All unrelated security personnel were dismissed, leaving only mother and daughter, the Treasury Secretary, the Defense Secretary, and herself—five people total. They all had considerable confidence in Thea's abilities. If she couldn't handle something, those security personnel would die no matter how many there were.
Amanda led them to a wall, went through iris verification, entered passwords, and completed five or six procedures before a spiral staircase appeared.
As they descended, she introduced the prisoners.
They first came to a cell cast entirely from solid alloy. A grey-skinned man, his entire body muscular as iron, red eyes and black hair, face covered in stubble, was firmly secured inside.
Hearing sounds from outside, he began roaring. "Amanda! The Main Man wants you dead! The Main Man will strangle you with your own intestines!"
His voice was thunderous, audible even through the thick metal cell.
Amanda, an ordinary person without any superpowers, had nerves of steel. Her expression remained unchanged as if she hadn't heard anything, and she introduced him to the group.
"This guy is definitely an alien. He can understand our language, but communication has never been smooth. He ran wild on the streets of Philadelphia, then resisted arrest. We pursued him nineteen times before finally subduing him by adding nanobombs to his food."