Chapter 86: Attack of the Skrulls
In front of the fountain in Celestial Island's central plaza, Ryan was consulting with Sprite on how to properly use illusion powers.
They each created their own illusions. Sprite's looked vivid and lifelike, while Ryan's appeared somewhat lifeless, though the difference was subtle without careful observation.
Sprite withdrew her power. "You're not proficient with illusion yet. I believe illusion isn't based on imagination—it's about replicating reality. You shouldn't think of creating an illusion of yourself. You need to believe it is the real you."
Ryan understood what Sprite meant. The problem was that Sprite had been using this power for thousands of years—it had become pure instinct.
Ryan had to consciously channel his brain's energy to release the illusion power, which inevitably created flaws.
"Boss!" Corvus Glaive strode over, first nodding to Sprite, then reporting, "Federal intelligence just received word that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers have begun operations investigating the Skrulls."
Ryan stood. "Notify Corvus that he can leave."
"I'll tell him right away. I'll fly back with him later, then return to the island."
Corvus worried that his absence would disrupt construction and mineral extraction operations on Celestial Island.
Ryan said casually, "It's just a short trip. It won't be a problem."
Half an hour later, Corvus Glaive, prepared for departure, came to say goodbye.
"Sir, is there anything else you need me to do?"
Corvus and the others followed Ryan wholeheartedly, like loyal vassals.
In their most desperate moments, Ryan had offered salvation. One had been wrongfully imprisoned, the other disabled and unemployed, both burdened by heavy family responsibilities.
Ryan had given them better lives.
Not only material improvement, but also greater power and purpose: one to manage Celestial Island's civilian affairs, the other to command the military forces.
Without Ryan, they'd be nothing—forgotten and powerless.
Ryan patted Corvus on the shoulder. "Nothing specific. Give my regards to your family. As for the Avengers—don't take unnecessary risks. Your life is more valuable to me than theirs."
Corvus pursed his lips, nodded silently, and departed without another word.
Ryan always felt Corvus maintained his stoic warrior persona, even during farewells.
Corvus Glaive boarded a military transport back to the United States. He would monitor the hearing proceedings while leading a small team of super-soldiers to track Avengers movements through CIA channels.
San Francisco, California
At Scott Lang's home, Ant-Man paced back and forth in the living room, his mind racing through problems—simple ones, because complex thinking wasn't his strong suit.
Click.
The door opened, and Scott immediately stopped pacing and stepped forward.
"Hi Hope."
"It's your house arrest period. What are you planning?" Hope knew Scott's character well after their years together.
Scott quickly took the grocery bag from Hope's hands and set it on the table, then pulled her to sit on the living room couch.
He whispered, "Remember those Skrulls I told you about?"
Hope nodded. "What about them?"
"The Skrulls are secretly invading human society. They can transform into anyone at will, and many high-ranking officials have been replaced. Do you know why they're doing this?"
Hope shook her head.
Scott said nervously, "Because they're planning to occupy Earth!"
"How do you know this?" Hope didn't immediately believe him.
"It's Banner. He just called me and wants us to save the world together. You know, we're superheroes, so we should—"
"Wait!" Hope interrupted. "You mean leaving home and joining the Avengers to save the world?"
Scott clapped his hands. "Yes, exactly!"
Hope rubbed her forehead. "Okay, how do you plan to do this?"
Seeing Hope's tacit agreement, Scott immediately became excited.
He'd had enough of house arrest and wanted to get out.
"Dr. Banner wants us to contact Agent Hill from S.H.I.E.L.D. first, then join the others investigating top federal officials. But first, I need to get my suit back."
The ankle monitor was basically decorative to Ant-Man Scott. Soon, the two left the house and headed for Pym Technologies.
Since Scott's house arrest began, the Ant-Man suit had been stored at the lab.
They parked and took the elevator up, where they encountered Dr. Hank Pym working on something.
"Why are you here, Scott? Weren't you ordered to stay home?"
Hope originally wanted to keep their mission secret, but Scott's mouth was too fast to stop.
"I'm here to pick up the Ant-Man suit. Dr. Banner invited us to save the world. The Skrulls have already—"
Scott didn't finish. Dr. Pym, who'd been walking slowly toward him, suddenly lunged forward with inhuman speed—completely unlike an elderly man.
Thud.
Scott slowly looked down and found that Dr. Pym had jabbed a needle into him.
"Scott..."
Scott's eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.
Hope was about to rush forward when Dr. Pym repeated the attack, attempting to inject Hope as well.
Snap.
Hope instinctively activated the Wasp suit, instantly shrinking.
The miniaturized Hope flew behind Dr. Pym, returned to normal size, and grabbed him from behind.
"What are you doing?"
As they struggled, Hope realized something was terribly wrong.
Hank Pym's strength exceeded even a grown man's—he easily flung Hope away. She knocked over a chair and slid five or six meters across the floor.
Picking herself up, she demanded, "Who are you? What did you do to him?"
Dr. Pym didn't respond. Instead, he pulled a pistol from his waistband and aimed it at Hope.
Bang, bang, bang...
Hope immediately flew out through the shattered window. Looking back, she saw the figure that had jumped after her falling, and in mid-descent, it transformed into a green-skinned Skrull.
"Damn it!"
She muttered, returning to the lab.
Scott, still unconscious, was quickly fitted into his Ant-Man suit by Hope. She shrunk him down and carried him away.
Several hours later, Scott slowly regained consciousness, his gaze unfocused until it finally settled on Hope.
"What happened to me? Where are we?"
Hope turned, her eyes still red and swollen from crying.
Scott immediately stood and pulled her into a comforting embrace.
After Hope described what happened in the lab, Scott held her tightly and reassured her, "It's okay. Dr. Pym will be alright. He must have been captured. Let's go get him back together."
However, Ant-Man and the Wasp searched San Francisco extensively but couldn't find the missing Hank Pym.
The two then boarded a commercial flight to the East Coast, intending to rendezvous with the others to investigate the Skrulls. Finding them would offer a chance to rescue Dr. Pym.
Joining with Shang-Chi and Spider-Man Peter Parker, the four formed an impromptu team.
Ant-Man used his shrinking abilities to visit Maria Hill in prison, then followed leads provided by former S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts to investigate.
The Skrulls were rapidly expanding their infiltration, even targeting those close to the Avengers.
The Avengers' investigation yielded few concrete results.
Several days later, the federal government suddenly took action.
The United Nations Security Council formally approved the proposal submitted by the United States, officially disbanding S.H.I.E.L.D.
Disbanded and reorganized, disbanded again, reorganized again—this cycle of dissolution and reformation had become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s defining characteristic.
Ryan remained largely oblivious to the external chaos.
He'd orchestrated this chaos deliberately—using the Skrull threat as a distraction for the Avengers, preventing them from spending their time scheming against him.
Ryan returned to his laboratory after practicing illusions with Sprite.
The computer simulation had just finished processing, and Ryan sat down to examine the results.
"Cell lysis?"
The problem was the feasibility of further enhancement after already being enhanced.
Ryan had recently had an insight—a different possibility had occurred to him. Since ordinary human genes could be enhanced to create super-soldiers, could Eternal genes be further enhanced?
Theoretically, it was possible, provided Ryan could create an enhancement serum specifically designed for Eternal physiology.
Unfortunately, Dr. Abraham Erskine, who created the original super-soldier serum, had died without leaving the formula.
Subsequent enhancement attempts were all reverse-engineered from Captain America Steve Rogers's blood, resulting in slightly reduced efficacy.
Even Ryan couldn't calculate Dr. Erskine's original formula.
This left Ryan incredibly frustrated. The path was clearly visible ahead, but blocked by an invisible wall. He couldn't break through it, couldn't circumvent it—unless he could travel back in time.
Following this logic, Thanos must have been an enhanced Eternal. Even though Ryan had injected serum derived from Thanos's blood, he would still be inferior to the original.
Even 99.99% similarity wouldn't be enough.
"This is impossible!"
Ryan stored the results, then went to the specimen freezer and retrieved a coagulant made from horseshoe crab blood, preparing to attempt purifying the enhancement serum from his own blood to potentially enhance himself a second time.
Although the feasibility was low, Ryan decided to attempt it anyway.
After the RNA analysis, Ryan had a sudden inspiration: what would happen if he combined the Thanos-derived enhancement serum with the immortality gene?
Science was about bold hypotheses and careful verification. Anything conceivable could be tested.
End of Chapter 86
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