Just a while ago, Captain America and Black Widow had just rescued the Winter Soldier from a HYDRA base, so the Winter Soldier's HYDRA identity was set in stone and beyond doubt.
As for Crossbones Rumlow, although there was no direct evidence that he was a HYDRA agent, he had acted with the Winter Soldier to capture Captain America.
He had also captured Captain America in the elevator of the Triskelion building before.
So, there was a high probability that he was also HYDRA.
Of course, it couldn't be 100% confirmed, but for a quiz, 100% confirmation wasn't necessary; knowing the likelihood of a certain conclusion was enough.
"What about Nick Fury? Is he not HYDRA?" Dr. Banner asked, glancing at Black Widow and the others.
"Director Fury is certainly not HYDRA," Hawkeye Barton immediately said, cutting him off decisively.
"Why are you so sure?" Dr. Banner questioned again. "Agent Romanoff, didn't you say earlier that HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD to the core? You don't even know who to trust, so how can you be sure that Nick Fury is clean?"
"Ever since I came back to life, Nick Fury has been fighting HYDRA," Captain America said seriously to Dr. Banner after a moment of contemplation.
"Is that all?" Dr. Banner shook his head. "That's not enough."
"Dr. Banner, you're right. We don't have other evidence to prove that Nick Fury isn't HYDRA, nor can we even prove that Captain isn't HYDRA. However, I'm willing to trust him! And I'm willing to trust Captain."
Black Widow said in a deep voice, "Because if even Nick Fury and Captain are HYDRA, this world would be too dark, and people wouldn't be able to live."
"Dr. Banner, from a scientific perspective, your suspicion is correct."
Tony Stark also spoke up, "But as of now, there's no evidence whatsoever that Nick Fury and Captain are HYDRA agents."
"So, let's just assume for now that they're not HYDRA! Because no one here can prove that they aren't HYDRA, including you and me."
"Fine!" Dr. Banner nodded, convinced by Tony Stark. "So we have two 'candidates.' Is there a way to rule them out?"
"Bucky can be ruled out," Captain America said in a deep voice after a brief thought.
"Why, Captain? Why are you so sure? This isn't the time to be emotional," Tony Stark immediately asked sharply.
"Bucky is an assassination agent, and most of the time he's asleep in a cryo-chamber. I don't think Bucky would be deployed for a transfer mission like this," Captain America explained.
"We don't know what the scepter is. What if it's something very important?" Tony Stark continued to raise his doubts.
"No, Stark, Captain is right! The Winter Soldier used to be HYDRA's ace assassination agent, a ghost! He left no trace for fifty years!"
Black Widow echoed, "Such a person wouldn't openly appear at Stark Tower, because that would be actively exposing himself."
Relatively speaking, Black Widow's explanation was more convincing, and Tony Stark didn't say anything more.
"So, for this question, we choose A, Crossbones Rumlow?" Thor glanced at the big screen and asked tentatively, "Is this a bit too simple?"
"It is a bit simple," Hawkeye Barton nodded, then offered a new perspective. "I think we overlooked something earlier: the person who says 'Hail HYDRA' to a HYDRA agent isn't necessarily HYDRA themselves."
"You mean..." Black Widow immediately realized something and looked at Barton.
"Yes! That's what I mean!" Hawkeye Barton also immediately realized what Black Widow had realized and nodded.
"You two, stop speaking in riddles, alright?" Thor, however, hadn't caught on at all, and he asked, looking at the two.
"If someone from SHIELD already knew that Jasper Sitwell was HYDRA, and to achieve a certain goal, they pretended to be HYDRA themselves, and so they said 'Hail HYDRA' to the other party. Barton, that's what you're trying to convey, right?"
Captain America also understood Hawkeye's meaning.
"Indeed, this is a logically consistent possibility," Tony Stark looked at the big screen. "So, based on this possibility, we also have two 'candidates': Nick Fury and Captain America."
"I think Director Fury can be ruled out," Hawkeye Barton said, making his choice after a brief thought.
"The question states that this incident happened inside Stark Tower, not in some private setting. This means that Jasper Sitwell's HYDRA identity had not been exposed."
"In other words, on the surface, Jasper Sitwell was still a SHIELD agent!"
This was a given; HYDRA's identity was, after all, too sensitive, and in such a public setting, they would certainly use their SHIELD cover identity.
"Then Director Fury, as the director of SHIELD, only needs to give an order to take something from his subordinate."
"There's no need to use some 'secret handshake.'"
Hawkeye Barton spoke articulately, and his analysis was quite reasonable.
"This has a prerequisite: Jasper Sitwell doesn't know that Nick Fury already knows his identity!"
"But what if Jasper Sitwell already knew his identity was compromised, and knew Nick Fury was going to take his scepter, so he decided to resist and show his true colors?"
Dr. Banner raised another hypothetical doubt.
"And Nick Fury, seeing things escalate, came up with a plan to pretend he was also HYDRA, and so he said 'Hail HYDRA' to Sitwell."
"This possibility should also exist, right?"
Everyone present was at a loss for how to refute Dr. Banner, because what he said was indeed logical.
If Nick Fury really found out Sitwell was going to show his true colors and refuse to return the scepter, pretending to be HYDRA was something he was perfectly capable of doing.
That old fox—oh, no, Director Fury—was quite cunning!
"Dr. Banner, you truly are a scientist; your thinking is meticulous, not letting any possibility slip by," Tony Stark patted Dr. Banner's shoulder.
"But no matter what, Nick Fury's option has a possibility that allows us to rule him out, but Captain America does not."
"So, if we need to rule one of these two out, it would naturally be Captain America."
Dr. Banner had no objection to Tony Stark's words. He shrugged and didn't say anything more.
"So, it's the same as before!" Thor said, looking at the big screen. "Two hypotheses, two answers!"
"If that sentence was said by a HYDRA agent, then choose Rumlow. If that sentence was said by a SHIELD agent, then choose Captain America."
"Is there a way to rule out one more between Rumlow and Captain America?"
Everyone present began to rack their brains once again, engaging in a period of thought.
"I just put myself in Rumlow's and Captain's shoes respectively, imagined the scenario in the question, and I think Captain is more logical," Hawkeye Barton said to everyone after some thought.
"Barton, we're listening!" Tony Stark gestured for Hawkeye Barton to continue.
"A SHIELD agent, or at least someone appearing to be a SHIELD agent, appeared in the Stark Tower elevator with the scepter. Clearly, the scepter was in the process of being transported."
"Most likely, it was being transported from Stark Tower to SHIELD, though other possibilities aren't ruled out."
"Which situation it was isn't important, but transporting important items in SHIELD has a standard configuration: a commanding officer plus a rapid response team."
"You also said before that Jasper Sitwell is a commanding officer in the future, and Rumlow happens to be the captain of the rapid response team."
"Coincidentally, they form a standard configuration together."
"Jasper Sitwell is responsible for guarding the scepter, and Rumlow and his rapid response team provide security."
"So why would Jasper Sitwell hand the scepter over to Rumlow alone? This doesn't quite fit the procedure!"
"Perhaps some unexpected event occurred," Thor said to Hawkeye. "Life always has its surprises."
"Of course, accidents can happen; we can't guarantee against that," Tony Stark shrugged.
Then, however, he changed the subject. "But compared to Captain, Rumlow at least has a situation that can be ruled out, and that's enough."
Although the 'sufficiency' of the reason to rule out Rumlow wasn't entirely adequate, it was still the same point: this wasn't scientific research, and it didn't pursue 100% accuracy.
As long as there was a reason for everyone to choose between Rumlow and Captain America, that was enough.
Now that Rumlow had a 'blemish,' the possibility of choosing Captain America was naturally higher.
"And when I put myself in Captain America's shoes, I found it much more reasonable," Hawkeye Barton spoke articulately again.
"Captain received news that the scepter was about to fall into HYDRA's hands, so he wanted to retrieve it."
"But in the elevator, Captain wanting to retrieve the scepter meant he would have to take down an entire rapid response team at once."
"That would cause too much commotion and carry the risk of failure, which would be detrimental to the operation. So, Captain said 'Hail HYDRA' to Jasper Sitwell, tricking him into handing over the scepter."
"That sounds very reasonable!" Thor almost wanted to applaud Hawkeye Barton. "So the answer to this question is clear: choose Captain America, right?"
Everyone still largely agreed with Thor's conclusion.
By putting themselves in each character's role, Rumlow had a certain unreasonableness, but Captain America seemed to fit all scenarios perfectly.
Comparing the two, Captain America was naturally the choice.
"So, who will answer this question?" Dr. Banner asked, glancing at Black Widow and Hawkeye.
Everyone else present had already answered, leaving only Black Widow and Hawkeye.
Black Widow and Hawkeye quickly exchanged glances, discussed their opinions, and then reached an agreement.
"I'll answer," Black Widow said, and then, facing the big screen, she gave her answer: "I choose C, Captain America, Steve Rogers!"
["Correct Answer!"]
"YES!" Black Widow secretly rejoiced.
["Congratulations to quiz taker Natasha Romanoff for receiving the reward: one Senzu Bean!"]
["Reward has been distributed, please check!"]
The system then immediately distributed the corresponding reward into Black Widow's hand. Everyone immediately saw a green bean appear in Black Widow's palm.
It wasn't some kind of synthesized object as everyone had subconsciously assumed; instead, it looked like a bean grown from a plant.
"Natasha, is this little bean a Senzu Bean? I thought it was some kind of seed I didn't recognize," Hawkeye Barton said, looking at the inconspicuous little bean.
"Barton, Senzu Beans are indeed magical seeds that grow!" Black Widow explained to Hawkeye Barton.
"So what does this little bean do?" Tony Stark asked curiously, adding a very, very bad joke, "Eating it won't turn you green, will it?"
"Stark, that joke isn't funny at all," Dr. Banner said, slightly speechless.
"What a bunch of people with no sense of humor," Tony Stark shook his head.
"Stark, this is very similar to your previous healing potion. It can instantly heal a person's body! No matter how severe the injury, as long as they're not dead, eating it can restore them to peak condition."
"This is a good thing!" Hawkeye Barton nodded with great satisfaction.
For field agents like them, who were constantly in dangerous situations, injuries were commonplace, and their lives were often at risk.
Having something like this, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was like having a second life.
According to Black Widow, unless one died on the spot and lost consciousness, as long as they had enough breath to pop this thing into their mouth, it could save their life.
"Not only that, after eating one Senzu Bean, you don't need to eat for ten days," Black Widow added.
"That amazing? As expected of a Senzu Bean!" Dr. Banner exclaimed in wonder.
"However, there's one thing: Senzu Beans can only heal injuries, but not illnesses. If a person is sick rather than injured, eating a Senzu Bean is useless."
Black Widow added another point.
But this wasn't really a problem. If it was just an illness, who would be crazy enough to waste such a valuable Senzu Bean? (Unless it was a terminal illness, of course.)
However, the probability of contracting a terminal illness was not high to begin with.
Black Widow contentedly put away the Senzu Bean.
["Quiz ended. Now playing answer analysis!"]
With this system prompt, the text on the big screen began to dissipate, and an image appeared.
Everyone present then composed themselves and refocused their attention on the big screen