The mother and daughter met, and they embraced. Jiaying gently caressed Skye's cheek with her fingers: "I've thought about you every day for these past decades, but I couldn't abandon my people."
Skye wiped her eyes: "It's okay, I understand."
"How I wish I could have talked more with you about us, watched you grow up, and then guided you to join us... but now I must fulfill my responsibilities."
Jiaying reluctantly let go of Skye and turned toward Harry.
"Karl has made many mistakes. We have always prided ourselves on doing the right thing, so now I am handing him over to you to deal with, even though it pains my heart." Jiaying said as she looked toward Johnson.
"I understand that the big picture is more important. I will hand him over to you—let Skye take him away."
The two of them seemed quite emotional, but Harry only felt that this woman was somewhat insane.
Harry nodded: "Alright, Skye, take your father away."
Skye looked at her mother, then at Harry, and finally nodded, taking her father away.
Only, Johnson seemed a bit distracted.
After the father and daughter left the room, Harry sat in a chair and officially began negotiations regarding the Inhumans.
Harry took the lead in finding a topic, saying: "Madam, I have looked through the records of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA and know what they did to you. It was truly heinous—they will receive the punishment they deserve."
"If this long life has taught me any lesson, it's that you can never predict the evil acts humans are capable of committing."
Jiaying's words were very profound.
"I agree, Madam, which is why I am strongly recommending that all nations unite to completely uproot the cancer that is HYDRA from Earth. I hope that makes you feel a bit better."
But whether it's S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA, I want you to know that I am different from them."
As he spoke, Harry placed a briefcase on the table and then took out a small box from his clothes—this action made Jiaying visibly nervous.
"I have prepared two gifts for you and your people."
One was the obelisk, and the other was a pendant found at Whitehall's place when he was captured.
It was a type of folk pendant from the China used for children to wear, symbolizing that the child would never be found by evil spirits—essentially, a charm for safety.
Jiaying nervously reached her hand toward the box—as if there were some fierce beast inside. Harry had been observing her attitude through his psionic vision since he entered the door, and now he could completely confirm what Jiaying was thinking.
This woman's degree of madness exceeded Harry's imagination—the Oscorp was not S.H.I.E.L.D., yet she didn't intend to listen to reason either.
Finally, Jiaying opened the box and breathed a deep sigh of relief upon seeing the pendant.
"After capturing Whitehall, we found this in his laboratory. I thought it might be something you prepared for Skye."
Jiaying looked at the pendant, her heart filled with emotion: "I never had the chance to give it to her—after that, I could only hope she would live well and that evil spirits would never find her—unlike what happened to me back then."
When she said these words, her gaze was constantly evasive.
But Harry knew that no matter what, he had to finish what he had to say: "The Battle of New York brought superpowered people into the public eye, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was born of necessity. We hope to protect this World."
And superpowered people are a very tricky part: sometimes they are good people, sometimes they are bad people. Even if they are good, they can be deceived, just like in Saint Petersburg."
The Saint Petersburg incident had been widely publicized, and almost everyone knew that the Avengers had attacked Harry Osborn, but fortunately, they eventually discovered they had been deceived. Jiaying naturally knew about this as well.
"How do you hope I can help you?"
"I hope to understand you, to know how many of you there are, and to record your identity information. If you are willing, I also hope to record your abilities. This way, when something happens, I can use that to judge who is a suspect and who is innocent."
Just like the identity records and personal files we keep for ordinary people, this is treating everyone equally."
In Harry's view, this was indeed similar to what was done for ordinary people.
People live in society and are registered from birth, including what jobs they've had, what illnesses they've suffered, and what mistakes they've made.
This information has many uses in the hands of the Oscorp, making life more convenient, preventing people with criminal tendencies from harming others, and being used for medical purposes, among other things.
But for some reason, these Inhumans simply could not understand, especially Jiaying.
One must know that Captain America was unwilling to sign the Sokovia Accords because he saw himself as a benchmark and warrior for a free World; that is to say, compared to official authorities, he trusted himself more to represent freedom and justice.
Whether the Captain's thinking was correct is a separate matter, but these Inhumans—if they truly just wanted to live ordinary lives as Jiaying said—why would they resist registration?
Moreover, Harry did not demand to register their powers at the first meeting, as S.H.I.E.L.D. had in the original story.
However, the current situation was that after Harry finished speaking, Jiaying's attitude underwent a 180-degree turn.
She turned around and took a rod-shaped object wrapped in a handkerchief from the curio shelf behind her.
"I have a return gift, a relic from our history—perhaps you'll be interested in it. I know the Oscorp has always liked high technology and alien relics."
In my long life, I have seen countless people categorized because of their specialness. Surprisingly, generation after generation repeats the same mistakes."
Why exactly do people feel they have the right to do this? Perhaps it is because of fear."
When she mentioned fear, her tone was particularly disdainful.
Harry couldn't help himself: "People feel fear toward the unknown, and humanity overcomes one trench of fear after another by forming societies and developing science. All I want is stability and prosperity."
Jiaying paused: "So we formed a tribe and built a town here. It is precisely fear that made us do things we would never have done before."
As she spoke, Jiaying unwrapped the handkerchief, revealing a mottled terrigen crystal inside, its surface covered in cracks.
"The birth of the Inhumans relies on terrigen crystals, and we only have five Diviners—that is, the obelisks—in our hands. If they are all destroyed or used up, our race will no longer be able to continue."
"So you began researching how to make your own Diviners and eventually extracted a crystal like this?"
Jiaying smiled and said: "Yes, we melted down a Diviner and eventually obtained this crystal—unfortunately, we have never been able to separate the outer metal."
Harry continued: "This is not a problem for Inhumans, but it is not the case for humans—so if you could put it away, I would feel more comfortable."
Harry leaned forward slightly; he had given Jiaying plenty of face, but it seemed this woman would not accept it.
"Mr. Osborn certainly knows a lot of things." Jiaying gave a sinister smile and smashed the crystal onto the table!
The terrigen mist, mixed with petrified metal, instantly filled the entire room!
"To discover, there must be experiments—let's see if you are truly one of us."
The sensation of inhaling this gas gave Harry a feeling of suffocation. Violent changes occurred inside his body; even with his Superman physique, he could not resist this transformation. His body gradually turned into rock—Harry was not an Inhuman, which Jiaying had known all along.
"How dare you talk down to me like that, you corporate bastard—you are completely different from me, from us!"
Whitehall cut me open alive and put my organs in jars! I will never allow you to do the same thing to my daughter and my people!"
However, as the petrification spread across Harry's body, Jiaying did not find a single trace of panic on Harry's face.
"Interesting, it seems fear has made you lose your mind—look at the sky, Inhuman."
After saying this, Harry's entire being turned to stone.
Watching this man, whose power was among the top few on Earth, turn to stone, Jiaying's first step was a success, but her heart was filled only with doubt, confusion, and fear.
But there was no turning back now. With a flash of blue electric arcs, Gordon stole a small canary device and a pistol from Osborn's hospital.
Jiaying picked up the pistol, gritted her teeth, and shot herself in the shoulder.
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