The moment SHIELD was mentioned, Ross’s expression darkened.
His grudge against the organization ran deep.
The two sides had clashed for years, as though they had been destined to become enemies.
When he first began researching the super-soldier program, SHIELD had repeatedly tried to discourage him.
They warned him the project would end in disaster.
That it would spiral out of control.
In the end...
They’d been right.
The experiment had created the Hulk.
Later, it had produced the Abomination.
Once everything collapsed, Ross had swallowed his pride and sought SHIELD’s assistance in cleaning up the mess.
Their answer had been simple.
Too late.
They’d offered no meaningful help.
But the thing Ross resented most...
Was what happened after the assault on the special military base.
The bodies of those twenty enhanced soldiers had been seized by Nick Fury before Ross had even been allowed to examine them.
Even now, Ross stubbornly believed everything might have been different if he’d received those corpses.
Complete specimens.
Intact tissue.
Instead of scraps of blood and shattered organs.
Perhaps his research would have succeeded.
Perhaps Emil Blonsky would never have become the Abomination.
Perhaps his entire career wouldn’t have ended in disgrace.
The more he thought about it...
The more SHIELD seemed responsible for every major setback in his life.
Now Umbrella was telling him SHIELD might interfere again.
Ross wanted to explode.
Instead, he took a slow breath.
Then another.
Finally, he forced himself to speak calmly.
"If the military enters into a legal partnership..."
"...SHIELD has no authority to interfere."
It sounded convincing.
Even Ross knew it wasn’t.
Back when he still possessed real influence, SHIELD had found ways to frustrate him at every turn.
Now?
He was little more than a general in uniform without meaningful power.
If Fury wanted to make trouble...
Ross doubted he could stop him.
Carla sighed.
"SHIELD truly deserves its reputation as the world’s premier intelligence agency."
"After the attack on the military base, they uncovered evidence pointing toward us."
"Nick Fury already knows Umbrella was connected to the incident."
Ross wasn’t surprised.
If anyone could piece together fragments of a conspiracy, it was SHIELD.
An attack involving enhanced soldiers was exactly the kind of case Fury would pursue relentlessly.
What surprised Ross was something else.
He glanced at the two women.
If SHIELD had spent this long uncovering only fragments...
Then Umbrella’s organization had to be extraordinarily capable.
Otherwise, Fury would have dismantled them months ago.
Ross considered the situation.
"A partnership doesn’t require your real identities."
"The technology is what matters."
"Use another company."
"Another name."
"Another set of identities."
"That shouldn’t be difficult for an organization like yours."
From his perspective, the branding was irrelevant.
As long as the technology worked, nobody in Washington would care whether the supplier called itself Umbrella Corporation or something entirely different.
The twins exchanged an almost imperceptible glance.
Ross really was obsessed with acquiring super-soldier technology.
Unfortunately for him...
There was one rather inconvenient problem.
Finding another demon lord willing to donate enough blood for mass production wasn’t exactly easy.
Carla adopted a troubled expression.
"We can disguise our names."
"Our company."
"Our identities."
"But how do we disguise the technology itself?"
She leaned slightly forward.
"Those twenty enhanced soldiers are still in SHIELD custody."
"If they compare those bodies with anything we sell in the future..."
"The similarities will be obvious."
"Then all of us will have a serious problem."
Ross rubbed his forehead.
She had a point.
If the military began working with a company producing enhanced humans, SHIELD would monitor every step of the process.
One successful comparison between Umbrella’s products and those recovered bodies...
And the scandal would become impossible to contain.
Imagine the headlines.
The United States military partners with the organization responsible for the massacre at one of its own bases.
The enlisted ranks would be furious.
The political fallout would be catastrophic.
After several moments of thought, Ross spoke again.
"If secrecy won’t solve it..."
"...then perhaps openness will."
"I can bring several senior military officials together."
"We’ll negotiate directly with SHIELD."
"If your technology proves valuable enough, perhaps they’ll overlook the past."
Ada gave a quiet laugh.
"I’m afraid that’s impossible."
"SHIELD won’t compromise."
Ross frowned.
"Why not?"
"The attack happened on a military base."
"The casualties were military personnel."
"The military paid the price."
"If the Department of Defense itself decides to move forward..."
"What reason does SHIELD have to object?"
He didn’t believe Nick Fury was some idealistic crusader obsessed with abstract justice.
Fury was practical.
Always practical.
So why refuse?
Ada smiled.
"You ask why?"
"I should be asking you the same question."
Her voice remained gentle.
"But every word landed precisely where she intended.
"When your research first began..."
"Why did SHIELD immediately try to stop you?"
"When you searched for the Hulk..."
"Why did they refuse to help?"
"When they took those twenty enhanced bodies..."
"Why did they leave you with nothing?"
"Have you ever seriously asked yourself those questions?"
The pieces had never seemed connected before.
Now...
The twins quietly arranged them into a single pattern.
Ross found himself staring into space.
She was right.
SHIELD had opposed his research from the very beginning.
Long before the Hulk existed.
Long before anything had gone wrong.
Had Fury somehow predicted failure years in advance?
Impossible.
Then there was the Hulk.
Ross had eventually begged SHIELD for assistance.
They still refused.
Was that simply punishment for ignoring their earlier warnings?
Or had there been another reason?
And the bodies...
SHIELD had gone so far as to forge orders and remove every single corpse before he could study them.
Ross admitted keeping them for himself might not have been entirely proper.
But SHIELD’s actions had crossed plenty of institutional lines as well.
Why had Fury been so desperate?
The more Ross considered it...
The stranger everything appeared.
Slowly, he looked back toward Ada.
He wanted an answer.
She gave him one.
A faint smile touched her lips.
"It’s very simple."
"SHIELD never wanted the United States military to possess super-soldier technology."
Silence settled over the bar.
And for the first time...
Ross genuinely began to wonder if she might be telling the truth.
...
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