"Click, click, click..."
The crisp sound echoed as leather shoe heels hit the cold ground. The iron door creaked opened, and a man dressed in a suit and tie stepped out.
He moved forward, shaking hands with the figure in the white lab coat, then followed the doctor into the room.
As the lights gradually brightened, revealing not a cozy hospital room and medical equipment, but iron railings like those in an interrogation room.
Within the railings lay a hospital bed, with a man in a hospital gown shackled to the bars. Seeing this, the man in the suit turned his head away, his lips downturned, seemingly reluctant to face the sight.
The sound of high heels on the ground followed, accompanied by the jingling of keys. Natasha walked into the room and glanced at the two men, "What riddles are you playing at?" she asked.
She then moved forward, took off the keychain hung around her waist, unlocked the door to the railing, and all three of them walked in, beside the hospital bed.
At the head of the bed, an odd instrument displayed a series of complex readings. The doctor in the white coat took notes from it while the man in the suit covered his face, "…are we really doing the right thing? He looks very pained…"
Upon hearing this, Natasha, who was adjusting the curtain, turned to look at the patient.
The patient appeared strange, hairless, with eyes deeply sunken into his skull, and skin a cold, pale color. His mouth half-open, his eyes closed and body trembling, his fingers traced circles on the bedding, seemingly outlining some symbol.
"Shiller…we are going to hell…" Coulson took a deep breath and said, "This is inhumane, we should not…"
Shiller, deeply engrossed in note-taking, paused his movements. He turned to look at Coulson, but said nothing. Shortly after, a communicator around Coulson's waist went off: Nick Fury had summoned him.
After his departure, Natasha moved to the other side of the bed, gazing at the patient, "I don't understand why Nick insists on lying to him, he will feel very guilty."
"Don't you think it would be tough to explain to a person like Coulson that all the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have become Hydra, and all of Hydra has now become agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Natasha sighed, "Honestly, I don't know how you guys managed to. Poor Coulson still thinks that we are experimenting on S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who are on their deathbed."
"In a way, he's not wrong," Shiller leaned over, gently fixing the sheets on the trembling patient. But as he drew close, the patient kept shaking, his teeth chattering, and he tried to move away. But his hands and feet, being shackled, gave him no leeway.
Shiller straightened up again,"He is Hydra, but he has also contributed a great deal to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Without them, Nick wouldn't even have ten agents capable of taking action."
"So, I am trying my best to save him. If the experiment is successful on him, many Hydra operatives posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would be saved because of him. This sacrifice is worth it."
Natasha lowered her eyes as she followed Shiller out of the room. Entering a second room, Shiller systematically recorded the machine readings, tidied up the messy hospital blanket, chatted with the bedridden patient, and completely ignored the frightened eyes of the patient before moving onto the next room.
There were about twelve rooms here, each with a patient whose conditions were surprisingly similar: hairless, pale, blue skin, and even identical expressions of terror at the sight of Shiller.
After making rounds in all rooms, Shiller returned to his office located at the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. base. His desk was stacked with a lot of material, most of which was related to the experiment he was conducting.
Natasha stood across his desk and asked, "How is the progress?"
"I don't understand the part about the potion experiment, but there are significant issues regarding the mental health of the patients."
"The patients resurrected by the potion are showing signs of mental derailment to varying degrees. The GH209 potion resulted in the patient's normal nervous system function but severe hallucinations and symptoms of hearing voices. The GH211 potion produced serious symptoms of paranoia. The GH221 potion led to non-linear memory disorder, GH215 potion resulted in stress-induced aphasia…"
"In addition, they all show signs of speaking incoherently, some even draw nonsensical symbols."
Shiller put down the paper in his hand and sighed, "Instead of scrutinizing my progress, why don't you urge Nick to find a reliable chemist? There has been no progress after more than 200 experiments, can't you find faults from someone other than me?"
"We can't make this experiment public," Natasha shook her head gently and said, "Don't forget, apart from us, no one knows that a large number of agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. are actually Hydra."
"If the news of us experimenting on S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gets out, Nick's position as director will be jeopardized. So, this plan is at Level 10 confidentiality. Only Nick's close confidants can get a whiff of any information."
Shiller gently tapped the desk with the pen, "In the 200-plus experiments, the subjects have all inevitably suffered great mental trauma, later showing various symptoms of mental derailment."
"What are the chances it's related to the raw materials of the potion?" Natasha asked.
"Hard to say, there's definitely a connection, but how much of a connection, I fear even with 200 more experiments, it would still be hard to figure out."
Shiller stood up and walked to the window, looking at the scenery outside and saying: "The Kree, being the original raw materials for the potion, are entirely different from our own lifeforms. When a potion is made from their bodies and injected into humans, it's inevitable that various problems will arise."
"I warned you before the start of this experiment that it might cause irreversible mental and psychological damage," Shiller said, shaking his head.
"But S.H.I.E.L.D needs this technology, especially Nick." Natasha stood still, tapping her toes on the ground, saying, "If agents can be resurrected, he wouldn't need to scour the world for expendables."
"Doctor, I know this is indeed inhumane, but after all these are members of Hydra, thinking of their past atrocities, it's not that unacceptable, right?" Natasha leaned against the wall, her body tilted in a way that accentuated her graceful curves. However, Shiller was still staring at the documents in his hands, his brows furrowing deeply.
"You should say this to Coulson."
Natasha sighed, turned around and left. Soon, she knocked on the door of the director of S.H.I.E.L.D's office and walked in.
Nick looked up from a pile of documents to face her. Natasha shook her head and said, "Still no progress."
Nick sighed, "Shiller is no quack. If he has no solution, it seems there won't be any progress for a while."
"Regarding resurrection, it's not that simple. If it were easy to succeed, I would be worried that it may be a trap set by the Kree." Nick put down the pen in his hand, then stood up and walked to Natasha's side, leaning on the desk and saying:
"What a pity that during our time in the Andromeda Galaxy, we only captured one Kree councillor, who was not even of pure blood. If we had managed to secure a few more, there would be more test materials."
"I've been wanting to ask, which genius scientist came up with the idea to use Kree to make a resurrection potion? It has absolutely no logic." Natasha asked with some confusion.
"Do you remember the physical examination we conducted on the Kree councillor? Because we were uncertain about this alien's physiological structure, we invited a few renowned biologists for a consultation, including Doctor Connors who invented the Lizard potion."
"This doctor has unique insights into extracting genes from other organisms, absorbing their advantages and applying them to humans. He found that certain genes in the Kree gave them high-speed self-healing and shape-shifting capabilities, meaning, similar to lizards, Kree can also serve as raw materials for serums."
"How was the resurrection function discovered?" Natasha asked.
"If this series of potions can only give the human race self-healing abilities, what's the difference between them and the Lizard serum? The research progress on the Lizard serum is much faster, and the raw materials can be found everywhere."
"If it wasn't for Doctor Connors discovering that the concentrated Kree potion could greatly enhance human vital signs and even resurrect humans who had just died, I wouldn't have initiated the Tahiti project."
Nick slightly widened his eyes, assumed a longing expression, and then said, "If resurrection could be endless, then I would have endless employees, and moreover, I wouldn't have to worry about them being worked to death…"
Natasha glanced at him, rolled her eyes and left without saying a word.
Meanwhile, outside the lab of the Stark Building, Connors took a set of data from Shiller. As he flipped through it, he said, "Still no progress in this area? If the side effects were too serious, it would limit the use of this potion."
Connors closed the file and looked at Shiller, "I'll repeat it again, I personally don't support any form of resurrection. If you hadn't asked me to inspire Nick with the success of the Lizard serum, I wouldn't have taken part in this experiment."
"Don't rush, we've got plenty of time…"
Connors turned his head to the side, sighed, and said to Shiller, "I really don't know what you're trying to do. You were in such a hurry for me to point out during the medical examination of the Kree that he could be used as a test subject. But now that the experiment has reached a stalemate, you're not in a hurry…"
"Shiller, I have to warn you, resurrection is a taboo for humans. You're not really planning to resurrect someone, are you?"
Shiller walked up, smiled and patted Connors on the shoulder, "Of course not. It's just that one of my clients is really troublesome. I have to resort to measures other than deception, under the principle of absolute voluntariness, to engage in a more in-depth exchange of interests…"
"You have a client who's hard to deal with?" Connors leaned back slightly, looking Shiller up and down, asking, "Who is it?"
"Death."