"Anything?"
Hill kept her gun raised, eyes scanning the surroundings as she called out to May, who was crouched beside the bodies.
"No identification on any of them. All their weapons are standard-issue... And each of them had a poison capsule in their molars. Without exception, they're all death operatives. I deliberately left two alive, but they both chose to end their own lives," May replied coolly after inspecting several corpses.
"Did you get pictures?"
"I did. But I doubt they'll be useful. Their handlers clearly accounted for every detail, eliminating any chance of exposure. Facial recognition's out of the question—they obviously anticipated that."
"Hmm. Fair enough."
Hill nodded, then motioned forward. "But now's not the time to dwell on it. Dr Raymond is still in danger. Let's move!"
The two women advanced quickly, arriving at the southern courtyard of the hospital.
May was the first to spot the five bodies from Team B lying sprawled on the ground. Her pupils narrowed sharply.
"They look like they were part of the same group as those we fought outside… What the hell happened?" Hill sounded equally unsettled.
They'd already clashed with this unit earlier—hardened veterans, by the look of them. Had Hill and May not been elite agents with cutting-edge gear, the outcome could have been very different.
And now five more of them were lying dead here?
Could there be a third party involved, another faction that had collided with these mercenaries inside the hospital?
One thing they didn't even consider: hospital security. They knew full well that ordinary guards, even armed, would've been slaughtered in seconds by these professionals.
Before Hill could say more, May rushed over to inspect the bodies. Understanding the situation came first.
Knowing your enemy meant knowing how to survive the next battle.
May kept her weapon trained on the corpses as she approached—she wasn't taking any chances. If any of them were feigning death, they wouldn't be faster than her trigger finger.
But each corpse bore a precise bullet hole squarely in the forehead. There was no faking it—they were stone-cold dead.
May's inspection was swift. The results made her expression darken further.
"You find something?" Hill noticed the shift in her face.
"They all committed suicide. Their own service weapons, bullets straight through the frontal lobe. Instant death," May said in a low, tense voice.
"Suicide?" Hill suddenly understood the look on her colleague's face.
It didn't make sense. These operatives were here for Raymond—why kill themselves before completing the mission?
But she also trusted May's instincts. If she said they were suicides, then they were.
It was bizarre, yes—but in their line of work, the bizarre was par for the course.
"Paranormal incident?" Hill suggested.
"Quite possible." May had thought the same.
Hill took a moment, letting her mind explore different scenarios. But there was no time to investigate them all now.
"If it's unrelated to Raymond, we'll deal with it later. Let's move."
They pushed forward again, heading toward Raymond's quarters.
Soon, they reached the small courtyard beneath his wing of the hospital.
And again—more bodies. Another row of corpses, and judging by their gear, these were clearly from the same group as the others.
May quickly fell into routine, checking the scene with practised efficiency.
This time, though, it wasn't suicide. But the result was no less disturbing.
"All hacked down with melee weapons?" Hill was incredulous.
Eight fully armed professionals, butchered like meat in a slaughterhouse—it sounded like something out of a Bollywood action film.
"Six of them, yes. The other two had their throats slit. Only one of them managed to fire a single shot. The rest didn't even get that far," May corrected.
It wasn't much comfort.
Whether six or eight had been cut down didn't matter. Either way, it pointed to one horrifying conclusion: someone terrifying was in this hospital.
If Hill had merely suspected a supernatural presence before, she was certain now.
As Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hill had far more insight into the extraordinary world than the Centipede organisation.
She knew full well there were countless supernaturals among the population.
Most of them—particularly mutants—could go unnoticed as long as they didn't use their powers. Only a few, like the blue-skinned Beast, were visibly different and couldn't hide.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had dealt with many such beings. And now this scene before her made Hill strongly suspect that they were facing a similar situation.
"We rescue Dr Raymond first. The rest can wait." She'd made up her mind.
Whoever this mysterious superpowered individual was, the fact that they'd eliminated the mercenaries suggested they weren't aligned with them.
That made them, at the very least, not an immediate threat.
With their priorities clear, the two women proceeded to the second floor, arriving just outside Raymond's room.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hill tapped lightly on the door.
"Who is it?" came a man's voice from inside.
Both women relaxed slightly.
They recognised that voice.
It was their mission target.
Dr Raymond.