"Amy Chloe."
"Real name Amy Oliver."
"Orphan."
"Born in 1973, now forty-two."
"Social welfare number..."
"Registered address, Queens Opes Community..."
"This is her latest registered address."
"However..."
"This address is from a year ago."
At the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Central, Sharon Carter looked at the financial status of Amy Chloe displayed on the computer screen: "Eight months ago, Amy Chloe's financial situation had major issues, she's already bankrupt, and her credit cards have been frozen."
After coming out of the church, driving the Audi A8, Hawk silently appeared at the roadside of the Opes Community in Queens mentioned by Sharon, his gaze fixed on the dilapidated five-story tenement building across the road, answered with a thanks, and hung up the phone.
The next second.
He pushed open the car door, crossed the road, arrived at the entrance of the tenement, glanced at the intercom system which had been broken for God knows how long, and directly pushed open the building's door to go inside.
The smell inside the building compared to outside was like two worlds apart.
But Hawk, shutting his sense of smell, proceeded normally along the similarly rundown stairs next to him, which creaked with every step, heading towards the fourth floor.
As for why not using the elevator, it's not because it's broken.
The elevator here works fine.
It's just that...
Taking the elevator here costs money each time, a small income for the manager of this rundown building.
Soon.
Hawk reached the corner along the stairs, and with his right foot landing once more, was already inside room 405, a place roughly thirty sqm on the fourth floor.
The room was full of life.
Old.
But clean.
This reminded Hawk of a house he visited in the past after retracting his timeline.
Though if that house was old but clean, this apartment carried another feeling.
The owner of this apartment seems to live in the past.
Some yellowing couple photos, pregnancy pictures, and family of four photos, held in equally old photo frames, placed on the worn-out cabinet.
Plush toys losing hair naturally.
And a large old crib occupying a big corner space in this not-so-large apartment.
Hawk scanned the apartment layout and came to the kitchen bar, seeing an array of seemingly endless medication on the counter.
He walked over and looked at the various medicines there.
Some bottles were empty, others not yet, the unfinished ones alone were of eight different kinds.
Then.
Footsteps sounded outside, followed by the sound of keys into the room, making Hawk turn towards the apartment door.
The next second.
A woman.
A woman with originally blond hair now withered and yellow, pale skin, lips a bit purple, looking more frail than most women, walked in.
Amy Chloe.
After boosting the Little Cosmos to Golden Cosmos, Hawk once again unlocked part of the Reality Gemstone's computation, using its power to minimize his presence.
Though even without using the Reality Gemstone, he'd be fine.
Because Amy Chloe at this moment had urgent matters.
Amy Chloe, upon entering, hurriedly shut the door and locked it firmly.
The sudden knocking on the door instantly sounded.
Forty-two this year, having lived alone since she was twenty-three, Amy, startled by the abrupt knocking, became even paler.
Hawk looked outside the door at a man around thirty with tattooed arms knocking at the door.
The man looked fierce but his voice didn't match his appearance.
"Madam Chloe."
"Open the door, I'm really not here to collect rent."
"Your rent hasn't been paid for eight months, my boss is here today with people, he's not as understanding as me."
"Told you yesterday to leave and not return today, why didn't you listen."
Vane felt helpless.
Though a rogue, he's different from the vicious thugs, or else he wouldn't have been chosen as the building's manager by his boss.
This apartment is managed by their gang.
The building owner is willing to cooperate with them, as others' money might go unpaid, but no one dares to withhold the gang's money.
Result...
Thinking of Amy Chloe's plight, Vane felt sympathetic, so each time he only urged her to pay the rent without telling his boss.
But a few days ago, he was summoned for an audit by his boss, who found out.
Thinking of his boss's ruthless methods, Vane came to, looked at Amy still not opening the door, and sighed.
"Madam Chloe..."
"Is this the place."
"Yes, boss, 405."
As Vane planned to let Amy fend for herself, his boss, a fierce man with matching arm tattoos and leather jacket, already ascended with two burly men, one white and one black.
Vane, seeing this, got a jolt, thinking of Amy, over forty, with a tragic loss of husband and children, shook his head, plastered a smile, and greeted: "Boss, Madam Chloe already transferred the rent to me..."
"Out of my way!"
Vane's boss directly pushed Vane aside and walked straight to Amy's apartment door, lifting his foot to kick it.
Hawk looked at Amy Crowe, who was leaning against the house, pale-faced, clutching her chest, seemingly in pain, and frowned.
The next second.
He saw the burly man outside raising his foot, ready to kick the door.
The door...
Stood unmoving.
What moved was the burly man. Just as he was about to kick the door, his whole body instantly lifted off the ground, flying backward, and with a bang, hit the wall of the apartment corridor.
Vane was stunned.
The two black-and-white henchmen who came with the burly man were also dumbfounded.
The burly man got up from the ground, shook his head, and even though he was a bit puzzled about what happened, he quickly walked back and once again kicked at the door.
Bang!
This time there was no surprise, the door was kicked open by the burly man.
Then—
The burly man saw Hawk in the apartment, holding a frail old lady, and frowned.
"Amy?"
"...Who are you?"
Vane also walked over, looking at Hawk who suddenly appeared in the solitary Amy's house, with a somewhat shocked expression.
Hawk looked at Amy, unconscious in his arms, and his cold gaze turned towards the burly man.
The burly man, meeting Hawk's gaze, chuckled, intending to strike first by stepping forward with his right foot.
The next second.
Instant vaporization!
With a puff, as golden light flashed, the burly man instantly vanished from his place.
Vane was dumbfounded.
The two henchmen standing next to Vane, who planned to take Vane back later, were equally stunned.
Hawk glanced at the remaining three people.
Puff!
Puff!
Vane felt the sudden hot wave beside him, his body trembled, and then he looked at Hawk, holding the unconscious Amy in his arms, with an expression as if he were looking at God.
Just then.
The tense but rhythmic sound of climbing stairs echoed, and soon, three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents familiar with Hawk appeared at the stairway.
The leading S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, upon seeing Vane standing dumbfounded at the door, hurried over, but was slightly startled when he saw Hawk holding a woman inside the room.
Hawk, looking at the incoming S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, withdrew his gaze from Vane.
"Settle the rent with him."
"Keep an eye here."
"...Understood!"
The leading S.H.I.E.L.D. agent responded, nodding in acknowledgment.
Hawk then vanished from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' sight with Amy in his arms.
The leading S.H.I.E.L.D. agent exchanged a glance with the other two and, after entering the house, their gaze first fell on several yellowed photos on a wooden cabinet.
Then!
He also saw a baby in swaddling clothes in the yellowing photo of the family of four.
The next second.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent gasped.
Sharon, who was at the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. Central, also gasped when she saw the baby in the photo through the agent's camera.
She had only learned the name Amy Chloe a few days ago.
It was Hawk who asked her to investigate it.
The reason for the lengthy investigation was actually quite simple: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system had been upgrading these days.
Stark Industries sold S.H.I.E.L.D. an 'Intelligent System.'
This was a proposition from the Security Council, even though Howard Stark was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders, Tony Stark was not.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system was no secret to Jarvis,
But...
Rules are rules.
Thus, Stark Industries sold an 'Intelligent System' named Week Eight to S.H.I.E.L.D.
This was another backup program Tony Stark wrote when he created Jarvis; however, unlike the male voice of Jarvis, Week Eight had a female voice.
This suited S.H.I.E.L.D. quite well nowadays.
Thus, information on Amy Chloe was only discovered after Week Eight officially launched.
Meanwhile.
Just as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' footage froze on the photos, Week Eight's intelligent analysis program began operating rapidly.
Very soon.
A confidential file was synchronized, containing what appeared to be a photo of a church choir, which was pulled up.
Subsequently, a photo of a four-year-old boy from the group photo was placed alongside the baby in swaddling clothes.
The result—
'According to intelligent analysis!'
'Match rate—'
'One hundred percent!'
...