The Mutant issue was the sharpest internal issue facing humanity.
The Inhumans could barely be counted as descendants of the Eternals.
Initially, like Mutants, they appeared among Earth’s humans, but Black Bolt had taken their entire race to the Moon.
This race, which possessed superhuman abilities and could climb the tech tree, wasn’t a threat to humanity.
Quite the opposite—people could treat them as a sub-branch of humanity, a force that could be united.
In some parallel universes, Black Bolt was even a member of the Illuminati, a core defender of Earth.
Mutants, however, were different.
This group, barely countable as descendants of Deviants, should actually be considered a branch of humanity, an important part of human society—at least far better than vampires.
Instead, humans and Mutants were at each other’s throats.
In many eyes, it had become a zero-sum game, which was awful.
“I understand your concerns, but the truth is, I don’t believe Mutant organizations—like The Brotherhood—are completely ignorant about the extinct Deviants.
They try every possible way to prove they are superior to humans, so they are bound to investigate historical records,” Duval said, spreading his hands.
Coulson nodded: “Indeed.
That field is called ‘Mutant Origins Studies,’ and it’s very popular among Mutants.” His biggest fear was that if Mutants mistook Ikaris, an Eternal, for an ancient Deviant, it would cause utter chaos.
Unfortunately, what he—or rather SHIELD—worried about was precisely what Duval wanted to see.
Duval held no ill will toward these eleven Eternals, nor did he hold any affection.
He certainly felt nothing for the dog-like inferior Deviants.
Both were just tools Arishem had reused for millions of years.
They were entirely different from the Eternals and Deviants on the Skrull homeworld, Earth, and other planets that could reproduce and build civilizations.
Not to mention, Duval had already clashed with Ikaris, the top powerhouse among the eleven Eternals.
*He has powers similar to Superman next door—a budget version, sure, but if he can be parasitized, that would be fantastic,* Duval thought to himself.
Seeing Duval’s attitude, Coulson stood up: “Then that concludes our meeting.
I have many other tasks on my hands.
However, Mr.
Duval, you wouldn’t want to see the world fall into chaos either, right?” Coulson gave a meaningful look at the surrounding Xenomorphs, deep apprehension flashing in his eyes.
One of his main purposes for coming was to take the risk of observing these terrifying creatures up close.
They could parasitize Abomination, and after birth, they clearly displayed combat power surpassing Abomination’s.
Even with Coulson’s vast experience, this sent a chill down his spine.
He just didn’t know how fast this species could reproduce, or what the limit of parasitism was—could they only parasitize mammals?
Only mundane creatures?
What about…
gods?
There was no shortage of gods in this universe.
Some space civilizations that had developed over millions of years had established their own pantheons.
For instance, the Skrulls had Skrull gods.
Xenomorphs—Coulson had learned the species’ name during this trip and confirmed that these creatures possessed extreme obedience to Duval for unknown reasons.
There were too many mysteries surrounding Xenomorphs, and Duval, who controlled them through unknown means, was even more baffling.
Coulson turned to leave, pointing at Elektra before going: “If you don’t mind, I’d be happy to take her with me.
The Hand in Japan is notorious and has committed many major crimes.” “I mind very much.
I’m keeping her.” “Very well.” Coulson didn’t push Duval on this matter and left full of worry.
Elektra was left stranded, her face pale and her mood depressed.
Having overheard so much, she had obtained a lot of strange intelligence.
Deviants seemed related to Eternals?
That Fly-Boy wasn’t a Deviant?
It was a complete mess.
Elektra didn’t want to know any of this; she just wanted to escape immediately.
“The problem now is, Ms.
Natchios, you can’t escape, nor can you beat me.
Whether you came to hunt down Kingpin’s people or on orders from Five Fingers, you’ve fallen into my hands.” Duval walked over to Elektra, sizing her up, and deliberately said, “You also learned many secrets you shouldn’t know.
The Deviants in Alaska…
isn’t something you should be aware of.” To be honest, Elektra was quite capable.
If used properly, she might provide some help.
“If you want to kill me, do it.” Elektra glared at Duval as he approached.
Her words were tough, but her eyes brightened.
She couldn’t beat these Xenomorphs, but couldn’t she beat a human?
When the distance between them shrank to just one meter, Elektra acted.
A dagger sprang from her sleeve, aiming straight for Duval’s throat.
Elektra didn’t intend to kill him; she wanted to take Duval hostage to intimidate these creatures and escape.
Speed, timing, courage—Elektra possessed them all.
As a world-class assassin, at this distance, she didn’t think she would fail.
*Clack!* Duval simply reached out two fingers.
It looked casual, but it was shockingly precise and swift, effortlessly pinching the tip of the dagger.
Elektra felt as if she had stabbed Adamantium.
No matter how much force she applied, she couldn’t advance half an inch.
“How is this possible?!” Elektra froze, her expression shifting drastically as she blurted out, “You’re a superhuman?!
Otherwise how could you have such power!” “By your standards, I am.
But don’t be envious, lady, because you’ll become one soon enough.
When that happens, you won’t be so stubborn.” Duval opened his palm.
A Facehugger crawled up.
“It’s very pretty, very docile, isn’t it?
And it likes you very much.” “Wait, no!” Elektra turned pale with fright and was about to fight for her life, but the moment she moved, a crowd of Xenomorphs tackled her to the ground.
She wanted to bite down on the deadly poison hidden in her teeth, but a Runner Xenomorph forcibly pried her jaw open.
When the white organism entered her soft mouth, Elektra felt a warm surge travel all the way down into her esophagus, and then she lost consciousness.
Don’t misunderstand—Duval had no intention of letting a chestburster erupt from Elektra for now.
Even if successful, the resulting Xenomorph would merely be a Drone Xenomorph born from a normal human, with limited combat power—not even enough to take a single punch from an Abomination Xenomorph.
What Duval needed was simply the “parasitism” stage for Elektra.
Few knew another usage of Facehuggers: parasitizing without chestbursting!
In this way, the host could gain the power contained within the Facehugger’s genetic code!
In this world, only Duval could do this because he could prevent the Facehugger from ever bursting through the chest.
This was why Duval, who was an ordinary human not long ago, had now become a superhuman capable of taking a punch from a heavily injured Abomination!
Using this method, in the near future, as the Xenomorphs grew stronger and acquired higher-quality genes, Duval’s strength would leap forward in sync!
Duval waved his hand, dismissing the Xenomorphs.
He left Elektra where she was and paid her no further attention, because from this moment on, Elektra could never escape Duval’s control—neither her life nor her actions.
As he left, Duval glanced imperceptibly toward a Runner Xenomorph lurking in a corner.
And as the Xenomorphs scattered, that seemingly ordinary Runner Xenomorph in the corner—showing no anomalies on the surface—pulled out a signal transmitter from an angle unseen by Duval and the other Xenomorphs, transmitting a signal to the outside world.
“This is Mystique.
I have successfully infiltrated and acquired critical intelligence: Fly-Boy is a Deviant, and the location is Alaska!”