Chapter 88: Being Watched

I wasn’t sure how long I had been asleep when the Research Assistant’s voice entered my mind.

“Lord, the communication device within your Storage Space has become active.” My eyes slowly opened, but before I could move, I felt something holding me around the stomach.

I looked down and found Gwen still asleep against me.

Sometime during the night, she had moved closer until almost half her body was pressed against mine, with one arm wrapped around my stomach and the other trapped between us.

She looked completely comfortable, which made me wonder how long she’d been sleeping like this.

I stayed still and asked in my mind, “Who activated it?” The Research Assistant answered, “The device assigned to Gideon Malick.” Any sleepiness I still had disappeared after hearing that.

Malick knew he wasn’t supposed to contact me through that communicator unless something important happened.

“Did he leave a message?” I asked, and the Research Assistant answered, “Yes, Lord.” I started trying to get out of Gwen’s grip without waking her, but the moment I lifted her arm slightly, she tightened it around me and moved closer.

I stopped and looked down at her.

“You weren’t this difficult when you came here last night,” I whispered as I waited for her grip to loosen again.

Once it did, I slowly moved her arm away and carefully slipped out from beside her without waking her.

Gwen shifted toward the space I’d left and pulled part of the blanket with her.

I fixed it around her before taking the communicator from my Storage Space and checking the message Malick had sent.

It was short and direct: HYDRA AND S.H.I.E.L.D.

ARE BOTH LOOKING INTO YOU.

CONTACT ME.

Apparently waking up beside Gwen wasn’t going to be the most interesting part of my morning.

I moved farther away from the bed before activating the communicator.

Malick answered after only a few seconds, and I immediately asked, “Is this line secure?” He replied, “As secure as I can make it. I wouldn’t have contacted you otherwise.”

That was good enough for now.

I leaned against the wall and said, “Then start from the beginning.

Why is Hydra looking into me?” Malick stayed quiet for a moment before answering, “It started with the properties around your house.

One or two wouldn’t have mattered, but you’re buying almost the entire surrounding block.

These aren’t cheap properties either, so someone eventually noticed the pattern.”

I hadn’t really thought about how it looked from the outside.

To me, buying the houses was simply part of keeping the underground facility hidden and giving myself room to expand.

Anyone else would only see a seventeen-year-old suddenly spending a large amount of money buying nearly every property around his home.

“That alone was enough for Hydra to investigate me?” I asked.

“No,” Malick replied.

“It made someone curious enough to look at what else you’ve been doing, and that brought Sterling Global into it.” I already had a good idea what he meant, so I said, “Arthur Graves.”

Malick confirmed it.

“He opposed you inside the company, disappeared not long afterward, and then you gained complete control. They don’t have anything connecting you directly to his disappearance, but the timing attracted attention.”

That wasn’t surprising.

Arthur disappearing had always been something people could eventually connect to me, even if there wasn’t any evidence.

“And they questioned you because you didn’t interfere?” I asked.

“They did,” Malick said.

“They wanted to know why I allowed you to take control when I could have supported someone else inside the company.” I asked what he’d told them, and his answer actually made me smile.

“I told them interfering with you would’ve been bad business.”

I quietly laughed.

“You actually said that?” Malick replied, “Not exactly like that. I told them your plans were profitable, the company was improving under your control, and fighting you would’ve created unnecessary problems. I made supporting you sound like the obvious choice.”

“And they believed you?” I asked.

Malick hesitated for a moment before saying, “They accepted the explanation. That’s not the same as believing it.” That sounded much more like Hydra.

They didn’t need to trust him completely if there wasn’t enough reason to push further yet.

I looked toward Gwen again before asking, “Then why contact me now?

They’ve apparently been watching for a while.” Malick answered, “The Arc Reactor changed things.

The moment they learned you’d acquired the designs and rights from Stark Industries, your priority increased.”

He continued before I could interrupt.

“Buying properties could be explained. Taking control of your company could be explained. Even Graves disappearing could be treated as coincidence without evidence. But doing all of that and then acquiring advanced energy technology made people start asking what you’re preparing for.”

I couldn’t really argue with that.

If I knew nothing about myself and saw the same pattern, I’d probably be asking questions too.

“How much do they know about the reactor deal?”

“They know Stane transferred the rights and designs to you,” Malick answered.

“They don’t know what you’re actually doing with them.” That was the important part, so I told him, “Good. Keep it that way.”

Malick agreed before adding, “Hydra isn’t the only organization looking now.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

has started checking your activities too.” I frowned and asked, “Fury?”

“I don’t know whether he personally ordered anything yet,” Malick said.

“Your name has started appearing in requests moving through their intelligence network. They’re checking your property purchases, Sterling Global, the companies you inherited from your mother and your deal with Stark Industries.”

I let my head rest against the wall for a moment.

“So both organizations noticed me at almost the same time.” Malick corrected me, “Hydra noticed first. S.H.I.E.L.D. became interested after the Stark deal.” That at least gave me some idea of how things had progressed.

I asked the question that mattered more than the rest.

“Do either of them know anything about my abilities?”

“Not from anything I’ve seen,” Malick said.

“Right now, they think you’re a wealthy teenager making unusually aggressive business moves. They’re interested in what you’re building, not what you are.” That made the situation much easier to deal with.

I could handle people questioning my business decisions.

Things would become far more annoying if Fury started asking why I could teleport or why White and Diablo weren’t exactly normal people.

“What does Hydra plan to do?” I asked.

Malick replied, “Nothing directly for now. They’re gathering information. Some people think you’re preparing a private research company. Others think you’re building something connected to energy or weapons.”

“They’re not completely wrong,” I said, but Malick didn’t ask which part I meant.

I stayed quiet for a moment before asking, “Can you arrange a meeting with someone above you?”

That made him pause.

“How far above me?” he eventually asked.

I replied, “Not the leader of Hydra. Someone senior enough to matter, but not so important that asking them to meet me would immediately look suspicious.”

Malick thought about it before answering, “I might be able to arrange something, but it won’t happen immediately. If I suddenly start pushing someone important to meet you, they’ll wonder why I’m so interested.”

“Then don’t push,” I told him.

“They’re already curious about me. Eventually, someone will want answers. When that happens, suggest that talking to me directly would be easier than continuing to guess.”

“That I can do,” Malick said.

I added, “Keep watching S.H.I.E.L.D. too. I want to know who is requesting information and what they manage to find. If Fury becomes personally involved, tell me.” Malick agreed, and we ended the call soon after.

I returned the communicator to my Storage Space and remained beside the wall for a while, thinking about what he’d told me.

Hydra becoming interested wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t completely bad either.

Malick was already inside their organization, and that gave me something useful.

I’d originally thought Hydra was something I would eventually need to destroy, but the more I considered it, the more wasteful that seemed.

They had spent decades putting people inside governments, companies, militaries and intelligence agencies.

Destroying Hydra would remove a threat, but taking control of it would give me a network that could take years to build myself.

I didn’t need to rush either.

Malick could eventually lead me to someone above him, and that person could lead me further.

I had enough time to work my way through the organization slowly.

That thought brought Skrulls back to mind too.

I still didn’t know whether they existed in this universe, and I wasn’t going to assume they did simply because they existed in Marvel.

If I eventually found them, though, their ability to change appearance could make them extremely useful for intelligence work.

Hydra already had people almost everywhere, while Skrulls could reach the places where normal infiltration was much harder.

I couldn’t make any real plan until I confirmed they existed, but it was worth remembering for later.