Chapter 55 The Enemy Within—Obadiah Stane

The progenitor strain of SCP-008, the Zombie Plague, was an exceptionally dangerous anomaly.

Shortly after Ethan accepted Ophelia’s surrender, he proposed containing it.

However, Ophelia informed him that although every Chaos Insurgency faction possessed technology related to the T-virus, the progenitor strain of SCP-008 was controlled by the faction under the Twelve Round Table Council.

Like HYDRA, the Chaos Insurgency wasn’t a unified organization.

It was deeply divided, with some internal factions competing against—or even openly opposing—one another.

They were far less merciful toward their internal enemies than they were toward outside threats.

To contain SCP-008, Ethan consolidated all the intelligence Ophelia had provided.

After organizing and analyzing that information, the Foundation’s intelligence analysts discovered something unusual.

There was something wrong with Obadiah Stane.

As a major shareholder of Stark Industries, Obadiah had worked alongside both Howard Stark and his son.

However, he harbored tremendous ambitions toward the company and had always dreamed of claiming Stark Industries for himself.

According to the original *Iron Man* storyline, the conflict between Obadiah and Tony became irreconcilable after Tony announced that Stark Industries would withdraw from the weapons industry entirely.

If Obadiah hadn’t wanted to exploit Tony’s extraordinary intelligence and exceptional research capabilities, he would have attempted to replace him long ago.

Originally, Obadiah’s ambitions had gradually grown with support from the Ten Rings.

However, this world didn’t have an organization of fools like the Ten Rings.

In its place stood the far older and more mysterious Twelve Round Table Council.

Therefore, when Tony was first captured by the Atala organization, Obadiah’s behavior hadn’t deviated from the original storyline.

That changed after anomalies appeared and the Foundation emerged into the public eye.

From that point onward, Obadiah’s path began to take a strange turn.

According to Ophelia’s intelligence, he had likely established contact with another Chaos Insurgency faction.

While Tony was absent from the company, Obadiah had secretly carried out a series of personnel changes within Stark Industries, installing Chaos Insurgency personnel throughout the corporation.

After learning of Obadiah’s suspected contact with the Chaos Insurgency faction controlled by the Twelve Round Table Council, Ethan dispatched Foundation agents to investigate him.

Using the Foundation’s formidable electronic-warfare capabilities, they hacked into Obadiah’s email account and examined his recent transaction records.

The agents soon discovered several suspicious details.

For some time, Obadiah appeared to have been secretly financing a particular organization.

That organization was none other than the Atala militants.

Atala had previously been confirmed to have lost most of its forces, yet it had recently become active again.

Once Ethan learned of this development, he immediately dispatched Foundation agents and reconnaissance aircraft to Afghanistan.

They discovered that the revitalized Atala organization had acquired not only large quantities of advanced weapons and equipment but also a significant number of unfamiliar personnel.

After exchanging this intelligence with Ophelia, Ethan concluded that these unfamiliar armed operatives were most likely members of the Chaos Insurgency.

Large numbers of people had also gone missing throughout every region in which Atala had recently operated.

Although the Chaos Insurgency had attempted to conceal those disappearances, its efforts couldn’t fool the Foundation’s agents.

Ethan had deliberately chosen to test-fly the FFR-41MR Yukikaze today because of this intelligence.

He had specifically timed the flight to make contact with Tony as he returned from Afghanistan.

Ethan was certain that once he approached Tony, both S.H.I.E.L.D.

and HYDRA would learn about it.

After all, they had been closely monitoring Tony Stark, the recently returned head of Stark Industries.

If the Twelve Round Table Council truly possessed the progenitor strain of SCP-008, it might have numerous hidden trump cards of which Ethan knew nothing.

Given his cautious personality, Ethan had no intention of ordering the Foundation to test the Council’s strength directly.

The best course of action was to send S.H.I.E.L.D.

in first and observe exactly what Obadiah and the Twelve Round Table Council were planning.

Their intentions were already so obvious that Ethan could practically hear the beads of their abacuses rattling beside his ear.

However, he still needed to startle them into action before he could see how they would respond.

By this point, Ethan had returned to the command center at the Foundation’s Paradise Island Base.

The moment he entered, he saw Madame Ophelia and a large group of Foundation intelligence personnel working inside.

With Miss 2B following behind him, Ethan entered the intelligence room and looked at the surveillance feed tracking Obadiah.

“Well?

Has he made a move yet?” An intelligence officer immediately answered.

“He has, sir.

Not long ago, Obadiah appears to have attacked Tony Stark’s villa and stolen the arc reactor from his Mark II armor.” “Sir, should we recover the arc reactor?” As tempting as the arc reactor was, Ethan knew it was merely bait.

How could they catch a large fish without being willing to sacrifice the bait?

He immediately rejected the suggestion.

“Negative.

Continue observing.

I’m certain S.H.I.E.L.D.

will make a move soon.” “Our reconnaissance indicates that two S.H.I.E.L.D.

agents have arrived at Stark’s seaside cliff mansion.” “As expected.

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

couldn’t resist getting involved.

Have our people continue monitoring the situation and report any developments immediately.” “Understood, sir.” After issuing his orders, Ethan glanced at Ophelia, who was leisurely watching the situation unfold.

“Well, Madame Ophelia?

What do you think your internal enemies will do next?” Ophelia gave him a resentful look, jealousy evident in her voice.

“Is intelligence really all you ever think about?” Ethan shrugged.

“What else would I be thinking about?” “Based on my understanding of them, they’re probably preparing a major operation.” “How major?” “Something that could shock the entire world.” “That certainly qualifies as major.” Ethan smiled faintly.

“It seems we’ll need another in-depth intelligence exchange tonight.

You’ve already helped us seize the initiative in this war, Madame.” “None of this is over yet.”