I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. HYDRA's been running a bioweapons program for the better part of a decade. We thought it was dead. It wasn't.

leans back in his harness, arms crossed What kind of bioweapon?

pulls up a file on the holo-screen, the redacted image of a young girl flickering to life The "Mermaid Project". They've successfully spliced human and... other DNA. The result is a confirmed metahuman with aquatic adaptations.

Mermaid?

That's the intel term. Two subjects total. One deceased. One active, age fourteen.

taps his arc reactor, a frown pulling at his goatee Please tell me we're not hunting a teenager.

We're not hunting her. We're finding her before HYDRA's remaining cells relocate or terminate her. She's a weapon they've kept hidden. And a victim.

studies the file silently, then looks up, her voice flat She's been with them since infancy. No family. No records.

jaw tightens Then we bring her in. Before anyone else gets to her first.