Raymond was definitely not a liar.
He had his reasons for saying it wasn't a big problem even before doing any investigation.
In fact, after hearing Pepper's description, he already had a pretty good guess about who kidnapped Happy.
He might not be 100% sure, but he was at least 70% confident.
The creator of the Extremis virus, and the leader of the tech giant A.I.M. in North America!
When it came to wealth, he wasn't any less than Tony Stark. He was also a super rich man.
But what most people didn't know was that he used to be just a regular scientist. He had worked with Pepper for a while and was once a huge fan of Tony—completely obsessed with him.
But Tony's arrogant attitude eventually pushed this loyal fan to turn against him.
Like people say, the deeper the love, the deeper the hate. Once Killian turned, he hated Tony more than anyone.
After hiding in the shadows for over ten years, he finally became the head of A.I.M., gained massive wealth, and even developed the powerful Extremis virus.
If you don't think about right or wrong and just look at achievements, the impact of the Extremis virus wasn't any smaller than Tony's Iron Man suits.
Groups like the Centipede made their super soldiers using faulty samples of the virus, which were nothing compared to the real Extremis-enhanced people.
Raymond thought about the timeline. It seemed like Killian was just about ready to reveal himself to Tony and start his revenge.
If nothing unexpected had happened, Happy was most likely taken by Killian.
Of course, he needed more evidence to be sure, so he didn't say too much and only told Pepper that it should be fine.
After Pepper left, Raymond turned on his computer to look into A.I.M., but all the information he found was useless and vague.
Just as he was about to use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal network to dig deeper, he suddenly remembered something and gave up on the idea.
"How could I forget this…" Raymond rubbed his forehead.
A.I.M. might seem like a new and growing tech company on the surface, but its history wasn't that simple.
It had actually started as the science division of Hydra.
Later, they broke away because of different beliefs, but no one knew if they still worked together in secret.
If Killian really did take Happy, and if A.I.M. was still connected to Hydra, then it made sense that not even S.H.I.E.L.D. could find any leads.
And if Raymond used the S.H.I.E.L.D. system to look into A.I.M., he might alert them.
He wasn't afraid of Hydra himself.
But doing that could put Happy in more danger, which wasn't worth the risk.
It was better to find another way.
"If only I had a tech expert personality…" At that moment, Raymond really wished he had drawn a tech-type sub-personality.
The only one who was slightly related was the Deadshot sub-personality, but clearly, he wasn't skilled in this area.
Raymond also knew that drawing a new sub-personality now wouldn't guarantee getting someone with tech skills.
Why did he have to do it himself? Why not just hire someone who's good with computers?
Raymond realized he was overthinking things.
He had a much better starting point in this life than in his past one. There was no need to handle everything on his own. Just like how he brought David and Beth into his team, he could also bring in other people.
As he thought of this, a perfect candidate came to mind.
Following the idea that sharpening your tools first makes chopping wood easier, he decided to recruit this person before continuing his investigation.
In a quiet alley, an old van was parked.
Rain was falling softly outside, but the girl sitting inside the van couldn't hear a thing. Loud music blasted through her headphones, making it feel like she was in her own little world.
The back door of the van was thrown open, letting light pour in from outside.
The girl, who had been listening to music and playing a game, jumped in shock. Her headphones even fell off her head.
Then, a man in a suit with short hair climbed into the van.
The girl grabbed a metal pipe to protect herself, but the man quickly caught her wrist, snatched the pipe, and tossed it outside.
"Don't panic. I'm not here to rob you," the man said with a calm smile. "Let me introduce myself… Coulson, from S.H.I.E.L.D. I think Miss Skye should know that name."
Yes, the short-haired man was Phil Coulson, an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. at level 8.
The girl in the van was Skye, the future "Quake."
But right now, she didn't know about her true past. She was just a skilled hacker and a key member of the Rising Tide group.
Coulson had come because Skye had recently hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database and stolen sensitive information about "Project T.A.H.I.T.I."
"I don't know what you're talking about… This is private property. You need to leave now, or I'll call the police," Skye said, looking nervous.
"Call the police? Sure, need help dialing?" Coulson pulled out his phone, pressed 911, and handed it to her.
Skye didn't take it. She didn't want to call, and she couldn't risk it either. She just warned him, "If you don't leave, I'll scream!"
"Miss Skye, don't make things harder for yourself. You're smart enough to hack S.H.I.E.L.D., so I know you've heard of us. Do you really think you can escape now that we've found you?"
Coulson put his phone away and continued calmly, "And whether you admit it or not doesn't matter. Once we take your laptop and run a quick scan, I'm sure we'll find plenty of surprises, right?" He pointed at her laptop as he spoke.
Skye's face changed slightly. She asked in a low voice, looking unhappy:
"Am I going to jail?"
"I don't decide that. My job is just to bring you in. What happens after is up to the Director," Coulson replied. "But if you cooperate, someone with your skills might get a second chance."
"Fine. I'll go with you…" Skye said softly, head down.
What Coulson didn't see was the quick smirk that flashed across Skye's lips.
But just then, a voice came from the alley's entrance—
"Looks like I showed up just in time?"
The sudden voice startled both Coulson and Skye. They looked toward the entrance.
Two men had appeared there without them noticing. The one who spoke looked like a Chinese-American man, just like Skye.