In a secret Hydra base, Daniel Whitehall stormed in, gold-rimmed glasses glinting under the dim lights. He clutched a small black case, his face twisted with rage. Without hesitation, he marched to the innermost chamber and hurled everything off the table in a fit of fury.
"Damn it! Why isn't that brat dead yet?!"
His voice echoed through the chamber.
Whitehall had watched the entire operation from a distance. He'd been convinced that once Solo entered the orphanage, the bi-colored-eyed child would be captured. But when S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived and Kurogai emerged—escorted by Hydra soldiers under his control—Whitehall's confidence shattered.
They hadn't captured the boy.
The boy had captured them.
Every Hydra operative was either dead or mind-controlled. The humiliating outcome left Whitehall pale with rage.
Losing a squad was bad enough. But what gnawed at him most was his failure to eliminate Kurogai—a boy who possessed a mysterious power that made even Whitehall, a Hydra leader, feel uneasy.
Until Kurogai was neutralized, he wouldn't know peace.
A knock broke his thoughts. A subordinate entered the room, head bowed.
"Sir, the after-action report is in."
Whitehall didn't turn around.
"Speak."
"The child had contact with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," the man said, referring to S.H.I.E.L.D. "But the exchange appeared tense. He left alone. All the soldiers under his control… committed suicide."**
The man's voice trembled slightly. The images from that scene were still burned into his memory.
Whitehall's jaw tightened.
"He's ruthless…" he muttered.
It wasn't the loss of Hydra personnel that unsettled him. It was the efficiency. The cold, calculated nature of Kurogai's actions. That kind of decisiveness wasn't normal for a child.
"What's his status now? Has anyone tracked his location?"
"No confirmed sightings. He's vanished."
Whitehall's hand curled into a fist.
"So he's gone underground. Fine. If I can't find him, I'll control the orphanage instead. Let's see how long he hides when I hold his sanctuary in my hands."
His eyes narrowed with calculated malice. Kurogai had become more than a problem—he was an obsession. But every enemy had a weakness, and Whitehall would exploit his.
"Anything else?"
The deputy hesitated.
"Just one thing. Don't move… or I'll shoot."
Whitehall turned, startled.
His eyes widened as he saw his own subordinate holding a pistol directly at him—expression blank, eyes glowing faint red.
The unmistakable mark of Geass control.
"You traitor?!"
But the man said nothing.
Just then, the door creaked open.
A small figure stepped into the room, calm and composed. His mismatched eyes—one glowing violet-red, the other golden—seemed to pierce through reality itself.
Kurogai.
"You…" Whitehall recoiled. "How are you here?!"
Despite the glow in his eyes, the moment Kurogai entered, Whitehall recognized him immediately. How could he not? This was the child who haunted his thoughts like a phantom.
"Whitehall," Kurogai said coldly. "This is our first meeting face-to-face. I've been looking forward to it."
There was no hatred in his voice. Only a chilling finality.
He had always believed that the best way to deal with a snake wasn't to strike its body—but to cut off its head.
And today, he was here to do just that.
After leaving the orphanage, Kurogai had gone to the adjacent building, expecting to find Whitehall there. But the Hydra director had already fled.
Fortunately, during his interrogation of Captain Solo, he'd extracted the location of Hydra's nearest base.
Whitehall should have arrived first. But something had delayed him.
It didn't matter.
By the time Whitehall returned, Kurogai had already seized control of the entire facility—patiently waiting in the shadows for this moment.
"I heard you were planning to target the orphanage again," Kurogai said, his voice low, dangerous.
He'd overheard everything.
And that sealed Whitehall's fate.
Kurogai had known from the beginning that if Hydra was left unchecked, they'd never stop coming. Especially not Whitehall.
This time, he wouldn't leave the snake alive.
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