Chapter Ninety-Five: The world in which only the Hydra gets hurt is complete.

“Aaaahhh!!”

Jane Foster felt stars exploding before her eyes, a roaring clamor pounding relentlessly through her mind.

For an entire month now, a mysterious voice had been nagging in her ear.

It kept asking her the same question over and over: Do you desire power?

But what was power?

And what in the world was this so-called eternal beloved supposed to mean?

All I want right now is to find Thor, then give him a couple of good slaps.

Who do you think you are, the Lich King? Big deal.

Ever since she learned that Thor was the legendary god of thunder, Jane Foster’s entire worldview had been blown apart.

Now she was frantically searching for the power to connect with that mysterious world.

In other words, she wanted to find Asgard.

Any ordinary person who encountered real supernatural power would think the same way, and would act the same way too.

After enduring a month of ceaseless whispers, Jane Foster felt her nerves nearing collapse, her patience all but worn away.

Only now did she truly understand what it meant to be driven mad by endless chatter. At this very moment, the whole world before her seemed filled with glittering stars.

If she knew the rich and layered Chinese language, she would surely have let out some wild exclamation of excitement just then.

Stuffing a pillow over her head, Jane Foster smashed her skull against the hard wall several times in intimate succession. The dull thuds left her violently dizzy, and it took several seconds before the whispering finally receded and her consciousness slowly returned from the haze.

“Jane, are you all right? How do you feel? Why are you banging your head against the wall again?”

Sindragosa looked at Jane Foster with concern and asked.

She had, once again, come to appreciate Rolde’s twisted sense of humor.

Look what he had done to the poor girl. She was only in her twenties, and now she looked as though she had aged several years, as if she had been thrown into premature menopause.

“Sin... I’m... fine...”

Still somewhat dazed, Jane answered vaguely, took the pillow off, and sat up in bed.

“I just had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Sindragosa pretended not to know and nodded. “What kind of nightmare has left you looking like this...”

“There was a voice whispering in my ear the whole time, urging me to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss. The darkness within it was something I couldn’t bear to look at directly.”

With her awareness finally a little clearer, Jane’s pupils contracted slightly.

“It was terrifying. I was afraid that if I couldn’t endure that feeling, I’d just fall into it. That deep darkness and cold made me feel as if I had stepped into hell.”

“Jane, it was only a nightmare. But if it is real fear, then you must not be afraid of it. Face it with a smile. The best way to conquer fear is to confront it. Think of Thor. If you are not strong yourself...”

Sindragosa, transformed into the role of a heartfelt confidante, soothed her gently, while casting Infection upon Jane Foster.

“Accept it?” Jane Foster hesitated.

“Yes. If you never enter the water, you will never learn to swim. Once you overcome the fear in your heart, you will have a stronger conviction. Power has never had anything to do with good or evil. Without strength, how can you possibly deserve Thor?”

Sindragosa bent down and slowly embraced Jane Foster, sighing. “I know this is hard for you. But if you do not face it bravely yourself, there are things no one else can help you with.”

“Sin... then what should I do?”

Sindragosa studied Jane carefully. At this moment, fear still clung to her face, a visible tremor running through her body.

Sindragosa’s expression changed several times. Holding Jane, she slowly stroked her back. Rolde’s whispering had truly been too strange. Given Jane’s current state, just how many times had the Lich King whispered in her mind?

And yet, after being influenced so subtly for so long, Jane’s consciousness and thoughts had become so chaotic, and still she had not gone completely mad or hysterical. She really was a good girl.

But for Jane herself,

she never wanted to experience again what it was like to have someone murmuring endlessly inside her mind all day long.

“Relax both body and mind. Breathe deeply and slowly. Try to accept this feeling. Gradually get used to it. Once you do, fear will no longer mean anything.”

Sindragosa held Jane Foster as she spoke to her, releasing Infection once more and beginning to chant the spell like a lullaby.

Little by little, Jane Foster let go of the last gap in her heart, the last trace of resistance. Dark power surged through that opening, sank deep into her soul, and hid there, subtly shaping her judgment until her very spirit was tainted.

From the very beginning, Rolde’s whispering had never been the true means of control. Sindragosa was.

The broken-window effect had been perfectly achieved in Jane.

After a while, Sindragosa released her.

“Name?”

“Jane Foster.”

“Gender?”

“Female!”

“You are the new Scourge. You will remain hidden and wait for the next summons.”

“Yes. I am one of the Scourge, and I will wait for the next summons.”

Only after finishing the spell did Sindragosa finally let go of Jane Foster.

Or rather, she was somewhat unwilling to let Rolde do such a thing personally.

“Good. Since you now understand some things, then to deepen our cooperation further, it is time to get to the point.”

“I think we can begin a new plan.”

“And what about Thor?”

As the words fell, the atmosphere turned solemn.

Jane’s pupils trembled violently, and her heart plunged instantly into conflict.

“I don’t know how to do it.”

After a long pause, Jane Foster spoke hesitantly.

“Don’t worry. Come, let me give you a buff...”

Sindragosa placed her hand on Jane Foster’s head, infusing it with the power of deathly frost.

...

Using Sindragosa to control Jane Foster had been part of the plan from the very start.

Now they were simply proceeding step by step according to the script. Rolde no longer needed to worry about the matters in London; all his attention was on Hill.

Just as he had expected, Nick Fury had begun his own plan, and at the same time, Hill had allowed Pierce to begin his.

Bucky would become a triple agent.

Because of Captain Rogers, Bucky would be the most important piece on the board. According to the script, he would become a member of Nick Fury’s Avengers team.

Or, to put it in Rogers’s own words:

“Everything Bucky did was not something Bucky wanted to do. It was all done while he was under Hydra’s control, so it wasn’t Bucky’s fault. As for Stark, an apology is enough...”

What more do you want from me?

More importantly, not many people knew Bucky was Hydra, and they didn’t even know he was the Winter Soldier. So according to the plan, Nick Fury reluctantly agreed to the Captain’s request, included Bucky in her new Avengers team, then used Bucky to resolve the matter with Stark, and afterward brought Stark onto the team.

And then, only Hydra would be wounded, and the world would be complete.

This plan had a very high chance of success. Given Rogers’s connection to him, Bucky, as the Winter Soldier, had a strong probability of joining the Avengers team he led and becoming one of its members.

Just as in the original film.