"Ah... I see..."
Listening to Tony Stark's endless, maniacal complaints in his ear, Luca finally pieced together the situation.
He had originally given the APTX 4869 antidote to Pepper Potts just to mess with Tony a little and to score some points with the true "head of the household."
But unexpected to anyone, Pepper seemed to have developed a liking for raising a child. After all these days, she still hadn't given the antidote to Tony.
Driven to desperation, Tony didn't dare leave the house casually.
He even personally upgraded the holographic projection technology of a subsidiary company so he could use his armor to disguise himself as an 'adult' when he had to go out for business.
"Actually, I think Ms. Pepper might just want you to keep it in your pants for a while. Who told you to have such a bad reputation before?~"
Luca's comment was the straw that broke the camel's back. Already embarrassed and angry, Tony immediately ignored everything and tried to rush him. "Don't run, kid! Send me another antidote right now!!!"
"I'd be an idiot not to run!"
Seeing the Mark armor's thrusters ignite, Luca dodged nimbly.
Conveniently, the ring on his hand had finished scanning, so he simply bolted straight out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
"Hehe, I wonder if Tony will end up going to elementary school with little Morgan in the future?"
"Oh, wait. If he stays like this, who knows when he'll even be able to have a daughter~"
Taking the 'Spot Express' back to Sokovia, Luca ignored Tony's incoming call requests—which were pinging every three seconds—and simply had Hakimi block him temporarily.
Compared to Tony's 'minor inconvenience,' Luca had far more important things to deal with.
Taking off the green-patterned ring from his hand and placing it into the instrument in front of him, Luca issued a command.
"Hakimi, extract and record the Skrull psychic fluctuations. Upload them to the Psychic Sensor database!"
The circular scanner in front of him immediately lit up with a blue light, rapidly recording the data collected within the ring.
Yes, Luca's trip to S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't just for a 'trade-in' promotion with Clint Barton.
It was primarily because the Psychic Sensor in Sokovia had just been built. Remembering that he had confirmed Nick Fury was a Skrull imposter last time, Luca decided to swing by and collect the data.
Otherwise, letting Clint come to Aurantius Industries to pick up the goods himself would have fit Luca's usual style much better. There was no need for a personal delivery.
In fact, even if he hadn't run into 'Nick Fury' this time, Luca would have arranged for his subordinates to quietly collect data based on the list of "rescued officials."
The good news for now was that Hawkeye and Black Widow hadn't been replaced yet. Things didn't seem to be spiraling toward the worst-case scenario.
With a beep-beep sound, the data extraction was complete, and everything was uploaded to the 'Psychic Sensor.'
Watching the streams of data rapidly appearing on the screen, Luca nodded with satisfaction.
Not bad. Just as I thought. Even if the memories and genes are identical, as long as the soul is different, the psychic fluctuations they emit are vastly different.
This trip wasn't a waste!
After putting the ring away, Luca sat back down at the computer and quickly began adjusting other parameters.
The 'Psychic Sensor,' as a prerequisite building for the 'Psychic Tower,' operated on a truly miraculous principle.
Marking the foundation of Yuri's psychic technology, this detection building, once activated, could rapidly scan the subconscious thoughts of all living beings within its signal range.
Upon receiving the feedback, this subconscious information could be used to generate a radar map and simultaneously distinguish friend from foe, marking potential enemies.
Of course, this so-called "friend or foe distinction" was extremely vague.
For example, based on the current scan results from the sole Psychic Sensor tower in Sokovia, sociopaths with psychological issues were enemies, those opposing the Sokovian government were enemies, those who hated Aurantius Industries were enemies, and even those who simply disliked certain core employees and wished them dead might also be flagged as "enemies."
So in practice, Luca had to repeatedly modify and adjust the Sensor's discrimination mechanism, constantly enriching its database to filter out those who might be capable of 'rehabilitation.'
After all, his base of operations wasn't a black-and-white battlefield.
If he relied solely on raw psychic detection to determine enemies, Luca might end up killing more people than HYDRA's 'Project Insight' intended to.
Fortunately, this wasn't too difficult. It was just a matter of capturing more spies and genuine resistance fighters, then optimizing the program based on their psychological profiles.
Later, he could probably separate 'loyalty discrimination' into distinct modes like 'Daily Mode' and 'War Mode.'
As for the Skrull scan data, that was a separate upgrade for the Psychic Sensor, combining the tech he and Tony developed for the 'Soul Scanner' intended for Hell.
Why bother figuring out if a Skrull is good or bad? If they dare to infiltrate, capture them first and ask questions later!
Thinking this, Luca's hands didn't stop moving as he rapidly adjusted and optimized his Psychic Sensor.
But when the actual scan results came out...
Among the dense signals of lifeforms scanned by Sokovia's Psychic Sensor, not a single Skrull was found.
"Is it because individual variations are making the detection inaccurate? Or do the Skrulls look down on Sokovia so much they didn't even bother sending spies?"
Luca didn't suspect the sensor's range was the issue.
Although a single sensor definitely couldn't cover all of Sokovia...
At the very least, the core Aurantius Industries complex and the current central administrative institutions of Sokovia were well within the psychic detection range.
"Maybe these aliens really just love America that much?"
"I can build another sensor at the headquarters building later. As long as I can verify the detection works and ensure the people around me haven't been replaced, that's good enough."
After confirming this, Luca let out a long sigh of relief.
During this period, all of Sokovia had embarked on massive infrastructure projects. On the surface, Aurantius Industries provided the technology and funds, while Sokovia provided the manpower and land.
In the shadows, Luca also mobilized a significant amount of HYDRA's resources and connections in Europe.
Although he didn't need to handle everything personally, Luca still had to review and understand all major matters.
Thanks to the increasing number of Haros, Hakimi's work efficiency and command over resources had skyrocketed, preventing Luca from getting bogged down in the quagmire of work and management.
However, just as he leaned back in his chair, ready to rest for a moment, his secretary Raina knocked and walked in.
"Boss, the silver bracelet you asked for has arrived~"