- "HYDRA lies about everything. The news? It's all fake. Take the Cambridge Incident. It was a setup. That girl shouldn't have been at that school in the first place."
"Where we're from, she died. This never happened." - ―Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson[src]
The Cambridge Incident was a mass murder of 279 civilians, carried out by the Framework version of Katya Belyakov.
Background[]
- "Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. knew she was Inhuman, they brought her back to the States and put her into a classroom. The rest is history."
- ―Phil Coulson[src]
Using knowledge previously obtained from the Darkhold, Holden Radcliffe and Aida redesigned the Framework to create a virtual reality where the user could correct their greatest regret. They then uploaded the consciousness of Melinda May into the Framework and recreated her life up until the ill-fated S.H.I.E.L.D. mission in Bahrain, which originally ended with May retiring from field work after being forced to kill Katya Belyakov.
As a result of the Framework's new capabilities, May experienced a version of the mission that ended with her saving the virtual Katya.[1]
S.H.I.E.L.D. brought Katya back to the United States, where she began attending school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[2] It was suspected by Phil Coulson that HYDRA had intentionally engineered this mistake, knowing what the consequences would be and fully intending to capitalize on them.[3]
Incident[]
While at school in Cambridge, Belyakov used her powers of sensory manipulation to take control of students and teachers. Belyakov forced some of them to kill each other, while using the rest to protect herself from all law enforcement attemps.
HYDRA took control of the situation and ended with Belyakov. However, by the time she was neutralized, there were 279 confirmed victims of the massacre, and the death toll was expected to rise due to many others being in Intensive Care Units. The entire school was destroyed while both students and teachers were found among the victims.[3][4]
Aftermath[]
- "HYDRA used Cambridge to take control, in the name of law and order... to justify everything."
- ―Phil Coulson to Daisy Johnson[src]
The public's response resulted in S.H.I.E.L.D. shutting down and HYDRA conquering the nation. The Cambridge Incident was later taught to future generations as a reminder that the needs of the state are more important than the needs of the individual.
Since Katya Belyakov was an Inhuman, institutionalized bigotry and persecution against Inhumans formed the backbone of HYDRA's new world order. Because her mistake was responsible for this persecution, Melinda May became a hated figure among Inhumans.[2]
Appearances[]
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Season Four
- What If... (mentioned)
- Identity and Change (mentioned in a newspaper)
- No Regrets (mentioned)
- World's End (mentioned)
- Season Four
