Mysterious Artifact

A month later, in London, United Kingdom, a piercing alarm suddenly rang out in the British Museum late at night. But after only three seconds, it stopped. Even the police, who had just received the alert and were preparing to investigate, received a message that the alarm system had malfunctioned and it was a false alarm.

The London police were a little confused, unsure whether they should respond. In the end, out of caution, they still sent a patrol car to take a look.

Inside the British Museum, several security guards were already lying on the floor. Blood flowed from all their ears, and their entire bodies were paralyzed. They looked to be in considerable pain, but none of them were dead.

"Guardian, the London police have dispatched a patrol car. It is expected to arrive in five minutes. I can interfere with their communications, but for no more than ten to fifteen minutes. The London police will realize something is wrong and mobilize in force, so you only have fifteen minutes."

At that moment, only one person remained standing inside the British Museum: Wang Khan.

A month earlier, after successfully creating the Invisibility Device, Wang Khan had told Red Queen that his target was an artifact inside the British Museum.

For that reason, Red Queen had devised an operation plan. She had even suggested that Wang Khan create a nonlethal weapon with AOE capabilities to deal with the museum guards.

Wang Khan immediately thought of the Ultrasonic Paralysis Device used by Obadiah, the main villain in Iron Man 1—the little device that had successively subdued the leader of the Ten Rings Gang and Tony Stark.

Wang Khan had figured out the Ultrasonic Paralysis Device with only ten minutes of the Meditation Experiment. Then, using scrap from an aircraft, he made ten of them in one go. Throwing them all out at once inside a building would make them an absolutely devastating wide-area weapon, even more effective than grenades, and no one would die.

Once the plan was complete, Wang Khan acted immediately. He flew a small invisible Quinjet from the United States to the United Kingdom, then landed vertically above the British Museum.

This was where the power of invisibility truly showed itself. Neither satellites nor radar could detect it.

Fortunately, Wang Khan was only here to steal something. If he had thrown a few bombs directly at Buckingham Palace...

"Where is the African Exhibition Area?"

"This way, Guardian. I'll guide you."

Wang Khan wore a pair of oversized sunglasses, making him look extremely pretentious. Wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night made him look downright insane.

However, Wang Khan's sunglasses were not for show. Their lenses functioned like computer displays, directly receiving information sent to him by Red Queen. Tony Stark would have something similar later on, but he had not invented it yet.

This invention was a byproduct of researching Powered Armor. It was meant to be installed inside a Powered Armor helmet, but now it was perfect for use.

Following Red Queen's directions, Wang Khan reached the African Exhibition Area in only three minutes. A large number of artifacts donated by Africa were displayed there.

Of course, that was the official explanation. Whether they had been donated or looted was another matter entirely.

"Red Queen, scan the area. How many hammers are there in total?"

"Twelve in total, Guardian. Shall I take all of them?"

"No need. Mark the locations of every hammer for me."

Wang Khan spread out his hand, aimed toward the marked locations, and unleashed a Shockwave.

Bzzzzzz~~

The high-frequency Shockwave blasted out, instantly shattering the tempered glass around the exhibits, followed by the artifacts inside.

The first hammer twisted and deformed the moment it came into contact with the Shockwave. Wang Khan immediately shifted targets and aimed at another hammer...

Just as Wang Khan was committing his crime in the British Museum, S.H.I.E.L.D. made its move.

Its fastest supersonic aircraft shot into the sky. There were only four people aboard: two pilots and two agents.

Both agents were well-known figures: Hawkeye Barton and Black Widow Natasha.

The moment Red Queen activated the Ultrasonic Paralysis Device and knocked out all the museum guards, S.H.I.E.L.D., which had been monitoring the network, discovered her and immediately reported it to Nick Fury.

Nick Fury had suffered such a major loss a month ago and had been looking for a chance to retaliate ever since. Now that the opportunity had finally come, he did not hesitate and directly ordered Hawkeye and Black Widow, who were standing by at headquarters, to deploy.

"Listen up. This time, you must capture that son of a bitch. If necessary, you may kill him on the spot, but you must bring the body back."

Hearing Nick Fury's near-roaring bellow through their earpieces, the two answered loudly.

"Looks like the Director is really angry this time, Barton. We'll be relying on you when the time comes."

Natasha spoke teasingly to Barton as she organized her equipment.

"I'm actually looking forward to this operation. It's been years since anyone dared lay a hand on us, let alone directly attack the headquarters academy. I'd like to see what kind of person is bold enough to do something like that."

"Then you'd better keep your eyes open. This guy is a superhuman with abilities like Skye's. If one strike doesn't take away his ability to fight, we'll be in danger."

Barton pulled out an arrow and inspected its arrowhead.

"Relax. One arrow will be enough."

"We'll reach London airspace in eight minutes. Get ready."

The pilot called out a reminder. Natasha gave her equipment one final inspection. As S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top field operative, she would not allow there to be a problem with her gear.

Inside the British Museum, Wang Khan was still using Shockwaves to search for hammers.

Another crash of shattering glass rang out. A long-handled hammer inside instantly turned into fragments. Wang Khan cursed and was about to switch targets when he suddenly noticed that the hammerhead had not shattered. His eyes lit up, and he hurried over to pick it up.

An even stronger Shockwave surged from his palm and struck the hammerhead directly.

A faint cracking sound rang out. The rust-like substance covering the hammerhead's surface began to fall away, revealing a smooth hammerhead with a metallic sheen beneath.

"Ha ha, I finally found it. A metal that can withstand such an intense Shockwave can only be Vibranium."

Red Queen immediately used the glasses' function to conduct a close-range scan.

"Guardian, I have never seen this metal before. It does not belong to any metal currently circulating on the market. It should be the Vibranium you mentioned."

"Of course. I went through so much trouble for it. At least it wasn't a waste of effort."

"Guardian, the patrol car has reached the museum entrance. Its officer may discover the anomaly at any moment. I recommend leaving immediately."

Wang Khan placed the Vibranium hammerhead into his backpack, then ran toward the museum roof.

By then, the police officer in the patrol car had discovered the museum guards lying all over the floor. He immediately reported it. The London police, who had already been on standby, mobilized at once. More than a dozen police cars came roaring over, and they looked to be less than three minutes away.

Having just climbed onto the roof, Wang Khan saw the police cars rushing toward him in the distance. He was about to wave pretentiously before entering the Quinjet and leaving when an arrow suddenly flew in from afar and embedded itself at his feet. Before Wang Khan could react, the arrowhead exploded on the spot.

With a deafening boom, Wang Khan was blasted away and fell straight from the roof more than ten meters above the ground.