Coulson and Melinda

"I have to admit, comparing Fury's head to a baldy egg is a pretty vivid and... well, you get the idea." Coulson, who had been chatting cheerfully with Lu Yifang just outside the door, suddenly changed expression.

"What's wrong?" Lu Yifang asked, puzzled, looking at Coulson who had stopped mid-sentence.

"You two, come in." Professor X's voice rang out at that moment.

"Oh, looks like the bosses' talk is over. I had a great time chatting with you, Lu Yifang." Coulson smiled at Lu Yifang.

"Me too." Lu Yifang smiled back. He knew that soon he might have dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D., so getting familiar with Coulson was both beneficial and necessary. If not for that, he would have already found an excuse to slip away.

"Well then, Professor X, I'll take my leave." Coulson said respectfully to Professor X, closed his briefcase, turned, and walked out the door.

"So, Professor, your meeting with that S.H.I.E.L.D. director didn't go so well?" Lu Yifang spun around in his swivel chair.

"Not bad." Professor X answered vaguely. He didn't elaborate but changed the subject. "Yifang, you look pretty bored. How about coming out with me this afternoon? We're going to meet someone."

"Who?" Lu Yifang, who was bored enough to grow mold, perked up with interest.

"An old friend of mine, Magneto."

···

On the other side, Coulson, carrying the metal briefcase, had reached the school gate. A red convertible was parked there. Though it looked brand new, its style seemed like an old relic from the seventies or eighties.

In the driver's seat sat a Chinese woman who appeared to be around forty, with a cold, expressionless face.

"Hey, May, I should've told you—no one sits in Lola's driver seat but me." Coulson looked displeased at his longtime comrade, Melinda May.

"I was just looking. I have no interest in your old relic." Melinda said coldly, then unceremoniously moved back to the passenger seat.

"Lola is not an old relic. In fact, her engine and equipment are all state-of-the-art." Coulson sat back in his seat, correcting her.

Melinda couldn't be bothered to argue that point, so she quickly changed the subject. "How did the mission go?"

"Not bad. Aside from a bit of a headache after **Professor's warning, things went pretty smoothly." Coulson shook his head.

"You should be grateful he's a representative of the moderate Mutants. With his immense mental power, you'd probably be a vegetable by now."

"Oh, really? Then maybe I should say thanks." Coulson said as he took the computer from Melinda's hands.

"Can we confirm it's him?" Melinda leaned in, asking. Even with her usual cold demeanor, curiosity was driving her.

"I'm about eighty percent sure it's our young friend here." Coulson stopped typing, and on the screen was clearly Lu Yifang's photo and information.

Below Lu Yifang's info was a screenshot from the Liberty Island battle footage. The image had obviously undergone complex processing, making it much clearer, and the facial outlines of the two figures could be roughly discerned.

The mysterious person beside Old Magneto, after software comparison with Lu Yifang, showed about sixty to seventy percent similarity. That was the basis for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s preliminary judgment.

"So, did he let something slip?" Melinda pressed.

"No. You could say he was very well disguised. I talked with Lu Yifang for dozens of minutes, and he was very measured in his words. Any sensitive information, he skillfully dodged."

"Then how can you be so sure?"

"Because he was too cautious. Though I didn't sense any hostility or aversion from him, he was clearly on guard against me—a guard that suggested he didn't want his secrets discovered.

Also, when I mentioned the Liberty Island incident, he was very indifferent, as if he didn't care much about it. That doesn't fit a normal person's psychology. And you know, humans have over two hundred micro-expressions that can indicate lying. I can at least recognize a few common ones." Coulson smiled.

"Obviously, he lied. He knows some inside information about the Liberty Island incident."

"Isn't eighty percent certainty too high based on just that?"

"Before Professor X warned me, I'd have agreed with you. But now I think that estimate is actually conservative. Clearly, Professor X values Lu Yifang a lot, enough to take a very clear stance." Coulson gave his final conclusion.

"I never thought he'd just be a kid, yet able to match Magneto in combat." Melinda's cold face rarely showed surprise.

"If that weren't the case, Fury wouldn't have sent us, and he wouldn't have set this mission's confidentiality level to seven." Nick Fury was never one to take a loss. Though he hadn't gained any advantage in his exchange with Professor X, that was expected. As for the result, at least the other mission seemed promising.

"In our conversation, I added some hidden little psychological tests. That let me roughly score his personality and assess his danger level. For a potentially new powerful Level 4 Mutant, completing his profile is necessary." Coulson explained.

"You seem in a pretty good mood." Melinda noticed the subtle change in Coulson's expression.

"Yeah, actually, I had a pretty pleasant chat with him. Especially about Fury's head looking like a baldy egg."

"If Fury heard that, you'd be done for." Melinda said that, but couldn't hide a hint of a smile.

"Then don't tell him. I trust you won't, right?" Coulson's lips curled up slightly, showing his trademark smile.

"New mission's in, Phil." Melinda didn't dwell on the topic and opened a tablet.

"What is it?"

"Something to do with General Ross. Fury wants to know what that green thing that can take on an Armed Helicopter is." Melinda handed the tablet to Coulson.

"Oh, is that so? That's great. I was afraid Fury's mission would still be about getting close to that kid and squeezing out more info. If that were the case, Professor X might really have to give me mental therapy." Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Coulson started the car and headed toward a military base on the mission briefing.