"What's this?"
Major William Stryker held an unusually heavy, wide-brimmed military hat and turned it over a few times.
Beneath its outer brim and cover, it seemed to contain a half-shell helmet made of some kind of weighty metal. It looked very uncomfortable to wear.
Bolivar Trask had been craning his neck to look up at the tall major. He kicked the footstool beside him and climbed onto it. Once he was roughly eye to eye with the other man, he said:
"Outside the suburban golf course where Colonel Bob Hendry's body was found, we discovered a strange helmet in a jeep. We believe it belonged to the Black King, Sebastian Shaw."
"It's made primarily of lead, with some other substances added to the alloy. Our research and testing have shown that it can effectively block and resist telepathic perception."
Major Stryker straightened the specially made military hat on his head, trying to get used to its weight and discomfort. He furrowed his brow, seeming unconvinced.
"So I'm supposed to use this to shield myself from that telepath's probing? Isn't that a little too easy?"
"Of course not."
Dr. Trask picked up a long, flat black box from the alloy workbench and continued, fiddling with it:
"To completely block Professor Xavier's telepathic powers, we'd need a specially made helmet that covers the entire head and uses a lot more material. Besides, preventing him from reading your mind isn't our objective. That would be tantamount to revealing that someone in S.H.I.E.L.D. is guarding against him."
The box in the dwarf scientist's hands gave off a faint hum, and a red light on it blinked on. William Stryker suddenly felt a series of slight vibrations at the back of his head. They weren't strong, but they were unmistakable.
"This device can only