Standard Protocol and Destruction

Silence filled most of the time as computers and small engineering machines were carried in one after another. Everyone had to wear hazmat suits and pass through several rounds of disinfection before entering or leaving the research site. Even the equipment had to be wrapped in plastic film. Coulson and Salomon stood behind the glass of the temporary command center, watching the busy crowd below and constantly reviewing the data relayed by the staff. Agent Coulson realized that these were standard procedures for handling biological and chemical threats, only made more complicated by the City of Immortals' advanced technology. Hunter swallowed hard. He felt that he had come to the wrong place—neither he nor Barbara wore protective gear. If that boulder really was a biological threat, anyone who had come into direct contact with it might already be infected. He gestured upward, signaling Agent Coulson to prepare for the worst.

"What are the symptoms of infection?" Coulson asked.

"They get eaten. Eaten from the inside out. The infected suffer immense pain," Salomon said. "Every time the boulder opens, the risk of infection increases. That is why we need to take protective measures. As for an even worse possibility, the source of the infection may already have entered the base without us knowing."

"You should have told me this earlier, Salomon! May, prepare to seal off the base!"

"If the source of the infection could get out that easily... Don't panic. Even if it gets out, we can handle it." The Arcanist did not continue. If Hive had truly escaped, Conservative Hydra would not need to go to such lengths to hold a sacrificial ritual. The reason this boulder had fallen into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands was that Alexander Pierce had promised the Conservatives that he would use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s manpower and resources to