The Quantum Collider in the laboratory suddenly rose by a pitch, and the vibration numbed Lin Xiu's fingers against the console.
He stared at the faint golden thread entwined with Tesseract energy in the holographic projection. The nanite chip at the back of his neck suddenly grew hot—it was an emergency alert from the armor's built-in communicator.
"Ding—"
A mechanical voice mixed with static pierced his ears. "An abnormal spatial fluctuation has been detected at the East District subway station. The energy signature matches a Chitauri infiltration unit."
Lin Xiu's pupils narrowed slightly.
The scar in Loki's mirror three days ago and the spatial glitches lingering in Thor's lightning now overlapped into a shadow in his mind.
His hand froze halfway to his tactical suit, his knuckles whitening from the force—the energy in the core chamber had yet to fully stabilize, and the Oracle System had just issued an "unknown interference" warning.
But a scream suddenly bursting from the communicator shattered his hesitation.
It was a woman's wail, mixed with the piercing screech of twisting metal. "Help! Something's shooting!"
"Give me the coordinates." His voice was two notes lower than usual as nanites surged from the back of his neck and crawled along his spine to cover his entire body.
As the armor covered his right eye, the tactical interface unfolded automatically. A 3D model of the subway station scrolled across his retina, with red markers flashing like drops of blood on the B1 platform.
"Warning: current core energy remaining: 63%. Tactical Form, Stage Seven, requires 21% consumption." The system's mechanical voice carried an unusual urgency.
Lin Xiu ripped off his lab coat and threw it onto the floor. Amid the crisp clang of metal clasps striking the ground, he crooked a finger at the air.
The vambrace of the