Puerto Rico, outskirts of San Juan.
The dense primeval jungle was filled with stifling heat and a faint scent of blood.
"Whoosh—"
Jessica Jones appeared beside a massive broken tree trunk.
She raised a hand and wiped away the thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
Puerto Rico's humid heat made her irritable. She would much rather have been in Homelander's air-conditioned bedroom suite.
She looked ahead.
Coulson's team had already established a temporary security perimeter here. A Quinjet sat in a nearby clearing, while several portable generators emitted a low hum.
Jessica's gaze settled on the disheveled Phil Coulson.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who was usually always dressed in a suit, now had blood all over his white shirt.
Most conspicuous was his left arm, which was simply gone.
A large field tourniquet was cinched tightly above the stump. Thick medical bandages wrapped the severed end, and blood slowly seeped through, staining the gauze red.
Melinda May stood beside Coulson.
A tactical dagger had been casually stuck into the mud at her feet, its blade still streaked with fresh blood.
Jessica strode over.
"Looks like you screwed up." Jessica stopped before Coulson, her gaze sweeping across his missing arm. "What happened?"
Coulson straightened up, struggling to keep his voice steady.
"We found an Obelisk left behind by the Kree in an alien temple."
"We had intended to contain it in an isolation case and bring it back for study. But when Skye approached it, the Obelisk suddenly reacted."
"It activated," Coulson continued. "The Obelisk contained an unknown crystal that vaporized into a cloudlike gas when stimulated."
"Skye inhaled the mist. Right afterward, she was wrapped in a black, rocklike substance, like... a cocoon."
"I tried to save her." Coulson lowered his gaze to his severed arm. "That was when I