While Tony was testing the Shadow Troll's strength, the outside world had already been thrown into chaos.
Orleans had been missing for three hours when the Washington police, pursuing every lead, finally found a clue. His kidnappers had already taken him out of Washington, and the traces they left behind suggested they were heading to New York.
The upper echelons of the United States government therefore called S.H.I.E.L.D. directly and ordered it to take over the case. After all, New York was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s home turf, making it best suited to handle the matter.
Upon receiving the news, Nick climbed out of bed in the middle of the night and summoned S.H.I.E.L.D.'s key personnel to assign their tasks. Soon, all of New York was under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance.
Meanwhile, a convoy pulled straight into Pioneer Technology's underground parking garage.
The bearded man who had kidnapped Orleans got out of his vehicle and took the elevator to the top floor.
When the elevator doors opened and he saw the wreckage inside the laboratory, his expression changed at once, and he instinctively went on alert.
Just then, Maya emerged from the cold storage room, looking equally surprised to see him.
"Who are you?"
"Where's Mr. Killian?"
Rather than answering, the bearded man responded with a question of his own.
At his words, Maya's mind began racing.
She noticed that his clothes matched what Norris had worn earlier. Clearly, they belonged to the same organization.
Killian had always handled contact with these people, so Maya knew little about them. But she knew she absolutely could not let anyone find out that Killian was gone, or she might be in danger.
Maya quickly suppressed her turmoil and said calmly, "Mr. Killian went out to take care of something."
"Where did he go?"
The bearded man pressed