Behind the spot Connors had just left stood a cabinet. A talisman quietly appeared on top of it, its markings resembling a tiger...
Old Man stood there with a magnifying glass, examining the box in Coulson's hands.
Coulson stood perfectly still, not daring to move.
All because of a talisman!
While searching the city, Coulson and his team had stumbled upon a single talisman, even though the only known talisman was being kept by Old Man.
Naturally, S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't so cooperative that they would immediately deliver a newly acquired talisman to Old Man for identification.
Nick Fury had instructed Coulson to try all sorts of methods to activate the talisman and unleash its miraculous magical power.
The Rooster Talisman's ability to make people levitate had Nick Fury positively covetous.
Most importantly, the Rooster Talisman could grant someone superpowers with virtually no side effects.
That was an advantage the route of possession by the Uncanny simply couldn't match.
But!
They had spent an entire day and night researching it, testing every method they could.
No matter how they examined it, the results suggested that this thing was nothing more than a slightly harder stone.
They had even managed to scrape some stone chips off it!
That made them question whether this really was one of those talismans.
Did it actually possess that supposed magical power?
Still, that said...
The stone was indeed far harder than an ordinary rock.
With no other options left, Nick Fury had finally decided to send Coulson to check in on Old Man and have him take a look at the stone while he was there.
Inside the box lay a book that resembled a diary, with an octagonal stone embedded right in its center.
At the very center of the stone was the image of