Talismans

"Where should I start? Uh, let's start with your question about casualties. Whether there'll be any, and how heavy they'll be, is hard to say." Ah Xing gazed at the Museum, seemingly lost in thought.

"Hard to say?"

That answer gave Coulson quite a headache.

What did he mean, hard to say?

It meant unknowns, uncertainty, instability.

S.H.I.E.L.D. hated instability more than anything.

"Mr. Ah Xing, could you be a little more specific?"

While Coulson pressed for answers, Old Man was preparing potions, just in case.

"All right, all right."

Ah Xing began stretching his limbs, loosening up.

"The target of this mission is Demonic Qi. It split off from a powerful Ancient Demon into twelve portions in total. Throughout the years we kept them contained, they existed in the form of Talismans."

Ah Xing pulled a necklace out from beneath his collar. An incomplete octagonal object hung from it.

"They're roughly this shape, and they feel like stone."

Coulson stood on tiptoe, studying the necklace closely.

"The Talismans are precisely why it's hard to estimate casualties."

Coulson frowned. "Talismans?"

Ah Xing nodded. "Each Talisman represents an ability. Some are highly destructive, others less so. A single full-power release from a powerful Talisman would be enough to destroy this street."

[Emotional Value from Coulson +25]

Those words made Coulson's scalp prickle and the corner of his mouth twitch.

"That..."

Coulson struggled to speak. "If they're that dangerous, why aren't you in a hurry to recover them?"

Although alarmed, he hadn't lost his composure. He still voiced the question troubling him.

Ah Xing spread his hands helplessly. "Because I have no way to locate it ahead of time. I can only wait for it to come out on its own."

Coulson offered a seemingly casual complaint. "It would be nice if you could build a device for that."

"It wouldn't be worth it."

Coulson intended to seize the opportunity to keep asking questions and coax out more information.

Whoosh-

Just then, dense black mist began spreading outward from the Museum.

"Something's happened!"

Coulson and the others watched as the black mist spread to cover an area the size of the Museum, then gradually began rising into the air.

At the sight of this change, Coulson's brow furrowed even deeper.

The wider the affected area, the harder this would be to conceal.

Sure enough, his communicator soon rang, and Nick Fury's low voice came through. "Coulson."

"Yes, sir." Coulson collected himself.

"You still haven't dealt with the black mist at the Museum? It's been almost an hour."

Usually, Old Man handled incidents quickly and without much commotion. What was going on today?

"Mr. Cheng said it would be difficult to resolve quickly." Coulson swiftly summarized what Ah Xing and Old Man had told him and relayed it to Nick Fury.

Nick Fury hadn't been listening in on their conversation the whole time. He had gone to deal with questions from the various factions.

"I need you to act quickly. Expand the evacuation area and increase the coverage of the Jamming Device. I'm worried something unexpected will happen if this drags on," Nick Fury continued coldly.

Of course, Coulson understood that the potential complications weren't limited to the Wraith inside the Museum. They also included the representatives of those various factions.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had been founded to deal with unusual incidents.

Now that they had encountered one, they had spent ages doing nothing. That clearly went against S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protocols for handling incidents.

He had to take action.

"Understood." Coulson nodded, then stepped away from Old Man and Ah Xing, his gaze sweeping over the Tactical Team on standby.

"Everyone, expand the cordon. Block off all access routes within two streets of here."

At Coulson's command, several squads dispersed in an orderly manner.

He withdrew his gaze. He still had to consider whom to send inside to scout.

In other words.

Whom to send to their deaths!

Coulson returned to Old Man's side with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cheng, but we may have to go in ahead of schedule to handle this."

"Hmm?"

"Have you run into trouble?" Old Man's hands never slowed as he rapidly prepared the ingredients.

"It's nothing. Just a minor issue," Coulson said heavily.

Rat-tat-tat-

The squad members who had just been sent inside opened fire without warning the moment they passed through the entrance.

Before long.

The entire squad was wiped out!

Cause of death: gunshot wounds!

Coulson sucked in a sharp breath. "All right, this isn't a minor issue. It's a major problem!"

As the highest-ranking commander of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. present, Coulson was deeply conflicted.

His rational side told him they needed to keep sending agents in to probe the situation. At least reports that they were actively addressing the unusual incident, with agents making heroic sacrifices, would silence certain people.

But his emotional side urged him not to let any more of his agents die for nothing.

Clearly, ordinary agents-no, even elite agents-might be equally powerless against this Wraith.

Fortunately, Old Man spoke up in time, sparing him further agonizing.

"All right, barring any surprises, these potions should be enough. Frank, just stay here. You'd only get in the way inside." Old Man packed the Magic Potion he had just finished mixing into his bag.

"Sir, I'd rather go in with you."

As a veteran, Frank had long since come to terms with life and death.

The threat of death didn't particularly frighten him.

His only concern was his family. If he could save or help Old Man at a critical moment, his family would gain another layer of protection.

Besides, he still hadn't uncovered the culprits who had targeted him, his wife, and his children. How could he die so easily?

Old Man didn't refuse. He could guess some of what Frank was thinking.

Coulson expressed his wish to go inside as well.

Naturally, Ah Xing agreed. After all, he hadn't come here simply to deal with the Wraith, but to gain more Emotional Value.

Having as many people involved as possible was exactly what he wanted.

With that thought, Ah Xing said, "Mage Cheng, shall we go in and take a look?"

"All right."

With that settled, before Coulson and Frank could react, Ah Xing vanished. The next second, he appeared at the Museum's entrance.