Night fell.
The streets looked rather desolate.
Driving down those streets, Coulson felt nothing but exhaustion.
Four or five days had passed since Natasha joined the search for Tony.
Strangely, despite committing considerable resources, S.H.I.E.L.D. still hadn't obtained any news of Tony.
Before one crisis ended, another began.
About three days earlier, murders had suddenly begun cropping up across New York.
The victims had only a few tooth marks on their bodies, with no other external injuries.
The police noticed something unusual and reported it to S.H.I.E.L.D.
At first, Nick Fury thought the vampires had stopped playing by the rules.
But when the autopsy reports came back, they showed that the victims hadn't lost much blood.
That made it unlikely that vampires were responsible.
Strangest of all, these people had suffered no fatal injuries, yet every one of them was dead!
Some crime scenes were fairly remote, while others were in busier parts of the city. There were no wildlife reserves or zoos nearby, making animal attacks unlikely.
The teams assigned to investigate couldn't find anything.
Nick Fury decided to hand this difficult task to Coulson as well.
Coulson took a morning away from searching for Tony and deployed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites and patrol teams, but found no clues whatsoever.
Instead, on the very night Coulson investigated-the second day after the murders began-even more cases broke out.
The streets and alleys of New York erupted in an uproar.
Public concern over safety forced the police to act. With no way to handle it, they passed the buck to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Coulson had consulted Old Man. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been troubling him so often lately that even he was getting fed up.
Old Man was a good person, capable of slaying monsters, exorcising demons, and performing divination.
But Frank insisted on charging, and Old