Skye gasped at the scene straight out of a horror movie, clutching her head with both hands as she shrank behind Coulson. May flicked off her pistol's safety, her muzzle sweeping rapidly between the two rows of figures.
"Exactly like the files I saw at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"An endless arsenal of tricks, a powerful body, and you're still getting stronger... You even easily defeated the Super-Skrull I made using your blood sample."
Lucian's eyelids twitched.
My blood sample?
No wonder that monster's regeneration was so absurd. That's me for you.
"But it doesn't matter anymore." Seventy Skrulls sneered in unison, their mouths stretching into utterly revolting smiles. "I've gained all the experience I need to create a complete Super-Skrull. Next time, I'll be fully prepared. No one can stop us from taking this planet, not even you, Lucian."
A second after those threats ended-
Click.
It was as though someone had flipped a master breaker.
Without a single unnecessary movement, the light in all seventy Skrulls' eyes went out at once, and they toppled stiffly toward the floor.
Thud, thud.
Dull impacts filled the corridor as seventy corpses fell every which way across the concrete, their breathing gone for good.
They were thoroughly dead, without even the slightest struggle.
"What... what happened?" Coulson hurried forward to check one fake cop's carotid pulse, his expression turning extremely grim. "Did they kill themselves?"
"It doesn't look like suicide."
Lucian took two steps forward.
"More like a hive-mind link. Like those Chitauri soldiers during the Battle of New York. A hive commander inserted slices of his mind into these people's brains. He used their mouths to threaten me, then pulled the plug when he was done to prevent any intelligence from leaking."
Lucian sneered.
*He thought he could just walk away after making his