The laboratory was quiet.
The once-bustling laboratory hall was now deserted. Wanda, Pietro, Simona, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Only Dr. Banner remained at the main console.
Beside him, the young scientist couple-Fitz and Simmons-were huddled over a small spectrometer, tinkering away.
The sudden appearance of two disheveled women on the floor clearly startled Banner.
The electronic notepad in his hand nearly slipped from his grasp, and confusion filled his mild-mannered face. He first looked at Sara and Jean, who were trembling in each other's arms, then turned toward the main screen.
On the enormous map of North America displayed there, two glaring crimson dots had suddenly appeared without warning at the central coordinates marking Vought Tower in Manhattan.
Banner pointed at the screen, then at the sisters huddled together on the floor, his voice somewhat uncertain. "Lucian, that was a quick haul. Are these two also... Skrull infiltrators in mimetic disguise?"
Lucian followed his finger to the screen, then looked at Banner beside him, who seemed to take it all for granted. The corners of his mouth twitched twice.
Mimetic disguise?
Mimetic disguise, my ass.
"Dr. Banner."
Lucian walked over to the console and braced both hands on its edge, looking at the leading physicist. "Exactly how did you set the identification criteria on this precious machine of yours?"
Banner paused, scratching his tousled curls. "What's wrong? The logic is perfectly sound. We release wide-area directed gamma pulses through the satellite network. As long as a target absorbs the pulse wavelengths and produces feedback, the radar picks them up and marks them."
"I'm not asking how it transmits." Lucian sighed and pointed at the densely packed red dots covering the big screen. "I'm asking what screening criteria you entered. Is this machine putting every unusual individual