Sitwell glanced at the two Cloud Village ninja and smiled, saying, "No problem. I'll arrange a plane to take you both to New York right away. You can even choose your residence in New York while we're on the plane."
"As for Killer Bee, he's probably on a mission with Coulson, but it shouldn't take too long. At most, two days, and he'll be back."
"I also need to return to New York, so we can go together shortly," Sitwell added.
C and Karui exchanged a glance before nodding. Karui spoke up, "Two days is no problem. We can wait."
At this point, Barton asked, "What should we do with this Inca temple? Should we leave it under S.H.I.E.L.D. supervision?"
C shook his head. "This place is now useless. The formation broke when we came this time, so there's no value here anymore."
Barton was surprised, "Wait... does that mean you three can't return to the Cloud Village?"
C smiled, "No worries. We have a better option now. If it weren't for the convenience of contacting you, we wouldn't have used this route at all."
Hearing this, Sitwell adjusted his glasses, realizing that Cloud Village likely had other means of transportation.
He was also curious as to why they wanted to establish a base in New York. Was there something else going on that he didn't know about?
Barton nodded in understanding, "If that's the case, then S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer needs to guard this place."
…
Elsewhere-
May was driving the car, with Coulson in the passenger seat. He asked, "Fitz, what's the latest reading?"
Fitz, monitoring from the airborne command center, looked at the data on the screen.
"It's at 324 megajoules and rising..."
"Approaching dangerous levels, sir."
Skye added, "A mile north of your position, there's a farmhouse directly in the signal's center. That must be it."
Coulson quickly instructed, "Skye, find out everything you can about the residents. We need to know who we're up against."
Suddenly, Fitz's signal on the screen disappeared, "Wait a second... What just happened?"
"It's gone."
Coulson asked, puzzled, "What's gone?"
"The static signal—it vanished. It seems like there was a pulse discharge, and then it just disappeared."
Realizing the urgency, Coulson looked over to May, "Looks like we'll need to take a shortcut."
From the back seat, Killer Bee spoke up, "Let me out. I can get there faster."
Coulson glanced at Killer Bee, then at Skye, and finally nodded, "Be careful. The energy released is twice that of a lightning strike."
Killer Bee nodded and opened the car's sunroof, jumping onto the roof and then leaping off the car entirely. With a flash, he disappeared from sight.
May, witnessing this, remarked, "The abilities of a ninja are truly impressive. His running speed is incredible."
She then steered the car sharply to take a shortcut to the farmhouse.
Killer Bee arrived at the farmhouse in no time. He looked up at the building and jumped through a second-floor window. Inside, he found no one except for a body floating in mid-air.
Killer Bee frowned. No culprit in sight?
He then noticed the shotgun on the ground and the locked door.
"What were they so afraid of?" he wondered.
He climbed to the roof and surveyed the area but saw no sign of anyone arriving or leaving. After a thorough check, he returned inside and gazed at the floating corpse.
"Could it be... this wasn't caused by a person?"
Killer Bee didn't have to wait long before May pulled up in the car, with Coulson and Ward in tow. The three quickly exited the vehicle, heading inside and spotting the corpse suspended in mid-air.
Coulson asked, "Killer Bee, did you see any enemies?"
Killer Bee shook his head, "No enemies."
Coulson paused, puzzled, "What do you mean, no enemies?"
Killer Bee explained, "When I arrived, the door was locked. I checked the area, and aside from the victim, there were no signs of anyone entering."
"I also scanned the surroundings from the roof. From the moment the static pulse was released to when I arrived, no one left the scene."
"Unless the culprit moved incredibly fast and left from the sky, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed."
Coulson glanced at the window on the roof, considering the idea of someone escaping that way with extreme speed.
"What kind of speed are we talking about?"
Killer Bee thought for a moment. "This is a wide-open area. Given the time between the pulse and my arrival, the minimum speed would need to be Mach 7 or higher."
"And moving that fast through the air would create a sonic boom. There should be evidence left behind."
"If someone really did manage to leave without a trace at such speed...", Killer Bee shook his head, "You might need additional backup from S.H.I.E.L.D."
Hearing Killer Bee's analysis, Coulson nodded and then gave an order, "Skye, we need real-time satellite surveillance of this area. Now."
"One moment," Skye said, as she pulled up a photograph she had found, "I think I've got a lead. You might want to see this first. Sending it over."
"The name of the farm owner is Frank Velen. He was a volunteer firefighter, just like our first victim, Adam Cross."
Ward chimed in, "So the two victims knew each other."
Skye continued, "They both served as emergency responders during the alien invasion of New York."
Killer Bee added, "Two men from the same fire brigade, both dying mysteriously with no sign of foul play at the scene. This is getting interesting."
Coulson asked, "Any problems with the satellite feed over this area?"
Skye, using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s access, quickly retrieved the footage and began reviewing it, focusing on the time during which the static pulse occurred.
"No issues with the satellite feed. No one arrived or left the farm during that time."
Relieved by this, Coulson and the others realized they weren't dealing with an impossible enemy.
"Skye, bring Fitz and Simmons to the scene."
"Fitz, Simmons, I need you here to examine the body. Skye, you continue investigating the background of these two victims."
"Yes, sir," they all responded in unison.