"My God! Mr. Silver Duke, your eyes?"
Agent Hill finally got a clear look at Corin's condition. At this moment, two dark red beams of light were being released from his eyes, sweeping back and forth over her body.
Wherever his gaze passed, it brought warmth to Agent Hill.
'It feels kind of nice.'
Realizing there was no danger, Agent Hill slowly relaxed her body, which had been tense from alertness.
"My feet!"
Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold surged up from her feet. Only then did Agent Hill notice that the floor of the lounge was already covered with a thick layer of ice.
The spot she was standing on happened to be a melted ice pit. She instantly realized that Corin was warming her up.
And the ice pit beneath her feet meant that Mr. Silver Duke had just thawed her legs.
But the question was—
'Where did all this ice come from?'
"Agent Hill, don't panic. Wait a moment."
Corin's voice sounded by her ear, and Hill felt a bit more at ease.
At the same time, she keenly noticed that as Corin opened and closed his mouth, rolling white mist spilled from his lips and spread across the ground.
His nostrils were also releasing cold air as he breathed.
'The source of the cold is actually Mr. Silver Duke?'
Eyes that could release warming beams, and mouth and nose that could breathe out icy cold air. This bizarre ability left Agent Hill utterly astonished.
With Corin helping her maintain her body temperature, Hill wasn't worried. She blinked her pretty eyes and curiously looked at Corin.
'Truly a man full of mysteries.'
———
[New York, A Certain Laboratory]
"Where did you find so many people?", Dr. Erik was tuning some kind of equipment, chatting casually with Hawkeye Clint.
"SHIELD has made quite a few enemies, Doctor."
At the same time, he raised a tablet and turned it toward Erik.
"Is this what you need?"
On the tablet screen was an image of a special metal and a photo of someone.
"That's right, iridium. It came with a meteorite and can form antiprotons, so it's in high demand right now."
Both Erik and Hawkeye were under Loki's control via the Mind Scepter, now diligently helping Loki build a device to activate the Tesseract.
And the device to activate the Tesseract was still missing the most crucial material, iridium metal.
Erik himself was a physicist. Although his stance had been altered, his passion for scientific research was still strong.
He deeply marveled at the wonder of the Tesseract. This was not just knowledge, but truth itself.
As for Hawkeye Clint Barton, a non-researcher, all that occupied his mind was how to deal with the person in the photo and bring the iridium metal back.
"In the eyes of combat personnel, there is only the target."
Snap!
The folding compound bow snapped open in Clint's hands. Hawkeye's eyes glowed with a strange blue light as he walked out of the lab with absolute confidence.
———
[The Helicarrier]
Although the irregular vibrations from the engine did not affect flight, they continuously gnawed at Nick Fury's nerves.
"Engine One has an anomaly."
The staff finally discovered the issue in the operating system and reported it loudly.
"Continue tracking Loki and the others. Technical team, go see what's going on."
"Wait… I'll go too!"
Nick Fury was baffled. How could the Helicarrier, the crystallization of all SHIELD's top scientific minds, perform so poorly on its very first mission?
———
At this moment, a layer of ice had formed on the massive propeller of Engine One, affecting its normal operation.
Meanwhile, in the lounge, Corin had finally adjusted his breathing and stopped releasing cold air.
He released Heat Vision again, melting all the ice in the room, then let out a long breath.
'Damn, that upgrade was too intense. I almost lost control. Good thing I reacted fast.'
Although Agent Hill still felt a bit of chill in both feet, she was otherwise fine. She gently placed the coffee on the table and said, "Mr. Silver Duke, to thank you for helping me just now, I specially made you a cup of hot coffee… uh, now it's iced coffee…"
Looking at the cup of coffee frozen solid on the table, Agent Hill explained her intention a bit awkwardly.
Having worked beside the director for many years, she had developed a good habit: never being curious about what was in front of her.
Even after discovering Corin's special abilities, she still chose to pretend she hadn't seen anything.
But Corin's abilities were far too outrageous, and a trace of reverence arose in Hill's heart.
As for that, Corin had no intention of explaining.
"Looks like Agent Hill is very confident in her coffee-making skills."
Although Corin had saved Agent Hill's life in time, almost taking her out still made him feel slightly apologetic.
"Thank you for the coffee, Agent Hill."
As he spoke, Heat Vision burst from Corin's eyes. Unlike the dark red beams used to thaw Hill earlier, this time the beams were a brighter red with higher energy.
Glug! Glug!
Soon, under the beams, the coffee in the cup began to emit rolling steam and boil again.
"Hey… careful, it's hot!"
Under Agent Hill's shocked gaze, Corin picked up the cup and took a big gulp.
"Mmm~ not bad."
'So damn bitter.'
Ignoring the scalding heat of the coffee, Corin politely praised it aloud, while inwardly complaining yet again about this kind of beast-of-burden drink.
He had once learned by chance that coffee was originally an additive mixed into feed by early farmers.
The purpose was to make livestock eat less and work more.
And in front of a body of steel, coffee under a hundred degrees was downright refreshing.
Thud!
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a loud noise came from outside the door.
Agent Hill hurriedly stood up to check, and Corin also curiously walked out of the room.
They saw Nick Fury sprawled on the ground, with Agent Hill busy helping him up.
"Tch~ my back! Why is it so slippery?"
Nick Fury had been leading several technicians at a quick pace toward Engine One. On the way, they passed by Corin's lounge.
The steel floor still had a thin layer of ice left over from Corin's earlier release of cold air. With his less-than-perfect eyesight, Director Fury swung his legs wide and face-planted hard.
"Where did this ice come from?"
Realizing there was a thin layer of ice on the floor, Director Fury's single eye was full of shock.
Knowing the truth, Agent Hill cast a helpless look at Corin and did not sell him out.
"Don't worry about those details, Director Fury. Aren't you busy tracking Loki? Why are you here?"
"Don't even get me started."
Fury cursed as he told Corin about the engine issue resurfacing.
Corin rubbed his chin, thinking, 'It seems the trouble I caused this time wasn't just Agent Hill almost getting taken out.'
———
When they arrived together by Engine One and saw the remaining ice on the massive propeller, the expression on Director Fury's face was quite something.
"We considered low temperatures at high altitude during the design~"
"We're not even at an altitude where it should drop below freezing yet. How could it ice over?"
Agent Hill realized this was likely related to Corin's special ability. She pressed her lips together and once again looked at Corin.
Corin cleared his throat and signaled Agent Hill with his eyes to take the extra people away.
"Let's go take a look over there."
Hill understood that Corin planned to use his abilities to resolve the issue, and it wasn't appropriate for too many people to be watching. She found an excuse and led the technicians away.
Nick Fury was frowning deeply at this moment. He simply could not figure out why this problem had occurred.
'Why are the other engines fine, but only Engine One iced over?'
'Strange…'
"Let me help."
Feeling guilty, Corin took the initiative to offer help.
Zzz!
Before Director Fury could respond, two Heat Vision beams shot from Corin's eyes.
Dark red light shone directly onto the frozen areas.
The water vapor that formed was instantly blown away by the massive torque of the turbine.
In the blink of an eye, the iced-over parts returned to normal.
The abnormal noises and vibrations caused by the ice also vanished.
Seeing the miraculous scene before him, Fury once again felt that bringing Corin along on this operation had been a wise decision.
"Destiny, I owe you another favor… Tch! My back!"
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