"Phantom Kid is different from any supervillain we had known in the past. We can't be sure whether he has a lot of abilities or not."
Coulson said solemnly.
"He can change his appearance, he can change his voice, he can breathe fire, he can teleport, he can fly, and he might have other special abilities that we don't know yet…"
"What we know for sure is that the skills mastered by Phantom Kid are not related to each other. In theory, it should be impossible to be held by one person at the same time."
"But the reality says otherwise?"
Barton asked.
"Yes, every time he appears, he reveals new abilities. No one delimits what he can do. No explanation is available at this point."
Coulson sighed.
"Are those really superpowers?"
Barton questioned again, "I mean, even though Phantom Kid has shown his fire-breathing superpower, he has only used it once, hasn't he?" he said.
"So, could he be as speculated by the FBI and the CIA as a magician with a high IQ who is good at making use of chemical knowledge. It may be just a simple matter of spontaneous combustion."
"That is impossible!"
Coulson interrupted, "There is one thing you don't know. That is, soon after the Tamil Ruby incident, the chief sent Simmons to the scene to collect information, but she found nothing."
"There is no sign of a chemical reaction, and there are no undesirable substances left on the scene."
"Jemma Simmons? I remember she seemed to be a level 5 logistics agent."
Barton didn't have a deep impression of the person Coulson was referring to.
"She is S.H.I.E.L.D. 's best expert in biology, chemistry, and medicine. If she says that this is not done using chemical means, it must not be."
Coulson smiled and said, "This is why both the Director and I are so convinced that Phantom Kid has superpowers."
Barton finally understood Coulson's doubts about Kid's ability.
"Hmm… I may have some guesses about the different types of superpowers that Phantom Kid can use."
"Tell me about it."
"In legends, people with magical power exist. These magicians, wizards, and sorcerers can cast all sorts of miracles by chanting spells."
Barton spoke his thoughts seriously.
After hearing Barton's words, Coulson couldn't help but laugh.
"Haha, Barton, I like your sense of humor, but I have to tell you that there is nothing such as "magic" in this world, there are only countless superhumans or… aliens."
"Magicians do not exist."
Coulson said with confidence.
It's no wonder that Kamar-Taj's existence is not something that "ordinary" organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. can reach.
Even Mathison had never seen a second magician after having been active for such a long time.
Uh… yeah… Johnny English doesn't count.
"Tomorrow is the time of our official action. The director gave a deadly order, to capture Kid alive."
"Our actions cannot be carried out in public, so we have to wait until Kid succeeds in stealing the Mountain of Light before acting. If he fails, it will be better. We can transfer Phantom Kid to S.H.I.E.L.D. through the relationship above."
Coulson gathered the team members together and began making the final briefing.
"But we can't let the police open fire, otherwise it would be bad for us; whether it angers Kid or kills him. So, I have already reported to the director."
"Tomorrow George will receive a call from the Department of Justice, dictating that he is not allowed to open fire within the confines of the fair."
After the explanation, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team disappeared into the darkness.
On the other side was Pepper's personal assistant, the red-haired beauty, Natalie, also known as Natasha Romanov, a tenth-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
At this moment, she was in an unoccupied room, talking with her boss Nick Fury.
"Tony Stark has been acting very odd lately, he's often alone with Pepper and won't let anyone get close, even I can't be sure what they're actually discussing."
"Natasha, you have been in Stark Industries for a while, what do you think of this?"
"Stark's palladium poisoning can basically be confirmed to be true, and his current symptoms have reached a very serious level. Palladium poisoning produced by his toxic blood has circulated through a large part of his body."
Natasha told Fury what she saw.
"I think Stark has no hope for his own life now, so he started to explain his funeral to Pepper."
"It is indeed a reasonable judgment. It seems that I have to come forward as soon as possible, um… after the end of Phantom Kid thing tomorrow, you tell me Tony's itinerary, and I will go and talk to him properly."
Fury's eyes were deep and invisible. Only in the most desperate times that people will be recklessly trying to grab any rope that can save their lives. And only in this case, people will really appreciate the people who saved him.
Just like Tony Stark, a person who is so proud to the bone, must be in his most desperate moments before Fury hands him the rope.
At the same time, this would be more convenient for Fury… to control him.
"No problem, sir."
The call was hung up.
Time soon came to the latter part of the night, at this time the Stark Expo had passed the closing time, and no one was in the large expo.
The lights went out, and the whole expo was plunged into darkness and silence.
Only then, a black figure suddenly landed on the roof of a certain building, and then looked around on the roof.
The movement of this figure did not make a single sound, he was one with the darkness around him, without the slightest sense of incongruity.
As he was moving, the surroundings were scaringly quiet.
Apart from Batman, there is no second person in the world with this kind of temperament.
Batman was carefully looking for clues on the top of the building, in order to debunk Phantom Kid's airwalk.
That's right, this building was one of the two, between which Phantom Kid appeared.
It was all done through the night vision function of the Bat helmet; Batman does not need flashlights to see everything in the dark.
«It is impossible to miss any wire under Phantom Kid's at such a close distance.»
Batman walked to the fence on the top of the building, looked down and thought.
«If it weren't for the steel wire under his feet, it would have to be a steel wire hanging vertically from his shoulders. It is really hard to notice such a thing under the searchlight of the helicopter…»
Thinking about it, Batman slowly crouched down and checked every railing at once.
Finally, he found a strange scratch on the bottom of one of them.
«If this is the case, then there should be the same traces on the other side…»
Without saying anything, Batman rushed to the roof of the opposite building and found a scratch in the same place.
«So that's what happened…»