Perhaps the infiltration of the museum, the subduing of the night guard, and the control of the surveillance room had all gone too smoothly. The men in black, in their haste to use the new control panel, had forgotten to check it thoroughly.
As one of them operated it, a pinhole camera on the panel detected that the user was not in the system's records and immediately began to emit a silent alarm. The alarm signal climbed all the way up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on duty, upon receiving the alarm from the museum, dared not delay. He immediately connected to the video feed and, upon confirming it was not a false alarm, reported it to his superior.
"What's going on?"
Coulson, on duty that day, pushed open the door with a grave expression.
"Report, sir, the museum has been breached by unidentified personnel. The hidden panel has been activated. It's likely their target is the contents of the VIP display."
Hearing this, Coulson's expression grew more troubled. He knew all too well what was kept in the VIP display. These were items that could not see the light of day.
"Damn it, why today of all days."
After a curse, Coulson left to organize his personnel. They were to proceed to the museum fully armed and prevent the other party from opening the VIP display.
Unfortunately, he had underestimated the men in black trained by the Mimic Master.
Under the operations of the men in black, the last security system in the women's restroom was also temporarily disabled.
The Mimic Master, holding a detector, walked directly to the third stall. He pulled open the door and then looked down at the detector. Once he confirmed it was correct, he began his operation.
As a former ace agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was all too familiar with the technologies used by the agency. He easily found the password-protected door.
Looking at the various access locks, the Mimic Master smirked.
"It's been so long, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology still hasn't been updated."
His tone was filled with disdain.
He had initially thought that after being away from S.H.I.E.L.D. for so long, their anti-theft technology would have gone through countless upgrades. He had even been looking forward to a grand heist. To his surprise, upon opening it, he found it was still the same anti-theft technology he had used when he left.
With that thought, the Mimic Master took a palm-sized box from his backpack and attached it to the anti-theft door.
In less than ten seconds, as the small box operated on its own, the locks on the anti-theft door began to be bypassed.
*Click.*
The door opened.
The Mimic Master pulled the door open and entered, instructing the two individuals accompanying him to guard the entrance and prevent anyone else from entering.
This was the VIP display Coulson had spoken of.
Although called a display, it was in fact a hidden secret room where items that could not see the light of day were kept.
The stolen national treasures from other countries were a given, but this place also housed many magical artifacts. For example, there was a magic sword, said to be usable only by those with a pure heart. Its sheath was shaped like a withered human arm, and a conveniently attached parchment provided the incantation required for its use.
However, this was not the Mimic Master's target.
He quickly bypassed these items, his gaze finally settling on a display stand in the corner. On the stand lay half of an Ankh, bathed in a blue light emanating from the spotlight.
Just as the Mimic Master stepped forward, reaching out to take the half-Ankh, his body suddenly stiffened. Then, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he dodged violently to the side. In the next instant, a blue energy beam struck the spot where the Mimic Master had been standing.
However, the Mimic Master was no easy target. As soon as he landed, he turned and fired two shots towards the direction of the energy beam. Whether it hit or not, he would shoot first.
Naturally, such careless shooting did not hit the attacker, but it did allow the Mimic Master to get a look at who had attacked him.
It was someone wearing a ridiculously shaped bucket helmet, with three circular iron plates on his body, similar to Thor's. The uniform was primarily black and gold, which looked decent.
However, his mouth was excessively noisy and foul.
"Hey, cape-wearer, what's with the getup? Are you a clown trick-or-treating on Halloween?"
"Coward, don't run. Let me blast you."
"Can't hit me, can't hit me. You're so mad. Na na na."
...
The Mimic Master had never endured such humiliation. He fired several shots at the bucket-headed figure, but the man was as annoying as a fly, darting around in the air and out of reach, all while verbally taunting him.
This enraged the Mimic Master. But just as he was about to close the distance and have a word with that foul mouth, two more individuals joined the fray.
Judging by their colorful attire, it was clear these two newcomers were associated with the noisy one.
One of them had the upper half of his face wrapped in a yellow bandana, revealing only his eyes. A green, form-fitting suit was adorned with a flying dragon. The other was entirely white, with a few gray stripes, and had a sleek black ponytail tied in the back. A dark green jade pendant hung from his waist.
White Tiger stood before Nova, striking a pose and asking, "I say, Nova, why is it taking you so long to finish the fight? You're not going to flake out, are you?"
Iron Fist, who was about to retort, was interrupted by Nova. "Who said I was flaking out? I just haven't been on a mission in a while, so I'm having a little fun."
Among the three, the bucket-headed one was called Nova, the one with the yellow bandana was Iron Fist, and the tiger-woman was White Tiger.
All three were special agents trained by S.H.I.E.L.D.
The reason for their being "special" was that none of them were true S.H.I.E.L.D. agents; they were more like... contractors.
First, there was Nova, whose real name was Sam Alexander. He was originally just an ordinary boy. His father often regaled him with tales of his "fictional" cosmic adventures when drunk. By chance, he saw Gamora and Rocket Raccoon from the Guardians of the Galaxy in his father's stories.
Confused, he discovered the Nova helmet and, in a series of accidents, ended up following in his father's footsteps to become the new Nova.
Then there was Iron Fist. Iron Fist's real name was Danny. His parents were famous American entrepreneurs, and it could be said he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Yet, this scion of wealth actually went to K'un-Lun to learn martial arts, and he truly mastered it. He defeated the immortal dragon Shou-Lao and obtained the power of the Iron Fist.
Even White Tiger, who had the least background, inherited her family's power.
On a side note, White Tiger's father, the second White Tiger, died at the hands of the hunter Kraven, who sought to obtain the source of his power, the White Tiger amulet. However, judging by the amulet White Tiger now wore, Kraven must have failed at that time.
But then again, having followed Bai Qi for so long, Kraven was no longer the Kraven of old. His strength had undergone a qualitative leap. A mere broken amulet was hardly worth his attention now.