Inhumans

Emma returned to the laboratory not long after leaving. She first glanced at Alex, then slowly walked over to Howard and asked cautiously, her face full of hope, "Alex… how is he?"

Howard hesitated for a moment before saying, "The exact situation is still unclear. We need to observe him for a while longer."

Emma nodded silently and turned toward the machine enclosing Alex. She pressed both hands against the transparent glass and quietly watched him lying inside with his eyes closed, tears glimmering in her eyes.

"Have you taken care of everything outside?" Howard asked, searching for something to say.

Emma gave an almost imperceptible nod, her eyes never leaving Alex for even a moment.

Howard looked at Emma, shook his head with a bitter smile, and said nothing more.

The laboratory fell into a long silence. When the sunlight slanted and the room gradually grew dim, Emma finally spoke again.

"Howard, do you know why Alex ended up like this?" Emma had been racking her brains over the cause of Alex’s condition. How had something gone wrong so suddenly when everything had been fine? Yet she could not figure it out.

Howard stepped out from behind the desk, walked over to the machine, and looked at Alex inside as he slowly said, "The exact reason is still unclear, but I suspect the energy he absorbed became overly saturated, which caused this." After a brief pause, Howard continued, "The Energy Shockwaves he keeps releasing are actually a way of expelling the excess energy in his body."

"You mean once the excess energy in Alex’s body has all been released, he’ll recover?" Emma’s stiff expression finally shifted, and she could barely contain her excitement.

Howard hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. "Judging by the current situation, that should be the case."

"Then I’m relieved." Having received Howard’s answer, Emma could not help letting out a quiet sigh of relief, and her expression softened.

Behind her, Howard wanted to tell her the truth, but when he saw the look on Emma’s face, he thought better of it and held back.

In truth, based on Howard’s examinations over this period, the energy inside Alex was indeed immense, but it should not have reached the point of saturation. After all, Alex was not an idiot. He would not foolishly absorb energy without restraint. Howard had no idea what had caused Alex to become like this.

The only thing Howard was certain of was that the energy within Alex was continuously being released outward in the form of shockwaves. However, those Energy Shockwaves were also constantly damaging Alex’s body as they erupted. If this continued, Alex’s body would very likely be destroyed by the unending Energy Shockwaves.

Howard had been trying to stop the energy from leaking out of Alex’s body, but unfortunately, he had not succeeded.

"Emma, can you find a way to send me back to New York?" After hesitating for a while, Howard finally spoke. The situation had already exceeded his capabilities, and he had to find someone to help.

Emma froze for a moment, then nodded. "All right. I’ll arrange it right away."

As she spoke, Emma contacted a mutant with teleportation abilities. Though his power was not as formidable as Alex’s Teleportation, it allowed him to teleport over far greater distances than ordinary teleportation.

With the teleporter’s help, Howard quickly returned to New York.

"My friend, wait here for a while. I’m going to find some people, and I’ll be back soon." After leaving the teleporter at Stark Industries, Howard hurried toward a hidden location in New York.

More than ten minutes later, in Nick Fury’s director’s office at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Howard explained Alex’s situation.

Nick Fury frowned deeply and asked with a serious expression, "What do you need me to do?"

"Reliable scientists specializing in energy and the human body."

"How many?"

"The more, the better!" Howard’s face lit up as he said impatiently, "But they must be absolutely reliable. The secret there cannot be exposed."

Nick Fury pondered for a long time before nodding. "Five. Absolutely reliable."

"Can you get them here now?" Howard was truly worried that something might happen to Alex and did not dare waste even a moment. "I still have someone waiting there to send us over."

"They’ve already been notified. They’ll be here shortly." Nick Fury explained, then asked, "Is it really that serious?" He had always admired Alex and had never believed anyone could hurt him.

Howard nodded with a bitter smile. "If it weren’t a critical situation, I wouldn’t have come to ask you for help."

"Who exactly is this Tashim?"

At the thought of the terrifyingly powerful Tashim, Howard could not stop himself from shuddering. "I don’t know. He called himself an Inhuman."

"An Inhuman?" A trace of surprise appeared on Nick Fury’s dark face, and his eyes widened.

Seeing Nick Fury’s dramatically changed expression, Howard asked in surprise, "What is it? Do you know something?"

"Something happened in Ohio seven days ago." Nick Fury’s expression became somewhat strange. "In one town, everyone fell unconscious at the same time. Over a thousand people."

"Could they have been Inhumans too?" Howard involuntarily rose to his feet. After witnessing Tashim’s strength, Howard had developed a measure of fear toward Inhumans.

"At first, we thought it was the work of mutants." Nick Fury shook his head with a bitter smile. "But after we investigated further, we found the culprit: a middle-aged man. He also called himself an Inhuman."

"Did you discover anything else?" Howard felt that his earlier suspicions might be coming true. If Inhumans began emerging on a large scale, the entire world could fall into chaos.

"In fact, that man came to us himself." Nick Fury’s dark face flushed slightly as he said awkwardly, "He warned us as well. He said he was pursuing a fugitive, that this was an internal matter of their Inhuman race, and that he did not want humans interfering."

"The Inhuman race!?" Howard shot to his feet, his expression extraordinarily vivid.

"Yes, the Inhuman race." As Nick Fury spoke, his tone became helpless. "A group that may be even stronger than mutants."

Howard was completely speechless. After a moment of silence, he suddenly stood up again. "Did he say who the fugitive was?"

"You mean Tashim is their fugitive?" Nick Fury’s pupils contracted as realization struck him. "I’ll contact that man immediately!"

"Oh, and Alex’s condition should be blamed on them too." The more Howard thought about it, the more excited he became. "Their fugitive injured him. They have to heal Alex!"

Nick Fury’s eyes lit up, and he said with delight, "That might actually work. That man had a strange temper, but he seemed like a decent person otherwise."