At the fire station-
Coulson followed Diaz into the office, observing the fire chief closely.
Diaz looked at Coulson and said, "That buzzing sound... do you hear it?"
Coulson shook his head, "No, I don't hear anything."
"After the Chitauri invasion, did you, Mr. Cross, and Mr. Frank all go to New York?"
But Diaz didn't respond to the question, instead repeating, "You really don't hear it?"
"It's driving me crazy."
Coulson frowned, realizing something was wrong, "Mr. Diaz, are you even listening to me?"
Suddenly, a tray in front of Coulson floated into the air, startling him. He quickly drew his gun, aiming at Diaz.
"Whatever you're doing, stop it!"
Diaz, confused, raised his hands, "I'm not doing anything!"
Coulson asked sternly, "Where's the weapon?"
"What weapon?" Diaz responded, clearly bewildered.
At that moment, Killer Bee's voice came through Coulson's earpiece, "Coulson, I think I found something. Come over here."
May rushed over to Killer Bee's side and looked at what was in front of them, "Coulson, it's a Chitauri helmet."
May pulled out her phone and started recording a video, transmitting it back to the lab on the plane.
"Fitz, Simmons, are you seeing this?"
Fitz, watching the video feed, exclaimed, "That's not a weapon, but it could be causing brain discharges."
Coulson looked back at Diaz and asked, "What did you do with the helmet?"
Diaz, still shocked, replied, "What? That alien thing? It's just a souvenir."
The tray, which had been floating due to static electricity, fell to the floor with a clatter. Diaz cried out, "It's happening again!"
Coulson pressed, "Answer the question, Mr. Diaz."
Diaz explained, "After we got back from New York, we didn't touch it until a few nights ago."
Coulson asked, "Why not?"
Diaz said, "It had rusted over. We just wanted to clean it."
Back in the lab, Simmons suddenly understood, "That's not rust! Killer Bee, May—don't touch it!"
Luckily, neither of them had physically touched the helmet yet. Simmons continued, "Sir, that's not a weapon. He's been infected."
"I believe the helmet carries an alien virus."
Hearing Simmons' analysis, Coulson began to piece everything together. Diaz continued to explain, "We just wiped it down, I swear."
"Me, Frank, and Adam... we were bored during our third shift, so we decided to clean it up a bit."
"Adam and Frank..."
At that moment, Killer Bee, May, and Ward all rushed back into the room. Coulson said, "Mr. Diaz, I'm going to put my gun away now."
Simmons' voice came through the comms, alarmed, "Sir, his energy level is reaching 600 megajoules—and it's still rising!".
Coulson turned to Killer Bee and the others, saying, "Get everyone out, now."
Ward and May quickly moved to evacuate the people, but Killer Bee stayed behind.
"I'll stay with you. If anything goes wrong, I can get you out."
Coulson nodded at Killer Bee, then closed the office door behind them. Now, it was just Coulson, Killer Bee, and Tony Diaz in the room.
Diaz, fearful, asked, "Am I going to die... like them?"
Diaz's eyes fell on the forehead protector Killer Bee was wearing, and he seemed to grasp onto a thread of hope.
"Are you a ninja? Can you help me?"
Killer Bee shook his head, "I'm sorry, I'm not a medical ninja. I don't fully understand what's happening to you."
Coulson sighed and said, "Why don't you sit down?"
Diaz slumped into his chair, his hope fading as he seemed to lose all energy.
Coulson gently asked, "Do you have any family?"
"Wife? Kids?"
Diaz shook his head.
"Anyone you'd like to contact? Anything I can do for you?"
At that moment, May's voice came through Coulson's earpiece, "Sir, you need to get out of there! He's about to—"
Before May could finish, Coulson took out his earpiece and sat next to Diaz, saying softly, "Listen to me. I've been through something similar. You don't need to be afraid."
Diaz looked at Coulson, confused, "What are you talking about?"
Coulson, with a serious expression, continued, "Your job is dangerous, isn't it?"
"Mine is too."
"I've been hurt before. Badly."
"I... I died."
"People say it was only 8 seconds, but I know it was much longer."
"I know I wasn't in this world anymore. I was on the other side."
Diaz asked, "What's it like... over there?"
Coulson replied earnestly, "It's beautiful."
Killer Bee glanced at Coulson, thinking to himself, 'Yeah, but the problem is, you're alive now. This guy doesn't look like he's going to make it.'
At that moment, static electricity crackled from Diaz's hands, and a fruit knife on the desk began to levitate.
All three of them saw what was happening. Diaz looked at Coulson and Killer Bee and said, "You two need to leave."
He closed his eyes and added, "Go."
Coulson and Killer Bee stood up, left the office, and exited the fire station. They lowered the firehouse's gate and joined the rest of the team outside, waiting for what was to come.
A blue flash of light flickered from within the fire station, and Tony Diaz met the same fate as the others before him.
…
The next day-
At the Charles base-
The training grounds were filled with many ninjas. Charles realized that sparring would be the quickest way to master his strength, so he had gathered Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Might Guy for a sparring session, with Minato Namikaze as the referee, ready to interfere if anyone got hurt.
On the sidelines were Yamato, Sasuke Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Asuma Sarutobi, and other ninjas watching the battle.
Even Ginny and her group of Adjudicators came to observe the fight.
In this 1v3 match, even if Jiraiya and the others got injured, Minato could quickly teleport them out for treatment using his Hiraishin technique.
Standing in the middle, Minato announced, "Let the sparring begin."
With that, Minato used his teleportation technique to vanish from the training ground, leaving it to the four combatants.
Might Guy let out a battle cry and attacked first, "Dynamic Entry!"
Seeing Might Guy's powerful flying kick coming his way, Charles smiled and sidestepped.
However, Might Guy quickly followed up with his second move, "Leaf Whirlwind!"
A combination of a high and low kick came at Charles, but he showed no fear and countered with his own Leaf Strong Fist technique.