Meanwhile-
Nick Fury looked at the physique-enhancing serum sent over by Sitwell from the Hidden Cloud Village and an idea began to form in his mind.
He had three Helicarriers under construction, designed for aerial blockade and attack operations.
"Maybe," Fury thought, "I should station two to three enhanced individuals on each Helicarrier—one using the Fire Curse Seal, and the other two using the physique-enhancing serums."
With such a setup, Project Insight would be even more secure.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Fury mused, "Looks like I'll need to open the 084 vault to the Cloud Ninjas. Let them pick two items, and I'll assemble a small team to test the waters."
…
Meanwhile-
Coulson entered Simmons' lab, puzzled, and asked, "What am I supposed to be looking at?"
Simmons, operating the equipment, responded, "Just wait."
Under the microscope, the cells in the blood sample began to exhibit a static electric reaction.
"What's that?" Coulson asked curiously.
Simmons, excited, explained, "It's a groundbreaking discovery. I believe the firefighters first contracted the virus when they were cleaning the helmet—the friction activated some sort of dormant Chitauri organic material."
Pointing at the screen, Coulson asked, "Wait, are these cells from the firefighter's body?"
Simmons nodded, "Yes, they're brain cells—the last remnants of the infection."
"Some viruses lie dormant in the host's cells for years before reproducing."
"In the case of the infected source, the helmet was key."
"But these cells suggest that the virus can spread. Which means..."
Coulson's expression darkened, "The virus can spread from person to person."
"Exactly!" Simmons exclaimed excitedly.
However, she didn't notice that a pair of surgical tongs behind her had begun to float in the air.
Still focused on her discovery, she continued, "It doesn't spread through the air or direct bodily fluid contact. Instead, it's transmitted through static electricity—something we've never seen before on Earth."
Unaware of the floating tongs, Simmons carried on, but Coulson saw the strange occurrence. Silently, he stepped out of the lab and moved toward the door.
Noticing that Coulson had left, Simmons looked up and asked, "Sir, is everything alright?"
With his eyes closed, Coulson responded quietly, "I'm sorry, Simmons."
He pressed the alarm, locking down the lab.
Simmons turned around and saw the floating tongs, "Oh no."
…
The news of Simmons' infection quickly spread to everyone aboard the plane.
Fitz stood outside the sealed lab, separated by the glass door, at a loss for how to comfort Simmons. Both of their faces were etched with worry.
Coulson gathered the team and said, "Simmons believes she was infected about 36 hours ago, during a static electric shock from the first victim."
May asked, "How much time does she have left?"
"Judging by the firefighters' timeline from infection to symptoms, she has at most two hours."
Skye, trying to remain hopeful, asked, "Two hours—that's enough time, right? Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D. have dozens of labs and teams of scientists working on this?"
Coulson nodded. "Yes, that's right."
He then turned to May and asked, "How soon can we land?"
May glanced at Coulson and responded with a cold, hard number, "Three hours."
"We're over the middle of the Atlantic right now, heading for the Sandbox."
Ward voiced his concern, "Sir, if we can't land in time, Simmons will release a pulse that will destroy the plane mid-air."
Skye, distressed, said, "We can't just let her die. We have to do something."
Coulson looked over to Killer Bee and said, "There might be someone on this plane who can find a solution. Killer Bee, what would your people do in a situation like this?"
All eyes turned to Killer Bee, who lazily had his hands behind his head, "Like I said at the fire station, I'm more of a combat guy. This isn't really my specialty."
The team's expressions dimmed with disappointment, but Killer Bee continued, "But when it comes to things like this, we leave that to our medical ninja."
"Handling viruses is their expertise."
When Killer Bee mentioned "medical ninja," the first person that popped into Coulson's mind was Tsunade.
From their intelligence, they knew Tsunade was a highly skilled medical ninja. She had even healed Tony Stark's chest injury.
Coulson murmured a name, "Tsunade."
Killer Bee nodded, "Yep, the legendary Sannin, the Slug Princess, Lady Tsunade."
"With her medical skills, this little virus wouldn't be a problem at all."
Hearing these titles, Skye understood Tsunade's strength but still worried, "But we only have two hours left. Even if she's incredibly skilled, how can she help us in time? We don't have time to land, no matter how capable she is."
Coulson, deep in thought, asked, "Her medical abilities are that powerful?"
Killer Bee nodded after thinking for a moment, "In the ninja world, she's the number one!"
Coulson then said a single phrase, "Remote assistance."
Killer Bee nodded, "If you can contact her, she could help remotely and still resolve the crisis."
Coulson glanced toward the lab where Simmons was quarantined and nodded, "Looks like that's our best shot."
Ward then asked, "Coulson, what are you going to offer in return?"
"An 084," Coulson replied.
Skye was shocked, "They're collecting those things too?"
…
Meanwhile-
In the training area-
Shizune immediately began using her healing technique on Guy. Fortunately, since Guy had opened the Eight Gates and used his chakra to block most of the damage, and thanks to not taking the full force of the attack, his injuries were not too severe. Shizune was able to treat him.
Seeing Guy's condition, Tsunade and Jiraiya stopped their actions.
Tsunade widened her eyes in frustration and shouted, "Charles, are you trying to kill Guy?"
"Who among us can withstand a punch from you?"
Charles closed the Eight Gates and admitted, "That was a mistake."
"I didn't realize how much my power had increased recently. You all can't keep up with me in sparring anymore."
Asuma, Yamato, and Sasuke wiped the sweat off their foreheads, relieved that they had stopped moving when Guy had powered up. Otherwise, they would've been the ones getting pummeled.
Even Minato might not have been able to save all four of them in time. One punch from Charles could've sent them back to the ninja world.
Jiraiya sighed at Charles's words, "You're right. We can't help you test your full strength anymore."
Sasuke clenched his fists, thinking, "With that kind of power, I can definitely teach Itachi a lesson."
At that moment, Charles's phone rang. He picked up the phone to see it was Phil Coulson on the other end.