The sudden crisis in the lecture hall sent a wave of panic through the students. Donnie Gill, the young man with the buzz cut, was screaming and struggling as his body rapidly froze over. In the blink of an eye, he was encased in ice, transformed into a human sculpture. The chaos in the hall grew as students scrambled to escape, while Fitz and Simmons rushed to help.
"We need to find exposed skin and inject glucose to raise his freezing point," Simmons said urgently, snapping open her medical kit.
Fitz knelt beside Donnie, scanning him quickly. "I'm afraid we'll need tools," he said grimly. "He's completely frozen—there's no skin exposed at all."
Simmons handed Fitz an awl, but before he could use it, the temperature in the room suddenly spiked. Both scientists looked up in surprise to see Su Zhan approaching, flames swirling around his hands, radiating intense heat.
Simmons and Fitz assumed Su Zhan would use his flames to melt the ice directly, but instead, he extended a thin, controlled flame and gently pressed it to the ice encasing Donnie.
A soft hiss filled the air as the ice began to melt, the heat precisely focused. Within moments, a patch of Donnie's skin was exposed.
"Can you do it now?" Su Zhan asked Simmons, stepping aside.
Simmons nodded, immediately injecting glucose into Donnie's arm. The flames did not vanish; instead, they drifted to the side, where they landed on a chair. There was a sharp crack as something shattered.
Skye hurried over and discovered the culprit—a small device designed to generate instant ice. As the device broke, the ice around Donnie fractured and melted away.
With a gasp, Donnie collapsed to the ground, shivering violently, his skin still dusted with frost. Fitz knelt beside him, gently reassuring him. "You're safe now. It's over."
Donnie gulped in air, his face pale with shock. The tension in the hall broke, and thunderous applause erupted as the students realized Donnie had been saved. Their cheers filled the room, expressing gratitude and awe.
Su Zhan crouched beside Donnie. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Don… Donnie Gill," the young man stammered.
"Do you know who tried to kill you?" Su Zhan pressed.
Donnie shook his head, still dazed. "No… I don't know."
Su Zhan nodded, not pushing further. As the crowd helped Donnie to his feet and led him away to rest, Su Zhan watched him go, his eyes thoughtful and deep.
Simmons approached, her voice low. "Do you know something? Can you predict what's going to happen?" She had come to rely on Su Zhan's uncanny intuition, especially since his hunches had helped the team so many times before.
Su Zhan shook his head. "No hunch this time. I only know what's supposed to happen—if things follow the pattern I remember. But I don't plan to intervene unless it's necessary."
Simmons looked disappointed. She had hoped for more guidance, especially since this incident struck so close to her own school and friends.
"What do we do now?" she asked, uncertain.
"Let's talk to other students and teachers. Maybe someone saw something," Su Zhan suggested.
The group split up to gather information. Su Zhan and Fitz found themselves heading toward the dormitories. Fitz wanted to check on Donnie, and Su Zhan followed, making sure the story stayed on track.
Donnie Gill was a prodigy, his IQ nearly one hundred ninety. At just eighteen, he was already being considered for early graduation and a position at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "Sandbox" facility. But his brilliance came at a cost. Isolated by his intellect, Donnie had always been lonely, unable to connect with his peers. Even at the academy, he had no real friends.
This loneliness made Donnie vulnerable to manipulation. Seth, the student who had been injured in the earlier pool incident, had been using Donnie. Both the pool accident and Donnie's freezing were part of a larger scheme. The devices involved were not powerful enough to be truly dangerous if handled carefully. Seth's real goal was to build a much larger, more powerful device for an investor, but he needed help with the energy problem. Fitz, rumored to be the smartest student at the academy, was the perfect target.
Because Fitz's design was used in the device, he was sure to be called in to investigate. Seth, knowing Fitz and Donnie were similar—both lonely geniuses—planned to use Fitz to solve the energy problem, then frame Donnie for the crime.
After questioning a few students, Su Zhan quietly observed Donnie's dorm room. Fitz entered to check on Donnie, and Su Zhan was relieved to see the plot unfolding as expected.
But then, something unexpected happened. Seth entered the room before Fitz had left. Su Zhan frowned. "That's odd. Seth should have waited until Fitz was gone. Are they going to solve the energy problem together, only for Fitz to discover the truth and be knocked out by Seth?"
He listened closely, realizing the sequence of events was shifting.
Half an hour later, Su Zhan watched as Seth and Donnie left the building, carrying something heavy. Once they were gone, Su Zhan entered the room and found Fitz unconscious on the floor.
Su Zhan quickly helped Fitz up and called the others. He felt a pang of guilt—Fitz had always been good to him, even making him custom suits. But this was necessary. If things did not play out this way, Donnie would never become the person Su Zhan needed him to be.
Seth and Donnie had escaped with the device, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was now searching for them.
Back on the plane, Su Zhan and the others regrouped with Coulson and May, who had just returned from a mission. The team quickly reviewed what had happened.
Fitz was frustrated when he woke up, but strangely, he was not angry with Donnie. Perhaps it was because he understood Donnie's loneliness. Instead, he was furious with Seth, who had manipulated Donnie and set everything in motion.
"This device is too dangerous. We have to find them as soon as possible," Coulson said, his voice grave.
Su Zhan nodded. "I'll go."
"Do you know where they are?" Coulson asked.
Su Zhan smiled. "I didn't before, but now… I do."