Chapter 85: Arc 3: Chapter 2: Pancho’s Bar

Keller was an unpleasant person, someone sent to destroy the SSR by some big shots.

His aim was simple, to destroy this once intimidating intelligence organization.

He was skilled at pressuring people, and when he first arrived in the SSR, he did a fairly good job and many experienced agents like Fury were suppressed harshly.

But following the failure of the political assassination attempt on Alexander Pierce, Fury's side of agents received support. Under Pierce's authorization, Fury began his flurry of counter-attacks.

Until now, Keller was only the director in name, his arrangements in the SSR have all failed, and he was just one step away from being 'resigned'.

But from a different perspective, Keller was a tough one, even when he's pushed to a corner, he could still find time to cause Fury trouble. 

Like now, in this secret lab, Keller was standing next to the alien corpse on the dissection table, looking at the alien corpse and Fury with a superior posture. He says:

"Something as big as a group of aliens with shapeshifting capabilities attempting to infiltrate Earth. Fury, why didn't you report this?"

"Because we haven't finished investigating!"

Fury retorts:

"Is this your first day being an agent? Keller, simply reporting it and handing it to other organizations to deal with, what's the point of our existence then?"

"The agents of the SSR can deal with this ourselves!"

"The SSR is no more!"

Keller reaches out and presses his glasses, he says coldly:

"Now there's only SHIELD, Fury, as a level 3 non-military agent, you have no authority to hold this down! I want you to prepare a report immediately, then hand it to me along with this corpse. The higher authorities will take over this case, I forbid you to intervene with this!"

"Didi"

As Kellerfinishes, a beeping sound resounds from the pager in Fury's hand, Fury lowers his head and glances at it; a smile flashes on his dark face as he waves the communicator in his hand at Kohler while saying:

"Before you came, I already reported this to the WSC, chief Alexander Pierce just gave me full authority to handle this."

"Keller, got any other opinions?"

"You!"

The indifferent expression on Keller's face changes to shame, he looks at Fury furiously, the latter gets off the chair, picks up his coat, and while ignoring Keller's glare, he turns and tells him:

"If there's no other important business here, I'll be off. Right, Keller, you best get out of here, you don't have the authority to intervene!"

"Lock this place down!"

Fury opens the lab door and tells the soldiers guarding outside:

"No one goes in!"

As he finishes, Fury turns and looks at Keller, the latter reaching out and touching the forehead of the alien on the dissection table.

Fury says:

"Officer Keller, you best leave here, this place will be in lockdown soon. And, you might wanna keep your distance from it, who knows if this thing has a bloody alien virus or something."

Fury's warning seems to surprise Keller, he retracts his finger then tidies his tie with a dissatisfied expression, then leaves the lab at a fast pace.

"Want a lift, Keller?"

Fury lightly says:

"I can take you back to base along the way."

"No need."

Keller replies in an ice-cold tone:

"I can feel it when people are trying to make me get out! Fury, you best pray that you won't mess this up...don't let me catch you!"

He lifts his head, looks at Fury, and says in a deep tone:

"As you said, the agents of SHIELD can deal with this themselves, so I'll continue following up on this; I'll be watching you, Fury, you have not the authority to stop me either, right?"

---

On the other side, while Fury and Keller were duking it out, Merlin stands in an internet cafe with a fat technician beside him restoring the browsing history of the computer.

"That woman sat here, searched some things, and took a map. Sir, don't worry, I'll restore the browsing history soon."

"Mmm, I'm waiting."

Merlin stands in front of the computer and looks at the screen in front of him, rows upon rows of search histories appear on the screen, this all seemed like a needle in the haystack.

Between 1994 and 1995, personal computers were just being sold to the public, so around streets, internet cafes such as this one had a lot of customers, and it would take some time to restore the search history from 4-5 hours ago.

"That woman stole my motorbike!"

Next to Merlin, a slightly mad motorbike rider complains:

"She must've done it on purpose! I swear I just teased her a little bit because her outfit made her look like a freak! Right, officer, she also took my helmet, and stole some clothes from the clothing shop next door; a black flight jacket and jeans, and a plaid shirt, I didn't see how she changed her clothes but she stole and drove off my bike in a few minutes!"

"Mmm, I got it, wait one moment, sir."

Merlin casually replies while staring at the screen:

"We'll find your motorbike, you can go back and wait for news...wait, this one!"

Merlin points at the screen with his finger, in the messy search history, there was one particular record appearing 4 hours ago which matches the time when Fury met that strange woman.

And the search results suggest that it's a small bar near the remote border region between California and Nevada. 

"Pancho's Bar?"

Merlin notes down the name and route to the bar in his mind. He tells the operator next to him:

"Flip upwards, look at the previous search."

The previous search record was rather interesting, a sentence of unfamiliar words.

"Project Pegasus?"

Sounds like a codename, wonder if it's an organization or a base.

But Merlin had acquired enough information, he walks out of the small internet cafe, and follows the map, driving towards Pancho's Bar. 2 hours later, Merlin arrives at his destination under the mountain, it was a small remote village in the middle of nowhere.

Merlin parks his car by the side of the road, opens the car door, and gazes off towards the town nearby.

With his second sight, Merlin could see the motorbike parked right outside the bar, the details of the motorbike suggest that it is the stolen motorbike. Looks like the mysterious woman had no plans of hiding her tracks.

Or that she's confident in her abilities and doesn't care to hide.

Merlin lifts his wrist and sends the address to Fury using the watch. He looks around, quietly enters his Shadow Cloak, and approaches the bar.

Merlin walks by the motorbike, he reaches out and touches the engine, it was still warm, meaning that the woman had just arrived.

She must still be here!

Merlin did not act, he waited outside for Fury's instructions, moments later, Fury's message arrives, it was:

"Watch her! 30 minutes!"

But before Merlin could reply, a danger warning from his dark senses makes Merlin transform into black fog and dissipate.

"Who's there! Come out!"

"Bam!"

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Following a subtle shout, a ray of high heat accurately smashes at the wall next to Merlin, blowing it apart, causing a massive scorching hole to appear on the wall.

As the sawdust flew and sparks appeared, a blonde woman storms out from the hole.

In the heatwave caused by the explosion, her blonde hair waves in the air, she wore a black leather jacket and slender blue jeans, along with a pair of black boots; she was dressed like a motorbike rider, but the inhibited atmosphere she radiated made her look like a goddess of war.

Merlin reappears 5 meters away from the woman, he pats off the ash on his clothes, and while looking at the woman with the unfriendly expression in front of him, he says:

"I bear no ill intentions! Miss Vers."

"Sneaky bastard, why not just walk in if you bear no ill intentions!"

The woman, or Vers, looks at Merlin with hostility in her eyes.

Merlin notices flickering blue and red halos on her clenched fists, the energy was so hot it distorted the air, looking to be very aggressive.

That should be the 'light cannon' Fury had talked about.

Merlin takes out his identification from his pocket and shows it to the woman, saying:

"You met my colleague Fury before, and you saved him from the Skrull's attack, this means you bear good intentions to us...at least, we're not enemies, right?"

He looks at the intertwining energy on the woman's fists and says:

"Let's put down our weapons and have a good talk, okay?"

Vers looks at Merlin, wariness flashes in her eyes as she shakes her head:

"No! You're different from Fury, he's a normal person, you're not..."

"You're different from the ordinary life forms of planet c-53, I now suspect you of being an infiltrator or assassin from other planets, just like the Skrulls who're waging war everywhere!"

"You prove your identity first!"

Vers' request was somewhat imposing, Merlin frowns and says:

"I'm an Earthling, I have these abilities just because of some experiences. Maybe you can look at my ID but it's not on me right now. Or we could just stand here for 30 minutes, and Fury will arrive."

"You trust him right? He'll prove my identity."

Merlin's explanation makes the supposed alien Vers frown, after a few seconds of confrontation, she tells Merlin:

"Shapeshifted Skrulls only retain short-term memories, now list a detail about you that the Skrulls can never make up!"

"What a weird request...alright, let me think..."

Merlin presses his glasses, moments later, he lets out a gentle smile and says:

"I like drinking water...and at a fixed time, I drink water at least once every 6 hours, this was a habit I formed after meeting a mysterious person 2 years back."

"Shwa"

The energy on Vers' fists dissipate slightly as she tells Merlin:

"Come in. I'll give you 30 minutes, but don't do anything dangerous."

Merlin follows Vers into the empty bar.

He frowns while looking at the hole in the wall Vers had blasted with her light cannon, that hole leads straight outside and people could see what occurs from the outside through that hole.

It's not confidential at all!

Merlin places the suitcase in his hand on the side and tells Vers who was watching him:

"I'm going to fix that wall, you don't want the news of you being here getting leaked now, right?"

Vers shrugs, she sits on the bar and takes a sip of beer, saying:

"Be my guest, but that wall is beyond repair now."

"Not so, Miss Vers."

Merlin smiles, he walks to the wall and takes out his wand Lola, then after a quick chant, a Reparo is thrown at the wall; as Merlin injected his mana, the wall started to repair itself like time was being turned backward, the sawdust on the ground was being sent back like there was an invisible hand, and soon, the wall is fixed.

"Done!"

Merlin turns around and looks at the woman behind him, saying:

"It's not that hard, right?"

Vers looks at the wand in Merlin's hand and the fixed wall while saying with interest:

"So you're a warlock."

"Warlock? No."

Merlin shakes his head and says:

"We don't call ourselves that here."

"Names are irrelevant, I've seen those esoteric warlocks on Hala, the energy they use when casting is quite similar to yours."

Vers leans against the bar and says:

"Warlocks are uncommon in Kree Civilization. They normally hold worshipping positions symbolizing the ancient heritage of the Kree Civilization. It's just that I've never thought that lifeforms like you would be born from a planet like c-53...the energy of your planet is too low, supposedly, only ordinary humans like Fury could be born here."

"Speaking of which, how's Fury?"

"He's fine."

Merlin walks forward and sits on the seat next to Vers. The bar owner was probably scared away from the alien woman, so Merlin made himself a drink and tells Vers:

"After you left, Fury bumped into a Skrull, albeit he was almost attacked, he killed that guy. The alien's corpse is now sitting in a lab waiting for dissection."

Merlin takes a sip of water and tells vers who was looking at him:

"Fury thinks that your warning is important, he doesn't know of the number of Skrulls that have infiltrated Earth, so he wants to hear the numbers from you."

"I don't know either."

Vers turns and looks at the decorations on the wall, along with the gaming machine and mic in the corner of the bar, there was a hint of melancholy and daze as she told Merlin:

"The Skrulls have the strongest shapeshifting ability in the whole galaxy, even the sharpest Kree wise men could hardly differentiate them. If you're lucky, the only Skrulls on the planet are the ones who followed me here; if you're unlucky, then the Skrulls might have already secretly infiltrated the planet long ago."

"Those bastards love to do these things. Pick a planet, infiltrate it using their shapeshifting abilities, start a war, then destroy the native civilization; later, they'll call their people and take over the planet."

"Sounds like you know a lot about Skrulls?"

Merlin frowns and asks:

"But I've seen the Skrulls' damaged soul, I assume that they can disguise their physical appearance, but their souls are bound to be exposed eventually."

"Fool! Warlock, you know too little about the creations of the stars."

Vers sips on her glass, brushes her hair, and tells Merlin:

"Who told you..."

"That Skrulls cannot disguise their souls?"

 

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