Chapter 90: Arc 3: Chapter 7: Back to New York

"Whumpa Whumpa"

As dusk passes and the night falls, a black helicopter lands in the agent base in Nevada.

Merlin waves at the pilot then turns around to look at Coulson, saying:

"Take these two and follow me."

The rookie Coulson begins pushing the cart in his hand after hearing so, on the cart was a Skrull tied up by chains, and someone messy who's in a coma.

It was Keller.

The real Keller.

Merlin and Coulson had returned to the agent base, and in front of the base supervisors, called Alexander Pierce who was in Washington, and gained control of the base in a short time through Pierce's authority.

A few hundred men began sweeping the base and spent nearly half an hour to discover the unconscious Keller in a remote storage room.

This unlucky incompetent fellow must've been knocked out by the Skrull using some way, then by borrowing his identity, the Skrull fooled all the agents in the base and made a mess in Pegasus Base.

Pierce, from the phone, requested for Merlin to bring Keller back to New York, along with the alien who was captured alive. 

For this, Pierce generously accepted Merlin's request for backup.

He used his authority and called for Merlin a helper he needed most.

"Clint, it's been a long time!"

In the wind blowing from the helicopter propellors, Merlin jumps onto the helicopter, then greets the pilot Hawkeye Barton, before turning to look at the bored Black Widow Natasha at the back.

They were both his acquaintances, and they had strong fighting power which could help out a lot in the subsequent affairs.

"Natasha, looking good."

Merlin smiles at Miss Black Widow, the latter glares at him and says with dissatisfaction:

"Because of your request, I had to get up in the middle of the night, fly across most of the Atlantic Ocean to this goddamn place, and probably risk my life in the process. Merlin, you're starting to feel more like Fury, more obnoxious!"

"Don't say that, Natasha."

Merlin smiles and tells Black Widow:

"I promise you that I'll bring you back some 'cute gadgets' from Europe once this troublesome affair is dealt with."

"really?"

Natasha stares at Merlin, her tone becomes light as she flicks her finger and says:

"Buy some more, they're quite useful. Makeup, a woman's best friend."

"Of course! I'll move as soon as the mission's over."

Merlin promises this as Coulson brings the two prisoners onto the helicopter.

Aside from the obnoxious Keller who was human. The tied-up Skrull was more frightening.

These things were quite rare after all, even the indifferent agent Barton who was piloting the chopper kept glancing back at the tied-up guy in surprise. Black Widow on the other hand eagerly draws out her knife to poke at the Skrull's weird skin, she tells Merlin:

"This is an alien? Or some kind of irregular I don't know of?"

"It's the first one."

Merlin reaches out and closes the helicopter hatch, then tells agent Natasha and Barton with a serious expression:

"This is why I asked officer Pierce to send the best agents, the situation this time is grave. From what I know, aside from these Skrulls, there'll be another race of aliens potentially landing on Earth. Officer Pierce grades this as an 'S'-class situation, which is rare even in the history of the SSR."

"So...it's a war?"

While agent Barton controlled the helicopter to take off and head for New York, he asked in a low tone:

"Where's Fury now?"

"He's someplace else."

Merlin says:

"That place will most probably be where the war will start. So we better hurry."

"What about him?"

Natasha looks at the unconscious Keller on the other seat and says:

"Why bring this guy with us? Is he good for anything else besides troublemaking?"

"Him?"

Merlin glances at the messy Keller, a light flashes in his eyes as he says:

"He's the chance! The chance we've been waiting for..."

Merlin did not continue, but both Barton and Natasha were sharp people who almost immediately understood what Merlin meant.

In the dark cabin, the three let out a meaningful smile.

This confused the rookie agent Coulson who's been trying his best to lower his presence at the side.

He didn't know about this, nor did he dare to ask, he could only watch as the three chattered about. And this busy yet odd day had been much too exciting for a newbie like Coulson, the continuous turn of events exhausted him.

So a dozen minutes later, agent Coulson leans against his seat and falls asleep.

"Hey, rookie!"

Maybe it's been a long time, maybe it's been a while, Coulson was awoken from his sleep, he lifts his head to find that the helicopter had landed, and Merlin was clapping on his face.

"What is it? Sir."

Coulson looks out the window in a daze, it was already dawn, and a ray of light was shining in the darkness far off the distance.

"Pack up! We're going to meet the real person-in-charge now!"

Merlin throws Coulson a towel, then reaches out and carries Keller and the Skrull out of the cabin.

Barton and Natasha stood beside him, in front of them was a fully armed action team in black combat uniforms. And they were not in an airport or the SHIELD building, this was a quiet private mansion with a helicopter landing site.

Alexander Pierce was waiting for them here.

"Come with me, agents."

Agent Sitwell greets Merlin benignantly, he presses his glasses and looks at the alien on Merlin's shoulder, as well as Keller who was carried by Barton, and says lightly:

"Sir Pierce is waiting for you."

"So, Sitwell, you finally following the bigshots?"

Merlin talks with the leading agent Sitwell, the latter shakes his head and tells Merlin:

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"It's not that easy, officer Merlin. It's just that what you're reporting is much too important, and Pierce didn't want to alarm our people, so he had to use trustworthy people. I hurried here a few hours ago after receiving the order too."

Merlin nods, after experiencing the 'half-demon' incident last time, agent Sitwell can be considered trustworthy now.

Facing the half-demon Morris' interrogation, Sitwell did not leak a single thing, he had gained Merlin and Fury's trust just from this alone.

Not to mention, the agent had paid the price for the incident.

Merlin looks at Sitwell's head...it was bald, what little hair the agent had was completely gone, in its place was a slightly ugly scar that looked like some kind of warrior's medal.

"Sitwell, your hair..."

Merlin's words make Sitwell pause, moments later, he says somewhat sadly:

"Nothing I can do about it. The doctor said that those weird flames had burned the hair root tissue, I tried a lot of methods, but...sigh, nothing I can do about it. This is fine anyways, saves me the trouble of tidying it, and saves a lot of things. And to be honest...I'm already lucky for surviving an incident like that."

Sitwell turns back and gently smiles at Merlin, saying:

"I have to thank you, officer Merlin. If you hadn't come to my rescue, I probably would've died there."

"I implicated you, Sitwell."

Merlin says apologetically:

"You never should've experienced all that."

"It's nothing."

Sitwell presses his glasses and opens the door to the mansion's hall, he smiles and says:

"It's not your fault, officer Merlin, in fact, if not for your recommendation, I would've already lost this job due to the academy shutting down. Alright, go on in, officer Pierce has been waiting for you all night without even sleeping, let's not keep him waiting."

"Mmm."

Merlin reaches out and pats on Sitwell's shoulder, then, under the guard of the action team, carries the tied-up Skrull and enters the hall. Natasha, Barton, and Coulson follow behind him.

Alexander Pierce is currently one of the members of the WSC, supposedly a future Council director. He's practically one step into the higher-ups of politics, equivalent to a normal senator.

The private mansion he chose also fits his current identity.

The bright hall was paved with white marble, with crystal chandeliers, a simple sofa, and some seemingly terrific collections. But what drew the most attention were the two Springfield rifles hanging on the wall while crossed together.

Those were no decorations...they should be the real deal, weapons used by Pierce in the war.

The elderly man was no small fry, he may not have fought in WWII, but he has participated in every battle after that, he was a truly experienced soldier who acts like one too.

"Look who it is."

Pierce in his pajamas looked to be exhausted, he was almost 60 after all, he was not as energetic as youngsters. On the table in front of him was an opened bottle of whiskey and a few glasses, it looks like this spirited elderly man was using this way to endure the long hours of waiting.

Seeing as the agents walk into the hall, Pierce stands up and walks towards them to welcome them.

He was like an officer welcoming soldiers who have returned from the battlefield, he shook hands with Merlin, barton, Natasha, and Coulson, giving them a pat on the shoulder, thanking their disbursement, then passing over the glass by his hand to them.

It was never going to be hard getting along with an elderly man like this. Pierce did not waste too much time catching up, he talked with the agents briefly before placing his attention on the two on the floor.

"I've heard of aliens since I was little."

Pierce squats down and examines the Skrull, who was still in a coma.

"But this is my first time actually seeing one..."

A curious light flashes in the elderly man's eyes, he then shakes his head and says to Natasha who was beside him:

"They sure are ugly, huh?"

"But they can shapeshift, sir."

Merlin holds the wine glass and tells Pierce:

"These guys are called Skrulls, they come from the other side of the universe. They've been fighting a very, very long war with another alien civilization known as the Kree, although I've heard the Kree claim that the Skrulls are an evil race, I think both sides aren't anything good."

"That's normal, Merlin."

Pierce stands up and passes the wine glass to Sitwell behind him, he then tells the agents beside him:

"It's like the Cold War we fought on Earth, we claim the Soviets to be evil, but are we good? War...doesn't differentiate between good and evil."

"Tell me more about this alien, and that woman, the one called Vers, what's with her? Fury just called me and said that Vers was an Earthling with superpowers and that she's useful to us?"

What Pierce asked was what Barton and Natasha were curious about, Merlin leans on the sofa, contemplates, then tells the people in front of him:

"Vers is indeed Earthling, and from what intel we've collected, she may be the pilot of Project Pegasus; she was discovered and brought back to the Kree home planet Hala during the crash in 1989, she was then transformed there and had her memories locked."

"She's been stubbornly insisting that she was a noble Kree warrior...but she's not. She's a blonde and, luckily, lost American girl, that's it."

"So, she's one of us?"

Pierce nods understandingly, he eyes for Merlin to continue:

"Vers gave us a lot of intel on the Skrulls. As of now, there's no solution to the Skrulls' shapeshifting ability."

Merlin explains to them:

"Their disguise not only covers the surface, it completely copies them from the DNA, so biologically, once he shapeshifts into us, he'll become the real us; supposed this type of shapeshifting can also copy abilities, the only weakness is that they cannot copy long-term memories."

"It's practically a civilization born for infiltration and subversion!"

Pierce squints his eyes, as someone who's been working in the agent line of work for all his life, he understood the threat Skrulls posed towards other civilizations.

He squints his eyes and looks at the green-skin alien by his feet, saying:

"Now I understand why the Kree are trying to annihilate them. Their existence is a threat that cannot be ignored to all civilizations."

"Yes sir."

Merlin says:

"We've injected him with a concentrated dose of sleeping agent, you'll make the call on what to do with him."

"Keep him!"

Pierce waves his hand, the action team guarding the door then approaches and carries the unconscious alien outside. He tells the others:

"For now, you won't have to worry about this, we have a secret brother organization that specializes in dealing and communicating with aliens; they'll help us dig out all the secrets inside the brains of this Skrull."

Pierce squints his eyes and looks at the other unconscious person on the sofa, he sends the unrelated personnel away and says meaningfully:

"Then next...will be about Sir Keller."

 

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