dmims Chapter 15 You sold me out, and I'm still helping you count the money.
Chapter 15 You sold me out, and I'm still helping you count the money.
Quill's gaze lingered on Shendu for a long time, as if he were re-examining this collaborator who called himself Valon: "Fine."
Quill finally spoke, his tone complex: "Even if you schemed against me, given the current situation, we're really in the same boat. If my mother gets into S.H.I.E.L.D. and that talisman is discovered, neither of us will be in good shape."
The Holy Lord's lips curled into a slight smile: "So you're willing to cooperate?"
"Do I have any other choice?" Quill smiled wryly. "Tell me, what should I do?"
The Holy Lord remained silent for a few seconds, then quickly went through the plan again in his mind.
He originally planned to have Quill distract his mother so he could sneak into Quill's house and take the talisman.
But now S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance is more extensive than he anticipated, and Coulson's presence means that the area around that house is likely already teeming with informants.
"The plan needs to be adjusted," the Holy Lord said. "Your mother is currently wearing a talisman, and she is the only one who can actively activate the power of the talisman."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to take her away, not only to investigate the agent mutation incident, but more likely because they have detected the energy fluctuations of the talisman."
Quill frowned. "So?"
"So we need to make her hand over the talisman herself."
"Herself?" Quill shook his head. "Impossible. It was a gift from her son, and she treasures it."
The Holy Lord narrowed his eyes: "Then let her believe that wearing this pendant is a deadly threat to her son."
The next morning, Coulson's car arrived at Quill's mother's house right on time.
The woman who opened the door looked better than last night, but she still had noticeable dark circles under her eyes.
"Hello, ma'am."
Coulson's smile remained gentle: "Excuse me, we need your cooperation to conduct a simple inquiry."
The woman nodded, about to speak, when a voice came from behind her.
"Mom, I'll go with you."
Quill came out of the house, carrying a coat in his hand.
Coulson raised an eyebrow slightly. "Mr. Peter Quill? When did you get back?"
"Early morning."
Quill remained unfazed: "I heard you're going to question my mother, and I'm worried about going with you."
Coulson's smile remained unchanged; he had already learned of Quill's return through his informants: "Of course, please."
As the black SUV drove away, at the street corner, an ordinary stray cat squatted beside a trash can, its eyes fixed on the direction the vehicle had gone. A small, inconspicuous pendant hung around the cat's neck.
S.H.I.E.L.D. temporary command center.
Coulson personally led Quill and her son into an interrogation room.
The room wasn't as formal as I'd imagined; in fact, it was quite cozy, with warm lighting, a soft sofa, and a steaming cup of coffee on the table.
"Please sit down, don't be nervous, it's just a question." Coulson gestured for the two to sit down, and then sat down in the chair opposite him.
He opened a folder and began asking, "Madam, around eight o'clock last night, did you notice anything unusual outside the house?"
The woman glanced at her son subconsciously, and Quill nodded slightly.
"I...I saw someone hiding outside my fence, looking into the house with binoculars."
Her voice was a little nervous: "I was very scared, so... I just wanted him to leave."
"and then?"
"Then……"
The woman paused for a moment: "Then he suddenly disappeared."
Coulson's pen paused for a moment on the paper: "Gone? What exactly happened?"
The woman shook her head: "I don't know. I was too scared at the time and didn't see clearly. When I looked again, there was only... a rooster left outside."
Coulson's smile remained gentle, but a hint of inquiry flickered in his eyes: "A rooster wearing a tactical vest?"
"Yes...yes."
"Were you doing anything unusual at the time? For example, were you holding anything, or thinking about anything in particular?"
This question made the woman's hand tremble slightly.
Quill noticed his mother's actions and said, "Agent Coulson, my mother has already told her everything she knows. She's just an ordinary person. So what does this agent mutation incident have to do with her?"
Coulson looked at him, his smile unchanged: "Mr. Peter Quill, your mother was a direct witness to the incident, and we have an obligation to find out the truth, and..."
He paused, then his gaze returned to the woman: "I noticed that something seems to be missing from your neck."
"In the last footage the surveillance agents sent back yesterday, you were wearing a pendant. Could you tell me where that pendant is now?"
The woman's expression changed slightly.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the interrogation room, and an agent pushed the door open and whispered a few words in Coulson's ear.
Coulson frowned slightly, and the smile at the corner of his mouth faded a bit.
He stood up and said, "Excuse me, I have some urgent matters to attend to. Please rest here for a while."
Quill and his mother exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.
Command Center Main Control Room.
Tony Stark was lounging in a chair, with a holographic screen in front of him displaying surveillance footage.
"Mr. Stark," Coulson walked in, "you said there was an important discovery?"
"It wasn't me, it was my drone."
Tony casually zoomed in on the image: "Guess what I found near that house?"
The image freezes on a stray cat.
Coulson narrowed his eyes slightly: "This is..."
"A cat wearing jewelry has appeared in the area where your agent mutated."
Tony stood up: "And this cat, after you took the mother and child away, swaggered into the house through the back door, and then jumped out of the window five minutes ago and ran east."
He turned to Coulson, his tone clearly sarcastic: "Aren't you S.H.I.E.L.D. supposed to be the best at surveillance? How come you can't even keep an eye on a cat?"
Coulson ignored his teasing and swiftly ordered, "Track the cat's location, immediately!"
"It's too late."
Tony shrugged: "I lost track of the cat with my drone. It's like it just vanished."
Tony paused, his tone becoming meaningful: "Coulson, don't you think this is getting more and more interesting?"
Twenty minutes later.
An abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Chitauri waste disposal area in Lower Manhattan, New York.
Quill crouched behind a pile of clutter, his expression complex as he looked at the figure in front of him. "Are you sure no one's following us?"
The Holy Lord emerged from the shadows: "Confirmed."
He was holding a pendant in his hand.
"My mother's necklace..." Quill stared at the pendant. "How did you do that?"
"Your mother put the charm on the cat as planned before she left. I just need to take the cat away and retrieve the charm before S.H.I.E.L.D. can react."
The Holy Lord put away the talisman: "That cat is safe now, in a place where it won't be found, or rather, it's no longer a cat."
Quill paused for a few seconds: "You planned this all along, didn't you? You made me convince my mom to cooperate, to believe that this pendant is a target of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that wearing it will only bring me trouble..."
"This was the most reasonable solution at the time," the Lord said calmly, "and it was indeed effective."
"efficient……"
Quill repeated the word, then suddenly laughed, with a hint of self-mockery: "You know what, I'm still not sure whether I was the one being schemed against by you, or whether I was helping you scheme against myself."
"I always feel like if you sold me out, I'd still help you count the money."