Thud! Thud! Thud!
A series of rhythmic footsteps echoed, and the Skrull chief scientist, disguised as Carol, turned to look at the entrance of the warehouse.
"Why are you only getting here now?"
The Skrull chief scientist, disguised as Carol, said to Rogg, who had just pushed the door open and walked in.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking."
Rogg didn't show any joy at reuniting with his trusted subordinate. His expression was strange, carrying a hint of suspicion and wariness.
"PRY46-B…"
The Skrull chief scientist attempted to confirm the code with Rogg but was immediately interrupted by him.
"No need for codes. We both know they're useless now."
This response was within the Skrull chief scientist's expectations. "Alright, ask anything you want," he replied, trying to appear relaxed.
"When I met the Supreme Intelligence, who did I see during our conversation?"
Rogg placed his hand on the holster at his waist, ready to draw his energy gun at any moment to shoot the Carol in front of him, and asked.
The Skrull chief scientist ignored Rogg's actions and replied naturally, "I guess it's the person you respect and admire the most, but you've never told me who."
"What is your earliest memory of Hala?"
"A blood transfusion. My blood is blue."
The first two questions were ones Carol had instructed before leaving, so the Skrull chief scientist unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
"Whose blood was it?"
Rogg asked casually.
"!!!"
"Yours."
The Skrull chief scientist was startled at first but quickly responded.
As soon as the words left the Skrull chief scientist's mouth, Rogg's energy pistol was already aimed squarely at his chest.
"Commander, you're being overly sensitive," said the Skrull chief scientist, disguised as Carol, as he casually reached out to push Rogg's pistol aside, imitating Carol's demeanor.
"Better safe than sorry."
Rogg smiled, re-holstering his gun. "Where are the Skrulls?" he asked.
"I don't know. Due to some unexpected events, I lost track of them."
The Skrull chief scientist continued, "I was being hunted by local forces on this planet. During the process of evading them, I lost the Skrulls' trail."
"Alright."
Rogg didn't seem to doubt the Skrull chief scientist's words. He turned and began walking out the door while asking, "You mentioned the Skrulls were searching for Mar-Vell's experimental data. What's the situation exactly?"
"The Skrulls went to the Air Force base, and then… ah!"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. The Skrull chief scientist collapsed heavily to the ground, hit by Rogg's shot.
"She doesn't even know about Mar-Vell, and she tried to lie to me?"
With his pistol still aimed at the Skrull chief scientist, Rogg spoke coldly, his killing intent evident.
"Heh."
The Skrull chief scientist let out a low chuckle as his disguise faded, revealing his original appearance.
"What did you do to her?"
Rogg kept the gun trained on the Skrull chief scientist but didn't immediately shoot. Instead, he asked, "What did you do to Carol?"
"We simply helped her rediscover herself."
After saying this, the Skrull chief scientist bit down hard and breathed his last.
From the black blood oozing from his mouth, it was clear he had prepared an escape plan for himself in advance.
The poison he used had actually been salvaged the previous night when he discreetly retrieved it from the mouths of those Hydra assassins.
"Damn it!"
Rogg cursed under his breath, slamming his hand hard against the doorframe. After some thought, he hurriedly ordered his subordinates to bring the spaceship down to pick him up. He also called for backup from Ronan via communicator.
"We've arrived."
In space, Maria Rambeau, sitting in the co-pilot seat, spoke up.
"So, where's the lab? Is it ahead of this dark patch or behind it?"
Nick Fury asked while stroking the cat in his arms and craning his neck to look.
"I'd advise against keeping that thing by your side all the time."
Sitting next to Fury, Talos glanced at the orange cat in his lap, shuddered slightly, and then looked out into space. "It's here," he said.
As he spoke, Carol activated a multifunctional holographic device on her wrist. After a few taps, there was a sound: "Disengaging cloaking mode."
A flash of golden light swept across the previously pitch-black space, and a massive spaceship suddenly appeared before them. It was Mar-Vell's laboratory.
Seeing this, the group piloted their ship into the lab, disembarked, and stood on its deck. Looking around, Ned turned to Carol and said, "Activate the cloaking mode again. As you mentioned, the Kree ships are already near Earth. If they discover this place, it'll be a problem."
"Alright."
Carol nodded and used the device on her wrist to return the lab to its cloaked state.
Still petting the orange cat, Fury listened to the exchange between Ned and Carol. He glanced at them, then down at the gun holster on his waist.
He felt strangely uneasy. Could a regular Earth handgun truly be effective against aliens?
From Fury's experience, every time Ned spoke in this tone, whatever hypothetical scenario he mentioned was almost guaranteed to become reality—as if he already knew what would happen next.
"Are you prepared?"
Fury leaned closer to Ned, whispering while holding the orange cat.
"What?"
Ned looked at Fury in confusion, secretly marveling at how sharp this "greenhorn" Fury already seemed to be.
Seeing Ned play dumb, Fury rolled his eyes and went back to stroking his cat. He figured that if things escalated, Ned wouldn't just abandon them.
"Meow!"
The moment they entered the lab's main chamber, the orange cat suddenly leapt from Fury's arms. With a few jumps, it reached a high-tech piece of equipment and began pawing at the glowing Tesseract.
"Alright, Goose, I completely understand your hunger. But trust me, you can't digest this thing. If we meet again in the future, I'll treat you to something better."
Ned stepped forward and used his Infinity Gauntlet-wearing right hand to pick up the Tesseract, smiling at the innocent-looking cat.
"What are you talking about? Goose just likes shiny objects. There's no way she'd try to eat this," Fury said as he picked Goose up and petted her. "Right, Goose?"
"Uh… aren't you worried she might scratch you?"
Ned asked, watching Fury's behavior with a mix of amusement and concern.
But Fury, lost in his own world, clearly wasn't paying him any attention.
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T/N:
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