Of Course the Chicken Was in the Coop

Quill crouched where he was, staring at the pendant in Shendu's claws with a complicated look in his eyes.

"So what happens next?"

He stood up and brushed the dust from his pants. "We can't just let that agent who turned into a rooster keep strutting around the streets of New York in a tiny tactical uniform, crowing, can we?"

"Of course not."

Shendu turned and looked toward the faintly visible Chitauri ruins outside the warehouse. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has probably noticed that the cat wearing jewelry has gone missing by now. They'll soon turn their attention to other anomalies, such as the rooster that agent became after disappearing."

"So we change him back before anyone finds him." Quill nodded. "The question is, where is that guy now?"

"At S.H.I.E.L.D.'s temporary command center."

Quill froze for a moment. "You mean that chicken... is inside S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"The most dangerous place is often the safest place."

As if recalling something, Shendu smiled. "Before your mother put the talisman on the cat, I had it make a round of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s perimeter."

"That rooster was being chased by several agents at the time. When it saw the cat—or rather, the talisman around its neck—it instinctively charged toward it."

"And then?" Quill asked.

"Then I took it away along with the cat," Shendu said calmly. "But afterward, I sent it back."

Quill's expression became quite a sight. "You sent a rooster wearing a miniature S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical uniform back to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"That temporary command center used to be an abandoned meat-processing plant."

A barely perceptible hint of pride entered Shendu's voice. "There's an abandoned chicken coop behind the factory building."

Quill fell silent. He had never imagined Shendu would hide Agent Rooster in a place like that.

"You're saying that rooster is hiding in the chicken coop behind S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command center right now?"

"To be precise, it's in an old cellar beneath the chicken coop."

Shendu corrected him. "That place has been abandoned for decades. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scanning equipment won't notice it."

Quill took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "Fine. So how are you planning to get in and change him back?"

"The one who will change him back isn't me. It's you."

Quill pointed at his own nose. "Me?"

"You're human, Quill. You have a legal Earth identity, and your mother was just questioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. Your presence around the command center won't raise much suspicion."

Shendu held out the Monkey Talisman to him. "Besides, you have this now."

Quill stared at the talisman without reaching out to take it.

"You mean you want me to use this... to turn into someone and sneak in?"

"The Monkey Talisman's power goes far beyond transforming people and animals into each other."

Shendu's voice carried a coaxing note. "It can turn you into any creature, including any person."

Quill's eyes flickered. "You mean I can turn into Coulson?"

"Or any agent you need to become." Shendu pressed the talisman into his hand. "You only need to find that rooster, turn it back into a human, and leave before anyone discovers you."

"What about you?"

"I'll wait outside."

Shendu turned to look beyond the warehouse. "If anything goes wrong, I'll make some noise and divert S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention."

Quill lowered his head to look at the Monkey Talisman in his palm. The carving on its surface glimmered faintly in the dim light.

"You know," Quill suddenly said, "even now, I'm not sure whether you really need my help or you're just treating me like a pawn you can throw away whenever you want."

Shendu's steps paused. "I need your help."

Shendu did his best to make his tone sound sincere. "Not because you're the most suitable choice, but because... I'm willing to trust you."

Quill was taken aback, then smiled with a touch of self-mockery. "Why does that sound so much like the classic line a scumbag uses when breaking up?"

Shendu did not respond.

Clutching the talisman, Quill took a deep breath. "All right, then. Tell me exactly where that chicken coop is."

Fifteen minutes later.

Lower Manhattan, New York. Outside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s temporary command center.

Wearing a gray hoodie bought from a thrift store, Quill crouched behind an abandoned truck and stared at the drab gray building two hundred meters away.

Security at the command center was looser than he had expected. After all, this was only a temporary base, not S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Only two agents stood guard at the entrance. Patrol silhouettes occasionally appeared along the surrounding walls, but not very often.

His gaze swept across the weed-choked open ground behind the building.

At the far end of it, a row of dilapidated wooden sheds was barely visible.

That was the chicken coop Shendu had mentioned.

The problem was that there were at least three checkpoints between him and that open ground.

Quill looked down at the Monkey Talisman in his hand. Its surface was slightly warm.

Who should I turn into to get inside...?

As he pondered, a black SUV suddenly drove in from the distance and stopped at the command center entrance. The door opened, and a familiar figure stepped out.

Coulson.

Quill's eyes lit up.

Ten minutes later, the agent standing guard at the command center entrance saw someone unexpected.

"Agent Coulson?" The agent froze. "Didn't you just go in?"

"I forgot a file."

The "Coulson" before him smiled faintly, his expression flawlessly gentle. "It's in the trunk. Could you open the car door for me?"

The agent had no suspicions and turned toward the SUV.

The instant he turned around, Quill—now wearing Coulson's face—flicked his wrist. A glimmer from the Monkey Talisman flashed past.

The agent did not even have time to make a sound before he turned into a drab gray pigeon, flapping his wings as he flew into the sky.

Quill blinked. "...That's pretty useful."

He hurried toward the wall at the side of the command center. At the corner, he activated the talisman again and transformed into a black stray cat, slipping lightly through a gap in the fence.

S.H.I.E.L.D. patrol agents passed by him, and no one gave the cat a second glance.

Quill crept onward, circling past three prefabricated buildings before finally spotting the row of chicken coops.

He quickened his pace, approaching the coops under the cover of the weeds.

Just as he was about to reach his target, footsteps suddenly sounded behind him.

Quill went rigid and turned to look.

Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were walking over from not far away. One of them held a device resembling a detector and was scanning the surrounding area.

"...Agent Cormac is missing. He was last seen at the entrance," one of them said.

"What about the surveillance footage?"

"It only showed him walking toward that SUV, and then he just... disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah, just like that agent last night. He vanished into thin air."

Quill's heart skipped a beat.

He lowered himself and hid in the grass, watching the two agents pass less than ten meters away.

The detector's beeping grew closer and closer.