Tony's Good Luck

Just as the scanning device was about to sweep over the bushes where he was hiding, a rumble suddenly came from the distance.

"There's an abnormal energy fluctuation to the east!" The two agents exchanged a glance, then turned and ran toward the sound.

Quill relaxed. He turned to look eastward and vaguely saw a plume of smoke rising there.

Shendu had made his move. Quill stopped dwelling on it and quickly rushed toward the chicken coop.

The chicken coop was even more dilapidated than he had expected. Rotten straw and bird droppings littered the ground. Quill covered his nose with one hand and found a loose wooden board in the corner.

He took a deep breath, lifted the board, and jumped down.

The cellar was even darker than above, and the air carried a musty smell. Quill used the Monkey Talisman, making his fingertips glow faintly.

In that weak light, he saw a huddled shape in the corner. It was a rooster wearing a miniature S.H.I.E.L.D. combat uniform.

The rooster stared at him with frightened eyes, clucking nervously.

Quill crouched down, trying to make his voice sound gentler. "Don't be afraid. I'm here to get you out."

The rooster tilted its head.

"Um... you might not remember, but we met last night."

Confusion flashed through the rooster's eyes before immediately turning into fear. It flapped its wings and backed away, only to be stopped by the wall.

Quill sighed and raised the Monkey Talisman in his hand. "Relax. I'll turn you back right now."

The talisman's faint glow brightened and enveloped the rooster.

A moment later, the light faded.

A man in a S.H.I.E.L.D. combat uniform was huddled in the corner, his face pale and his eyes dull.

He lowered his head to look at his hands, restored to normal, then raised his head to look at Quill. More accurately, he stared at Quill's face, which still looked like Coulson's.

"Agent... Agent Coulson?"

Only then did Quill remember that he was still wearing Coulson's face. He hurriedly used the talisman to return to his original appearance. "Don't get it wrong. I'm not Coulson."

Quill reached out and pulled the agent to his feet. "I'm here to save you. There's no time to explain. You need to come with me."

The agent staggered to his feet, his expression complicated.

"Sorry, this might be a little difficult to explain."

Quill pulled him toward the cellar exit. "Let's get out of here first."

The moment they crawled out of the cellar, they ran straight into someone.

Tony Stark.

He stood at the entrance to the chicken coop, holding a cup of coffee and watching the two people crawl out of the cellar with an amused expression.

"Well."

Tony took an unhurried sip of coffee. "I only came here to find some peace and quiet. I didn't expect to catch such an entertaining show."

Quill froze. Why was Tony here now?

Tony's gaze swept over Quill's face before falling on the agent, the corner of his mouth slowly curving upward.

"So," he drawled, "who can tell me why a missing S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is crawling out of an abandoned chicken coop?"

Quill's mind raced.

"Mr. Stark," he said, trying to keep his voice calm, "this is a misunderstanding..."

"A misunderstanding?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "You mean turning a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent into a rooster and then turning him back is a misunderstanding?"

Quill's heart skipped a beat. How did Tony know?

Just then, a rumble came from afar. Smoke rose nearby, followed by a commotion and cries of alarm.

Tony looked back, his brow furrowing slightly. "Looks like Coulson's going to be busy today."

He turned back, no longer paying attention to it, and fixed his gaze on Quill again. "But before that, I'd like to hear your explanation."

Quill's mind spun at full speed, but he forced a puzzled expression onto his face. "Turned into a rooster? Mr. Stark, have you been working too much lately and started hallucinating? I suggest you drink more hot water and get some rest..."

"Stop!"

Tony raised one hand, his coffee cup pausing in midair. "First, don't talk to me in that tone you'd use to humor a child. Second..."

Tony tapped his wristband, and a holographic screen popped up.

The screen displayed a segment of surveillance footage.

In the footage, a rooster wearing a miniature S.H.I.E.L.D. combat uniform was darting about in panic through the bushes outside the command center.

A few seconds later, a cat wearing a pendant appeared at the edge of the frame. As if drawn by something, the rooster flapped its wings and rushed toward it. Then the image blurred, and both animals vanished at the same time.

Looking at the screen, Quill joked, "So S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance system records even wild animal migrations now? Pretty environmentally conscious."

Tony completely ignored the joke. He rewound the footage, stopped on a frame, and enlarged it.

"This."

Quill saw what was on the screen. Tony had specifically enlarged the talisman around the cat's neck.

His smile stiffened for a moment.

Tony caught that moment perfectly, and the curve of his mouth widened. "Aha. Looks like we've finally found a common topic."

"That's... a pendant."

Quill's voice was dry. "My mom used to like putting things like that on cats too. You know, middle-aged women's taste."

"I have no issue with middle-aged women's taste."

Tony took another unhurried sip of coffee. "Besides, I never said your mother put it on there."

Quill fell silent. Only then did he realize that his nervousness had made him misspeak.

After finishing his coffee, Tony put away the holographic screen and took two steps forward, stopping less than a meter from Quill. His gaze swept over the agent who had just been restored to human form before returning to Quill.

"What I'm curious about is why, after that cat wearing a pendant disappeared, a young man who was playing dumb yesterday would bring a missing agent out of an abandoned chicken coop today."

The agent finally snapped out of it and abruptly took a step back, putting distance between himself and Quill. "Mr. Stark, he turned me..."

"I know he turned you back," Tony said without looking back. "So you'd better shut up and let me finish asking my questions."

The agent immediately shut his mouth.

Quill took a deep breath and tried to make his expression look more natural. "Mr. Stark, this is actually very simple."

"Last night, I went out for a walk and saw a rooster. That chicken was wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, so I got curious and followed it. And guess what? By the time I followed it here, he turned back by himself."

"Turned back by himself," Tony repeated.

"Yes."

"From a rooster back into an adult man by himself."

Quill looked utterly sincere. "It really is a miraculous biological phenomenon. I suggest S.H.I.E.L.D. establish a special research team. They might even win a Nobel Prize."

Tony stared at him and laughed, and the sound made Quill's back turn cold.

After laughing, Tony said slowly, "You know, I only wanted to find somewhere quiet to hide from those annoying reports. But I got so lucky and stumbled into such a wonderful scene. In return, I think I should tell you something."

"What is it?"

"When I came in just now," Tony said, pointing at the chicken coop entrance, "I casually ran a biological signal scan on this chicken coop. Want to guess what I found?"