Amulet

"Times Square is the worst-hit area."

Steve drove, looking out at both sides of the road. "Tony was right. The council picked the busiest place to drop a nuclear bomb."

"They were afraid."

Steve gripped the steering wheel. "Fear is understandable, but that doesn't make it right."

Shendu glanced at him.

This human possessed a rare quality—the courage to stand by right and wrong amid chaos.

Unfortunately, he had no idea that what occupied Shendu's mind at that moment was not an assessment of Chitauri technology at all.

The car stopped outside a temporary cleanup station.

It had once been a parking lot, but had now been converted into a supply transfer depot.

All sorts of metal wreckage were piled beneath enormous tents. People in different uniforms registered, sorted, and loaded them onto vehicles.

Shendu spotted Quill at once. The outsourced scavenger was crouching beside a pile of wreckage, using a device to scan a metal plate.

"His efficiency is pretty high." Steve followed Shendu's gaze.

"I need to inspect those wreckages up close," Shendu said.

Steve hesitated briefly. "Don't leave my sight."

They approached the cleanup area. Hearing their footsteps, Quill looked up and immediately spotted Shendu. "Oh, the mascot's here."

"He isn't a mascot," Steve corrected him again.

"Just a joke. Why so serious?" Quill stood and dusted off his hands. "What, you guys interested in junk too?"

Shendu said nothing. He walked over to the pile, his eyes sweeping across the twisted metal, shattered circuit boards, and parts of unknown purpose.

Then he felt that tugging sensation. It was clearer than it had been last night, coming from Quill's direction—more precisely, from his pocket.

Shendu's eyes narrowed slightly. A strange-looking pendant peeked from Quill's pocket, only one corner visible. It looked like a roughly carved trinket.

There was no mistaking that tugging sensation. It was the Monkey Talisman.

"How are these energy cores supposed to be handled?" Shendu forced himself to look away, turning toward the row of transparent storage containers beside him.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. will collect them all," Steve said. "Tony said he wanted to study whether they could be used for clean energy."

"Not a bad idea."

Shendu no longer cared about the rest of the items. He was considering how to get close to the talisman without arousing suspicion.

If he made a move directly, Quill would resist, Steve would intervene, and everything would be ruined.

He needed an excuse—a legitimate reason no one could refuse.

"Some of this stuff is better left untouched," Shendu suddenly said.

Quill raised a brow. "Like what?"

"Chitauri communication modules." Shendu pointed a claw at a broken metal plate. "If they contain unsent signals, their homeworld might receive them."

Steve's expression turned serious. "Are you sure?"

"When I fought them, I sensed some kind of information fluctuation."

Shendu took a deep breath, his expression growing solemn. "The explosion may have destroyed most of them, but it's better to be careful."

Quill shrugged indifferently. "What does that have to do with me? I'm just an outsourced worker picking up recyclable materials."

Shendu turned to him. "You've handled the most wreckage. Did anything you picked up look like a communication module?"

Quill thought for a moment, then pulled several items from his pocket: a few screw-like metal pieces, a shattered chip, and that pendant.

"Does this count?" Quill shook the monkey-shaped pendant. "Found it on an officer's corpse. It looked pretty special, so I was planning to sell it."

"What is that?" Steve leaned in for a look.

"A protective charm," Quill said carelessly. "Aliens believe in that stuff too. Pretty interesting."

Shendu stared at the pendant. It was three inches long, engraved with the image of a monkey, its surface covered in fine patterns—the marks of a talisman he had personally carved long ago.

One of the twelve talismans. The power of transformation.

It was within arm's reach.

Shendu did not move. He suppressed the longing in his heart and tried to appear utterly ordinary.

"Let me see." His tone was calm.

Quill handed him the pendant, and Shendu's claw caught the talisman.

The instant he touched it, a warm sensation surged from his palm and raced through his veins to his entire body. It was the talisman's response upon returning to its original owner, the call of a power he had lost for thousands of years.

The Monkey Talisman. With a single thought, he could activate it.

It could shrink his body, turn him into a human, a bird, or any form he desired.

Shendu did not do so. He held the talisman, examined it for a few seconds, then returned it to Quill. "This isn't a communication module."

Quill took it back and casually stuffed it into his pocket. "Told you. It's just an old protective charm. You're overthinking it."

"But it does have some residual energy," Shendu added.

Steve immediately grew tense. "What kind of energy?"

Shendu frowned and narrowed his eyes, doing his best to hide the look in them. "Very weak. Something like mental fluctuations. Maybe it's the kind of tool Chitauri use to make people feel better."

He was lying. It was a necessary lie.

If he said it was a talisman, they would press him for answers.

If he showed any desire for it, they would become suspicious.

Only by dismissing it as an insignificant trinket would they lose interest.

One week. Quill would remain on Earth for another week. He still had time.

"You'd better be careful with things like that."

Shendu looked at Quill as though he were looking at an unlucky child. "Some alien objects can have unknown effects on the human mind."

Quill laughed. "Relax. I've seen the world. I've got plenty of experience dealing with alien stuff like this."

Shendu said no more. He turned and continued examining the wreckage, stirring metal fragments with his claws and occasionally asking a few insignificant questions.

Shendu had already begun planning how to take back the Monkey Talisman.

He had to find a reasonable, unsuspecting way to reclaim it within that week.

Or...

He glanced at Quill, who was talking with Steve.

Or he could make that man stay on Earth for a while. After all, it was perfectly reasonable for an Earthling who had drifted through space for years to suddenly return home and want to stay a few extra days to see how his hometown had changed.

As for how to make him stay...

Shendu lowered his eyes, concealing the flicker of light within them.

He had plenty of ways.

Not far away, Quill sneezed.

He rubbed his nose. "Weird. Who's talking about me?"

The inspection that followed went quickly. Quill and the others had already sorted the wreckage here.

Shendu only needed to walk through each pile and put on a show of inspecting it.

Beside him, Steve watched the scene, pressing his earpiece as he continuously reported Shendu's actions to S.H.I.E.L.D.