Chapter 23: Lynn: What's That? I Can't Hear You.
"Whoa. Interesting."
Lynn looked at the creature in front of him—green skin, pointed ears like an elf. A Skrull.
He looked him up and down. "You just... brought him out of SHIELD? Just like that?"
"What else?"
Natasha crossed her arms with a smile. "If it were just me, it would've been tough to get this alien out for interrogation. But with Steve vouching for me, it's a different story."
Steve Rogers, who had been silent, stepped forward and handed Lynn a manila envelope.
"I have to admit, I'm still not good at this sort of thing."
Lynn opened the envelope and saw the stacks of cash inside.
He knew what Steve meant by "not good at this"—fudging expense reports for "damaged equipment" and skimming the funds.
Lynn pocketed the money and pulled out a small bottle of pink potion.
The moment he saw it, the Skrull strapped to the chair began to struggle. "What are you doing? Damn it, what is that?"
"It's a 'Truth Potion.' But you can just think of it as a truth serum."
Lynn uncorked the bottle, stepped forward, pinched the Skrull's jaw, and poured the potion down his throat.
"Natasha told me you could resist her truth serum. So I'm just trying to see if you can resist this."
After forcing the potion down, Lynn casually tossed the empty bottle into a nearby trash can.
"And? That's it?"
Seeing Lynn step back, Natasha watched the Skrull, who showed no reaction. She threw up her hands.
"Just... give it a minute."
Lynn leaned against the wall and watched his clock. When the second hand hit thirty, the Skrull's pupils slowly turned pink.
"Not bad. A normal human can only last about five seconds against the Truth Potion. This alien held out for thirty."
"Alright. He's all yours."
Hearing this, Natasha immediately turned to the Skrull. "What planet are you from? What's your purpose on Earth? What are your abilities? And why do you have powers similar to the Hulk's?"
In response, the Skrull's face contorted in a struggle.
But his mouth opened on its own. "We are Skrulls. Our planet is in the Andromeda galaxy. We've been wandering the universe to escape persecution from the Kree. Our ability is to shapeshift into anyone we've seen."
[Image: Skrulls]
"Later, with the help of Carol Danvers and Nick Fury, we won the war, and we've been living on Earth ever since."
"To thank Nick Fury, we Skrulls have been secretly helping him ever since he became the director of SHIELD."
At this, the Skrull's face strained even more, but the words kept spilling out. "That bastard Nick Fury… he promised he'd find us a suitable place to live on Earth."
"But he went back on his word! He settled our people in a place full of nuclear radiation!"
"So, we Skrulls split into two factions. One faction thinks this life is fine, so they loyally follow Fury's orders."
"The other faction is full of resentment. We believe Nick Fury broke his promise!"
The Skrull's veins bulged as he clearly tried to stop himself from talking.
But his body kept going. "We... the resistance... we want to build our own home, using our own strength. But under SHIELD's oppression, we could only develop in secret."
"Fortunately, after the Battle of New York, we had an idea. If we can get the genes of your superheroes—hair, blood, saliva—and merge them into ourselves…"
"Then we will gain immense power. And then, we won't just have our own home... we will rule the Earth!"
As he finished, the Skrull snapped his head up, glaring at the three of them.
He knew he couldn't control himself, that he'd given up the secret.
So the Skrull stared them down, and then... with a violent twist...
Crack.
The Skrull's head lolled to the side at a grotesque angle.
Seeing this, Lynn was astonished.
'They're carbon-based, right? How are Skrulls so extra, even when they're killing themselves?'
Natasha and Steve, however, just looked at each other, shock in their eyes.
They never imagined a species like the Skrulls was living on Earth.
And they were planning to use superhero DNA to get strong enough to take over?
Natasha thought back to when they captured him—how he'd almost transformed into the Hulk and the disaster that caused.
Her expression turned grim. "We have to find out how many Skrulls are in this resistance faction. And how many of them already have powers like the Hulk's... or ours."
"If we can't round them all up, Earth could be facing a major disaster."
Steve nodded, his face just as serious. "But we can't do this with just the three of us."
"I recommend we assemble the Avengers and use SHIELD's resources to investigate."
"And most importantly... this involves Nick Fury."
He turned to look at Lynn, and then just sighed.
He didn't know when, but Lynn had somehow stuffed two wads of cotton into his ears.
He was just standing there, arms crossed, looking innocently at Natasha and him.
'Wait. Where did he even get cotton?'
"You two carry on. I can't hear a word you're saying."
Seeing Lynn's innocent expression, Natasha shook her head. "Lynn, this is about the future of the planet. So…"
"Huh? What'd you say? I can't hear you!"
Lynn pointed at the cotton in his ears, signaling that he couldn't hear a thing.
Natasha walked right up and pulled the cotton out of his ears.
Before she could speak, Lynn glanced at his watch and put on a look of "panic." "Oh, crap! I'm supposed to meet someone. I'm totally late!"
Without another word to either of them, Lynn bolted from the room.
Watching him go, Natasha just shrugged. "See? That's the smart one. He wants no part of this mess."
"But we need him."
Steve looked at Natasha. "I think he's more than just an apothecary. He has other, special abilities."
"Natasha, we're now facing an enemy that can look like anyone."
"Lynn's… weird abilities… they might be a huge help to us."
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