Druid in the Marvel Universe Chapter 130: Can't Be Friends

Alvin was holding the phone, listening to Professor Nicolas go off for what felt like forever. Gotta hand it to the old dude; he was a real cowboy. His mindset was simple: as long as I ain't done anything wrong, I got nothing to worry about! Even if it's freakin' S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Alvin had to yell a bit before Professor Nicolas finally heard him and shouted, "Alvin, you gotta come help me out. My old buddy Eric and his two students got nabbed by S.H.I.E.L.D.!

These jerks even wanna take the gear I borrowed from the school!"

Rex, on the other end, hollered to Domingo, "Domingo, get your gun ready. If they try anything, we take 'em down. If it goes south, I'll sell the house to get us a lawyer!"

Alvin figured Nicolas might be losing it; the guy was too old to be getting this worked up.

If anything happened to Nicolas, Alvin would lose his mind!

Alvin coughed and shouted into the phone, "Chill out, old man. Take a breath and tell me who these people are. I heard you say S.H.I.E.L.D.; maybe I know someone there!

Worst case, just hand over the stuff. I know their director, and I'll make sure we get it all back.

Tell Domingo to put the gun away. No need to start a war here!"

Professor Nicolas took a deep breath and said, "Alright. The computer's got crucial data from our experiment; we can't lose it!

The guy in charge is a bald, square-jawed idiot. You know him?"

Alvin felt a twinge of annoyance. Why would I know him just 'cause he's an idiot? But from Nicolas's description, Alvin thought he might actually know the guy.

Wasn't Phil in L.A. just the other day? How'd he end up in New Mexico?

Sighing, Alvin said into the phone, "Old man, ask the guy if his name's Phil. If it is, I'll talk to him! Don't get worked up; think about your future statue. You gotta stick around a few more years!"

Rex in the hotel shouted triumphantly and yelled at the other side, "Hey, you, yeah you, you idiot, is your name Phil?"

Phil rubbed his face in frustration. Why did he keep running into such stubborn people lately? It made his job as a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent a real pain and made him feel useless!

The big guy on the other side looked too fierce. Phil wasn't sure he could handle the situation without someone getting hurt. After all, they weren't criminals, and he couldn't use lethal force on them. They were S.H.I.E.L.D., not Nazis!

Now the old man on the other side was calling out his name, even though he got it wrong, but it was definitely him.

Phil had his colleagues lower their weapons, put on a smile, and walked towards Rex, saying, "Yeah, I'm Phil, but the name's Phil Coulson.

I think there's been a mix-up. We're here 'cause a professor named Eric and his two students helped a criminal break into our secret S.H.I.E.L.D. lab to steal something important.

So we gotta take their equipment. Once we check it out, if it's got nothing to do with the crime, we'll give it back!"

Professor Nicolas ignored him and handed the phone to Phil, indicating he should listen.

Phil, puzzled, took the phone. What was this old man thinking? Did he think his IRS son could control S.H.I.E.L.D.?

"HELLO, this is Phil!"

"Hey, Phil. Not thrilled to be talking to you, man. But here we are, 'cause you're hassling a top-notch professor who just got 63 kids into college this year who might've ended up in jail otherwise!

So, what's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s deal? Why you always gotta mess with me?" Alvin snapped, clearly annoyed.

Phil recognized the voice right away and felt like he was losing it. Why did he always end up dealing with Alvin or his crew?

Phil forced a smile and said, "It's the professor's buddies. They helped someone break into one of our bases to swipe something important.

What do you want me to do? Look at it from my side, Alvin. I got a job to do!"

Alvin thought for a sec and then said, "Yeah, you got your job. So arrest them, but leave Professor Nicolas out of it. You can't hassle him.

Some of that gear is borrowed from my school. I can vouch they were just doing research. Why they broke into your base, I don't know, and I don't wanna know.

But you can get the answers, right?

Do me a solid and don't mess with Professor Nicolas. If something happens to him, you can't handle the fallout! As for the ones you nabbed, clear things up. If it's a misunderstanding, let 'em go!

If there's an issue, hand 'em over to the cops! It's a professor named Eric and his two female students. How much trouble could they cause?"

Phil listened to Alvin's rant, nodding along. He realized he probably wouldn't wrap up his mission today 'cause Alvin made sense. He had checked out those people's backgrounds, but the data they recorded was crucial, so Phil had to get it!

Phil said sincerely, "Alright, Alvin. Some of the data in that gear is super important. I need to take it back. So here's the deal. I don't need the equipment; just give me a copy of the data. Cool?"

Alvin chuckled, "Taking someone else's work is illegal, even if they did something wrong.

Look, I'm reasonable. You can have the data, but only if Professor Eric agrees. Go talk to him; I bet he won't say no."

Phil gave Professor Nicolas a wry smile and said into the phone, "Alright, Alvin. Remember your promise. If Professor Eric agrees, you can't stop me from doing my job!"

"No problem. If they messed up, the law will deal with them. If Professor Eric agrees, you can take the data. I got no issues. That data means nothing to me.

But don't mess with Professor Nicolas. He's a gem at our school. If he loses a single hair, I'll lose it!" Alvin said seriously.

Phil was a bit taken aback by Alvin's attitude. He seemed a bit too agreeable.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Phil said, "Alright, we got a deal. Alvin, if we could always talk like this, we might even be friends!"

"If you guys stop bugging me, I'd be grateful!

I was supposed to have a great night, but you guys ruined it!

I think keeping some distance between us is a good idea."

Looking at Megan, who was wearing a skimpy nightgown and leaning against the door watching him, Alvin sighed. He felt he could never be friends with S.H.I.E.L.D.