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[Frog] Chapter 184: It Takes Two to Tango
🕑 Added 2024-11-30 16:18:11 +0000 UTCAt Gwen’s house, the family sat down for a rare dinner together, thanks to George coming home early tonight.
After dinner, George stayed to chat with Gwen and her mother about recent events.
Before long, it was getting late.
“Gwen, you should go take a shower now,” George said.
“You have class tomorrow.”
Gwen nodded. “Alright, I’ll go now.”
As she got up and headed toward the bathroom, George reminded her, “Gwen, remember to take off your accessories before showering.”
He pointed at his wrist.
Instinctively, Gwen looked at her own wrist, where her liquid combat suit disguised as a wristwatch rested.
“Got it, Dad.”
George was strict about these kinds of things, and Gwen wasn’t one to argue over such trivial matters. She obediently took off the watch.
Gwen’s mother shot George a look, clearly annoyed.
Only George would be so rigid, even after coming home.
Realizing he might have been a bit too strict, George softened slightly.
Gwen’s mother offered, “Give it to me, Gwen. You go ahead to the bathroom, and I’ll put it in your room.”
“No need. Just leave it here,” Gwen said.
“I’ll put it back on after I’m done.”
She placed the watch on the table and headed to the bathroom.
As soon as the bathroom door closed, George sneaked over and picked up the watch from the table, examining it closely.
“What are you doing?” Gwen’s mother asked, unimpressed.
“You’re looking at our daughter’s stuff like it’s evidence.”
George responded instinctively, “It does look like evidence.”
When he looked up, he was met with his wife’s murderous glare.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, George explained, “Have you ever seen Gwen wear a watch before?”
“No,” Gwen’s mother admitted, shaking her head.
“Well, now she’s suddenly wearing one. Doesn’t that mean someone probably gave it to her?”
Gwen’s mother immediately caught on.
“Alan!”
She snatched the watch from George’s hand, examined it, and nodded in satisfaction.
“It’s a nice watch.”
Then, with a pointed tone, she added, “Alan knows how to do things right. Unlike some people, who are hardly ever home and always come back empty-handed.”
George froze.
Suddenly, he wanted to slap himself. Why had he touched the watch and said so much?
“Hmph!” Gwen’s mother scoffed.
“I’ll put it in her room for her.”
After placing the watch on Gwen’s desk, she walked to the bathroom door and called out over the sound of running water,
“Gwen, I’ve put your watch on your desk. Make sure to check it later.”
“Okay, Mom!” Gwen’s voice came from inside, calm under the stream of water.
“I wonder if Cousin Anna has made it back to New York…” she murmured to herself.
“I’ll have to ask Red Queen later.”
Meanwhile, a luxury SUV pulled up in front of an apartment building in the Thirteenth District—where Alan used to live.
The driver was none other than Tony Stark’s chauffeur, Happy Hogan.
After parking, Happy double-checked the address Anna had given him. He had been here before.
“Miss Anna, is this the place?”
In the back seat, Anna lowered the window and looked up at the familiar building.
“Yes, this is it.”
“What a coincidence,” Happy said with a smile.
“I have a friend who lives here too.”
The friend he referred to, of course, was Alan.
On the way to Tony’s last banquet, Anna and Happy had quite an enjoyable conversation.
Anna smiled and nodded. “This is my friend’s old apartment. He doesn’t live here anymore, but I still have a key, so I figured I’d stay here for the night. I’ll deal with everything else tomorrow.”
Happy nodded and handed her his business card with practiced ease. “I’m Happy Hogan. If you need anything tomorrow, feel free to give me a call.”
Anna politely accepted the card, thanked him, and stepped out of the car.
As she looked at the familiar apartment building, even Anna herself wasn’t sure why she had come here instead of going to Alan’s new place.
It seemed like she subconsciously directed Happy to this location. She was simply too tired to think it through, so she headed upstairs.
Despite the chaos from the Magneto incident, the apartment had been cleaned and reorganized after the police had finished their investigation.
Although it had been vacant for a while, it was still spotless inside.
As Anna opened the door and stepped into Alan’s home, an unexpected sense of safety washed over her.
“Alan, Gwen… I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She went straight to the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Even she didn’t understand why she was so exhausted. All she wanted now was a good rest.
Until she was awakened...
---
“Did Cousin Anna go to stay at the Thirteenth District?”
After her shower, Gwen sat at her desk, towel-drying her hair while listening to Red Queen’s report. She didn’t find anything unusual about it.
After all, no one was currently living at Alan’s new house.
Moreover, the only key Anna had was to the Thirteenth District apartment.
In any case, Anna had returned safely to New York and was staying at Alan’s place. That alone meant she was safe.
After drying her hair, Gwen stretched, feeling a wave of drowsiness wash over her.
Yawning, she murmured sleepily, “I’ll go see Cousin Anna after school tomorrow. For now, it’s time to sleep.”
“Good night, Red Queen.”
“Good night, Pikachu.”
“Good night, Miss Gwen.”
“Pika... Pi...”
Gwen closed her laptop and glanced at the watch on her desk, deciding to put it on in the morning. She climbed into bed and quickly drifted off to sleep.
---
Aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Tony stood at the command station. Seizing a moment when no one was watching, he discreetly placed a device with a decryption program beneath the main computer.
Afterward, he followed Dr. Banner to work on tracking the Tesseract.
They brought along the scepter confiscated from Loki, placing it on the lab bench.
The blue gemstone at the tip of the scepter pulsed with an eerie, rhythmic glow, as if it were breathing.
As Banner operated the lab equipment, he began to feel a growing sense of unease.
Tony, busy with the system interface, also felt something was off.
“Dr. Banner.”
“Hmm?” Banner looked at Tony curiously.
“Don’t you think this place... feels a bit oppressive?” Tony asked, struggling to find the right word.
Banner chuckled. “Of course. This is S.H.I.E.L.D., a spy organization. It’d be strange if it wasn’t oppressive.”
Tony nodded. That made sense.
He refocused on his task, waiting for J.A.R.V.I.S. to finish decrypting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s internal systems.
In Tony’s mind, S.H.I.E.L.D. bore undeniable responsibility for losing the Tesseract to Loki.
From Howard Stark’s notes, Tony knew that unless the Tesseract was deliberately activated, it was nothing more than a glowing cube.
Tony suspected that S.H.I.E.L.D. must have done something with the Tesseract, which enabled Loki to teleport to Earth.
The phrase “It takes two to tango” might be grammatically flawed, but in this case, it applied perfectly to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Just then, Rogers walked into the room...
(To be continued) …
T/N: "It takes two to tango" is an idiom that means ==two people are involved in a situation and are both responsible for it==. It can be used to describe a disagreement, where both parties are at fault, or when one person is being blamed but two are actually responsible. It can also be used to describe an activity that requires two people to participate. For example, you might say "It takes two to tango and I won't stoop to her level".
