Following Killian's orders, Eric found Trevor, who was in the middle of playing around with a few young models.
"You all, leave us."
After dismissing the young models, Eric handed Trevor a set of clothes. Trevor took them and gave them a glance — it was a medieval-style outfit, complete with a long-sleeved cloak and hood.
"Oh, this outfit is beautiful!"
"Put it on. Today, it's your turn to play," Eric reminded him, eyeing the clothes in Trevor's hands.
"You have to tell me what kind of role I'm playing." After changing, Trevor admired his new look in the mirror, clearly satisfied, before turning back to Eric with the question.
When Trevor was first recruited, he'd already been prepared to take part in some illegal schemes. But up until now, other than being provided with food, drinks, and entertainment, nobody had asked anything of him. Honestly, that worried Trevor a little — though when he was enjoying himself, he forgot about it.
"These are your lines for today. Get familiar with them. We start recording in two hours." Eric pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, covered in text, and handed it to Trevor.
Wary of unexpected problems, Killian had marked Trevor as an important part of his plan. But just in case, he hadn't told Trevor who he'd be playing or what he'd be doing. So, up until today, Trevor had no idea about his future role.
One glance at the lines and Trevor's expression changed. At the very top was the role he'd be playing — along with the actions that character was supposed to take.
The reason for Trevor's reaction was simple: Killian wanted him to play the role of none other than the legendary terrorist leader — the Mandarin of the Ten Rings. Because Tony Stark had once been kidnapped in Afghanistan, Trevor knew a little about the Ten Rings. Back then, news about them spread quickly and nothing was kept under wraps.
As for the script's claim that this character would take responsibility for a certain bombing, Trevor didn't object. He wasn't exactly a law-abiding citizen anyway — otherwise, Eric wouldn't have picked him for Killian's scheme.
"If I play him and he finds out, I'm dead!" Trevor said, a little hesitant after reading the script.
"You really believe someone like the Mandarin exists? Ten magic rings? Immortal? That's impossible. Don't worry — we've done our homework. The Mandarin is just a fictional figure. Otherwise, we wouldn't be letting you play him.
We're just making sure there's no chance a second 'Mandarin' pops up — that would be bad for us. So relax."
At the mention of the Mandarin, Eric gave a cold laugh. Their purpose wasn't to carry out real terrorist attacks, but to use the idea of terrorism as cover — to hide the truth behind their desperate virus-bomb incident.
That meant Killian had no intention of raising his profile like real terrorist organizations do. He didn't have that kind of time. For him, the best move was to use the name of a well-known terrorist group as a disguise.
Among the many groups he could choose from, Killian settled on the Ten Rings — because, strictly speaking, it wasn't even a real organization, just a widely-known name.
According to legend, the Ten Rings' leader was Fu Manchu, a descendant of Genghis Khan, who possessed ten magical rings that made him nearly omnipotent.
But legends are legends — no one had ever actually seen this so-called Mandarin. Killian figured he had to be fictional. If such a person really existed, there'd have been some kind of news — good or bad — long ago.
So, for Killian, getting such a legendary figure to take the blame was the best possible plan.
Seeing that Trevor had relaxed a little after hearing his explanation, Eric patted him on the shoulder. "Get ready, boss. Our first performance is about to start."
"This is unbelievable — there are so many plants here that humans have never discovered before!" On the Airbus, Simmons looked at the various flora Coulson had collected and couldn't help but exclaim.
Simmons had been to Skull Island before, but back then their goal was to quickly find Coulson's team. Combined with the terrifying environment, she hadn't paid much attention to the strange plants and animals around them.
Now, after a quick examination, Simmons could see there was something special about the plants Coulson had brought back.
"Well, isn't that obvious? Where else are you going to find something like this?" Fitz grumbled — still annoyed after nearly getting bitten for teasing the Icarus Bird.
"All right, Fitz, careful not to get bitten. If it does, it's not just a bit of flesh you'll lose." Ward passed by Fitz and scooped up a blood-covered strange bird. The creature stood up and stroked its serrated beak.
"Skull Island really has vanished!" After leaving the island, May didn't head straight away. Instead, she piloted the Bus in a wide circle around it — just to confirm. Based on intel from the Emperor Project, Skull Island usually stayed open for at least ten days each time.
"Coulson, do you think it closed this fast because of Clark?"
When Coulson said this, Ward went to the window and looked out. Seeing that Skull Island had completely vanished, Ward guessed its rapid closure might be connected to Clark going underground.
"I don't know. Let someone else worry about it. Anyway, I'm not coming back to this place again." With Clark involved, Coulson neither wanted to nor could draw conclusions. All he could do was report what he knew.
As for what to do next — just like he said — their mission was over.
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