#104 - Secretly

"What exactly is going on here!?"

Pepper Potts looked at the two Tonys in front of her with horror.

"Pepper, do you remember how much credit I said you deserve for the construction of Stark Tower?" Tony asked, never taking his eyes off the other version of himself.

"12%, maybe 15% at most. Why are you asking that now?" Though unsure why, Pepper answered him anyway.

"Oh, it's nothing." Tony was verifying Pepper's identity. The answer to the question came from a conversation between them. If someone knew that, he'd admit defeat.

"Hey, do you know that what you're doing is a copyright violation?" Seeing that Pepper was okay, Tony returned to his usual carefree attitude.

"I'll sue you into bankruptcy."

"It seems you don't like others turning into your likeness." The fake Tony gave an evil smile and transformed back into his original form: a pool of purple, thick liquid.

That's right, this was Yang Le, who had transformed into a Lepidopterran, commonly known as a Purple Mud Person. The Lepidopterrans have the ability to mimic other people or objects, similar to the Skrulls in Marvel.

However, the Lepidopterrans' mimicry ability is much stronger than the Skrulls'. They can mimic not only living things, but also inanimate objects and plants.

Although Yang Le returned to his original appearance, he still maintained a humanoid form, as it was the form he was most accustomed to. The Omnitrix symbol was moved to his chest.

"Did the Tinkerers send you?" Tony noticed the Omnitrix on Yang Le's chest.

"Yes, I am a Tinkerer agent. In Earth terms, my race is Lepidopterran. You can call me Goop."

Yang Le extended his right hand, thoughtfully changing it into a human-like hand, without the constantly churning purple mud. This made Tony feel much better.

"I heard this is how Earthlings greet each other." Yang Le grinned, pretending to be an alien visitor.

Seeing this, Tony shook Yang Le's hand, but his expression was still not pleasant, clearly still bothered by Yang Le turning into Pepper.

"I'm Steve, it's nice to meet you, friend of the Tinkerers." Steve also stepped forward to shake Yang Le's hand, introducing everyone to him one by one. (I'll skip the introductions.)

"It's nice to meet you all." Yang Le greeted everyone.

"If there are no accidents, we'll be working together for a long time. Please forgive me if I offend you, after all, I'm an alien and don't understand Earthling customs very well."

"I have something in common with you on that point." Thor walked to Yang Le's side and said seriously, "Sometimes I can't understand Earthlings' thoughts either."

"Mr. Goop." Steve hesitated for a moment, then called out to Yang Le.

"Just call me Goop. Likewise, can I call you Steve?" Yang Le interrupted Steve. "We're colleagues now, formalities aren't necessary."

"You know about our formalities?" Steve frowned.

"Translator." Yang Le pointed to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.

"The Tinkerer badge isn't just for show, it can also translate your languages into versions we can understand, and even localize them. Similarly, what I say will be processed equally."

It must be said that some of the additional abilities of the little device are even more outrageous. This translation function is just one of them.

"Amazing." Steve exclaimed, then said.

"Actually, in the eyes of us Earthlings, randomly turning into someone else is a, uh, very impolite behavior."

"Oh, that's what it is." Yang Le seemed very surprised.

"No wonder Tony seems so angry. So that's the reason. I'm really sorry."

Yang Le said the last sentence to Tony and Pepper together, with two tentacles behind him turning into signs with "Sorry" written on them.

"Stark." Steve looked at Tony, with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Angry? No, Mr. Stark is not angry at all." Tony took off his armor, denying the fact that he was angry.

"He's still a little angry." Steve whispered to Yang Le.

"But it's okay, he'll be fine in a while. That's just how he is, you'll know once you've been around him for a while."

"Thank you." Yang Le then looked at Pepper, and the signs behind him expanded a little.

"I'm okay with it." Pepper's expression was a little strange.

"It's just that my brain is still a little messed up. I think I'll need some time to adjust."

"That's great." Yang Le breathed a sigh of relief and put away the signs behind him.

"Actually, I'm doing this to remind you."

"Remind us?" Banner looked at Yang Le in confusion.

"That's right, the universe actually has more than just our Lepidopterran race that has the ability to disguise as others," Yang Le explained.

"The commander of the Ice Specters sent me here to prevent similar aliens from lurking among us, and also to remind you."

Everyone's expression became serious. A spy who can disguise themselves as anyone is definitely a terrifying enemy.

"You can rest assured about us Lepidopterrans, we work for the Tinkerers."

Yang Le patted his chest. Nonsense, he's the only Lepidopterran in this universe, of course he can represent the whole race.

"But you need to be careful about another race." Yang Le changed the subject, his tone serious.

"They are the Skrulls. They also have the ability to mimic other creatures. At least in terms of biological mimicry, they are not inferior to us."

"Can you tell us more about the Skrulls?" Steve looked at Yang Le with a serious expression.

"Of course, the Tinkerer's records show that they seem to have become cosmic refugees, without a fixed home. We don't know exactly where they are," Yang Le pretended to think for a moment.

"We Tinkerers are worried that they will be recruited by Thanos. If that's the case, it would be too terrifying, so that's why they sent me here."

In fact, they were being raised by your Nick Fury, of course Yang Le couldn't say that directly, because he wanted to use this incomplete information to achieve a goal.

"Do you have a way to distinguish them?" Natasha asked. As a top spy, she knew best how terrifying the Skrulls were. They were simply a race born for espionage.

"Of course." Yang Le was secretly delighted, but remained calm on the surface, although his face was just a pool of flowing purple mud, and others couldn't see his facial expressions.

"Just use the scanning function of the Tinkerer badge. It can distinguish the race of the scanned creature. No one can escape its 'eyes'."

Heh heh heh, Asgardian genes, GET DAZE!

That's right, Yang Le had been acting for so long for the sake of Asgardian genes, and also to lay the groundwork for being able to scan others rightfully in the future.

This is a Chinese military tactic, called secretly transporting troops.