Chapter 3

第三章

 

“I call this one Tiny Thor,” Kamala said, making the little action figure do a funny dance. She picked up another one. “And this is Fashion Thor. I stole the butterfly hair clips from Nakia when we were, like, five years old.”

“我叫这个‘小托尔’。”卡玛拉说着就让这个小活动人偶跳起了滑稽的舞蹈。她又拿起一个活动人偶，说道，“这是‘时尚托尔’，大概五岁时，我偷了纳奇亚的蝴蝶发夹。”

 

“Very fierce,” Thor said seriously. He picked up another action figure of himself and examined it carefully. Kamala shook her head. Thor the Avenger was sitting on her bedroom floor, rummaging through a bin of old toys with her, asking her about her collection of... well, him. It was one of the weirdest things that had happened to her since she became a Super Hero. And that was really saying something.

“过分了。”托尔严肃地说道。他拿起了另一个托尔活动人偶，细细观察。卡玛拉摇了摇头。复仇者托尔在她卧室地板上坐着，和她摆弄一箱旧玩具，过问她还收集了……他的哪些活动人偶。这是她成为超级英雄后，碰到的最奇怪的事情之一。真有点意思。

 

“That's Peg Leg Thor,” Kamala said. “He lost his leg, so I had to replace it with a clothespin.”

“那个是‘假腿托尔’。”卡玛拉说，“他失去了一条腿，所以我不得不用衣夹代替腿。”

 

“How careless of him,” Thor said, frowning down at the one-legged action figure disapprovingly. Kamala leaped to his defense. “Not careless—brave!” she said. “He lost it in battle! It was a valiant struggle. Against a Tyrannosaurus rex .”

“他太不小心了。”看着一条腿的活动人偶，托尔不以为然地皱了皱眉头，说道。卡玛拉连忙辩解：“不是不小心，他很勇敢。他在战斗中失去了一条腿，那是一场对阵雷克斯暴龙的勇猛战斗。”

 

She dug the plastic T. rex out of the bin of toys. “See?” Kamala said, showing Thor. “A formidable opponent.”

卡玛拉从玩具箱中扒出了那只塑料雷克斯暴龙。“看到了吧？”她边说边拿给托尔看，“一个强大的对手。”

 

“With an honorable wound to match,” Thor said, satisfied. “Kamala, I apologize for approaching you in disguise. I was trying to ‘keep a low profile,’ as Hawkeye puts it.”

“这才配得上光荣负伤。”托尔欣然说道，“卡玛拉，原谅我乔装打扮接近你，我只是想像鹰眼说的那样‘保持低调’。”

 

“Don't worry about it,” Kamala said. “It's not your fault—I'm just super on edge lately. I've got a lot on my plate. Sorry I overreacted.”

“别在意，”卡玛拉说，“不是你的错——是我最近太紧张了，手头事情太多，抱歉我反应过激了。”

 

“You are forgiven,” Thor said.

“我不在意。”托尔说道。

 

She was feeling a little starstruck. She had even more action figures of Hawkeye than of Thor. But she didn't want to hurt Thor's feelings, so she didn't tell him that.

她追星多少有些狂热。比起托尔活动人偶，她有更多鹰眼活动人偶，但她不想伤了托尔的感情，便没告诉他。

 

“I have come to your city to investigate a string of pet-store robberies that have been committed over the last several months,” Thor said.

“我来你这儿是为了调查近几个月发生的一系列宠物店抢劫案。”托尔说。

 

“Yikes,” Kamala said. “That's pretty weird. What are they stealing? Tell me it isn't puppies.”

“呀，”卡玛拉说，“真是太离奇了。他们偷什么呢？别告诉我是偷小狗。”

 

“Birds,” Thor said, “and many of them.”

“鸟，”托尔说，“偷的都是鸟。”

 

“Huh,” Kamala said. “You know, the girl who was trying to rob that pet store this morning was wearing some kind of dumb bird mask. And she was making bird noises, too.”

“哼，”卡玛拉接着说道，“你知道吗，今天早晨试图在那家宠物店行窃的女孩戴着个无聊的鸟面具，还发出‘嘎嘎’的鸟叫声。”

 

“Yes,” Thor said. “The intelligence that we have received at Avengers Headquarters has been...”

“我知道，”托尔说，“接到的复仇者联盟总部情报已经……”

 

“Disturbing?” Kamala suggested.

“是令人烦扰的情报吗？”卡玛拉提出了自己的想法。

 

“Silly,” Thor finished.

“是愚蠢至极。”托尔毫不客气地回答道。

 

Kamala nodded in agreement.

卡玛拉点头表示赞同。

 

“Regardless,” Thor continued, “I have been sent to investigate. I was not planning to include you in the investigation, even though Jersey City is your ‘turf,’ as Hawkeye puts it. I did not want to endanger you, because you are so young.”

“不管了，”托尔接着说，“既然派我来调查，鹰眼说这里是你的地盘，但我不打算让你参与。你还这么小，我可不想把你置于危险中。”

 

“I can handle myself!” Kamala protested.

“我能保护自己！”卡玛拉抗议道。

 

“Yes,” Thor said, “I learned that today. In any case, I overheard several of these teenage bird-people discussing their plan to target you, Ms. Marvel. And I realized I must warn you.”

“是的，”托尔忙说，“我今天算是领教了。总之，我无意中听到几个少年半鸟人正商讨着对付你的计划，我意识到自己必须提醒你。”

 

“So what's next?” Kamala asked, trying to act cool—like hearing Thor himself call her by her Super Hero name wasn't the best thing that had ever happened to her.

卡玛拉问：“下一步呢？”她尽量表现出冷静的样子，仿佛托尔称呼她为超级英雄惊奇队长并不是她碰见的最好的事情。

 

“Obviously you must stay safely indoors while I conduct my investigation,” Thor said.

“安全起见，我调查的时候，你必须在家待着。”托尔说。

 

Kamala frowned. “Normally I try to at least pretend to obey authority figures. You know, people like my imam. Or ancient alien Super Heroes like you.”

卡玛拉皱着眉头说：“通常我尽量假装服从权威人物，比如清真寺的阿訇，或像你这样来自远古的外星超级英雄。”

 

“Very wise,” Thor agreed.

“算你聪明。”托尔同意卡玛拉说的。

 

“But come on,” Kamala continued. “This is Jersey. Hawkeye was right—this is my turf. If you don't let me team up with you, I'm going to do my own investigation anyway, and then we'll just get in each other's way. You don't want to be tripping over me every time you turn around, right?”

“可是，”卡玛拉接着说，“这里是泽西城。鹰眼说得没错——这是我的地盘。如果你不让我参与，我就自己调查，到那时我们互相挡道，你不会想每次都被我阻碍吧？”

 

Thor frowned. “It would indeed be more efficient to work together,” he said reluctantly. From downstairs, Kamala heard her father's voice. “Kamala? Who are you talking to? Is there someone in your room?”

托尔眉头一皱，很不情愿地说：“还是一起干好。”卡玛拉听到楼下传来了父亲的声音：“卡玛拉，你在和谁说话？有人在你房间吗？”

 

Kamala jumped. “You have to get out of here!” she told Thor. “Quick!”

卡玛拉跳了起来，冲着托尔说：“你得赶紧离开这儿！”

 

“Kamala?” her father called again. “Who is in there with you?”

“卡玛拉？”父亲又叫她了，“谁和你在一起呢？”

 

“Out the window!” Kamala hissed, waving her arms frantically at Thor. “I'll meet you later!”

“从窗户走！”卡玛拉朝离去的托尔使劲挥动双臂，急促地压低声音说，“我待会儿再去找你！”

 

In the hallway outside his daughter's room, Yusuf Khan paused to listen. The murmur of voices had stopped. There was a strange whoosh, and then silence again. But Yusuf was certain he'd heard another voice inside the room. He knocked on Kamala's door and opened it.

尤瑟夫·克汗站在女儿房间外的走廊上，听着里面的动静。窃窃低语听不到了，只听见一阵嘶嘶声，便归于沉寂。尤瑟夫确信房间里还有其他人的声音，他敲开了卡玛拉的门。

 

“What on earth is going on in here?” Yusuf said, looking around. But the only person in the room was his daughter. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by plastic toys. In one hand Kamala was holding a small plastic man with a red cape. In the other, she was holding a houseplant in a clay pot.

“这儿到底发生了什么？”尤瑟夫边说，边环视房间，只见房间里只有女儿一个人，坐在地板上的她被一堆塑料玩具包围着。她一只手拿着一个披红色斗篷的塑料玩偶；另一只手拿着一盆盆栽植物。

 

“Oh, hi, Abu,” she said, smiling.

“哦，嗨，爸爸。”卡玛拉笑着说。

 

“I thought I heard voices,” Yusuf said, looking around in confusion.

“我感觉自己听到了什么声音。”尤瑟夫满脸困惑地四下察看。

 

“Nobody here but me and Thor,” Kamala said. She waved the small plastic toy, and its little red cape fluttered. “He's fighting crime with a new partner.”

“没别人，只有我和托尔。”卡玛拉回答。她挥了挥那个托尔小塑料玩偶，玩偶的红斗篷飘了起来。“他正和新伙伴打击犯罪呢！”

 

Kamala turned back to her game. She waggled the toy as though it was talking to the plant. “It is I, Thor!” Kamala said in a booming, deep voice. “Come, thou potted vegetation. Thou and I must hie unto Asgard Anon. Forsooth and gadzooks!”

卡玛拉继续玩她自己的。她摆弄着玩偶，好像它在冲着盆栽说话。“是我，托尔！”她用洪亮而低沉的声音说，“嗨，你是陶罐树吧。我们得尽快赶到阿斯加德，千真万确，天哪！”

 

Yusuf shook his head and smiled. It was nice to be reminded every now and then that Kamala was still his goofy little girl.

尤瑟夫摇摇头，笑了。时不时被提醒一下卡玛拉仍是傻乎乎的小姑娘，也挺好的。

 

He shut the door behind him and went back downstairs to finish reading the newspaper.

他关上房门，走下楼，继续读报纸去了。