6 May 2012

New York Harbour

The SHIELD Helicarrier

Steve Rogers made his way through the Helicarrier's main corridor, heading toward the bridge, dodging repair crews and damage easily, apologising to anyone who had to move out of his way. The Helicarrier was still a mess, but then it had only been one day since they'd defeated Loki. The airship was stranded in the harbour, its engines still wrecked, and from what he could overhear it would be at least a week before it was capable of flying once again.

The city outside the bulkheads wasn't any better. New York had suffered a lot of damage, but New Yorkers were a resilient lot, and as soon as he could Steve was going to go out and help with the repairs. Then, if possible, he wanted to see this world he'd been reborn into, because it was strange and new and, despite having lost literally everything in the decades he'd been buried in the ice he was excited to see what was out there.

He, too, could be resilient. But then, he was Brooklyn born and bred. It came with the territory.

The Helicarrier's bridge was a mess. The man he was looking for stood beside a trio of consoles, Maria Hill next to him, her forehead bandaged. Steve walked right up to them, interrupting their conversation, which was Hill giving some sort of status report. "Director Fury."

Nick Fury turned toward Steve, and the super-soldier was a little surprised at how tired the man looked. There were bags under his one eye, and lines around his lips, which were presently pressed thin. "Captain Rogers. What brings you here?" Hill excused herself and left them, moving toward some of the more damaged of the control areas of the bridge.

"I wanted to speak to you about Agent Barton."

"I should have known." Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I can't release him until we can prove that Loki's influence is completely gone."

Steve had expected that response. "And just how do you plan on doing that?"

He'd come to think of Barton as a part of his team. And if there was one thing Captain America never did, it was leave a man behind when he could do something about it.

Ever since a group of suited agents had come to collect Barton from the shawarma place where they'd been eating after the battle, Steve had wanted to know what was going to be done with the archer. It had taken him this long to get to the Helicarrier; all of the surviving Quinjets had been co-opted into relief efforts, and he'd finally had to locate a shipment of replacement parts heading to the airship and hopping a ride. The pilot hadn't been about to tell Captain America he couldn't ride along with.

Natasha had told him not to worry, that SHIELD wouldn't do anything to Barton that the man didn't want done, but Steve had learned that trusting SHIELD – or really, Nicholas J. Fury – was out of the question. Ever since he'd awakened in a room that had been decorated to represent his own time Steve hadn't been all that pleased with the organisation's methods.

There had been one man he'd come close to trusting, but that man was dead.

"As a matter of fact, I've contacted someone who might be able to do just that. She should be arriving in a few minutes, actually."

That was a surprise. Steve hadn't honestly expected that response. "You mean there's someone who could have helped counter Loki's magic and you didn't call them in right away?"

Fury rolled his eye. "There wasn't any fucking time, Captain. Because this person lives in Wales, and wouldn't have gotten here in time anyway. Besides, there was no way I was about to risk her in a combat situation – "

"Fury!"

The Director let out a put-upon sigh at Thor's shout. Steve watched as the Asgardian stormed – pun not intended – onto the bridge, anger cracking from him like the lightning he could control. Thor wasn't happy, and to be honest Steve thought he might enjoy this.

"That's my name," Fury snarked. "What can I do for you, Thor?"

"Why has my request to take Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard been rejected?"

Steve inwardly winced. Ouch.

"It hasn't been rejected. However," Fury held up a hand to forestall any sort of rebuttal, "I thought you might want to put off leaving for a couple of days in order to attend Agent Coulson's funeral. You knew him, after all."

Every bit of anger suddenly left the god, and Thor slumped slightly. "You are correct. I do wish to attend such a gathering. The Son of Coul was a brave warrior…and a friend. I would pay him homage."

"I figured as much. I'm sorry that the agents in charge of security for Loki and the Tesseract miss-represented my orders. They were supposed to inform you. I'll have a talk with them."

From the expression on Fury's face at the mention of Agent Coulson, it really hit home for Steve that the man had been much more than Fury's Good Eye. "He was your friend, wasn't he?"

"I recruited him. Trained him. Relied on him. Coulson was one of the very few people on this planet that I trusted."

Then, Fury drew himself upright. "I'm going to meet the Quinjet bringing in our consultant who might be able to tell us if Barton is free of any sort of influence. Perhaps you'd like to see why I didn't call on her to join you all in battle?" There was a slightly sarcastic tone in the man's voice, but for some reason it didn't irritate the super-soldier as much as it should.

"You have people on Midgard who are versed in magic?" Thor was intrigued. "I, too, would like to meet this person."

"Then, come on. They should be landing at any minute."

With that pronouncement, Fury left the bridge, Steve and Thor on his heels. Fury would have had a good reason for not calling in this so-called consultant, and not just because of the distances involved. Yes, it would have taken them hours to get anyone to the Helicarrier, but Fury struck Steve as being the sort of person who utilised every single asset he had available to him.

As they stepped out onto the cluttered and damaged deck of the Helicarrier, a Quinjet was coming in to land, settling gently down under the motions of the flight deck crew directing it in with their lighted wands.

Fury didn't even wait for it to fully power down before he was striding up to the rear of the craft. The ramp was lowering, and the three of them waited for it fully deploy. Thor seemed to be as curious as Steve was about this mysterious person, craning his neck to get a better look at who was inside the Quinjet.

Once he saw who was inside, Steve knew immediately why Fury hadn't wanted her anywhere near the battle.

The woman was small, and elderly, her hair a brilliant white, wrinkles giving her mobile face character, and Steve could tell that she must have been a real beauty when she'd been younger. She was dressed in black trousers, a blue, oversized men's shirt, and comfortable-looking boots. Her dark eyes landed on Fury at once, and she gave him a nod in greeting.

Then, she caught sight of Steve, and the smile she gave him took about two decades off her age.

The woman was leaning on Agent Romanov's arm, Natasha being very solicitous of her safety as they stepped onto the Helicarrier's deck; Steve had wondered where she'd disappeared to, after Barton had been picked up and she'd given him reassurance that the archer would be alright in SHIELD custody.

The woman patted Romanov's forearm gently, then stepped forward. "Director Fury," she greeted him, her Welsh accent pleasant to Steve's ear.

"Miss Cole," Fury returned the greeting, his voice warm. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"When Natasha said it was concerning Clint, nothing could have kept me away."

Fury's eye tracked to the Quinjet. "No one else is with you?"

"They're coming a little later. There were some things to clear up, first. They'll head straight to Washington for the service." She turned her smile back to Steve. "Won't you introduce me? It's not often two handsome men come to greet me." It was a teasing sort of flirty tone, and Steve couldn't help but return her smile.

"This is Captain Steve Rogers, and Prince Thor from Asgard. Captain…Thor…this is Miss Estelle Cole, the consultant I was talking about."

"Miss Cole." Steve took her offered hand. It felt fragile in his grasp, although her grip was fairly strong, with some interesting callouses in interesting places. "I wanted to add my thanks for you making the trip."

"As I said," Miss Cole repeated, "I'm doing this for Clint. He's a good man, he didn't deserve what happened to him, and I'll help all I can." Her dark eyes had tiny flecks of gold in them, and Steve could tell she felt what her words conveyed. He wondered just how they'd met. "And I'd like to say it's an honour to meet you, Captain Rogers. My father was in that HYDRA camp you liberated during World War Two, and I'll be forever in your debt for rescuing him."

"I was just doing what was right." Steve felt a bit uncomfortable at the elderly woman's praise. After all, to be honest he'd gone in for Bucky, and saving everyone else had been a bonus.

"And sometimes just doing the right thing is more than enough." Miss Cole then greeted Thor. "Your Highness, it's an honour to finally meet an actual Asgardian. I've heard so much about your people, from the members of my coven, and it's nice to know that the old stories seem to be fairly accurate."

"The honour is mine, Mistress Cole," Thor said seriously, dipping his head over her hand gallantly. "It is pleasing to find that the ancient powers still exist among the Midgardians."

"They do, although unfortunately they are growing weaker every day. We try to save what we can, but there will come a day when magic will leave the universe…at least for a little while."

"May that day be long in coming."

She nodded in agreement. "I do hope so."

Thor offered the elderly Welshwoman his arm. "Will you allow me to escort you to Friend Barton?"

"I certainly shall." Miss Cole accepted, looping her hand around Thor's rather large forearm. "If there's time, do you think I could meet Mjolnir?" Her pronunciation was very close to Thor's own, which was impressive with the Welsh accent.

The smile the Asgardian gave her was radiant. "I should be pleased to introduce you."

Steve felt as if he'd somehow stepped through the looking glass. They were honestly talking about an introduction to a magical hammer?

"If you'd follow me," Fury suggested gruffly.

"Thank you, Director," Miss Cole said warmly. She then turned back toward the Quinjet, calling, "Come along, Moses!"

For a second, Steve thought there was someone else in the jet, so he was more than a little surprised when a very fluffy black and white cat darted down the ramp, coming to stand at Miss Cole's side.

"Your familiar?" Thor enquired politely.

"Yes, this is my Moses." She seemed very pleased at Thor's question. "He adores Clint and wouldn't be left behind."

Moses stared up at Steve, flicking his tail insouciantly, and then turned back to follow Fury. For some reason, he felt as if he'd just been judged over something. He couldn't tell if he'd passed or not.

He fell into step on the other side of Miss Cole as they headed down belowdecks. "Can I ask how you met Barton?" he finally satisfied his curiosity.

She smiled up at him. "We have mutual friends. You could say I met him at their wedding. And, when I learned he had no living family outside of Phil and Natasha, I became his unofficial Gran. We talk as much as we can over the sub-wave network – "

"Barton has access to the sub-wave?" Fury demanded. Steve wondered just what that was, because the director didn't seem very happy about it.

Miss Cole, though, didn't look at all intimidated by him. "Toshiko added his parameters to the network, so we could find him wherever he was, as long as he was close to a laptop. Both Francine and I chat with him whenever we can." Steve must have looked a little confused, because Miss Cole clarified, "The sub-wave is a specialised computer programme that Director Fury would like to get his hands on, but as it's proprietary technology, that hasn't happened. And, while I may have adopted Clint as my grandson, Francine did the same as his mother. And it's a mother's prerogative to speak to her son whenever she chooses."

"Indeed it is," Thor agreed solemnly. He appeared to be utterly charmed by the elderly woman leaning on his arm.

Steve was discovering more about his erstwhile teammate than he ever thought he'd really know. The fact that Barton was alone, without family except for what he'd gained when joining SHIELD, very nearly echoed Steve's own experience in the future. Losing everyone you knew, and then making yourself a new family…that was something that the super-soldier truly wanted to do.

It also added an entirely new dimension to his knowledge of Phil Coulson. He'd only known the man for a short time, but he'd felt as if he could have been friends with the agent, even trusting him despite his feelings about SHIELD. And, there was Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanov, who'd been close to Coulson; as well as Thor who claimed to have been a friend…and Steve had the distinct impression that he'd missed something very important when Coulson had gone up against Loki alone and hadn't survived the experience.

His new-found knowledge also made him realise just why Coulson had done what he'd done. If he'd really seen Barton as family, then of course he would have tried to force Loki to give Barton back, to get some sort of revenge on the mad god for having taken him in the first place. Steve would have done the very same thing, and he had…when Bucky had been taken as a prisoner of war. He'd went against orders and had gone into enemy territory for his best friend.

Steve thought he could understand Phil Coulson a little bit better now, and he also felt he could mourn the loss a little bit harder.

"Estelle," Natasha interrupted Steve's thoughts from her position stalking right behind the group, "when you're done checking out Clint, I'll make sure you and he get to Washington."

"Thank you, Natasha," the Welshwoman said gratefully. "I, personally, won't be attending the funeral. The dead and I…well, let's just say the dead like to talk to me, and the last thing any of the family needs is to look after me as well as take care of Phil's family."

"I'm sorry," Steve said, as they continued down into the bowels of the Helicarrier, "what do you mean by that, Miss Cole?"

"Oh." She looked slightly embarrassed. "It's just that…I have a sensitivity to the dead. I understand it's because of my deep connection to the spirit realm that allows it. It can be…unpleasant, and I'm quite certain that Phil wouldn't want me to be hurt by him, even though it wouldn't have been intentional."

Steve didn't even pretend to get magic, but from the head nodding that Thor was doing, the Thunder God seemingly understood what Miss Cole was saying.

"Perhaps you were a Valkyrie in a previous life," Thor suggested, sounding quite pleased with the notion.

Miss Cole laughed. "I would have been honoured if that was true."

Now they were talking about reincarnation. Sometimes, Steve almost wished they'd never found him in the ice, because this century had some of the strangest ideas.

They made their way down into the bowels of the Helicarrier, Fury leading the way. The damage wasn't quite as bad in this section, and they received some odd looks from the few techs who were moving past. That was to be expected, really; there was the Director, and Thor, and the Black Widow and, of course, Steve himself; plus, a grandmotherly type who seemed quite content to chat with Thor about magic and reincarnation. Oh, and the cat, Moses, who had demanded that Natasha carry him, and she had obliged immediately. The fluffy thing was curled up in Natasha's arms and, if anything, it actually made her a bit scarier than usual.

Not everyone could pull that sort of thing off. It didn't surprise Steve that she was able to do just that.

They eventually came to a stop in front of a door with a keypad next to it. As Fury keyed in the code, Miss Cole demanded, "You locked him in?" She was outraged by the very idea.

"We didn't know if Loki's influence was gone," Fury pointed out without actually apologising for it. "We couldn't risk Barton getting out and possibly releasing Loki from the brig."

Steve could understand, and from the slump in Miss Cole's shoulders she did as well. "Alright, Director, I see your point. But I don't have to like it."

"Neither do I," Fury said, "but sometimes we have to do things we don't like, in order to protect people."

With that final word, the Director punched in the last code, and the door opened. Miss Cole immediately entered, which had Fury rolling his eye at her, but Steve wasn't so sure he agreed with his obvious irritation at her need to get to Barton. After all, she was his family in a way, and who didn't want to help someone they were close to?

The room beyond was a plain, almost cell-like space, with a bunk and a single, hard-backed chair bolted to the floor. There was also another door which Steve assumed led to a bathroom, but other than that the space was completely bare of any sort of personality.

Clint Barton was curled up on his side on the bunk, his back to the door, and he only moved when Miss Cole called his name, tears choking her voice. Barton sat up, spinning toward the door, and Steve gasped at just how rough he looked. He was still wearing his field uniform, and it was still covered with dirt and grime. The cuts on his face had at least been cleaned, but he was pale and his eyes were red-rimmed, as if he'd been crying at some point.

Those eyes widened when he took in the elderly woman standing there, her hands covering her mouth. "Estelle?" he gasped, his voice hoarse.

"Oh, cariad," she sighed. Moving faster than Steve would have guessed, Miss Cole was sitting on the bunk and pulling Barton into her arms, kissing his temple and comforting him in a way that the archer so obviously needed judging from the way he clutched at her. "I'm here now, it's going to be alright."

Barton shook his head against her shoulder, but even with this better than average hearing Steve couldn't make out what he said to her.

Moses let out a pained meow and was out of Natasha's arms and up onto the bed, insinuating himself between Miss Cole and Barton. For a spilt second Steve thought the cat was trying to separate them, but the loud, rumbling purr disavowed him of that notion immediately.

"Let us leave them in peace," Thor murmured, in a voice that was not at all like his usual, boisterous, tone.

"I'm not leaving her alone with him," Fury denied.

"Estelle can take care of herself," Natasha said, "but I'm staying anyway."

"Fine," the Director huffed. "But I'm locking the door."

The Widow shrugged, but said nothing. Steve got the impression that she could get out of that room anytime she wanted.

To be fair, he also believed that Barton could have, as well, and was only staying because he wasn't sure of his own mind at the moment and wanted to be contained.

Without another glance, Natasha had the door closed, blocking Barton and Miss Cole from view. Fury entered whatever code that was needed to re-lock the door. "Come on," he requested, "we can watch from the security suite."

Thor frowned. "I am not certain that spying on Mistress Estelle and our Shield brother is a thing well done."

Steve wasn't so sure, either. He was positive what was going to happen in that cell would mostly be personal. But, at the same time, they did need to know if anything happened, so they could act quickly.

Fury didn't say anything to that effect, however. Instead, he strode down the corridor, not looking back as if he was perfectly confident that they would both follow. Steve glanced at Thor, who didn't seem at all to care for the Director's attitude. "The Son of Coul would not have acted with such disregard toward a friend's privacy."

Without commenting to that – although he had a feeling the Thunder God was right – Steve went to follow Fury, Thor beside him, disapproval rolling off his teammate like dark storm clouds.