A/N: This is an AU where Jane gets Erik Selvig's role, because I love her and she deserves better.
Jane doesn't like mysteries.
Well, that isn't quite true. She likes solving mysteries; she likes uncovering information and answering questions. She likes the chase, the thrill of learning. And all that being said, Jane has accepted that she can't and won't know everything. What she really doesn't like are mysteries for mystery's sake.
Like whatever this place is.
She'd only come because Agent Coulson had asked—had asked nicely, after he'd returned all her research and equipment. Erik had cautioned her against going, but Jane had never been one to turn down a challenge. She'd started to regret it on the car ride over, with the windows tinted so dark that she could barely see any identifying markers outside, something she was sure was intentional.
Once they'd arrived at the weird base in the middle of nowhere and taken the elevator down, apparently underneath the ground, a woman who had introduced herself as Agent Hill had given Jane directions, and said that Director Fury would be waiting for her.
Jane isn't sure if the hallways are supposed to be this dimly lit on purpose, or if weird government agencies that go poking around alien artifacts just don't get a lot of funding. Either way, the ambiance definitely suits the place and the people, who walk right past her with hardly a glance. Just as Jane's beginning to wonder if this Director Fury is really going to be here, or if this is some elaborate plan to kill her, or worse, steal back her research while she's not at home, she turns the corner and—
"Doctor Foster."
The voice is level and assured and dripping with the confidence of those in power, and the man to whom it belongs certainly meets those expectations. Director Fury stands expectant and calm, his one eye doing all the work of two.
Jane lifts her chin. "So you're Director Fury. Do you make all your guests wander through this maze, or just the ones you're trying to get rid of?"
The walls around Fury are a collection of nondescript cases and vaults with high-powered locks, likely full of (—petty, mortal—) things a man like Fury would like to keep secret. Jane thinks idly that Darcy might be right, that she could possibly uncover the lost Roswell spacecraft down here.
Fury approaches her. "I've been hearing about the New Mexico situation," he says. "Your work has impressed a lot of people who are much smarter than I am."
Jane's known this man for all of a minute, and already she's pretty sure that the number of people who are smarter than Fury could be counted on one hand. "So these other people were the ones who ordered agents to confiscate my property?"
He smiles. It feels purposeful in some way she can't discern. "Your work was impressive, but it's incomplete. You're looking for a way to bridge magic and science." He turns, and for the first time Jane notices the small table behind him, and the silver case resting on top of it. "But they've been joined for longer than you can imagine."
Fury opens the case, and time seizes for Jane. The air seems to crackle around it, this strange blue cube with the haunting glow. Her tongue sticks to the roof of her mouth, and a strength that is not her own unsticks it so that she can ask, "What is it?"
Jane hasn't told anyone about her dreams. She dreams of the stars, which isn't so unusual for her, but lately she dreams of maps shaped like trees, of (thick, gnarled, twisting, clawing) branches spreading their way across the glittering sky. Of the feeling of hunger and the whisper of mine.
"Power, Doctor," Fury answers. "If we can figure out how to tap it, maybe unlimited power."
No, Jane thinks, that's not right, this isn't just power, this is discovery and knowledge and freedom. But something chokes back her words. A hand seizes at the base of her spine, and words claw like ice shards up her throat:
"Well, I guess that's worth a look."
A/N: The working title for this was 'jaaaaaaane'.
This will be around six or seven chapters long, because I am salty and have no impulse control. Also it won't ever be Lokane, so if you're hoping for that, sorry.
Crossposted on archiveofourown dot org: works/14408610. Also I'm on tumblr at deprofundisclamoadte.