Phil knew it wasn't right to pry in his daughter's private business. But since she mentioned over dinner one night that she had a diary, he had been dying to know what was in it. He held back his curiosity for nearly a week but couldn't take it anymore. The diary was not particularly cleverly hidden, lodged between her headboard and the wall. He pulled it out and began to read
Dear Diary,
For "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" I went with dad to his job as a recruitment agent for the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division, or SHIELD. Today, we had to go onto the helicarrier. It is a large thing which looks like a boat but it flies. We had to take a jet up to reach it above the clouds.
Today was a special day because there was a meeting with Captain Mar-Vell. Papa said he is the from the Kree Empire. They're aliens who live on another planet. Mar-Vell meets with SHIELD people to talk about things going on in the rest of the galaxy. I wanted to know what sort of things but Papa doesn't even know what they talk about. I asked his boss, Nick, about it. He told me if I shut up, he would give me a candy bar. I thought Captain Mar-Vell would look funny, like the aliens in movies, but he actually looked like a person. His clothing did look a little funny but that was all.
Nick and Papa gave me the tour of the science labs. There were a lot of cool things there. All the scientists were working on just one. It's called an android, but I thought it looked like gray Play-Doh. According to the scientist it is "a basic artificial intelligence with complex sensory features." I think it looks stupid. If you are going to build a really smart robot, you can at least give it a face. There was also some really cool stuff. They were testing wingsuits in a wind tube. I wanted to try one on but there wasn't one in my size. There was a bunch of other stuff but it wasn't very interesting. So then I followed my dad to the conference room and I colored in a coloring book while he did his work.
Then the big red alarms started going off. Papa and I hurried to Nick's office to find out what the problem was. The labs were closed and one of the agents said the android got loose. I don't know how it could have, it didn't have legs. The agent said it grew some. I wanted to see but Papa said no.
Nick then said a word which Papa said I can't repeat. But I can say that the word begins with the letter "F." Nick says the word a lot. Papa says he gets to say it because Director Fury does what Director Fury wants. I think I want his job.
Nick pulled out a really big gun from under his desk. It was the largest gun I had ever seen in my life. Nick had to carry it over his shoulder. I wanted to see what he was going to do with it but Papa told me that I would be better off somewhere safer. Then he ran after Nick. So I had to stay in his office. He has a nice office with a big desk and a sofa which can turn into a bed. But the computer doesn't have Gallaga on it and Minesweeper is boring.
At least Nick's office has nice, big windows. You can see all over the clouds. If you press your nose against the glass and don't look down, it feels like you're flying. I was doing this when the helicarrier started sharking. It was a bit scary but I figured the agents had things under control. They usually do.
I had to go to the bathroom, so I went into the one attached to Nick's office. It's behind a big metal door. I was washing my hands when my dad started running in looking for me. He said he was worried but I was okay. I didn't even leave the office, I just went into the restroom. But Papa thought I had left and gotten hurt. But I was fine. I guess he was worried because the android was the size of the aircraft hangar and was eating the planes. Nick said the F-word a few more times and Papa covered my ears. He thought I couldn't hear but I could.
I think the android might have been hungry. It makes sense because he wanted to eat the planes. Papa and Nick seemed surprised at the idea. I said I was hungry. That's why I thought of it. Papa promised me hamburgers for lunch once we put the android back to normal.
Because they were having problems, they had to ask Captain Mar-Vell for help. He's really cool because he can shoot light out of his hands and fly. I thought it looked awesome! I wanted to know if all Kree could do that sort of thing. When I asked Papa later, he said he didn't know. Nick told me to stop asking questions about the aliens.
In the end, the SHIELD people managed to stop the android. There is a button in the armpit. It seems like a really dumb place to put the off button. But at least it stopped eating planes. Captain Mar-Vell had to go home but I got to shake his hand first before he took off in his spaceship. It was pretty cool.
Director Fury needed to land the helicarrier to repair it. Papa and I needed to get off the plane along with all the people who weren't helping with repairs. So Papa took me out for dinner and we went home.
A headache began to press against his temples. If Fury or anyone else knew what was in her diary, the director would probably send everyone into crisis mode. Still, more than technically, she wasn't hurting anyone. Her writing could be easily explained away as fiction. He tucked the thin notebook back in the hiding place and made up his mind to talk to her about better hiding places.