Avengers AU Chapter 7:
"Alright then. But I don't know how any of this even happened." Clara muttered in consent, understanding she still had to prove she wasn't a threat, which was going to be even harder without the Doctor to help her. Her chest clenched at that and her stomach was in knots. What was he doing right now? Was he working on his earpiece but needed Clara to finish hers as well? Had he forgotten about her and gotten another companion? Clara brushed away the thought knowing it couldn't be true but the doubt settled in her like a rock in the sea.
They made it to the Tower and entered in some sort of secret entrance. Soldiers appeared out of nowhere and pointed their guns at Clara earning a, "Seriously?" muttered underneath her breath when they shouted at her to put her hands up. She begrudgingly complied and put her hands in the air before they shouted again. Fury came striding out of nowhere and Clara put her hands away opting to put them on her hips instead. "So, are we going to get this interrogation over with? I have stuff to do, believe it or not." Clara spoke with as much sass as she could muster. Of course she was not scared but she almost shivered when a gun was put to her temple and she could feel its cold barrel against her skin.
Luckily she controlled herself and simply used it to move her arms into a folded position to show her defiance. She wasn't about to show weakness, especially not to them. They moved her to an interrogation room, similar to the one she'd been in before, but this one had a camera watching her every movement. The soldier had moved her at gunpoint. The soldier was old, trained and completely loyal to Fury, Clara saw in his stance. She wouldn't have a chance running for it. They wouldn't kill her but simply injure her badly enough to capture her again. The thought occurred once and she brushed it away easily. She'd said she would co-operate and if she didn't their conditional agreement would be broken and they could go after Mia. Clara didn't care what happened but if Mia died, she would go crazy. Not even the Doctor would be able to stop her. Even if he wanted to.
The camera had been adjusted to see her so she decided to have a little fun and stick her tongue out at it, narrowing her eyes and moving her face as close as she could get to it after she was forcefully sat down on the chair. The soldier went out of the room and another soldier re-entered with handcuffs rather than ropes. This soldier was younger and didn't seem to care much for her as a person at all so she decided to intimidate him a little. "I am not a prisoner, I don't know why I am being treated like this. I am a civilian and yet the agency meant to protect people like me, forcefully sits me down and handcuffs me?" She spat out with as much power and strength she could impress upon him sitting, handcuffed to the chair.
It worked and the soldier apologised and scuttled out of the room while Clara allowed herself a victory smile and prepared herself for the boring questions to come. She also steeled herself, knowing she couldn't allow herself to cry, not in front of these soldiers who already disregarded her. She'd show them that she wasn't a weak, sweet, little girl. She was Clara Oswald and for their information she wasn't sweet on the inside and she certainly wasn't little. She didn't have to wait long for Fury, followed by Agent Coulson, as he came striding into the room, his trench coat billowing out from behind him in his hurried pace. He stopped abruptly in front of her and took his place at the other side of the table while Clara stared at him with a bored expression on her face.
"Hello again Miss Oswald." He greeted politely while Coulson took his position at the back of them room waiting patiently for something to happen.
"Hi! How are you?" Clara greeted him more like an old friend rather than a person who could decide her fate. She wouldn't give anyone power over her. She was her own person and he, least of all people, didn't have any say over her and what she did. The Doctor didn't so what made him think he did?
"Since the 10 minutes you saw me last, fine." He spoke curtly as if he was the one who should be offended.
"Why am I being handcuffed by the way? I've already said I'm not a threat." Clara asked, trying to pull at her hands to show him.
"I'm sorry but it is standard procedure. We haven't had very good experience with aliens lately." Fury explained thinking back to Loki and how tough that had been.
"I'm not an alien. One heart." Clara pointed out then saw his expression. If you weren't focusing, it hadn't changed at all but Clara saw his confusion at her statement. "I travel with a two hearted alien." Clara stated simply, not in the mood for beating around the bush.
"A two hearted alien?" Fury spoke sceptically.
"Yep. I'll explain and it'll make more sense. Then if you have any questions then I will answer them." Clara commanded going into teacher mode. She continued before he could say anything and started. "I'm not from this dimension. I'm from a different where I'm guessing none of you exist or you do and aren't famous. Instead we have an alien protecting us called the Doctor. He has two hearts hence the two hearts thing. Of course not all aliens have two hearts, most have one or something to replace it. Some other biological explanation. I didn't always listen when the Doctor explained. He can go on a bit. But don't tell him." Clara started to explain most of her life in her dimension and tried to lift her hand to create a shushing motion but found it retracted when the handcuffs pulled her back. Clara sighed, rolling her eyes at the handcuffs restricting her movement.
"Anyway we travelled together and on one unfortunate incident…" Clara spoke, her voice tightening. It almost killed her to say it like that anyway but she couldn't tell them everything like she'd said. "We found ourselves at the Doctor's grave. But he's an alien and his biology is different so he had a timestream which contained his entire life. Another alien who hated the Doctor and considered him an enemy that needed to be killed, stepped into the timestream making copies of himself that were scattered throughout his timeline turning every victory into a fail and killing him every step of the way." Clara paused remembering the horrifying moment.
She'd left so much out of the story but hoped she'd made at least believable enough. She knew they wouldn't trust the Doctor and consequently they wouldn't trust her. She needed to get out of here and get back to her dimension. But she kept thinking of Steve and Mia when she even thought about leaving here. Mia was in her dimension as well and here she now had Tony. She would be fine but what about Steve? She didn't know why but she didn't want to leave without talking to him. The thought of it made her stomach twist. She didn't know why but she felt sick when she thought about never being able to talk to him again. She knew she might never be able to see him again once she'd gone back. Her thoughts were brought back to the present abruptly and she cleared her throat, seeing Fury watching confused.
"All of this hit the Doctor at once and he was in complete agony when I last saw him." Clara paused again, remembering it but then remembered the Doctor's voice coming out of the earpiece. His happy, excited voice completely fine. But then she remembered his frantic yelling and quiet goodbye. River Song's talks and warnings that had no substance to them. They both knew that she would have to jump into the timestream. But neither of them knew the aftereffects. "So, I jumped into the timestream as well. I created copies of myself consequently and they all saved the Doctor when they met him. All through his life, different versions of me saved him, an alien one, a Victorian governess as I've been told and a Dalek one. So many different lives. They all died for him and I ended up here. I'm the definite article, the original you might say." Clara quoted the earliest version of the Doctor that she'd seen. It gave her a bit of strength and hope that she'd get out of here. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble and Clara silently cursed, but it seemed to bring Fury out of his daze.
"Are you hungry?" Phil asked, quickly locating the source of the noise as it was one he'd heard a lot before, experiencing it himself. He'd been listening the entire time but if Clara was hungry then that was a more important matter to attend to. Clara's sheepish 'yeah' boosted Coulson's confidence to ask Fury if he could take Clara to the canteen and get some food.
"Go on. But bring her back as soon as she's finished." Fury commanded still mulling over the information presented to him. Coulson unlocked the handcuffs and Clara stood up massaging her wrists. She sighed contently at the thought of food but doubt was eating away at her and she couldn't help thinking if she'd managed to convince Fury that she wasn't a threat. She'd been extremely vague and hadn't said a thing about the TARDIS, River Song, regeneration or the Paternoster gang. She'd been much less open than she had been with Steve. They knew much less but would the Avengers betray her when he went to check the information? Would they tell him everything, accidentally let something slip making him interrogate her again?
She knew she'd have to answer his questions when she went back but, could she answer them properly? Should she lie, or twist the truth or tell the complete truth? She felt completely lost without the Doctor. She knew mostly what to do but couldn't carry it out like he did. With his carelessness, with his flair and his clever ways out. She couldn't see any as she was carefully escorted to the canteen by Agent Coulson. He had one hand on her back and used it to guide her through the agents. She was lost in her thoughts and had been biting her lip. He assumed she was scared and didn't show it in front of Fury but couldn't help it when the immediate danger wasn't in front of her. It was basic psychology and Phil had been taught it when he joined SHIELD as default to predict and attacker's next move.
Steve had been walking towards the canteen as well, which Phil knew wasn't a coincidence. He didn't know how but they knew something else. They were watching which annoyed Phil. But he put on a mask and greeted Steve. "Hello Steve. What a coincidence to see you here at the exact same time we are." He let him know how suspicious he was and all he got in return was a smirk that almost worked. Almost. He'd gotten over his admiration for him and now he and all of the Avengers were what some would say friends and what he would describe as a teetering working relationship.
"Clara?" Steve gently asked without the snapping fingers. It seemed enough to bring Clara out of her daze and she carried on as if she had never zoned out in the first place.
"Oh, hi Steve. Are you alright?" Clara asked politely, her tired eyes focusing on the place around her as she came back to the present.
"What would you like to eat?" He asked, gesturing at the canteen which they'd suddenly found themselves in. Clara seemed surprised but covered it up quickly enough. He saw her eyes quickly scanning the different food on display and picked.
"Could I have some pasta?" She politely asked while Phil loaded his own tray. Phil was confused, did she expect him to put it in for her? Did she think there was a dinner lady to hand out the food?
"You can take it you know." Steve prompted, passing her a tray from the stack and smiled kindly at her as she took the spoon hesitantly and began to load her plate with pasta, and take a bottle of water. Phil had too much self-control to laugh but he couldn't help the smile that graced his features as he watched her breathe carefully at the food on her tray. She seemed to be debating if she should put some back, looking between the food and the pot laid out. "Clara, come on." Steve lightly touched her arm to gesture to their table. She took one last look at the food and decided to bring it with her and they made their way to the table.
They sat down and slowly, one by one the rest of the Avengers filed in all acting confused and as if it was a coincidence they were here. Clint came first, coming in and pretending to notice them and wave. He went and sat down next to Clara who seemed grateful for the distraction and company. Thor followed, booming across the canteen scaring all of the younger agents in training. Most had gotten used to him by now and simply stayed out of his way apart from the unlucky few that had annoyed Fury, they were sent to deal with whatever he'd done. Maybe broken a shower when he can't remember how to turn it on and off again or short- circuited the entire building with his hammer and other incidents like that.
He came and sat down next to Phil smiling and put his hammer in the seat next to him. Phil rolled his eyes mentally but kept a straight face looking at Thor, even if it was strained he didn't seem to notice. "Son of Coul! How have you been? I trust your recent events have gone well?" He asked attempting to make conversation which only resulted in a laughing Thor and an uncomfortable Coulson. Natasha came after Thor and managed to slink into the conversation Steve, Clint and Clara were having so easily that Coulson barely noticed. Banner quickly came after Natasha and sat opposite her. They soon started their own conversation consisting of God knows what, Phil thought.
"Hey Clara!" Clint greeted when he sat down and did the same with Steve. However he and Steve were fast friends and didn't really do much in the way of greeting. "How's it going?" He asked, knowing how scared she'd been before.
"Fine, I guess. I told him my story of how I got here. I assume he knows everything that happened after I arrived but I left out some parts." Clara confessed lowering her voice. Thor's booming laughter covered her confession so she needn't have bothered.
Steve frowned. "What parts?" He asked, clearly worried. He needed to assess the damage and work out a plan.
"The TARDIS, regeneration, Professor River Song," Clara swallowed at that, and flicked her eyes down at her food. Her stomach twisted again and she felt worse than before. She didn't know why but she felt responsible for her death. It was horrible and Clara stabbed a piece of pasta and moved it to her lips, staring at it for a moment before putting it in her mouth. It didn't taste so good anymore. "And the Paternoster Gang." I didn't think that they were too important and didn't want to endanger them. The TARDIS is too valuable and I know how military types get when they discover time travel." Clara's eyes became distant and Steve wondered how much experience she'd had with 'military types' as she'd put it. His eyebrows furrowed again and he seemed angry, Clint noticed. He was starting to understand what was going on between them.
"I couldn't tell them about her. I just couldn't. What if…" Clara trailed off, not actually listing her reason. A clump formed in her throat not letting her speak. She knew she had no reason, she just couldn't say it. But she felt better if she made up some reason for her weakness. Clint stared at Steve waiting until he caught his eye and then flicked his head at Clara's bowed head. He tried to say through his eyes for him to console her. Clint wouldn't do it, not when there was something between them two. Steve hesitantly put his hand forward and on Clara's left. She still had her fork limping in her right hand and half in the bowl prone to all movement. Her left hand was soon covered by Steve's large hand and she didn't react much except move her hand a little more towards his so as to hold it tighter. She sniffed her face covered by her hair again and lifted her head up slowly. "Yeah, that was what I didn't say. I left out all of those parts so most of the story was vague and he will ask me about them I know." She concluded needing some closure. She didn't let go of Steve's hand either and neither did he.
"So, he'll ask about how you got there. That's the…" He trailed off, not feeling confident enough to say the word he'd never heard before.
"The TARDIS." Clara repeated. Seeing Steve's hesitation she prompted him. "Just try it. Tar-Dis." Clara broke it down, encouraging Steve further. Steve looked at her and tried the word out in his head and willed his mouth to speak and say it.
"The TARDIS." Steve completed and enjoyed Clara's warm smile, happy that he'd done it. It was a small achievement but Clara knew how much the small things mattered sometimes. "Is there anything else you could say to explain how you got there?" Steve asked. He didn't know anything about time travel or space. He still wasn't sure how to use a phone no matter how many times Tony tried to explain it to him. He could see Clara thinking her eyes shut and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
She seemed aggravated before opening her eyes and in a dreamy, distant voice she replied "Vortex Manipulator." Clint and Steve shared looks and Steve tightened his grip on her hand as if to shake her out of her trance. He moved his hand forward to reach hers better and he swore he could see gold in her eyes before she blinked and it was gone. "In the Doctor's timestream, Captain Jack Harkness had a Vortex Manipulator, which looks like a futuristic watch." Clara spoke again, looking back to normal and Steve stared at her eyes before he was certain they were back to normal. Her normal hazel. She seemed a bit uncomfortable under his stare and turned to look at Clint. "Why's Steve staring at me?" She asked Clint who started to look at her as well.
"Sorry he was staring but, you just went into a trance and told us about the Vortex Manipulator." Clint's speech slowed at that. He'd obviously never put those two words together and found it hard to say just like Steve found 'TARDIS'. "And then you snapped out of it and suddenly became yourself again and started to tell us again in a normal voice." He explained, bringing Bruce and Natasha's attention to their conversation again. It was very quick and quiet but still cause for concern, they thought.
"What kind of trance?" Clara asked, obviously knowing what they were talking about. She'd seen his 9th regeneration and seen what his companion Rose, had done. What if she'd done the same? "Did I have a gold colour in my eyes?" She asked, searching for answers. If she had done the same as Rose she would be dying, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't the TARDIS, it was the Doctor's timestream. That must be different, but what if the same would happen?
"Yeah, you had a gold colour in your eyes. You spoke in a dreamy voice, like you weren't you. You were detached from yourself." Steve tried to explain. Clara's eyes went wide, and she abandoned her pasta and put the hand to her mouth. She left her other hand holding Steve's. She didn't want to let go of his hand and the warmth it brought her.
"Oh God." She breathed, she took a breath to steady her heartbeat before carrying on. "Can we forget this for now?" She asked, she knew what was going on or at least knew some of it but it wasn't a favourable idea. "I'll just say the vortex manipulator and say it is unstable. He's constantly making repairs." Clara finished, whispering mainly to Steve and got up, addressing Phil. "Are you done? We can get back to Fury." Clara asked, standing impatiently wanting to think about this alone. If she got this interrogation over and done with then they could show her to her cell or 'quarters' as they'd put it. Clara knew she wasn't going anywhere for a long time. They were all too suspicious except the Avengers but they weren't the ones running the show around here. Fury was.
"But you haven't finished your food." Phil pointed out, gesturing to her unfinished plate of pasta, which was now cold. Clara's eyes flicked to the food and she knew Phil wouldn't let her go back without making sure she was full. Clara wouldn't like to admit it but she was actually pretty hungry. She couldn't finish the pasta so she grabbed a snack bar from the table and sat down again, opened the package and nibbled on it hungrily. She didn't want to take huge bites because she was still thinking about the scene they'd described to her. But her hunger overtook her, so she kept at it. She knew the Avengers were staring at her and talking quietly about what had happened but she ignored them. Phil was still here and would report back to Fury easily. So she kept quiet and left them to draw their own conclusions. Clara knew that Rose had once swallowed the time vortex and it almost killed her until the 9th regeneration kissed her and it saved her. The energy flowed to him and caused him to regenerate so that problem was solved.
But here, she didn't have the Doctor to scan her and had no idea what was even going on. She knew that she wasn't anything like when Rose had the time energy flowing through her. Maybe this is just a smaller version of the same thing. Maybe it was going to kill her as well, just slowly. Maybe a headache was going to come, it would cripple her body and she'd die. But what she'd experienced was something else. It wasn't the whole of time and space at her control, she just knew something that she didn't know how. She concentrated on what was going on when it happened and remembered something like De-Ja-Vu creeping up on her. Like she'd used it before. Like the words 'vortex manipulator' were familiar to her. She closed her eyes, slowed her chewing, her breathing, everything around her went in slow motion and she remembered. She remembered having a vortex manipulator and using it to get to the Doctor. To save him, but it felt like it wasn't her. She wasn't seeing it from her point of view, she was in 3rd person.
Then it clicked. She was remembering her other lives. All of her other lives and what she did. This must've been one. That's how she knew. And when she concentrated she could remember things like that. But would it kill her slowly as well? Clara's hand curled around the empty wrapper and realised she had nibbled to the end of the whole bar. The empty wrapper was scrunched in her hand and she opened her eyes again to see them all looking at her. She stood up to put the wrapper in the bin and walk outside back to the interrogation room, but decided to trust the Avengers. They'd given her no reason not to trust them and yet she wasn't telling them anything, it wasn't good and they could easily turn on her.
She walked past Steve on the other side and took the long way to the bin before pretending to drop the wrapper and bending down to his level. She whispered in his ear "I think I know what happened. I'll tell you later." She turned away, not wanting to see his confusion or just his face. She didn't want to do anything but close her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes and work this all out. She wanted to wake up and see it was all a dream and she was in the TARDIS and just about to go on an exotic spa break with the Doctor. Or she was in her house waiting for the Doctor to pick her up. She'd hear that wheezing, groaning sound any second and this was just a silly fantasy she'd made up. She knew that it was a lie but she couldn't help wishing for it.
She made it to the bin, took a deep breath and let go of the wrapper, like she was letting go of this weakness. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to wish, she was going to work. She'd gather her strength and work towards that goal. To get home, to protect Mia and to enjoy the Avenger's company while she could. That was what she'd work towards now. No weakness, only strength. She opened her eyes to see the wrapper hit the top of the pile of rubbish and fall further down the side. She turned around to see Phil standing there with a kind smile on his face. He seemed to understand her emotional turmoil. Even though he couldn't possible know what she was going through, Clara still felt comforted by his kind gestures. He was a good person. "Ready to go?" Phil asked kindly. He sounded more like an uncle to take his niece out on a fun day. Or a father with his daughter. Any parental role Clara could think of. He would be the perfect uncle, Clara thought. He didn't seem like a soldier when he was like that. Phil Coulson had many alter egos. Or just different aspects to his personality.
"Yeah, let's go." Clara spoke, with the strength she'd been mustering. She was ready. She could do this. And she couldn't help taking one last look at the Avengers to see what they were thinking. She saw the team filling Thor in on what had happened and then Steve turned around. Clara was too slow and she didn't turn away quick enough. He caught her eye and smiled encouragingly at her. She smiled back gratefully and reluctantly turned away. When she saw Steve, she couldn't help it. She just wanted to stay with him. She wanted to stare into his blue eyes and hug him. She wanted to have his jacket around her shoulders again and feel his arms tight around her as he protected her.
Her mind immediately snapped back to reality and she realised how much he actually meant to her. He was her best friend along with Mia. She really liked him. He made her feel safe and actually feel like this dimension wasn't crazy and she was still sane. When she was with him, nothing was hard and everything made sense. He was so rational and clever. She didn't know why but he was just the one thing in this crazy world that made sense. Him and Mia. They were just the closest things Clara had and she would never let anything happen to them. She protect them for as long as she could.
"Are you alright?" Phil asked, noticing her strange behaviour. She wasn't just worried about the interrogation, it was something else. He couldn't figure out what it was but it was important. He could tell that much.
"Yeah, fine." Clara swallowed, looking at Phil with a reassuring smile. She was feeling better but wanted to get this over and done with already. It was getting really boring, really fast. Phil opened the door for her and followed after while she took her place in the seat. "No handcuffs?" Clara questioned, noticing the lack of metal in the room. Fury's facial features moved into some kind of smile. Clara almost laughed. It seemed unreal.
"We thought we should trust you more. But that doesn't mean we have no more questions. In fact your explanation only gave us more. Shall we begin?" Fury asked almost sweetly. Clara knew he was being genuine but she couldn't help being suspicious. Why would they suddenly trust her? "How did you get to this 'Doctor's' grave?" Fury asked, leaning closer. It wasn't possible he must be thinking. Well, he hasn't met the impossible girl, Clara thought.
7
