Chapter 29:
The next day, Peter found himself aboard the Heli-carrier, pacing the length of the Nick Fury's personal office.
"You knew my father?" Peter asked impatiently.
"Yes," Fury replied briskly, "He was one of my top agents."
"No," said Peter, placing his hands on the oak desk,"he was a professor of biology at N.Y.U."
"That was their cover," said Fury.
"Their cover?" Peter asked, remembrance and pain flashing in his eyes.
"Yes," Fury said calmly, "Your mother was a field technical analyst. She specialized in infiltration of enemy software. It's how they met, on an assignment."
"No, She was a Computer sciences teacher at N.Y.U. And they met at a staff party" Peter replied in defiance.
"Again, their cover." Fury said quietly.
"And what did they do, exactly?" Peter demanded.
"I can't tell you," Fury replied, "Now where's the envelope?"
"I can't tell you," Peter repeated angrily
"Don't play games with me, boy," Fury fumed.
"Not until you tell me what happened to them," Peter retaliated. Fury's eyebrows twitched before his face relaxed.
"Your parents were investigating something. Top-priority, champion-level access only. All I can tell you is it had something to do with a group calling themselves the Masters of Evil," Fury replied. He took a deep breath in, "The night before they disappeared, I got a message from your father. He told me that they were onto him and Mary. That he had found something important and hid it, and that It would come to me. Now, what was in the envelope?"
Peter sighed, "Nothing but a note and a diamond."
"Diamond!?" Fury blurted, "What colour?"
"Blue," Peter replied calmly. "I don't know what..."
"It's not from earth." Fury replied quickly. "Follow me. Now." He shot up in his chair and rushed to the door and opened it. Outside stood Natalie, Hawkeye and Kitty. All three of them followed.
What's happening? Kitty asked as they followed Nick Fury while he practically ran through the halls of the Helicarrier.
No idea, he replied, something to do with my parents and the rock in the envelope.
"What you are about to see is for your eyes only," Fury said sternly as they reached a large steel door, "not even the president knows what's in here." He opened a keypad and punched in a number. The door slid open silently, and the entered a dark room.
As they reached the centre of the room, lights turned on and illuminated display cases. A variety of weapons surrounded them. Swords, spears, guns, everything. On one wall was a large computer screen.
"This," said Fury, "Is a collection of the most dangerous weapons known to mankind."
"Wow," said Kitty, "why isn't Iron Man's armour..."
"Please," said Hawkeye, "Stark's stuff doesn't hold a candle to what's in here bitch." Peter cast an angry glance at Hawkeye as Fury continued, either oblivious or just not caring.
"One of S.H.I.E.L.D's main purposes is to find and collect these weapons and keep them safe. Everything from Excalibur to the Zodiac Key. It's all here." Said Fury, "Plus information on a few more, like Thor's hammer."
"Wow," said Peter, "There's enough here to destroy the world several times over."
"The whole galaxy, in fact," said Fury as he turned to the computer screen. "We soon learned, however, that the most dangerous weapons in the world are natural ones." He hit a button, and a list popped up. "The four most powerful forces in the universe," he said, "The Odin-force, Cosmic energy, and of course, the Phoenix force."
"Jean..." Kitty muttered, a slight tear falling down her cheek.
"You said four forces," Peter injected impatiently.
"Yes," Fury said sombrely as he clicked a button an a large image of a glove appeared. "This is the infinity gauntlet."
"What?" Hawkeye asked, "I thought that was just a myth!" He looked to the side at Natalie, who looked just as shocked as he was.
"It's not, Agent Barton," said Fury, "though I wish it was." He turned to face Peter.
"Your parents were looking for the six infinity gems. Each gem has a vast amount of power. They control everything: Power, Time, Minds, Reality, Space and Souls." Said Fury, "In essence, they become a god."
"Wait..." said Kitty, "When I was...there...I remember Osborne mentioning something about this." Her expression was sad, she hadn't talked much about her experience while captured to any one. Not even to him. He understood why and kept his distance from the issue, after all, he didn't want to talk about his own experiences with the symbiotes.
"Yeah," said Peter, "and he called his rock 'the power gem.' He said the Illuminati hid it in another universe."
"The Illuminati?" Fury asked before his com device went off, "What is it Quartermaine?... Understood." He turned to face both Peter and Kitty with a worried look. "All the agents I posted around your apartment are non-responsive. Someone's broken in." They both looked at each other As Fury spoke into his comm again, "Prepare a transport. Get Stark, Cap, Xavier and Richards here, Now!"
This isn't good, They both said simultaneously as they followed Nick Fury as he rushed to the Heli-carrier's hangar, and into a jet filled with other agents.
"What's going on?" one of them asked.
"I wish I knew, Agent Hill," Fury replied.
