Helicarrier; two weeks later, December:
Fury sighed to himself and brought both hands to his face in hopes he could just make the piling problems staring him down point blank vanish. It wasn't so much as the crap-ton of problems and things needed done, as for the damned fall out of the alien invasion – something S.H.I.E.L.D. had meant to prevent. Problems and shadow-work at this volume was cake-walk for Fury, and dealing with alien invasions provided a nice challenge, but having nothing to go by in the search for the most recent psycho-maniac was giving the Director a migraine.
Two weeks and Loki was still missing. Him and a certain young woman who had enough influence on several men Fury worked with. It was almost like the damned woman was a siren, luring men off to their doom.
"Sir, I know this isn't the best of times to say something, but I have to share." Across the room Agent Maria J. Hill spoke softly, treading lightly.
"Yes, Agent Hill?" Fury remained seated in the office room, where the desk before him held volumes of paperwork. The tall, steel-sharp woman stopped in the doorway and knocked politely.
"We've found the woman."
"Then why wasn't I informed?" Fury glared curiously at the lack of emotional response. "Is Loki with her?"
"No, sir, he isn't." Hill stood at attention, hands clasped behind her back. "We've indeed found the young woman, however it's not her."
"Explain?" the Director brought his hands down. Nick did not feel like playing mind games at this time.
"I agree with Tracker Team that the young woman is THIS dimension's version of Miss Star."
"Oh god, just what I wanted to hear; you mean this world has TWO of her?"
"Yes sir." Hill responded plainly. "I've come to ask you, Sir, if I can give the order for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to extract her and bring her in."
"No, Agent Hill. I do not want to meet another Miss Star at this point in time."
"Her name is Rebekka Jillian Booksman, Sir."
"I do not CARE what her name is, Maria, I want JIRU STAR found, hopefully with Loki nearby so we can end this sh*t-fest of a goose chase and close this clusterf*ck up once and for all. Because I swear if Stark tries to hack our files one more time…"
"Understood sir." Hill was on the same mindset as the director and knew what he wanted. "I'm placing a team of two to watch her for the time being; there might be trouble heading her way because her facial profile is a dead-match for Miss Star. Only Miss Booksman has black hair instead of cyan."
"Very well, carry on."
"Yes sir." Agent Hill nodded once and was gone, leaving Fury to his thoughts.
Fury wanted the month to be done with; and even the year – dealing with alien war in December really wasn't something he personally wanted to experience. The council was breathing down his neck, Stark was continuously trying to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. files in hopes for finding anything pertaining to the dimensional walker, and his Avengers had drifted away, each probably on their own searching for Loki and the dimensional walker.
Although, Nick thought, with the Avengers Initiative in place, other S.H.I.E.L.D. sources were making contact, wanting to join, tear down or learn about the team. Reed Richards and his band of super-power enhanced misfits had helped Fury out tons; jumping on board with him in containing the mass-hysteria that was the aftermath of alien invasions. The Fantastic Four provided a damned blessed buffer and public face, saving S.H.I.E.L.D. from Public Relation backlash. Professor Charles Francis Xavier had contacted Fury personally and Nick educated the man, bringing the closet-mutant up to speed about the Alien invasion and Avengers. No words were needed, thankfully, as the mutant telepath accessed the information from Fury's mind – with permission of course.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s contact in Wakanda, the world's secret leading source of the metal Vibranium, kept its channels open, incase Fury needed anything from that side of the world. A few other targets of which S.H.I.E.L.D. kept an eye on had made connections also; offering their help - Henry Pym and his wife Janet Van Dyn, Doctor Stephen Strange, Carol Danvers and Nick's personal contact under the sea; Namor.
It helped Nick to have such support, even if the world never found out. Fury would rest easier at night to have defenses in place when Shield was dealing with the Chitauri cleanup. Not that where was much to clean up, not after the insane stunt the dimensional walker pulled. Nick Fury had seen the footage of the aftermath, and it still sat like poison on his mind. He wasn't one to feel sentimental or horrified – not in his line of work – but watching the confiscated Stark security vid nearly made Fury hurl his lunch. Nick still swore the woman had 'glamoured' him into liking her; because his being fond of such a preposterous scatter-brained young woman was still a mystery to him. But fond of her Fury was, and he had to deal with it.
"Director Fury, sir." Came the voice of an agent who was supposed to be on the non-active roster.
"Agent Coulson, I am giving up on ordering you to stay at home and do nothing." The one-eyed man growled tiredly and pulled his hands away from his face where they had once again wandered to. Phil Coulson stepped into the office, looking as right as rain.
"I did tell you I will not rest until Miss Star is found." The sandy-haired agent replied evenly as the work-suited man tilted his head curiously to the side. "I do recall you reading the medical reports, sir, and the writing clearly states there is not a scratch on my heart or chest. You cannot stop me from finding her."
"For a dead man, you sure have an attitude." Fury glared half-heartedly at Phil. "I didn't know Medical bay released you yet."
"They didn't. I got out on my own." The sandy-haired agent looked like his normal, kick-ass calm self; not a man dealing with miraculously coming back from the dead. "I've also researched some…unconventional means of tracking for her; Director Fury, sir."
Letting out a growling snort, Fury lazily stood up and stretched. If Coulson was well enough to put a full-tilt effort in RE-tracking Miss Star AND Loki, then Nick wasn't about to stop him. The Director would, however, have to discuss Phil's new level of obsession in the young woman. If it was anything like what Coulson had over Captain America; it would be bad.
"Enlighten me."
"I can do better, sir, I've brought the very person who is best qualified to track…her unique energy signature." The black-suited agent nodded slightly and stepped aside. "Doctor Stephen Strange is very interested in the young woman's mystical signature."
The man who stepped into the room was none other than Nick's old friend. The black hair of the mystic-wielding sorcerer had two white stripes on either side of his temples, and it was the same with the man's goatee. Strange's current clothing wasn't the dark black and red uniform described as the Sorcerer Supreme; but jeans and a dark green shirt which did little to hide the man's buff, compact chest muscles.
"Strange, what the hell are you doing here?" Nick scowled. Just what he needed; somebody else who would discover and exploit Miss Star's secrets. What the hell; why not?
"Fury." Stephen Strange nodded politely and smiled. "I've heard everything I need to from Phillip, Nick. I am most interested in the young woman who single-handedly saved Manhattan billions of dollars."
"Yea, get in line of people who wanna meet THAT can of worms." Nick glared daggers at Coulson, but not faulting the man for using S.H.I.E.L.D. resources.
"Nick, I can promise you that I will not do anything that would hurt S.H.I.E.L.D. My analysis of the energies coming from both the Tesseract and the Starburst diamond is just the tip of the needle. If I can train the young woman; she can possibly control both her internal energies and quite possibly the Tesseract."
"Not happening, Strange. Once we find Loki; I'm letting Thor take the damned cube. It's too much of a goldmine having two alien artifacts just sitting around doing nothing; everybody and their gang would take a potshot at obtaining both."
"I understand, Nick; but are you planning to send the young woman with the Tesseract as well?"
A silent pause was Fury's answer.
"Well then, I suggest you are prepared to hear my plan in assisting in hiding the young woman's energies: if I can still feel them vibrating in Manhattan; then others can as well."
"Well, why the hell not, Stephen, I'd be glad to hear the options." Fury finally gave a thin smile and sat back down.
XXXX
Helicarrier: 3 weeks after the Chitauri Invasion, December:
"Tasha, I've got a huge raging…" Barton blurted out as he sat across from his red-haired partner.
"Clint; don't, just don't. Not here." The woman's eyes flickered over at her partner and back to the screen in front of the grey-walled room.
The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been sitting around for three weeks getting interrogated by useless superiors; pointless bureaucrats trying their best to find out every little thing about the presumed 'dead' Avenger, Iron Starlight. Sure the stupid people inquired about the rest of the 'Avengers' and trying to find a chink in their armor of official story. But Hawkeye and Black Widow stuck to their guns and repeated the same thing Fury authorized them to disclose: The Avengers went into a fight with aliens, in the middle of Manhattan, and fought until the dangerous portal was closed. There were casualties; civilians, soldier and Avenger. The masked female known as Iron Starlight had sacrificed her life to not only return the aliens back where they came from; but to repair the structural damage that was wrought and heal any person who was injured via alien attacks. It was better for the world to know that kind of power was dead and gone.
S.H.I.E.L.D. knew differently though, and even Romanov was stunned to know how different. She and Barton both constantly had their thoughts on the missing young woman who was prisoner of Loki - wherever that bastard was.
"Sir, Ma'am." Romanov found the repetitive questions coming from the video feeds now so very inane. "Your thirty minutes of meeting time is over. If you wish to continue to ask questions; feel free to leave your name and contact number with the apropos contact and I'm sure Director Fury will eventually get back to you." Standing up and nodding to the flustered politics, Natasha signaled to Barton and turned on heel to leave the room.
"Tasha, I can't get her out of my head; she's in there worse than Loki was." Barton finally spoke up as she finally made it their bunk on the Helicarrier.
"I know, Barton. You've got to tell Fury how bad you have it."
"I will Tasha, you can bet on that." Barton glowered at the door.
"Clint, we will get her back; just like she said I'd get you back. I trust her not to throw in with Loki." Natasha stepped closer to her partner and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"That's not what I'm compromised about, 'Tash." Barton pulled his head away from the cold metal wall to look at her. "It's the things Loki told me about her."
"So you finally want to tell me?" Romanov knew Barton was still kicking his own ass about being compromised, but never really explained just how affected he was by his time under Loki's influence.
"Hell, I might as well; I'm so sick of having a massive raging boner for her it might help to talk."
"It's that bad?" Natasha quirked a brow and opened the door. "Should I not trust Agent Chirpie anymore, Barton?"
"No, yes…Loki indicated she can manipulate people's hormones….I don't KNOW Natasha." Hawkeye threw his hands up and stormed into the room. "I don't know anything about her anymore, and don't know if I should kill or f*ck her like there's no tomorrow."
The red-headed spy didn't flinch at Barton's coarse language and walked over to pull something out from her duffel bag. "Well you're not the only one, Barton, look at these read outs."
Handing the data-pad to her partner, she spoke on. "You're not the only one with those feelings towards her. Stark and Banner mentioned something along the same lines as you."
"What?" Clint's face changed into confusion. "What am I looking at here, Tash?"
"The energy patterns of the…starburst diamond are also being found in Stark and Banner's DNA samples." Romanov didn't need to mention the fact that each of the Avengers – minus the kidnapped Jiru Star – had to undergo quarantine tests; which included drawing blood. "My blood is also emitting the same energy. Barton, the woman has compromised us all."
"What the hell!?" The archer's eyes turned into flint and snapped up into hers. "Coulson is compromised!? She SAVED HIS LIFE!"
"I know." Romanov said softly. "Fury is hesitant to say anything, but I'm betting to admit this is some kind of pheromone aphrodisiac, like catnip. Agent Chirpie may or may not be poisonous to people on this planet. She is an alien."
"Natasha…" Barton looked torn at the new information. His feelings for the young woman now clashed with his sensibilities: the dimensional walker infected all of them with…with what? A raging sex drive aimed at her? An erotic haze that clouded the mind? A primal urge; so loaded with lust that it was so hard to see through?
"Clint. We're working on finding a cure or something to nullify the effects. It's not going to be easy, but S.H.I.E.L.D. will find a solution."
"Does anyone else know about this?" Barton lowered the data pad and stared at Romanov.
"Some; Fury has informed Stark and Banner; and only a handful of Level Seven know. Without her files – which Fury has on lockdown – it's difficult to progress."
"Natasha, I want to get through this, I hate thinking of her…"
"Sssshhh, it's ok, Barton, I'm here…we'll get through this together." Natasha smiled gently at her partner. "Just tell me how I can help."