Hi! Finally here with a new chapter. I hope you like it.
Tanya: You asked me have I seen Logan-movie. Yes, I saw it, actually 6 months later I had begun writing the story. Before that, I didn't even know Logan had "a kid" and I thought I was doing something original here. Hehe! You asked me if I could do a Logan and Laura fic. Maybe something short, an oneshot, but I can't make any promises. But I can encourage you to give it a try with writing. Thank You.
… …
As if they would have been flying over the surface of the moon, the rough terrain far below looked rocky, sandy and deserted, but not lifeless, as the land was occasionally dotted with small scrubs. Only less than three hours and the greenness of the eastern coast had changed into the sand-brown wilderness as Emma had piloted the jet to Mojave Desert. Flying there had been considerably easy taking into account of her experience.
Flying in stealth mode had kept them undetected by all the radars including the big ones of the Air Force. And Emma would have so wanted them to remain cloaked but they had a bold plan. A foolhardy plan actually, relying only on Loki's illusions and shapeshifting, putting their trust on him to the test. He used his powers to change the appearance of the jet, making it look like a Quinjet from the outside. It was only an illusion but if no one would come too close, they wouldn't notice the difference.
"If we're going to do it, there is no turning back. Are you absolutely sure about this, Loki?" Emma asked a bit nervously, slowing down the speed.
"Absolutely, one hundred percent sure," a strange but smooth voice answered to her, and she had to glance at him, finding him looking like Nick Fury. "Now, make us visible and take us down, agent Romanoff. And you let director Fury take over from here," he continued and placed on the headset.
Emma glanced down at her changed outfits quickly, touching her short straight hair with other hand. So, she was the redhead again, she realized, amused.
"Okay, here goes nothing," she murmured, clicking off the stealth mode and taking the jet slowly lower.
Logan was still as uncomfortable as he had been during the whole flight. He was chewing his teeth, the veins on his forehead visible. His animal senses didn't deal well with the idea of flying, neither did he.
"You damn better be right about his, Loki. Or we'll be getting missiles in our ass soon," Logan grumbled.
Jane took another deep breath. She wouldn't have cared to know what happens if their plan fails.
"It will be fine," Thor said calmly, holding her hand.
It was scary how fast there were two Air Force's fighters on their tail, requesting them to identify themselves. Loki dealt with them through the radio, imitating Fury with the given detail received from Charles Xavier. Apparently, they were expecting the SHIELD director to the base they were heading. The fighter jets cleared away and they soon reached their target. The sight of the several huge facilities standing in the middle of the desert vale made Emma drop her jaw. It was like a small town.
"Oh, no way in hell! We're not going in there!" She swallowed, unhappy. She made a flyby over the place, trying to figure out the size of it.
"Emma, you have to land here or our plan will not work. They are not expecting their leader coming there by foot," Loki said.
"Yeah! And I bet they don't expect him to belly-land here either."
Logan looked suffering. "Emma, you do know how to land the jet, right?" he asked cautiously.
She let out an uneasy laugh. "Sure, you just do everything in the reverse order comparing to the taking off, right?" She glanced at the others over her seat. This time even Thor looked worried. "Am I right?"
… …
"Have you caught the big boys yet?" an indignant voice of Tony Stark asked in Fury's mobile phone.
Fury heaved a tired sigh, rubbing the back of his bald head. "No, we have not," he said, hating to admit that it was so. He was sitting inside a Quinjet, with a bunch of his tactical team members, heading to Nevada to the NASA's and SHIELD's Joint Base.
"Good!" Tony said sounding more than happy. "I'm happy to tell you that I fixed my suit and made a few nice improvements. It took me all night but it was worth it. Mark 6 has a new killer laser now. I call it AC. It's named after agent Coulson. There is no way Simon and Garfunkel would come out of this in one piece."
"I'm sure Coulson would have appreciated that. Stay focused, Stark. This is not a revenge mission," Fury stated, but inwardly he was pleased that Stark was getting into the right state of mind. Like everyone else, Tony Stark believed agent Coulson to be dead and Fury had used that to his advantage and made sure that Coulson death was believed to be due to Loki's manipulation.
"Just tell me, where you want me, Fury, and I'll be there."
"I'm sending you the coordinates right now."
"What about the Ice Ice Baby? Is she still tacking along with Loki?"
"As far as I know, Emma Morgan is with him. You go easy on her, Stark. I want her alive."
"Roger that."
"Oh, and by the way. Natasha is bringing some back up. We've got Steve Rogers."
There was a small pause in the phone. "Captain Rogers?"
"Yeah. The one and only."
"Didn't he die like seventy years ago? Or, then he should be – what, over ninety? Wow, I can't wait to meet the old man."
… …
The landing gears bumped gently against the ground as the jet made a slow touchdown. The fake Quinjet landed successfully on the apron, the landing area for smaller aircrafts, just in front of the tall buildings in the middle of the desert.
Emma was still squeezing the steering wheel and the thrust levers, unsure if they made it, as Loki unbuckled his seat-belts and went to her. "Well done, my dear," he said, touching her shoulder and turning her appearance back to her own self.
"We're not dead?" she asked cautiously.
Loki too had his own form now. "That was a perfect landing. I would fly with you any time again."
She sighed, greatly relieved. "Ah, beginner's luck!" she grinned and shut down the engines.
The whole group gathered on the rear of the cabin, slightly nervous anticipation filling the air.
"Here we are, fellows. Go and get what you came here for and we can all go home," Logan said bluntly. In a way, he had kept his promise to take them there. He had no more reason to stay hanging around. "The rest of us should get out of here before SHIELD figures out we're even here," he continued glancing at his kid.
Thor nodded. He was grateful for all the help they had gotten. "You are right. Thank you, my friend."
"Yes. Thank you, Logan," Loki said sounding sincere and offered his hand at the man.
Logan looked a bit annoyed but shook hands with the deity. "Yeah. Don't mention it. Just to let you know, I didn't do this for you, Loki."
Loki smiled equally annoyed. They will never be friends! "It is good enough for me if you helped us for Emma's sake. Can you please look after her until I am back?"
"Will do. Don't hurry back, buddy."
Emma snorted. "Logan, please!"
"Our journey together on so far has come to an end," the thunder god said, picking Jane's hand on his and watching at the others. "It is safer that Loki and I go to find the Tesseract. And once found, we will harness its powers to transport us back to Asgard. With your skills, Emma, I sure you are able to take all of you away from here."
"Surely it would be an easy task for you, my dear," Loki said encouragingly, moving closer to Emma and stroking her arm. It was then, when Loki realized that it was time for goodbyes. It hit him hard. The moment, that he would have gladly postponed a bit longer, made him fall in silence as he looked into her eyes. "This is farewell… until we meet again." He swallowed. He didn't want to leave her. Not like this.
Suddenly Emma too felt stunned. She had assumed that they were going to do this together all the way to the end, but facing the facts it was better and safer this way. She dropped her gaze to gather her thoughts and took his hand on hers as he was reaching hers.
"So, this is it then?" she asked quietly, their eyes meeting again. His fingers gripped tighter around hers, pulling her closer. Every unspoken gesture was only intensifying that lump in her throat, that unfair feeling like she was losing him if he would walk out.
Next to them, Thor and Jane were already hugging and saying goodbyes with wishes of a reunion once more. Loki didn't pay attention to them or Logan, the only one who mattered stole his emerald gaze.
He breathed and blinked the moisture from his eyes with a smile. "I may go now but there is no space great enough between us to keep me away from you. I will return for you, Emma. I promise," he said softly lifting his hand on her cheek.
His touch was so tender and loving, and she was going to cherish it until he was back in her life again. "How long will it take? When will you be back?" she asked whispering, pressing herself against him.
Loki gave a sideways glance at his brother. "Sooner than you think, my love," he promised optimistically and closed her in his embrace, her golden curls soft like satin against his chin.
As though she would have been recharging her emotional batteries, she hugged him tightly and long, unwilling to let go like a lovesick teenager. She wanted to feel him close, breathing in his scent, memorizing everything about him so that she could go on, on her own until he was back.
"I'll wait for you, Loki. I would wait for eternity," she whispered, her forehead against his jawline, her arms around him, her eyes filling. "I love you."
Just a glimpse and he noticed that Thor was ready and waiting for him, and Logan was ready to get rid of him, but he didn't let them bother, not now. He lowered his eyes and held her tight, and prayed. He actually prayed that she would remain safe. "And I love you. Please, stay safe," he spoke to her with a whisper, looking into her eyes as she faced him.
Emma sniffled a bit, tears glistering in her eyes, her hands caressing his smooth face. "You too."
He forced a bittersweet smile, not wanting this end up with an unstoppable bawling. "I will be with you in no time and we will share many sunsets together again," he whispered with a slightly mischievous glint in his green eyes.
That made her smile. They had come up with an own code word for sex. "Looking forward for that, my lovely god of mischief."
His right hand moved cupping the back of her head, his left one pulled her to his chest, and he kissed her. He kissed her tenderly, a bit too respectfully but long like wanting to steal a little piece of her with him. And she was all his, kissing him back, not caring a damn about the people around them. If there had been a competition for the best goodbye kiss from an Asgardian, they definitely would have scored that game fair and square.
His mouth left her lips and his gaze held hers as he brushed her cheek with the back of his long fingers. "Soon," he promised once more with a small smile. "No tears."
Emma looked deep into his eyes, returning the smile, her lips unwilling to give up his. "Okay…" she whispered back at him with full trust.
Thor glanced at Jane while watching awkwardly his brother's passionate farewells with Emma, pondering if he should have made more an effort with Jane. Asgardians didn't kiss like that. If they had continued that much longer, they would have been devouring each other alive.
Thor cleared his throat. "I believe it's time, brother. Are you ready?"
With a flash of the trickster's magic, Loki's appearance changed, transforming him looking like Nick Fury again. His illusions settled upon them three so effortlessly, that one barely noticed the changing. Emma found herself being Natasha Romanoff and Thor was one of the agents who had been taking Jane from Pittsburgh to Washington.
The fake Fury stood in front of the opening rear hatch, looking at the mortals. "My illusions will last until I am gone from this realm. You are better leave soon so you will get as far as possible before the illusions unfold and SHIELD realizes that we wore here."
Emma, in her redhead form, nodded, trying to remain brave. "Alright. You two make sure no one gets hurt there. I mean it. No smashing the place is in million bits. No killing. Don't make me shove my claws out and come after you, guys! That wouldn't be pretty."
Loki smiled to that.
"Be careful, Thor," Jane said, recalling his attempt to get to his hammer in New Mexico.
"I will. We will meet again, Jane." Thor studied his suit and the small mobile phone in his hand that was really his hammer. Then he lifted his gaze at the women again. "Emma, I trust that you will see Jane getting back to her friends safely."
Emma and Jane exchanged glances. They had already agreed to that. "Sure. And you swear to me, thunder god, you'll do everything in your powers that Loki stays safe in Asgard."
The brothers glanced at each other. "You have my word," Thor said then as if he would have promised that as much to Emma as he swore it to Loki.
After everything said, the Asgardian brothers set their way on the SHIELD's soil, walking side by side in their disguises towards the great facilities, giving one more glance behind them at the jet. Two black military SUVs were parked on the side of the landing zone and six armed SHIELD agents in black stood next to it in waiting mode.
Thor didn't like the welcoming party ahead. "I do hope you know what you are doing, brother. If we get caught now, Jane and Emma won't face a change to get out of here."
Loki knew that well enough, his focus on the agents. It was harder with only one eye in his Fury form. "I know. You gave me your blessing to concoct this plan, brother. Now you are better stick to it and let me handle this."
In his lesser mortal form, Thor frowned at his brother. "How come you get to be Fury? I wanted to be Fury," Thor said quietly, sounding his own self.
"Well, you cannot because I am being Fury now," Loki answered with Fury's voice, taking the lead.
"He is the director of SHIELD. I am older than you are. I should have been Fury. Not some mediocre underpaid agent."
The fake Fury hushed him down. "Shut up. They would recognize your voice," Loki said as they were approaching the armed agents.
The agents started moving towards them with their weapons, and Thor squeezed the heavy phone in his hand, pondering was it any good as a weapon in this form. "Remember, we cannot fight our way in this time."
Loki gave his brother a confident smile. "Just, trust me."
… …
From the opening of the jet's rear hatch Emma followed the tricky situation developing outside. To her relief, the disguised brothers passed the first test by fooling the armed agents. It seemed that Loki and Thor actually got a lift from SHIELD, and Emma watched them leave the landing zone in the big SUV that took them away. With a slowly growing ache in her heart, she followed the cars with her gaze until they were out of her sight, disappearing into the town-like cluster of buildings. Loki hadn't yet left Earth and she already missed him so much.
Logan stepped next to her. "I'm sure, they'll make it," he reassured her. He saw the tears brimming in her eyes as she turned to face him and he touched her arm for some comfort. "When ever you feel up to it. We're better get going."
"Just give me a minute," Emma whispered and wiped her damped eyes, getting mentally ready for another take off.
The idea of flying again was nothing. Leaving Loki behind without turning back was the hardest part. And there was this small, itsy-bitsy part of her that felt uncomfortable for letting Loki go on that mission alone with his brother. She had to ask herself, did she not trust him enough. Of course she did, she had no other choice but to trust him.
Jane watched at Emma a while, finding it strange how casually she took the change of her total appearance. Jane knew that she would freak out it Loki would have changed her appearance into someone else.
She glanced once more outside, missing Thor. Their time together had been too short. "They'll come back. I know they will. Thor did," she spoke her thoughts aloud, sharing some compassion with Emma.
"Yeah." Emma turned at Jane and smiled to her new 'could-be sister-in-law'. "So, next stop Pittsburgh, right?"
Jane shrugged, flashing a smile. "Anywhere alive would be just fine."
"Hey, I'm not that bad pilot!" Emma retorted, amused. She brushed her hair back, finding her locks shorter than usual.
Jane looked still somewhat puzzled. "Doesn't this strike you as any strange?" she asked, waving her hand at Emma. "I mean, Loki changing you into totally another person?"
Emma grinned to a memory. "I can deal surprisingly well with being someone else, but not so good what comes of being an animal."
"You've been… He turned you into… an animal?" Jane asked cautiously.
"You can continue your chat up in the air. Now is as good time as any to get out of here," Logan reminded to the ladies, walking towards them from the cockpit. "There's another aircraft arriving and we should get out of the way."
Like out of nowhere, another SUV drove to the landing zone and very close to the jet. The ladies noticed that two armed men stepped out, the other one of them striding straight towards the fake Quinjet.
"He's coming here!" Jane whispered, worried, moving backwards away from the opening.
Logan's brows furrowed in a nasty way. "Ah shit!" he murmured, taking cover against the cabin wall. His right hand's claws thrust out as he prepared to take down the approaching guy if he should walk in.
Jane's eyes grew width after seeing Logan's mighty claws. "Oh my g…"
Emma's palm landed on Jane's mouth, shutting her scared cry. The woman looked like she was ready to faint.
"It's okay! It's not as bad as it looks," Emma promised whispering and pushed Jane next to Logan against the wall. "I'll deal with them. You stay here. And no damn claws, Logan! No one gets hurt here today," she said in a quiet tone, giving her father a disapproving frown.
Logan's hand gripped from Emma's arm as she was leaving. "Don't' do it! They'll blow your cover," he warned her whispering, worry in his eyes, checking the rear hatch's closing button up in the wall. "Grab the wheel and let's just get out of here!"
"Hello! Anyone there?" the agent's voice called out from outside.
"They figures something's wrong. And like you said; we'll end up getting missiles in our ass once we're up," Emma reasoned. "No. I got this. I'll get rid of them and you'll prepare for take off," she said, seeing no other way, and walked out from jet.
"Damn it!" Logan grunted and glanced at Jane by his side who looked horrid by the size of his steely claws. He pulled them back in with an apologizing grimace. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Keep your pants up."
Emma mustered her courage while striding out, reprising her role as the female agent. They were on their own now and couldn't relay on the help of the Asgardians anymore. And she felt that she needed to buy them more time. If their mortal team with Logan and Jane would get caught, SHIELD would go seeking Thor and Loki frantically, turning the whole place upside down.
The armed agent in black uniform marched towards her and she needed to stop him before he would hit his face against the invisible wing of the x-jet that was larger and longer than what the Quinjet's wing appeared to be. The other guy was standing next the SUV on standby, finger on the trigger.
"A problem?" Emma asked, doing her best voice imitation of Natasha Romanoff, and hurried down the ramp and to him. "Agent Romanoff. SHIELD."
The agent moved to her, checking the jet with one quick look and registering that another Quinjet was landing nearby. "Ma'am, why are you not following the evacuation protocol?" the soldier asked, his sub-machine gun handing from a strap around his neck. "This landing area must be kept clear at all times. Only quick drop-offs of authorized personal allowed."
The draft of the landing jet waved her red hair, and she knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible. "Roger that," she said, recalling of using the military terms with her grandfather when she was a kid. She was nervous but she didn't let it show. She lifted her chin up as if she belonged to that place and knew what she was doing. "We'll get airborne without delay," she continued smoothly.
When moving backwards to the jet, her back bumped gently on the invisible wing of their aircraft and she cursed inwardly.
The agent glanced over his shoulder at the other jet that was already on the ground and turned back at her. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to identify yourself with bio-metric verification. Director Fury's orders," the man said and stepped closer, picking a portable, mobile phone-sized fingerprint scanner from his pocket. "Please. I need your fingerprint and voice authentication," he said handing the device towards her.
"Right…" Emma murmured and bit her lips, staring down at the gadget that could blow her cover, greatly hesitating to touch the thing. Shit!
"Agent Romanoff!" a shout of a strangely familiar voice called out for her and she lifted her gaze to see the real director of SHIELD treading across the apron from one jet towards the other, four armed agents in black tactical gears following him.
Shit! Shit! Shit! The last time she saw this guy, he was ready to shoot her down. Emma took a deep breath and glared at the fake Quinjet behind her. She would never get the thing airborne fast enough for a successful flight. Too much was at stake here. Okay! Just stay cool! Be the redhead bitch agent!
She calmed her herself and faced the big boss, ignoring the agent who was asking her identifications. "Sir?"
"You brought the reinforcement, Romanoff?" Fury asked, stalking closer to Emma, the heavily armed men walking a few steps behind him.
"Yes, sir," Emma answered, hoping that her imitation of Romanoff would do.
Fury stopped and glanced around him. "Well, where is our boy-wonder?"
Emma had no idea whom they were talking about but assumed it was Ironman. She nodded towards the facilities. "There was a ride waiting. He went already in," she said, her voice partly covered under the sounds of the taking off Quinjet (the one that had brought Fury there).
The meddling agent swivelled towards the boss. "Your identifications, sir?" he asked handing his gadget at the boss-man.
As if he would have done it everyday, Nick Fury gave his required identifications in passing and then frowned at the agent. "What? That's it?" he grunted, bad-tempered, giving the man an evil eye as the agent thanked him. "Don't you dare to come asking me about my voice and fingerprints when there's an alien on the loose who can turn himself into goddamn anyone. I want retinal scans, passwords, DNA testing. All that high-tech shit we are paying for! And more men on the field! I will downgrade your ass scrubbing road kills off from the Road 66 if the Asgardian passes your lousy identifications! Is that clear?"
The agents gulped and nodded. "Yes, sir!" he said and gave a sidelong look at the fake redhead.
Emma lifted a brow like asking was he really going to require her meager identifications now. The agent saw it wiser to drop the testing on her part.
"Fingerprints?" Fury snorted, irritated.
The big boss headed to the SUV, and for a tiny moment, Emma believed she was off the hook but then the man turned back at her.
Fury looked at her somewhat suspiciously. "Is there somewhere else you'd rather be, agent Romanoff?"
"Um… I could think of plenty of other places," Emma gave a sideways look at the jet behind her. She could almost hear Logan cursing inside it.
"Yeah. Me too. Things could get nasty here today. But we've got a job to do. Let's go!" Fury said, making it sound like an order.
Emma stared at the armed agents in black, the SHIELD's very own tactical officers. They were six of them now plus Fury. In a flash, her imagination was already running wild as she tried to figure what to do. If she should beat a retreat into the jet, the agents would realize something was wrong and follow. And soon there would be a pile of chopped off body parts everywhere if Logan would get his hands on the men. On the other hand, if they'll get airborne, those fighter jets they had seen earlier would shoot them down. And then there was Loki and Thor, somewhere out there heading for the Tesseract. She needed to buy them more time and to Logan and Jane too.
Sorry, dad! The whole group didn't have to get caught. Professor Xavier, if you can hear me, please help Logan and Jane away from here.
"Sure thing, sir."
Inside the jet, Logan stared outside, horrid. The big SUV drove away taking his daughter out of his reach with a bunch of armed soldiers.
"Fuck!" he barked in disbelieve, combing his fingers through his thick hair. He was pacing back and forth inside the cabin. "Fuck! What the hell was she thinking?"
Jane slumped down on one of the cabin seats, watching at the scary claw-man from a safe distance. She would have rather been with Emma. "What are we going to do now?"
"There is no way I'm leaving her there on her own. If they don't blow her cover earlier, then she'll be discovered the moment the E.T. boys are gone from this planet."
"We can't go in there!" Jane cried out. "This is SHIELD we are talking about. They mean business!"
Logan lifted his finger at her as they heard footsteps on asphalt drawing near.
"Is someone still there? Please, step outside to identify yourself!" the agent's voice asked from outside.
There was no response and the agent moved cautiously forward the ramp. Then, as if she had been shoved out, Jane emerged with running steps down the ramp.
"Hi!" she exclaimed with an uneasy smile and glowered indiscreetly at Logan who had pushed her out as a decoy. "Ah… I'm doctor Foster. I was asked to give a lecture about Einstein-Rosen bridge theory here today."
"A what?" the agent frowned and moved closed.
She lured him closed the ramp nervously. "You know? Wormholes. The theoretical passages linking unrelated points in space/time. Is this the right place? This is the Nevada NASA base, right?"
"All personnel and visitors must be evacuated immediately," the agent said very suspiciously.
The man was going for his communicator when Logan jumped on him and knocked him cold.
"Oh god!" Jane murmured uneasily checking her surroundings, hoping no one had seen that.
"Great job, doc!" Logan said dragging the agent inside the jet and Jane followed. "Now, do you think you could fly this thing?"
Jane grimaced unhappily. "Sorry, I don't hear voices in my head."
… …
After successfully infiltrating to the Joint Dark Energy Mission facility, Thor and Loki stepped into an elevator, leaving behind the first line of SHIELD's defense. Thanks to Loki's illusion, most people didn't even see them walking in and passing the security check ups.
Thor, in his fake form, turned at his brother and smiled as the elevator's door slid close, closing the Asgardians into a small safe bubble for a tiny moment. "I am impressed, brother. I must admit I did not believe this would work out so well."
"We are not there yet," Loki said in a grave tone with Fury's voice, giving the boss's full name to the voice recognition system and then the desired floor.
"Yes. But who would have thought that your magic would actually help us tremendously one day," Thor grinned and Loki snorted to that. Then the god of thunder cast more brotherly glance at Loki, his features recognizable even in his false face. "I cannot tell you enough how much it means to me that we are doing this together. It is just like the old days, right?"
"Yes," Loki answered, his eyes seeking a point to focus inside the lift. Broodingly he met his brother's gaze and spoke with his own voice. "When you said that Odin wishes my return," he begun but hesitated, heaving a difficult sigh. "Do you suppose he welcomes me back… as his son?"
Thor squeezed his brother's arm (taking note to that black leather coat suited Loki better than him anyway). "You are Odinson as much as I am. That will never change," he said with almost sentimental tone.
Returning to Asgard was drawing near with every step they had taken towards the Tesseract, and Loki was getting cold feet. Returning home, facing Frigga and Odin, facing all the people, the destruction he had left behind. It was all there waiting for him and he wasn't sure if he could deal with it. That's why he always had a plan B.
Thor watched at his quiet brother. He had used to see him keeping quiet so often that he had believed it to been trait of his character, but now he paid attention to that silence and it was telling him something. There must have been so much going on inside his head. He had nearly lost his brother once, he was not going to let that happen again.
Thor nudged him gently to the arm. "Come on now. Sons of Odin will return home with the Tesseract. They will give us heroes welcome. We celebrate weeks. The sooner we are there, the sooner you can return to Emma. Have I ever lied to you, Loki?"
The fake Fury's face had a sad expression. "I have," Loki admitted remorsefully.
"Whatever comes, we will face it together, my brother."
Loki smiled but turned at the door that was sliding open. One more step closer to the Cube. "It is easier for you to say," he said with the Fury's voice again.
… …
'Joint Dark Energy Mission, Project Pegasus.' Emma read the sign next of a big building their car had parked in front of. She spotted NASA and SHIELD logos everywhere, and more of the heavily armed agents marching and guarding the place like it would have been Fort Knox.
Everyone climbed off the SUV and the agents moved towards the great building while Emma remained next to the car, staring up at the building. She knew very well she was screwed the moment they'd discover her true identity and she's got a nasty feeling that it wouldn't take too long to happen. She checked her surroundings, trying to figure out her current location and the way back to the jet. It was now or never if she hoped to flee.
"Paska!" she murmured quietly the Finnish swear word she had heard Petteri Vuori using several times in Greenland and hoped it would pass as a Russian equivalent. "I –ah – forget something in the jet. You'll go ahead, sir. I'll catch up with you later."
Slamming the front door close, Fury watched down at the questioningly. "You're not planning to bail out on me, Natasha?" he asked, a few volume levels lower, almost sympathetically.
Emma forced a small smile. He used the woman's first name, so they must be closer than just a boss and an employee. Or then he already suspected something. "Of course not, sir. You know me. I'm going to see this through to the end."
"That's all I want to hear. So, I'm sure whatever it was, it can wait. Let's move in."
Seeing it as the only possible option, Emma was forced to follow the boss and his men through the security check-ups and across the facilities, trying to keep the appearance as long as possible. She pondered how long her luck would last. The further they went, the more armed forces she saw, and it was beginning to look like there was a small army securing the premises.
They were reaching an elevator when Fury stopped to answer his ringing mobile phone, at first staring at the screen and then looking expressionlessly at the redhead in front of him while answering;
"Talk to me!"
Emma stared back at him, keeping her act together and hoping that Loki and Thor had already found what they were looking for.
"Yeah. Hurry up. Get straight down. It's like Singapore again here," Fury told to the one on the other end and moved into the elevator, putting his phone back into his pocket.
His accompanying men were all going to pack into the same lift when Fury raised his hands in the air, stopping the whole bunch. "Whoa! You'll take the next one. This is for agent Romanoff and me. We've got some things to discuss," he said, waving his hand at Emma who would have so loved to stay off from this one.
Greatly hesitating, she stepped in, next to the boss. The door slid close, trapping her there with the man she found intimidating in several ways. For one thing, he was the director of SHIELD who had made it very clear he didn't like her. For second, he was much larger than she was, and he gave an impression that he was angry at all the time. Nomen est omen! She could felt the insides of her forearms turning ice-cold just for being that close to him.
The elevator had a palm-scanner and a voice-controlling system and to activate it needed either voice recognition or a palm print. "Nicholas Joseph Fury," the big boss gave his full name and the lift-system greeted him with a robot voice. "B2," he continued.
With that, the lift was in motion and Emma guessed they were heading down.
She glanced at him slightly nervously and he beamed at her like a one-eyed, wicked pirate. He let out a small incredulous chuckle, facing the door and then taking a long breath. "Working for the field of espionage for almost four decades has taken my trust issues to a whole new paranoiac level," he admitted with a tiny shake of his head. "That's why I've got to hand it to you, you had me there for a small moment..." he said and turned back at her, "Emma Morgan."
Shit! He knew! She was so fucked. She gulped, probably so loud that he heard it. There was no reason for playing dumb. "Look, I shouldn't even be here," she said cautiously with her own voice, clenching her hands into fists and moving backwards away from him, which wasn't very far. Her forearms were tingling, the icy claws just waiting to come out.
He had been picking up strange vibes from her from the moment they left the landing zone. And when another Natasha Romanoff had just called him, telling that she was bringing in Steve Rogers, that confirmed his doubts.
"That's damn right! But since you're here, you and me have some serious talking to do," Fury said with more intimidating voice, standing in the middle of the lift, ruling the small space they were in. Keeping a strict eye contact, he could predict her moves. "Now, don't you dare to go and pull our claws on me, little girl!" he warned. "You have any idea who I am?"
Emma felt the lift stopping in their destination floor. She kept her gaze focused at the man. "You're the guy who runs this whole joint."
"Yeah. I'm director of SHIELD. I'm the guy who can make your life so much easier or turn it into a pure nightmare. You keep following my orders and the two of us will be getting along just fine," Fury said and watched at her while she sneaked out from the elevator as soon as the door slid open.
He followed her out, into concrete-wall facilities with big glass windows on the other side of a hallway. "Now, you drop that fake form! You don't deserve it."
She grimaced uneasily. "Sorry, I can't. This will wear off, in time. I hope."
"Where's your beau?"
Emma shrugged innocently. "I don't know. I guess he already found what he was looking for and went home," she said, moving backwards and checking quickly her surroundings. There was no one else on the long, grey hallway. Her voice echoed inside it.
Fury smiled a slightly annoyed smile. "I don't believe that. Loki and Thor are here for the Tesseract, but they are not getting it. Not without me. We are prepared for them. Don't think this is the first time some aliens are trying to infiltrate these facilities." He let out an amused snort and walked closer and she kept moving backwards. "Now, let's talk about you, Ms Morgan. You were a little girl when you developed powers some people would die for. You went through rough times but you pulled through it. By the time we discovered you, we left you in peace for years."
Emma glared at him. "You don't have to remind me about my damn past. I lived it! I was there."
"In our Greenland reports you were descript as, and I quote, ' level-headed, unlikely to cause any problems'. The moment you hooked up with Loki and pulled you claws out, you became a problem. A problem I have to deal with," Fury said sounding bored and disappointed.
The man didn't even have pull his gun on her, she was threatened enough by his highly confident attitude. She was actually missing Coulson's more humane approach. "I'm not a problem. I'm really a very reasonable and nice person, and I don't want to be any part of this shit."
"Ever heard a saying; if you can't run with the big dogs, you're better stay on the porch? You're the puppy who chose to leave the cosy porch and now you're paying the price. You see, either you want it or not, you've become a part of a bigger world. The question is how you are going to fit in it."
"I'm not trying to fit in. I just want to get out."
"Too late. You don't get to make that decision. I know who your daddy is. I've seen what you're capable of. And that is some nasty shit." He paused for a moment, stopped walking, and then continued in calmer tone; "You are not my top priority, but I'm willing to give you one more chance. Because I know, that's what Coulson would have wanted me to do. You help me to deal with Loki and Thor, and your life would turn out to be much nicer. Try to go against me, and your two-war-veteran grandfather Walter would go rolling over in his grave for being so disappointed with you."
Emma frowned angrily for that remark. Her grandfather had been her dearest childhood hero alongside Captain America. "You have no right to talk about my family! So, you've done your homework? Read a file? You still don't know a thing about me. And what come to Loki and Thor, they just wanna go back home. That's all!"
"That is bullshit and you damn well know it!" Fury gruffed. "It's time to step out from your bubblegum flavored world into the real one. If you haven't noticed, we are at the threshold of war here. And you are playing into enemy's hands. Look at that!" he grunted, pointing his finger at the big windows on her right side.
She took a cautious look through the glass into a big research hall/laboratory where lied a huge metallic, robot-looking thing in the middle of the room, surrounded by all sort of studying equipments. She took a wild guess what it was; the destroyer mentioned by Jane and Thor. She felt her heart racing by the sight of it.
"Your motherloving, peacemaking green zealot sent that thing wreaking havoc in a small town in New Mexico over a week ago. It destroyed everything from its path. Imagine that ending up in New York, Chicago or Washington," Fury explained angrily and Emma turned back at him worried. "And yet that is still a drop in the ocean comparing the damage Loki could cause with the Tesseract. If he would get his hands on it, do you honestly believe he would settle for being a good boy, returning home and getting his ass kicked there? Or, I could be wrong. Maybe they planned this whole thing together. He'll go home with the big brother and they'll come back next time with an army."
Emma said nothing. She didn't know what to think, but she wanted to believe in Loki and his good intentions. Sending the destroyer in Earth belonged into his past mistakes. She glanced at that thing again. It looked monstrous. She could understand why SHIELD was so pissed off because of him, though.
"Loki is… changed," she said in a silent voice.
"I wouldn't bet on it." Fury stepped closer. He lowered his voice, sounding sympathetic as he spoke; "You strike me as the type of a person who wants to do the right thing. That's the impression I got from the reports, from Greenland and from agent Coulson, concerning you. I knew agent Coulson, better than anyone. He wouldn't have waste his hours with you unless he wouldn't have believed in you."
He waited a while to let her taking in his choice of words. Speaking about Coulson in the past tense clearly seemed to bother her. It was time to drop the bomb and hope for the best. "It was a very heart-warming voice message you left for Coulson. Too bad, he never got it. I know he would have appreciated your concern."
She didn't like the sound of that. It almost sounded as if Coulson was… "What do you mean?"
Fury looked straight into her eyes. "Phil Coulson is dead. And I mean for real, not in some phony way like you suggested. It wasn't a bad idea though. But he never received your message."
Emma only stared at him as if she would have froze, dismayed, unbelieving his words, pondering what could have happened. "Why? How?" She swallowed. "Hydra?"
"You wish. Why you look so surprised? Loki didn't bother to tell you?"
Suddenly she felt very small and discouraged. "Tell me what?"
"Loki killed Phil Coulson, in a way. He did something to my best agent, causing him to lose his mind and dying from inside. Coulson was the sharpest man I knew, who always held it together no matter what. He was the only one of us who got through to you, and I bet Loki didn't like that."
Her voice was trembling, as she said, "No… I don't believe that. We left him safe, unharmed… You can't blame this on Loki. That's a lie."
Fury took a step closer. "Coulson died after being shot by his own colleagues. The man just snapped, starting to firing at us and shouting that it was what Loki wanted him to do. I saw it. I was there. I had worked with him for 16 years. He was the only one I trusted. My right hand guy. And I'm telling you, that wasn't the Coulson I knew anymore." His gaze was stern and voice remorseful as he continued. "Three shots, one in the chest. Phil J. Coulson died from blood loss before we got him to the hospital, just like Scott Davis died in Greenland. He was a man who lived his live with honor, but there was nothing honorable in the way he died. He was on a suicide mission and Loki sent him to it."
His harsh words hammering in her head, she could saw that image in her mind again, Loki stabbing Scott Davis in the darkness of the glacier. As she recalled, Coulson had told her about Scott's death. He had bled to death. Thinking about that same fate to the only one, who had stood up for her, made her throat tightening. From the beginning, he had been nothing but understanding towards her, never lost his cool with her even he might had have a reason for it. It didn't make sense. She had never wanted him to get hurt. However, Loki would have killed him in his cell if she hadn't stopped him. When she had yelled at Loki to stop hurting him, he had relented so easily and it made her wonder… No. It couldn't be true!
She was unaware of the tears that roll down on her cheeks. "It can't be…" she whispered.
"You imagined him sitting on his ass under a palm tree on some beach and sipping a cold drink with a tiny umbrella?" That's what Coulson was probably doing at the moment in Aruba, and thinking about it annoyed Fury, giving some authentic grumpiness to his voice. "No. I have to admit I didn't believe your insane Hydra-talks until you by a miracle lured those bastards out into the open. I was going to send Coulson somewhere safe but Loki got to him first."
"Loki can't control minds like that," she said weakly, reasoning things to herself.
"How well do you think you know that cover-boy from hell?"
With her mind already churning, that question made her angry. "Way better than I know you!"
"Think again! He's an alien, a master manipulator, a shapesifter. I don't think he even looks like that for real. He's a brutal con man to the core. So, he sweet-talked you? Fooled you? It happens to the best of us. It's no shame to admit that you made a mistake with him, but to continue that same stupid-ass mistake is." He moved closer and there was less than six feet between them two. "Why do I bother to talk to you when I should be out there seeking out for two aliens who are trying to steel a weapon capable for creating mass destruction? When he still had his wits, Coulson asked me to make sure you'll stay safe. He was ready to take a personal risk, hiding you from Hydra and training you to become an agent. Because he believed you could be a damn good one."
Loki hadn't fooled her. He couldn't have. Emma wiped her eyes, a lump rising in her throat. All the talks she had with Coulson was returning into her mind. The understanding he had shown towards her felt now unbearable to deal with. She didn't want to hear anymore. "Please, stop…"
Fury had no plans to go easy on her. He knew, in some point she would break and he would have her. This is what he did; he took capable people and talked them to do what he wanted them to do.
"What we do, is not just a nine to five job. It is a way of life, a commitment, a will to do something that matters. We protect lives. That's what SHIELD is for. The team we work with is like a family. We look after each other. And Coulson wanted to welcome you into that family."
He said the f-word, family, and her tears were pouring down uncontrollably. That was the toughest lecturing she had ever heard. She had always been very emotional and it was her curse. "Stop it!" she cried out, shoving her claws out fiercely, unable to control the shake of her hands. "I said stop!" she shouted and took a challenging step forward. The short-lived pain in her hands and arms was nothing compared the pain she felt inside for the death of agent Coulson she felt being partly guilty of.
Fury's pistol was aimed at her head faster than she had taken another step towards him and she stopped moving, giving him a daring look.
He looked offended by her act and blinked his good eye, staying calm. "It hurt, doesn't it? To know that a good man died because you made a wrong call," he talked behind his gun. "You see, one thing funny about Coulson was that he was an old-fashioned guy. He liked to believe there were heroes among us, people who were destined to do great things, and he believed that you could be one of them. So, what's it gonna be, Emma Morgan? Are you gonna let him down or are you gonna start to live up to his expectations?"
She faltered, closing her eyes and squeezing her fists. "I can't…" she whispered in a pained voice.
"You can't? I don't' get it. What did Loki do to you, other than dragged you down with him? The man is a menace!"
Retracting her claws, she opened her eyes. "He saved my life!" she cried out as if it had been her only defense.
"Okay," Fury relented, lowering his pistol and putting it back into his belt holster under his long coat. But then he pulled another one on her like it would have been one smooth move. "Clearly you're not capable of making difficult decisions at the moment," he said and pulled the trigger, just like that. It made only a quick, soft sound.
Having no time to react to the gun firing at her, Emma was starting to feel light-headed. It felt like something was biding her under her left collarbone, and she pulled a small tranquilizer dart off from her. Her whole chest was getting numb and the feeling was spreading all over her body. She stared at the dart and then at the man, the quick realization hitting her. "Fuck..."
"Night night! We'll talk later. There's somewhere else I need to be right now."
Her legs had given in and she was barely standing on her knees, her head spinning and consciousness begging for a timeout. She forced her eyes staying open, seeing the man only as a dark shadow in front of her. A surge of adrenaline rushed thought her system as if washing away the sedatives and she wasn't even aware of her own actions after that.
Being cock-sure she was out of the game, Fury approached her. With that amount of sedatives, one could have easily taken down a full-grown man. The same stuff had put her cold in the Helicarrier a few days ago. "Your claws belong to me now, puppy," he smirked watching down at her and picking up his mobile.
One hard, well aimed punch and she knocked that smirk off his face and air out of his lunges. The man bent down in agony, dropping on the floor next to her on one knee. She had gone for the groin but wasn't sure where she had really hit him because there were too many of him in her vision. The gun was at her face again but she went for it like a rabid dog, biting his wrist as long as he dropped the weapon.
In her half sedated state, to her it looked she was watching everything in slow motion, but it all happened as fast as a struck of lightning. She had the gun, and she was lying a few feet away from him on the floor, pointing at him with the weapon with blurry eyes and he was aiming at her with another one of his.
"Oh, hell no!" he cried out in unbelieving, indignant tone, sitting on his ass on the floor, his trigger finger misbehaving and his whole aiming arm going numb. Weakly he plucked a dart from his right upper forearm with left hand, noticing that there were two more darts stuck on his torso. With that, the big boss was out cold, slumping to the floor.
Emma lied a while on her side, staring at the unconscious man, and holding on to her gun. She noticed that her finger was still having a workout on the trigger, the gun giving quiet noise as the pressurized air was released as she kept clicking the trigger. The shots had ran out and it looked like she had been trying to sedate the whole wall behind him. She lifted her finger from the trigger and she had to force her body to cooperate with her will, pulling herself into a sitting position. Her neck felt strangely sore. He must have been punching her pressure points without getting the desired effect.
She spat the taste of his blood from her mouth, threw the gun away and kept staring at the man, slapping herself in the face to stay focus. "Hey, boss! Didn't Coulson tell you that I adapt to every shit that comes along?" she shouted at him angrily, sounding like a drunk. There was no response, unless some light snoring wasn't counted.
She crawled to him and took his gun, checking the magazine and finding real bullets in it. "Shit! Were you really going to shoot me with this? Are you out of you fucking mind? This shit only makes me angry. And I bet you don't like me when I'm angry."
She checked his pulse, removed the darts, and rolled him to his side in the recovery position. No one else was going to die because of her again. Staggering onto her feet, she put the gun to her belt, and took a deep breath, her gaze stopping on the destroyer on the other side of the big window.
"Loki," she sighed ruefully, thinking about what Fury had told her about Coulson's death. "Loki, what have you done?"
Her focus switched to her own reflection in the glass. She was still in the redhead form, so Loki had to be still on Earth, right in the same building with her. She was never going to forgive him if he was behind Coulson's death. And if that was true, what else was he capable of, that beautiful, divine prick. The Tesseract! What was he really up to with it? Was she just a stupid idiot for trusting him and loving him?
She clenched her jaw and dropped her gaze down at the sleeping man in her feet, realizing she probably wasn't getting anywhere on her own in that place without the right identification. "Great! I guess it's just you and me, boss. We've got an Asgardian to find!" She let out a sad, desperate laugh for the shitty situation she had gotten herself into, wiping her wet cheeks, being still a bit high on the sedatives.
It's was better that agent Coulson didn't see her now, because he would have gotten a shit stroke.