I looked at the phone on the dashboard of the car as it buzzed. Again. It'd been the 5th time in the last 10 minutes a message had come through. Coulson's phone was always going off, but not normally like this. He was never quick to snatch it up and send a reply text back either, especially while he was driving. But that's exactly what he did. Before my fingers could move an inch towards the phone, it was snatched into his hands. The phone screen was even turned away from me at an angle I couldn't snoop in the window reflection either. Judging by the little smile ghosting over his lips, it definitely wasn't someone from work either.
I'd slept on and off for most of the day into the road trip. Coulson had stopped late afternoon break and pushed me out of the passenger seat in a bid to go get coffee. After a coffee and Red Bull, I was awake, probably a little too awake and bored out of my mind. The sun had set a few hours ago now, leaving nothing to look at.
"So," I started, putting my feet up on the dashboard. "Wanna play I spy?"
"Are you going to start asking me 'are we there yet' every 5 seconds if I don't?" Coulson asked with a bemused smile on his face. "Because I will throw you out of the car if you start that. Do I even need to voice what I'm about to tell you?"
I obediently got my feet off the dash.
"I'm bored and my reception is shitty out here," I complained, pulling a face. I hadn't gotten any cell reception for a few miles now. "That Red Bull was a bad idea too."
"I told you so." Coulson looked over at me small smirk. "You could be sleeping and I could be enjoying my easy listening radio channel. But you insisted you had to get it."
"Only old people listen to the easy listening radio channel," I teased, pleased and curious about Coulson's good mood. I didn't doubt it had something to do with whoever was texting him. Now I had to find out who it was. In the year I'd know Coulson now, he'd never had any lady company. He was also a lot more discreet than the 3 of us though. He could have a wife and kids hidden somewhere and none of us would know.
"One day you're going to be my age and I plan on being around to tease you relentlessly about listening to Taylor Swift," Coulson's swift reply didn't disappoint. "And all the other terrible pop music you like."
"It's only terrible pop music when I sing along to it," I said with a small laugh. "Musically talented, I am not."
"Musically talented the three of you are not," Coulson laughed with me, shaking his head. "Have you ever heard Barton try and sing in the shower?"
"Yep." I cringed. Clint often used our showers at work and he had no problems in singing while he was in there. Clint's singing was as bad as Jared's. "Of all his bad habits, why couldn't you kick that one out of him Coulson?"
"Even I'm not that much of a miracle worker," Coulson said with a chuckle. Whatever else he was going to say died on his lips as his phone chimed. He quickly grabbed it, looking over the screen before tapping out a reply.
"Do you want me to drive?" It was a little disconcerting to have Coulson texting and driving at the same time.
"No, I get car sick when you drive." Coulson didn't look up from his phone. "It's a good thing you're an excellent pilot because your driving sucks."
"Hey, no one else complains," I said with a mock pout. "Well, maybe Hawk does but no one important complains."
That made Coulson laugh. He finished typing his text message and put the phone up without saying anything else. Curiosity was getting the better of me. I stared at the phone on the dashboard, waiting for my opportunity to snatch it up. It didn't go unnoticed. Coulson reached up and moved the phone well out of my reach.
"Her name is Audrey, and it's all very new," there was a clear warning in Coulson's tone. "So new that even Barton doesn't know about it yet."
"What does she do?" I tried not to be too gleeful I was being let in on the new secret. But I couldn't squash it down. It was someone else's turn to be teased about their love life.
"She's a cello player." The look on Coulson's face turned a little dreamy. He might not outwardly show it, but he was a real romantic at heart. "We met just before I got assigned to Stark."
"And?" I prompted, feeling a silly grin come onto my face. This must be a good story for Coulson to be playing coy about the details. I wouldn't be surprised if Coulson had swooped in there and saved the day, getting the girl in the process.
"And what?" Coulson teased, turning to look at me. "I'm not giving out the details yet. If I give you too much information I feel like she'll have the three of you drop in and give her a shovel talk. Whatever we are is not ready for you 3 yet."
"Never," I smiled innocently. "Well, I wouldn't. I can't speak for the other 2. I think its cute."
"Thanks," Coulson said dryly. "Not sure if cute is the right word for it."
Coulson's phone chimed as another message came through. I crossed my arms with a grin, looking at him expectedly.
"We're making dinner plans for when I get back," Coulson admitted with a small sigh, even though he was smiling as he picked up his phone again. "She's very chatty. Kind of like you and Greg."
Almost on cue my phone vibrated a few times as I finally got some reception and my messages started coming through. Coulson's dry look spoke more than words could as I snatched up my own phone and started to look at the messages.
"They aren't all from Greg," I said defensively as the phone kept vibrating in my hand. We must have been out of reception for longer than I thought. The majority were from Jared, who must have been bored all day long judging by the amount of messages I was getting from him. Greg had been chatty while I was awake enough to reply from his messages. I hadn't heard from Gareth all day except for a good morning text. The last message to come through was a cute short video of Alexi doing a roll in her gymnastics class. It made me grin like an idiot. I turned the phone to show it to Coulson before he could ask what I was grinning about.
"She's growing up so quick," Coulson's smile looked a little wistful. "I remember when Evans announced Abby was pregnant with Alexi. I've never seen a man look so happy and terrified at the same time. Is that a gas station ahead?"
I looked up and followed Coulson's line of sight. He was right, in the distance there was a gas station. I nodded in confirmation of what I saw.
"Good, I'm hungry and we could do with gas," Coulson said, rolling his neck. "And a leg stretch."
I wasn't going to complain. Give it another 5 minutes and I'd start harassing Coulson to find somewhere for me to pee. I wouldn't put it past him to pull over to the side of the road and simply point. The gas station came up quickly and Coulson got out to fill up while I got out and found the small, but thankfully clean bathroom. I quickly finished and went around the front of find Coulson.
"Hey Coulson I…" I trailed off at the scene in front of me. There were 2 shotguns immediately pointed in my face. I glared at the wannabe robbers with a look of complete disdain. They were both shaking so much I doubted they'd be able to hit me if they tried. "Seriously?"
The poor cashier looked like she was ready to cry. She had her hands up, cringing away trying to make herself seem as small as possible. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Coulson right down the back of the store, holding up his hands looking calm.
"Put your hands up!" the shorter of the pair yelled, waving the shotgun in my face.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Coulson move over one aisle, bending down to pick something up. The two robbers were too intent on me to notice him. A second later a bag of flour came flying at the head of one of them. As it smashed into the taller one's head, I made my move.
I reached up and snatched the shotgun out of the short ones hands. His grip was sloppy and it was easy to yank it away. I flipped it around in a smooth motion and slammed the butt of it across the short robbers face. The look of shock before he crumpled to the ground was comical. The sound of a shot going off made me jump, I turned to catch the taller robber hitting the ground and Coulson standing over him.
"You had to pick the gas station with robbers?" I asked, giving Coulson a look of complete exasperation. I hoped it'd be the same look he'd give if the situation happened to Natasha, Clint or I.
"You be quiet," Coulson said, strolling up to the counter with a look of nonchalance on his face. He had 2 packets of donuts in his hands. Like nothing had happened, he placed them on the counter of the still shocked cashier. "I couldn't decide."
"Can I get a drink?" I asked, stepping over the unconscious robber. I purposely kicked him in the face as I went. It was strangely satisfying to hear his nose crunch under my sneaker. Even if it did hurt my foot a little. If we hadn't been here, the poor cashier could have had a really bad night.
"No Red Bull," Coulson warned me. "Make it quick."
I shot off to the back of the store to grab my drink. On impulse I grabbed some Pringles in case Coulson didn't feel like sharing his donuts. Armed with a chocolate milk and Pringles, I went back to the counter to hear Coulson give out some much needed advice to the shocked cashier.
"Tell them those Tae Bo tapes really paid off," Coulson said in the most dead panned voice I'd ever heard him do. The cashier looked at Coulson in mild horror. Coulson said nothing else and picked his donuts up. The way he walked out could only be described as a strut. Nothing was said as we got back into the car. The smug look creeping onto Coulson's face made me turn to look at him. I couldn't keep my own grin under control.
"You were playing the Captain America theme song in your head the entire time, weren't you?" I asked, my cheeks hurting from stopping the shit eating grin appearing on my face too much.
"I can neither confirm or deny that statement."
The grin on Coulson's face said it all. I had nothing else to say, except to raise my fist and hold it there expectingly. Coulson didn't disappoint, he fist bumped with me straight away.
"STRIKE Team Delta would make a very cool vigilant team name," I grinned happily. At least there was a little excitement in this long road trip. "Like the A Team, but so much better."
"I am not encouraging this idea." Despite his words, Coulson was laughing heartily. "No matter how awesome it sounds. Come on, lets get going. Donut?"
It took another few hours to get to Clint's location. He was staying in a caravan a few miles out of the town. I was stiff and cramped by the time we pulled up, but it didn't stop me jumping out of the car to greet Clint. He wrapped me up in a near crushing hug. Ever since Natasha went to Stark Industries it'd been Clint and I. It had felt really odd not seeing him for the last few weeks. I'd even go as far as to say I'd missed him. After he released me, Clint started to debris Coulson as we ushered inside. The caravan was small, but functional enough. I sat on the bed while Clint claimed the couch and Coulson sat by the small dining table.
Jane Foster has been about 50 miles out of town investigating a storm anomaly yesterday night. Then in the early hours of this morning, people had started driving out towards the site where she'd been, saying there was a hammer out there. Clint thought people were playing an elaborate prank, but the rumours had been true. A hammer stuck in the ground that no one could move. It was like a fucked up version of King Arthur. Clint even had a go at trying to budge it and was very adamant the thing would not move. Someone had lost the tray off their pickup to prove it. Everyone had cleared out as soon as it got dark, Clint hadn't long gotten back from the site himself.
"It's not going anywhere," Coulson said with a sigh after Clint finished. "Lets grab a couple of hours sleep and head out there first thing in the morning."
"Sounds like a plan," Clint nodded in agreement. He looked tired, but more from boredom than actual physical activity. "You can scoot over Kari, I'm not sleeping on the floor."
"Ugh, why do I always end up sharing a bed with you?" I asked with a wrinkled nose, but complied anyway. I'd already taken my shoes off and I was happy to sleep in what I was wearing.
"Because Coulson snores and hogs the blankets," Clint said smartly, sending a sly look over his shoulder at Coulson. All he got for his smart ass remark was an eye roll as Coulson got up and started to pull the couch out. I flopped down onto the bed, taking the solitary pillow. It'd been a long trip and I was happy to get another few hours of sleep.
Morning came around far too quickly. One second my eyes were shut and the next Coulson was shaking both Clint and I awake. To his credit, Coulson already had coffee made so there wasn't too much grumbling about getting out of bed before the sun was barely starting to peek over the horizon. The drive to their site was quiet except for Clint's directions. In the 40 minute drive, the sun had come up and chased away the last bits of the brisk morning air. The crater where the 084 landed was already packed with cars and people, despite the early hour. Even from the height we were at, you could clearly see a hammer embedded in a circle of rocks.
"Told you so," Clint sounded smugly proud as Coulson and I gazed down at it. There was a guy trying to move the hammer, but like Clint had said. It wouldn't budge.
Coulson said nothing. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressing a few buttons and then putting it to his ear. I strained to hear the person on the other end of the line as Coulson spoke.
"Sir, we found it."
The phone call ended up being mostly one sided and Coulson having a look of pained exasperation on his face. Clint and I got bored exactly 2 minutes into the phone call and started throwing rocks at each other.
"Seriously?" Coulson asked. The look of exasperation switched to pissed off very quickly. He hadn't bothered to cover the phone either. We both dropped the rocks in our hands with identical guilty expressions and let Coulson finish his phone call without any further interruptions.
"What's the plan?" Clint asked as soon as Coulson hung up from his call.
"A team will be here in 40 minutes." Coulson started walking down the rocky slope. "We need to clear the area. Biological or radioactive?"
"Radioactive for sure." Clint bounded down the slope after him. I followed at a much more sedate pace, not trusting myself on the rocky outcrop. I didn't need to ruin my morning by sliding down on ass in front of 30 people. By the time I got down to the bottom Coulson had everyone gathered around him.
"Due to the radioactive nature of this fallen satellite, I'm going to have to ask everyone to clear our," Coulson's voice rang out clearly across the canyon. "If we could all clear out in an orderly fashion, it would be much appreciated."
There was plenty of grumbling but no one stuck around for long. The words radioactive tended to make people get out of places pretty quickly. Once the canyon was cleared, I couldn't help myself. I walked over to the 084 and got a closer look. It was a massive hammer. Something that looked like it belonged in the Middle Ages. I grabbed the handle and gave it a small tug. The only thing I succeeded in doing was nearly pulling a shoulder muscle. Wincing, I rubbed my shoulder and eyed off what was in front of me.
It was beyond weird. But I couldn't help but to think back to stories Grams used to tell us when I was young. After her dealings with HYDRA in World War 2 she was a firm believer in Norse mythology having some truth to it. She might have some idea on what this might be.
"Coulson?" I called out.
"What?"
"Can I take a photo and send it to Grams?"
He nodded in confirmation and went back to talking with Clint. I pulled my phone out and unlocked it. The screen looked like an old TV getting interference. I could barely get it to function well enough to take a photo. Whatever the hammer was, it was giving off some pretty severe interference. Coulson seemed to have phone reception away from it, so I took a dozen steps back. The further I got away from it, the better my phone was. The photo turned out perfectly fine, despite the problems I had taking it.
"That's not fucking creepy at all," I muttered, opening up a new email and attached the photo to it. Grams probably wouldn't get it until later tonight when she got inside. But she'd appreciate the weirdness of it. I went back over to Coulson and Clint who were still deep in conversation.
"And we'll head into town and do the confiscation once the rest of the group gets here."
I caught the tail end of what Coulson was saying. Confiscation didn't sound like it was going to be a fun job. I didn't need to butt into the conversation to ask what was going on. Poor Dr Foster was about to have her life work taken away from her.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, quickly jumping in before their conversation got going again.
"You can take the sniper rifle out and fire warning shots at anyone who comes close." Coulson's answered surprised the hell out of me. "We have a team coming in, ETA 45 minutes, so keep everyone away until then."
I nodded, trying not to let my glee show too much. Judging by the pout on Clint's face, he wanted the job. I wasn't going to argue. I hauled ass back up the car as quickly as I could without breaking an ankle. In the boot of the car was my AWSM case, the silver stars and my name on it starting to fade a little by now. It was hard to believe in a few weeks it'd be a year since we were at Bagram base looking for Tony Stark. I didn't dwell on it too much. I quickly unpacked the AWSM and headed out to the highest point I could see to set up. While I was walking there, I put in a comms unit so I could pick up the SHIELD chatter when it got close.
After the last few weeks, it was very peaceful sitting up on the small ridge I'd found and peering through my sniper scope. There was nothing around here for miles. The only thing moving was Coulson and Clint. Coulson went back to the car and Clint disappeared on the other side of the canyon with his bow.
Whatever that hammer was, had done well to pick a spot in the middle of nowhere to fall. It really was a barren wasteland around here. Despite the boredom creeping in, it was still nice to be behind the AWSM for the first time since Pripyat. Exactly 44 minutes later the radio call from a Quinjet pilot came in asking for visual confirmation for a landing site.
As soon as the first Quinjet landed, a second and third were right behind it. The canyon was a hive of activity within minutes. I'd never seen so much gear unloaded so quickly. A STRIKE team was onsite as well, Charlie team judging by the few faces I knew.
"Kari," Coulson's voice crackled in my ear.
I winced at the distortion before reaching up to turn my own mic on.
"Copy, Coulson," I said, dragging myself away from the scope.
"I'm sending the Charlie marksman up." Coulson's voice was barely distinguishable over the interference. "Come down once you swap positions."
"Copy that," I confirmed.
I scanned the area looking for Swanson, the Charlie team marksman. I knew him well enough to have a conversation with him. Most of the Charlie team guys were friendly and I got along with them well. It only took a few minutes to spot the familiar face coming up towards me. I raised my hand in greeting and to give him my position. It took a few seconds of him scanning the area to spot me. When he raised his hand in acknowledgement, I noticed the wrist brace on his left wrist.
"If you didn't jerk off so much you wouldn't have these problems," I teased as soon he got within earshot, pointing to his wrist. "Did you want it to feel like someone else was jerking you off?"
"Yeah because I haven't heard that one at all lately," Swanson replied with a laugh, shaking his head at me. "Though it does sound much better than the real reason."
"Which is?" I asked curiously as I got up and brushed the dirt off.
"Fell down the stairs," Swanson said, looking a little sheepish. "There may have been a dare and a lot of beer involved. You missed the keg party."
Of course I did. I still hadn't been to the infamous STRIKE keg parties. Every time there was one on, I was on the other side of the planet or half dead.
"I always miss the keg parties," I grumbled as I bent down and picked up my AWSM. "Did you get a real stripper for this one?"
"No, this one was tame," Swanson chuckled. "There was barely any nudity and besides me, no one went to the hospital or got arrested."
"Then it isn't a real STRIKE keg party," I laughed. Despite not ever going to one, the stories about them were pretty wild. "Have fun up here. There's nothing here except for dirt and rocks."
"Yeah, thanks," Swanson said sarcastically as he settled himself onto the ground.
With a goodbye to Swanson, I skidded and slid back down the slope and jogged over to Coulson's position. He was coordinating with a massive group of people about securing the area once the convoy arrived. From the tail end of the brief I caught, just setting up camp around this thing was going to be a monumental task. I was glad to be tagging along with Coulson instead of staying back here and setting up. While I'd be heading down the slope, a convoy of SHIELD vehicles had shown up bringing even more equipment with them. It was incredible how quickly Coulson got everything happening here. He really was the master of organisation.
It only took another 5 minutes to get the convoy of cars and vans ready. I wasn't surprised when Coulson motioned for me to get into the lead car with him. I even got to claim the front seat before Clint could come over and pull me out of it. Judging by the look Clint was giving me, he was going to get his revenge some other way. I'm sure I wouldn't like it either.
The drive to town was quiet, as it was earlier this morning. Coulson had a grim look on his face like he wasn't going to enjoy what he was about to do. I didn't blame him, I wasn't thrilled about it either. Taking someone's life work was a pretty low blow, no matter how necessary SHIELD declared it to be.
Jane Foster's lab was right on the edges of the town. Puente Antiguo was a typical small country town. Beyond the small strip of shops, it was like the rest of the countryside. Desolate and barren. A bitterly cold wind had picked up during the drive into town, leaving me shivering as soon as I stepped out of the car. I didn't need to say anything, Clint handed his jacket over straight away.
"I learnt the hard way how fucking cold and windy it gets out here," Clint said dryly, pulling his shirt away to show me the thermal undershirt he had on. The other agents around us were all huddling into their own jackets or warmer clothes. "Not to mention the random storms that come from nowhere."
"Fantastic," I muttered, pulling his jacket on. It was ridiculously big, but warm enough that I didn't care. I felt the cold so badly, but at least I wasn't the only one.
"Listen up everyone," Coulson's voice rang out across the small crowd of SHIELD agents that had come along. "I need everything and I mean everything. Lets go."
Coulson's tone left no room for argument. Everyone scuttled off to get into the building as quickly as possible. I hung back with Clint, waiting for everyone else to start before stepping into the large space. Clint stayed outside, taking up an obvious guard position.
Dr Foster's observatory was empty. It wasn't even locked giving all of us easy access. There was equipment everywhere. The only thing I could recognise was a few computers. The rest looked like gadgets put together from scraps of junk. I felt guilt gnaw at me as I began to carefully take down the photos off the board closest to the door. I didn't have enough time to look at them. Not that it would have made sense to me anyway. It all looked like a blur of colour to me. Though one IR photo vaguely looked like a person. I couldn't help but stare at it, trying to make sense of the shadow and blur of colours.
"Kari, can you go out to Dr Foster's trailer and make sure there's none of her work in there?" Coulson called from where ever he was across the room. I jumped and guilty put the photo in the box quickly before I could get in trouble for procrastinating.
"On my way," I called back. I looked outside for an idea where her trailer was. It wasn't hard to find, it was in clear sight of the observatory. As I walked out, Clint tagged along with me.
"I don't need a bodyguard," I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him.
"No, but I'm bored and it's not like I can't see for miles around here." Clint gave me a playful shove. It was hard enough to nearly knock me off my feet. I scowled at him as I adjusted myself, hoping no one else saw my stumble.
"Asshole." I turned and punched him in the arm. All I got for my troubles was a sore fist and Clint laughing at me. I was going to have to get back to the gym soon otherwise I'd never hear the end of the teasing.
"Yeah but you missed me," Clint said, slinging his arm over my shoulders and pulling me in for an awkward hug. It was situations like this that definitely fed the rumours of us fucking. I could almost feel the stares on my back as we walked away.
"Someone has to," I teased back, putting my arm around his waist and giving Clint a squeeze. These last few weeks had felt like an eternity away from everyone.
"I'll have you know, my wife misses me greatly at the moment," Clint said gleefully, the smile looking like it could never be wiped off his face. We were far away enough no one else would hear us. "I may even get some when I get home."
Thank fucking god for that. Clint and Laura had been through such a rough patch since Pripyat I feared the worst there for a while. It was an enormous relief to hear things might start being normal for them again.
"Laura said when we all get home, we have to go out to dinner," Clint continued. "It's been ages since we did that."
"It really has been," I said, trying to stretch my mind back to when we'd last done had a family dinner. It was well before Pripyat. "HeeBeen?"
Greg still owned me lunch at Sushi Taro as well. Not to mention I'd promised Alexi ice cream and a trip to the park. I was going to be a socialite when I finally got back to DC.
"Fuck yes." Clint didn't hesitate in his answer. "And lets go to JoJo for wings and $3 beer jug night. God I've missed civilisation and people I actually like."
"You and me both," I chuckled a little. The door to Dr Foster's trailer was open, so I was able to walk straight in. The cramped caravan was a mess. There were clothes strewn everywhere, the sink was piled high with dirty dishes. But there didn't look to be anything of value in here. She had a few novels scattered around the place. Except for a few photos of Dr Foster and another dark haired woman, there wasn't anything personal in the trailer at all.
"There's nothing here," I said, the ever growing guilt steadily gnawing away at my conscious. Everything in Dr Foster's life was currently being packed up by SHIELD agents. We were about to ruin everything she had.
"I hate doing shit like this," Clint admitted quietly, letting out a small sigh as he looked around the small caravan. "This isn't dangerous, it's just someones fascination with space."
"I feel terrible." I grimaced, taking one final look around the small space. "I know what its like to have SHIELD come in and rip everything from underneath you. At least I got a mostly happy ending. This doesn't seem like it's going to end well."
Clint reached over and gave my hand a squeeze.
"She's such a nice person too," Clint said, his gaze going to the few photos on the wall. "So is Dr Selvig and her assistant Darcy. They're just normal people wanting to make a difference in the world."
"Hopefully SHIELD will at least compensate them for all the stuff we're taking." My gaze went to outside where the agents were still filling vans full of equipment. "That's a lot of money we're taking."
My phone started to ring in my pocket, making both Clint and I jump in surprise. I pulled it out and was ready to send it to voicemail before I checked the caller ID. It was Grams.
"Hey Grams," I answered the phone, putting it on loudspeaker for Clint to hear as well. "Did you get my email?"
It was a stupid question. Grams rarely rung out of the blue. Despite her age, she was definitely a texter or she'd email.
"I did," Grams said in her brisk, no nonsense tone that she used when she was really interested in something. "Tell me more."
"Dr Jane Foster has been studying the Einstein-Rosen Bridge," Clint filled in for me. "The night before last there was some interesting electrical activity in the area. From what I can tell, she found something in that storm. The hammer was found a few hours later. No one can move it."
"It looks very Norse," Grams mused, almost like she was talking to herself. "Einstein-Rosen Bridge is basically a wormhole, isn't it?"
"Yeah it's the same theory about how Jared teleports," I confirmed. "Dad has been following Dr Foster's work for a while now and he says her theories are correct."
"And it seems she's found proof of her theories," Grams said. I could almost hear her nodding in agreement. "Maybe Schmidt wasn't as crazy as we first thought."
The last part sounded like Grams was mostly talking to herself. Both Clint and I exchanged identical confused looks. But then it clicked where I knew that name.
"Red Skull," I mouthed quietly to Clint. The confused look fell away from his face instantly and he nodded in understanding.
"His entire thing with the Tesseract, besides its unlimited power was all about Norse gods," Grams let out a breathless laugh. "There might have been some truth behind it all."
"I don't follow?" I said, looking over to Clint for clarification. He shrugged and had a confused expression on his face as well.
"Schmidt believed that mythology was science we hadn't studied properly yet," Grams clarified. "He was particularly obsessed with the old Norse religion, mainly because of the Tesseract. He was convinced the old Norse gods were real. That they'd been here before." There was something else in Grams tone. I'd heard the stories about the Red Skull and HYDRA from Grams before. But this was something new.
"You sound like you believed him," I said carefully, not quite sure I was believing what was going on here.
"There are a lot of crazy and unexplained things in this world Kari," Grams said, she sounded a little lost in a memory. "It's not the stupidest thing I've heard. Some of his research that I saw didn't sound as crazy as you'd think. Keep an open mind and ring me if you find anything else."
"Will do, talk later." I knew a dismissal from Grams when I heard one. She'd been helpful and infuriatingly vague all at the same time. Whatever this was, it had us all stumped and fascinated at the same time.
"I'll ring you later," Grams said, sounding like she'd shaken herself out of whatever it was that was bothering her. She hung up before I could say anything else.
"That was weird." Clint looked as confused as I felt. "I've never heard your Grams sound so vague before."
"Trust me, she can be frustratingly vague when she wants to be," I said dryly, still looking at my phone and the now blank screen. "I hope I didn't stir up too many bad memories for her."
As tough as she was, there were still things Grams had trouble talking about from World War 2. Certain things about HYDRA and the Red Skull were definitely one of those topics. We all had our demons. I'd never poked around Grams before.
"She'll be fine Kari, she sounded more interested than upset," Clint reassured me. He took one final look around the caravan with a small sigh. "Maybe she'll even fly out here herself. I wouldn't put it past her."
That thought put a small smile on my face. It wouldn't surprise me if Grams really did rock up in a helicopter in a few hours.
"Come on, lets get out of here." Clint gave the couch a little kick. His good mood from before seemed be dampened by what we were doing. "Hopefully we procrastinated enough that we don't have to help with the rest of the lab."
I looked outside to see if Clint was right. The observatory was looking empty and 2 vans in our convoy had already left. The team Coulson brought with him were incredibly efficient. Not that I'd ever expect anything less. I had a feeling we might have been sent out here to keep from getting underfoot.
"Yeah, sounds good to me." I didn't wait for Clint. The sooner we got out of here the better. I'd rather not be around when Dr Foster showed up. I opened the door and made my way back to Coulson's car. As my luck would have it, as soon as I showed up, Dr Foster came running through her observatory.
"Hey! That's my stuff!" Dr Foster came up to the van, trying desperately to grab some of her stuff back. The agent who was carting her stuff simply side stepped around her and ignored her. Dr Foster tried to grab something off him, but Coulson quickly stepped in.
"What the hell is going here?" Dr Foster demanded, frowning up at Coulson. She was a small woman and definitely didn't paint a threatening picture.
"Ms Foster, I'm Agent Coulson with SHIELD," Coulson began, keeping his voice neutral.
I cringed at Coulson's incorrect use of her name. People with PhD's could be very pissy when they weren't referred to as Doctor.
"I don't care who you work for," Dr Foster seethed. "You can't do this!"
Before Coulson could reply, the middle aged man with her dragged Dr Foster back and murmured something too quiet for me to hear. I stood next to Coulson trying to keep my own expression neutral, despite how guilty I felt. I'd been in her shoes before. I knew how horrible this way to have your entire life ripped out from underneath you.
"Let it go?!" despite her colleague being quiet, Dr Foster didn't bother to lower her voice. "This is my life!"
"We're here investigating a security threat," Coulson said calmly as he started to walk towards the van. Dr Foster was right on his heels. "We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data."
"By appropriate, you mean steal," Dr Foster was quick to snap back at Coulson. She looked on the verge of tears. Behind me, I could hear Clint clear his throat uncomfortably. Even Coulson looked like he was ready to start squirming. But he kept his professional face on. Dr Foster made it to the closest van and the agent there very gently blocked her from getting in there.
"This should more than compensate you for your trouble," Coulson kept his calm facade, taking a cheque out of his pocket, handing it over to Dr Foster.
Dr Foster didn't even look at the cheque, she threw it straight on the ground. For good measure, she stomped it into the ground before scowling up at Coulson. I hid my smile, even as upset as she was, she still had some fire about her.
"I can't just pick up replacements from RadioShack. I made most of this equipment myself," Dr Foster entire body was shaking. Despite her rage, I thought she was about to cry at any second.
"Then I'm sure you can do it again," Coulson said patiently. Even his calm face was starting to wear a little thin. Though whether it was frustration or guilt, I couldn't tell.
"And I'm sure I can sue you for my constitutional rights," Dr Foster fired back quickly. I inwardly winced at the bad threat. No amount of throwing around constitutional rights would help Dr Foster here. SHIELD played by their own rules.
"I'm sorry Ms Foster, but we're the good guys," Coulson said patiently. He looked genuinely sorry too.
"So are we," Dr Foster said, the passion clear in her voice. "I'm on the verge of something extraordinary. Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this lab and in this book and no one has the right to take it away from me."
I closed my eyes briefly at her poor choice of words. No sooner had she held the book up, the agent that was packing the van grabbed it from her hand as Coulson's nod.
"Hey!" Jane lunged forward to try and retrieve her book. I quickly stepped in between her and the agent before it could get messy.
"Easy, easy," Dr Foster's male colleague stepped in and pulled her back, shooting me a dirty look. I held my hands up in what I hoped to be a non threatening manner. It probably didn't help my look, considering I was armed. Dr Foster looked up to me, as if she was noticing me for the first time.
"Please don't do this," her voice was choked up as she looked at me.
"I'm sorry." It was so insignificant for me to say. But there really wasn't anything I could do. As much as I hated it, I turned away and headed back to the car we'd come in. Clint was right on my heels. Judging by the expression on his face as soon as he turned away, he was feeling as shitty as I was.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Coulson's voice carried back to Clint and I. I heard the back doors of the van slam and the cars started to move away. It only took a few seconds for Coulson to get into the car with us. He was silent as he slammed the door shut and pulled away with the rest of the convoy.
It took 5 minutes before Clint broke the silence.
"What's so important about all this?" Clint turned to Coulson in the front seat, the irritation clear all over his face. "It's a fucking scientific research project."
Coulson sighed, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. It took him a few moments before he could reply.
"Because we don't want research like this falling into the wrong hands." Coulson sounded like he was having to pick his words very carefully. "I know it sucks, but think of it this way. How would you feel if someone who isn't a friendly came in, took the research by force because they wanted some way of being able to travel anywhere in the world. Or elsewhere."
"So in other words, Jared's fuck up in Pripyat turned heads." The bitterness in Clint's voice wasn't lost on me. "And someones life work just happens to be the same way he got us out of there before we all got blown to pieces."
"I don't like this anymore than you do Clint," Coulson said firmly, turning to look at Clint. "I'm not blaming Jared, but yes, people ask questions about how you got the fuck out of there. Yelena isn't exactly the type to stay silent about what she tried to do. So bad people like things like Jared has. Having the ability to move anywhere in the world within seconds would be very handy. Being able to replicate it would be a nightmare for people like us."
Coulson's little rant made me squirm in my seat. It felt like Pripyat was never going to stop biting us in the ass. Because of Jared's recklessness, we just ruined someone's life work. The only good part of today was that SHIELD found Dr Foster's work first. Not someone who wouldn't hesitate to shoot everyone to get it.
"Still sucks," Clint grumbled.
"Yeah it sucks balls." Coulson gave Clint a strained smile. "Big ones. I don't like it anymore than you guys. But we have our orders."
I didn't have an answer to that. Neither did Clint. He turned to stare out of the window not bothering with a reply. It wasn't until his phone chimed as a message came through did a little smile come back onto his face. I took it as a sign and turned to my own phone to see who wanted to talk to me to pass the time.
Natasha had been quiet, but Jared had been annoyingly chatty. Gareth had sent me a text which was just a photo of him in the cockpit, giving me a thumbs up. I looked at that photo a little enviously. Early morning flights over the ocean were an incredible experience. He was lucky to snap one up. Greg had sent me a text a few hours earlier saying he was on night shift so he'd be quiet all day. Texting Jared kept me amused all the way back to the crash site and kept my mind off the horrible guilt I was feeling.
By the time we got back to the crash site an entire city had been set up on our absence. It was incredible at how much they got accomplished in the few hours we'd been gone. The last few pieces of equipment were being moved into place around where the hammer was. A perimeter had been set up around the hammer, with an operations centre and various other buildings off to the side.
"Fuck me." I couldn't help but raise both eyebrows at the small city that had appeared.
"Sitwell did a good job getting all this organised." Even Coulson looked mildly impressed. "I'm going to be caught up for a few hours, so you two can hold the perimeter, or just stay out of trouble that'd be great."
There wasn't much we could get into trouble with. I took my AWSM up on the ridge and relieved Swanson for a few hours. It took Clint about 5 minutes of being by himself to climb up the ridge and join me. The best part about being friends with Clint is that you never felt the need to fill the silence. He was just as comfortable sitting in silence as he was chatting my ear off. We alternated between gossiping like a pair of old women to sitting in absolute silence, watching the hive of activity around the hammer. The cell reception was patchy, but it was enough to keep up a steady stream of conversation with Gareth, Jared and Greg when he woke up for most of the afternoon.
"What if it's really from somewhere not on this world?" Clint suddenly changed the conversation we were having about explosives back to the weirdassery below us. We were both sitting up, crossed legged, knees touching side by side. You could see for miles around us so there as no point laying there peering through a scope. The sun was starting to set, making the already chilly day even colder. It'd be fucking freezing tonight. There wasn't a cloud in sight.
"You've seen weirder fucking things than aliens," I said with a small chuckle. To prove my point, I turned my palm upward and concentrated. There wasn't much moisture around here to play with my power. But I could make a small ball of ice easily enough.
"Yeah but," Clint seemed lost for an answer as he reached over and took the ball of ice out of my hand. He threw it up, catching it easily enough. "Aliens are weirder than you."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or not." I reached over and managed to snatch the ball of ice back off Clint. It was melting rapidly despite the cool air around us. Clint chuckled but didn't give me an answer. It took another few moments before Clint spoke again.
"So do you think it's alien?"
"I have no fucking idea," I shrugged, turning my gaze back down to our base camp. I threw the nearly melted piece of ice on the ground."It's a big universe out there. Grams might be right in some of the things we consider mythology is actually real shit we forgot about."
"Hmmm." Clint's gaze turned back out to the vast nothingness around us. He sat there with his chin resting on his hand, seemingly tuned out to the world. I knew him better though. He might be deep in thought but he'd be ready to spring into action at a moments notice. As we sat there, my thoughts turned back to the conversation with Grams. She hadn't said much, but what she had said really made you think. It wasn't such a crazy idea. It was arrogant to think we'd be the only intelligent life out there in the universe.
As night started to close in around us, Swanson came back up to the ridge, claiming he was bored and sick of people. I couldn't blame him. Snipers were a funny breed and definitely not the most sociable people in the world. Clint and I made our way back down to the temporary mess hall and grabbed some food. During the afternoon, more and more equipment had rolled in. So it wasn't too surprising to find a half decent meal. SHIELD certainly fed its agents better than the military ever did. Just as Clint and I finish dinner, we put our radios back in and heard some chatter.
"Delancy, Jackson, report?" It was Sitwell's voice over the radio.
"What's going on?" Clint frowned, reaching up to touch his ear to hear a little better. I did the same, wincing at the horrible feedback coming through the radio. Clint winced harder than me, rubbing his ears like it was physically hurting. It probably was. The feedback coming through his hearing aids would be terrible as well.
"Agents down, we've got a perimeter breech!"
I don't know who it was that called it out. But all of a sudden everyone got up and started running for towards the hammer site. The second Clint and I stepped out of the mess door, the rain started pouring down. I looked up at the sky mournfully as the freezing rain soaked me through in seconds. Where the hell had that come from? The next call to come over the radio was Coulson's voice.
"I need eyes up high. With a gun."
Clint and I didn't need to be told twice.
Authors Note
Ok everyone, FanFiction has had a glitch over the last week or so. Its taken me a few goes to post this and hopefully this time it'll send out email notifications. If you've received a notification a few times, sorry. But fingers crossed this time it all works properly! Can you let me know if you've received multiple notifications or none at all? Fingers crossed.
Sorry for the delay everyone. I know there isn't a lot happening in this chapter. But I promise plenty of action, and corny hammer jokes in the next chapter. Its late here and I did the editing myself, so forgive me for any typos.
As always, I cherish all of your reviews. Thanks for being patient and sticking with me through the very long wait between chapters.
Until next time.
