Seren couldn't help laugh at Steve's reactions each time they stopped by a new painting. In fact, it got to the point where Seren had to muffle her giggles behind her hand. Steve had his own difficulty keeping his honest-to-god reactions at bay. He loved art — it was perhaps the only thing he could actually have from home. Art transpired through time and thus was never truly lost.
But things had gone through some various changes.
"I don't mean to offend but I guess abstract panting was never really my thing," Steve said once Seren had taken pity on him and gotten him out of the gallery.
"Mm, I'm pretty sure that was geometric art," Seren shrugged. This time she didn't bother hiding her laugh. "But don't worry Steve. If anything, this is Chloe's fault for suggesting the stupid gallery in the first place."
"Nah, she was trying to be nice," Steve said. He thought it was very nice of Chloe to go through the trouble of looking up art galleries in New York that he would like. "She just missed with this one."
"Queens," hummed Seren as she looked around the streets. "She probably got sentimental."
"Why's that?" Steve glanced at her curiously. He never did bother to ask how it was that Chloe came up with this gallery.
"Oh, Chloe has an aunt and a little cousin who live here," explained Seren.
"Really?" Steve was genuinely surprised considering he had yet to learn anything about Chloe's past — he was just starting to learn more about Seren.
"Mhm," Seren nodded, "She visits them from time to time. She probably came to this gallery at one point. No big deal, I'll just ask her to give us more locations. This time without geometric art." She laughed again.
Steve could only sarcastically smile at this point. Seren Soul was turning out to be quite a sneaky laugher. It had been several weeks since her mission accident and since then, Steve had gone through with his word to get to know Seren for real. Seren's small stature and bright eyed face gave anyone the impression that she was a sweet, innocent woman — which she totally was — but once comfortable, she would snicker and make sarcastic quips. It was the face that let her get away with it all.
Steve found that to be the worst of it. He let her get away with things like these just because of her face. He preferred not to think about it so much.
"Tell you what," Seren pulled Steve out of his thoughts. She skipped ahead a few steps to turn and block his way on the street. "Because the gallery completely sucked, let me treat you to some brunch. There's this shop a couple blocks from here."
"Hmm, let me guess, Chloe?" Steve raised an eyebrow at Seren. The ginger nodded happily. "What, you two came to visit the family here?"
"Well, Chloe always visits her aunt and cousin alone. Sometimes I tag along but I'm usually here for my own errands. Plus, I'm from Hudson, remember?"
"Right," Steve half-smiled.
"Without the Red District!"
Steve barely held onto his laugh. "Yeah..." Seren was also funnier than Steve previously thought.
"So then, brunch? I promise that this — oh!" Seren did a funny little jerk suddenly, briefly making Steve think she'd hurt herself somehow. "Sorry, phone and all..." Seren pulled her cellphone from her back pocket and checked the screen. "Give me a second, it's Fury."
"Of course." Steve gestured Seren to take the space she needed.
Seren took a few steps away and answered the call. "Soul. Is there—"
Fury cut straight to the point. "You're needed at the site now."
"What? Right now? But I'm with Steve right now. Sort of have him in Queens right now so I can't exactly leave him." Seren knew that Steve had familiarized himself with streets during these months but she still didn't feel right about leaving him in the middle of Queens.
"You are needed now. I'm not saying it again, Agent Soul. Do I make myself clear?"
Seren sighed. "Yes, of course." She was sour enough with Fury's usual attitude but today he was even snippier than usual. When she returned to Steve, who'd busied himself watching several billboard signs up in the air, she was completely apologetic for her sudden leave.
"Seren, it's fine, I promise. I know you have other work to do," Steve offered her a smile.
"Well, don't go making yourself sound like you're my work," Seren shook her head. "We're friends. Yes, I am assigned to help you out but if I only did what the job asked me to do, we wouldn't be right here."
"I got that, I promise," Steve assured her. "Now go see what Fury wants. Next time, brunch will be on me."
Seren didn't have much of a choice there. Fury did not kid when he ordered his agents to show up.
~ 0 ~
Seren came striding into the briefing room where Fury and Maria were waiting for her. "What?" she searched the room for everyone else. "Did I get here too early or…?"
Fury remained stoic as usual. "Agent Soul, as of today your assignment to Captain Rogers is over."
Seren barely had the time to blink. "What—"
"Your new mission is in New Mexico. Agent Hill will debrief you but you should know that Agent Coulson is expecting you in Puente Antiguo today."
Seren was typically quick when it came to transferring from one mission to the next. She'd been doing this job for a long time now. This one, however, caught her off guard too much. She didn't know it was possible for it to hit her that hard. Words failed her in the beginning. "What do you…? I mean...I've been..." Seren collected air and took a moment to get at least one coherent thought together. "Sir, I've been working with Captain Rogers for a while now, you can't just take me off permanently."
"Why not?" Fury asked, his tone slightly curious but frankly incredulous that Seren had even made that comment in the first place. She never once had anything to say about being transferred between missions. "It's been a few months. I think by this point you did what you could."
Seren raised an eyebrow at him. "You do realize that the man was taken out of the 40s to wake up in 2011, right? A few 'months'—" she spat, "—doesn't exactly cover everything."
Once again, Fury was perplexed with her reaction. "I'm sorry, weren't you originally against helping him?"
Seren faltered because, yes, that had been her first response when Fury first came to her with the assignment. Looking back at it, she felt so stupid for having acted like that. She was thoroughly thankful she had agreed to help Steve because had she not, they would have never become friends. "I had my reasons, sir, but they've since been fixed."
An exchange of stares came next.
Maria's eyes flickered from Seren to Nick at least twice before deciding to speak up and help ease the tension between them. "Seren, you'll want to listen to this. It's important—"
"And it's tied back to the Initiative," Fury said, immediately having Seren stiffen up. "You do remember that, right?"
"How could I not? It's only the reason I've been training since I was a child," she responded. As much as she hated the idea of seeing Steve a lot less now, she motioned Maria to start debriefing. She was kidding herself if she ever thought that Fury would actually listen to her about where she would like to stay. She came to sit at the edge of the table as Maria brought the screens behind her to life.
"Two days ago, reports started coming in about an odd crash site in the desert of Puente Antiguo. At first, it was presumed to be a satellite—"
"Which is what we're telling the civilians," Fury said with a pointed look on Seren. She dutifully nodded.
"We sent Agent Coulson in to examine the case and this is what he sent back." Maria produced a picture on the screen of a crate in the middle of a desert.
Seren's eyebrows knitted together at the sight of a dent on the ground. Maria switched the picture to show a close up of the crate where a silver hammer seemed embedded in the middle of the crate. There was an odd, ominous blue glow around it.
"Do you know what it is?" Fury was watching her intently.
Seren stood up from her seat and slowly walked up to the screen, head tilting to study the hammer as much as she could. "No," she whispered. "Am I supposed to?"
"Would've been nice," Fury remarked, making her glance back in amusement. "And lucky."
"I've never been to space, Fury. But I'm guessing that thing has?" Seren jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the picture.
"That's our suspicion."
Seren sighed. This is what Fury had meant. She couldn't deny the first real outer space mission they had, not with who she was. "Okay, I'm on my way to New Mexico I guess." She straightened herself up, eyes barely able to look at either Fury and Maria. Her stomach was churning for many, many reasons. "Who gets to inform Steve about this new arrangement?"
"Don't worry, I'll pass the message," Fury said. "But do hold off explaining the reason for your abrupt departure. Don't want to freak him out do we?"
Seren playfully rolled her eyes. "He's aware of my unique origins."
"You told him?" Maria's eyes widened slightly. "How'd he take it?"
Seren shrugged. "Okay. I mean, I guess in retrospect I should have expected that from somebody who fought a man named 'Red Skull'." Maria half smiled at her. That would certainly help. "I guess I'll get my go-bag."
"Keep me posted, Agent Soul," Fury's words stopped her by the doorway. She looked back at him. "This is the first time you may be dealing with another alien."
Seren couldn't help but swallow hard at that. She'd never met anyone else who wasn't from Earth. Her grandmother would tell her many stories about their home planet, Celessia, and their people the Celessians, as well as many other species but Seren had only ever known Earth and humans.
"I will be on my toes," she promised then headed off.
~ 0 ~
It was late in the afternoon when Seren landed. The first thing she thought was that New Mexico was dusty. Dressed in a fitting black pant suit and white buttoned up shirt, she stomped her heeled black boots to get rid of some dirt at least. She imagined she'd be doing this for a while until she was back in her regular onesuit she preferred for the field. But this was a different kind of mission, one that didn't require as much stealth...at least for the time being.
Her car drove up to the scene of the crater. She stepped out from the backseat, her green eyes squinting under the hard sun of the afternoon.
"You're going to need these," she heard behind her. Turning sideways, she found Agent Phil Coulson standing a few feet away from her. He held out a pair of black sunglasses to her.
With a gracious smile, she took the sunglasses and put them on. "Better," she remarked, "But I don't quite like them. Never have. So," she turned back towards the crater, "What do we have?"
"I was hoping you could tell me," Coulson started leading the way down the crater. Seren followed but slowly. The last thing she wanted was to roll down. "Given your expertise around this area…"
Seren snorted. Upfront, Coulson smiled. "Just because I'm part alien doesn't mean I actually know every alien species."
"But I bet you know more than I do."
"Uuh...maybe."
The pair stopped a decent distance from the hammer. It no longer glowed blue but Coulson still told Seren that they were going with the radioactive story for the civilians.
"Smart," Seren said. She took a deep breath in as she came face to face with the hammer.
The way it was positioned on the ground reminded her of the Excalibur sword from the Arthurian legend. It seemed quite stuck in its spot and she had no doubt that before S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered its presence, many humans had already tried pulling it out...which begged the question…
"How many people have tried touching this thing?" she asked. "How many humans?"
"Dozens," Coulson came up beside her. "We came two days after it was discovered. We're talking about a lot of numbers here, Agent Soul. Why?"
"Well, it's still here, isn't it?" Seren side-glanced him with a smile. "Means that only certain people can pick it up. Special people."
"Like who?"
"Well, for starters, the owner?" Seren chuckled at his reaction.
"Why don't you try it, then?" he half joked but Seren considered it for a moment. She'd never touched anything alien that wasn't what her grandmother still had from Celessia.
"We need to figure out what it is besides the obvious thing," she decided to focus on that instead. She started walking towards the hammer, leaving Coulson behind as he preferred not to get so close to it for now. "It's not a hammer," she reasoned with herself. "Has to be more to make this kind of impact on the land."
"Have you ever heard any stories?" Coulson called. "From Atria?"
Seren shrugged. "Not that I remember. I'll have to call her." She bent down in front of the hammer, trying to study it to its last detail. It seemed heavily crafted, personalized almost. She wasn't sure why but she felt like there was something radiating from it. "Hey Coulson?" she called again. "Can you get Fury on the line?"
"Why? Did you find something?" Coulson stepped forwards.
"Not really but I have an idea," Seren straightened up on her feet and turned around. "I need Agent Winters here."
~ 0 ~
It was odd having Fury visit him. Steve couldn't think of one time where Fury had stopped by. He didn't expect the man to do it which only left him even more puzzled when Fury showed up that afternoon.
"Nice place," Fury remarked when he stepped inside.
"Thanks…" Steve watched him wearily. He didn't have anything personal against Fury but there was something off about the man that didn't leave Steve wanting to trust him so much, at least not the way Seren did.
"I know Agent Soul had a say in what went in here," Fury stopped and looked back at Steve. "Lucky you, huh?"
Steve didn't understand the point of that remark and he wasn't going to pursue it. "Sure."
"Has she been helping you adjust to the new world?"
"Yeah, of course. She's been very kind and very helpful, not to mention patient." Because Steve was sure that he had to drive her crazy at some points during her lessons. He was embarrassingly slow sometimes but she never said anything about it.
"I'm glad to hear it," Fury brought his hands behind his back. "I hope you learned enough because I've had to permanently reassign Agent Soul."
Steve tilted his head at him. "Sorry?"
"For the past months, Agent Soul's primary assignment was to help you wherever she could and it appears like she's done a good job. Unfortunately, something urgent has come up."
"I don't understand, Seren's had multiple missions. And it's not that I need her as a babysitter, I just don't understand what's different this time around." With that, Steve expected Fury to answer him. He had no problem with Seren doing other missions—she was an Agent after all and people needed her help. Sure, he would miss having her constantly around but he knew that it wouldn't always be like this.
"It's a new world, Captain," Fury said as if that was enough explanation. "Agent Soul is part of that new world and as such, she has knowledge that neither you nor I have." Just as Steve produced yet another questioning look, Fury added, "You know she's not entirely human."
"Yeah," Steve said quietly. "What's that got to do with this?"
"Back in the 40s, did you ever expect to meet an alien? Because I can tell you that I never expected to meet two different races in the 90s. Neither of us are prepared for what this new world has," Fury stepped towards Steve, "Agent Soul was recruited and trained specifically for this type of thing."
"Because she's an alien?" Somehow that didn't settle well with Steve. Seren had a lot more unique qualities that made her an exceptional agent besides the fact she wasn't entirely human.
Before Fury could answer, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out to answer the call. "Agent Soul," he said, flashing a look at Steve.
Steve didn't know whether to glare or not for that. What was that supposed to do to him anyways?
"You need who?" Fury said, turning around to make sure he was hearing right. "Are you sure? I...yeah, I'll call her." He hung up then faced Steve again. "Gotta go, Captain. Just wanted to come by to let you know the situation. But anything you need, let us know. You know we're always ready to discuss a position at S.H.I.E.L.D."
Steve gave a curt nod. Fury started for the door when he was called back. "Is Seren okay?" As far as he heard, she was asking for help.
"Always," Fury said without even thinking about it. "Agent Soul can take care of herself just fine."
Steve wanted to remind him that the last time Seren went on a different mission, she had an accident that resulted in stitches, bruises and a broken arm. Fury never gave him the chance. He was out the door in the next minute.
Steve turned away from the door. He exhaled deeply and wondered how things would change from now on. It was funny. He felt alone because he was alone but somehow Seren made him forget that for a while. She was always coming by. It didn't feel like he was just an assignment to her, she was a friend. She said it herself and he felt it too. But she was off again, doing what she always did before he came around. She had her life and it unfortunately didn't involve a lot of free time, especially for friends. For a moment, Steve felt actual fear at the idea of being completely alone again. He couldn't be like that. He needed Seren. The question was, would Seren forget him now that she was back to her regular life?
A/N:
Yessss, we're adding our God of Thunder just a bit earlier because, looking back at the movies, I really felt like this is where Seren would definitely be. Her relation to the Avengers Initiative will be explained in more detail come the Avengers movie down but all you have to know right now is that Seren is basically all about the Initiative and this part will be a milestone for her!
Thank you to the reviewers! I'm really happy you guys are liking the story! I can't wait for for you guys to see the upcoming chapters!
P.S. As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"
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