Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel.
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Proactive ch. 3
Welcome Aboard
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I stare wide eyed at the hustle and bustle of the helicarrier's flight deck as Coulson gives some orders to someone or other. Exiting the jet with Steve I look around and spot the Black Widow approaching.
Cool...
"Agent Romanoff", Coulson greets her before introducing us. "Captain Rogers and Ms. Oak."
"Ma'am."
"Hi." She nods to him.
When she glances at me I give a little wave, mumbling a hello. She then settles on Coulson and says, "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."
"See you there." He says, off before you can 'bye'.
Widow jerks her head, indicating we follow her. I trail along behind them She strikes up a conversation with the Captain as we walk across the deck. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
My lips twitch. Coulson is such a fanboy. Though... I think back to my metal Thor poster and Loki action figure back home...
I almost bump into Steve's back when he and Widow slow down. I glance ahead of them from my position in the back to see why, but don't really see anything. I catch Widow's gaze and swallow and break contact. Why's she looking at me like that?
Shoulders hunched, I stuff my hand in my pockets and play with my chapstick.
"Trading cards?" Steve asks.
"They're vintage. He's very proud." Widow replies, returning her attention forward.
I sidle up to Cap's right, now seeing where we're going. Another jet, smaller, with Bruce Banner shuffling next to it.
"Dr. Banner!" Steve calls out.
He spots us and comes over, shaking Steve's hand. "Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you would be coming."
"Word is, you can find the Cube."
"Is that, the uh, only word you've heard?"
"Only word I care about."
Banner folds his hands in front of himself, and studies Steve for a moment. Likely trying to figure out if Steve is telling the truth, or something along those lines.
His eyes flick over to me and he holds out his hand. Fumbling to pull mine out of my pocket without losing my chapstick I shake his. Once again I find myself unsure what to do. Do I squeeze his hand? Firm handshake and all. How long do I hold his hand? If I let go too soon, will he think I'm being rude? What if I hold on too long and he thinks I'm weird?
In the end I just let go when his grip loosens.
"Hi, I'm Bruce. You get roped into this too, huh?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm Erica. Nice to meet you."
"So what's your specialty?"
Being nervous. And out of the loop. I think to myself. Why am I here again?
"Gentlemen, miss", Widow's voice interrupts before I can answer Banner's question. "you might want to step inside in a minute. Its going to get a little hard to breathe."
A clanking noise follows her warning. Agents rush past us to finish their tasks and file through the doors.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asks.
"Really?" Banner's voice is muffled under the increasing noises of the helicarrier preparing to fly. He and Steve move closer to the edge to get a closer look, where they'll find out we aren't going down, but rather up.
I stay behind next to Widow. This is all getting to be a bit much. And, as much as I'd love to see the giant propeller fan things, I have to ask someone why I'm here.
I swallow and take a deep breath. Before I can chicken out I ask her, "Um, why am I here? No one has, uh, explained that yet."
She doesn't even glance at me when she answers. "Director Fury wants to talk to you."
Taking another breath to calm down and to ease the tightness in my chest, I nod. "Ok."
Why do I have to be here, though? I wonder. Can't he just do a video call? Or would that be a bad idea? Hydra is a valid threat at the moment.
Following behind the SHIELD agent and the the men I'm struck with a realization.
Hyrda.
Hyrda!
If this is real, of which I am 90% certain of (there's a fair amount of doubt given that this is supposed to be fiction!), then Hyrda is currently inside SHIELD. And I have information about the future. A possible future at the very least.
That's not good.
A hand on my shoulder startles me.
"Sorry," Bruce apologizes, removing his hand. "You looked a little... stressed."
"Yeah..." I sigh.
"So, how'd you get mixed up in all..." He waves his hand around, vaguely gesturing to the agents passing us in the hallway and the helicarrier in general. "You don't seem like an agent."
I pause. I can't just tell him I know stuff. Things happen to people that know stuff.
Ahead of us, Black Widow and Steve lead the way. No doubt, at least one of them is listening in. "I don't really know. If I'm being honest."
He hums and glances at my arm, but doesn't comment on it.
I mean, I can guess why I'm here, based on what I said to Coulson during my interrogation. Who knew interrogations could be calm. The other agent, who after I was given some new glasses I can confirm looks exactly like Will Smith, was kind enough to give me a cup of tea. It was good tea. A little too much sugar, but warm.
"So, where are you from? If you don't mind me asking."
I take a moment to breath through my nose, in an attempt to calm my racing heart. My hand is in my pockets again, to hide the shaking.
Can I tell him? What if he turns out to be evil? And I don't mean the Hulk, I mean Banner himself. Isn't there a comic where he's a sociopath?
Am I overthinking this? Probably.
"Uh, Missouri. About an hour from St. Louis."
"Cool. Have you been to the Arch?"
"A couple times. Once I actually got to go up to the top." I tell him, rolling my shoulders to ease the tension. "That was cool. People really do look like ants from high up."
"So I've heard, yeah."
The noise picks up, voices talking over each other, as we enter-
Woah! That's a lot of clouds.
Sticking close to Bruce, because he's nice and talked to me and is the most normal person here, I stare out the giant window of the bridge. Alos, I don't know what to do with myself.
Sweeping my eyes across the room I spot the man himself, Nick Fury. He turns to address us and I get a good look at him.
Nickolas Fury, Director of SHIELD, is wearing his signature leather trench coat and eyepatch. He walks with a confidence I can't say I've ever felt. The kind that has people like Captain America stopping to listen.
Man, if Captain America respects him... I glance between the two, pursing my lips to suppress a grin when Steve hands the Director some money. Whatever happens, I think I can trust that it'll be okay. Cap doesn't just trust anyone, right?
Fury tucks the cash away and approaches Banner and I. He greets us, shaking Banner's hand, "Doctor, thank you for coming. Ms. Oak." He nods to me and I return the gesture.
"Thanks for asking nicely." Banner shifts his weight, leaning away from Fury. "So, how long am i staying?"
"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."
Banner tucks his hands in his jacket pockets, walking over to the railing. "And where are you on that?"
I follow behind them, once again sticking close to Banner like a lost puppy.
Fury nods down, where Coulson is. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet." Coulson answers, crossing his arms. "Cell phones, laptops... If it's connected to a satellite, its eyes and ears for us."
"That's still not gonna find them in time." Widow adds, crouched near another agent working on their computer.
"You have o narrow your field." Banner says, looking marginally more relaxed now that he's getting to work. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"
Banner explains what they need to do to scan for gamma rays and eliminate some places from their search.
When Widow leads Banner out to show him the labs I move to follow, but a heavy hand on my shoulder stops me.
Looking over my shoulder I see Fury staring at me.
"Ms. Oak, if you would come with me. I have some questions for you."
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"That's quite the story, Ms. Oak."
I shrug, shoulders tense. After leading me to a sparse office, Fury had proceeded to question me on what I'd told Coulson about the movies.
"Do you have any proof?" Fury asks, leaning back in his chair.
"Um", I hold my hands, my eyes darting about, avoiding the director's piercing gaze. I now know what that looks like, a piercing gaze. Yay. "Not really. I mean, there's the wallpaper on my phone and my shirt? But other than that...um..."
He glances at something on his tablet. Maybe a picture of my shirt? The one with the comic versions of Black Widow, Thor, Captain America, and Nova from Nova Core. I think that's the name of the Nova Core guy. I really only know him from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.
I shake my head a little. That doesn't matter. My shirt, that SHIELD still hasn't given back, has the MARVEL logo on it. Sure, MARVEL may not exist in this universe, but a logo is a logo. Why make a shirt with a fake logo? So that's gotta count for something.
Right?
He could also be looking at my phone's wallpaper, which is a collage of... Loki. Yeah, that's not gonna go over well.
Returning his attention to me, he asks, "You claim you've seen "movies" past this one?"
I nod.
"Then what happens next?"
My tongue clings to the roof of my mouth and I swallow. What can I say? This isn't time travel, so I don't have to worry about paradoxes, but if I tell him what might happen then it will all change. He'll react differently and the outcome may not be the same. Things could end up worse.
Thanos could win.
There's also Hyrda to consider. They've infiltrated SHIELD and so whatever SHIELD knows, they know.
"Well?" Fury prompts, brow raised.
I swallow again. I have to tell him something. Something that'll prove I'm telling the truth. At the moment I look pretty suspicious. I fall out of the same portal as Loki and have his pictures plastered all over my phone. That... Wow, that sounds really bad when you put it like that.
What can I tell him?
"Okay, um..." I take a deep breath, staring at my lap. "I don't think I can tell you exactly what happens next. I mean, I can't tell you everything, because than things could, mess up." I glance up. Fury is sitting back patiently, waiting for me to continue. "And if the wrong people find out, that could be really bad."
"What can you tell me?" His voice is surprisingly soft. It still has an edge, but its not as harsh as before.
I think back to the first movie. I think about what needs to happen and might happen if I say the wrong thing. If I tell him about Germany, then Loki might not be captured. Coulson might not die, which would be a good thing except then things that happen in "Agent of SHIELD" wouldn't happen and more immediately, the Avengers wouldn't have the motivation they need to pull together and fight the Chitari.
Hmmm... After Steve and Bruce got to the helicarrier, Loki talks to Thanos' minion via the mind Stone and then does his thing in Germany. Captain America and Tony show up. They fight Loki, capture him, sort of. Thor shows up and after another fight they back to the helicarrier. And then...
"There's a conversation, that you'll have soon." Taking a breath, I close my eyes and play out the scene in my head. I even do a little accent to differentiate who's talking. "'Nine hundred miles is a steal and glass trap. You even scratch that glass... Ant, boot.'
'Its an impressive cage. Not one, I believe, built for me.'
'Built for someone much stronger than you.'
'Oh, I've heard. The beast who makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, to call on such lost souls?'
'You've made me very desperate. And you might not be so happy you did.'"
I lift my head and open my eyes to see Fury's reaction. I can't read his face, all that spy training and all. He doesn't ask who he's talking to.
Coming to a decision, he stands up and circles the desk. "Until I know for certain whether or not we can trust you have the information you claim to, you'll be under close observation." He stops by door. "I don't need to tell you what will happen if share what you."
I swallow, a lump forming in my throat, and shake my head.
The door opens to reveal the agent from the not-hospital.
"Agent Smith has been assigned to watch you for the time being." Fury explains. "Dismissed."
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(A/N)- A bit of an abrupt end, but I couldn't think of anything else to add. I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoy this update.
Cash is out. Peace!