Chapter Nine: Downstairs

It must have been hours since Agent Coulson had left. Draco had been killing time by repeating spells in his mind. Going through the pronunciation, wand movements and purpose for each one. As well as the possible side effects, if there were any, how legal it was, and any loopholes if he could think of any, he had even considered alterations and other uses for each spell.
He was about to move on to the spell Potter had used on him, Sectumsempra, perhaps the spell might have some other uses that didn't involve nearly killing someone. It was rather unlikely seeing as the translation was cut always or always sever. However, he was interrupted by the door opening and closing once more.

"Do you normally spend a lot of time laying down?" Draco turned his head to look at Agent Coulson, again bringing food with him. There was something different this time. Draco could feel something flowing from Agent Coulson… no… not him but his pocket…
It wasn't like anything Draco had felt before perhaps it was some sort of muggle technology.

"There's not much else for me to do here. Besides translating Latin is best done laying down." He swung his legs around and sat up to face the older man. He accepted the food, which was a repeat of the meal from yesterday, and began eating.

"Latin?!" Draco just nodded not really noticing the surprise on Agent Coulson's face. "Why do you know Latin?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Must not be common in this world.

"It's more or less a dead language?" Oh…

"That's unfortunate."

"There are people who still speak it but it's not common at all." Draco looked over to Agent Coulson and gave a quick shrug of his shoulders. "What were you even translating? There's nothing written down here, especially not in Latin?" To which Draco responded by tapping the side of his head lightly.

Agent Coulson shook his head a little and took up his seat across from Draco. He pulled his phone out for a moment quickly tapping on it before putting it away again. He didn't move or talk while Draco ate just stared off at the corner of the room.

"I assume you've decided that the bacteria from your world poses no threat to me, since you're in here?" Draco asked before returning to his food.

"Not exactly. It's more that we're introducing it to you slowly in a controlled environment. That way if anything goes wrong, we can act on it quickly." Yeah, can't let your information source die after all.

They returned to silence again. Agent Coulson took his phone out a couple more times but not for very long. When Draco had finished eating, he set the tray down next to him and looked towards Agent Coulson.

"What's in your pocket?" The agent's eyes opened wider.

"How'd you know I have something?"

"I can feel it." Draco shrugged it off like it was an everyday occurrence, but he really didn't have any idea as to what it was. Or why he could feel it.
Agent Coulson put his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box. Looking at it a bit closer Draco could see that it was his enchanted school trunk.
Why can I feel it… Maybe the enchantments on it are just stronger… but I've never felt enchantments before, unless aimed at me. It might be something else, but what? Is it something to do with this universe?

Agent Coulson was holding it out for Draco to take. After a moment's hesitation he took it carefully. It could be a trick of some kind after all the Director made it seem like he wouldn't be seeing it for a while. Perhaps they wanted to see what he would do with it. I won't be falling for any more of your tricks. You'll find out whatever I want you to.

"Thought we should give back to you. The labs have finished running tests on it now." A small smile graced Agent Coulson's face.

"Right, thanks." He slipped it back into his pocket.

"If you don't get ill or have a reaction to anything you might be able to get out of this room soon." Agent Coulson's voice had a cheery tone that Draco was sure that it was meant to sound reassuring, but truthfully it just made him more suspicious.

"So that you can keep me in a slightly bigger room?" A bitter sarcastic tone laced Draco's words. He wasn't stupid they weren't going to let him leave wherever he was anytime soon.
Agent Coulson didn't respond. Didn't tell you what to say or something? He couldn't help but feel bitterness towards the man. It's not that he had harmed Draco, but he was also helping keep Draco there.
"By the way who brought me here?" No one had actually told him. He still didn't know what happened.

"I did." Draco raised an eyebrow and waved his hand gesturing to the man to continue. "I saw a bright light coming from the alley and found you unconscious. There was no one else around or with you."

"What? So, you brought me here instead of… oh I don't know… a hospital?" What kind of logic does this man work on?

"I know something strange when I see it."

"Do you?" A frown quickly appeared and disappeared from the Agent's face.

"You're very hostile." It wasn't particularly said to Draco but that wasn't going to stop him from responding.

"Well duh." He even rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know you, or anyone for that matter. You brought me here when you found me unconscious instead of a hospital, like anyone else would've. Kept me in this one room for however long I've been here. I could go on if you like." A blush had made its way across Agent Coulson's face. Must have been in this job too long if he doesn't see the problem here. Draco shook his head slightly at the thought.

"Point taken." Even though his cheeks were still red he offered Draco a smile again.

"Thanks for the food." Agent Coulson got the message that this conversation was now over and retrieved the tray, quickly exiting the room.

A sigh left Draco's lips as he lay back down. He had his stuff back and he felt well enough to attempt magic without his wand, but then he might reveal something he'd rather keep to himself. At least for now seeing as he wasn't about to trust the people locking him up. The reason behind keeping him here may be good and justified but he had a bad feeling about them. He just couldn't quite put his finger on exactly why right now. Well, other than being a shady organisation from what Draco had experienced so far.

Something else had been bugging him as well. Now that he was in less pain, he could feel something else. Like how he could sense his trunk in the Agent's pocket just now, he could sense something below him. But it didn't feel the same as the enchantments on his trunk, assuming that was what he had felt from it, it felt heavy. Like it would suffocate him if he got too close.
There wasn't much else for him to do, so he focused on the thing below him. It wasn't a steady sensation instead it fluctuated. Sometimes only a little change other times it felt like a wave.
At one point it seemed like it, whatever it was, had been used. Although whatever they were doing with it seemed to have failed or very short lived. He could feel the surge of power for only a moment before it would disappear completely. Then shortly afterwards it would return to its original state.

He didn't know what they had or what they were trying to achieve with it, but Draco was certain of one thing. It was dangerous.

It was evening by the time Phil was called to the Director's office again. There had been a mountain of paperwork to get through. Then there was sourcing better materials for Phase 2. He also had to arrange for people to supervise Draco's quarantine room ready to alert him if anything happened. He had managed to fit in some time for lunch, but it had only lasted ten minutes.
Being called to the Director's office was a welcomed break.

When he arrived, Fury was sat at his desk looking over even more paperwork. Some of it Phil recognised as the potential materials for Phase 2. He could see reports on some new recruits, which was bad news for them. But more importantly there was a cup of coffee waiting for him.

"How'd things go this morning?" Fury glanced up quickly.

"Good for the most part. He doesn't trust us at all, which is understandable."

"Hmmm yeah I wouldn't trust us either if it was me." A page turned and another new recruit was going to get a rude awakening tomorrow.

"Yeah. He hasn't done anything with the box all day. There are people on a night shift to keep an eye on him."

"And do you think he'll do anything with it?"

"Unlikely sir." Fury nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"Leave him for a couple of days. Continue to monitor him and we'll discuss what to do with him then." Phil agreed and was finally allowed to leave.

Not that he was ever truly off the clock. If he were needed, he would turn up but being at home, no matter how short the visit, was all he wanted right now.

The next couple of days passed by in the blink of an eye. Phase 2 was moving forward swiftly. Recruits had come and gone. The Director had mentioned the initiative again and a meeting with the World Security Council had been set up. Phil had completed a couple of smaller missions and thankfully there wasn't much paperwork for him now.
Today, however, was started with a briefing with the Director and Agent Hill. Phil grabbed some coffee on the way up and he caught up with Maria.

"Morning Phil." She gave him a small smile, exhaustion slowly making itself known on her face. The work with Phase 2 had been a pain in the ass. Sourcing materials and making sure there was enough of it didn't go smoothly. Then there was testing to be done. Which led to another problem which they fixed by redesigning everything. It had been a difficult process, but they had managed.

"Good morning." He returned the smile with one of his own. They made their way to the Director's office together silently sipping their coffees as they went.
Once there they each took up a seat opposite the Director and waited for him to start.

"Good work recently you two." They were graced with a rare smile from the Director. "Phase 2 is moving again thanks to the two of you. Now, onto another situation. The kid."

"He still hasn't used the box for anything. All he does is lay down on the bed for hours. Occasionally walking a lap of the room or doing some quick exercises." Agent Hill reported. "The labs say that he should be good to leave the quarantine room whenever we want."

Fury nodded but stayed silent. The problem was that once they let him out of the room what do they do with him?

"Coulson?" The Director looked to him.

"I think it would be good to get him out of that room. However, I don't know where he'd go if we just let him leave. I also think that if he wanted to, he would disappear from our radars."

"You really think he could just lose us completely?" Maria questioned him.

"Yes. I think he's probably good at disappearing, I get the feeling he's smarter than he's letting on." Phil sighed gently. He really didn't know what to do with the kid.

"Not to mention he's from a different universe. We don't know how all that works yet." The Director looked between the two of them again. It was clear that he wanted a plan before they left the room. "My suggestion is that we move him to a private monitored room and have him around the base."

Phil considered the idea for a bit. It could be a risky plan seeing as they didn't know what the kid could do. There was also the fact that he had said he was given a job to do by whatever brought him to their universe. It could backfire on them, or the job may harm them or their universe. Then again Draco had said that he doesn't know what the job was. It's not like he can act on it straight away.
He looked towards the Director again and nodded. It was the most logical step forward and the most reasonable. Maria rubbed her temples gently apparently coming to the same conclusion, although not happy about it at all.

"Great. Coulson you'll oversee the kid and any decisions related to him for the foreseeable future. Hill you stay on Phase 2 for now." They both nodded. "Let me know if there's any issues or developments. I got a meeting to deal with."

Draco turned his head slightly to see Agent Coulson entering the room once more. He hadn't seen him since he pointed out the ridiculousness of his situation a few days ago. Random agents had been bringing food for him and none of them wanted to speak to him. Hell, they wouldn't even look at him. Not that he found he minded all that much.

"Hello Draco. I've got some good news for you." Draco had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. The cheerful tone only meant that it was good for them, not him.

"Oh yeah?" He kept his gaze on the ceiling.

"You've been cleared. You can leave this room now; another room has already been arranged for you." Draco scoffed at that. He couldn't help it they were just changing the room that they stored him in. "I know that's not what you want to hear but it's better than being shut in here isn't it?" Agent Coulson dropped the cheerful tone and instead sounded a little defeated.

"Yeah whatever. What's downstairs?" It had been bothering him for the last three days. Judging by Agent Coulson's silence it must be something important, that or he just wasn't expecting Draco to know there was something down there.

"Let me guess you can feel that too?" Draco just shrugged, it's not like he really knows anyway. After a moment Agent Coulson raised a hand to his ear. "Yes sir."
He walked towards Draco so he could look down directly at him.

"What?"

"Come on Director Fury wants to see you." Draco pulled himself up and swung his legs around.

"Why?" It was Agent Coulson's turn to shrug. Reluctantly Draco followed him out of the room. Draco looked around him as they walked along various corridors. The whole place seemed to be made of metal. The walls, the floors even the desks and chairs they passed by were metal. There were people walking around everywhere some in suits some in the blue uniform that Agent Hill had worn. They all had a stern look on their faces. All a bit uptight and serious here then…

Agent Coulson led him into a small square room. Once they stepped inside a voice spoke recognising Agent Coulson, who responded by requesting a floor.
"Oh, is this a lift?" That earnt him a nod accompanied by a small frown. It wasn't like any of the lifts he had seen before or elevators I suppose. He was in America after all. "What it's not like any lifts I've seen before?"
The frown slowly eased on Agent Coulson's face, and it wasn't long before they reached their floor.

They walked into a large office. Everything was still made of metal and the walls were completely bare, not even a window. There was a large desk and three chairs around it – two one side and one on the other. Near the desk were a couple of filing cabinets but nothing else in the room. On the desk was some sort of box and a keyboard, as well as a couple of mugs and some files. Agent Coulson walked over to the desk and sat down. When Draco didn't move from the door he reached over to the over chair and patted it lightly. Draco quietly walked over and joined him at the desk.

"Why's everything made of metal? And why no windows?"

"Because you're underground." The deeper voice of the Director came from the doorway.

"This isn't our normal base of operations, but we're needed here." Agent Coulson added in, "It made more sense to bring you here with us than to our normal base."

"Instead of a hospital?" Draco smirked at the older man, who in return rolled his eyes. The director joined them at the desk sitting opposite to them. He leaned back on his chair studying Draco for a moment.

"What do you know about the tesseract?" Not beating around the bush this time then. What the hell is a tesseract? Isn't it a cube? Draco's confusion must have been written on his face because the Director raised an eyebrow at him. "You do know something correct?"

"Something to do with four-dimensional cubes?" He had seen some magical equipment his father owned that made use of them.

"Wha-?"

"That's true for geometry." Agent Coulson interrupted with a small smile. "However, that's not what we're referring to." What are you a teacher? He had the right tone for one in Draco's mind.

"You have some sort of tesseract downstairs?" It was safe for Draco to assume that was what this was about. Seeing as he was summoned here right after asking about it. Agent Coulson gave him a nod in reply before the Director took over again.

"You didn't know what was down there?"

"Nah. Had no idea just knew there was something." Draco shrugged and leaned back a little in his chair. "Whatever you're doing to it seems to be pissing it off though." The Director exchanged a look with Agent Coulson. The looks adults exchanged never seemed to end well in Draco's experience.

"What do you mean Draco?" Agent Coulson turned his full attention to Draco now.

"Uhh… well there would be sudden surges and then it disappears completely. You can't keep it steady, can you?" Another look exchanged. A sinking feeling settled in Draco's stomach. I've said too much…

"With me you two." The Director quickly stood up and walked back towards the lift. Agent Coulson gave Draco's shoulder a light tap and both joined the Director, who spoke to the voice from the lift.

"We're going downstairs?" No one replied to him. The motion of the lift only made the sinking feeling worse. He felt like he had been stood in there for hours by the time they finally got out again.

They had entered a large room with a few desks and crates around. There were a lot of people working down here, a mixture of agents and scientists. In the centre of the room there was a platform with a large circular structure on it. In the centre of the circle was something glowing a bright blue colour. It was almost beautiful… Draco stopped.

"So?" The Director looked back at him, but he seemed to be miles away. Draco felt himself move forward slowly. Everything felt out of focus and sounds became muffled as if he were underwater. The blue grew a little brighter… like it was reacting to him… talking to him. Like it wanted something… to be used.
Draco gasped dropping to his knees with a thud. His hands going to his ears as he tried to breathe. He curled in on himself anything to block out whatever this was.

"Draco?!"

Was someone calling him? He couldn't tell they were too far away. His limbs started to feel heavy, and tiredness seeped into every part of his body. Why was it so cold down here?

"DRACO!" Hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him backwards. He opened his eyes a little. There were people rushing around, shouting to each other. The Director walked over to him blocking the blue thing from his view. He was pushed up against a wall. Agent Coulson and the Director were looking at him with… concern?

"You good?" The Director placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him up right.

"Wh- what the he-hell was that?"