I do not own any of the Marvel characters in this universe, I only own Caelum Stark, some parts of the plot and any other OC's I make up. All rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics go to their respective owners.
He'd let his hair grow out, that was the first thing the two SHIELD agents noticed when Cale entered the conference room. There was colour to his skin, almost like he'd been spending time outdoors and it looked like he had actual muscles to be defined. However the most noticeable thing about Caelum was the air around the young man and the scent of power that rolled off him. He slumped down in a chair and tucked his hair behind his ears as he looked at Director Fury. "Apologies for my absence director."
Fury snort-laughed. It was something he tended to do when he was annoyed and amused at the same time. "Don't apologise. Just tell us what happened when you jumped in the hole and end up at the part where you adopted the animal that attacked everyone."
"His name is Shiro," Cale explained. "He came through a hidden path between our world and Asgard. He was hurt, I healed him and now I've apparently adopted him. I'm gonna work ona spell to see if I can compress his size if he'll let me."
"So that's where you were?" Natasha questioned. Hearing him speak of magic so freely was such an odd thing. It was unusual for her to show any such emotion but Cale was possible the closest thing to a child she was ever going to get. He'd always been there and when he wasn't, she found the hole in her heart was bigger than it should be. "Asgard? Why didn't you come back through this path?"
"Frigga wouldn't let me," Cale answered. "I guess I was like a prisoner but not at the same time. Thor looked out for me and I had lessons to help take my mind off not being at home." He rubbed the back of his neck, oddly enough the fact that he wasn't wearing the clothes he was so used to now bothered him. He wasn't used to jeans and shirts and synthetic material anymore. "Odin didn't take too...kindly to me after I found out who my mother is."
Tony arched an eyebrow. "Must be bad if it's someone King Lear can throw you out of Asgard for." He hadn't know Cale very long but even in his file, it never disclosed the identity of his mother, just his father.
"She tried to take over the nine realms," Cale answered honestly. "My father was the only man she couldn't enchant with her voice and when she chose to study him, they fell in love. It was something that he always told me, didn't want anything to stand in the way of me knowing what kind of woman she is." He laughed, the sound was bordering on angry and hysterical. "I stumbled upon her by accident and when I...asked for a visit, he threw me out." Cale looked at the director, "I'll submit a detailed report if that's what you want. My brain's a little scrambled right now."
"You're still a shit liar Caelum," Fury warned him. "But if that's the way you want to play it, I'll bite. I want that report at the end of the week, no excuses." Anyone in the room could tell that the director was less than impressed with the young man's current outlook on the situation. "You've been missing for four months...four months, tomorrow at 0900 you'll report to Doctor Roberts for a full psych eval. Understand, agent?"
"Yes sir," Cale replied. Oh he understood alright, although he wasn't particularly sure that he wanted to carry on the position of agent anymore. Not with everything he'd been through...there were other things he wanted to do with his life.
Fury got to his feet, eye still on Cale. "A car will pick you up at 0830. Don't be messing around with this Caelum. You're confined to the tower until the eval comes back. That's an order."
"Yes sir."
"Dismissed." Fury breezed out of the room like a whirlwind of black leather and thunderstorms, Agent Hill didn't even give the group a second look as she followed after him.
"Cale, are you okay?" Tony's concern for him was touching, really. But there was no relationship there, Cale had stayed in his place for a couple weeks, fought a single battle with him, that was it. There was no reason for him to be worried about him. "Asgard can't have been that traumatic; drinking, messing around with Thor and his buddies."
"I'm tired," Cale replied. He got up and moved over to the door, stopping when it refused to open. "Seriously JARVIS...Tony, open the damn door."
"We're only worried about you Cale," Tony answered.
"Yeah well don't be," he snipped. "And stop babying me."
"What's the problem?" Clint questioned, trying to be the diplomatic one. Over the years he and Natasha had seen Cale all different kinds of angry but never this...cold. "We had a policy remember? Especially after you blew your room up."
"I was fifteen!" Cale argued. He turned to look at his surrogate brother with an expression that didn't quit say anguish but more rage. "I'm just tired Clint. I need to get the image of my chained and muzzled mother out of my head before my boot makes quarrel with an ant."
"Excuse me?!" Clint coughed. He practically jumped to his feet and rushed out after Cale, he'd heard that expression before and it was followed by several of the worst days of his life. When he came out into the marbled corridor, Cale was gone.
Glamours were easy these days. It was one of the first things that Loki had taught him in the dreamworld, hiding his presence so that he could leave the tower was as easy as getting himself a cup of coffee or eating a biscuit. He had no doubt that JARVIS was probably tracking him...or at least trying to but for now Cale just wanted to get out of that tower. Once upon a time he'd been dying to get back home and now the thought of the tower was annoying him. They say that the grass is always greener on the other side but this isn't always the case.
Cale stopped by at an internet cafe, sarcastically saluting the camera before he set to work. He wanted to talk to someone that was a neutral party in this whole thing. Someone who had extended a branch to him only to have it thrown back in her face. Finding her address was easy enough with her first and last name as well as a little backdoor hacking {thank you SHIELD}, getting there was a little harder.
He'd decided very early on that the suburbs were not his idea of a perfect life. Cale didn't want the apple pie, white picket fence lifestyle, he wanted adventure and he wanted to travel. Well he was getting all of that and more but...it wasn't enough. There was something...out of place with him and the stay in Asgard had only made it worse, made it feel like he was missing something. He was trying to figure that out still when he knocked on the door to the Scarsdale brownstone and waiting for the door to open.
A middle aged woman with caramel coloured hair, littered with a few stray grey hairs, opened the door drying her hands on a tea towel. "Oh yes, can I help you?" she asked, her eyes scanning him up and down.
"I'm looking for Amelia?" Cale coughed, clearing his throat. "She does live here right? I'm a friend of hers from school. Cale, Caelum Turner." The woman had to be her mum, they looked far too much alike for it to be anything else.
The woman's eyes grew wide with recognition and her mouth opened in a small gasp. "Oh my," she spluttered. "You're him...the one from the news! The Avenger." She turned around, leaving the door opened for him. "AMELIA ELIZABETH! YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU KNEW AN AVENGER!" she yelled up the stairs behind her. She turned back to Cale, that sweet smile still on her face. "Come in dear, my name is Alice and you are welcome in our home Mr Turner."
"Just Cale is fine," Cale corrected her as he stepped inside. "I don't mean to intrude on your dinner or anything I just want to talk to Amy," he told her, smelling something wafting through the house that smelt amazing.
"Nonsense," she scoffed. "There's plenty where that came from. Amelia and her father eat like animals, you think they were raised in a barn. We're having meatloaf for dinner, you're welcome to join us."
"I can come back later-" Cale started to objected only top be cut off by the woman as she dragged him into the dining room. Amelia had to suppress a laugh at the image of her mother forcing Cale into a chair before running off to get a plate for him. He glared at her, "do not say another word."
"Wasn't gonna," Amelia grinned, her smile as wide and mischievous as that of the Cheshire Cat. "So you finally bothered to show up after four months as MIA?" the woman queried. "Where've you been?"
"Amelia let him eat," Alice scolded, setting the plate in front of him. "Poor thing is all skin and bones. What do they feed young heroes these days?" she tisked, shaking her head as she sat down. "Eat up Caelum."
"Eh-Cale is fine ma'am," he repeated. Cale poked at the meatloaf with his fork and cut off a chunk before proceeding to eat it. A variety of tastes flooded his senses and the teenager smiled, "this is really good Mrs Williams, thank you."
"Manners this day and age seem to be a fleeting thing," she told him, "but you are most welcome Cale. This is my husband Samuel," Alice smiled, waving across the table to a man sipping a beer, "and my youngest Alex is at a sleepover. He'll be mighty disappointed he missed you."
"You two dating or what?" Samuel asked suddenly, the question enough to make both Amelia and Cale choke. He sat his glass back on the table, staring at Cale like he was staring into his very soul.
"Dad!" Amelia coughed. "Holy fuck no!" She dropped her fork on the plate and proceeded to flick a pea at him. "Why you gotta embarrass me in front of my friends?!"
"I'm gay!" Cale blurted out. He set his fork down and glanced sideways at Amelia, "I wanted to talk to you about something so I kinda broke out of my SHIELD house arrest. Your offer of friendship still stands right?" Making friends had never been his strong point but when it happened, he had a tendency to push people away. "I don't...know how much longer I can keep this...this whole thing up.
Amelia arched an eyebrow in question. "Superhero midlife crisis?" When he shrugged and nodded, she sighed and pushed her chair back, "we're gonna go chat in the den okay?" she told her mum. "And you can stay the night with me. SHIELD can't just put you on house arrest after being missing for four months."
Cale snorted as he got up to follow her. "Well they did. They've kinda owned me since I was fourteen. All I wanted to be was an agent and now with the invasion and Loki and finding my mother...it puts things into perspective regarding the size of the universe. I want to be who I am...not what I should be."
"Well quit," Amelia answered. "It's not the be all to end all but you can quit and then go find yourself."
"I don't know what I want to do though," Cale answered. "Aside from that I really want to travel. Explore. Now that I know about the hidden paths...I figured I could explore them and see what the Nine Realms has to offer."
"Do it," she urged, slumping in a nice big bean bag. "They don't own you, and don't let them think that they do."
Cale scoffed. "You think?"
Amelia shrugged. "People our age struggle to find ourselves all the time. You're no different. Trust me. It's practically a rite of passage to want to discover ourselves. I spent three months on a research vessel as a volunteer which is how I found out I wanted to be a marine biologist. You need to do the same thing."
He sat back with a frown. "Just up and leave huh?" Now there was an idea…
