Wow, you are still here. Thank you. Please enjoy the second chapter.
Chapter 2
It was the next day that Coulson and Mei took the jet to Washington DC. Coulson had to attend the conference with Fury, Thor, Stark, Rogers, Banner and Barton. Romanoff could not attend as she was currently undercover in a suspected Hydra camp in Kazakhstan. Coulson hoped not only for some inlight on the involvements of Asgard, Skaro and Gallifrey in the 'Time War', but also that Thor might help them with the Gallifreyan artefacts, as SHIELD has not come to a reasonable conclusion as to why such relicts had been found on Earth. Agent Mei want to a training of senior agents specialised in high martial arts, and - although she never would admit anything - she liked the idea to be grouped with other Asian SHIELD agents, apart from Daisy.
The jet landed smoothly on the airfield of the DC SHIELD base that had been reconstructed after Hydra and subsequently the police had nearly destroyed it. Fortunately, Fury had had some contacts to the CIA so that the SHIELD HQ in DC was again a safe place for its agents. Coulson was surprised that Barton already awaited him. Barton quickly informed him that the meeting would take place an hour later than planned, and guided him to his accomodation.
At 6.45 pm, Coulson, dressed in a identically looking suit and tie headed to the conference room. At 7 o'clock, they said down and without much introduction, Thor started to explain.
"The Timelords made very early contact with the Daleks from Skaro. The Daleks, as you know, are beings filled with hatred and canned into robot-like machines which help them to exterminate everything and everyone that is different to them. Over several centuries, the hatred between the Daleks and the Timelords grew, and the increasing arrogance of the Timelords did not help to diminish the tensions. Then, about two hundred years ago - but this depends on how you measure time - the Daleks striked first and annihilated a Gallifreyan colony on Celtris III."
"What exactly is the difference between Timelords and Gallifreyans?" Stark wanted to know.
"Gallifreyans are all inhabitants of Gallifrey, while Timelord is the title you earn after your third degree at university. Only have of the population attends the tertiary school, and only half of them go to the academy."
"Tertiary school?" Barton asked.
"I guess it's something like primary and secondary school, just preparing for university?" Coulson suggested.
Thor nodded. "I assume so. However, as I said, the Daleks striked first. The other inhabitants on Celtris hence fought back, and with time more and more species joined as more and more Dalek fleets advanced further into space. Before the war reached Asgard, one hundred years had already passed. About fifty years after the official declaration of war, a rumour was spread that Rassilon, the president of the Timelords, had granted a genetic engineering program despite the prohibition of genetic enhancements after the second constitution of the Kasterborous alliance. The first scientist, under the service of Rassilon and the government himself was The Creator. He was the most advanced bioengineer of all the Timelords, and I met him personally at a conference on Bethazed once. He is actually quite a nice person, and I believe he objected the demand of Rassilon, but then did indeed participate - not voluntarily I guess."
"What exactly was this Rassilon's plan? An army of super soldiers?" Stark asked and looked at Rogers who tried to avoid the glance.
Thor nodded. "Firstly, The Creator started with the enhancement of two persons. They...were his own children, identical twins, born only for research. He mixed his and his wife's DNA with DNA of a TARDIS-"
"Wait, what?" Banner asked. Although he was the most brilliant scientist at the table, even this was difficult for him to understand. "Isn't a TARDIS a time machine?"
"Yes, but they are grown, not built," Thor explained. "Don't ask me about the details, I don't know them myself. However, with this mixture, the soldiers, or rather called Agents when they are together, have the ability to teleport, or rather 'to travel through time and space'; they have increased regeneration powers and can also use these powers to modify energy in the surroundings. Their telepathy is also enhanced in comparison to normal Timelords."
"Hold on," Banner interrupted again. "They have the ability to modify energy around them? Energy is matter, that would mean they could influence matter? What are their limits?"
"I don't know. But I've heard they can influence the atoms themselves. They have an incredible perceipton and it is said that they can influence time..." Thor paused for a while, and it looked as if he tried to suppress some undesirable memories.
"The twins, called The Warrior and The Soldier, were tested on other planets, and then used for the most destructive battle and in front lines of every major attack. The Time War was not only the universe against the Daleks, no, it was all the races against each other as well. After three hundred years, no alliances were anymore, and every species fought for bare survival. And The Agents were invincible. They...The Warrior...she was responsible...for the siege of Asgard."
"What? Asgard was besieged? Under Timelord rule?" Stark asked. The others were surprised as well. How could Asgard, a planet with one of the proudest races in the universe fall under alien rule?
"Yes," Thor admitted, and it was difficult for him to talk about this. "This...matter... is the reason why I asked for this conference today." He paused again. It was weird for the proud and confidence Asgardian to be hesitant. He caught himself, and then continued.
"We had noticed that Loki felt... different, and not really belonging to us. I don't know what was up with him, I thought it to be just a phase."
Stark chuckled.
"The first Timelord fleet arrived on Asgard and we thought it to be a glorious battle. The Timelords are indeed a good warrior race. But Loki... had decided to betray us. Asgard was and is powered by a powerful matter-" He noticed several eyebrows, and remembered that this generation of humans did call their previous magic 'science'. "The liquid...this matter is heavily guarded and also very difficult to reach. Had it not been with Loki's help, I guess the battle would have lasted months. But as Loki decided to lead The Warrior herself to said matter... the battle was over within four days. The siege lasted for four years, before we could free ourselves. And that only because The Warrior had left Asgard to prevent an attack on Gallifrey. The Daleks started to attack the main planet of the Gallifreyan race only a week after we had regained our freedom - and it took only half a year until Gallifrey burned. Loki was ever since in hiding, especially because we didn't trust him after the matter with Jane and Earth. Also...Loki and The Warrior...were a couple."
He heard the others gasp for breath.
"The Warrior showed Loki what he had always wanted. How to rule, how to kill, how to take what you want. She needed a right hand, I doubt she ever loved him, but Loki fell for her, as he wanted guidance. The Warrior, however, especially during the last year of the war, went too far. She disobeyed order from the council of Gallifrey, she and her sister destroyed the second planet of Kaseya completely with her powers, and they sacrificed endless Timelord lives to fight back enemy fleets. So on the second last day of the war, only hours before Gallifrey fell, an emergency court martial was held, The Agents were held responsible and sentenced to life-long exile...on Earth. Their powers however were taken from them, as were their memories. They were splintered throughout the galaxy, meaning that several versions or incarnations of them can live parallely in different parts of the Universe, at different times. They are born as part of the human species, they die and keep being reborn. It sounds all very complicated, but this shows only how powerful the Timelords actually are."
There was a long silence after he finished.
"So, anyone on planet Earth could be either The Soldier or The Warrior, without them knowing?" Rogers asked.
"Yes. Also, because regeneration does not have boundaries, they could also be men. They kept regenerating and changing faces during the war."
"Was Loki also together with her when she was a guy?" Stark asked jokingly.
Thor gave him a deadly stare and nodded briefly.
"When Loki was in New York, and had access to the Stark tower, he searched the database of several agencies of Earth, SHIELD, UNIT, Torchwood, and so on," Coulson said. "Do you think he was looking for The Warrior?"
"It might be," Thor said. "But she would not know. Even if she remembered something, the memories of Loki were taken from her with extra care as well as the completion of the powers. These powers, and memories, and the ability to alter time itself were put into stones, of which two were hidden on Earth, and one on a distinct planet on which - since the War - the Agents are regarded as the devils themselves."
"Where exactly were these stones hidden?" Coulson asked as something dawned him.
"I don't know. The Doctor was responsible for this."
Coulson nodded and did not ask anymore. They should definedly return these stones to where they had found them... Before anyone found out about the fact that SHIELD was in possession of them...
It was 3 o'clock in the morning when Xi returned to her flat. She had expected to find Valentina in bed, but when she entered the flat, her fiancée was lying in the couch of the living room, staring at the ceiling, but turning her head when Xi entered.
"You haven't gone to bed yet?" Xi asked surprised when she removed her shoes and jacket.
Valentina shook her head.
"You alright?"
Valentina nodded and got up from the sofa. "I wasn't tired," she explained and went to the bed room to change for her night clothes. Xi shrugged, finding the behaviour of her fiancée a bit weird. Nevertheless she followed and interpreted these signs as correct, and did not even ask whether Valentina was in the mood. Xi doze off very quickly.
Valentina woke up when her alarm clock played her favourite tune at 5.30 am. She had had less than two and a half hours of sleep, but somehow she did not feel tired.
"They told us to come in later," Xi muttered, and Valentina went alone to the bathroom. She stopped when her glance fell onto the mirror. She looked at herself, and found indeed that things had changed. She did not recognise her own face in the mirror, she felt as if she was staring out of another person's body. She blinked and turned away.
When she entered the shower, and the water hit her body, memories of rain on Alpha Eridani II flashed through her mind. She turned off the shower hastily. She had been stationed on this planet, expecting a Dalek fleet to attack. They had hidden in the rainforest which covered over 90% of the northern hemisphere. As the plant growth was excessive, the common rain barely reached the ground. But when the Daleks attacked, they killed the emergent trees first, and one of the air floating cities crashed only a mile away from the military hideout, tearing hundreds of trees down with it. This hole in the planting was used by the Daleks to reach the lower levels of the forest. When the soldiers ran towards the Dalek front line, she felt the heavy rain pouring down to her. The Timelord guns lasted only for five minutes, as they were not protected by the rain. It hardly ever rained in Acardia, Gallifrey's capital in the middle of the desert.
Valentina shook her body. She needed to get rid of this memory. She breathed deeply and turned the water back on to finish showering. After drying her hair, she sneaked back to the bed room and grabbed some clothes without awaking Xi. She had a quick breakfast consisting only of porridge and tea, each time remembering that she had lived for too long in Great Britain, and left the flat – only to nearly run into the man who was awaiting her in the hallway.
"Doctor?" she gasped.
"Hello Warrior," the old man said.
