Title: Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

Summary: It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

Characters: Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

Rating: T for Fury's language, lots of it

Disclaimer: Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

Chapter 4: Investigations

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 7-8]

It was a shame that assassin had thrown himself out the window before he could be interrogated. Fury'd love to know who was responsible for this latest attempt on his life. But if he was good enough to get as close as he had, then it was unlikely they'd be able to trace his client. He'd ordered the investigation anyway. It was less of a futile effort than investigating /all/ of the enemies Fury'd made over his years (and all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies, and everyone who might consider Fury or his organization an obstacle...).

In the meanwhile, Fury watched the multitude of monitors as they replayed the security footage of the last few hours at double-time. Nothing was unusual in Evans' behavior early in the day. The director raised an eyebrow at the way Evans quickly destroyed the slide with his blood, and made a mental note to have someone analyze Evans' blood under a microscope if they could manage without Evans' knowledge.

Evans suddenly freezes at time 11:29:13. Fury's meeting with his would-be assassin had been at 11:30—he'd have to replay the other footage later to get the exact timestamp. This might be precognition (he knew what was going to happen before it happened) or it might be extra-sensory (he noticed what was currently happening). Evans glances around the room, either seeing if anyone's paying attention to him or maybe looking for a threat in his immediate vicinity, then drops into what looks like a meditative state. When the scientist heads for the stairs, he's moving deliberately. He knows exactly where to go.

On the fourth floor, Evans pauses again to visually scan the people around him (whatever sense Evans has doesn't appear to be pin-point accurate), before zeroing in on Fury's office. Fury snorts as Evans realizes he's drawing attention in the walkway, and pretends to be on the phone. It's a good cover, but poorly implemented. For starters, he should have at least pretended to dial something. And waited a few moments for the other side to "connect" before he started talking. The close call assassination and rescue was humiliating enough. But anyone loitering near Fury's office (no matter how much they looked like they belonged there) should have drawn security /before/ Evans was able to burst in the door. A fortunate oversight in this case, but one would not be happening again.

The kid was also utterly lacking in ego. Fury made a point of calling Evans 'boy' from the very beginning and hadn't gotten anything more than mild annoyance in return. Even when Fury 'forgot' the Doctor title, Evans hadn't bothered to correct him. (Most young doctors were very defensive of their shiny new title and any insinuations that they might not deserve it.) And then Evans had apologized for disturbing him after bursting into the office to save his life. (What the hell?!) He didn't demand or ask for a reward and even declined a salary increase (he'd be getting one anyway). It didn't appear to be an attempt to hold a debt over Fury either (not that Fury would allow such a thing).

Just thinking about the contrast between Evans' reaction and the reaction he'd get from someone like Stark made his temples throb. (He was never going to allow Stark to save his life. He'd choke to death on his own spit first. It'd be less humiliating.)

They still knew very little about Evans. They'd hired agents with sketchy backgrounds before, but usually there was at least some information. And S.H.I.E.L.D. was good at scraping together solid timelines and details from scattered bits. Dealing with a blank slate was disturbing.

A miraculous rescue was the kind of event that made Fury more suspicious, not less. And the kid really was a terrible liar. Just going to lunch? A godfather who taught him combat moves that needed to be practiced? The inconsistencies made him want to teach Evans how to lie properly, because this was just pathetic. (The kid did know the entire facility was carpeted in surveillance cameras, right?)

Still, it was becoming less and less likely that Evans was a spy. Anyone working for one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies would have left Fury to die. The kid could still have his own agenda. Fury hadn't survived as long as he had by being satisfied with 'probably's and 'most likely's. So he'd give the boy enough rope to hang himself by, so to speak. The Tesseract was pretty much the holy grail of energy. And in the meanwhile, he'd have a couple of his agents take a closer look into Evans.

It was interesting that Evans seemed to know the Tesseract existed but not its name—Evans' hacking hadn't gone anywhere near the Tesseract information. He might have heard some of the other scientists talk about it, but if that were the case, Evans should have already the name of the device. Scientists tended to use proper scientific terms and names rather than "big glowy cube" (except Drs. Penzias and Wilson who refused to call it anything but 'Allspark', the geeks).

Evans had also drawn a comparison between the Tesseract and the Force. When Fury took that and added in Evans' possible precognition during the assassination, the meditation, and the refusal of monetary compensation for his aid... maybe he was spending too much time reading reports from his sci-fi loving subordinates. Jedi, indeed.

ooo

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 9-10]

Coulson submitted a report on what he'd observed about Evans. Unfortunately, Evans had approached him immediately, calling him out on being new, so there wasn't much chance of getting closer or continuing observation without drawing suspicion. Coulson also reported that Evans rejected the claim that he was a genius in that typical socially-awkward nerd way (My IQ's only 190 so I'm not really a genius.)

Romonova had gotten a good deal more (and a public exhibition fight). She didn't have a plausible reason to be at the Tesseract facility, so she'd chosen to approach Evans on the city bus. And lucked out with the opportunity to 'rescue' him from a particular annoying passenger. Her report was as detailed as the one she'd submitted on Tony Stark. Details on his personality, mannerisms, physical condition (and an interesting tattoo), emotional condition (possible PTSD between the nightmares and his freeze-up midfight), and so on. Unfortunately, like his other top agents, she couldn't leave well enough alone.

"Also, there are rumors that he's your step-son."

"I don't even have a first wife." Clearly, he wasn't keeping his employees busy enough if they wasted time speculating about his personal life. He certainly didn't have time for this. "Step-son?"

"He saved your life and got a top assignment shortly after joining S.H.I.E.L.D." Romanova had the gall to shrug. "Personally, I think it's because of the parrot."

The...! Fury glowered at the agent until she left. He /was not/ a fucking pirate. Fucking Stark. And he was /never/ going without coffee again.