So it goes with saying that only things I own with any connection to MARVEL I bought on Ebay or Etsy. MARVEL COMICS & MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE are their own creatures and I have nothing to do with either of them aside from the fact I enjoy reading or watching them, and am grateful for the ability to play in their world. I claim nothing, and I receive nothing for this, expect the pleasure of putting something out into the world.

You can also find this story on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN under the same title and pen name along with a place to post suggestions.

Don't forget to check out the Photobucket album listed on my profile page too.

DAY TWO

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND 2012

1322 HOURS

S.H.I.E.L.D HELICARRIER

INTERNATIONAL WATERS OUTSIDE OF VIRGINIA, USA

PHILLIP COULSON

Seventeen and a half hours since the declaration of war, and I find myself here, standing on the bridge of the Helicarrier watching the landscape around Norfolk Naval Base drift by and disappear out of my peripheral.

We are driving it out to sea first, because the sight of an aircraft carrier floating in the sky near Washington would be every conspiracy theorist's wet dream, and every normal persons nightmare.

The process of getting the carrier out of dry dock went a lot smoother what with both Director Fury and Councilman Pierce stressing the importance of its use in this situation, which I was grateful for because I would prefer not to deal with the Council myself. They tend to look down on Agents playing is Fury's messengers.

However finding Councilman Pierce waiting for me to arrive was a bit of a surprise. Despite our proximity to Washington DC I assumed he would have joined the other members of the World Council and taken refuge in the sky. His response when I mentioned that was that he has never been a fan of keeping his hands clean.

Then he asked about 'her' and for once I didn't have to or want to keep my mouth shut. Miss Elaine has never had a friend on the Council, their reaction to her, before they were made to see reason, has always been harsh, with exception of Councilman Pierce. If there was anyone on the Council who could be said to at least like her, it would be him.

He understood the importance of her presence within S.H.I.E.L.D custody, and shared the Directors opinion of treating her with leniency and courtesy. She could very well become a valuable ally to S.H.I.E.L.D someday, rather is an agent, or an ambassador between our different races.

She has spent her 'known' life living is a human being, the logic was that either way that would make her very much a friend to the human race, is long is we continued to see she was treated well and not like a lab rat.

He even took the initiative a few times to become an acquaintance of hers. He formally thanked her for the sacrifice that both she and her 'family' made in the service of S.H.I.E.L.D, playing on the lie we made to keep her here. A distasteful necessity by all accounts.

Which was why I was surprised when he asked me what I thought we might be able to use to take her out.

He told me his view on her had not changed, he still thought she would be a very valuable asset and ally to S.H.I.E.L.D someday however the truth of the matter was that we still had no idea what she would be capable of, but a despot Prince just came down and declared war on the planet, then immediately following that threat, took their best assassin and went out his way to take her too.

We have to assume that there is a reason behind that, the kind that suggests he plans to use her to his advantage, and very likely against us. He knows something about her we don't, and that is too dangerous to ignore.

He wanted to talk to me because aside from Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff, I was her superior officer most of the time.

I killed a small a piece of me for the sake of the world I live in and I recommended a precisely measured dose of Tabun since 'they' used to use it to control her, and if he really wanted her back alive to tell whoever he sent after her to carry auto-injectors with atropine because we made sure she was kept weak to further the illusion of her being a human being.

I told him all of that, and then I got a call from Natasha, someone who treats Nora like her little sister, and if I know Agent Romanoff she is probably reading that information right now, since I told her how to get access to it.

I really hope we don't have to kill her. I always knew just what she wasn't. I read the files before I even set foot in her presence. She was never a human in my mind, thought I will admit, that she was the most human, not human person I ever met. Certainly much more than Thor. She was, is, so much like a child.

It's why I didn't have any real hesitation about authorizing her friendship with the Captain.

When I heard about him trying to track her down and eventually finding her in the cafeteria I wasted no time making sure she was in my office at the end of the day. I made it very clear, that Captain America was a national symbol and a hero so he was to be treated with respect and carefully since he was in the middle of what would no doubt be a difficult transition into modern-day life. She looked me right in the eye and told me that his name was Steve Rogers.

I might be one of the biggest fans of Captain America, but right in that instance she put me to shame. She saw him is more of a person, and less of an ideal then I did. After that I knew she would be just perfect for him, and she never proved me wrong.

That decision was paid for with every surveillance picture I saw of him smiling in her company, and I made sure that nothing got in the way of that happiness, right down to adjusting her housing privileges so she could keep an orphaned kitten he gave her, and enduring the muted wrath of Council when my name also showed up on a roommate authorization form when he moved into her guest room for a few weeks so she could sleep through the kittens hungry cries until it was weaned off milk.

She gave me a picture of them, the captain and that kitten. He was sleeping, and its little body was tucked right up under his chin. She wrote 'thanks uncle Coulson' on the back of the picture and drew a smiley face with cat lips and ears.

I framed that picture, it was a really nice frame too. I even bought a collar with American flags on it for the kitten, and ordered on of the techs to make charm for it, on side was the Captain's shield, and the other side was the S.H.I.E.L.D logo. It's actually still in my pocket right now. I really hope we don't have to kill her.

NOTES FOR THE READERS:

Tabun is a real life Nerve agent, it was made an industrial scale during WWII by the Germans, and Atropine is a treatment for it.

Norfolk Naval Base is a base that really exists in Washington D.C, and houses Aircraft carriers. It seemed a logical place for them to dock the Helicarrier at given its the capital, is well is so close to the Triskelion, which is labeled S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters after all.

Also while it is true we don't see the Triskelion, or Alexander Pierce until the Winter Soldier which is three movies down the line, there is absolutely no reason they can't be in here. He clearly must have been alive and around back then, and I doubt they built the Triskelion after the battle of New York given that S.H.I.E.L.D's attention was occupied by their new found publicity.