[Shield Facility.]
Eddard entered the facility invisible and perfectly silent thanks to a combination of his divinity and vibranium's tendency to absorb vibrations.
Eddard was here to ask questions, uncomfortable questions.
He walked through guarded entrances and for biometrically protected passages, he simply followed someone inside.
After atleast two minutes of constant walking, he had reached the person he was looking for.
Nick Fury was talking to who he presumed to be Natasha Romanoff.
"Yes, Clarke was attacked. No, he did not die. Yes, I know who it was, Ms Romanoff but I am not at liberty to say." Eddard heard Fury say, "How is your mission going?"
"So, someone is stealing parts and trading information to build something like the Jericho Missiles?" Fury asked smugly, "Who could have seen that coming? Me perhaps."
Eddard waited for the call to end and as he was about to speak up, he heard Fury mutter, "Motherfucker. Clarke says one good thing about her and she starts singing the man's praises. I am such a good boss, but I never hear a peep about someone singing my praises. Fucking pretty privilege."
Eddard snorted and commented,"My-Oh-My Fury, I did not take you for a jealous bald-head."
Fury's hands went to his gun but when he saw Eddard, he grimaced realizing, the gun won't help if the man wanted to kill him.
"So you heard huh?" Fury asked.
"Yes. Now I want to know who I have to kill?"
"His name is I-cannot-tell-you." Fury said.
"One of my men nearly died. Forgive me if I am not in a forgiving mood Fury." as Eddard said this, he grabbed Fury by the neck and lifted him slightly ,"one of my boys made the women who attacked me confess a few things. They were known as Ghost, the one who launched an artillery shell at my face. They work for someone. I want a name Fury. If you don't give me one, I will take one from the cold dead hands of the Security Council Members. Think fast Fury, how much death and suffering do you wish to see for not exchanging a name?"
Fury was struggling and his eyes had started watering. Fury tapped Eddard's hand in a sign of surrender and when he loosened his hands the man gasped out, "Ava Starr, that's her real name. She is an operative and moved on the orders of the World Security Council."
"Who among them was foolish enough to do so?" Eddard released the man completely.
"Mallick, Gideon Mallick." Fury gasped out, then he added, "Don't kill him publicly, don't make the council your enemy by proxy, SHIELD your enemy. Do it quietly."
Eddard nodded ,"That is quite generous of you but remember this Fury, never try to be funny with me when I am not in a polite mood, which is not often."
Fury said, "They wanted to blame you for Harlem, when I refused, they changed goals and blamed Banner."
"Poor man." Fury looked at Eddard incredulously when he heard that comment. He said dryly, "Forgive me for not feeling bad for a giant that could pummel a city."
"And yet I would trust that giant more than you." Eddard spoke as he became invisible and silent again.
[Gideon Mallick's Residence]
Draco entered the house of the man he was about to kill. Eddard had gone ahead to capture Ava Starr while Draco had been assigned to ending Mallick's life.
Draco had not ended someone's life ever before and he was aware that it was something he truly was not looking forward to. He was aware that Eddard did not enjoy murder either but, he was fine with committing it if he believed it would benefit him. Eddard had clearly stated murder was never justifiable under any circumstance, you just did it sometimes because it would benefit you. The principle that he was operating upon was not morality but practicality.
He moved to the bedroom where the man was sleeping.
The man looked like any typical old man. An old man that might be someone's grandfather, father or just a grumpy but lovable old man across the street.
Draco aimed his modified M1911 Pistol at the sleeping man.
He shot a single bullet at the man's sleeping head.
The bullet found its mark while Draco turned to avoid seeing the gore he caused.
[Shield Facility, Connecticut]
Eddard was here to capture the enhanced that still had standing orders to eliminate him. Ava Starr, a.k.a. Ghost, suffers from something described as Molecular Disequllibrium.
Starr can phase through solid objects and living beings at will. The use of her powers is accompanied by flickering, prismatic afterimages of her body as she quantum shifts through space. With the aid of her suit, she can choose whether to become solid or intangible, which allows her to quickly evade attacks and counterattack in tandem
That was all the information Fury could give him without accessing her files which would leave an entry in the logs.
She was trained in combat and also had enhanced strength.
He entered the facility.
'More like a prison holding a collared dog.' Eddard thought derisively.
He broke into the facility with ease.
When he entered the area named, "Ghost."
He came across a girl who was sleeping in what looked like a cage made out of glass that held high-tech energy projectors.
He looked at the girl knowing she would have no way of defending herself if he killed her using his sword.
"Ava Starr?" Eddard asked.
She immediately twisted herself awake, looking around and as soon as her eyes landed on Eddard, she tensed up.
Eddard was amused by the girl acting like a hissing cat, making herself look threatening. The thing was that a bed head and fluffy pyjamas did not really help in her planned look.
"Ava- can I call you Ava? Stop planning to kill me. You don't have access to weaponry that could perform such a task nor will your accidental abilities help against my armor." Eddard stated.
"What do you want from me?" she asked bitterly.
"That is an interesting question, Ava. I want nothing from you. I was initially here to kill you but seeing you as you are, I find that to be a mercy. It must be painful having your body torn apart and rebuilt everytime you access your powers."
"If Death is a mercy then don't kill me." Ava blurted.
"You work for SHIELD, I would think you have accepted death long ago."
Ava remained quiet.
Eddard stated plainly, "You wish to live."
"SHIELD promised me a cure if I helped them kill terrorists."
"SHIELD will never fulfill such a deal, you foolish girl." Eddard mocked her.
"They promised." Ava stated confidently.
"The world works on balance, Ms Starr. They give you the cure and lose one of their strongest assets for what? Services you will continue providing for free if you don't get the cure?" Her logic faltered at facing reality.
"They wouldn't dare." Ava growled, "I would kill them all."
"And would also make the world your enemy. Most probably be declared an international criminal by the next day. Most of NATO would be searching for you since SHIELD's council is pretty cosy with the US President." Eddard shrugged knowing he had come close to doing the same yesterday night.
"So I did not even have the choice to live, did I?" She whispered as if coming to an epiphany.
"Ah! Halt your thoughts Ms. That would have been true if you were not standing a few feet away from a God that can heal all wounds and illness. I am pretty sure I could heal you but I would require something in return."
She nodded as she had been informed about his capabilities, "I am a capable expert in espionage even without my powers, I am good at classical and quantum mechanics and if you heal me, I will even help you with favours of the other kind." she wiggled her eyebrows in what she assumed would look erotic.
Eddard's eyebrow twitched at the suggestion since with her problems, he was pretty sure that even he himself was more experienced in the romance department than her.
"Alright. So we are leaving and for that you need to change. My friend Harry will clear this place of all cyber footprints. I will clear all of your biological footprints." Eddard told Ava.
He was waiting for her when she emerged in a suit that was completely white in color. It had red lenses.
Eddard looked at the armor and then stated, "There is a Maserati, outside wait in it. I have already knocked out the forty agents in here. I was hoping you could have worn civilian clothing but just take the helmet off and you will be fine."
Eddard started glowing as soon as Ava left but unlike how he always seemed to glow in golden light, today he was glowing in blue light. He let out a pulse of this light that would probably cover the whole facility and then another such pulse followed. After about four pulses of the heavily ionising radiation. It would render anything in the building dead and thus erase all biological footprints of Ava Starr. The SHIELD agents would be safe due to him having placed Avalon on the pile of their bodies beforehand. Harry would be sending an anonymous tip to the Police about a nuclear leak in a government facility.
The radiation levels would be back to normal in the facility a week from now.
Eddard's modified earpiece notified him of a call at that exact moment.
"The Police is on its way, get out of there."
[221B Bleecker St.]
[2012.]
It had been sometime since he helped Ava.
Her introduction to the order had been tense to say the least. The order's opinion of her had been bad because of her attack that almost killed Jacob.
The opinion however had changed when Jacob awkwardly greeted her and Eddard's explanation of her circumstances.
She had actually not gone for engineering but magical research was what she chose simply because she thought it would be cool.
She and Jayden had been working with Eddard on something that Eddard privately believed would make the invasion of New York a demonstration of power for Eddard. This was a project that would push the versatility of his Concept Permeation to great length.
It yielded great results in the demonstration they had performed.
As Eddard was thinking this, his cell phone rang.
It was Fury who called Eddard. Eddard was sure he knew what the call would be about.
He picked it up and pressed his ear to the speaker ,"We fucked up. The tesseract has been stolen by a foreign alien."
That day the whole of 221B Bleecker Street heard Eddard laughing like a lunatic at Fury's words despite the seriousness of the matter.