Our momentum sent us soaring, with Fury dangling like a dragged doll behind me. His solitary eye widened in a fleeting moment of fear before it morphed back into a glare. He reached for a gun, but I simply tossed it away with a gesture of my finger and a flicker of my will.

"Put me down, Hall!" Fury yelled over the rush of wind that whipped past us, his voice barely audible. He struggled against the gravitational force, but it was futile. I was in control here.

"No, Fury," I responded, my voice cold and firm. "I think we need to have a little chat."

My words sliced through the wind, a defiant challenge that refused to be silenced. I locked gazes with Fury, a silent promise that I would not be subdued or dismissed as I had been before.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Fury?" I said, allowing a touch of bitterness to creep into my voice. "A decade or so, if I'm not mistaken."

Nick Fury didn't reply, just kept his one good eye trained on me. "I'm not here to fight you, Fury," I said, floating a little closer.

"What do you want, Hall?"

"I'm here for compensation."

"Compensation?" He raised an eyebrow at that. "For what?"

I let out a humorless laugh. "For the ten years of my life that I will never get back. For being imprisoned and left in a medically induced coma. For being treated like a criminal when I was the victim," I spat out. Fury's face hardened, but he didn't interrupt. "That's what I want compensation for. You're going to pay me for those lost years. Money, resources, whatever it takes."

His response came out as a scoff, "Ridiculous."

My gaze didn't falter though it did narrow in anger at the dismissal. "Is it really? After everything I've endured because of you?" I questioned. "Is it really that absurd to want justice, Fury?"

For a moment, Fury fell silent, seeming to digest me words. "You think you're entitled to justice?"

"I know I am," I retorted, the icy wind matching the frost in my tone. "I've done nothing wrong, Fury. I woke up following a face to face encounter with an explosion of energy of space and time then with incredible powers I couldn't control. And instead of helping me, or even speaking to me, you locked me up!"

For a moment, Fury fell silent, the wind whipping at his hair as we rose higher into the sky. His gaze locked onto mine, his expression unreadable. Then he answered, "That doesn't change the fact that you're a danger, Hall. You disregarded my order to stop the experiment, leading to substantial collateral damage. You almost tore that hospital apart along with everyone there, and that was just from freaking out. You were brash before you had your powers and couldn't control them, you couldn't be trusted with them and it was too much of a risk to just let you go free."

I glanced away from Fury, taking in the city beneath us. We were high enough now that the buildings looked like little more than toys. The view was breathtaking, but my mind was elsewhere.

As much as it irked at me to admit, Fury did raise a valid point. I had been doing substantial damage to that lone hospital room, and with my power out of control then, it wasn't unreasonable to assume that the rest of the hospital was at risk, the building and the injured or sickly within.

So I'll give him that, I needed to be subdued, at the time.

However, that didn't justify keeping me subdued. If the worry was that I'd rampage while awake, why not just wake me up while in that prison cell clearly meant to keep me restrained?

Because he didn't want me awake. It wasn't just that I was out of control, of his control. It was also the main reason why supervillains left prison in this multiverse and its sister-verse; either because they escaped or the government had need of them. And with my body being far beyond that of a baseline human despite Franklin Hall having no semblance of anything extraordinary such as an X-gene, it was obvious what it was.

The Super Soldier Serum that I recreated.

No, not just recreated. I transcended. Doctor Abraham Erskine only enhanced a sickly man to the pinnacle of what the human body could become to the point of being superhuman, Franklin Hall did the same with the addition of control over one of the four fundamental forces in the universe! (albeit accidentally, but never let it be said that science didn't involve a bunch of accidents before you got lucky)

That Nick Fury tried to lie to me, to spin what he did as being the right thing rather than to satisfy his paranoia or greed. It no longer just irked me, it pissed me off.

As much as I wanted to choke the life out of Fury, or just crush that neck that his shit was spewing from, I couldn't give in lest it justify his actions. Instead, I allowed myself to marvel at the sensation of flight, of freedom, once more. But then I reminded myself of the grim reality. I was on the run, a fugitive in a body that wasn't mine, due to one man's paranoia.

But I did have power to carry me through at the very least, it was more that could be said for most in my situation. And that reassurance calmed me down some.

"And if I refuse?" He challenged.

"Refusal isn't an option here, Fury," I asserted emphatically. "There will be consequences."

Fury's single eye met mine, a flicker of apprehension seeping through his hardened facade. "You're threatening me, Hall?"

I grinned grimly, levitating us higher, the world below shrinking into nothingness. "Not a threat, Fury. Just a simple truth. And while I would love nothing more than to exact some vengeance and revoke your limb privileges, I have a less brutish method of getting back at you."

"And what would that be?"

"You know, Fury, there's something you seem to forget. I have power, yes, but not just my control over gravity. I also have the power of publicity. I.e., I go public with my story. Can you imagine the uproar that would cause? The general public would be outraged to learn that SHIELD unlawfully imprisoned an innocent man for a decade without any due process. It would be a shitshow for you."

"You think that would be enough to rattle me?"

"Oh, that's just the beginning. The real concern for you would be the scientific community, both within and outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. They wouldn't take kindly to the fact that one simple mistake, one moment of paranoia from you, led to the unjust imprisonment of a fellow scientist. Sympathy and concern would flow, but it wouldn't stop there. Many of them would question any involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. Who's to say you wouldn't do the same to them? The fear of being the next victim of your paranoia would be all too real."

"You think they would believe you?"

I paused, relishing the weight of my words before continuing, "Perhaps not all, but many would sympathize or, at the very least, be concerned that they could be the next target of your paranoia. They would question their own safety working with S.H.I.E.L.D. It might even push some of them to sever ties altogether, which is something you certainly want to avoid."

"And I'm well aware of how desperately SHIELD wants superhuman agents. That you offered a scientist's wet dream of unlimited resources to me ten years ago already gave me an idea, the fact that I was still locked up rather than awakened or 'neutralized' meaning that you haven't replicated my genius or solved the issue of your agents being too weak only cements it. I doubt any superhumans or heroes would want to work with SHIELD either if they'll just be captured so they could be freely studied without consent."

"You're playing a dangerous game, Hall."

Fury's voice was a warning, but the flicker of worry in his narrowed eye told me he was considering the possibility. I let my lips curl into a knowing smile, "Dangerous? Maybe. But sometimes the truth needs to be revealed, and the consequences faced. You took ten years from me, Fury, and I won't let that be forgotten. Going public is just the tip of the iceberg. I have the power and the story to bring down the walls you've built."

"You're underestimating the repercussions this could have." Fury warned.

My voice grew stronger, my words punctuated with a sense of triumph. "No, Fury, I'm not underestimating anything. I'm merely leveling the playing field. You took a decade from me. A decade that should have been spent researching, making a difference in the world. But instead, I was locked away in both a cell and my own body. Why shouldn't I return the favor?"

Fury's eye was stormy, the world reflected in its inky depths. His mouth was set in a tight line, but he didn't retort immediately. The silence between us was heavy, punctuated only by the sound of the wind as we hovered above the city.

"You can't blame me for the consequences of your own actions, Hall," he finally spoke, his voice thick with conviction. "You knew the risks and you took them anyway. It was your actions that caused the accident and that forced me to do what I had to do."

"I did," I agreed, surprising him. "But it was you who decided to turn a mistake into a crime. You were the one who decided my fate without any evidence of ill intent. That's on you, Fury."

Fury was silent again, contemplating my words. For a moment, I almost thought I saw regret flash through his eye, but it was quickly replaced by the same cold determination. "The world doesn't need any more threats, Hall. We have enough to deal with already if you couldn't tell when you left the Raft."

"And you think I'm a threat?" I asked, maintaining eye contact.

"You were, Hall. You could be again."

His words echoed in my ears, an unpleasant reminder of the past. "I was scared and uncontrolled back then. But now, I'm different. I've had time to adjust to my powers, to control them. Otherwise you'd be paste."

Fury crossed his arms. "And yet you're here, threatening me. Seems like you're still a danger."

"This isn't a threat. This is a negotiation," I corrected him.

"You call this negotiation? You're throwing threats and ultimatums at me!" He fired back, visibly frustrated.

"No, I'd like to call this a case of 'aggressive negotiations'. After all, from you I've lost a decade of my life, Fury. A decade of opportunities, experiences, and growth. Now in exchange, I'm demanding justice. One way or another, you're going to help me reclaim what I've lost. Or I'll ensure that you'll lose as well."

I locked gazes with Fury, the tension crackling between us. "Now, do we talk about compensation, or shall we see just how far this little secret of yours can spread?"

Silence stretched between us, broken only by the whistling wind. Finally, Fury grounded out, his voice mixture of furious and resigned, "What's your price for this... compensation?"

That was the question, wasn't it? The price for a stolen life, a lost decade. The gravity of the question hung in the air heavier than we did.

"To start with…" I was about to outline my conditions when I noticed a sudden shift in the nearby vicinity. Something powerful and fast approached our vicinity, catching my attention. From what I could sense from the gravity of the surrounding area, it was a man, accompanied with an uniquely dense hammer.

Panic briefly flashed within me at the realization that one of the most powerful of the soon to be Avengers was closing in. However, I quickly reminded myself of Graviton's resilience, having taken blows from Thor and the Hulk along with taking on those two on along with three other heroes.

"Your power is impressive, for a mortal," Thor announced, standing before me with Mjolnir in hand. "Stand down now before anyone else is hurt, and you may yet walk away from this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

what's this, an update that didn't take at least a month!? quite the surprise, I know lol (though that's only because I wrote chaps one and two in advance before posting them. Chap three ain't done yet.)

anyhoow

Fury and Hall had a bit of a chat, going about as well as could be expected (a lot better than in canon), before Thor popped in. Originally, this would've been an entrance done through an attack rather than just an announcement,but since Fury isn't loudly writhing in agony, Thor chose to take a more diplomatic approach since an 'innocent' wasn't immediately at risk.

The rest of the not yet formed Avengers will be soon to join in the talks, much to Fury's relief at first before remembering that they're decent people.