Revamped!

[Everyone, I swear on my life that Apollo and Sigyn will be coming soon].


Chapter 64: A Hidden Relic Part Two

Above the Norwegian Sea - 19:13 PM

In a fair game, an 0-8-4 is up for grabs from whatever agency could get a hold on it first. Just because the team on behalf of SHIELD got there first doesn't mean that they're also the ones who will walk out with it. They're just the lucky ones who got a head start with obtaining it. Now it's just a matter of who can convince whom to drop out of retrieving it.

NASA: Our scans reveal a possibility that the 0-8-4 could originate from space.

"You can't assume that an object in the ocean originated from space," Daniel replies. "You would've - or should've - picked up on it when it entered Earth's orbit or even before that."

Angela removes her headset and spins her seat around to face Merida who currently stands in the centre, looking down at a holographic platform that shows readings coming from the ocean below from Emily and James.

"We need an angle to convince these agencies that we can handle this," Angela tells Merida.

Merida nods at Angela but holds up a hand to put her on hold to listen to what Emily is screaming in her ear. She shakes her head for a moment, unsure of what she heard since Emily keeps on screaming. Once her friend has silenced and said it slower, Merida looks at Angela with a grin.

"Here's your angle," Merida says to them. "Emily says the object is Asgardian."

Xavier and Daniel rip off their headsets mid-sentence with their respective agencies to look at Merida in shock just like Angela.

"I'm as surprised as you are," Merida says.

"Is this their way of coming back after seven years of complete silence?" Daniel questions rhetorically.

Merida scoffs. "Assholes. Making us go on a treasure hunt and scare off those other assholes."

Xavier puts his headset back on. "We have just received intel that the 0-8-4 is Asgardian still with no word on the 0-8-4. SHIELD has an alliance with the Asgardians so we should be the ones to handle it."

FBI: An alliance or a friendship?

Xavier is left with no words. He looks at Daniel for help on what to say but after Daniel said the same thing to NASA, he was faced with a similar response. Can't an alliance and friendship be the same thing?

NASA: Is your alliance with all of Asgard or just Thor? Loki wasn't a friendly one.

They look at Angela who's faced with the same issue.

CIA: You can't let your emotions influence your decisions.

The three of them look towards Merida for help but she shrugs. They're faced with the same issue: is their relationship with Asgard strictly a professional one or a platonic one? Both? From what they know about New York, Loki came and then Thor showed up because of Loki. From then on, Thor was known as an Avenger but was dedicated more to his teammates and protecting Midgard than SHIELD.

That was it. That's their approach.

Xavier clears his throat as he returns to his talk with the FBI. "With all due respect to your agency, were you the one who located and studied Thor's hammer?"

Daniel smirks, knowing what angle Xavier's going on and goes the same way for NASA. "With all due respect to your agency, did your agents pick up Asgard's existence?"

Angela nods, going back to her conversation with the CIA. "With all due respect to your agency, where were you during The Battle of New York?"

-o-

Below the Norwegian Sea - 19:18 PM

Emily carves an underwater laser through the hollow rock. She blasts back the piece and sees a whole new beach on the inside with the only body of water being the ocean on the inside. This isn't odd for her and James, what's weird is that the water coming from the ocean that they're in isn't rushing inside.

"Well, this is all magical," Emily states, sort of unamused.

"Leave it up to Apollo and Britney to fuck up the ecosystem," James comments.

Emily and James enter the new beach and step into the soft, pillowy sand that's as white as a cloud. Emily's suit tells her that this area is safe for humans but she and James just don't understand how the existence of this place is logically possible.

"Don't tell me the 0-8-4 is down there," James says, pointing towards the new ocean.

"Yes, it is," Emily replies, "Jarvis says that it's safe in there. No threats."

The two of them dive right into the depths that seem to go on forever the deeper they go. They wanted to stop swimming since they saw no point in going down more, but they had to get this 0-8-4.

The appearance of underwater vines that sway calmly in the current tells them that they're nearing the ocean floor. As they continue swimming, Emily and James feel something slither around their ankles before gripping on tightly and yanking back. The two of them turn around and see the kelp pulling them. They both blast which results in not only the vines on their legs snapping but their arms being grabbed as well.

James shrinks to escape the vines that trap him. When he grows back to his normal size, one vine wraps around his neck and another around his bad knee. When the vine on his knee tugs, James screams before shrinking again to escape it.

"Stay clear, James!" Emily exclaims.

In one motion, Emily activates the arc reactor on her chest and blasts it, wiping the ocean floor clear of that sentient kelp. She stares at them as the remains float away, panting for air as James pats her shoulder.

"So much for Apollo and Britney being the ones to fuck up the environment," she jokes.

James tests his bad knee and shockingly doesn't feel pain anymore. "Wow, I think that actually fixed it. Thank Apollo and Britney for fixing my knee."

They both continue swimming.

"Where to now?" James asks.

"Following some directions Jarvis is providing," Emily says as she takes a glance at them, "I'm getting a strong signal from that way."

She points ahead and they both don't like what they see.

"Through the geysers?" James questions just for some verification.

They swim up to the edge of the cage where they see geysers not only covering the cave floor but the walls and ceilings at once. If they were inactive then they wouldn't be having a problem but they're fully active and ready to blast.

"We can't get through that!" Emily exclaims. "We'll be incinerated! I don't think my armour will survive the heat!"

"Only if we're not careful," James says. "All that matters is timing."

"You've known me long enough to know that I don't have timing skills."

"Just watch the eruption times and make a pattern out of them. Swim through when they're quiet. Just follow me. You ready?"

"I guess," she says skeptically.

"Good enough."

They float there, waiting. One geyser goes off, then a second followed by a third and a fourth. When the first one goes off again, they swim through the moment it stops. They circle until they feel the water pressure thicken and a geyser bursts right in front of them. Emily and James stop but swim again once it shuts off. They take a sharp turn around a steaming one and it goes off right when they pass it.

They reach the other side and Emily notices her suit flashing.

"And now I'm overheated," Emily says disappointed although she saw that coming. "Great. As long as my suit doesn't dismantle on me while we're down here then we'll be fine."

"Leave it up to Asgard to have an 0-8-4 in the depths of hell," James comments.

-o-

They swim up to some other shore, not sure of where they are but it isn't the mainland or the beach they first found behind that rock, but a different one. Emily's suit automatically dismantles to cool off and she's sweating buckets underneath. She combs back her sweat-filled hair with her fingers as James removes his scuba mask. Emily waits for her helmet to cool off before putting it back on and using it to scan for the 0-8-4.

"There!" Emily exclaims, pointing to some shrubbery.

She and James run over and start pushing some fallen tree branches and tall grasses to the side. Then, the object that's unusual reveals itself and the two of them are frozen as they look at the 0-8-4.

It's a crown that seems to be made of a deep sea-green stone, carved to resemble snakes. On the front of the crown, three snakeheads point upwards, two diagonal and one straight up, all of which are exposing their fangs and curving. It's that part that makes them realize that the crown itself is three stone snakes coiled together in a braid.

"I'm getting some odd metallic material I can't distinguish," Emily says as she scans the crown. "Perfectly weighted, possibly enchanted."

"What the hell is an item like this doing down here in some dystopian beach?" James questions.

"We'll find out when we take it."


[An Asgardian crown … what could that possibly mean?]