Chương 15: SHIELD
Author's Note:
This arc kind of got away from me as it's the first time I'm writing with so many different characters involved. The next chapter is going to be the end of that, and then we get into an arc where the core cast is cut down to just a few characters I can focus on developing much more closely. I'm kind of suffering from the me that wrote the first chapters three years ago neglecting a lot of background information, which led to Black Widow not lining up with the timeline properly as a few readers pointed out. The timeline isn't following the MCU, I'll address events as they come, but don't rely on that timeline because it's going to be changed.
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POV Black Widow
Natasha knew this was a test, and they knew that she knew this was a test. She'd switched sides and joined SHIELD only a short time ago, so they didn't trust her with higher clearance-level missions. This was one they gave her because they knew it should be relatively easy; interrogate a teenage boy. The stakes weren't actually that high, since they had other avenues to investigate for this particular event, but it'd be best to get a first-hand account.
As she walked towards the cage they were keeping him in, she considered how she wanted to handle it. Whatever Magneto had been doing, making a giant asteroid of metal appear in the upper atmosphere wasn't something SHIELD was happy about. The fact that missiles had been launched from it before they were intercepted by the three they found just exacerbated SHIELD's desire to figure out what the hell was going on.
Entering the room where the cage the boy was being kept was, she immediately changed her plan. His eyes had passed over her figure for a moment, but beyond a moment of appreciation he'd quickly zeroed in on her face and his eyes didn't stray. She'd dressed in a modified version of the SHIELD uniform, the zipper of her catsuit intentionally left lower than necessary to show as much cleavage as possible, but she knew he wasn't going to be so easily distracted.
"My captors decided to grace me with their presence," the young man, Casper, said. They'd found out who he was easily enough. A young adult that spent most of his life homeless, until he'd joined Charles Xavier's group and attended school.
"Casper Castillo, do you know who we are?" Natasha asked.
"Nope, not a clue. Care to enlighten me?" Casper asked, his body language relaxed as he leaned against the wall of his cage. She could tell he was confident he could escape, but he seemed content to wait for something.
Deciding that a blunt approach would work best with him, she answered directly. "We are a government agency responsible for handling things like this. We are aware you and your companions are mutants, and that you were involved in an attack by the terrorist Magneto. We want to know everything that went on in that metal sphere of his."
"What do you mean? That was just the venue for our meet and greet?"
Just from the tone of his voice, Natasha knew this was going to be annoying. He was cocky and completely unworried about being trapped. He wasn't necessarily wrong, they weren't going to harm him and he wouldn't even be kept that long. Charles Xavier was too well-connected for a student of his to be detained.
"And what was the purpose of that meet and greet?"
Casper spread his arms out as he replied. "Coordinating our costumes. My friends match uniforms, but Magneto needed some advice because his group can't seem to color coordinate."
Natasha could tell she wasn't going to get anywhere like this. She had one card to play, but she knew it was too early to use it and it would probably set him off, so she held back for now.
"Fine, I'll come back later and we'll see if you're more talkative."
She turned to leave, choosing to let him sit for a little while, but he called out to her.
"I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what a piece of information if you bring me something."
Natasha looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. "And what would you want?"
Casper grinned at her as he replied. "A rubber ball."
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Casper POV
I sat in my cage, idly throwing the rubber ball that Natasha had brought me against the wall and catching it. I'd started practicing with an idea for my Osmosian powers I had before this all happened, and it'd help a lot if I could get a handle on it right now.
I'd told her about Magneto drawing us onto his asteroid to get us to join him and keep us with him while he launched the missiles in exchange for the ball, but that was all I'd told her so far.
Every time the ball landed in my palm I'd concentrate, but I couldn't get a handle on the feeling I was looking for. This was a slightly more unusual use of my powers, but it should be in the realm of possibility so I wanted to keep at it.
'Jean, any luck waking Laura?' I asked telepathically.
'No, she's completely unconscious with whatever they did to her. I'm worried Casper, I can't tell what situation she's in, but I know at least she's stationary right now and not that far from where I am.'
I sighed lightly and continued my ball tossing as I thought about how I wanted to handle this situation. There was one major issue I was worried about, but I wasn't sure how to play this. SHIELD was completely hollowed out by HYDRA, most of its core people being members. Laura had been cloned by HYDRA and, while we'd killed her handler, that didn't mean they wouldn't try to take this opportunity to reclaim their missing asset.
I wasn't going to let them take her, but if I moved too early it might create the distraction they needed to escape with her. I had to wait till they moved first and respond then, which was why I had Jean monitoring Laura for any movement.
'Have they tried talking to you yet?' I asked Jean.
'Yeah, but I just told them I wanted to talk to Professor Xavier every time.'
Jean had made a good choice mentioning Xavier's name. He was ridiculously well-connected, and was largely the reason I knew we weren't in any real danger, nor were we going to be kept contained forever. I wasn't worried about SHIELD, I was worried about the HYDRA part of SHIELD. They could try kidnapping us if they had the opportunity, but I knew Laura was the main target.
Half an hour passed as I kept tossing the ball back and forth when I finally found the feeling I needed. Most energies were easy to absorb, they didn't take conscious thought as they were obvious, but I was trying something slightly more difficult. Kinetic energy was present in every movement, so I subconsciously wouldn't absorb it since it was so prevalent. I wanted to start working with more types of energy, so my idea was to start working with kinetic energy.
I could feel as I absorbed the small amount of kinetic energy in the movement of the ball and it came to a dead stop against my skin. I started smirking as I sped up how fast I threw the ball, absorbing the impact every time it landed. From there, I spent the next couple of hours in the cage, talking to Jean while I stored as much kinetic energy as I could.
Natasha finally walked back into the room.
"Got bored waiting?" I asked, intentionally trying to push her buttons, even if I knew it probably wouldn't do much for someone who'd lived as a spy.
'Casper, they're moving her, she's still not awake,' Jean urgently sent me telepathically.
'Shit, they were waiting for the attention to be back on me to move her. Get ready Jean, time to get out.'
I stood up, turning to Natasha who watched me warily. "Sorry, you guys seemed to have a pest problem, so I'll have to handle it myself."
"What-" Natasha started to ask, but I started walking towards the wall. Stepping straight through it by manipulating my density, she reached straight for her gun and took it, pointing it at me.
"Don't have time to waste with you," I said as I took off in a blur of super speed, rushing past her before she could even react as I quickly made my way through the halls of the helicarrier. Jean was coordinating with me telepathically, leading me straight to where she was.
I came to a stop outside her cell. She wasn't in one that was as reinforced as mine, I assumed because they only had the one.
I could see she was biting her lip worriedly, and I quickly absorbed the metal that composed the bars, coating my body in it and forming a blade out of my arm. A hole was quickly cut, and Jean walked out of the cage to stand in front of me.
"They're moving her quickly, we need to go fast," Jean said, her finger on her temple as she concentrated on Laura.
"Got it," I said, sweeping Jean off her feet and into my arms as I took off running. There was a veritable army of SHIELD agents blocking the halls at this point, but I didn't stop running as I shot a blast of electricity straight ahead of me, using the chance when they moved out of the way to pass by all of them and make it outside.
Following Jean's directions, I quickly located a small group of SHIELD agents moving with a metal box between the four of them. Without needing any prompting I took off running towards them, but they'd seen me exit and dropped the box roughly to the ground and took out their guns. I could see one of them take out some kind of bag and hold it towards the air holes of the box, so I set Jean down and took off towards them.
They were regular humans, so it wasn't hard to take them down. I wanted to kill them, but so far I'd avoided killing anyone to prevent a manhunt from SHIELD after this was all over. They didn't know they were HYDRA, and I had no proof, so for now, I settled for knocking people out.
Reaching down, I shattered the claps on the box and opened them up to find Laura staring up at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and her claws extended as she lept up out of the box, her claws tearing through the metal I'd absorbed like butter as they pierced straight through my stomach.
"Casper," Jean yelled, waiving her hand as she used her telekinesis to send Laura flying away along the deck of the helicarrier.
I shifted the metal that composed my body, sealing up the hole before returning to my normal form. Any metal that wasn't Adamantium or Vibrainium was worthless if Laura wanted to tear through it, so it was better to rely on something else.
'Damn, HYDRA used her trigger scent.'
I'd known it was a possibility, but I'd hoped that whatever scent it was died with Kimura.
Laura had landed a small ways away from us, where she was being surrounded by SHIELD agents. That was the worst thing they could do, as she charged at them. They shot at her, but the wounds just healed as she started to carve her way through the group, leaving bodies in her trail.
'Jean, I'll grab Laura, just keep anyone else off us,' I sent to Jean as I took off running, barreling into Laura and sending both of us sliding toward the edge of the helicarrier.
She tried to stab me with her claws, but I was ready for it this time. The second her claws touched my skin I absorbed the kinetic energy, leaving them to rest harmlessly against me. She reared back and kept trying to stab me, even resorting to contorting her body and wrapping her legs around my head as I stopped every movement dead by absorbing it.
Jean had flown over to us, dragging a nearby plane with her telekinesis between us and the rest of the SHIELD agents.
"Casper, let me try to help," Jean said.
Looking at her as Laura continued to try to attack me, I nodded. Moving quickly, I grabbed Laura's arms and trapped them behind her while wrapping my legs around her to stop her lower half from moving. Jean quickly moved forward, placing her hand on Laura's head and concentrating.
It took a minute, but slowly Laura's struggles stopped until she finally calmed down completely. Jean came out of her head, stepping back and giving us some room as I slowly released Laura.
"Laura, you back to normal?" I asked cautiously.
Laura stared up at me and then looked away from my gaze. I reached out, tilting her head back towards me to stop her from looking away.
"Hey, happens to the best of us, no big deal right?" I said, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Judging by her deadpan, it wasn't the best attempt. The both of us stood up as Laura looked at me.
"I'm sorry-" she started but I quickly interrupted her.
"I know, but it's not your fault. You clearly couldn't control yourself because of whatever they did to you, did Jean manage to remove whatever mental trigger it was?"
"No, I calmed her down, but my control isn't good enough to remove something like that. They have a scent that triggers her into a frenzy whenever she smells it." Jean paused after saying that, considering her next words for a moment before she continued. "I think the Professor could remove it if you let him."
It didn't shock me that Xavier could probably fix it, but it did shock me that I wasn't outright opposed to him trying. "It's up to Laura."
"Please, I don't want to attack you again," Laura said pleadingly. I could see her glancing at my stomach where she'd stabbed me.
"I told you not to worry about it. It's fine, I promise."
She didn't look convinced, but we had bigger issues at the moment. The SHIELD agents on the other side of us weren't going to back down anytime soon, but right when I thought that I could hear a sound behind us.
Whirling around, I found a sight that led to me completely relaxing. The Blackbird flew in front of me, and in the cockpit, I could see Xavier and Logan.
Jean quickly gestured, sending the plane blocking the agents away from us and creating room for the Blackbird to land. The SHIELD agents were cautiously holding their guns out, but it seemed that Nick Fury had arrived to handle the situation. He stood, dark-skinned and completely bald with an eyepatch over one eye, looking at the Blackbird as it opened up and Charles Xavier rolled out from it.
"Hello Nick, I believe we have something to discuss."
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