Fury's POV
I marched down the halls of the Cube with Maria Hill by my side, my heart thundering inside my chest.
I'd hopped in a Quinjet the moment the news had reached me. The mission had failed. And in the worst way imaginable.
The metal door hissed open to an observation room where several high-ranking SHIELD agents sat watching the interrogation of one of our greatest assets and former enemies, Emma Frost.
"Director," the Level 7 agent running the interrogation tried to stand up, but I stopped him with a look, turning to the interrogation chamber packed to the gills with sensors. Emma Frost was strapped down in a chair, freshly healed, and was being calmly interrogated by one of our better intelligence officers.
Frost was hysterical, cursing and moaning every time she got the chance, but ultimately recognized that the only way out was through. She was answering the officer's questions.
It'd been nearly 20 minutes since her extraction from the desert. Nightcrawler had transported her in and out of HQ as fast as his mutation would let him. If I had my way, I wouldn't have healed her using Dante's Chamber. But it was beyond wasteful to let an asset perish merely on suspicion alone.
"What have we gotten out of her so far?" I asked the agent in charge, Tim.
"Everything, we think. Her account lines up with what Flag and our GDF agents reported. Jessica Jones hit Frost hard enough to crack her Diamond Armor, then teleported out. Nightcrawler arrived in seconds, whisking Flag and Frost to safety. Jean Grey, a few Widows, and the rest of the Avengers showed up to investigate. It's anyone's guess how much she was able to glean without any mind to pull information from."
"And you're 100% certain she's telling the truth?" I asked.
"We won't know for certain unless we have another telepath delve into her mind. Even collared, loaded up on truth serum, and questioned endlessly under hostile conditions, Emma Frost is still a powerful Alpha-level telepath."
I nodded at Tim. "Keep up the good work and send me recordings of the interrogation. I would like to take a longer look."
"Yes, sir."
The door hissed open and shut behind me as we left the room. Hill and I navigated the complicated hallways, coming to a stop inside a secure room that gave a clear view of the deep waters around us. It was unending darkness for miles and miles, far away from where any government or person would think to look.
"What's the likelihood that Emma Frost got through Jessica Jones's shield at all?" I asked Hill.
"1 in 10," she said. "The armor Dante's Avengers wear was created to withstand the elites of the Demon World and Belasco himself. Even an Omega-level mutant would struggle to penetrate it. Then again, we have no real bearings on Emma Frost's power level, and Jean Grey did mention that Jessica had just returned from a mission… Her energy reserves could've been severely depleted."
"So, you're saying we were lucky?" I asked her with a scoff.
"It's either that or Emma Frost is lying for some reason," she said. The admission chilled me. "Though I think it's far more likely that we were just lucky."
I hummed. "Lock her down just in case. No missions. And install a redundancy kill chip while she's asleep. Just in case."
"Of course, Director."
Hill nodded. I was grateful that she didn't point out how pointless the precaution would be if she was somehow in collusion with Jean Grey or Dante.
"Any news on the Super Serum front?" I asked.
"Yes," she said brightly. "Dr. Cho has made another breakthrough. She's been able to ascertain why Walker had such a drastic reaction to the Prometheus formula. It triggered a long-dormant Psychic X-Gene in his bloodline. Her new batch should limit any interaction with patients with a dormant, active, or no X-Genes at all."
My breath hitched. "You're saying…"
"That we might be able to make our own Ascendants...maybe," Hill said. "Cho is optimistic, but she's not certain. What she is certain of is her new baseline formula." She flicked her finger at me, showing me a graph of how her formula stacked against everything else we had access to.
"She's gotten better results than Flag," she said. "Her conservative estimate is five times the physical boost Steve Rogers received. Over seven times the durability, and five times the speed."
"I'm sorry...what?" I turned to Hill. "That can't be right. She got all of that from comparing formulas and blood samples?"
"Betty Ross might've created the Hulk Formula, alongside Banner, but Cho is a world-class scientist with multiple PhDs. Sir, you're underestimating the amount of data and samples we've been able to gather since the creation of the Prometheans."
I truly wasn't. I'd ordered the missions myself. We had blood from most of Dante's enhanced, Steve Rogers before the enhancement, Bucky Barnes, Isaiah Bradley, and notes on the Red Skull formula, Cho's complete formula, a British program that was shut down in the seventies, and several other European offshoots that came scarily close.
"I'm just used to progress taking decades instead of months," I said. "Bias of age, I suppose. So, we're in a better place than I thought...but that doesn't mean much, does it?"
Hill frowned. "No. No, it doesn't. Our Scientific Trust has us leagues ahead of the rest of the planet, but we are nowhere near where we need to be."
"And what about nanotechnology?" I asked.
"We've gotten our hands on some of the commercially available models, but nothing that can give us a real advantage."
"Let us hope our trip to Asgard is more fruitful," I sighed.
"You still intend to make the trip yourself?" Hill asked me with some hesitation.
"You know I have to," I said. "There's nobody else I trust to meet a literal god of gods. Or watch over SHIELD."
"Thank you, sir." Maria looked down at a tablet, then looked back up at me. That was the closest I've ever seen Maria Hill come to a blush.
"Take the improved serum," I said. "If you're going to have my gig for a few weeks, you'll need the protection."
She didn't argue.
"And what about Dante? What do I say when he calls?" Her heart was beating slightly faster, and I could see perspiration on her brow. She was afraid. Of course, she was.
It was insane--what we were doing. Testing him like this. Aggressively pursuing advantages wherever we could find them. We won't be near the bottom of his priority list forever. He was going to come for us, or maybe Jean Grey would, but I refused to stop.
I knew he wouldn't kill us.
He might've six months ago. But now, he's changed. He was more subtle, and while that was concerning in its own way, it also allowed me to better understand him.
He won't eliminate me, SHIELD, or the World Council outright. Doing so would mean declaring himself Tyrant Ruler of the planet. It was a quiet truth he was reluctant to give voice to, though that seemed to be slowly changing with his string of miracles.
In his own way, I think Dante needed us. To serve as a counterbalance—challengers to his near-absolute power.
"I doubt he'll ask you directly if SHIELD is responsible for Jessica's mental wounds, but if he asks, you look him straight in the eye and tell him no," I told Hill. "And if you're feeling especially bold, pawn off some of our global problems onto him. I'm sure he'll want to handle Russia personally, considering who is involved."
Hill nodded.
"We're not out of this game yet," I assured her with a shoulder squeeze. "Earth has survived billions of years. It's not getting conquered by aliens or demons on our watch."
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