#'70s furniture from nick fury | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

justinewt · 3 years

Text

The Avengers Initiative - MARVEL Rewrite Chapter Five

[MARVEL REWRITE-MASTERLIST] - [THE INFINITY SAGA]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: After being trapped for 70 long years under the ice, Steve and Frainn were back. They were separated, Frainn brought to a SHIELD base for interrogations and Steve send to an apartment. They didn’t like that a bit but they wouldn’t like what came next either. They thought war was over, and they would find out the hard way that it hadn’t. The stakes would be much higher for Frainn.

Words: 6.1k

Warnings: that’s a pretty safe chapter no risk to trigger or offend anyone I think, spoilers Avengers (2012), advised to read the previous chapters to understand, insults, mention of killings/massacre

S.H.I.E.L.D base, 2012

Frainn sighed as she looked around in annoyance. She stared blankly at the dull wall, thinking back to when she woke up, not so long ago actually. After talking with Fury, she had been told that she had nearly killed some agents of this SHIELD organization thing while in the coma, and severely injured a couple of them by throwing them against a wall when she escaped the building. She didn't care if she caused any damage, to be honest. According to her, it wasn't that bad, since no one had died. And this awakening had been a huge shock to her, so she did not understand that she could be held responsible for having gone wild. What pissed her off, however, was that she had been taken to another SHIELD base, further out of town, and Steve had been moved somewhere else. Where she didn’t know because they would not tell her. The latter had also shown his dissatisfaction and his incomprehension when he had realized that he was going to be separated from the only close friend he had left. He didn’t seem to care much about all the mystery around her anymore. Well, it had been 70 years and they didn’t seem to have time to rest, at all, so he could cut her some slack. She would tell him everything at some point anyway. He was her friend ; only friend left.

As soon as she had arrived at this secret base or whatever it was, she had been kept isolated, away from the scientists and agents who were working there. Frainn had found herself placed in a narrow room with quilted walls and very sparsely furnished to prevent her from causing potential damage. Besides, the furniture present was firmly fixed to the floor, which would not have prevented her from making a mess in the room if she had wanted to, but she had found no interest in it. When she would be taken out of her room, it was to be brought into a square and way smaller one with a table and a couple of chairs, to be interviewed by either Agent Coulson or outright Nick Fury. The first time they had handcuffed her ankles and wrists to transfer her from one room to the other, she quickly showed them that she could get rid of the handcuffs in the blink of an eye, and they also soon realized that it was better for them not to keep her restrained, or she would probably be more inclined to be aggressive and attack them, and there was little they could do in the face of someone they knew nothing about. And they had no idea of the extent of Frainn's powers and she reveled in it. She reveled in their ignorance and she took pleasure into vaguely answering their questions, leaving them in the dark.

She stood up in exasperation, causing the chair legs to scrape against the floor in a screech that echoed in the small square interrogation room, making Frainn wince and frown. She wandered around the room and stopped when the door opened. Nick Fury entered and looked at Frainn who was staring at him.

“Please, take a seat.” Frainn watched him sit down and put some files on the table. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he insisted. Fury was the only person she had come across who was unimpressed and not afraid of the mystery that hung around the danger she might represent to them and their kind. “Take. A. Goddamn. Seat.” He stressed each word, pointing out the chair in front of him with his hand in an exasperated sigh. She gave in and sat down, crossing her arms on her chest.

“What's with all the files, Director Fury ?” The sarcastic tone of the goddess did not amuse him apparently. She reached out to take one, and Fury grabbed her wrist, not caring about the coldness of her pale skin.

“You already have the privilege of not being handcuffed at all, don't get too comfortable.” He let go off her wrist and she brought her arm back to her in silence, frowning like a teenager who would have just gotten scold at. He then took his eyes off of her and opened one of the files. She instantly recognized military documents with photos of her clipped on them with a couple of paper clips. She froze when she saw two letters at the bottom of the document. IA. She remembered it like it was yesterday, the day Doctor Erskine allowed her to join the army alongside Steve… tiny Stevie back then...

“There’s already so many big men fighting this war. We may need unique profiles now, like you and your friend, Mr. Rogers.” She remembered him telling her that. But he was dead now. So it didn’t really matter anymore.

“See anything familiar ?” She blinked, brought back down to earth by Fury’s voice.

“Why ask a question you obviously already know the answer to?” She looked away, sighing. “You don’t seem like you’re one of the stupid ones.”

“The “stupid ones” ? Care to elaborate on that ?” He bent forward, putting his elbow on the table, joining hands in front of him and stared at Frainn, waiting for her to go on.

“Most of you are stupid, narrow-minded and selfish. You discriminate, belittle, oppress and kill each other for no reason. I’ve seen it.” She stood up, resting her hands on the table and leaning forward towards Fury. “You’re so full of yourselves and think you are better than everyone else in the Universe.”

“I would hate to make assumptions Staff Sergeant, but you sound like you think you are better.” She sat back down and he leaned forward. “Are you ?”

“I am.” She nodded. “But it’s a fact. If I weren’t, I wouldn't make such a big deal out of it.”

“Oh really ? So you would never kill for no reason, unlike us, right ?” He pushed the file with Frainn's military documents to the side and opened a second one with photocopies of texts crammed inside of it.

“What is it ?” She straightened up and Fury grabbed some documents and put them under her nose. She gave him a suspicious look and took them in her hands. Before she even read the first text to be found in front of her eyes, she saw her first name at the beginning of the text. Sensing that Fury was studying her every reaction, she hid the fact that she was destabilized by what she was reading. “Do you expect me to translate it to you ?”

“No. We’ve already taken care of that.” He stared at her. “Does guosslatrun ring a bell ?”

“Guðsslátrun.” She repeated, with the right pronunciation. He had seen in her eyes that she hadn’t liked the way he had badly pronounced it just a second before. “The slaughter of the Gods in Old Norse. A bit dramatic, if you ask me. It wasn’t “actual” gods that were killed but... anyway.”

“So it does ring a bell.” He crossed his arms, nodding. Frainn shrugged.

“I am fond of Norse mythology.” He let a wry laugh filter through his lips at her reply.

“Yeah, right. Then can you explain why your name is very closely linked to that bloody mythological event, huh ?” He marked a pause. “We couldn’t find anything about you anywhere in any records of any country whatsoever, but in old books about goddamn Nordic mythology, which is kinda weird for a human, you have to admit. So, who are you really, Sergeant ?”

Frainn glared at Fury, remaining in a leaden silence for a few dozen of seconds, as if she didn't want to answer, but the goddess knew she had just seen her identity unveiled, and she could no longer deny that she was not from the same world as the man sitting across from her. Fury took a photocopy in his hand and started reading what was written on it.

“Frainn Lokadóttir, Goddess of Ice and Winter.” He put his eyes on Frainn as he grabbed a document from the first file. “A Goddess from Norway? Not very usual, or down-to-earth.”

“Wow, how clever you are. I said I was from Norway because it’s one of the only Midgardian places I ever went to. And well, I can recall that the welcome was warmer there than in the USA.” She frowned. “Lokadóttir is my last name, and the only last name I ever had and will ever have. Changing it would have been seen as if I was ashamed of my father’s name.” She gritted her teeth as if she expected to have to be part of a conflict to defend her name, but Fury had no intention of provoking her.

“I believe you. I only wanted to hear it from ya.” She frowned at his answer, seeing that she wouldn’t have to argue with him in the end. “Now, why did you came on earth, Goddess ? According to those ancient texts in front of you, you caused a hell of a mess back on Asgard.”

“Your Midgardian mind wouldn’t understand the matters of the gods. The All-Father's lies were the reasons of this mayhem I caused.” She spoke with disgust, as if spitting venom, when she came to mention the king of the Norse gods.

“Looks like there are tensions within the divine royal family, huh? You speak like in shakespearean play.” She ignored his last comment, not knowing what he was talking about.

“Don’t you dare mock me.”

“Oh, I ain’t mocking you. I’m just sayin’ maybe if you come to kill your own because your king pissed you off and get kicked out of your home, you’re not so better than us after all.” He retrieved the photocopies he had shown Frainn, gathering the documents inside the files before getting up. He looked down on the goddess. “I think, you’re not the saint you want people to believe you are.”

“I never said I was a saint.”

“Good.” He nodded and she slumped down on the back of the chair, her arms crossed. “As a decorated Staff Sergeant, you have my respect. You are not from here and yet you fought for us, but otherwise, I think you’re full of shit, your highness.”

And he left the room without saying anything else. Frainn stared at the door, not moving, for a dozen of seconds, expecting to see someone enter and escort her somewhere else, back to her “cell” or whatever, but nothing happened. Eventually, she straightened up and let her arms fall heavily onto the table. She started tapping her foot on the ground and suddenly stood up, creaking the legs of the chair on the floor, again. She wasn't going to wait a thousand years for someone to come to her, so she was going to walk out of the room on her own. The door turned out to be locked when she first tried to open it and she frowned, not remembering hearing Fury locking the door, but anyway, a closed door was not going to prevent the goddess from exiting. She took a few steps back and her previously porcelain-hued skin turned to a blue as icy as the blue of her irises. A cold mist started to emanate from her. She called on her powers and put her palm on the door lock, focusing in order to generate ice into the latter. She then kicked the door to break the ice surrounding the lock inside, and force open the door. She loved to use her powers instead of just her physical strength to do things like that.

As she stepped out into the corridor, she instantly felt the whole base was in some turmoil, and she couldn't figure out what was going on. She then saw a soldier pass by, dressed in black tactical gear and used her shape-shifting ability to turn herself into him, just as she once did with Steve, but the difference was that, right now, they weren't at war and Steve wasn’t by her side. She was on her own to find out what was happening. She climbed a bunch of stairs, not knowing where she was heading but eventually she walked into an extremely high ceiling room separated in two spaces by a couple of walls that didn’t actually cut the area in two, allowing scientists and whoever, to walk around. The first thing she saw when she entered was this electric blue light in the center of this big circle. It was the Tesseract. She could feel its power tickling her senses.

She turned her head to her right when she heard Fury’s voice, talking to some guy. Doctor Selvig if she recalled. They were standing near a kind of computer right in front of where the Tesseract was put.

“Where’s Agent Barton ?” Standing against a wall, Frainn in disguise listened to them. She had no idea who Fury was talking about. She assumed it must have been someone working for or with the SHIELD.

“The Hawk ?” Selvig scoffed. If this was supposed to be funny, Frainn didn’t get the memo. “Up in his nest, as usual.”

Frainn then watched Fury coming back with the so-called Hawk, AKA Agent Barton and approched the Tesseract. She resumed her Asgardian appearance, but used her powers of illusion to trick the eyes of those present, allowing her to move freely without them realizing she was even there. She walked closer to the Tesseract, standing right behind Fury. She could understand from what she got out of their conversation, that something was wrong with the behavior of the Tesseract. The space portal aspect of the cube left them puzzled. Quickly, the Tesseract energy started crackeling and a loud rumbling shook the whole SHIELD compound. Everyone’s attention was focused on whatever was happening and suddenly, the energy of the Tesseract whirled around the circle and beamed out in a single powerful ray, opening a portal. It then disappeared, releasing a wave of energy sweeping through the whole room, blowing its occupants in surprise. Frainn felt her dark hair lift furiously but briefly as she narrowed her eyes reflexively. Soldiers around them walked over where the portal was, slowly, as the person that had crossed appeared clearly to their eyes. And who she saw, standing there, raising their head with this crazy look on their face, she couldn’t believe it. She stepped back and went to hide behind a wall because she knew her illusion wouldn’t work on them. Her father was one of the only people that she couldn’t ever possibly manage to trick, but a wall, that he could not see through.

“Sir, please put down the spear.”

Fury first tried to establish communication with Loki, but the God of Mischief didn't hear it that way and instead attacked the soldiers with what actually looked more like a scepter than a spear. They tried to shoot him down, but what they didn't know was that the skin of people like Frainn and Loki was completely bulletproof. Their attempt at counter attacking the deity was therefore futile. As he killed everyone but Barton, Selvig and Fury, Frainn remained hidden, her back glued to the wall. She did not even dare to take a look, not wanting to be seen by anyone, especially him. She heard a groan and turned her head. Her father was standing in front of Agent Barton and he had brought the point of his scepter to his chest. The Hawk as Selvig called him earlier, stopped groaning as some energy ran through his whole being. His eyes blackened before his irises turned to a vibrant blue, same color as the Tesseract. Loki then let go off him and the latter seemed different. He didn’t intended to fight him anymore. Loki repeated the process on some of the survivors of the attack before turning around.

“Please don’t.” Frainn crouched and went behind a smashed desk to get a better view on the scene. Fury was standing near the circle thing, a grey briefcase in his hand, ready to leave the premises. Her father was back to her now, staring at the SHIELD director. “I still need that.”

“This doesn’t have to get any messier.” He tried to temper him but Frainn knew there was no way out of this for Fury, if he really intended to prevent Loki from getting the briefcase containing the Tesseract.

“Of course it does. I’ve come too far for anything else.” Fury faced him. “I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

Frainn was confused. She did not understand why Loki was acting so strange. It just seemed off to her, as if he wasn’t really himself, which would be weird out of context like that. He wasn’t the person she remembered looking up to growing up. Something was definitely wrong about him, but she didn’t quite know what.

“Loki, brother of Thor.” Selvig stood up. So this man knew Thor ? How come he knew her uncle ? She didn’t expect that. Anyway, without even having to see her father’s face, she could tell this remark was annoying him.

“We have no quarrel with your people.” Fury continued.

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.”

“Are you planning to step on us ?”

“I come with glad tidings,” Loki continued, looking at Fury. Frainn swallowed at the crazy speech her father was giving. He had never acted or spoken so strangely driven. He was a trickster, a deceiver, but she had never known him a maniac with such follies of grandeur. It was like he was some kind of puppet, saying words that weren't completely his own. “of a world made free.”

“Free from what ?” Fury seemed unimpressed with Loki.

“Freedom.” The god paused. “Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart,” In the middle of his sentence, he swiveled towards Selvig and rested the sharp tip of his scepter at the level of the scientist's heart, just as he had done to Barton a moment before. Frainn couldn’t see from where she was hiding but she guessed Selvig’s eyes changed color, just as the Hawk’s did. Loki softly breathed out the end of what he was saying as he stared at Selvig. “you will know peace.”

“Yeah, you say “peace”, I kind of think you mean the other thing.”

“Sir,” Barton walked over to Loki, talking like the latter was his boss or something. “Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us.” Above where Loki had appeared minutes ago, a growling blue energy cloud was floating over their heads, threatening to unleash at any moment the said hundred feet of rock on them. “He means to bury us.”

“Like the pharaohs of old.”

“He’s right.” added Selvig after looking at a computer. “The portal is collapsing in on itself. We’ve got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

“Well, then.” Instantly, Barton shot Fury. Frainn widened her eyes in surprise, forcing her mouth to stay shut and don’t make any noise so as not to draw anyone's attention to her, as she heard Fury groan loudly and fall on the floor. Frain watched the group led by Loki walk out of the area, staring at her father’s back. She was waiting for them to leave before going to check on Fury and she narrowed her eyes when she saw Loki bent over as he walked toward the exit. Sure something was wrong about his behavior, but it wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t normal. She could feel he was not doing well. Anyway, after a dozen of second, Frainn got out of her hinding spot and ran toward the SHIELD director.

“Fury.” She kneeled down and helped him sit up.

“I don’t have time to waste asking you what you’re doing here, we can’t let this so-called god get away with the Tesseract.” He leaned to the side to grab his radio. Frainn stood back, waiting. Maybe he hadn't done the connection between her and Loki, and for now, she wasn't going to complain since he wouldn't treat her as a potential enemy because she was the daughter of this “maniac”. “Hill ! Do you copy ? Barton has turned.” Hill didn’t respond but Fury was convinced she heard him. Frainn helped him up and they ran toward the exit since the energy cloud above them was about to make a mess. “They have the Tesseract ! Shut them down !”

Frainn and Fury were playing their lives at this very moment, slaloming down the halls and rooms of the compound towards the exit before everything blew up on them. The pipes were coming loose from the ceilings, sparks were shooting from the walls all around them. It was a deadly mess. In all this chaos, Frainn only thought of getting out of there, she didn't think of teleporting because her mind was already so preoccupied. And because she couldn’t take Fury with her.

“We’re clear upstairs, sir.” They heard Colson over the radio the moment they finally got out. “You need to go.”

Even outside, the lights and everything else was blowing up. Fury ran toward an helicopter waiting for him and Frainn followed. As they took off, the ground beneath them cracked and they witnessed the collapse of almost the entire SHIELD base. The both of them were watching this through the helicopter windows' door. The helicopter found the car in which Loki, Barton and Selvig had drove off. She crawled in the back of the engine, hiding in the shadows, as Fury opened the sliding door in order to try to shoot the car. Loki didn’t like that a bit and using the scepter he set fire to the helicopter tail, making them go down in a loop before eventually crashing. Fury jumped before they touched the ground and Frainn did the same, ending up rolling over as she landed. Fury got on his knees and tried to shoot them again but was unsuccessful and Frainn stood up immidietaly as if she didn’t fall from a dozen feet and ran after the car to maybe, knock some sense into Loki and stop him from whatever he was attempting to achieve. She eventually slowed down and fell to her knees on the road. Loki had seen her, obviously, and he was still staring at her from the car trailer. He was shocked to see her after so long. She rested her elbows on the tar, letting her forehead meet the ground, joining her hands on the back of her neck, eyes close. She breathed out for a sec, and out of frustration, cried out so loud that she thought he had probably heard her. She let her hands go of each other and traightened up, messy and wavy black strands of hair falling down her exhausted and disappointed face. She sat down and collapsed onto the road on her back, staring at the inky sky.

Lying on the gym floor, her head resting on one of the many piled up punching bags, Frainn stared at the ceiling, arms crossed over her chest. After collapsing on the road, shaken by her attempt to chase after her father, she had tried to establish some sort of contact with Steve. She then teleported to where he was, slipping away from Fury, who was surely wondering where she had gone. When her old best friend punched the bag hard enough to make it fall from the chain it was hanged on and throw it to the wall, she sat up as he walked toward the other punching bags, panting from the effort, and grabbed one. She stood up, adjusting the ziped hooded jacket Steve had given to her, and put her hands in the pockets of the latter. She went to lean against a quilted metal pole nearby and watched the former soldier hand the new punching bag on the chain. He started punching it until the silence the both of them had maintained for hours now, was broken by Fury’s voice. Frainn didn’t move, hidden behind the pole. He would find out she was there if he approached.

“Trouble sleeping?”

“I slept for 70 years, sir. I think I've had my fill.” He continued to punch the bag.

“Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world.” Steve looked at Fury, seemingly deciding to stop punching. He walked over to a bench with a black sport bag and boxing gloves, removing the bandage wrapped around his hands. Fury noticed Frainn, silently acknowledging her presence as she followed them toward the bench.

“When I–”

“We.” Said Frainn casually. Steve nodded, softly sighing.

“When we went under, the world was at war. We wake up, they say we won. They didn’t say what we’ve lost.” Frainn stood next to Steve.

“We’ve made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently.”

“No shit.” Frainn sighed, briefly looking away, frowning.

“I heard.” Steve glanced at the goddess as he proceeded to remove the other bandage and put it in the bag. “Are you here with a mission for us, sir ?”

“I am. To try and save the world.” Frainn stepped in front of Fury before he even got the chance to hand the file he had in his hands to Steve.

“Yeah, sorry but we already did that in case you didn’t know. You took something that was beyond your control. That’s on you if the world is a bloody mess again.”

Fury remained silent and Steve grabbed Frainn’s arm to make her slowly step back. He eventually took the file after Fury opened it under his eyes. He sat down on the bench looking at th documents. Obviously, there were pictures and informations on the Tesseract.

“Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean when he was looking for the both of you. He thought what we think. The tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy.”

“You don’t have any idea of what it is. I do, because this is from my realm. This isn’t supposed to be between your hands. The Tesseract could annihilate your world.”

“And this Loki took it from you.” Steve added, looking up at Fury. Frainn had explained everything to him, but left out the said terrorist they were at war against was her father. Maybe she had forgotten or had deliberately lied by omission, she wasn't even sure which one was true at this point.

“There’s a lot we’ll have to bring you up to speed on if you’re in. I’m sure Frainn can help briefing you. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.”

“At this point,” Steve stood up, taking his sport bag. “I doubt anything would surprise me.”

“Ten bucks says you’re wrong.” Frainn giggled at the bet. Steve grabbed one of the punching bags piled up on the floor and he then walked toward the exit, followed by Frainn. “There’s a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. Go through it with your acolyte. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now ?”

“Frainn’s apparently the expert on this.”

“You were absolute morons not to leave it in the ocean.” She spat out as they walked out.

Seated in a SHIELD helicopter, Frainn was slumped in her seat, her long legs stretched out in front of her, zoning out. She was taken out of her thoughts when hearing Steve talking. She straightened up, stretching her arms.

“So this Dr Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me ?” Frainn looked at the digital tablet in Steve’s hands. Coulson approached, hanging on to a handle above them.

“A lot of people were. You were the world’s first superheroes.”

“I didn’t get the serum, you know. I was born like that.”

“Of course,” Coulson nodded. “It was kept confidential information that one of our national superhero wasn’t even human. By the way, the fact that everyone thought a female soldier had been enhanced with the serum gave a significant boost to feminists.”

“Feminists ?”

“The people fighting for women’s rights, and equality between men and women.” Coulson replied, explaining what it was to her. “It’s not a thing where you’re from ?”

“No.” She shook her head. “People on Asgard aren’t as “sexist” as humans. We don’t oppress each other.” Coulson giggled awkwardly. Because she was so straight forward in what she said he felt particularly targeted by what she said on his race, even if he knew it wasn't the case. She was just this way. He was a fan of them both so he managed not to take it personnally. The SHIELD agent then continued to talk about the Dr Banner.

“Banner thougth gamma radiation migh hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”

“Didn’t really go his way, did it ?” Steve asked, while staring at the tablet.

“Not so much.” He paused. “When he’s not that thing, the guy’s like a Stephen Hawking.” Steve and Frainn looked at him, not knowing who the person he compared Banner to was. “He’s like a smart person. I gotta say, it’s an honor to meet you officially. I’ve sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping.” Steve smiled, awkwardly while Frainn bowed her head, biting her lips to keep from laughing. “I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice.” Steve stood up and Frainn watched him, too lazy to move at the moment. “You know, it’s really a huge honor to have you two on board this…”

“I hope I’m the man for the job.”

“Well, I know I am.” Frainn almost shouted in the plane. Steve smiled at her joking tone, still looking ahead of him through the front windows of the plane.

“She’s right. You both are. Absolutely. Also, we made some modifications to your uniforms. I had a little desing input.”

“The uniforms ?” Steve turned his head to Coulson, glancing at Frainn. “Aren’t the stars and stripes a little old-fashioned ?”

“With everything that’s happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned.” There was a short silence before Frainn made a comment on the said uniforms.

“I have to re-wear mine too ? I’m not even actually American.” Coulson turned to her.

“After discovering who you really were, I kind of got into Nordic mythology. We worked on a whole new uniform more fitting for you.”

“Cool, can’t wait to see it.” She giggled.

The plane finally landed on a huge helicarrier posed on the water. Coulson, Steve and Frainn got off of the engine and a red-haired woman approached them. Steve and Frainn looked at her, not knowing who she was but apparently Coulson knew so he took care of the introductions.

“Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Staff Sergeant Lokadottir, aka Frainn, Nordic Goddess of Ice and Winter.” Frainn crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows, surprised at the accuracy of her introduction.

“Ooh, a Sergeant and a goddess ? Nice.” She attractively smiled at her before looking at Coulson. “They need you on the bridge. They’re starting the face-trace.”

“See you there.” Coulson then left the three of them. Romanoff walked with them around the landing strips.

“It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain American and Eagle trading cards yet ?”

“Trading cards ?” Steve asked, sharing a glance with Frainn. The deity had no idea what trading cards were but she didn’t say anything and started to look around them curiously. This was another foreign environment she had to acquainted with.

“They’re vintage. He’s very proud.”

“Dr. Banner.” Steve called the guy they read about on the plane. He was awkwardly moving around, fidgeting his hands, apparently not really knowing what to do or where to go at the moment. Steve held his hand out to him.

“Yeah, hi.” They shook hands. Banner looked at the two former soldiers. “They told me you would be coming.”

“Word is you can find the Cube.” Frainn said.

“Is that the only word on me ?”

“Only word we care about.” Steve nodded. Banner took a second before continuing to speak.

“It must be strange for you, all this.”

“Well, this is actually kind of familiar.” Frainn let Steve answer as they walked alongside Agent Romanoff toward the edge of the helicarrier.

“Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute.” At the agent’s advice, Frainn felt included with her male peers and soflty smiled, also wondering why she was saying this. “It’s gonna get a little hard to breathe.”

“Is this a submarine ?”

“Really ? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container ?”

Romanoff stayed behind as Banner, Steve and Frainn approached the very edge to look at the vortex caused in the water by the activation of the turbofans on the sides of the helicarrier. Turbines powered up and lifted the whole engine in the air. Steve and Banner stepped back a little while Frainn didn’t move an inch from the edge, not at all scared to fall in the turbine. Her black hair was furiously flying around, getting stuck in her eyes or mouth and she had to catch it with her hands.

“No, no, this is much worse.” Banner declared.

All three of them then followed Romanoff inside the helicarrier to a large room with dozens of windows and agents settled at desks below where Fury was standing. Banner went one way and Frainn and Steve another, observing the area. Steve smiled, amazed by what he was seeing. After a minute they walked to a round table behind Fury and the latter turned around and joined them.

“Gentlemen,” He glanced at Frainn. “Sergeant.”

Steve walked next to Fury, slipping banknotes out of his jacket’s pocket and handing one to Fury. The director had won the bet. Frainn remained near the table while Fury greeted Banner and Steve walked around again eventually coming back. They discussed their plans to find the Tesseract and Loki for a moment and Romanoff ended up take Banner to his laboratory for him to work on finding the cosmic Cube and the thieves as well. Now they just all needed to wait until they found them. Steve and Frainn were joined by Coulson in the meantime and the Agent proceeded to tell them more about the vintage trading cards Romanoff had mentioned after they had barely arrived on the helicarrier. As he was asking them if they could sign them, an agent spoke up.

“We got a hit. A 67% match.” Fury checked stuff on his screens and Frainn approached the agent that had just spoken, to look at his screen. “Wait. Cross match, 79%.”

“Don’t bother with the pourcentages, it’s him.” Frainn said. Coulson came closer to look as well.

“Location ?”

“Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse.”

Frainn frowned, crossing her arms. She had no idea where Germany was in Midgard. Again, she was uneducated as to the geography of this realm and she was even more confused about what her father could be doing there. It must have been a part of this sick plan he was so driven to accomplish. She knew they would at some point find out more about his motivations and what he was supposed to do. And what she was even more sure about now, was that it wasn’t his own plan. Someone else was involved too, making him do all these things for some reason, and it was her very own mission to find out what was going on with her father.

“Captain, Sergeant,” Fury then drew the attention of both concerned to him. “you’re up.”

“You want me to come even though I’m related to Loki ?” Frainn asked.

“I trust your combat and military skills on this.” She nodded and started to walk away with Steve but stopped in her tracks when hearing Fury again. “And, you wouldn’t betray Rogers.”

She didn’t move an inch. Steve had stopped walking as well and was looking at her. After a second staring at the void, she resumed alking and her old bestie followed her to where their new uniforms were stored. They were displayed next to each other at the very end of the gear storage room, in sort of vertical transparent cages. Steve and Frainn took a closer look.

“Well, this isn’t Asgardian-made but, this will do.” She chuckled.

The outfit Coulson had told her about was actually really cool, taking its inspiration from the Norse Gods oufits showns in Midgardian drawings and other suff portraying and representing them. It consisted of revealing pieces of fine golden armor covering her neck and shoulders and held together a cold blue blouse, same color as her eyes, in a sturdy fabric, with long and louse sleeves, tightening at her wrists and a quite comfortable black belted corset in supple leather. There was also a pair of black buttoned pants and vintage combat boots for the little Midgardian touch to this combat outfit straight out of a fantasy novel. They put they uniforms on and got ready to fulfill their new assignement like back in the bitter-sweet old days, on the minefield, saving their companions and brother in arms from Hydra’s claws.

This time, it was her own father they had to defeat.

[To be continued…]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Published (12/01/2021) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405 @kika64

5 notes · View notes