Making a Hero

 I left the cafe and headed back to my hotel feeling as though I were fast losing control of the situation. I'd been in New York just over a day, and so far I'd been thwarted by Tony Stark's computer, chased and shot at by Iron Man, I'd had a great conversation with someone who wasn't even human and Pirate Morpheus hated me. All I wanted was Hydra, and all I was getting was trouble.

I just reached the door to my room when one of my grievances appeared in his doorway, tall, lean body propped casually against the frame. “They've been in your room. I would say that it is, how do the spy movies put it, bugged? I heard down at the reception desk that they've planted a new employee here to keep an eye on you too.” Luke told me, his eyes searching. I groaned.

“Beginning to wish I'd never come to New York.” I muttered, thinking fast about what I was supposed to do now.

“Why did you come to New York?” Luke's eyes were burning with curiosity.

“To find the Avengers. I thought you'd figured that out by now.” I snapped “And unless you'd got something that's actually helpful to say, be quiet please Luke, I'm trying to think.” I jabbed a finger at my temple, as though I was trying to jog loose an idea and Luke rolled his eyes.

“Is that why Nick wants to spy on you?” He asked, I tried not to to bite his head off, the stress of the moment pressuring me.

“No of course not. He doesn't know why I'm here, though I'm sure he's just a curious as you seem to be,” I gave Luke a glare, “Fury wants to spy on because I can do things that scare him, so that makes me an unchecked threat.” I took a few breaths to calm myself. Luke didn't appear as rattled by my dramatic statement as I hoped he'd be. Apparently he didn't find me nearly as scary as Fury seemed to. Which I did find scary. 

In the quiet, a cleaner appeared at the end of the hall and then disappeared into a room, leaving her cleaning trolley in the hall. I glanced quickly at Luke, who had retreated back into the shadows of his room upon the cleaner's arrival, he nodded silently. My own personal spy was an attractive woman, with the reddest hair I have ever seen, and Luke didn't want her around any more than I did. Judging by the wary way he was watching the door she'd vanished behind. His pulsing soul had become colored with anxiety and fear at her arrival, he was desperate not to be noticed.

He cleared his throat softly, “I think that you'd better come in.” he murmured, so low that I barely heard him, miss sneaky pants the red head wouldn't have had a chance. I pictured her standing with her ear pressed up against the wood, straining to hear any conversation. He stood aside to allow me pass and I quickly reviewed my options. It came down to being trapped in my room which had been bugged out by Fury, going and beating up his spy, or hiding in Luke's room until I could figure out a better plan. Honestly I didn't see that I had any real choice, so I skulked into his room and waited while he shut the door as quietly as possible.

“So, you pulled a vanishing act in the cafe earlier, and now you're pretty darn keen to stay out of sight of Nick's little spy. Any particular reason that you wanna stay off Fury's radar.” I said suddenly. I didn't trust Luke, and I suspected that he was only helping me to further his own motives. Certainly I was grateful for the help, but it would probably be best if I cut and run, leaving him out of everything entirely.

I was hesitant to do that though. I had a perverse curiosity about him. His strange soul was mesmerizing and the more time I spent with him, the more curious about him I became. Which was dangerous, but also exciting. He was looking at me, evaluating how much he should tell me about his own situation. He gave me a rueful smile.

“I have a somewhat, colorful history with Fury. It is vital to me that he does not discover that I am here.” his expression turned dark, “The repercussions of his discovery would ruin me.” He seated himself at a small table. I looked around his room, feeling distinctly apprehensive. There was something off about Luke. His soul indicated that he was genuine in his fear of the consequences of discovery, but there was so much more rippling under the surface. As though he were just the tip of an iceberg.

“How long have you been staying in this hotel?” I asked breaking away from his worrisome declaration. I wandered over to look out his window, which overlooked a dirty alley. I was impressed that he even had a window. I didn't. Just old grotty prints of the New York  sky line.

“Just over a year.” He replied, to which I was startled. If I'd have been here for a year there would be junk everywhere. I was only living light at the moment due to a literal life change, Normally I was a hoarder. “What on earth do you do all day?” I blurted and he smirked.

“I scheme.” He held my eyes, then his smirk turned into a snort, “I read,” he corrected, rising to open a cupboard that contained books. Mostly old looking ones, with tattered looking spines and writing that could barely be seen. The cupboard full of antique books didn't seem nearly as strange compared to his soul, which didn't fluctuate even minutely during his little jest. He schemed, and he read. I was becoming increasingly concerned. Who exactly was I dealing with here?

“I know when you're lying.” I blurted, earning a sharp, lingering look. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took in my declaration. Cautious colors emanating from within him.

“I didn't lie.” I had his full attention now. All hints of lightheartedness had vanished. I gave him a long, steady look. “I know.” His expression didn't change. He just stood, hands in pockets, staring at me. I broke our gaze and looked out into the dirty alley again. It had just become very tense in the room, and I regretted walking into his door. Not that I had much in the way of choice. Luke might be a very shady character, but he was helping me. I wasn't behaving very gratefully.

“I know when you're lying too.” He raised an eyebrow, “So perhaps, in the spirit of co-operation, we should stop lying to each other.” he suggested and I chuckled. “You mean, we should should stop the blatant bullshit and instead lie by omission.” I said archly. He actually laughed, the awkward tension drained away.

“Oh I do like you.” His eyes twinkled with amusement, I raised my brows at him. “Well thanks. You're not half bad yourself.” In reality, I thought that he was more than half bad. There wasn't much about his demeanor that was wholesome and good. Unfortunately, I did find myself attracted to the bad boys. He was looking away, half a smile on his face and I took the chance to look him up and down again. Yep. I sighed, he was extremely good looking.

“The red headed maid, is Natasha Romanov.” Luke said suddenly, I glanced up at him and waited to see where he was going with this. So far, even though I could read his soul, he was keeping me on my toes. Something that did not happen to me at all any more. Live long enough and interactions tend to get predictable. “She is an Avenger, but mainly she's Fury's pet spy. When his usual tactics of force fail him, she's his resort to trickery.” He was staring at nothing, stuck in a moment of recollection.

“How do you know?” If she was an Avenger, then she was a good guy. I tried not to think about what that made Luke. He smiled. “I was once on the receiving end of her trickery. And of Nick's force.” he returned his focus to me, “He has a great deal of force. I cannot understand why he's allowed you to walk away without a fight if you're so much of a threat that he has the famous Black Widow keeping track of you.” I sighed. Luke clearly knew more about these people than I did, and he seemed willing to level with me about them. I owed it to him to tell, at least most of the truth.

“There was a fight. I said I got beat up didn't I?” I smiled, “What I didn't say is that it was a scuffle between myself and Iron Man.” I enjoyed his expression very much at that statement. I felt as though if I could take down Iron Man, I might actually stand a chance at doing some real damage to Hydra. “Though it wasn't Stark who sent Nick after me, I don't think that Tony even knows where the hell I am, let alone that I've been contacted. Nick wants me under his control, but willingly. That's why he's not dragging me to wherever, kicking and screaming. Yet. If Stark knew where I was, I'm sure that I'd already be dead meat.” Luke cocked his head, a disbelieving smile playing on his features.

“You did have an exciting morning.” Which was an amazing understatement. “So Fury's giving you a choice?” he asked. I snorted.

“It's not much of a choice. I go jump through his hoops, or he takes me in. Which I take to mean that he's going to lock me away. Or worse.” I said scowling, “Either way, it won't end so well for everybody.” I would sooner die than be confined. And since I couldn't die, thanks to the Kree having that little molecular accident, there was simply no way that Nick was going to make me do anything that I didn't want to.

“You are much more interesting than you seem.” Luke commented, peering at me shrewdly. I laughed. “Yes I suppose I am.” I sat down on the little couch and watched him carefully. I'd roused his sense of curiosity, he had relaxed a little and seemed willing to engage conversation with me. “Why are you helping me?” I asked, and he smiled, like he knew exactly what I was up to and was willing to indulge me.

“I find this situation most amusing, and I would quite like to perpetuate the excitement. To that end, I believe that I can be of much more help to you. Should you wish it of course.” He was sincere with his response, and his offer. But that made me even more suspicious of his motives.

I didn't see that Luke had a whole lot of humanity in his soul. He wasn't helping me out of the goodness of his heart. He was operating with an agenda and I had the feeling that I'd just become part of his schemes. He was offering me what I needed the most, but at what cost?

“Well, I can't go refusing offers of help at this point, though I think I'd be foolish to trust you.” I said bluntly, laying it all out and hoping that he could give me something more tangible to work with. Tell me that he was he was an undercover cop, or a superhero in disguise. Tell me that he was something good and morally sound. Something to ease my anxiety. He just looked at me with a delighted smile.

“You wouldn't be the first person to accept my help without trusting me.” he told me, “and I'm sure you won't be the last.” His eyes flashed with merriment. I closed my eyes, knowing that I was courting disaster. “So, what do you want? For helping me, I mean.” So far he'd helped me without anything in return. Maybe this would draw the line, make clear his role in the world. Make it easy for me to say yes, or no. He tensed.

“Keep me anonymous. Fury, Romanov, no-one can know about me. Not any of the Avengers, if any of them suspect, then you lead them astray.” He fixed me with an incredibly intense look, “It means my life if they find out about me. Can you do this?” I furrowed my brow as I considered it.

First, was it actually within my power do be able to do something like that? I'd kept myself invisible for decades, but could I do it for someone else? I'd been accessing computer systems, looking, changing, completely falsifying information since I'd been with Kree. If I had to, I could entirely erase him from any system. Even one kept by a Stark created Friday, though it would be very difficult. I could make him cease to exist digitally, The question was, should I?

He was asking me to keep him a secret. The reason could be good. Or they could be very bad. So far, from what I'd seen of Luke, he wasn't remotely human, despite his pretty packaging. His soul wasn't like anything I'd seen. I knew that he resented the Avengers, he'd been on Fury's hit list, he was cold, selfish and everything about him screamed dangerous. He had secrets, an agenda and scheming was a way of passing time to him.

I didn't know his history, his story, his motivations. I knew next to nothing about him, and what I did know, made me believe that maybe, he could be a bad guy. I saw a potential for great evil in his soul, he'd hated so much that the need to do good was whittled down to nothing.

But then, I'd encountered one of the good guys. One of the heroes. One of the team that made the world swoon. And he'd shot me in the back with a repulsor blast. I decided that I'd just have to take it as it comes. If he was good, then great, and if he was bad, I'd simply have to ruin him just like I was planning on ruining Hydra.

“I'll keep you as invisible as I can.” I sighed. Trust or not, we were allies now. For as long as he could help me, I'd make sure that he didn't exist. I tilted my head, trying to look at him objectively while he smiled triumphantly. If nothing else, this partnership promised to be extremely interesting.

“So, to get down to brass tacks, I want to find the Avengers, which is unrealistic enough as it is, but might get a little difficult now that I've got one of them tailing me.” I tapped my fingers on Luke's couch while I considered what I was going to do. After completely failing at finding information on Stark's database last night, I had to figure out what I was going to do next.

The plan was to raid the Avenger's systems for relevant Hydra information, but I'd spewed on one of them, and the other was probably rifling through my stuff as we spoke, and going to Virginia to sift through Pentagon files for possibly non existent Hydra conspiracy tid-bits sounded exhausting. I looked thoughtfully up at Luke.

“If you're going to help me, now would be a good time to start.” I told him. He rolled his eyes.

“Yes yes, I'm thinking on it. Nick Fury could gain you access to the Avengers. I believe that it was he who assembled them together as a team to start with-” He began, and I immediately interrupted him.“Yeah, when aliens tried take over the planet.”  He flinched, and his soul briefly became inflamed with disgust, shame and fear. He forced a grim smile and looked away, I narrowed my eyes at him, he ignored me. Everyone had an opinion on the alien invasion, but I'd never seen someone feel ashamed of it before.

“Could I just beat it out of him?” I inquired. Nick Fury was intimidating as hell, but he was still human. Luke shook his head.

“No, I have a feeling that Fury will die before divulging secrets. Even if dying takes months. Besides, an attack on Fury will mean having all of his underlings out for your blood. An unwanted hassle.” He started to pace, and I found the action oddly comforting. Despite what I saw in his soul, there were some very obvious human traits that he exhibited. “If you use the avenue of violence, it's possible that you could be subdued and imprisoned before the Avengers even get involved.”

“What about stealth?” I asked, I could probably use my soul to find out where Nick was located, then track him down, and infiltrate the computer programming to get what I need. I wondered if Natasha had a smart phone with her, if she'd used it to contact Nick, it might be possible for me to track him through it. Though the last time I'd tried something similar, it had been a very frightening experience.

There was a limit to what I was willing to do with my soul by way of computers. I'd made the mistake of trying to freely traverse the Internet once. It had been horrible, there was such a massive flow of data that it was impossible to decipher any sense out of it, and it all had moved so quickly that I'd been carried away with it and ended up popping out of a server on the other side of the planet. I watched Luke go back and forth and wondered just how much I should tell him about my abilities.

“How stealthy can you be?” He asked, I pulled a face at him, “As stealthy as I need to be.” I said ambiguously, he actually rubbed his temples in response. I was frustrating him. Good.  While his eyes were closed, I shifted. Changing myself to an exact replica of Nick Fury. I was even ninety percent certain that I'd put the eye patch on the right side of his face. When Luke's eyes opened and he looked at me, he actually took several steps backwards.

“I do stealth and deceit, rather well actually.” I said in Fury's angry, deep voice and Luke let out an explosive sigh, hand over his heart. He was watching me with an expectant, wary expression. Like he expected me to grow another head. Which, technically, I could. I relaxed, and let the shift go, melting into my normal physicality with a smirk on my face.

“Interesting.” Luke said sharing my grin, “So you're a shape shifter.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. I shrugged casually. “Among other things.” I said.

“Unfortunately, it's irrelevant. You don't know enough about Fury to properly imitate him, it would be far too risky. Nick has planned for every contingency, there's no doubt in my mind that you would quickly be discovered.” He returned to his aggravated pacing, he was right and it irritating me.

“Well what would you do then?” I snapped, crossing my arms. He paused and shrugged at me nonchalantly.

“I would go and work for him. Let him believe that he is in control, but work with my own goals in mind. People are easy to control when you do whatever they want you to.” He said dismissively. I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn't because he was right again. I knew as surely as he did that people were blind to everything except their own desires and wants, and that they could be used effectively as long as they were kept happy.

I let my head fall back and stared at the ceiling. It made so much sense now that I thought about it. Fury created the Avengers, he had a mole in Stark's tower, so there was a good chance that he had them keeping tabs on the other Avengers. Not to mention the one working for him.

“Ok so you've got a point.” I admitted. Luke nodded as though it were obvious. I gave him a dirty look. “So I'll go work for the super spy.” I wondered if I'd have figured it out on my own. I doubted it. I wouldn't have been able to see past Nick's offensive behavior.

“It's a good plan.” I said as Luke sat down at the table, I eyeballed him. “Ever heard of Astral Projection?” I asked, he paid close attention to me. “Yes of course.” He said, wary anticipation marring his features.

“Good. I'm going to check on that red head.” Then I stood up entirely out of my body, I was going to find that Natasha woman and see what she was up to. I might learn enough to give me an edge when I spoke with Nick Fury next. My body lay passed out on Luke's couch, and he was looking at it with a look of mild surprise on his face.

I moved out of his room and into the hall, nearly passing through her. She was standing just outside my door, speaking into her watch.

“She hasn't been back into her room. I saw her standing outside the door, but she's gone now. I think she was suspicious of my presence and bolted. The door across from hers was open, it's possible that she took refuge inside.” She said. I wondered what she'd do, would she try to go into Luke's room. I couldn't actually let her, I'd promised Luke that he'd be non existent.

It was Nick Fury's voice that crackled out of her watch. “Go into her room, see if you can find anything informative.” He said. I scowled, but followed her through my door. He cover as a cleaner was a good choice. I wouldn't have been bothered by finding a cleaner in my room. From this moment on though, I was going to be suspicious of every single cleaner I ever saw anywhere near my room.

All of my belongings were still in my backpack, I'd never bothered getting much out, figuring that I wouldn't be here that long. After a quick poke around the room, she came to this conclusion and just tipped the contents of the bag on the floor, picking through the stuff. Unfortunately for her, she didn't come across much. My clothes, puzzle books and pens, a stash of money, the information leaflet from the airport and a small, old copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, which contained a variety of pressed flowers and herbs between its pages. I hoped that she wouldn't realize the significance of the dried herb with the heart shaped leaves. 

I watched her pull my clothes out of the bin. she lingered over the repulsor burns in the back of my shirt and jacket with a disapproving look on her face, then she quickly gave the room a once over, finishing with straightening the sheets, and taking out the trash. She dropped the bag of my clothes in a bucket under the cleaning trolley. I knew that they would be inspected for my DNA.

They weren't likely to find anything. Only the Kree were advanced enough to comprehend what had been done with my DNA. Hydra had expressed great frustration at being unable to unravel its secrets.

I drifted back into Luke's room. He was sitting down at his table, a bored look on his face while he drummed his long fingers on the table surface. I sank into myself, physically stirring and sitting up straight. Luke straightened and looked at me sideways, just waiting for me to fill him in. I put a hand up to rub the back of my neck and gave him a weary look.

“She was just going through my stuff.” I yawned, stretching out. “Would have liked for her to handle it with a bit more care, but she was in a hurry I suppose.”

“So, you're going to work for Fury?” he asked, cutting across my chatty bullshit and getting directly to the point.

“Yes. Makes sense, and it's better than my other option, which is a total minefield of problems.” I said, standing up and stretching again, “I'm not sure what Fury has planned for me, so I think it'd be for the best to leave here, get him well away from you.”

“It is of no matter. I made arrangements to go elsewhere the moment I saw him.” he murmured. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I had a feeling that unpicking his secrets would lead me to discover something that I could definitely use to my benefit.

“How will I contact you?” I asked, he hesitated before holding out a piece of paper. I reached for it. It had phone number and address scrawled on it. “Don't lose that and remember, I am trusting you with my very existence.” If nothing else, he sure had a flair for the dramatic. I looked at the phone number and briefly ogled him again. It really was a shame that he wasn't hitting on me.

“I'm trusting you more than I should too Luke. We'll manage. I won't contact you if I think there's a risk, and when I do I'll probably do it looking like someone else.” I winked and put the paper in my pocket, “I'll also go through their computer data storage and see if they've already got anything regarding you and erase it.” Luke's eyes glittered as he considered my words.

“How will I know that I'm speaking to you?” He asked and I shrugged, “You'll figure it out.” I said, and rose to leave.

“I know you do not trust me, but trust me on this, be careful regarding Nick Fury. There are none more deceptive nor more apt at manipulation than he.” I listened to his soft, cool voice with an ominous feeling creeping up my back, and then, without another word, I left. Vanishing out the door without so much as a glance back.

I suppose I could have shaken his hand or something, but I just didn't want to seem too friendly with him when I didn't trust him. He'd been so hostile when we'd first met and then practically changed into a whole different person once he realized that I as a bit more than the average foreigner. It would be more beneficial to me to keep him guessing as much as possible.

***

I wandered up to Natasha's cleaning cart and lingered awkwardly. She emerged from the room next to mine and took an involuntary step back when she spotted me. I gave her my most brilliant smile. “Hello Miss, would you have the time please?” I asked, gesturing at her watch, her eyes flicked about, assessing the situation before she stuttered out, “I, uh, yes, sure.” She looked at her wrist and I gasped theatrically.

“Oh my goodness, is that one of those new watches that Apple are releasing?” I leaned in closer to get a good look at it, hands hovering nearby, Natasha looked at me, wide eyed, and absolutely ready to beat the crap out of me at any wrong move. I smiled.

“Ok Fury, let's talk business.” I said, and Natasha's cute little mouth dropped open, her watch crackling with Nick's voice. I had to admit, he was very quick to adapt.

“I am delighted to hear that Miss Davis, please, allow Agent Romanov to escort you to my location.” He said, then he addressed the red head “Agent, please bring Brooke down to headquarters immediately.” Natasha shot me a suspicious look before responding, “Yes Sir.” She then ditched her maid apron, wadding it up and tossing it in the trash.

“Just lemme duck into my room and grab that stuff that you've already been through. You'll need a moment to get my clothes out from under the trolley anyways.” I hopped down from the cart and wallowed in petty satisfaction while I went for my backpack. It wasn't every day that you got to surprise a spy. I left Romanov staring after me with her eyebrows up and a wrinkle of concern on her forehead.