A Warning
Laurel leaned forward, her attention honed in on the SHIELD site where mortal hands poked and prodded at the casing of the Time Stone. They clearly didn’t understand the consequences of meddling with such power. But Laurel did. And it was her responsibility to ensure that the balance wasn’t torn asunder.
She materialized in a SHIELD facility, cloaked in a robe that shimmered, her face hidden beneath a hood. The air around her seemed to still and the energy of the Tesseract crackled in response to her presence.
Fury stood staring at data on the cube when Laurel appeared in his office and looked up with the Tesseract sparked and was startled to see a cloaked figure standing in front of him. He immediately reached for his weapon, but his instincts told him this was no ordinary intruder.
Laurel stepped forward, her movements silent, “You do not understand what you’re playing with Nicholas Fury.”
Fury’s eyes narrowed as he sized her up, “And who the hell are you?”
“The one who sees what you cannot. You are treading on dangerous grounds.”
“That supposed to scare me?” Fury asked, his hand hovering near his gun.
Laurel’s gaze flicked to the Tesseract behind the reinforced glass, “This is my only warning, Nicholas Fury. If you take this step, you are forging a path of death and destruction that your mortal mind cannot fully comprehend.”
Fury, always one to test boundaries, lifted his chin defiantly, “Is that a treat?”
Laurel’s eyes, glinting beneath the hood, locked onto his, “No. It’s a promise. A warning. Your choice.”
Fury, with the confidence of a man who’d face danger a thousand times, nodded to the armed agents that stood at the ready just outside his office, “Detain her.”
AS soon as the words left his mouth, SHIELD agents rushed forward, weapons raised. Laurel, however, didn’t resist as they placed her in cuffs and led her to an interrogation room. She allowed herself to be detained, more amused than anything.
Inside the cold, sterile room, Fury entered, watching her carefully.
“You don’t seem worried,” Fury noted, sitting down across from her.
Laurel’s expression remained calm, “I’m not. Your actions have no bearing on me but they will on you, and your world. The Tesseract is more than a power source.”
Fury leaned forward, his face hard, “We’re trying to protect this world.”
“Your hubris is remarkable,” Laurel said, her tone dark, “You believe you can control the forces that are beyond your understanding, but they will slip through your grasp, just as sand slips through fingers. You’re already on a precipice. This…obsession with the Tesseract? It will be your undoing.”
Fury scowled, his patience clearly thinning, “You say all this, but you haven’t given me a reason to believe you.”
Laurel smile, her eye gleamed with something ancient, something Fury couldn’t place, “You’ll see the truth soon enough,” she said.
With that, she simply vanished from the room, leaving behind nothing but an empty chair. Fury blinked, momentarily thrown off. He stood abruptly, searching the room, but she was gone. His gaze fell to the table where a single, delicate feather rested. He reached out and touched it – it felt like an ordinary feather, crimson in colour, yet unfamiliar.
Fury pocketed the feather for future research and left the room, but Laurel’s warning echoed in his mind.
As he returned to the control center, he ordered the testing to continue, but a weight settled over him. Laurel’s words, her calm certainty, had left an unsettling mark. He knew she was far from finished and as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was right.