Chapter 11
Kowalski rushed into his boss’ room frantically looking to be in a panic, panting heavily like he had been running a marathon. He stood there inside the room waving his arms frantically, trying to say something while trying to take a breath at the same time.
“Calm down.” His boss ordered firmly, looking at him calmly, not even fazed by his subordinate’s panic. “Take a breath first and calm down, then say what you came here for.”
Kowalski panted for a few more seconds, before announcing in a choked-off voice: “They-they figured it out!”
His boss stared at him icily for a few seconds, before demanding “Figured what out?”
“They figured out what we did to their team members!” Kowalski clarified, looking even more panicked by each passing second.
“Is that so?” His boss raised an eyebrow, looking silently enraged.
“Our mole in the hospital reported back to me!” Kowalski started to explain, waving his arms around as he talked. “He said that they found traces of the Truth Serum, along with the antidote, in their friends’ blood. So, now they are placing heavy protection on their third member. He is heavily guarded now! And one of their doctors is making tests about the movements of the brain waves and their connection to the Nerve Fibers!”
His boss looked even more enraged now, but his voice remained as cold as ever, as he stood up and walked towards the big crystal ball. “This only means that we need to move fast now.”
“Tell me what you need, boss!” Kowalski looked at him excitedly, waiting for an order.
His boss stared at him coldly for a few seconds silently, before he raised his hand towards the big crystal ball.
“When I bought your services as a known criminal and a con man, I was under the influence that if one of your race did this job, it would make things easier.” The boss said in a voice as cold as ice, as he looked Kowalski up and down in disdain. “But it turned out I was wrong.”
“One of our race?” Kowalski repeated, looking at him in confusion. “What do you mean, boss?”
“I mean that you failed your mission.” The boss announced coldly, placing a hand on the crystal ball. “I don’t need you anymore.”
Kowalski’s eyes widened as he understood what he meant, then he stormed towards him screaming “Do you think it will be easy to get rid of me?!”
“Of course, without a doubt.” The boss answered in freezing firmness, just as a loud crack sounded in the room, a Fireball was being born in the center of the crystal ball.
“How do you do this?! Who are you?!” Kowalski screamed in panic, as he saw the ball being created to attack him.
“Do you think you will even understand the answer to that question?” The boss retorted, turning towards him slowly.
Kowalski’s eyes widened in panic as he stared at the man’s face. His eyes had changed. It no longer looked human.
“Wh-who are you?!” Kowalski shivered as he took a step back, eyes so wide they almost fell off his face. “No, What are you?!”
The man walked towards him, looking like a predator about to attack. “That no longer concerns you. Nothing in this life will concern you anymore after one-minute tops”
“No! no! Stay away from me!” Kowalski screamed in terror as he retreated in fear.
He retreated fast into the wide room they were in, but the man jumped suddenly, almost looking like a tiger attacking its prey, and landed a foot in front of him, his hands moving fast to grab Kowalski by his neck.
A pained panicked scream was ripped out of Kowalski’s throat, because burning heat was emitting from the hands around his neck, spreading through his entire body. “No! Don’t kill me! Don’t”
In his fear and panic, his hands reached towards the man’s face.
In a panicked survival instinct, he gripped the skin of his face, which weirdly came off.
In the next second, Kowalski screamed in pure terror and fear, as he realized in his last moments that his boss wasn’t human.
Not even in the slightest.
***
“You must be wondering why I am here”
Fury started as he walked in the hospital’s garden along with Tony and Castiel, who both were eyeing him carefully.
“Why didn’t you just call us to meet you in Headquarters like always?” Tony asked carefully, looking confused about why he was even here now by himself. “Why did you come yourself? What’s happening?”
“I am afraid it is not safe at the moment to be there, Stark,” Fury answered grimly, a displeased look on his face.
“How is it possible for SHIELD to have safety issues?” Castiel was the one to ask this time, looking like he wasn’t willing to hear any bullshit by now. “It is supposed to be one of the safest places ever, from all the secrets you are keeping there.”
“Yes, that’s how it is supposed to be.” Fury sighed deeply, looking stressed, like he aged ten years somehow. He turned to look at them grimly. “Actually, SHIELD’s firewalls are all being destroyed. We are being hacked.”
“Seriously?” Tony blinked at him, surprised. Supposedly, only Tony can do that, since he was one of the creators of SHIELD’s firewall in the first place, so of course he will be able to hack it, but someone else? Impossible.
“Let me tell you both the story from the beginning.” Fury sat down on a bench, hands wracking together as he gathered his thoughts. “The beginning wasn’t that far. It was actually from a week ago. when one of our space stations reported to us that a small meteor was heading towards Earth and was about to breach the Earth’s atmosphere in a few minutes. So, we tracked that meteor from the moment it breached the atmosphere until it started to fall. It fell in the Arizona Desert, 124 miles away from civilization.”
“All that sounds remotely normal and simple, so far.” Tony pointed out carefully, frowning at Fury. “Even with how rare it is, meteors do enter the atmosphere sometimes if they can overcome the friction with the atmosphere and if remained enough of it it will survive that. Luckily, it landed away from civilization.”
“Yes, things could have been as simple as that, if not for three important points.” Fury looked at him meaningfully, raising three fingers towards him.
“Which is?” Castiel urged, looking both interested and impatient. He became even more done with his life, especially if Dean wasn’t with him. So, he was in a very foul mood.
Fury seemed to catch on Castiel’s mood, so he didn’t waste time in answering his question. “When the scientists traced the fall of the meteor, they noticed that its size remained the same, from the moment it touched the atmosphere until its breach, to its descent. Which didn’t make sense, scientifically.”
“Of course, with friction with the atmosphere, no matter what is it made of, the meteor’s temperature will reach 100 thousand degrees, which will make it disintegrate, making its size and weight decrease by each mile it makes towards the earth,” Tony confirmed Fury’s words, looking focused and interested in all he was saying.
“Exactly. That didn’t happen with this meteor though.” Fury pursed his lips, looking bitter and stressed. “It remained the same size and weight the entire time, which means its material was capable to withstand the friction with the atmosphere and the very high temperature. That doesn’t happen except for Industrial alloys, which is covered with protection cover. Like with spaceships.”
“Wait, you think that meteor is a disguised spaceship?” Tony exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes.
“Not me. that’s what the scientific facts are saying.” Fury shrugged tiredly.
“Not losing its size or weight is not enough reason to indicate that conclusion.” Castiel pointed out, waiting for more information.
“That’s why I said I have three points, not just one.” Fury smiled a little, eyeing the look on Castiel’s face. The angel was certainly pissed, and he couldn’t blame him.
“Then say the second point already.” Castiel narrowed his eyes in annoyance, as Tony patted his shoulder, trying to calm him down to not slit Fury’s throat.
“Secondly, what worried our scientists and experts, is that normally, any body that breaches the atmosphere, its speed should accelerate the closer it gets to earth, due to gravity.” Fury sighed tiredly, shoulders hunched in exhaustion. “But this Freak meteor broke that rule. Its speed remained the same the entire time until it was five miles away from the service, then its speed started to decrease as it landed and disappeared completely from our radars.”
Castiel and Tony shared a look, before turning back to Fury.
“What’s the third point?” Tony asked carefully.
“Thirdly, we found nothing,” Fury announced grimly.
“What does that supposed to mean?” Castiel demanded with a scowl.
“It means, when we sent a team towards the place where the meteor had landed, we found no trace of it. Even in a circle of 100 meters radius. We found nothing.”
“That means either it disintegrated before it reached the earth, which is not likely at all, logically and scientifically,” Castiel stated with a shake of his head, disregarding that option.
Tony’s brain immediately started to work, frowning as he thought hard about this. “It most likely, the moment it almost reached the ground, it changed course and flew parallel to the ground on a very low height, to avoid the radars, until it vanishes somewhere else.”
“Exactly, that’s the mentality I have been missing.” Fury smiled, trailing his eyes between them both. “A logical, deductive, analytical mentality, with active, bold imagination, that can trace the evidence, even if it defied logic and reality.” Then he sighed and continued in frustration. “And that’s what I am missing with everyone else. No one of them can read between the lines. They can’t see the bigger picture. They can’t think outside the box.”
He stood up and faced the both of them firmly, straightening up to his full height. “Which means I have made a mistake.”
“What mistake?” Castiel tilted his head at him in confusion.
“I childishly tried to keep you away from this situation. I tried to act like we didn’t need the Avengers to deal with everything. That we can handle this on our own. We tried to keep you away from this. Even when you were attacked, I tried to take it away from you. I was mistaken. We will always need you, Avengers.” Fury announced firmly, eyeing the both of them meaningfully.
Castiel and Tony looked at him blankly for a few seconds, before Castiel sighed and looked away, while Tony laughed bitterly.
“That’s nice of you to say, but as you can see, our team is in no condition to be needed at the moment.” Tony shook his head bitterly, a pained look on his face. “It is just the two of us right now.”
“I am so sorry for your team, Tony. Castiel.” Fury looked at them sadly, knowing what they must be feeling. “I sent orders to put your team under the care of our best doctors and experts, to study their condition, care for them, and find a way to help them. but most importantly,” He frowned, looking at them seriously. “Our experts think that what happened to your team is the first step to a big plan made by a spy, who came here on that meteor spaceship.”
“A plan? To do what?” Castiel asked in worry, knowing the answer, but not wanting to say it.
“A plan to invade us,” Fury said what they were afraid to voice out loud. “They are starting with you, to clear the way for an invasion.”