Boots on the Ground

“You coming?” Maria asked Fury as she headed to the door with Talos and Fury shrugged.

“Maybe in a bit.” Fury was also concerned and he took the things Maria said before to heart.

“Do you think it’s a good idea for me to go to a bar in Moscow and for you to go drink with a head injury?” Fury questioned, Maria was the one always questioning everyone else’s choices, Fury figured he could do the same to her.

“No. It’s not a good idea, but we’re not the good idea gang. We’re like Scooby-Doo rejects over here so… I guess we can just do what we want.” Maria shrugged and Talos really laughed. Talos couldn’t help it. Fury glared at Maria trying not to crack a smile at that joke. Maria wasn’t sure if Fury was going to join them or not but at this point she didn’t really care. All she knew was she was definitely fired from work, and probably had a whole lot of problems waiting for her—and she liked this job and she gave it up for Fury. So now she was going to get herself a drink with they very little money she had left on her person, in the clothes she had been wearing for days now.

// \\ \\ // \\ //

Meanwhile…

After G’iah brought the bags back to the safe house. She took longer than expected as she needed some time to decompress from the news she got from Talos. She gave the bags to Gravik who looked pleased despite the delay.

“What took so long?” Gravik asked.

“I was waiting on Poprishchin.” G’iah shrugged like it was nothing.

“Did anyone follow you?”

“No, but someone was waiting.” G’iah answered confidently. It didn’t appear Gravik suspected anything happened.

“Good, you did well.” Gravik praised but G’iah didn’t look as happy as Gravik thought she should.

“You know, maybe we should delay the plans.” G’iah suggested.

Pagon scoffed.

“And why would I do that?” Gravik asked

“It might not be the right time.” G’iah mumbled.

“What would you know about the right time?” Gravik and Pagon laughed at her.

“I don’t.” G’iah said quietly.

Gravik looked down at G’iah like she was a child.

“You did one thing right, maybe don’t assert yourself just yet.” Gravik suggested with a snicker.

G’iah and Pagon exchanged glances and then G’iah left to go think on her own in the safe house. Brogon, Pagon, and Gravik all talked without her, but G’iah listened from the hall outside the doorway of the room they were all speaking in. Gravik explained his plan for three of them to be carrying the bags into the event and place them in three distinct areas. Gravik would detonate the bombs remotely from far enough way to get out quickly.

As G’iah listened to this plan be concocted she thought about what Talos said to her, that her mother died trying to stop this and here she was delivering what Soren died trying to prevent. G’iah felt guilty and emotional, a painful lump developed in her throat. A wave of regret rushed over her, she should have handed the bombs to Talos or let that woman take them. She could have just failed and this all could be over for her. G’iah didn’t want Gravik to think she couldn’t be useful. Talos had failed to gain a homeland for the skrulls, but G’iah could fight for them. She wanted to fight for her people.

As G’iah thought about where she stood and what she wanted she tried not to cry. She wanted a home but what would that home mean if she couldn’t be with the people she loved? All she wanted was what she thought was normal for her life just once. That was something she knew was worth fighting for, and Gravik was finally giving her something to do to help further cause.

G’iah had a realization… if Gravik killed her mother what world was he really making for the skrulls? Would Gravik be willing to kill more skrulls just so he could lead? G’iah supported Gravik’s mission to create a homeland for the skrulls but she didn’t really agree with mass annihilation of humans even as she turned over the fuel to Gravik that could ultimately end countless human lives. The regret G’iah felt as she replayed the conversation with Talos in her mind was overwhelming. She felt chills prickle her skin all over her human form. She could feel the sorrow of Soren’s disappointment and shock in her actions.

Shortly after G’iah expended these emotions, Gravik ran into the stone faced G’iah sulking in the safe house.

“What are you moping about? You should be thrilled you proved yourself finally.” Gravik huffed at her.

“I did something for you.” G’iah stated with a frank tone and Gravik was pleased with that statement, she did something for him. That was an important distinction that he appreciated G’iah understood.

“When you do things for me you help our cause.” Gravik spoke in a mentoring tone.

“I know.”

“Are you unhappy doing things for me that further our cause?” Gravik asked with a bit of skepticism, truthfully, he doubted G’iah’s loyalty until she delivered today.

“Did you kill my mother?” G’iah asked bluntly, daringly.

Gravik paused as he was surprised.

“Where did this come from?”

“I’ve always wanted to know.” G’iah lied.

“What is there to know?”

“Did you kill my mother?” G’iah repeated again.

“Your mother got in my way and she was a traitor to the cause. I kill traitors, and I kill those who get in my way. So it seems like a logical conclusion. And if you do the same, then the same thing will happen to you.” Gravik threatened.

G’iah glared at Gravik.

“Do we have a problem?” Gravik asked.

“Do you not trust me?” G’iah questioned hiding her anger.

“I trust fewer people than I have fingers on my hand. Do you think, you with a traitor mother and a traitor father make that list?” Gravik asked.

Gravik was such a child, that’s all G’iah could see in him, but she was going to play on his ego.

“You must see something in me, you wanted me here.” G’iah spoke softly with an unthreatening tone.

“I asked you to carry a bag because a girl carrying a bag down the street doesn’t raise any concern.” Gravik rolled off.

“You could shape shift into any woman and do that, so could any of us.” G’iah called his bluff.

“You’re right, that's obvious bullshit. You say you want to be out here fighting, supporting this cause, and I wanted to give you the chance to be essential to me.”

“Because it would piss off my father?” G’iah asked skeptically.

“Well, that’s just a bonus for me.” Gravik smirked.

“You’re with me or you’re not. Do you understand?” Gravik spoke sharply and G’iah nodded.

“Please don’t hold the actions of my parents against me. I’m here to prove myself.” G’iah clarified her stance.

“Good. Don’t let me down.” Gravik warned in a deep tone and G’iah nodded that she understood. As Gravik left G’iah narrowed her gaze at him leaving. She heard Brogon and Pagon laughing in the other room as she watched Gravik leave.

G’iah knew she was never going to be taken seriously, her thoughts or ideas were not going to be considered in this rebellion. Gravik was just using her as a pawn. He would never listen to her warning or her thoughts. In fact, he would kill her if she ever stepped in his way and he was quick to make her know that for sure. She tried to tell Gravik to change his plans and he laughed at her.

G’iah thought to herself that maybe she should make her own plan.

\\//\\//\\//\//\/

Talos walked Maria to the bar but they didn’t say much. Maria thought Talos was uncharacteristically quiet, and she internalized the blame the group equally felt for messing up and turned it on herself.

“I’m the one who messed up.” Maria admitted. She had the bag in her hand and she lost it. She couldn’t get over it. She wanted to blame Fury and Talos for taking too long to get there but really she knew it was her fault, really.

“No. I know she looked small but skrulls they’re just a lot stronger than humans. She could have killed you.” Talos didn’t want Maria to feel bad, she was just a human it wasn’t a fair match up, and really he’s the one who should have shot the girl on sight but he didn’t just like Maria didn’t.

“She told me, ‘I know you’re not going to shoot me because you’re not a shoot first kind of person, I know people like you and they always die because they don’t take their shot.’” Maria sighed.

“Well. I didn’t take a shot and I lived, and so did you. She just made you doubt yourself.” Talos pointed out with a shrug and Maria nodded.

“It worked, it wasn’t even for a second, and it worked.” Maria sighed.

“We’re good at mind games like that.” Talos shrugged.

Maria and Talos entered a local bar. They were unnoticed by the patrons. They sat in the back corner booth of the bar, their table had an old chess game out.

“Do you play chess?” Talos asked.

“Do you want to play?” Maria bit her bottom lip as she didn’t confirm or deny if she played wondering if she could bait Talos into a game.

“I’ve had enough of losing to you.” Talos laughed at Maria.

“You’re never going to win against me if you don’t try.” Maria baited.

“Yeah, you know… I know that works on the old man Fury but it won’t work on me.” Talos joked. Maria smirked and a laughed a little.

“I’m getting us one drink each and then I’m done.” Talos sighed as he got up and went to the bar. Maria played with the chess pieces by herself.

Unbeknownst to Maria and Talos a shapeshifted Gravik entered into the pub. Gravik had someone watching where Fury was staying and he followed Maria and Talos to the bar, Gravik took over after he was done with his chat with G’iah. He sat at the bar so not to be suspicious. Gravik saw Talos buy two beers, cheap beers, Gravik rolled his eyes at that. Cheap old skrull, Gravik thought to himself. Gravik noted Fury’s absence as Talos walked back to the corner booth with Maria.

“Do you think he’s going to show?” Maria asked as she took her beer from Talos. When Maria left the safe house she told herself she didn’t care if Fury came or not, but some part of her was disappointed. Maybe it was good though, if Fury took some time to reflect.

Talos shrugged, he was also dealing with the heartbreak that this new Fury brought about.

“Don’t wait around.” Talos sighed because he really wasn’t sure.

Talos really needed to decompress about what happened today. He wondered if he could still convince G’iah to turn the bombs over to him. He hoped G’iah wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t get to her. Talos believed since G’iah didn’t kill him or Maria when she had the chance some of her was still left. Talos had a lot he wanted to discuss but Talos couldn’t talk about this with Maria. Despite their many years of knowing each other, he just felt she’d go into a strategic mode and he didn’t want to talk strategy when it came to his daughter. Maria already struggled to trust Talos when he first showed up, if he didn’t dive into how to fix this with her when he brought it up, Talos really wondered if she would still trust him. Talos just knew that adding a family matter into this already complex issue with Fury and Maria and everything going on would make it so much harder to navigate. He could get to G’iah on his own, he just needed to get to her.

As Maria and Talos sipped their beers they chatted about nothing. As Gravik eased dropped all he could think about is that these were two miserable sidekicks propping up the ghost of Nick Fury.

After Talos finished his drink he started to get ready to leave, getting ready to get up.

“Are you going to be alright on your own?” Talos asked and Maria laughed at his question.

“Is that a serious question?” Maria looked at Talos a bit shocked he even asked that.

“Whatever you read into that is wrong.” Talos said assuring Maria he meant it in a general way and not anything about her being a woman drinking alone in the middle of the night at a Moscow dive bar with a head injury—which he thought was a legitimate concern.

Maria just glared at him.

“Give me a break! I’m a husband and a father.” Talos muttered jokingly, okay he was lying he meant it in the way Maria called him on. But Talos couldn’t help it, he was once married to someone who spent awhile looking like Maria and Maria did just get hurt at the hands of his daughter.

“I’ll be fine.” Maria mumbled confidently.

“I’m sure.” Talos assured as he stood up to go, but then he sat back down quickly and Maria looked surprised.

“You know, you’re so worried that Fury’s the one who won’t come back but did you ever think that maybe you’re the one who wants to go from whatever bonds you had before, but you don’t want to be the first one to leave?” Talos shrugged as he offered his unsolicited thoughts on Fury and Maria’s relationship.

Oh god, old man ‘wisdom.’Maria thought to herself.

“Maybe.” She shrugged and she hadn’t really taken in Talos’s words yet. Talos figured Maria just blew off the thought he offered her but as he left Maria really did think about what Talos said. She sat there alone looking at her almost empty drink and really thought about what Talos just said to her.

Talos was in a similar position with Fury himself, he understood it better than anyone, so he wasn’t just really giving Maria old man wisdom. Maybe Talos was right, she had commitment issues for her own reasons but she was never not committed to Fury, in fact he took up a great deal of her life and she was truly deep down afraid of him leaving her even if she never wanted to say those things out loud or think about them. She had worked with Fury so long, they knew personal details about each other, secrets, they knew each other’s families. Maria would do anything for Nick, but had really become apparent to her that Nick would not do anything for her, it got to a point that he couldn’t even be bothered to respond to her.

Maria shouldn’t bother to resurrect this old relationship she had with Fury, it was impossible now anyway. Maria didn’t want the same thing they had before anyway, but in a weird way she craved the familiarity of it and the changes their relationship had experienced over the last few years were negative. Maybe Talos was right, Maria framed it like Fury left and that hurt her, but really maybe Maria was the one who needed to leave but was afraid to do it. It sucked to have this introspective right now in this moment and she couldn’t think about it too much.

As Maria sat alone in the back corner of the bar thinking about what Talos said to her Gravik stared at her. He overheard what Talos said and he couldn’t help but think that was good advice. There was nothing in their conversation that made Gravik think anything happened with G’iah or the bomb sale, in fact, Gravik was happy things went off without a hitch. He wondered if Fury and friends were really a great deal farther behind than he initially believed.

Then a burst of cold air entered the pub as Fury let himself in and went over to the bar. Gravik in his shape shifted form stared at Fury right in his eyes. Fury looked so old and weak, defeated like he was nothing as he stood at the bar cold from the bitter Moscow air.

“You’ll never be the man you once were.” Gravik scoffed at Fury in Russian confidently.

Fury understood what Gravik said but he just looked at him with a blank stare pretending he didn’t.

He ordered himself a drink and one for Maria too, and then one Gravik as the old Russian man who just scoffed in his face. Gravik took the drink and raised it to Fury and Fury tipped his glass back to Gravik, unsuspecting. Gravik was giddy inside as the exchange happened.

“Friends of yours?” Maria asked as Fury found her and sat down across from her handing her the shot he just ordered.

“In Moscow, everyone’s a friend if you buy them a drink.” Fury joked and Maria cheered their shots. Fury downed his in one, Maria had to do it in two and Fury laughed.

“In two?” Fury asked her jokingly disappointed. Maria glanced over at Fury and rolled her eyes with a smirk.

Fury looked at the two empty beer glasses on the table with Maria.

“Where’s Talos?” He asked.

“He went on a walk.”

“It’s really cold.”

“It can’t be colder than space.” Maria added.

“It might be.” Fury raised a brow at Maria. And Maria tried not to roll her eyes.

“Why? Because you didn’t get the welcome back reception you think you deserved?” Maria asked. She gave him a hug she welcomed him back, she picked him up!

“I think I got exactly the reception I deserved.” Fury nodded.

Maria nodded in agreement. She didn’t apologize, maybe she was harsh but Fury needed to hear those things and there was a lot more for him to hear too.

Maria and Fury stared at each other quietly and didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“Why are you looking at me like I’m a dying dog being put out to pasture?” Fury asked her.

“I’m not.” Maria shook her head no.

“Mmm..” Fury grunted.

“I just don’t think you’re ready for this right now.” Maria admitted rather quietly.

“You called me, I’m here.” Fury pointed out, in a rather hopeful tone to signal there was some good will between them. She obviously did think Fury could do something if she reached out to him. Unless, Sonya was right he was just a last resort.

Maria made a face that Fury wasn’t expecting and it shocked Nick.

“I wasn’t going to.” Maria admitted and that shocked Nick, but he didn’t know why, he left her on read a lot, he didn’t return any of her calls, he left without her. And they had issues in their relationship before then too.

“Why did you?” Fury did what to know her answer, he had to hope it was because she believed he could do this, even a little.

“I called because Talos asked me to.” Maria admitted kind of ashamed of herself but it was true. She didn’t think would answer her. It was a bit like a shot to the chest for Fury to hear for real that Maria only called because Talos asked her to and not because of any good faith that existed between them anymore.

“Talos knows how to call me.” Fury pointed out because he started not to buy this explanation from Maria.

“And I’m sure he gets forwarded to your voicemail as much as I do.” Maria looked at Fury and he sighed. Fury thought it was time to move on from this, he answered now, he was here now. Maria was getting too hung up on things in the past and that’s why he thought their relationship became strained and complicated.

“Well, maybe you didn’t need to call me. You’re calling all kinds of shots now.” Fury said with a little shrug. Maybe Maria’s instinct not to call him initially was right. At least Fury thought Maria seemed to think so after today.

“I called shots before, too.” Maria mumbled shaking her head like this was no different than before.

“I’m glad at least one of us still has some confidence.” Fury laughed to himself

“Maybe yours will rub off on me and I can make good decisions like you.” Fury rattled off looking to the side.

“I don’t know that mine are good, but I do know what you’ve been doing has been wrong, bad even.” Maria said without a hitch although it actually was hard for her to tell Nick Fury these things. But she didn’t understand how to get him on the same page and realize what she was seeing.

“You think I should just go back up to space and go back to ignoring my calls?” Fury tried to joke but Maria wasn’t really having it at this point.

“Your many calls?” Maria emphasized with a pretty harsh glare.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Fury didn’t apologize but he knew what he said was wrong especially when the people he said it to were Maria and Talos.

“Yeah.” Maria agreed.

“Are you going to stop being mad at me?” Fury asked, surprised he was even asking this question to Maria, he just never thought Maria could be this mad at him. Like their relationship was beyond petty grievances or this type of tension.

Maria gave Fury a little side eye as she quiet and she thought about it.

“You basically green lit someone using my identity without even telling me and it got my friend killed, you ignored me for years, and now you don’t even want to hear about it, so, I don’t know.” Maria said quietly she was still upset about this.

Fury thought Maria’s feelings on this were kind an attenuated link back to Soren impersonating her last summer but as Maria saw Prescod’s work she could tell the reason he didn’t tell her was because he didn’t trust her, and that’s why he called Ross instead. Maybe he would have always called Ross, she had no idea, really and Fury was right it was not a perfect chain of events or anything — but that was the final straw for her. It wasn’t okay and the consequences of it were severe.

“You said you wanted a break.” Fury tried to reason.

“No.” Maria said sharply and a surprisingly harsh tone that she never used on Fury. Maria and Fury paused from the shock of it, she softened her expression because she did tel Fury after the blip when things became strained between them that she wanted a break.

“Sorry, yeah I did say that, and I did want a break, but that’s not an appropriate response to my concern.” Maria clarified in a much nicer calmer voice.

Fury sighed.

“You’re right.” Fury offered, he didn’t apologize but he acknowledged it somewhat.

Maria just stared at Fury a bit intensely.

“I”m sorry!” Fury exclaimed with a with laugh to mask and frustration and with a shrug as he was uncomfortable with the tense situation.

“No.” Maria shook her head she did not accept that.

“Woman, what do you want from me?” Fury asked taking a sip of his beer now. He couldn’t tell if Maria was a disappointed daughter with his abandonment or a resentful wife—but she had elements of both and it was hard to navigate.

“Definitely not a fake ‘I’m sorry’ shouted out of frustration to move on from an awkward situation and escape any accountability.” Maria called Fury out again. He was getting sick this, if only because she was right.

“I don’t know what you want me to do. I answered, I apologized, I’m here.” Fury had felt he had really done all he could do.

“And I’m here, too.” Maria pointed out, and she didn’t need some prize for it either.

“Yeah and you’re making it really fun for me.” Fury joked.

“Good.” Maria snarked at him. He was a bad friend, he did bad things, and he didn’t get to get off of them scott free.

“You hold me to too high of a standard and that’s why nothing I say is good enough to fix things, because it’s too hard for you to accept that I’m just like the rest of the people who leave in your life, just another person who disappoints you.” Fury offered but Maria laughed at him which surprised because he thought it was right on the money here. He wasn’t far off.

“Uh first of all, it sounds like you hold yourself too high of standard and before we go down into the depths of no return with this friendship, I just want you to think about that you just said answering the phone was too high of a standard for you to meet.” Maria called out Fury’s bullshit again. Truly the man was a bullshit artist a lot of the times, the speeches just didn’t work on her, she was around him too long.

“Because I didn't want to disappoint you.” Fury replied trying to save himself, and it was part of what he truly believed.

“When has showing up ever disappointed me? You didn’t want to disappoint yourself. C’mon, man.” Maria looked over to the bar for a minute and then back at Fury who sat slouched across from her.

Yep. Maria was clearly, right on the money. Fury nodded in total agreement. He was exactly what Sonya described, a ‘let down.’ He worried about how he was perceived by Maria but in mostly he knew was the most disappointed that he was letting down himself, not Maria or Talos or the skrulls. He wasn’t even who he thought he was.
.
“I am sorry, truly for what happened between us before. I made decisions for you not because I thought you’d be okay with them but because I thought I could. I took advantage of your friendship and trust and I know it cost us a lot. It is costing me something I thought I would always have.” Fury explained sincerely. He genuinely thought trust with Maria was something that would never waiver and yet here it was on its last limbs.

“I was having a crisis of faith or confidence or something. I was’t thinking they wanted to, I don’t know.” Fury took a pause as he thought about the sincere and rather deep admissions he was making to Maria. She was probably the best person to tell, she blipped too, she had her own experiences with this. Fury grasped the black queen chess piece on the bar table between himself and Maria as he talked, rolling it in his hand anxiously.

“I am back, though, I want to be back, I mean.” Fury admitted. As he placed the queen back down on the board and looked at Maria to make a move. Maria took the cue and moved a white pawn forward.

“It’s terrible when us humans go through the spectrum of all of our awful emotions.” Maria said supportively.

“And the existential crises.” Fury added, appreciating the lighter mood and banter.

“You think they’d have made a pill for that.” Maria smirked.

“Yeah, they do, Xanax..” Fury laughed and Maria smirked and shook her head.

“How’s your mom?” Fury asked changing the subject quickly while things were lighter and not so tense.

“I think she’s thrilled I’m out of her house, but not thrilled I’ve been in Europe for almost a year.” Maria shrugged.

“Have you talked to…” Maria started to ask about Priscilla and Fury immediately shook his head no. Maria tried to hide a grimace but Fury noticed.

“I know, I’m in trouble. I thought doing this with you was bad, but with her? Should I get her a gift?” Fury shook his head, he couldn’t imagine having to redo this conversation again with Priscilla.

“Absolutely not.” Maria shot Fury down quickly.

“Not even a little gift?”

“Just talk to her like she’s an adult you love and respect even though you did something wrong..” Maria shook her head, was this so hard?

Fury nodded.

“That’s good advice.” Fury mumbled.

“Thank you.” Maria joked and she looked down at the board with her opening move undressed.

“Are you going to move?” Maria asked and Fury looked down at the board too. Then he looked at Maria he did prompt her to go and he hadn’t even thought about what was going to do.

“I don’t know…” Fury paused as he looked at the board he had so many moves he could make and he knew which ones Maria expected.

“You’re not three steps ahead?” Maria asked surprised.

“I think I am going to play this game one step at a time.” Fury mumbled and Maria looked taken back.

“Oh yes, the well known chess strategy of having no plan at all.” Maria laughed.

“Against you, that might be a good one.” Fury joked.

“Do you want to play poker instead?” Maria teased and Fury really laughed at her.

Gravik eavesdropped on the conversation as much as he could hear anyway. He thought Hill and Fury looked rough, tired, old. From what he could tell the two were reconciling their relationship. Didn’t Fury have more pressing matters than this? Gravik always knew Fury cared about some of his relationships more than others, it was impossible for Gravik to compete for the prime mental real estate of being Fury’s chosen child like Hill had been. Gravik never thought Hill appreciated it, anyway. He called her 'Shrill Hill' behind her back and Hill was so deranged she probably wouldn’t even think of it as an insult. Gravik sighed to himself as it seem like Hill forgave and moved on with Fury’s mistreatment. Gravik thought Hill was weak, of course she would forgive him and move on. She was so desperate for approval from a father figure like Fury. Gravik was so blinded by his own ego he could reflect that he was projecting his feelings onto Hill.

Gravik watched Fury and Hill move from tense body language to more relaxed as they chatted and played chess. The Sicilian Defense, that was Hill and Fury’s opening moves. Of course they moved pawns first. They didn’t even know the jokes that they were, thinking they were still in this game. Gravik laughed to himself as he hyper focused on Hill and Fury in the corner.

After awhile of Maria and Fury finding some normalcy in their relationship again while playing this overly nuanced chess game, Maria sat back confidently leaning against the booth bench.

“Check.” Maria said glaring at Fury.

Fury looked down at the board.

“Oh, yeah.” He tossed a captured chess piece in his hand thinking of what to do for a moment.

“If you can’t beat a probably concussed drinking woman, then we are really in trouble.” Maria mumbled.

“Wait, are you’re gunning for me?” Fury joked.

“Well, that is the point of this game…” Maria gave Fury a look

Fury moved his king out of check.

Maria moved again.

“Check.” She said as the looming checkmate lingered over Fury’s crown.

“This is painful.” Fury droned. Maria didn’t want to say anything but it was pretty bad, dismal even.

“What do you think I should do?” Fury asked Maria.

“Oh like 8 moves ago…” Maria started to explain where Fury went so terribly wrong in this match.

“No, no, no. What should I do now.” Fury shut it down he knew exactly what Maria was going to say he messed up bad.

“Surrender gracefully, I guess.” Maria shrugged and Fury laughed.

“Is that what you would do?” He asked.

“No, because 8 moves ago I would have…” Maria started to explain and Fury groaned at her jokingly.

“It’s no good for me to look backwards.” Fury whined.

“That’s how you learn…” Maria shrugged.

Fury had almost no options, Maria could chase him around in check or he could move right into a checkmate. Fury decided to take Maria’s initial suggestion and he moved his king into the worst spot onto the board. And Maria glared at him.

“No reason to suffer.” He shrugged with a little grin. Maria shook her head at him she tried not to grimace.

“You going to say it?” Fury asked waiting for Maria end this game officially. Maria was really quiet, she was a bit disappointed with this match. It was clear Fury wasn’t quite there despite him wanting to be back.

“Checkmate..” She mumbled quietly, it was not a victory she wanted to celebrate, in fact she almost never celebrated any win she had a real quiet way of gloating that some people found smug but Fury knew she wasn’t doing that now.

\\//\\//\\\////\\\///

November 3, 2025
1:01 AM Moscow

G’iah left the safe house undetected, she transformed herself and a disgruntled old looking woman as she wondered the streets of Moscow thinking. She had been so close to her father for the first time in a very long time. She wanted to see him again. She tried so hard to make New Skrullos her home but it never felt like home to her despite her efforts.

A cab pulled to the side of the road where G’iah was waiting. She didn’t know why but she felt drawn to it and she went over and opened the door and got in. A gruff looking Russian man was driving but G’iah could sense who it was. G’iah and Talos had a connection that went deeper than species, they were family. Despite G’iah and Talos both knowing who was who they were quiet as he drove G’iah far away from where she was incase she was being followed.

“Can you take me to Chamberlain Lane?” G’iah asked.

“Sure, love.” Talos said in his thick Russian accent that made G’iah laugh to herself. Talos drove to Chamberlain Lane a historical district in Moscow and pulled the cab off to the side of the road where they could see no one had followed them.

G’iah started to get out of the cab.

“You have to pay the fare.” Talos joked and G’iah looked at him like she didn’t think he was very funny.

G’iah shape shifted back into her usual human form as did Talos as they hid in the alley.

“Are you alright?” Talos asked in a fatherly way.

“Are you alright?” G’iah asked back as she noticed the black eye she gave her own father.

“You didn’t happen to bring those bags back?” Talos asked and G’iah shook her head no. Talos tried not to look disappointed in her.

“G’iah…” Talos started.

“I don’t think I can get them back undetected.” G’iah admitted, she had thought about stealing them back and taking them out the safe house.

“Did you ask Gravik about your mother?”

G’iah sighed emotionally and then nodded.

“He said she was a traitor who got in his way.” G’iah admitted.

“Your mother cared about her people more than Gravik cares about anything, including himself.” Talos said hatefully about Gravik.

“I know.” G’iah agreed tearfully.

“I want to see her so bad.” She added. G’iah didn’t know how to contain her grief, she didn’t know how to express her sadness and anger or what to do with these overwhelming emotions.

“I’m sorry.” Talos empathized. He wished he could see Soren again too.

“How did she die?” G’iah asked she didn’t know why she wanted the specifics but Talos was not going to tell her them.

“You disappeared. She died looking for you, fighting off Gravik. Although, I guess she wasn’t too far off from finding you.” Talos said solemnly.

G’iah looked offended, Talos knew that wasn’t what she meant when she asked and it turned G’iah’s grief into anger at Talos.

“You failed us. You promised to lead us and find us a home and you gave up. You failed us!” G’iah shot back trying to hold back tears.

“I know.” Talos agreed. G’iah was shocked by this admission but it didn’t suppress her grief filled rage.

“What if this is the only chance we have left?” G’iah asked trying to reconcile her desperation for a homeland but her distaste for Gravik overall.

“Do you want to come into a home through carnage and bloodshed?” Talos asked.

“No…” G’iah answered and then paused.

“But the truth is, all homes come that way, don’t they? That’s why you failed, it’s why you cannot find us a place to call home, because you won’t fight for it.” G’iah sighed.

Talos paused, it was true what G’iah said, everybody’s home was someone else’s before and those lands were taken by force and violence to make room for others.

“That’s true in many places, maybe every place, but we won’t win those fights and if we tried. Even if we did steal a home through war, there wouldn’t be any of us left to make it a home after.”

“Because you don’t believe in us!” G’iah raised her voice but was still quiet.

“I want us to survive.” Talos emotionally explained.

“And I, and Gravik… and everyone else want us to thrive! Do you see the difference?”

“Gravik is a trigger happy child looking to control not to lead. He’s not a leader and he is not fighting for skrulls. Do you understand the difference?” Talos huffed back at G’iah and G’iah was crying because she did understand this but she had to make her case to her father. He had to know why she left him and Soren and why she went to be with Gravik and the other skrulls.

G’iah covered her face with her hands for a minute.

“G’iah please, we have to stop Gravik, even if you don’t care about the people who will get hurt you have to know if he gets caught if the humans learn about us we’ll have to leave this place too and there will be a great deal of violence against us, once again.” Talos wasn’t sure what to appeal to.

“Gravik is taking the bombs to Vossoyedineiye Square, there’s three. They’ll be in brown backpacks. He’s going to place them around the Unity Day event and set them off around 1 PM. I’ll spray the bags with infrared spray so you can find them.” This was the best G’iah could do, she knew this intel and hopefully Talos could do something with it.

“Thank you.” Talos said sincerely. He couldn’t press her for anymore.

“Don’t go back there.” Talos warned fatherly.
“I have to. If I don’t they might think something is up and try something else.” G’iah explained, and she was right she didn’t want to raise alarm.

G’iah went back to the safe house and while everyone was sleeping she sprayed infrared X’s on the bags Gravik was going to use. Although she didn’t know, Gravik saw her, but he wasn’t sure what she was doing. He knew it wasn’t a coincidence that she was asking about Soren. He also could tell that Talos seemed uneasy and shaken in the bar and Hill and Fury were clearly discussing some kind of disruption today. Gravik didn’t know for sure, but he wondered if G’iah was up to something.

\\//\\//\\///\\//\\//\\//

November 3, 2025
2:10 AM - Moscow
Talos’s Safe house

Talos returned to the safe house Nick was asleep and Talos assumed Maria was also asleep forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to sleep with a head injury. Talos woke Nick up to talk to him. Nick and Talos went into the kitchen to talk and neither of them got Maria.

“I know where Gravik is taking the bombs.” Talos tried to speak quietly to Nick.

“Where? How?” A groggy Nick asked. Talos paused.

“You know I always imaged you slept in a night cap like Scrooge or something.” Talos said looking at the barely awake Fury.

Fury glared at him.

“Did you leave your night hat on the spaceship?” Talos joked.

“I’m going back to bed if you don’t start…” Fury grumbled.

“The woman carrying the bombs, it was G’iah.” Talos finally admitted.

“G’iah…” Fury looked surprised.

“I told her that Gravik killed Soren and she came back and told me he was bringing planning to bomb Vossoyedineiye Square.”

“In the center of Moscow?” Fury asked alarmed

“Tomorrow is a holiday. It’s going to be packed.” Talos added.

Maria could hear Fury and Talos talking from the room she was awake reading in. She had kind of an aggressive conversation with Nick but it seemed like it turned out okay in the end. They were just friends talking. She was trying to help him, and she wanted to air her grievances too, even though she knew it wasn’t the right time. She didn’t come out of the room for a few minutes as she eavesdropped on them. This was unnatural for her to do to Fury but she had to figure there was a reason they didn’t want her to be a part of this conversation.

“Did she tell you where the bombs are?” Fury asked.

“There’s three, she’s going to mark the three bags they’re in with infrared spray so we can find them before he places them in the square. She said that was the best she could do.” Talos shrugged, it was better than nothing.

“So we have to hunt for bags in the crowds…” Fury mumbled, this was a rough plan even for Talos.

“We’ll have to figure that out fast.” Talos shrugged.

Fury was relieved to know something, it was better than nothing.

“It’s not going to work.” Maria said from the doorway and the two of them were unclear of how long she had been standing there but clearly it was enough for her to overhear this makeshift plan.

“It has to work.” Talos said back looking over his shoulder.

“We couldn’t even grab one bag from one skrull in a tunnel, today. This is the same plan we just did… and we failed.” Maria pointed out, Maria looked at Fury. He needed to back her up on this, Maria new she was right.

“How are we going to grab three bags from three different skrulls in crowds of thousands?” Maria asked these two men who excluded her, intentionally or unintentionally she didn’t care she was making herself known.

Fury and Talos were just quiet because these were legitimate concerns to have.

“We can do it.” Fury assured and Maria looked offended. Did Fury even listen to anything she just sat at the bar?

“And even if we get the bags, what’s to stop Gravik from blowing us and everyone near us to bits when we take them? I can’t run faster than a detonator, can you?” Maria asked and neither Talos or Fury answered her.

“These concerns are valid but this is all we have, it’s the best we can do with what we know.” Talos justified.

“No it’s not. It’s the worst we can do, it’s one step above not showing up at all.” Maria corrected Talos quickly.

“How did you get this information?” Maria asked, she actually heard them talking about G’iah and she did remember that was Talos and Soren’s daughter. Maria wasn’t stupid she could put two and two together.

“I have a source.” Talos answered as he starting to get irritated with Maria.

“Does your source know where the bombs are, now?” Maria questioned in an obvious tone and Talos knew what Maria was getting at.

“It’s my daughter, the source is my daughter.” Talos answered sharply to maybe warn Maria to cool off this type of questioning.

“Is that a yes?” Maria asked in a curt tone and Maria and Talos glared at each other. This was exactly why Talos didn’t want to tell Maria about G’iah. Maria already knew something was up and she called Talos on it quickly. The strategist general in him knew Maria was right but the father in him despised it.

“She gave us the intel, we can stop Gravik if we get the bags before they place them tomorrow in the square.” Talos said sternly.

“No. We can stop Gravik if we get those bombs back, now, tonight, with help.”

“That could get G’iah killed.” Talos shot back at Maria.

“She could killed by one of the three bombs, she could get killed if someone else finds her where they are at now if it is not us, she could get arrested and killed by the Russians as a terrorist, tomorrow!” Maria pointed out the clear problem with Talos’s line of logic.

“If she’s really on our side now, you need to get her back and she needs to tell you where they are holding those bombs now and we need to call Sonya and get them before those weapons get out into the world and kill a whole lot of people. If we control it we can help G’iah, if we don’t, then we can’t.” Maria argued. Why couldn’t these men see this, this is like control management 101.

“I don’t really like what you’re implying.” Talos said in a surprisingly stern tone to Maria as he focused on the ‘if she’s really on our side’ part and not the how save her life part and this made Maria throw her hands up in the air at him.

“I don’t really like the way you are thinking.” Maria repeated the tone right back.

“If you don’t want to help then leave, what are you afraid of? Why are you really here?” Talos asked Maria directly and it was clear he was really referencing the conversation from the bar and not what was happening right now and Maria resented it.

“To keep you two dying and getting a whole lot of other people hurt and killed in the process.” Maria rattled off as if it was obvious and her tone was very irritated now.

“You two need to stop. ” Fury said in a deep warning tone. They needed Maria and for more reasons than they needed her to grab one of three bags. Fury already wasn’t thinking straight, now Talos clearly wasn’t on his game as he was blinded by emotion, and this was pushing Maria over the edge as she no had no one to turn to for reason. Maria did resent getting a father-Fury style warning to stop arguing.

There was a tense silence between everyone for a moment.

Maria wasn’t trying to be adversarial, she was trying to help them save G’iah and lots of innocent people, but this was literally the same plan they just failed at miserably and with a lot higher stakes.

“What if we call in a bomb threat? We could get the event shut down. We can get an untraceable phone.” Maria proposed.

“Then they’ll take the bombs to some other event that we won’t know of and have no chance.” Talos dismissed.

“Why can’t G’iah just tell us the new location? So we have more time, and people, and help, and supplies?” Maria asked and Talos was silent.

“All the more reason we need to find out where they are tonight, now, with help and stop them from even getting there tomorrow or out into the world anywhere else.” Maria tried again to see if Talos could see the reason in this.

“They’ll just make new bombs and try again.” Talos shrugged and Maria sighed loudly.

“If the answer to every possible option is going to be ‘they’ll just try again’ why isn’t that the same answer for the plan of us going to the square and somehow taking these bombs away get out of there undetonated and alive? Won’t they just try again if we succeed that way too? How are we sure there’s only even three bombs?” Maria was trying to make Talos and Fury understand how illogical they were acting, but it felt like she was talking to a wall.

This was putting Fury in a really hard place, choosing between Maria and Talos, the things Maria said were right but the points Talos made were important. He already lost Soren, he couldn’t lose G’iah too. The longer G’iah was a mole with Gravik the more danger she was in. There was no guarantee that if they found out where the safe house was tonight and stormed it with Sonya’s help G’iah would safe. It would be very violent and chaotic, but Maria was also right that three bombs going off in a crowd would also be violent and chaotic and could also kill G’iah or any of them.

“Can you try to reach G’iah again?” Fury asked Talos as he decided it was better to try what Maria was suggesting. Talos tried not to feel defeated by Fury inconspicuously siding with Maria in front of him.

“I don’t have any way to contact her.” Talos said sympathetically as he looked at Fury deflated.

“Okay.” Fury said with a sigh and Maria pressed her lips together in the doorway. Maria and Fury exchanged a brief glance and then Maria left, it was no use for her to be frustrated.

As Maria isolated herself in an empty room for a minute she debated reporting in to report the bombing but then she remembered that Val was probably a skrull like Ross. She worried sharing the information she knew would not only out where she and Fury were but potentially it might not even get anywhere and it could really risk her life, Talos’s and Fury’s. Maria didn’t have any contacts at the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (FSB), but she did know Sonya did, and she knew people at the CIA did too. She just didn’t know who at work she could trust and who they could trust with that information. As Maria debated her options she realized she wasn’t in a much better situation than G’iah or Talos. It was just so frustrating to have this information and not able to safely do anything about it. Maria hoped Sonya already knew about it or maybe she would get some intel.

3:41 AM
Moscow
Talos’s Safe House

Maria could tell that Fury and Talos were asleep because she could hear these old men snoring. She sat out at the kitchen table as she backtracked the video on the recording device Fury hid in Sonya’s office. She went all the way back to when Fury first placed it and turned it on to track all the information Sonya already had on Gravik and his rebellions she wanted to see if there any clues they missed or anything that could help them.

But Maria’s attention drifted as she watched the initial conversation between Sonya and Nick. Sonya did not hold back for one second. She said working with Nick was ‘pointless’ for her. Maria knew she should call Sonya, she had information she had to get out to someone and Sonya was already on Gravik’s trail, but when Maria heard what Sonya said to Nick, it pulled at Maria’s emotions too.

Nick could tell from the look on Maria’s face as she heard Sonya tell Nick that the underdogs don’t always win, it’s not like the movies.

“It was a harsh conversation.” Fury said from the doorway echoing Maria’s surprise entrance from earlier. Maria hadn’t even noticed the absence of snoring coming from the other rooms as she was distracted listening.

“You’ve had a lot of those.” Maria remarked and Fury sat down across from her.

“It’s the reception I deserved.” Fury recalled from their earlier conversation at the bar.

Maria stared at Nick for a few moments quietly. Being awake all this time gave her a lot of time to think. She didn’t feel bad for Nick but at the same time she felt something, like he just wasn’t all here and she could tell at the bar that he wasn’t himself. Maria did feel bad though because as she thought about some of the things Nick said to her, she realized maybe he was right and she shouldn’t have dismissed him so quickly. She was acting all knowing, arrogant even as she remembered it, and maybe she should have been more a friend.

Ironically, as Nick thought about the conversation at the bar he appreciated Maria’s candor and directness like it was a sign of true respect and support. He knew it took a lot for her to say those things to him, she was one of the few people in his life who looked at him in the eye and didn’t hold back and told him to shape up.

“I didn’t want to call you because I didn’t think you’d answer, not because I didn’t want to call.” Maria admitted, clarifying what she said at the bar. Fury was right, there was more than she cared to explain when they were talking. Maria knew it wasn’t fair of her to expect Fury to be sincere and genuine if she wasn’t going to do the same in return, even about the stuff that was hard for her admit. She also felt this distinction was important to her especially after she heard Fury say to Sonya that Maria ‘didn’t want to call him’ and he was her ‘last resort.’ Maria thought about that little off hand joke Fury made to Sonya and Talos telling her she was afraid of leaving Nick, there was truth to that.

“But, I can’t have a first call who never answers.” Maria added.

“I know. No one deserves that.” Nick agreed as he sat across from her and he looked tired, exhausted and sad.

“I was just pulling what Sonya had on Gravik already and I heard it, I wasn’t trying to invade your privacy or anything…” Maria tried to explain their relationship was so fragile already the last thing she wanted was Nick thinking she was spying on him.

“I know. I figured.” Fury didn’t seem bothered, he just seemed a little down.

Maria could just feel how tense everything was between her and Fury and now her and Talos. She didn’t want it to be that way but they were not making smart choices and she didn’t know how to get through to them except to be direct and even that wasn’t working.

“With every thing you’ve ever done, every threat you’ve ever fought, protecting everyone, you never faced a single one of those things alone. In fact, you spent a great deal of time and effort making sure no one person faced those threats alone… isn’t this threat on the same level of those ones?” Maria asked, Fury’s reasons to keep this quiet just made no sense to her. So Maria again asked what she first asked him when he came back to earth—why won’t you ask for help.

“It might even be bigger.” Fury shrugged.

Maria just stared at Fury, did he not hear what she was saying. The look on her face really said everything to Fury.

"I thought I was the one having a crisis of faith, but it seems like you are too.” Fury suggested seeing how dismayed Maria was. She always used to have faith in him but he couldn’t blame her if she didn’t anymore. It did break his heart a bit but at some point people moved on.

“No. I can read the writing on the wall. Why can’t you? Talos and I already failed at stealing a bag from a skrull, I don’t want a repeat of earlier. We are not Avengers, we are just people, regular, and admittedly kind of old… people. Sonya is right, we aren’t a match for Gravik and his rebellion…” Maria sighed.

“I don’t know.” Fury admitted he just felt it in his gut that they could do this, that Talos was right and it would work and it would all be okay.

“I just don’t get why you are resisting alternative ideas, safer ones? We can get that event shut down. We know we can trust Sonya, so let’s revamp with her. I know she has an in with some people at FSB she could alert them quietly. This plan, it isn’t a good idea, it is dangerous, and there’s no room for error and…”

“And Scooby-Doo’s rejects make mistakes?” Fury joked a little.

“Yeah, we sure do.” Maria responded confidently and Fury lightly laughed under his breath.

“Sometimes just people are unexpected and just taking a bag is all we need to do. I know you’re worried, but are you getting lost in the strategy of it all? They’ll expect a change of plans, more security, a raid.. but are they going to suspect just three people grabbing the bombs from their hands?” Fury tried to frame this bad idea as a good idea.

“But… Nick… just grabbing the bags and running could literally get us and everyone around us killed instantly. We have no idea if these are remote detonators, and detonators from what distance, if they are pressure based, time based? There is absolutely nothing that would stop Gravik from blowing any of us up the second we grabbed a bag, especially if he saw us. What difference does it make to him, a dead body is a number to him. And, what if we get stopped by Russian police and have bombs on us? Everything about this is wrong and I just know it.” Maria explained there were so many things they had to consider and they just weren’t.

Fury was struck by surprise, he knew they could do this, in fact he was pretty confident in the ability of the three of them to grab some bags and run. Maria felt so strongly the other way and that almost never happened when they worked together—well until after they got back from the blip then it seemed like Maria had a lot more ideas and opinions and feelings about what was right and wrong.

“You’ve always had faith in me before, do you think you can find it just one last time? I know we can do this, but I need someone who believes they can do this. You are right about a lot of things, but can you have faith that we can stop this, that we can do it fast, and right, just like we used to?” Fury asked sincerely and Maria was quiet staring at him as he said that.

“But, you know what? If you’re done and you can’t do that again, that’s okay. Thanks for coming all this way and for everything before. I do miss you, and I am sorry, truly sorry if anything I did ever made you doubt your trust in me. That being said, if you feel that it’s not going to work and it’s wrong, you can call Sonya and tell her what we know and you can go.” Fury shrugged as he echoed a similar speech Maria gave to Fury the first night he was back thanking him and telling him to help or get lost basically but in a kind way. As he did the same to her, it wasn’t lost on her at all.

Fury passed a phone across the table to Maria. Maria looked at the phone and then she stared at him.

“Why does it have to be either, or?” Maria asked after a long pause as she took the phone in her hand.

“I suppose it doesn’t have to be..” Fury shrugged and Maria passed the phone back over to him.

“You need to call Sonya. You need to call Sonya right now and you need to tell her what we know because it doesn’t look like she knows this yet. If you give her something she doesn’t know maybe she won’t think working together is ‘pointless.’” Maria explained, Fury paused as that was actually a pretty good idea.

Fury picked up the phone and he looked at Maria.

“Call Sonya, tell her about tomorrow so she can get people there.” Maria rephrased now making it conditional. She wanted more help with what they were doing and if Fury was going to try and pull on her emotional side she was going to counter with her logical side, plus he got a good benefit from it too. Nick couldn’t be too disappointed that Maria countered his request for her to have faith, but it was certainly reasonable enough, although it did dig at him a little bit.

“If you help us, we can do it.” Fury assured and Maria sighed. It was better for her to help than leave the two of them as she worried they would be fumbling around in the dark with the way things were going if they lived at all.

“Okay.” Maria said quietly, she didn’t sound confident or supportive of Fury, in fact to him it sounded pretty reluctant.

\\//\\\//\\//\\/\\/\\\

November 3, 2025
10:10 AM, Moscow

In the morning, it seemed like Maria had agreed to help Talos and Fury despite her reservations and legitimate concerns. Maria didn’t want to let Fury down, that was always true. Even with everything that had happened she still wanted to be there for him. Fury asked for so much credit for showing up and when Maria pointed out that she showed up too it didn’t seem to mean as much to him as she would have thought, but in the end she just decided it was better to be here with Fury, it was familiar even if it wasn’t the same.

As Maria drove Fury and Talos in the car around the streets of Moscow, they knew in order to succeed at this plan they were going to have to get some things that they did not have.

“Where are we going to get infrared glasses in Moscow?” Fury asked.

“Spies ‘r Us.” Maria answered sternly.

“You don’t have to be sarcastic.” Fury glared at Maria,

“She’s not.” Talos gestured to the screen that Maria pulled up where she had already looked up where to find ‘infrared glasses’ near them, since it’s not like Maria could just ask for resources after disappearing for days.

“Spies ‘r Us, Moscow’s premiere spy gadget store.” Fury read off the screen looking at Maria. Maria’ shrugged.

“Unless you happened to bring some from space…” Maria was being sarcastic that time and Fury smirked a little.

“There was once a time in my life that I ran the most elite spy agency in the world with access to the most cunning technology known to this world.” Fury sighed.

“Yeah? And what happened with that?” Maria asked like she didn’t know and Talos rolled his eyes with a little smirk.

“It turned out to be a bunch of nazis who tried to kill me.” Fury mumbled and Maria nodded.

“That’s right.” Maria said like a confident mother who told her kids not to fuck around and find out.

“And now you shop at Spies ‘r Us, Moscow’s premiere spy gadget store.” Talos added in with a grin.

“Well… you shop there, we’re going hang in the car.” Fury pointed out and Maria nodded at Talos to confirm that he was indeed the one going in.

Talos looked at Maria and Fury like this was a bad idea.

“This is your guys idea.” Maria reminded them.

“I mean, literally though, this part is your idea.” Talos remarked to Maria.

“How do you expect us to see the bags!” Maria huffed frustrated but Talos laughed because he was just pulling her leg.

“This store seems like it might be a little sketchy. Are you sure you want me to go in there and buy things?” Talos asked.

“Oh, no don’t buy it.” Maria said casually and Fury snickered.

“You want me to shoplift, three pairs of infrared glasses?”

“Just two.” Fury had his own.

“And ear pieces.” Maria added to the list.

Talos looked at Fury astonished that Maria was casually telling him to steal stuff from the store.

“You don’t have ear pieces?” Talos looked stunned at Fury.

“We’re traveling a little light.” Fury shrugged. It was true, Fury wasn’t thinking he didn’t bring much with him from S.A.B.E.R. and Maria couldn’t go back to where she was staying without getting caught and have to answer a whole lot of questions.

“That’s a hard working man in there, who loves James Bond and is trying to support his family.” Talos protested.

“It’s a woman and she probably loves the KGB, so fyi watch out. I’m sure she has shrinkage insurance or something. It’s like what? 200 bucks? She’ll be fine, just go.” Maria rolled her eyes

“Were you like one of those kids that robbed the stores at the mall and thought you were cool?” Talos glared at Maria.

“Yep, I stole a lot of shit from Hot Topic. And if a fourteen-year-old girl can do it, you can do it, too. C’mon, hustle. Let’s go.” Maria waved at Talos to get moving and Talos shook his head as he got out of the car He hid an alley and shape shifted before going into a downtown spy gadget store like a complete amateur.

“Hot Topic?” Fury asked and he looked at Maria, he actually didn’t know what that was but had an intriguing name.

“Don’t.” Maria shook her head no and they both laughed a little.

“I didn’t know you were such a skilled shoplifter.” Fury joked.

“If you called Sonya I bet she’d have some stuff we could borrow and we wouldn’t have to do any of this.” Maria looked at Fury.

Maria and Fury then heard yelling of an angry woman as they saw a kid bolt out of the spy store with a woman chasing him shouting ‘thief’ over and over again in Russian. The kid ran into a food court and then another store on the plaza and hid in a crowd as Talos shifted into an old man quickly in a corner undetected. The shopkeeper chased him but couldn’t find the kid she was tracking.

Fury glared at Maria.

“Okay, maybe she doesn’t have insurance.” Maria bit her bottom lip.

“We can pay for it later.” Maria added with a grimace as that scene was a little rough—comedic but also hard to watch. Fury just glared at her.

Talos made his way back to the car in his usual human form as he watched the disgruntled shop owner trek back to her store. He got in the back of the car and he looked pissed at Maria and Fury. It was quiet for a few beats.

“How’d it go?” Fury asked teasing him. Maria laughed. Talos looked annoyed and dismayed at the two of them for making him do this, but since he was making them go along with his risky plan he might as well help them make it work.

“Why couldn’t I have just paid her with cash?” Talos asked a bit out of breath glaring at Maria and Fury.

“Do you have any money?” Maria asked skeptically.

Talos sighed.

“No.” He answered glumly.

“Well, I guess that’s kind of self explanatory then.” Maria shrugged.

Fury chuckled. Despite the moments of humor, Maria was genuinely worried about tomorrow, Talos couldn’t even lift a few things from a store. They were in bad shape.

“Do you guys want a coffee?” Maria asked.

“Are you going to steal it from him?” Talos snarked looking over at the poor man across the street selling things from a coffee cart.

“No. But I can definitely get it for free and nobody is going to chase me.” Maria smirked.

“It’s easier to hustle as a woman.” Talos huffed.

“First of all, no it’s not. Second of all, you can look like any person or being you want, so why you went into a spy store looking like a teenage girl and not a charming handsome man with a female store keeper, is beyond me.” Maria explained Talos mistakes.

“So, I should have gone in as myself?” Talos asked.

“She said charming and handsome, not unkempt and elderly.” Fury joked.

“You said, a fourteen-year-old girl could do it.” Talos questioned.

“Yeah, at the mall, where fourteen-year-old girls shop.” Maria pointed out.

Talos paused.

“It’s possible that I maybe slightly misunderstood this task.” Talos grimaced as he handed Maria a pair of glasses and each of them an ear piece.

“I don’t what you’re talking about, it went great.” Fury laughed.