wrath of the pirate
"IT'S MADNESS! I WANT HIM OUT, NOW!"
"Sir, please, just hear us out!"
That was the kind of chaos Cora woke up to that damned wednesday, it had been just a week since she had taken the cuffs off the god, and the team had gotten used to the trickster parading around the tower, but the outside world still had no idea of the new resident of the Avengers compound
well, until the previous day
Let's rewind a bit.
It was a tuesday, and Cora was on a secret mission, the type of missions she didn't tell the team she was in, the sort of mission that she would get thanks to the intel she got periodically from Heimdall.
Now, how would that be possible? Surely governments, organizations, etcetera would be opposed to the idea of a rogue hero doing whatever the hell she felt like, especially one under the Avengers' wing. That was thankfully, not the case, all thanks to Director Nicholas Fury
You see, she met him after their first big mission, everyone was very worried about her meeting the big boss, what with all her sarcasm, jokes and overall very non-serious and almost irresponsible behaviour.
But it went pretty well.
- - -
"Okay, where is the new one?" Questioned the man as soon as he stepped into the meeting room where Rogers, Stark, Romanoff, Barton and Francis were waiting
"That would be me, Director, pleasure to meet you" she said with her apparently never dying smile, she was smart enough not to make a move on shaking his hand or anything, she just gave him a very childish wave and sat down
"Yeah... pleasure, miss" said the man with an air of superiority and wariness, the other four chaperone heroes were looking at the introduction before them, silently and on edge, fearing that a wrong move from the woman would lead her to a cage, or worse.
"Guys, your thoughts are very loud, why don't you leave so the director and I can have a proper chat" said Cora, more demanding than asking. Fury gave a firm nod and the four scattered away, probably to the security room where they would be able to at least observe the conversation.
"So, miss Francis, what are you? I assume you're not from... around here" said the eyepatched man, sitting directly in front of her
Cora laughed lightly and answered "Well, of course not, given your sources, that's hardly a difficult assumption, Nicholas... or do you prefer Joseph?" Asked the woman teasingly
"I prefer Fury, miss-"
"I'll call you Nickie, but it shall be our secret, I sense you like the whole fear and respect thing you've got going on when it comes to your subordinates" she dismissed, "so tell me, Nickie, what do you need from me?" There was a hint of bewilderment in how the director's lips twitched upwards and his eyes slightly widened, masked to the naked eye.
"We want your story"
"Counteroffer!" she yelled enthusiastically, "I'll tell you just a bit of my story and on top of that, i'll do some missions for you" she said with a toothy smile
"You want to be an agent?" Asked the man, shocked and now unquestionably amused by the woman in front of him
"Yes, Nickie, I have important intel from a friend above the skies, he's a real sunshine, you give me the clear to act upon that intel, and whatever good I do, will have been done under Shield's name"
"So, what? i'm gonna let another alien take care of my planet?"
"Well, you've got Thor, and he's been a dear so far, hasn't he? Apart from the first time he crashed into your planet" she cringed, "consider me an improvement, for example, I have actual decent social skills, I mean, I wouldn't throw cups of empty coffee as a way of asking for a refill, if you know what I mean"
"I very much so know what you mean, miss"
"So we have a deal, Nickie?" Asked Cora wiggling her eyebrows up and down
"Not yet, why do you want to be an agent? You're that big of a good person, being part of the Avengers isn't enough you want to do even more?"
"Where I come from we are trained since we can walk, not for war, it's just in our DNA to fight" she started melancholically, "i've been without a fight for two years, that's why I joined the avengers, but, as it turns out, there aren't weekly alien invasions, so i'm still looking for a way of relieving this ache, you know? Scratch the itch? I figured it's either constantly training without making an impact, or taking advantage of my skills for the better"
The director seemed to take in her words before nodding, "we'll go over the details when you tell me your story, but welcome aboard, Agent...?"
"Agent Coralina, that's the full version of the name, Cora is sweeter though, don't you think?" She blabbed while shaking Fury's hand
"Sure thing, agent Coralina"
And that's how it went, no one but the two knows what happened during that meeting, the security footage of that room was magically destroyed, but at least Cora didn't end up in a cage, so the team took it as a win.
As for the woman, well, she was like the organisation's secret asset. She told Fury, or 'Nickie', who she was, why she was there, ranted a bit about her family drama over ice-cream and pizza, she explained what kind of intel she had and, emphasized the request of keeping her cooperation with Shield on the down low
Fury was a big name, he had connections, important ones, and she had the chance to be on his good side, she definitely needed that kind of ally. He was also trusted by Carol Danvers, so if she said he was trustworthy, Cora had no other choice but to take her word as gospel.
- - -
That's why Cora had been away that tuesday, she was busy taking down a minor enemy that was playing around with gamma radiation, things got out of control very quickly though
She was in the lab retrieving what had been stolen from Shield, and before she knew it, the guys had set off a bomb in the city, Madrid, leaving civilians panicking on the streets.
She could have handled it in a second, but apparently her new 'boss' didn't think so
"The Avengers have been called as backup" announced one of the agents, Coulson on her comms
"Are you kidding me Couls? I had it under control, tell the pirate i'm gonna fucking kill him next time I see him" replied a very angry Cora, who had just sent a wisp of magic around all the scientific equipment to teleport it to the helicarrier and was now making her way down the main street where the commotion was happening
"I'm here as well Coralina, watch your mouth" scolded the director through the device
"Oh, watch my mouth? you watch my mouth, you fucker" and then she started yelling profanities at the director, while she took out the 'bad guys', only stopping when AC/DC started playing out of nowhere
"What the hell is Sabrina doing here, didn't she say she was spending the day in the sanctum?" Stark's muffled and robotic voice sounded from behind his suit's mask
"Yeah, I took a bit of a detour" said Cora with a shrug
Everyone was there in their uniforms, ready for a battle... Everyone
"Wait, what the hell is the greasy god doing here?" Asked Cora with wide eyes upon seeing him there, battle custome on, he even had the horns "Ha, Fury is gonna kill all of you" sang Cora, then tapped her ear piece to catch Coulson's attention on the other side "Hey man, you watching this? He almost killed you didn't he?" She asked still cheerfully, finding the whole thing pretty funny
"Yes, and I'm not so sure if I'm scared or if I wanna get on a quinjet and pay back the favour" confessed a very angry agent
"Oh, c'mon, that was in the past, he is a good guy" The rest of the team eyed her confusedly, she just waved them off and mouthed 'agent stuff' to which the heroes were left even more perplexed, but carried on with the fight nevertheless
"Tell Rogers and Stark that I'm swinging by tomorrow and that they better get their asses ready for my foot" said the director with his usual monotonous tone
"Kinky" giggled the woman before adding "That's what you get for having men as the assigned leaders, if Nat and I were in charge, this wouldn't happen" assured Cora with her playfulness at the maximum
Cora saw the team struggling and sighed, "for earth's mightiest heroes you sure are having a hard time with a little bomb and bad guys in pajamas"
She put an end to the battle, purple magic surrounded the still standing members of the terrorist group, leaving them in handcuffs, and another explosion of lilac engulfed the chaotic city, putting it back to how it was before the bomb had gone off. Thankfully the whole ordeal ended casualty-free and they were able to go home
"Well, that's a wrap, see you at home" Cora said opening a portal and jumping through, leaving the rest to go back in the quinjet
The group looked at each other and after a second two purple rings began forming under two members of the group.
Shortly after, the two fell through the portal and waited to crash against a hard surface, instead, they landed on soft mattresses in the middle of the common room in the tower
"I couldn't leave my favourites behind, sorry, next time i'll ask before teleporting you... anyways, Brooklyn 99 marathon?" Asked Cora from her chair close to the TV (which was in fact ready to watch the american sitcom) to Wanda and Peter who nodded frantically.
- - -
After two episodes of the show the three heard the jet landing and soon the tired and hungry heroes started filling up, angrily glaring at the three slouched figures in the chair and sofa, with three empty ice cream tubes in the coffee table and a pizza box in each of their laps
"Your thoughts are very loud so stop insulting me and go to the kitchen, there's a pizza box and a tube for each of you, go nuts" announced Cora without taking her eyes from the screen
Soon they all scurried towards the kitchen in search of the promised food, quick to come back in time for the beginning of the next episode
in the middle of the best scene, Stark paused it and stared at Cora, everyone looked at him with furrowed brows, Cora just raised hers expectantly
"What the hell were you doing in Spain today?" realization dawned on everyone else, and their confusion was swapped by a look of interest
"I've been working with Shield, this was a mission, stupid Fury thought I needed your help, stupid, stupid, stupid" she muttered the last parts to herself, though, judging by the smirks and held-in laughter of her friends, they had managed to hear her loud and clear
"Since- uh- when?" asked Thor
"Since the time I met Nick?"
"He doesn't like being called that, just so you know" advised the archer, to which Cora just rolled her eyes, knowing full well that they would flip out if they ever found out that she, on a regular basis, called him 'pirate', 'Nickie' and even 'Furry' if she wanted to be exceptionally irritating
"Huh, so you work for Shield like everdeen and our dominatrix" mused Stark, referring to Clint and Natasha (which earned him a punch and a kick in the balls)
"With Shield" corrected Cora with a smug smirk, "And, take it from me, who has practically been spending four out of the seven days of the week with the man, Fury will come here and probably try to take our goth prince into custody" added the woman pointing a finger to Loki, who shivered at the thought
"Don't worry Mr. Loki, I'm sure everyone will do the best they can to keep you here" reassured Peter, he had apparently bonded with the god at some point, probably over video games, Loki proved to be a master at COD and bullying little kids (and unemployed adults) online, who'd have thought?
"Thanks spiderling, but I doubt that the rest of the world will be as quick to forgive me as you all have been" the god said, solemnly. Everyone tried to share more comforting words to the poor raven haired man, but Cora didn't seem to have caught that vibe before she opened her mouth
"Oh, yeah, that's for sure, i mean Coulson is still sending me angry texts about it, last one I think he called you 'emo terrorist with god complex'..." she chuckled with her mouth full of pizza, "On second thought, I wouldn't pay him much attention, he's very salty, he still hasn't fully forgiven me for eating his last brownie" she added while putting the show back on, at her words, everyone stopped and deadpanned at her, which she realized after a minute of silence
She turned around and saw them still glaring at her, confused she turned to her left to ask Loki, and seeing him, staring at his lap with a frown that made him look like a sad puppy, caused her to, for the first time since after their introduction, be nice to the god of mischief
So she tapped on her telepathic connection with the man, blocking the scarlet witch from listening in
Hey, mischief, i'm sorry, I promise they won't take you, not Fury, not Coulson, not anyone. And I assure you i won't stop pestering them until they stop blaming you for what happened, I don't care if I have to explain what happened with Thanos in every language
Loki didn't answer, but he did look up from his lap towards the woman, suspicious of her words, Cora gave him a tight lipped grin and the god's eyes mirrored an unusual trust in them. They stared at each other for what felt like hours and seconds at the same time, oblivious to the world outside their bubble. Thankfully they both recovered before the rest of the team could notice the way-too-long eye contact
Cora cleared her throat and spoke, getting up from her seat and walking towards the elevator to go to her floor, the show suddenly forgotten, "Yeah, well, we won't let anything too bad happen to Loki, but it doesn't mean Fury won't give you a piece of his mind tomorrow, good luck, losers, agent Coralina out" she finishes when she's inside of the lift, pretending to drop a mic
- - -
So, now that you're all up to speed
"IT'S MADNESS! I WANT HIM OUT, NOW!" That was undoubtedly the director's voice
"Sir, please, just hear us out, it wasn't his fault!" And that was the angelical sound of America's golden retriever, or Steve.
Cora made her way towards the compound's helipad, where all the screaming was coming from, and the scene before her left her somewhere between absolute shock and wanting to erupt in laughter
Fury, Hill and Coulson were there, serious, professional and angry as always. Phil had a gun pointed to Loki's head and the rest of the heroes were yelling in their sleepwear
"Agent, please, put the gun down, I believe my friend has some explaining to do? Kinda hard to talk when you have your brains blown out, don't you think?" requested Cora light-heartedly as she approached them
"Nick, must you really ambush us at the crack of dawn?" She spoke again when the god no longer was being held at gunpoint, this time directing her words towards the eyepatched man in front of her
"Shut up, Cora, I'm pissed" he said with his no bullshit voice, which the woman really paid no mind to
"yeah, well, guess what, dipshit, I'm pissed as well, it's fucking 5am on a wednesday, I love wednesdays, you just ruined my favourite day of the week!" She said exasperated waving her hands around the air for emphasis. The whole team watched the whole thing, once again, fearing that Cora's bluntness would be her demise, which obviously didn't happen since the director just rolled his eyes and ignored the woman.
"Explanation, now" demanded Fury, and so Thor took over and explained everything to him from when Loki fell off the bridge to when Thor took him back to Asgard after New York
"... He's doing good, Fury, and he has yesterday as proof of it, he joined the team on the mission, and he did great" continued Cora after Thor had finished, "Oh! And about that mission, you little shit, I HAD IT UNDER CONTROL!" everyone's jaws fell open when they saw the director's minimal flinch caused by Cora, who just smugly smiled and winked at Wanda and Peter who were shivering from the early morning freeze.
Everyone started leaving the helipad, the soldiers probably to get ready for their matutinal run, and the rest to get breakfast and maybe go back to sleep, until the only ones left were the Shield guests and Cora
She ran towards the man and hugged him tightly
"Nickie! I missed you, are we still on for sundae sunday?" She asked with wide smile and bright eyes when they broke the embrace
The director laughed and nodded, then got a more serious face and spoke "How are you handling it? I know next week is the anniversary" he asked carefully
Cora shrugged and her demeanor made a change, a light frown taking place in her face "a thousand years, man, it still feels like a century ago" she chuckled awkwardly, "I'm fine though, I think i'll go home and finally join the rest, they always hang out in the bar, drink away their pain and cheer for their lost friend, I always mourn alone... but the 1000th anniversary is a good time to finally make an appearance, don't you think?" Fury just gave her an understanding look and gave her another hug, they stayed like that for another minute, the man rubbing the woman's back comfortingly and Cora trying her best to keep her sobs in
"If you happen to see Carol, send her my best please" said Fury when they separated, Cora nodded and they both went their own ways, he went to the helicopter and she stepped out of the helipad and into the elevator
From behind one of the many bushes close to the door, a worried and confused god of mischief dropped his cloaking shield, wondering what the woman was talking about, the woman who one minute did her best to make sure she infuriated him to the core and the next second telepathically vowed to protect him from the earthlings who may take him away.
To say Cora Francis was a bit of an enigma for Loki Friggason would be an understatement.