Revelations

Adelina was still simmering with rage by the time she found herself in an empty corridor far from the holding cell. Dropping to the ground, she drew her knees towards her chest and leaned her head against the wall behind her. She just needed to breathe. Though, doing so felt nearly impossible as her mind kept replaying the conversation that had taken place only moments before.

She had known Loki would be unpredictable, impulsive, everything that his title threatened…But what was she if not the same? That had been her logic, at least, to convince herself that she was more than qualified to go head to head with the god. A lapse in judgement, maybe, if the emotional rampage occurring within her had anything to say.

Though, regardless of what her emotions conveyed, it wasn’t a complete loss. The daughter of a king, he had called her. A princess. Adelina couldn’t help but to laugh at the mere thought of herself as royalty. The idea of her adorned in such obnoxious garments, forced to partake in the mundaneness of court politics, was absurd, to say the least.

But it was - had been - her reality.

And as much as Adelina hated to admit it, Loki had also spoken true of her current reality. She had allowed herself to become a weapon, an object, a pawn. She had been so naive as to convince herself that he would eventually fulfill his promise to her. That his answers were always just right around the corner. That he was Nick Fury and his reputation was proof enough of his ability to find what was never meant to be found.

Worse yet, she had been naive enough to believe that he would actually tell her what he found. Because, if Loki was to be believed, it seemed that Fury knew much more than he let on.

How ironic, she thought, the God of Lies being the only one to tell her the truth.

Pieces of it, at least. She had even more questions, now, needing more answers. What had happened to her kingdom? To her family? How had she ended up on Earth, of all places? The more she tried to piece it together with memories that continued to evade her, the more vexed she became. None of it made sense.

Adelina had spent the past fifteen years with the burden of that void. The life she had created during that time was just as hollow, doing nothing to satiate the frustration and anger she felt. It just wasn’t enough. It would never be enough - not until she recovered all that she had lost.

And she would do exactly that, no matter the cost. She had made that promise to herself years ago, and despite what a waste of time the past three years had been, it had brought her to this moment, to this glimpse into her past that Loki had provided. It had brought her closer to filling that void.

So Adelina continued to run through the conversation in her mind. She went through word after word, until finally, something clicked. An idea. It was risky, errant, and likely the most dangerous thing her mind could conjure…But if she were to succeed, then it would be worth everything to her.

Releasing a breath she hadn’t meant to hold, Adelina opened her eyes and returned to her feet. She glanced down at her hands, feeling the remnants of power that surged beneath her fingertips as it slowly began to settle within her. Her magic had always guided her, in ways that she often still struggled to decipher, but at the moment, it seemed that it was in agreement with the plan she had, quite honestly, concocted in a matter of seconds. That was enough for her to start moving.

“And where have you been, young lady?” Stark jested the moment Adelina stepped through the doors of the laboratory. He gave her a once over as she strolled towards the table in the center of the room.

“Attending to more important matters than yourself, Stark,” Adelina replied with a roll of her eyes and the hint of a smile. She had already realized that, for this to work, she would need to keep up her facade and avoid drawing unnecessary attention to herself. Otherwise, she would find herself in the middle of a mess greater than what she had already planned for. And that one was large enough, for now.

“And here I was, looking forward to working with you on these important matters,” Stark retorted, gesturing to a computer monitor that displayed a tracking software - for the Tesseract, no doubt. Adelina raised a brow.

“I’m sure there will be another alien god to hunt in the near future,” she suggested, walking towards the monitor. “I’ll be more than happy to assist you, then.” She stopped in front of the screen, watching the coordinates spin as they had yet to locate the cube. “Where are you at with this?” As she spoke, she felt an odd surge of energy pulling against her a moment before she noticed the scepter sitting across from her. She pursed her lips, pricking the skin of her left palm with her nails as she fought to resist whatever it was that was stirring inside her. She forced her gaze to return to the Tesseract's image across the screen.  

“The model’s locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within half a mile,” Banner informed from beside her. She nodded before tilting her head towards the scientist.

“How do you suppose it works - the Tesseract?”

“It’s a power source. You harness enough of its energy and you can create a wormhole in space. But Loki plans to open a portal into space, big enough for an army to invade. And that’s going to require more than just the Tesseract, if he wants it to hold.”

“So, all he needs to do is manipulate its energy while merely thinking of a location throughout space, or the universe? And a portal just… opens?” Adelina inquired further, furrowing her brows as if to appear disconcerted by the notion.

“It’s as simple as it seems, scarily enough,” Banner confirmed, paying no mind to her curiosity as he rifled through some papers. Adelina made use of the silence that followed by roaming across the room and feigning interest in the random objects scattered throughout. Meanwhile, she was mulling over the information she had just been gifted, and feeling satisfied with how much easier her plan had become because of it.

“Bored, are we?” Stark appeared from behind her, startling her for a brief second before she sent him a sheepish smile.

“Maybe a little.”

“How well do you know Fury?” The question surprised her. She moved to turn towards Stark completely, but he was already aiming for a computer across the room, gesturing for her to follow.

“Well enough. Why?” Adelina stopped a few feet behind him as he tapped on the monitor and the screen brightened, revealing an exceedingly long list of files.

“Any idea what Phase 2 is?”

“No…” She glanced at him with an honest look of confusion before he angled the monitor towards her and stepped away to give her access.

“Be my guest.”

Adelina barely heard the words as she became transfixed by the files in front of her - files that she quickly realized belonged to Fury’s personally secured network, one that she had tried to breach several times now, but to no avail.

She briefly scanned those pertaining to Phase 2, quickly absorbing the information. She had been truthful when she told Stark she had not heard of it, though, as she familiarized herself with its objectives, she couldn’t say it was unexpected. Fury was ambitious, to say the least, and Phase 2 was merely another product of that. Good or bad, it didn’t much matter to Adelina. There was only one file she was interested in. And as she searched through the folders, rolling her eyes at a variety of incredulous acronyms, her breath caught in her throat as she finally found it.

Adelina Tanase, it read. So simple, so obvious, that she had almost looked past it. But there it was, waiting for her.

Adelina blinked once as she tapped the screen, and then she became lost in the words that appeared before her.

3:12am, August 5th, 1996… pulled from the shores of Santa Catalina Island…potentially suffering from retrograde amnesia and PTSD…no means of identification… transported to UCLA Medical Center

7:05am, August 5th, 1996… Jane Doe… age remains unknown, estimated to be between 7 and 8 years old… unusual color of her eyes… abnormal blood cells… contaminated… potential radiation exposure indicated…

10:09am, August 5th, 1996… UCLA Medical Center forced to evacuate… explosion in pediatric wing… Jane Doe… unconscious, but completely unharmed… unnatural form of light emitted from her body… personnel deceased… no living witnesses… S.H.I.E.L.D. has been alerted…

S.H.I.E.L.D. has been alerted.

Adelina stiffened. That wasn’t possible; she hadn’t even heard of S.H.I.E.L.D. until four years ago. If they had been contacted, she would have known. They certainly would not have allowed her to escape their custody, especially after the incident.

But as she continued reading, she began to understand exactly why this piece of information was new to her.

There was date after date listed below. A clear and precise documentation of days, weeks, and months of her life following the incident at UCLA Medical Center. Her adoption date was one of them, and beside that, the names of her adoptive parents - Valerie and Emil Tanase. Though, what caught her attention were the files attached to them. S.H.I.E.L.D. files. And as she dared to open them, her hands began to shake.

They had been agents - her adoptive parents. Assigned to take her in as one of their own, but more importantly, to monitor her.

It only continued to get worse.

Adelina could barely breathe as her eyes flitted across the screen faster than she could truly process. It was all there - every single detail of her life throughout the past sixteen years. All of it documented by S.H.I.E.L.D. - the year she spent with her adoptive parents, the incident that resulted in their abandonment, boarding school, college, her years spent abroad - all of it controlled by the agency she now worked for. It wasn’t possible - it shouldn’t have been possible.

But as it stared back at her, proof that it was, indeed, possible, Adelina found herself resisting the bile stirring within, and digging even deeper. If S.H.I.E.L.D. had invested this much time into manipulating the trajectory of her life, unbeknownst to her, there had to be a better reason than her abilities, alone.

Though it only took a few seconds to find, it felt like hours had passed before Adelina laid eyes on her medical records. And not the forged documents she had grown so accustomed to, she realized almost immediately, because these were much different from anything she had ever seen. Images flashed across the screen - diagrams comparing two sets of blood cells, two sets of DNA - and below that, a note explaining what it all meant.

Though her blood and DNA tests maintain similarities to those of Thor Odinson, it is not clear whether her origins are of Asgard. However, it is important to note that, as initial theories indicated 15 years ago, she is not human, thus it can be said with complete certainty that her ancestry remains to be found off-world.

Adelina could no longer breathe as she read the words again and again, until they blurred against her vision, until the only thing that registered was the signature at the bottom of the page, dated over a year ago. Nicholas J. Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Her suspicions had been confirmed. He had known - he had always known. Not only was every detail from the past sixteen years of her life archived on his network, but he had personally signed off on the records concerning her ancestry, her identity. When she had tracked him down that fateful day, little more than three years ago, he had given her no reason to believe he knew who she was. It had taken her nearly a month to secure his interest and convince him to help her in return for her loyalty to his agency, her loyalty to him. But it had all been an act, a ploy to gain her trust and ensure she remained controlled, because Nick Fury knew that there was nothing she wouldn’t do for those answers.

But that was his first mistake, she realized. His arrogance. He was undoubtedly the most self-assured person she had ever had the displeasure of knowing, and that hubris had created a blindspot, because, while it was true, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for those answers, he was not an exception, and never would be.

Though she couldn’t see him from behind the monitor, she had sensed his presence moments before he spoke, and as she began to remove the evidence of his betrayal from the screen, Adelina felt an icy calm settle over her. A calm so different from the rage that normally writhed within, fighting to be released. But now, no longer restrained by conflicting emotions and uncertainty, that rage seemed to find solace in her strengthening resolve, centering her in the midst of the chaos that was yet to unfurl.

“What are you doing, Mr. Stark?”

“Uh…Kind of been wondering the same thing about you.” Adelina glanced at Stark from the corner of her eye as he strolled towards her. With one more tap against the screen, the Phase 2 files appeared in front of her, and she removed herself from the computer.

“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.”

As Adelina moved across the room, she refused to even acknowledge Fury’s presence. She needed to stay focused, and while she wasn’t quite sure what she would do if she let herself look at him, she knew it would cause a mess.

“We’re still scanning for the signature. Once it locks, we’ll have the location within half a mile,” Banner assured. Adelina stilled as she settled in front of the Tesseract’s image contained by the tracking software, waiting. All she needed was its location, and then she would be in the wind, far away from Nick Fury and his lies.

Then suddenly, despite her focus, she found herself, once again, looking at the scepter across from her. Though, this time, the sphere that remained encased seemed to throb, a feint glow emanating from it, as if it were speaking to her in a manner that only she could understand. And somehow, she did. Or maybe it was the source of her own power that seemed to respond, pulling her towards the oddly familiar energy, as if it were reaching for something that it had once lost and now yearned to retrieve.

Time seemed to pass slower than ever before as more voices filled the room, growing louder and louder, but Adelina was oblivious to it all, entrapped by the power that sought to meet her own. And as she stood there, the weight of the scepter surprisingly light against her hands, she felt it. That weird burning sensation through her veins. Except this time, it was stronger.

“Agent Tanase… Put down the scepter.”

She remained calm as she raised her head to meet Fury’s arrogant gaze, well aware of the others that rested on her.

“I don’t think I will.” And as her lip curled into a vicious sneer, that calm turned deadly. The mess, the casualties she had intended to limit, no longer mattered to her as she raised the scepter and, without an ounce of hesitation, hurled a blast of energy throughout the room that sent everyone falling to the floor in front of her. “You have no power over me.”

“You sure about that?” Fury retorted, daring to climb to his feet as he drew his weapon. Adelina merely laughed, a venomous sound.

“Yes, I am. I can kill every person in this room before most of them have a chance to get to their feet. Are you sure you want to test me?” Though she refrained from meeting the eyes of anyone but Fury, Adelina wasn’t bluffing. Something in her had finally cracked…Or maybe it had clicked into place, because she had never felt more like herself than she did in that moment. She was no longer a pawn. She was the deadliest piece on the board. The Queen.

“You do that and you’ll never find your family.”

“I don’t need you to find my family. All you do is lie, but I know that now…I know everything now-”

“Fury has lied to every person in this room, Adelina.” Her head whipped towards Natasha Romanoff as the woman pulled herself from the ground. “You’re not the only one he’s wronged. But we have bigger things at stake right now. I know that you’re better than this, that you’re a good person. You might be angry now, but you’re not capable of -“

“You have no idea what I am capable of.” Adelina’s fist tightened around the hilt of the scepter, but rather than using it to prove her point, she directed her gaze toward Fury as the energy coursing through her began to unfurl in the air around her before wrapping itself around the source of her anger. She could feel the tension grow amongst the others as Fury was raised from the ground, enveloped in a thin cloud of violet mist and unable to move, despite his efforts.

Adelina surveyed the room, her teeth bared, as she assessed the others. Romanoff seemed to hesitate a few feet from Banner who remained crouched on the ground, fighting against an invisible force. Rogers and Stark were slowly returning to their feet, both refusing to look away as they prepared to take the offensive. But Thor - he merely looked at her, cautiously, but there was something else in his gaze.

It wasn’t fear, anger, or curiosity - nothing akin to what the others portrayed. No - it was something unexpected, despite what she had just learned. It was realization.

Adelina stilled as he seemed prepared to speak - a piece of her wondering if he might know as much, or more, than his brother.

But time wasn’t on her side.

One second, Adelina had been focused on Thor and the words he had yet to speak. The next, she was falling through the floor below her.

Her head spun as her body was tossed amongst the metal debris that rained from above. It had all happened so quickly. There was no time to process it, no time to prevent it, as she landed roughly against more metal.

Adelina winced, pulling her hand from the sharp object that pierced it. She raised her head to peek above the rafter that now covered her, and took in her new surroundings. As she looked up, she found herself several floors down from the laboratory. Only a few feet from her were Romanoff and Banner. The scepter was nowhere to be seen.

Taking a deep breath, Adelina pushed the rafter off of her and swung herself onto her knees. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but she would bet money that Loki was responsible. He had likely planned for his escape prior to even being caught. For what he had allowed himself to be caught, she was still uncertain.

Though, she was beginning to theorize that it was for far more than his own entertainment as she looked towards the source of pained groans a few feet from her, watching with wide eyes as Banner struggled against the green rage within him. No, Loki had not come there to take them out, himself - he was there to ensure they would take themselves out.

But Adelina was not one of them, and never would be.

She ignored the sounds of Banner’s struggle and Romanoff’s attempts to calm him, climbing to her feet as she determined her next steps. If Loki escaped, there was only one place he would go, and with the laboratory currently dismantled, Adelina would have no choice but to follow.

“Adelina, please… This isn’t who you are,” Romanoff pleaded, causing Adelina to glance her direction. The Widow was still trapped beneath a metal beam, struggling to remove it as she kept an eye on what would become the Hulk in mere seconds.

Only months ago - maybe even yesterday, if she were being honest - Adelina would not have hesitated to help her. But now, Adelina only tilted her head and stared back blankly as she spoke what could have been her last words to Natasha Romanoff.

“I was never meant to be a hero.”

And then she was gone.