Chapter 5
“It’s a trap. There is no other explanation.”
Dean said firmly looking at Steve. They were still in the conference room, but Fury and the two agents left them alone to discuss what they heard.
“What makes you say that?” Steve inquired looking at him with all his attention.
“She is obviously a demon or an angel if she knew about Cas. Not to mention the fact that her face showed up in different centuries.” Dean explained as he twitched nervously, he was nervous since he heard that that woman knew about his angel and asked for him by name.
“Why would an angel or even a demon work for SHIELD for five years?” Natasha asked frowning in confusion. “There must be another explanation.”
“Maybe the pictures are for some women who really looks like her?” Thor suggested.
“It is scientifically impossible for two people to look exactly the same. Even identical twins would have differences in their appearance. Hell, even both sides of our faces don’t look the same.” Bruce said looking over at Thor.
“If she wasn’t human, won’t SHIELD found out about that a long time ago?” Tony asked while furrowing his brows.
“Look guys, we won’t know anything unless we heard what she has to say.” Steve announced, and when he saw them about to object he continued. “Fury obviously, made it an Avengers mission. So, we will do the most obvious thing, Cas and I will meet with her and hear what she wants to say to us. Meanwhile, a team will go search her house for anything that could help us understand who she really is and another team will be watching and listening to our meeting with her in another room in case anything happens. Any objections to what I just said?”
They looked at each other for a few seconds, then looked back at him with concerned frowns but with no objections.
“I still don’t like you guys being with whatever she was in one room on your own.” Dean muttered as he shot a worried glance towards Castiel who was watching everything silently. Tony just looked down and frowned even more.
“We will be fine. No need to worry. We can handle ourselves.” Steve assured him then addressed the rest of the team. “Alright, so Nat, Tony and Dean will go to her house. Look for anything that can help us. While Clint, Thor and Sam will be our back up. Bruce I want you take a sample from her blood from the laps also take the reports of any analysis and tests they did on her and see if you can find anything unusual in it. Tell me what you find before we meet her.”
They all nodded and moved to make their way out of the room, Dean and Tony stayed back.
Dean moved to Castiel and took his hand gently.
“Be careful. Don’t want to hear that she was a human bomb and turned you and Steve into a large stains on the walls.” Dean muttered looking down at their joined hands.
“I love it when you say romantic things like this.” Castiel smirked with a roll of his eyes making Dean snort.
“Sorry.” Dean gave him a small smile. “I am just worried. I feel uneasy since the moment I heard she asked for you.”
“I know. It will be fine.” Castiel cupped Dean’s cheek gently with his free hand and smiled when he leaned into it. “I will be careful. And I won’t be alone. Take care of yourself and try to not murder Tony or Nat. I am sure Steve and Sam will be upset if you did.”
“Have some little faith in me! I could totally spend time with them without bickering!”
Castiel just raised an eyebrow at him and Dean sighed.
“Fine. I will be nice.” He muttered with a scowl.
Castiel smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.
His eyes then trailed to land on Steve and Tony. The genius seemed to be also concerned about Steve’s safety and the soldier was doing his best to reassure him. With one final kiss to Tony’s cheek, Steve turned towards him and gave him a small nod.
“Let’s go see what Bruce will find.”
***
“From the tests, she is completely human.”
Bruce announced a few hours later firmly. “But I did find two things.”
“Which are?” Steve asked looking at him intently.
“First interesting thing I found was that she have an implanted tooth.”
“And what is interesting about that?” Tony inquired in confusion.
“A natural tooth was used not a manufactured one like what we usually do, also the nerves and blood vessels were attached in an impossible way. Unless the Dental surgeon used microscopic machines with high precision.”
“And we don’t have that kind of technology?” Castiel asked carefully.
“That’s right.” Bruce nodded with a furrowed brow. “And we didn’t find any records of a surgery like that in the entire world. Also all our microscopic surgeries dealt with blood vessels but never managed to repair a damaged neuron.”
They all looked at each other, trying to understand what that information could possibly mean.
“What the other thing you found?” Dean looked back up at Bruce.
“When I analyzed her blood, everything was normal. Except for the presence of an unknown substance in there but in small amounts.”
“Unknown substance? Some kind of drug?”
“More like a protective serum. It stimulates the immune system and helps in fast healing wounds, bruises and tumors.” Then Bruce got excited. “I actually managed to study that serum enough that I can make more and inject you guys with it.”
“I gotta say, Bruce. What you just found out made everything more complicated.” Steve sighed tiredly.
“Maybe she is from an alternate universe?” Dean wondered helpfully.
“We can’t be sure of anything until you guys meet up with Nat and search her house.” Steve then turned to Castiel. “And us meeting Agent Hunter.”
***
Real happiness and relief showed on Sydney Hunter’s face when she entered the interrogation room where Steve and Castiel were waiting for her.
“God, thank you for accepting to meet me.” she said with a smile as she moved to shake their hands. “It is an honor to meet the both of you.”
Castiel’s eyes studied her thoroughly. She was beautiful, in her mid-twenties, with sharp features and strong jawline. She also have a smattering of freckles on her cheeks and nose. What caught Castiel off guard was her eyes. She had vivid green eyes that shone with intelligence and righteousness with a sly glint in them. And they looked very familiar it made Cas confused and disoriented for a few seconds. Even her smile seemed familiar.
Also, she was human. No traces of being any supernatural being. But there was a sliver of something unusual that he didn’t seem to put his finger on it.
“Why did you say you will only speak to us?” Steve got down to business right away after they shook her hand and sat on the other side of the interrogation table.
“You are the only ones I know I can trust. And would actually listen to me.” She just shrugged casually, her face not showing any kind of emotion.
“And why is that?”
She just shrugged again without commenting.
“How did you know about me?” Castiel asked firmly, his intense eyes focused on her.
“I heard about you. You are popular in the hunting world.”
Steve and Castiel shared a silent glance then the soldier pulled out the two pictures and the three drawings then placed them on the table.
“Can you explain this?” he asked in a stern voice.
She leaned forward to check the pictures carefully, then leaned back in her chair.
“Can you?” she countered calmly.
“Listen Sydney, either you cooperate or you will remain imprisoned.”
“With what charge?” she retorted immediately.
“What?”
“I didn’t do anything that deserves punishment for more than a year, that’s of course if you considered the whole thing with the files forgery.”
“It is.” Steve said calmly.
“That’s if you could prove it.” She leaned forward with a charming smile. “Until then, I will insist that I am Sydney Hunter and all my papers are clean, and they have to prove otherwise, right?”
“Your fingerprints will lead them to who you really are.” Steve snapped, obviously not appreciating her cold behavior.
“I will be surprised if that actually happened.” She just shrugged coldly.
“So you are saying that your fingerprints or your genetic code won’t lead us to anything? Tell me, won’t that mean that you don’t really have an actual existence?” Steve smirked with a raised eyebrow.
She looked at him for a few seconds. “Don’t worry, Captain. I am human. And I am not from another world or-“
“Or from another time?” Castiel interrupted sternly.
She flinched and turned towards him with wide, startled eyes.
“How did you-“ she immediately cut herself off, and kept staring at him. Weirdly enough, her gaze turned from surprise to deep admiration.
Steve also turned wide eyes towards Castiel then back at Hunter who just sighed in defeat.
“Yes, I don’t belong to your time.” She admitted, her eyes never leaving Castiel’s face.
Steve just gaped at her for a second then turned to Castiel.
“How did you figure that out? And why are you admitting to it so easily?” he directed the second question to her.
“He will know if I lie, so what’s the point?” she just shrugged in defeat.
Steve gave her a long look then turned to Castiel waiting for an explanation.
“That was the only logical conclusion.” Castiel explained quietly. “Even if it was strange. But everything surrounding Agent Hunter, deducted three explanations; either she is a supernatural being or an alien that have a long life or immortality, or she is from an alternate universe and came here somehow, or she is just a human with the ability to travel through time for her picture to appear in different centuries in history.”
“Why did you exclude the first two?” She asked leaning towards him with real interest.
“I didn’t sense any supernatural presence in you, and the tests confirmed that you have normal human functions, which meant you have a normal life span. That leaves options two and three. But the pictures and the drawings meant that you were around in different eras, also the serum they found in your blood, is like the vaccination serums that are taken by the people who will travel for a long periods of times and to unknown places to protect them from catching diseases. Also you being from another universe doesn’t explain you showing up in different eras.” Castiel then leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. “In short, it only leaves one explanation. That you are a time traveler, settled down temporarily in our time.”
Silence filled the room after Castiel was finished. Then a deeply impressed smile appeared on Sydney’s face.
“Amazing, Castiel. Just amazing.” She shook her head with a little chuckle. “You are incredible. I should have expected that you will find out sooner than anyone else.”
“I still can’t believe what’s happening.” Steve blinked, eyes still wide and bewildered. But he still looked at Castiel with deep admiration.
“So, are you willing to talk now?” Castiel wondered, leaning forward.
She looked at him for a few seconds then sighed deeply.
“Yes. I will tell you everything. From the very beginning.”