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*****
In the end, Skye chose to believe the Ancient One. Aside from the fact that being whisked off to another planet sounded like exactly the kind of mess Fini would get himself into, she truly couldn't imagine anything on Earth that could prevent him from sending so much as a single text message.
But while Skye was fretting over Fini's safety, the staff at Nick Fury's secret base were worrying themselves bald over him for entirely different reasons.
"There's just no way to determine where that energy surge took him!"
Inside the lab sector, where security had been tightened tenfold, a researcher working on the Tesseract project whispered a complaint to a colleague. "It's been over a week. Even if we find him, would he even be alive?"
"Keep your voice down," the other researcher hissed, throwing a sharp glance around. "That's the Knight of Divine Punishment. For all we know, there isn't even a human under that armor. Maybe he doesn't need to eat or drink. Why else do you think the Director is so obsessed with finding him?"
"Sigh." The first man nodded, finding a sliver of logic in that, and went back to work.
Neither of them knew that their conversation—and indeed, every conversation in the base—was being monitored. To ensure no further "mishaps" occurred, Nick Fury had spared no expense on surveillance.
"Do you think he's really still alive?"
Maria Hill looked at the stoic Nick Fury standing beside her and suddenly asked the question that had been hanging in the air.
"I don't know, but I hope he is."
Fury let out a heavy sigh, seemingly reaching a decision. He turned to Hill. "Come with me to the medical bay. I want to run a test."
Confused, Hill followed him.
"Monitor my vitals closely," Fury instructed solemnly as he lay down on the examination table. "If you see anything abnormal, sedate me immediately."
"I don't follow, sir." Hill stared at him, holding a sedative injector.
"Just follow my orders!"
Fury didn't explain. After hooking himself up to various heart and brain monitors, he took a deep breath. In an unnervingly slow voice, he began to speak:
"I... am... going... to... tell... you..."
"The..."
As soon as he uttered the word, Fury's eye darted to the monitors. Nothing. He felt a wave of relief mixed with a strange sense of disappointment. He continued:
"Knight..."
Still no reaction from his body.
"Of... Divine... Punishment... is... Fini!"
He finished the sentence. From start to finish, he felt no pain, no constriction, no "curse." He waited ten more minutes just to be sure, then sighed silently, unhooked the sensors, and looked at a bewildered Hill.
"Rescind the order to search for the Knight of Divine Punishment with full force," he said.
Fury had hoped to use the power of Fini's "oath" to test if the boy was still alive. He had no way of knowing the "oath" was a complete fabrication Fini had used to bluff him. Because nothing happened, he now feared Fini was dead.
However, he didn't give up entirely. Perhaps the "oath" had a range limit?
"Keep one small team assigned to tracking the signature. Everyone else, back to their primary tasks," he added.
"Yes, sir," Hill nodded. "But what was that back there? What were you doing?"
"Verifying if his power is still in effect."
Fury wasn't in the mood to elaborate. "Maintain base alert levels. Strictly control everyone coming and going. Do not let your guard down."
"But who exactly are we defending against?" Hill asked, frowning. The stress was starting to affect morale, not to mention the astronomical cost of maintaining this level of military readiness for a research facility.
"Aliens," Fury said, pointing upward. "He told me this object belongs to them and they might come for it. That's why I brought him here in the first place."
If Fini had been there, he would have protested: I never said that! You're just connecting dots that don't exist!
"Understood, sir!" Hill replied seriously. She often questioned Fury's methods, but she was a soldier through and through.
Leaving the base, Fury's mind remained on Fini. He knew the boy had a sister, and he debated whether he should go to her. After a long period of contemplation, he decided to visit Skye.
Partly, he felt she had a right to know as Fini's closest relative. Mostly, however, he wondered if Skye had some special way of knowing Fini's status. Fini's secrets were many, and Fury suspected his family might hold the key to some of them.
When he arrived at their home, Fury didn't use his usual tactical infiltration. He had wanted to make a "Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." entrance, but remembering Fini's unpredictable powers, he decided to play it safe and just knocked.
"Coming!"
Skye opened the door. When she saw the one-eyed man standing there, she looked puzzled. "Can I help you?"
"Hello. I'm Nick Fury, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury showed his ID. Noticing Skye's gaze immediately turn guarded, he continued, "I'd like to talk to you about your brother."
"I'm sorry, I don't know you. Please leave," Skye said, a flash of panic in her eyes. She worried that Fini had slipped up somewhere and his identity was being investigated.
Because Fini wanted to keep Skye away from the agency's drama, he had told her he was working with the "authorities," but had never explicitly named S.H.I.E.L.D.
As she moved to shut the door, Fury spoke quickly: "I'm his friend!"
"You know him?"
Skye stopped, but she didn't let her guard down. "He's not home right now. He'll be back in a while."
"That's exactly what I'm here to talk about."
Something clicked in Skye's mind. She stared at him. "Do you know where he went?"
"Can we talk about this inside?" Fury asked through the crack in the door.
Skye hesitated, but after glancing down at the "Silver Light" bracelet on her wrist, she finally opened the door and let him in.
"Coke? Orange juice? Tea?" she asked as they entered the living room.
"Tea is fine."
Skye grabbed a bottle of green tea from the fridge and set it in front of him. Keeping her palm subtly aimed in his direction, she asked, "You know where Fini is?"
"I knew ten days ago," Fury said, opening the bottle. "But I don't know now."
The bottle had barely touched the table when Skye bolted upright, her face desperate. "Where did he go?!"
(End of Chapter)