Widow and Hawkeye spent the better part of their investigation of Officer McCall trying to get something, any sort of information regarding the mall incident and hopefully on Fury.
Rather than gathering in their usual briefing room, the Avengers assembled in one of the larger meeting rooms. There were no tables or chairs, leaving everyone standing in a loose arc with an open space at the center where Clint stood while Natasha remained among the others. All eyes were on the pair, waiting to hear what progress they had made and whether they had finally uncovered something that could move Fury's investigation forward.
Natasha deliberately left the spotlight to Clint. This had always been his case, and she had merely accompanied him to assist with questioning McCall and the investigation. Whatever came next was his story to tell.
"Remember our last discussion about Fury's note regarding the mall?" Clint began, scanning the room as he addressed the team.
"The one about the New Year's Eve incident?" Steve asked, giving Clint his full attention.
"Yeah, that's the one," Clint confirmed with a nod. He was just about to continue when a voice interrupted him from behind the assembled group.
"Hold up, guys. I'm a little lost here."
Steve and Bruce shifted slightly to the side, revealing Billy standing behind them with an apologetic shrug. Clint let out a quiet sigh the moment he saw him.
"Anyone mind telling me what this New Year's Eve incident is all about?" Billy asked.
"You're standing a little too close, Bill," Clint replied dryly. "Take a few steps back. I'd rather not get struck by stray lightning just because you're in the blast radius."
Billy stared at him for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh.
"Really, dude?" he said. "I thought we'd already gotten past that."
"He's just kidding," Tony said with a dismissive wave, only to quickly add as Billy instinctively took a step forward, "But you can hear us just fine from where you are, right? No need to come any closer."
Billy stopped mid-step, slowly raising an eyebrow as he gave the room a look that practically screamed, 'You've got to be fucking kidding me right now.'
"Pay them no mind, young Champion," Thor said encouragingly. "Mortals such as they cannot afford to be struck by such powerful magic."
'Still doesn't excuse treating me like I'm some kind of walking biohazard,' Billy inwardly lampooned. Before he could voice another complaint, Bruce cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track.
"Regarding the New Year's Eve incident..." Bruce began, thoughtfully stroking his chin as he searched his memory. "If I remember correctly, the news reports said it was just a group of kids setting off fireworks inside the mall."
"...Ehn?"
Billy froze where he stood, his expression going so blank that it perfectly captured just how dumbfounded he suddenly was.
"Someone please tell me there's something wrong with his recollection of this incident," he said, looking from one Avenger to another. "Because what the fu—"
"Language."
Steve and Tony spoke in perfect unison, cutting him off before he could finish.
"...What do kids setting off fireworks in a mall have to do with the mystery case that's been giving the Avengers headaches this whole time?" Billy finished instead, throwing his hands up in confusion. "Or did this Fury guy disappear because he was caught illegally distributing military-grade fireworks to minors?" he added, unable to resist taking a wild guess.
"Patience, kid. We're getting there," Tony replied with an amused shake of his head.
Clint studied Billy for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "Sheesh, Bill... you good?"
"Yeah," Tony added, his tone carrying a hint of genuine concern. "You seem a little on edge."
Natasha remained silent, as did the others, each quietly watching Billy as though trying to gauge whether something was bothering him beyond simple impatience.
"I don't know, guys," Billy admitted with a weary sigh. "I've been a bit on edge ever since... you know... the whole lightning and agonizing scream… thing."
The team watched as he took a slow, steady breath, visibly collecting himself before exhaling. Satisfied that Billy had regained his composure, Steve picked up where they had left off.
"After Clint brought this up during our last discussion, I decided to look into the incident myself," Steve said. "When I compared the official report with the first videos people uploaded to social media, I noticed a few things that didn't add up."
Yes, you heard that right. Steve Rogers now uses the internet.
"The police response," Tony chimed in, smoothly picking up Steve's train of thought.
Steve nodded. "Right. There were far more police vehicles responding than you'd normally expect for a disturbance involving fireworks. Then there was the blackout that hit the area around the same time."
"The videos themselves only showed what looked like a chaotic brawl," Steve continued. "People were running in every direction, which, at first glance, wasn't all that unusual. If you saw a bunch of teenagers running around a shopping mall waving lit fireworks, panic would be the natural reaction. But when you looked closer, the scale of the police response and the timing of the blackout painted a very different picture."
"Even with that... why would the police respond with such a massive deployment over nothing more than a few mischievous kids causing trouble inside a mall?" Bruce asked, unable to shake the inconsistency.
"Guys, that's literally why we're all gathered here right now," Clint interjected before the discussion could drift off into speculation. He had no intention of letting the briefing turn into another roundtable of theories before he had finished laying out the facts.
"Right... carry on then," Tony said, making a small gesture for Clint to continue. The room settled once more as everyone's attention returned to the archer.
"As you pointed out, the number of police vehicles that responded that night was definitely unusual," Clint began. "That's why I decided to follow up on another lead of mine—an officer who happened to be on the scene that night. And no, I didn't just pick him out of the crowd at random."
That last statement immediately piqued everyone's interest.
"I suspected Fury had been looking into him at one point," Clint added, his words prompting the room to fall silent once more.
"He was there that night," Natasha continued, smoothly picking up where Clint left off. "But when Clint and I approached him two days ago, he genuinely had no idea or recollection of meeting an African-American man with an eyepatch."
As subtle disappointment began to settle over the room at the thought of yet another dead end, Natasha continued before anyone could jump to conclusions.
"When we questioned him about the New Year's Eve incident, he gave us the exact same account as the official report. According to him, it was nothing more than a disturbance caused by a group of kids misusing fireworks."
Tony frowned. "If he didn't know Fury and only repeated the official story, then what's the point of all this?"
'Thank you, Tony,' Billy silently thought, grateful that someone had voiced the exact question running through his own mind.
"You should probably practice what you preached to the kid a minute ago and show a little patience," Clint shot back without missing a beat.
"Earlier today, while we were over at Bruce's lab, Nat got a call from the officer. When we met up with him..." Clint paused, letting the suspense hang in the air for a brief moment. "Let's just say the guy was scared shitless, paranoid even."
"Huh..." Tony tilted his head with a raised brow. "So something finally came back to him?" His trademark grin returned as he casually gestured toward Billy. "Unlike Billy over here, whose head Bruce refuses to let me poke around in so we can find out whatever message that old geezer King Solomon left him instead of keeping the rest of us hanging."
Billy shot Tony a deadpan look, while Bruce simply pretended not to hear that suggestion for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Uh... not just that," Clint continued, doing his best to steer everyone's attention back to the briefing as he and the others collectively ignored Tony's latest attempt to convince Bruce to rummage through Billy's mind. "The whole thing was... kind of freaky."
'Did they seriously just ignore Tony's suggestion to probe my head?' Billy inwardly lampooned. 'Wait... could that be why I was taken to Bruce's lab in the first place? Someone seriously needs to keep an eye on Tin Man over here. The guy clearly trends the borders of his intrusive thoughts.'
"And that's where this comes in," Clint said, reaching into his pocket before pulling out a small flash drive and holding it up for everyone to see.
He didn't have to guess what everyone was thinking. Their expressions alone told him they were all wondering the same thing.
"The officer was terrified for his own safety," Clint explained. "He didn't want any trouble or to get caught up in whatever this is. So instead of telling us everything face-to-face, he handed us this drive while looking like a paranoid dope dealer high on his own stash and fearful of getting jumped by the cops."
Making his way over to the room's control console, Clint gestured toward the holographic projector. "Nat and I already listened to part of what's on here, but we figured we might as well drag the rest of you along for this trip down freak lane."
He inserted the flash drive into the console, and moments later a holographic file materialized in the center of the room.
"Jarvis, play the documented file as a recording," Clint instructed.
The holographic file dissolved into the image of a microphone, a fluctuating waveform appearing beneath it.
"It reads..." Jarvis announced before the recording began.
["I'm a responding officer, and I've never told anyone this. Not my department... not even my wife."]
'From the sound of it, this is going to take a while,' Billy thought as he shifted his weight from one aching leg to the other. 'A little warning next time would've been appreciated. I could really go for a snack right now... and definitely something to sit on. My legs are killing me.'
Jarvis's voice quickly pulled him back from his wandering thoughts.
["I only told them the official story. Drunk teenagers... fireworks... mass panic, and all that crap."]
"Yeah, I remember thinking at the time those kids really knew how to party," Thor remarked with an amused chuckle.
The recording immediately paused at Jarvis's discretion. After a brief moment of silence, during which it became clear Thor had nothing further to add and no one else intended to comment, the AI resumed playback.
["I was already downtown that New Year's night when the first 911 call came in. A woman was screaming about people collapsing in the food court. Dispatch kept calling it a disturbance, but something about the dispatcher's voice didn't sit right with me. It was too calm... too slow... like it didn't match the urgency of what was actually being reported.]"
Several members of the team exchanged uneasy glances as the officer's account began taking a direction none of them had expected. Whatever they had been anticipating, it certainly hadn't been this. The room remained silent, every pair of eyes fixed on the holographic display as Jarvis continued the recording.
["My partner, Suarez, and I laughed it off at first," the officer's voice continued. "But... the joke didn't sit right with either of us. So we decided to check it out ourselves. The closer our patrol car got to the mall, the quieter the city became. Not the kind of quiet you'd expect after the New Year's countdown, but something... different. It felt like sound itself had been stripped out of the air.] "
'It really pains me that I didn't grab something to eat beforehand,' Billy inwardly lamented, his thoughts wandering despite the grim recording. 'I know this is supposed to be a serious briefing, but I could definitely go for a snack right now. Note to self: start sneaking snack bars into Avengers meetings. You never know how long these things would get.'
His attention quickly returned to the recording as Jarvis continued.
["When we reached the plaza, there were kids running... but they weren't screaming. It was like they knew they were supposed to run. Others just stood there, frozen. Twitching. Eyes wide. Mouths hanging open... like they'd forgotten how to scream.]"
"Well... that's one hell of a twist," Tony muttered, earning a few silent glances before everyone refocused on the recording.
["Suarez went ahead while I stayed back near the edge of the crowd. That's when I found the first body. A young man... maybe in his mid-twenties. He was slumped against a pillar like he'd simply sat down to rest... except he was never getting back up. His hands were covered in blood, but there wasn't a single visible wound on him. It looked like the blood had somehow seeped out through his skin.]"
["His eyes were still open, but they weren't... empty. It was like he'd died in the middle of a thought... and somehow, part of him was still there.]"
'Well... that's quite the escalation,' Billy thought, forcing himself not to interrupt the briefing to ask for a five-minute break so he could grab some popcorn and a soda. 'At this point, this is less of an investigation and more of a horror movie. But audio.'
Without interruption, Jarvis continued reading from the recording.
["I tried radioing dispatch immediately, but all I got back was static. Then this high-pitched feedback started coming through the speaker... and it just wouldn't stop. I could feel it vibrating in my jaw... in my teeth.]"
["Suarez's voice finally came through the radio... distorted. I could barely make out what he was saying. It sounded like, 'Don't come up here...' Then the transmission died completely.]"
'Is it just me, or does this keep getting creepier the further it goes?' Billy wondered, the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach growing with every passing sentence.
Around the room, the Avengers exchanged subtle glances. The recording had drawn all of them in, leaving them caught somewhere between grim anticipation and growing unease over where the officer's account was leading.
"I'd have been terrified by that point," Tony remarked, breaking the heavy silence.
Jarvis paused the recording at the interruption. A few members of the team spared Tony brief looks, while Steve didn't even acknowledge the comment, remaining focused on the testimony. Once it was clear no one else had anything to add, Jarvis resumed the recording.
["The people still inside the mall weren't panicking anymore. They were just... standing there. Perfectly still. Like they were listening to something I couldn't hear. One woman kept mouthing silent words while smiling like she was praying... and blood was pouring from both of her ears."]
["I started toward the escalator to reach Suarez when I heard something crash. It sounded like... something had burst out from beneath the ground. Right after that came this deep droning noise. It wasn't metallic—it sounded... organic. Impossibly deep. Too large to have come from any person. It was coming from underneath us."]
["The lights began flickering, growing dimmer with each pulse. Then everything around me... shifted. It's hard to explain. It was like when your eyes adjust to darkness and suddenly notice a shape that had been there the entire time."]
No one in the room interrupted. Even Thor, who normally would have spoken up, remained unusually quiet as the recording continued.
["The air suddenly felt suffocatingly heavy, and my bones started aching. My knees nearly gave out beneath me. Then I saw... something."]
["It didn't have a clear shape. It was so unnaturally dark that it almost looked like the dim light itself was avoiding wherever it stood. There was something fundamentally wrong about it—not because of its size, but because my mind couldn't make sense of what I was looking at. It didn't move normally either. Its movements weren't smooth... they skipped, like dropped frames in a video. One instant it was there... then suddenly farther ahead... then farther still, with almost nothing in between."]
"Pause."
Tony's voice came through before Jarvis could continue.
"Does any of that ring a bell for anyone?"
'This fucker…' Billy inwardly groaned. 'Just when things were getting good.'
One after another, the team shook their heads.
"It sounds like some kind of frequency-based technology was used at the scene," Bruce offered after a moment of thought. "At least in theory. A weapon that manipulates certain frequencies could account for some of the psychological and physiological effects being described."
The others quietly considered the possibility, but with no one offering another explanation, Jarvis resumed the report.
["With the lights flickering, I first thought there were two of them. But then... I realized I was somehow seeing the same thing from multiple angles at once. I don't know how that's possible."]
["The lights flickered again... and it was gone."]
["A second later Suarez came tumbling down the escalator. He looked pale as a ghost. There was a wet stain running down one leg of his pants, and he wouldn't make eye contact with me. He just kept whispering the same thing over and over."]
'What horrific sight could possibly make a grown man pee his pants?'
["'It said my name... It said my name…'"]
["Then he grabbed at his collar, clawing for his comms. He ripped the radio free, smashed it against the floor, and started screaming..."]
["I WON'T ANSWER IT! I WON'T ANSWER IT!"]
'Officer…' Billy thought, staring at the hologram. 'What the actual fuck are you still doing in there? I'd have been halfway out the nearest exit by now. At that point my legs would've been making evacuation decisions long before my brain had a chance to catch up. Honestly, I'm more impressed that you somehow made it out alive than anything else.'
The room fell silent once again, every Avenger waiting for whatever horrifying detail the recording would reveal next and how Fury fits into it all that.
- - -
A/N:—
Came across the report of such a story online sometime back, immediately knew I'd be using it as material at some point.
Patrn/Da_suprememaverick