Chapter 10: Chapter 010 – Report

[2009 – June]

We didn't speak, as we walked through the corridors of the mansion.

We walked side by side in amicable silence as if we had known each other for years and didn't need to communicate to feel as if we were spending time together.

We didn't need to converse to walk 'together'.

It was a quiet company I had only ever enjoyed once in my last life, and then it had been with my good friend of many years, who had technically also been my only friend.

It was a few short minutes later that we reached a rather rowdy dining hall. There was a big breakfast buffet already prepared with Ororo supervising it and making sure the younger children weren't making a mess or deciding to skip fruits and vegetables in favour of a sugary death.

The unnamed girl directly walked up to the queue, but everyone who saw her approaching automatically stepped to the side and gave up their place to let her pass.

Being the stand-up guy that I was, I didn't wait for their invitation and skipped the line like it was no one's business by following after the girl.

Ororo saw what we did, but she just gave the girl a look and a resigned sigh while I got a raised eyebrow, though I didn't care much for what she thought.

My curiosity towards the girl's identity though was great, but I didn't ask.

Filling up a plate with some bread, cream cheese, and a whole lot of celery, I grabbed a bottle of juice before looking around and spotting the girl already sitting on an empty end of a table at the back of the room.

Without hesitation, I ignored the curious looks and whispers as I approached the table and sat opposite her, placing down my bag on the seat next to me.

The table was placed before a window, so the warm morning sunlight hit my face, which I enjoyed greatly. I was a child of winter and preferred colder weather, as long as the air conditioning was still working that was.

Looking at the girl's plate caused a small chuckle to escape my lips, as it was basically just a huge pile of bacon. No bread, fruit, or vegetable in sight.

The girl looked at me questioningly, though it could have been my imagination again as her face hardly gave anything away.

"You know you are gonna get fat if that's what your everyday breakfast looks like.", I remarked lightly.

“I won't.”, came her curt answer, though I caught a glimpse of one of her hands twitching, as she tried not to touch her stomach.

“Well, you do you.”, I yielded, not wanting to upset her.

The rest of our meal went by in silence.

Though 'meal' was a serious oversimplification considering the speed with that the girl wolfed down the bacon on her plate, despite the pile being big enough to feed ten people. Decimation would have been a more apt description.

This didn't mean that she had no table manners, it was just that her eating speed greatly surpassed what I expected.

I still hadn't finished my food when she had already wiped clean her stash of bacon-shaped heart disease and stood up from the table, ready to leave.

Looking up, I saw her give me one last intense look before she just turned around and left the dining hall, after placing her plate in a pre-prepared container for dirty dishes.

Not even a second after she had left the room, a silver-haired teenager appeared in her seat, accompanied by a short breeze.

This time I didn't have to take guess to know that I found myself face to face with Pietro Maximoff, speedster of the Marvel Universe.

…

As Laura left the dining room, she sighed to herself in an inaudible manner.

Laura knew that she shouldn't approach others like this, but her instincts just kinda took over every time she encountered a stranger, the beast inside of her wanting to know if a new threat had appeared or not.

She knew that this was a consequence of her 'upbringing'. Though torture was probably more accurate, considering the things that had been done to her as a child.

And while her father had freed her and taken her to this school filled with others that were 'like her', Laura still felt out of place.

No missions, no hellish training, no blood, no violence, and no death.

She wasn't sure if she missed these things, but they had accompanied Laura her entire life, so was it a wonder that she leaned towards aggression and violence?

Besides her father, the other veteran members of the X-Men, and the Professor no one had ever been able to stare back at her so defiantly amongst the children and teens that were living in this school.

But the black-haired boy had done so.

Laura didn't recognize his smell so she knew that he was new here, but instead of another weak-willed teen, she had seen something else inside his eyes.

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Something resilient and full of determination.

It was the kind of determination it took to look down the barrel of a gun and not flinch. And Laura knew what she was talking about, as she had done so herself many a time.

That prolonged eye contact had made her feel as if she had found someone worthy, someone that was strong and maybe could relate to her. Someone that could be her friend, as she didn't really have any of those.

Still, as an experienced 'hunter' she decided to take her time and observe for now. Laura would find out soon enough if that black-haired green-eyed boy was worth her time.

…

“Anything new about the incident in Queens last night?”, Nick Fury asked the trustworthy Agent Hill by his side.

“Yes, Director. We now have more accurate information about who the clashing parties were and what it is they were after.”, Hill answered professionally.

“Who?”, Fury asked curtly, being no fan of wasting time with unnecessary words.

“The information we could gather strongly pointed towards the Brotherhood and Hydra being the fighting parties. Surveillance in the surroundings also managed to spot the X-Jet landing nearby, though they weren't involved with the fighting and left again almost immediately.”, the female Agent recounted the intel she had managed to gather.

“Their goal?”

"Based on where the fighting took place, we gathered intel about their immediate surroundings, including residents, residential owners, and illegal activities happening there in the past. In the end, we found several smaller leads, but nothing conclusive. I doubt further search will produce any results, but I have Agents follow up on them either way."

“Agent, don't tell me what we don't have. Tell me what we got, stop beating around the bush!”, Fury voiced out, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

He knew that the Agent just wanted to make a thorough report, but he had quite literally hundreds of cases such as this weighing on his mind.

Enhanced were starting to appear more often, with practically every country doing experiments in creating superhuman soldiers after the late Captain's example.

Not to mention the increased appearance of mutants, who while individually may not represent a threat, were definitely something to take heed of. A race that consists entirely of superhuman beings wasn't something to take lightly after all.

What made it worse, was that SHIELD had basically none to little information about them, except a few key figures. Those key figures though were either too dangerous to approach, like Magneto. Or too well-connected like Charles Xavier.

Adding on to the fact that Hydra just didn't want to stay dead, his head was at full capacity at all times, worrying about how to enable his own Agents to measure up against these new threats. Sadly, a fruitless task most of the time.

“Yes, Sir. I believe they may be after this boy – Elijah Frost.”, saying so the competent Agent handed him a tablet with information and pictures of the mentioned teen.

Fury didn't bother looking at all the background information for now but just looked at the pictures of the black-haired green-eyed boy. If the Brotherhood and Hydra were really after him, then he was someone worth remembering.

“What do we know about him? Why would they be interested in him?”, Fury asked after taking a moment to imprint the image in his mind.

"We believe that he is the illegitimate son of Winston Frost."

“Winston Frost as in the former Chairman of Frost International?”, Fury questioned with a serious face.

Agent Hill didn't hesitate as she answered: "That exact one. Elijah Frost's mother, Beth Taylor was a former employee at the company's New York branch office. Even though her information was deleted seventeen years ago from the company's records, the SHIELD files are clear on this. Considering the boy's name and that the father had been left unnamed in his birth certificate makes it highly likely that Elijah's birth was the result of an affair. Ms. Taylor has also received monthly payments from an unknown account that we couldn't trace back. With her death last year, her son had also received a substantial payment from her life insurance, which didn't exist until two days before her death. It's highly likely that both those arrangements had been made by Winston Frost. Though verification is nearly impossible."

"Well, of course it's impossible, he died six months ago after all.", Fury stated neutrally, before he continued, "Where is the boy now?"

“We don't know Director. Our surveillance reported that he isn't in his apartment and facial recognition didn't manage to pick up anyone with his looks.”

"Emma Frost is a suspected mutant and with Elijah being her half-brother, it wouldn't be far-fetched to suspect him to be one too. That would also explain the Brotherhood's, Xavier's, and Hydra's interest in him. Though now the question remains, who managed to take the boy with him?", Fury speculated out loud, letting the Agent hear his thoughts.

"According to our sources, the fight between the Brotherhood and the Hydra Agents ended with Hydra's loss. So we may be able to exclude them from the options.", the Agent added helpfully.

"Mhm, that leaves us with Magneto or Xavier, both targets we can't approach lightly. Or at all, for that matter."

A frown spread across the veteran spy's face, as he concluded.

“Maybe he managed to get away on his own, Director?”, the Agent asked tentatively.

"True, you never know with mutants. Increase the surveillance for the boy. If he reappears I want to be the first one to know, as he may be a potential threat in the future. No mutant who has the attention of not only the Brotherhood and Xavier but also Hydra, is simple after all."

“Yes, Sir.”, Agent Hill saluted.

"Dismissed, Agent.", Fury said, as he watched her leave the room, his gaze returning to the picture on the tablet in his hands.

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