Choices

Chapter 104
If time could be stopped, that's how Seraphina would feel. She fell through nothingness for what seemed like hours. No ground came to greet her, no sounds of anything made her aware of what might be around her.
It wasn't until her body slowed of its own accord that she landed in water. The slowing of her body made her submerge shallow. She emerged spitting out water and coughing.
Next to her she heard a second splash and the water rippled.
"Marly?" Seraphina asked.
"I'm here," she replied. "That's the quickest way out of the tower. I was afraid if I told you, you might not believe me." She sounded genuinely sorry for having pushed her.
"It's alright," Seraphina replied. At first she'd been angry for having trusted the little girl, but now she was just relieved to be alive and free.
"Come on," Marly prompted, taking Seraphina's hand to guide her.
"How long am I going to be blind for?" She finally asked it. She'd been dreading the question and even more so, the answer.
The sound of the water moving with them while they swam along was the only answer she received. The silence made her stomach clench. "Marly," she urged the girl to answer.
"This is the first time we've ever took action against anyone. I don't know how long." She admitted. Seraphina hadn't thought of that.
These kids were not exactly warriors. They had taken the element of surprise. Their talents born of black magic gave them an edge, but without proper training and testing it was hard to say what any of them were really capable of.
"Look Marly, you can't go with me all the way. I can't guarantee your safety until after I've talked to my family." Seraphina was caught in a hard place.
She couldn't see and couldn't find her own way home, but if she allowed Marly to go with her, she'd see her father and then all hell would break loose.
"You need me," Marly said the one thing Seraphina knew she would.
"I don't want you to get hurt," Seraphina said. "Get me close to home. Once I'm there I'm sure someone will see me and come fetch me," it was the only option she could think of.
"My siblings say you can't be trusted." Marly sounded like she was doubting her pervious decision to help her escape.
"They don't know me. This is all a big misunderstanding." Seraphina couldn't convey any words to make Marly trust her. If she decided to take her back, Seraphina would be forced to fight her, and Seraphina knew she'd win.
"If you betray the trust I'm giving you, I'll let them kill you next time." Marly's words were shaky. Threats were not her thing.
"That will never have to happen." Seraphina replied.
XxX
She stumbled several times trying to keep up with Marly through the forest. Seraphina recognized the smell of the saplings. They must have been walking for hours. Wherever she had been, it was far.
Without her sight, she had no way to tell what direction she was headed. She hoped when she reached the palace she could ask someone which way she approached and get an idea of where she'd come from.
She hoped that those attacking the place she'd been kept prisoner in, were just a search party. She couldn't see her father leaving the palace unattended.
If she was right, he was safe in the palace walls and out of sight.
Marly's grip became tighter. Seraphina assumed they were getting closer by her reaction. Marly seemed to be nervous, and Seraphina couldn't really blame her. Had their positions been switched, Seraphina wouldn't have been completely sure of her choice either.
The trees were left behind them and the breeze found her face as they walked along an open area.
Marly stopped and held fast to Seraphina's hand. "You promise me you'll keep your word," she said.
"I promise." Seraphina replied wholeheartedly.
Tension filled Marly's grasp and then, as if defeated, she let Seraphina go. "Walked straight ahead and you'll find the palace wall."
"Which side?" Seraphina had no clue where by the palace she'd end up. It was so big, she couldn't be expected to know one wall from another.
"Follow the wall left and you'll eventually reached the main entrance."
"Thank you, Marly. When I see you again I hope it's for better tidings."
"For your sake, me too." Marly swallowed. "Go now, before I changed my mind." Seraphina didn't argue, she began her path straight.
XxX
Her feet ached and her hands hurt from catching herself the many times she fell in small holes or tripped over rocks. She was in such a hurry to reach home that she wasn't careful about getting there.
"Father!" She kept yelling it the whole way around the palace wall until she was heard by one of her people and helped inside.
It wasn't until she made it inside that she heard the thuds of heavy steps. "Seraphina," her father sounded surprised and excited all at once. His steps ended and he cleared his throat. "Just as I said Fandral, no need to worry. She'll get home on her own."
Seraphina heard Fandral cough. She wanted to laugh. Same old father.
"Are you okay?" Fandral asked her.
"I need to see you both alone, completely alone." She told them ignoring his question.
"Sera," Fandral began and stopped when she held up her hand.
"This cannot wait." She insisted. No doubt he noticed her awkward staring, but her sight is something she'd deal with later.
(Cephera)
Tony had a private car take Cephera to SHIELD's main building. It dropped her off at the front entrance where a neatly dressed man with short cropped hair awaited her.
"Mrs. Drogo?" He asked approached her with a soft smile.
"That's me, you must be Mr. Rogers." She replied.
"I am. It's nice to meet you ma'am." He offered his hand and she gave it the customary shake. "Please, call me Steve." Cephera was charmed by his polite mannerism. It was not everyday she met someone who displayed such curtesy.
"And you may call me Cephera," she offered in return.
"I'll show you inside," Steve motioned for her to follow and so she did. "If you don't mind my asking, but what's a woman in your condition doing joining an operation such as SHIELD?"
He didn't sound condesending, merely curious.
"Tony never told you much did he." She sighed. "I was sent here from Asgard by the Alfather himself to establish peace between our worlds, and help your government better understand alien technologies and cultures."
"I wouldn't call SHIELD 'our government'," he said. "They sort of work outside the perimeters of the government." He explained.
"Well, whatever they are, they seem more interested in dealing with outsiders than covering it up." She replied.
"You've been doing your homework." He smiled.
"Tony told me that. He says branches like SHIELD are the kind you have to watch out for. Says they can only be trusted to a point, but to always stay on your guard." They passed the statue of the SHIELD logo.
"He isn't wrong," Steve replied and this time licked his lips and looked toward the main entrance. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm making the right choice helping them. Something's they ask of me are questionable. It's not so black and white anymore."
"Nothing ever is."
"The Alfather, King Odin, he sent you here alone?" Steve seemed awkward talking about Odin. She supposed she might too if her religious belief were suddenly thrown into a mixture of other ones.
"My husband is unable to come with me. There is a danger to myself and my unborn child back in Asgard and in my home world of Mechanova. My husband protects me the best he knows how." She found her phrasing to be satisfying without lying.
"I'm sorry to hear that. If there is anything you need, let me know." His offered warmed her.
"I'll remember that offer." She laughed. "I may one day need a babysitter." She watched his face turn blank.
"I'm afraid I don't know much about children." He admitted sheepishly.
"One day, I'm sure you will." She patted his arm right before he opened the main door for her.
XxX
Cephera's second meeting with Fury was briefly conducted in the same lunch room, but this time she was directed to follow him through a pass code sealed door with Steve behind them.
They stepped into an elevator where Steve pressed a different floor. She said farewell to him one floor down. She continued down with Fury for five more levels.
"How far does this thing go?" She asked amazed at how far underground they were.
"This is the furthest." He replied. "I'll remind you that the things we want your help with are classified and not to be spoken about to anyone, at anytime." Fury reminded her.
"Of course." She nodded.
"There is paperwork to sign of course, but seeing as your not actually from this planet I'm not sure it even applies to you." He seemed slightly amused.
"I've no need to go around boasting of my job, I assure you. I am well versed in discretion."
"Good to know." Fury replied. They departed the elevator and she followed him to a massive room filled with crates, work tables, computers, and people wearing protective gear. "This is where we study all things otherworldly." Fury told her expanding his hand to gesture to the whole room.
"Quite a collection." Cephera stepped up to a table to look at the weapon lying there.
"That is a Chitauri ray gun, or at least that's what we call it." He smirked.
"There are some things I will need to research in order to help you, but what is it you want me to do exactly?" She'd been left wondering this whole time.
"Information. Testing these things is dangerous and not something I'd have you do. I want you behind a desk inputting what you you know about other worlds and their technology into our high tech database."
"Easy enough," she said. "Will I get to know specifics of what you have contained in all these crates?"
"One thing at a time." Fury replied eyeing her. "I've cleared out a small office space where you can work. I'm getting an ID badge ready for you and it'll be at the front desk within the hour. As your here as a volunteer your hours are whatever you want then to be, but might I add that the more we get sooner, is better than later."
"Understood." Cephera was looking around. Her curiosity peeking. If Loki's army had been the first aliens the earth had seen, what was in all the crates? Was that the first aliens they'd seen? "I hope we can build a solid peace agreement for the future." She turned her attention back to the director.
"You and me both." He agreed.

Notes