Chapter 6: Shot in the dark

Chapter 6: Shot in the dark

I stood up on the roof of a short abandoned building, located on the opposite side of the Bronx as my apartment. I slowly worked through the different motions of a modified Wing Chun stance, moving and stretching, working my muscles before releasing the final form with a soft groan, walking to and dropping down to a chair I had brought up with me.

"Impressive" Ema commented softly, darting from the far side of the building to my side. "Especially considering you had no martial arts training eleven hours ago."

"It feels like the information is getting easier to access as I practice." I said with a shrug. "And I'm pretty sure my body is adjusting itself. It's hard to say for sure but I feel a tiny bit more flexible than I normally am."The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

"We will run a more detailed scan tomorrow and compare the one I did earlier." Ema said, still a bit miffed she hadn't scanned me sooner. "I will be able to compare the two."

For a while we watched down the street I was facing before Ema floated away to scan the alley and the street behind me. Our first night of our "hope we get lucky plan" was turning out to be pretty boring. Although, to be fair, practicing handstands and standing backflips was pretty entertaining.

Eventually I stood, stretching my arms up high before walking closer to the center of the building. I started to stretch more seriously, working through all of the stretches I now knew were suggested for a gymnast to increase flexibility over time.

"Carson, do you mind me asking how old are you?" Ema asked after about ten minutes of me stretching.

I stopped what I was doing and looked over at her, eyebrow raised. She was still floating on the opposite side of the building, but had turned to look at me.

"You don't already know?" I asked. "I thought you got a pretty big info dumb when I made you."

"I did, but it was primarily information about your reality and what your situation was." She explained, the center piece of her body faintly pulsing green. "I learned nothing about you."

"Oh I didn't know that." I admitted, before moving back to stretching my legs. "There isn't much to know honestly."

"Truly? Or are you just saying that to get out of talking about yourself?"

"It's about fifty fifty." I answered with a chuckle. "Well Since you're curious I'm twenty-six. But you already knew I was around that old."

"True. I could tell your approximate age from the in depth scan we did after you put on your ring." She admitted, slowly floating bobbing towards me. "In truth that is what got me interested. I was asking your age as an opening to inquire about your history further."

"Ah, fair enough. Like I said, there isn't much to know. I've lived my whole life in New York City. To be honest I don't think I could voluntarily live anywhere else."

"You like living in the city?"

"On good days, sure." I answered with a chuckle. "But no, it's more like the city is part of me. The good and the bad."

"I see." She responded. "I'm sorry I don't quite understand."

"I'm not surprised. I'm not sure you have the frame of reference to understand Ema." I admitted before continuing. "Do you hate the color blue?"

"No, not particularly. Why?"

"Well, would you mind if I painted you blue then?" I asked, starting a different stretch before continuing. "Not for any reason really, I just feel like making you blue."

"I would not like that at all." She stated, indignation leaking into her voice. "I am green."

"So even though you don't hate blue, you really don't want to be blue, 'cause it isn't green?" I asked, gesturing as she bobbed in confirmation. "Being a New Yorker is like that for some people. We don't hate other places or types of places, but being anything but a New Yorker would just feel wrong."

"I see I think." She responded hesitantly. "Thank you for the analogy."

"No problem"

"... anything else you want to share?" She prompted after a minute or two of silence.

"UhI'm an only child? I don't really have any family left, even before the reality crossing." I explained, pausing a moment before continuing. "To answer the question everyone wants to ask after hearing that, my parents died in a house fire not long after I moved out."

"My condolences."

"Thank you." I said, before coughing and continuing. "I'm glad I didn't leave anyone behind, as horrible as that might sound."

"No, I think I understand." She assured me, floating closer, watching me stretch. "What about friends?"

"That's a complicated question" I admitted with a wince.

"What did they take?"

"As far as we can tell? Absolutely nothing."

"So you're telling me someone wearing unknown stealth technology hopped a fence, evaded patrols and climbed through a broken window for sightseeing?"

"We aren't sure sir, but we called in the staff of the event to confirm and as far as they could tell; nothing was missing."

Fury shook his head, putting the security tape images down, and lent forward to lean on his desk, motioning for the female agent to continue.

"The individual went deeper into the center before stopping and turning around. Based on how he was described by the officer who discovered him, we think he saw that the rest of the park was lit up and turned around."

"The assumption being that bright lights interfere with their ability to fade into darkness?"

"Yes sir. The police officer described him as being blurred around the edges, like his eyes were sliding off unless he focused. Judging by how close another patrol potentially got to the individual, I'd say it works better when he isn't moving."

"That kind of stealth technology must be pretty advanced. Anyone lost anything like that recently?"

"Sir, as far as I'm aware that kind of tech doesn't exist, at least not for personal or mobile use. I asked around the usual suspects and all I got was requests to study it if we caught them."

"And this smoke spray?"

"The lab is analyzing it right now, but so far they know it's non toxic, a slight irritant and oddly derivative of a powder used in fire extinguishers . Again, no leads on where that came from, though it could be low tech enough to be homemade."

"Any leads on the drone?"

"Again the usual sources didn't recognize it, and we aren't sure but after studying the footage it doesn't appear to be using propellers."

"Well it sure as hell isn't using jets." Fury said, looking at a close up of the small angular drone. "Repulsor tech?"

"Possibly sir, especially if it shared the same stealth technology as the suit to muffle sound."

Fury frowned, closing and then dropping the file onto his desk. He stood and made his way back to the window overlooking the city, clasping his hands behind his back.

"So no leads on what they were after, why they didn't take anything, and where their tech came from?"

"Well sir, we interviewed the officers in the area and discovered that a patrol appears to have been in close proximity to the area where the individual stopped and began to retreat. One of them claimed to have seen something but written it off as a shadow. Apparently they were discussing how the Hammer drones had self-destructed, something that hasn't made it to the news circle yet."

"So someone wanted to get their hands on the drone, and when they heard they all exploded they gave up?" Nick confirmed, before turning back to Agent Hill, eyebrow raised.

"More specifically sir, we think that they were after the arc reactors. According to the plans we confiscated from Ivan Vanko's workshop, the only thing worth the effort was the reactor. Further, the person was by themselves, they had no way to transport an entire drone."

"But making off with a reactor would be much easier. It sounds like we have a tech scavenger on our hands."

"Possibly. Though I will say from the footage we have from the security cameras, my guess is that they aren't combat or stealth trained."

"So a potential civilian in a high tech suit?"

"That's what it looks like so far sir. The irony is that plenty of reporters and civilians have snuck in and been tossed back out without much more than a slap on the wrist. The only reason this is of interest is because of the tech displayed."

"So we have someone who is either new to the game, or someone who stumbled onto some goodies and decided to try their hand at looting more." Fury surmised, pulling out his phone before looking back to the agent. "Either way I'm going to put Coulson on it."

"Coulson sir?" Agent Hill asked, still at parade rest. "Seems overkill for what could be a lucky civilian."

"Coulson is good with civilians. Besides, if something more important comes up I'll just reassign him and pass this off to someone else."

"Very well sir. I'll send the file over to Agent Coulson immediately and inform the lab to send the final results to his desk."

The director nodded, his phone now pressed to his ear as Agent Hill turned and left. It only rang twice before Agent Coulson answered, despite it being around two in the morning.

"Coulson, I need you to come in. I've got something I want you to look into."