Chapter Text
It had been a long day and an even longer night, Finch and Carol had had nonstop missions for three days and nights in a row and Carol was dying for a comfortable mattress with more than an hours sleep.
A month had gone by since they'd left SHIELD and Finch’s parents. The two of them having worked tirelessly to complete this mission. That month had felt even longer than the three days they'd spent chasing their mysterious “Silhouette”.
Some other planets also coming with distress calls of the Silhouette and Carol was beginning to consider that they might not ever find the mystery behind them. Of course, people had some theories, none of them ever proven and Carol wanted nothing more then to ease people's minds and tell them that she was working on it.
Finch had spent the better part of the time away from missions trying to come up with a map and timeline of events. Something that Carol could work off of. But considering the lack of information they still had, that was near impossible.
She was only a little jealous that Finch didn’t really require sleep as she could really do with collapsing right now, knowing that if she went too long without the comfort of sleep or a decent mattress that she relax into she’d probably shut down when she least expected or needed to.
Goose and Finch were back in the ship when Carol found them, the two of them having gotten her out of a tight spot and Finch claiming that he would never fly her ship ever again, the blonde chuckling at his response knowing that he liked it when she flew but he had never been very good at it, he was the backup, he was the weaponry, he was the science guy with a gun.
“I don’t know how Fury expects us to complete a mission when we have next to no information.” Carol sighed out, she’d been filled to the brim with a hint of despair, unknowing what could possibly change their situation.
Shaking his head, Finch knew there wasn’t that many options or roads for them to go down without them having half the information they would normally.
“Believe me, I wish I knew but….there’s only so much access to information I have.” He spoke in understanding of how hard things currently were.
“What about your future guide? Like is there anything that tells us about this thing?” Carol suggested as most of their missions together had started because of that.
Finch sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Unfortunately not, was the first thing I checked and nothing came up, not the description, not how it ends, not how they’re defeated, they don’t exist to it. I mean, the future guide only existed to help me get so far and now that I’m in a different timeline things have changed.”
Carol nodded knowing that a lot of things had changed, Finch had died and come back to life, Natasha had died and been dead for a while before Finch found a way to bring her back, all the heroes had kind of separated, Fury and Max were trying to co-lead SHIELD together which was another adjustment and the two of them were in space, chasing after a mysterious source.
»»——— ★ ———««
Finch and Carol had been flying through space through a few weeks now, though time was relative and non-existent when all you saw was stars and planets and moons out of the window.
Their next mission having been on a planet outside their system, a plant swirling with green and red and bright orange, Carol would have thought it was beautiful if it wasn’t for the mission brief.
“Who exactly are we looking for?” Carol asked as she steered them towards the planet.
Finch smirked and shook his head, a little surprised that Carol hadn’t read the file but read the file out loud. “Apparently a guy called Henshaw, sent out a distress signal weeks ago but it was intercepted by his enemies and they nearly killed half the species. We are being warned to ‘proceed with caution’.”
The blonde nodding before flying straight towards the planet and landing safely down. The two of them looking around as they stepped off the ship.
Looking around, the planet was filled with colors and a patch of small city, Goose perched on Carol's shoulder, sniffing the air and letting at a small sneeze. Finch chuckling as they advanced further into the planet.
Neither of them knew what to expect, the mission briefing had given them just about enough information to attempt to find the guy they were looking for and even then, it was questionable whether they might be able to help.
They saw a few people walking the streets, keeping to themselves and trying to stay out of the way. Carol knew what it was like to be so aware of your every move because you knew someone out there was watching you.
After years of being surrounded by the Supreme Intelligence, it had taken her a while to not be as self-aware, to feel like her every move wasn't being closely watched under a microscope. Somehow, she felt more at home and more herself when she was in space or on another planet.
The planet they were currently on was beautiful, then again so were most of the planets the blonde had had the privilege of seeing. The bright lights, the soft music, even the atmosphere seemed calm. It was almost easy to forget the reason they were here.
"New visitors need to state their name and business." A guard spoke from a cased room at the side of the hallway in a dimly lit room.
Finch nodded. "Captain Marvel and Agent Romanoff-Hill, from SHIELD. We were told about a distress call."
Carol looked around as Finch dealt with the attendant, knowing that he was Betty at this kind of thing than she was. She looked at the images on the walls, some of planets, some of their people, some of landmarks on other planets.
The attendant beckoning for them to follow him, Finch gesturing for her to go in front and he'd follow behind her. Doing so, they were lead to a small room with nothing but a table. Both of them taking a seat.
"Is it just me or does this feel weird and awkward?" Carol questioned, wanting to know if her counterpart was feeling what she was.
"Maybe because you're a little too used to Fury’s briefings." Finch smirked as Goose jumped into his lap. "But no, you're right. Almost feels like too much. But it's understandable considering what happened the last time someone found their way onto the planet."
Carol nodded, knowing that there was of course some truth to that, she’d imagine that it would be hard to trust anyone or not have a security detail after your plane was attacked by someone that you thought was here to help.
Another door opened on the opposite side of the room and someone walked in, sitting in front of them in a dark cloak, looking at the two of them though their face was obscured. Carol gulped, partly in worry and partly in fear, she wanted this to go smoothly as possible, she wanted to help.
“Captain Marvel and Agent Romanoff-Hill.” The person nodded. “From SHIELD. I take it you heard our SOS call and you’re aware of the situation?”
Finch nodded and Carol smiled, not wanting to give anyone a reason to start a fight, they were here to help, not start a war.
“We were in the area and we received your call so….here we are. What exactly happened here?” Carol questioned, trying to understand the situation better, working out how they could possibly fix this.
The person bowed their head, trying to think of where to start. “We were a peaceful planet, we all looked after each other, we farmed on the land, we worked peacefully together, then patches of our land weren’t functioning the way they should be, our exports from other planets weren’t coming as regularly and then they stopped altogether, we panicked, thought we’d done something wrong, so we sent out a distress call because we had no food, no resources.” The person began to explain.
Finch looked at them with sympathy, he knew that other planets had gone through the same thing, a lot of planets dependents on resources and exports from other planets so that they could function.
“Then…The Silhouette appeared and we thought that they were here to help, we were desperate….” The person shook their head.
Carol knew the feeling of someone not being what you thought they were, of needing help and getting the complete opposite, of wanting what’s best for something or someone and then finding out that their intentions are harmful instead of peaceful.
“Instead, they hurt you and took what you had left.” Finch drew to the conclusion.
The person nodded. “They want a war and they want everyone else to know that they do. Their plan is destroy the universe and rebuild it. My people just want peace. To be left alone. But we can’t do anything whilst we’re still in fear and unable to function as a species.”
Carol nodded, knowing the pain and the fear and already trying to figure out how they could help, what they could do and offer.
Finch paged Max and asked what space exports could do. Carol considered the fact that their communications had been attacked and was no longer safe, which is how. This started in the first place.
“We’ll do whatever we can, I promise.” Carol took the person’s hand, nodding her head in promise.
»»——— ★ ———««
Returning to Carol’s ship, Finch looked at a communications route, trying to figure out how he could help them get in touch with other planet without being attacked or hurt or targeted again, a planet this far out needed as much help as they could and without communication, they unfortunately wouldn’t get far.
Carol stood in the kitchen, feeding Goose and making food for herself as well as a coffee, knowing that this mission was going to be extremely long.
The two of them looking at each other before Carol pulled him in for a hug, both of them holding onto each other tightly. The blonde tucking her head into Finch’s shoulder. The alien placing a kiss on top of Carol’s head.
Goose squawking as they did so before Finch’s pager went off once more, disrupting the peace they seemed to have found.
Picking up the pager and looking at the message, he turned it to face Carol, both of them looking at each other in slight worry as Max’s message simply read: SOS Earth ASAP
Carol jumping back into the co*ckpit and smirking as she flew them towards Earth.
»»——— ★ ———««
Returning to Earth, neither of them had been sure what they were expecting, though it hadn’t been what they saw upon coming out of the ship.
Stepping off the ship and heading towards SHIELD, everything seemed to be a complete mess, everyone running around, people yelling and shouting and ordering things around, planes and ships taking off and Max spotting Finch and making a direct beeline for his son.
“Thank god you’re here. We need you and so does your mother.” Max smiled apologetically, it seemed that the only time Finch ever returned to Earth was to face impending doom.
Nodding, Finch followed him towards the main center of SHIELD, Carol heading towards Fury who seemed to constantly be dealing with incompetent staff.
“Nick Fury….what exactly is going on?” Carol looked around trying to figure out what the hell had happened.
Nick shook his head and with a deep sigh pinched the bridge of his nose. “A great question, Carol. Earth happened.”
Carol nodded slowly in question as she watched on as people were running back and forth, someone giving orders, someone asking for approval on something and gunfire. Safe to say the entirety of SHIELD was completely chaotic and an incredible mess.
“What can I do?” Carol questioned as she looked at the millions of things Nick was currently trying to multitask through.
Shaking his head, Fury gave a list of several instructions to four people and then yelled for the gunfire to stop. “We had a kind of alien tech come in this morning but it’s kind….difficult.”
Nodding, the blonde followed him as he gestured for her to come to a room. A large block of odd colored stone standing in the middle of it. Carol stepped closer to it, studying it, gliding her fingers against it as if searching for something.
“We’ve tried everything to try and get to whatever is inside this thing and none of our technology seems to even make a dent.” Fury explained as he watched her looking at it.
“Where did you get it?” The blonde looked at it curiously.
Nick sighed and looked at it also. “It was on an off world ship that tried to attack us.”
Carol’s eyebrows shot up. Looking between the large block of strange colored stone and Fury, wondering what on earth had gone down whilst she’d been off world herself.
“You didn’t think to call me?” Carol asked, trying to understand.
Fury tilted hhis head to the side as if saying: ‘I couldn’t really could I’.
“We have Avengers, we have other heroes that occasionally join. We handled it, meanwhile you are doing your job as always. If we needed you, you know that I would have paged.” Fury assured her.
Fury grabbed all the information and files on the large stone that he could and gave them to Carol hoping she could do more with them than he could.
She looked at the large stone, no entry way was visible, nothing looked like it could be broken into, the block glinted black, grey, blue, purple and then re cycled through those colors, she had no idea where to even start.
»»——— ★ ———««
“God knows I can’t leave the two of you alone.” Finch smirked as he walked into the room, Natasha looking up at him and running towards him to hug him. “Hi, mama.”
The redhead smiled as she hugged Blue tightly and Max felt his heart melt at the interaction, his two favorite people near him again, the two of them moving towards the main attraction in the room that showed everything that was going on.
“What exactly did I miss?” Finch asked wondering what the commotion had been about since he stepped off Carol’s ship.
Max chuckled to himself as if asking what he ‘hadn’t’ missed. “Great question, a lot is the best I can give you.”
Natasha shook her head and playfully punched Max’s arm. “Oh come on, hard ass Hill. We had aliens attack, we had ships to defeat, we had multiple influxes in data and information and we have whatever this is.”
The redhead pointed towards a device that looked alien. Max looking at the device also, the device being completely taped off, to the usual human eye it looked like a giant wooden trunk but Blue knew better than that.
Stepping closer to the object, he ducked under the tape, moving closer towards it, Fury walking in to see how they were getting on.
“Where did you get this?” Finch kept looking at the object, recognizing it, not looking away from it even to as his question.
“We recovered two objects from the attack. This and a large block of stone. Both of the objects, not of this world, which is where you two come in.” Fury referred to Finch and Carol hence why Max had paged him.
Natasha watched as her son walked around the object, watched as his hands moved around it but didn’t quite touch it. Max watched on also, seeing how his son interacted with the object. How they reacted to each other. In all his years of dealing with the Avengers and all of their multiverse attacks, he had never seen anything like this.
“And you said that you don’t know who attacked you?” Finch looked at Fury before placing his hand on the box. His alien DNA opening the box and Natasha blinked rapidly in surprise, trying to process what just happened.
Max’s jaw dropped a little bit, the interaction between Blue and the object had kind of hinted that they could be linked, Max had just been hoping that for once he was wrong and maybe once, just once, they’d have an alien object that couldn’t be used by someone.
Fury looked at him and then the box. He one that Natasha and Max’s son was different but this wasn’t what he’d expected.
“Now how in the goddamn hell did you do that?” Fury moved closer to look at the box. “Some of our best experts couldn’t get that open, we tried crowbars, Thor’s hammer, Steve’s shield, even Stark tried to explode it and each time it backfired.”
“Yeah well, neither of them have the DNA that I have. Yes, I have Pa’s and mama’s genetics but I’m also an alien….specifically, the species that owns this box and therefore has the ability to open it.” Finch explained.
“Mal’Torian?” Fury questioned.
Blue nodded, confirming Fury’s theory, he had wanted to make sure that every other method had been exhausted first before asking the most dangerous and secret asset he had. It had only taken them halfway through their previous options for Fury to consider that it might be completely different than what they had originally expected.
“What was it designed for?” Max looked at it, followed by Natasha and Fury also peering into it beside him.
“The box was originally designed as a prison. Mal’Torian’s work differently when it comes to dimensions, time concepts and societal norms than most species. Over time it became a weapon, a portal, a power object and then a version of Pandora’s box, which is why it’s only ever been kept on Mal’Tor.” Finch explained as they all looked at the box.
“Understood. Box stays locked.” Fury nodded in final.
“Probably for the best.” Finch pressed his hand on the box which locked it once more before a few agents came in and locked it underground.
»»——— ★ ———««
The thing about aliens was that when they came, no one knew what to do with them, how to deal with them or even how to speak to them, didn’t help that most of the time they also brought weapons with them or had bad intentions.
Finch spent some more time with Natasha and Max, never really knowing when he might next see them considering he was off world a lot more than he was on it. Max and Natasha always happy to see him.
Carol hadn’t expected anyone to walk into the room, much less when she was trying to explode her way through a chunk of stone, Finch stood in the doorway, knowing not to disrupt or startle her as she tried to work through it.
He watched on as Carol punched it, used her powers to vibrate it and shoot at it, she’d tried to melt it off with her powers, she’d tried to throw it at the wall, so far, nothing had caused the stone to break or open it.
Tilting her head, Carol knew that she wouldn’t be able to do this on her own, after all, Finch had already watched her exhaust every other idea she’d had so far. Turning around, she smiled at him brightly.
“I know that look.” Finch shook his head with a chuckle. “What are you thinking?”
Carol beckoned him into the room, waiting until he was stood beside her to begin speaking.
“You’re an alien, feel the stone.”
Finch tilted his head in confusion before stepping closer to the stone, placing a hand on it and feeling the vibration through each of his muscles, the quiet thrumming of the material, whatever it was.
“See, you feel it too, don’t you? It has a core frequency. A vibration.” Carol explained.
Nodding, Finch saw her point but was sure where she was going with this, the two of them often having ideas and not thinking of the bigger picture before following through with them.
Removing his hand, both of them saw the remaining handprint before it faded away, Carol looked him as she wagged her eyebrows.
“I have an idea, I’m just praying that it works.” Carol continued as Finch came back to stand next to her. “You’re an alien, I’m a half alien…I say, we try to match the frequency, vibrate our powers at the same time…”
“The two of us combined would have enough to match the frequency….” Finch nodded with a smile at the idea, the two of them moving towards the stone and placing their hand on a side.
Carol took his hand in hers, squeezing gently as their free hand came up to rest on the stone, the two of them beginning to use their power at the same time, feeling the power thrum through each other, both of them staying on the same level.
The blonde looking at the stone and Finch, their hands and combined power causing the stone to pulse and thrum slightly, but the stone remained intact, the two of them continuing to amp up their power until they finally reached the same frequency as the stone.
The stone thrumming and vibrating and pulsing, a small sound coming from it as each wave thrummed throughout the room, but still nothing. Carol shook her head slightly disappointed that it hadn’t worked.
“Come on, it’s doing something, maybe we just have to let it do its thing for a minute. Besides, Thor wants to say hi, maybe we take a break.” Finch suggested and Carol nodded. The two of them leaving the room and heading towards a communal space.
»»——— ★ ———««
Thor and Carol were mid conversation, Max and Natasha were talking to Finch, Steve was in the middle of a debate with Tony and Rhodey and Bucky was just happy to be there. Even Fury had decided to join them.
Carol smirking and smiling at Finch as they continued speaking in their little groups. That was until the main alarm went off and they all looked at each other.
Fury brought up the camera that showed the room in which the alarm had been triggered. All of them now looking at the screen showing the object that Carol and Finch had tried to open earlier.
The stone around the object seemed to have melted or shifted into a different state of matter. Fury didn’t know what to think, that’s why he had a science team, looking at Carol and Finch they didn’t seem to know what was going on either.
“I thought you said you didn’t do anything to the stone?” Fury asked, the obvious change in the object telling them otherwise.
Carol shook her head, struggling to believe what they’d just seen. Finch looked at it and then back at Fury.
“We did ‘something’ to it, just not…..that.” Finch blinked rapidly as if this were some dream that he needed to wake up from.
Carol and Finch looked at each other and then the object, worry filling their faces, not knowing what this might mean. Max and Natasha also looked at the screen, normally they had a full briefing over what something was and how dangerous it was, but the unknown seemed to be the worst feeling at the moment.
Heading down to the containment room, Finch looked at the object as he slowly neared it, wondering what it was doing, why it was reacting the way it was and what exactly he and Carol had activated.
»»——— ★ ———««
Some time had passed, Finch couldn’t say how much, he had no concept of time on the best of days, especially not when he was studying something as intriguing and as delicate as the object.
Natasha had been in the room many times, watching several things that Finch has discovered, she’d seen him writing on the glass walls, had seen him almost thrown against a wall because he’d touched it, she’d seen him pick things apart and put them back together and Max had walked in the room to hand out coffee whilst watching his son work on the artifact.
He wished that he had the answers, why it was here, what it did, what it was made of, but he knew that there was only so much he do and figure out about the artifact.
The three of them had watched as the artifact vibrated with waves of color, Max widening his eyes as he watched it, Natasha had never seen anything glow like the artifact other than Carol who was stood behind the glass with Fury trying to stay out of the way.
Looking at the object, Finch ad an idea but was skeptic as to whether it would actually work, Max and Natasha joining Fury as Carol came into the room and aimed her energy beams at the object.
The artifact vibrating and shaking before sending shrapnel flying everywhere, Finch jumping in front of Carol to shield her from the shrapnel, his skin able to take the damage as it was hardened and not able to be penetrated, Carol looking over his shoulder as they came back to standing.
The two of them looking at the artifact, Finch walking over and hovering his hand over it to try and sense what was within it, Carol widened her eyes confused but intrigued.
“This is insane. The object is built of like multiple different parts. But none of them are the same, they all connect but they’re all completely different.” Finch tried to explain however, at first glance he wasn’t given much to work from.
It wasn’t until later that day, Max, Natasha, Carol and Fury had been sat in the Avengers compound, discussing something, Bucky and Steve were in corner and Tony was sat beside Pepper talking about something different when Finch was followed in by Goose, the Flerken jumping on his shoulder to jump across to Carol.
Standing at the front of the table, Finch looked at them, Fury nodding and giving him full permission to explain everything he’d found. Tony moving to sit on the arm of the couch so that he could get a better view of the information that he was given.
"Ok, so.... The artifact is made of several components. That part I already told you. The more intriguing part is that each part is completely different. The object was made at the same time. But some of the parts don't have the technology to exist yet. However, some of these parts are made from something only found in the past. All the components were made at different points in time yet, put together at the same time.” Finch attempted to explain.
"So what you're trying to say is...." Tony gestured for him to connect the dots.
Rolling his eyes, Finch began drawing on the boards behind him before placing a hologram model in between them. "The top was forged in 1607. The spindles in 1701. Sounds simple enough. Then the history books say that they found ‘items created seemingly from the future, not of this earth almost’, given to them by a ‘stranger’. The last three components give a time signature of 4025. But this stranger had them in 1912 and 1942.”
Max looked at the model and his eyes widened with the information he was presented with. "So someone is trying to alter history by making it look like these things always existed.”
"It’s like the ultimate Mandela effect." Bucky spoke from his corner beside Steve.
Finch and Tony blinking at him. "How much can someone alter history before someone realizes.”
Natasha also blinked at Bucky, no one expecting him to have said that. "What? I know stuff too." Bucky returned to his usual aura of silence beside Steve.
"Well, sh*t!" Fury shook his head.
»»——— ★ ———««
They’d been on a few missions since Finch had told them all what was going on and what was happening with the artifact. It had been about a week when Finch received a message from G’lah that she wanted to meet with him.
Finch had been waiting at one of the parks, resting his weight against the railing that was overlooking the sea, looking over at the city, thinking about everything he'd gone through and how the world and society had progressed but still not enough. An odd imbalance of strength, power and time that most people would ignore.
A tap on his shoulder and Finch smiled upon seeing G’lah beside him. She smiled in return. A singular nod sent his way. The two of them looking in the same direction.
"Thanks for meeting me, Fin." G’lah smiled and nodded in thanks.
"Oh, come now, G’lah. We're practically siblings. You need me and I'll be there. You know this."
Shrugging, G’lah looked out, considering her next words. It was a shame that most of the time they only saw each other under these kinds of circ*mstances.
"I knew that...” She took a sigh and shook her head before restarting. "Dad found something and it's not good. At all. He doesn't know what to do and I figured that you and all your experience and gifts might be able to help. After all, you're in the same position as us...."
Finch nodded. "What did Talos find?”
"He was on a mission, trying to find some relic. Not only did he find the relic but he was sent a message by someone completely unknown to us, even with our extensive knowledge and databanks, but...."
"The Silhouette." Finch stated as both a comment and a question. G'lah nodded in response.
Finch looked down at the water. "We had a small encounter. Was more of a run in but...."
"So you've met it? Know who or what it is?” G’Iah questioned.
Shaking his head, Finch didn't know how to begin to even explain. "It was strange, G’lah. Like... We damaged it and it was a robot of some sort. Exploded right in front of us. Yet it's sending messages across the cosmos. Leaves behind a relic after trying to destroy the place and is still somehow completely unknown. Even I don't know what to do.”
"What about Max and Natasha? Fury?"
Shaking his head and shrugging, Finch wished he had the answers. He only pretended to know everything most of the time.
"So... We're on our own, basically."
"I promise when I know anything, I'll tell you." Finch turned around to face her.
Nodding, G’Iah faced him also, both of them resting their foreheads together, in promise, in understanding and in farewell.
»»——— ★ ———««
It was early morning when Finch headed into the SHIELD main room to see if anything had changed or developed with the artifact. However, there hadn’t been much improvement, barely anything had changed or adapted and that wasn’t giving anyone much hope when it came to their mystery invaders.
Natasha and Max had walked into the room, coming to see their son and to see if they were needed, Max looking at the artifact that was standing in some sort of field, Natasha smiled as she watched Max sipping his coffee whilst looking at the artifact.
“Anything new?” Natasha looked between Finch and the artifact.
Shaking his head, Finch had tried everything known to man to make it do something again or to find something else that would let them do something. Even looking at the timezones of the pieces it was made of didn’t help anything.
“Stark is hosting a party tonight, if you’re interested, might be nice to do that again.” Max informed his son.
Nodding, Finch had never understood why that man threw so many parties, but he guessed if you had that much money of course you’d probably want to spend it.
“A party could be fun.” Finch smiled, however, he was filled with a little dread as he thought back on every other time they’d had a party. “Let’s see who gets thrown through a glass item this time.”
Max had helped with sending people on their respective missions all morning, the Avengers doing their bits as and when they could, SHIELD agents working all hours and Fury was taking a small step back for Max to take over a little more.
Some people arriving at random times for Stark’s party tonight. Thor arriving via bifrost with some others, Finch instantly recognized Brunnhilde and walked over, Thor smirked and smiled as the two of them got near each other before heading off to speak to Natasha about something.
“Welcome back to Midgard.” Finch smiled as Brunnhilde looked at him.
“Thanks, feels good to be back. How’s everything here?” Valkyrie looked around checking what had changed since she’d last been around.
“Same old, same old. How is our mighty ruler of Asgard?” Finch smirked and chuckled as Val rolled her eyes.
“Honestly, I don’t know how I’m still standing.” The two of them chuckled as they began walking towards HQ which was where everyone else was at the current stage in time.
Natasha, Thor and Steve were talking in a corner, Max, Bucky and Tony were discussing something else and Fury was sitting in between each of them before looking up and seeing Finch walk in with Valkyrie.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you in the safe hands of Fury, I’ll be back in second.” Finch bowed his head slightly before walking out one of the other doors that lead down the artifact.
Carol standing in the room looking at it, glowing from using her powers. She hadn’t heard Finch come in and had only realized after he’d spoke and stood behind her.
“I’ve always been fascinated with you powers, you always look so beautifully at peace.” Finch perfectly summed up, causing Carol to turn around and still her powers.
“Honestly, it’s still strange when I use them. All I ever wanted to do was help people, protect them, hell the reason i became a pilot was because I wanted to fight for a better future.” Carol whispered before bringing her arms up to wrap around the alien’s neck.
“You help everyone every day. Whether it’s flying or using your powers. You’re the best of us. I know it takes its toll and you deserve to let go every once in a while. You can lean on people. You can lean on me.” Finch nodded and smiled.
Carol pulling him down to her level a little before kissing him softly, Finch smirking into the kiss before deepening it a little, his hands resting on her waist before slowly wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into more of a hug as they kissed.
Pulling away, Carol took a few seconds to open her eyes before looking at the alien and pressing her forehead to his.
“Valkyrie’s upstairs if you wanna say hi.” Finch smiled with his forehead still pressed against the powerful hero’s.
Carol chuckled before pressing a soft and small kiss to his temple before leaning down to whisper into his ear. “Will I see you tonight?”
Finch looked at her with a bright and loving smile before slowly nodding. “Yeah, you’ll see me tonight…or maybe I’ll see you and you’ll only have time to wave because you’re too busy being pulled to the side by our friends, family and guests.”
Carol shook her head and leaned her head back slightly. “Then maybe you can save me.”
Finch smirked and laughed. “Maybe then we’ll be even. We all know I owe you some saves.”
The two of them settled in each other’s proximity for a small moment, enjoying each other’s presence and space. Something the two of them rarely got to do unless they were on Carol’s ship.
“You go and say hello. I’ll take care of things down here and I’ll see you there, god knows Pa will probably drag me aside to take care of some things.” Finch convinced heart that it would be okay.
Heading upstairs, Carol looked back at him once before walking the rest of the way to see everyone. The first person being Valkyrie who was already standing near the door, the two of them smiling and hugging each other after not having seen each other for so long, Valkyrie placing a small kiss on the side of the blonde’s cheek, a greeting they always saved for each other.
Thor coming over to say hi and everyone quickly conversing with each other and everyone discussed and deciding where people would be getting ready and what time to arrive, Tony giving them the last minute run through of the evening and then telling everyone he expected to see them there.
Everyone splitting off their separate ways before Carol headed off towards her ship to gather some things and then back to the apartment she kind of shared with Finch when she happened to be on Earth.
»»——— ★ ———««
She'd never really enjoyed getting dressed up for events. Never really saw the point in such superficial things such as parties or ceremonies, she hated small talk, didn't understand the point of such meaningless conversations with people where no one really said anything or even truly listened.
Thinking back to one of the first conversations she'd had with Finch, telling him that she hated small talk and how pointless she found it. Everything she had said he had listened to, as if listening to her voice had all the answers he'd ever possibly need.
(Flashback)
Carol had been around the party with Fury, talking to whoever he needed her to, she could do that, but eventually it got to a stage where the bar looked like a mighty fine pit stop. Heading over to the bar she saw Finch at the bar and settled next to him.
“You doing okay over there?” He asked with a small smile as he sips on his whiskey, Carol would know the smell anywhere.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just….don’t really do parties. Personally it's the small talk I hate. Everyone talking but not really saying anything. I mean I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with someone that wasn't life threatening. No one calls me, no one asks about my day, no one really speaks."
Finch listened on with intent, hanging on every word. Smiling he noticed that Carol had stopped whatever she was saying to take a sip.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you all this." Carol smiled to cover the slight embarrassment.
"Because sometimes you need someone to listen to you instead of speaking at you." Finch smirked with understanding before being beckoned over by Fury. "That's my cue. I'll see you, Captain." He saluted once more before walking away.
Carol hadn't realized that she'd watched him the whole way. A week after the party, Carol was in her ship, having just finished a mission before making food, stroking Goose gently before her cell started ringing.
"Hello?" She half questioned the caller, that phone never rung.
"Captain Danvers, how was your day?" Finch asked with a smile.
"Finch?" Carol didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't this.
Finch smirked. "Sorry if I called during a bad time. It's just you said no one calls you so I asked Fury for your number and I wanted to hear your voice.... So.... How was your day, Carol?"
Carol smiled. Still figuring out whether she was about to cry. "I'm... Okay. Today was long and tedious and felt like it was never going to end. It's nice to speak to someone who isn't a Flerken.”
Finch smiled and nodded at her words, walking his way to SHIELD. "I'm always here if you need a friend. Promise."
(End of flashback)
Since then the two of them had only gotten closer and Carol was grateful, it was nice for her to talk to someone who understood her and the many responsibilities she had, someone she could vent to when things got tough.
She'd fallen hard and deep for the alien, she hadn't expected to, but she knew that was usually how it happened, you don't plan it, you don't see it coming, yet somehow you just know.
Having opted for a dress this evening, she took the time to get dressed, ensuring that it was functional and that she could move in it. Finch often joking that she was always ready for anything.
Once the dress was on securely, her next step was makeup. She wasn't extremely girly in that sense, she wasn’t particularly vain either, but sometimes it felt nice to go the full 9 yards.
She's never liked looking in the mirror either. After the whole fiasco with the Supreme Intelligence, the only thing she had ever seen in a mirror was a somewhat distorted vision of herself. She knew, of course, that there was more to seeing then looking in the mirror and accepting what you saw.
Smiling as she finished up with her eyeliner and lipstick, she headed towards the compound, finding Natasha and conversing with her before the party was well and truly under way.
Natasha had always been a great friend to her, it helped now that she was dating her son, it was a nice a bonus. The two had always had some deep meaningful conversations and she knew that if she ever needed advice she had someone she could ask.
Heading down the stairs, she watched as Finch took the last gulp of his drink and headed down to meet her at the bottom the stairs, the alien always a gentleman.
Finch with his jaw on the floor. "Wow, you look..... Beautiful, Captain."
She sent a nod his way, acknowledging his words and smiling brightly as he spoke. Slotting her arm through and around his, the two of them walked around the room to say a quick hello to everyone.
Natasha and Max also arm in arm, hand in hand, side by side as they did the same, both of them knowing that usually the only person who really liked these things was Tony. Though Max headed towards the bar, Natasha in conversation with one of the SHIELD agents she got along with.
Finch had returned to the bar to grab two more drinks, another scotch for him and a drink for Carol, knowing that the two of them often resorted to liquid courage to get them through the night.
"You okay, soldier?" Max questioned his son who was seemingly staring into space.
Blinking a few times, his gaze fell back on his Pa, blue eyes finding even bluer eyes. "Oh yeah. I'm good. I've just...."
"Never liked parties?" Max smiled into the corner of his mouth. "I'm beginning to realize that's definitely a Romanoff-Hill thing. We both do it as more of a professional courtesy these days."
Finch nodded knowing that was definitely relatable. He and Carol going home at the end of the night would ultimately result in the two of them ranting about how much they disliked such events.
Max rubbed his shoulder gently. He knew the past few years and months had been incredibly difficult for him. Mind-control, murder, finding things out about himself that most people don't normally want to until later in life and yet somehow he stood in front of them, in one strong piece.
"Liquid courage? What are we drinking? Finch, please share the good scotch." Natasha smirked.
"We always need liquid courage for these events." Finch smiled and chuckled to himself. "Good scotch only. And a tequila orange for the Cap.”
Natasha smirked and winked over at Max. Remembering the little things they did and still do. Max having ordered Natasha a beer and handing her the bottle as she came to settle in Max's arms. The assistant director resting their chin on Natasha's shoulder as his arms wrapped around the Russian assassin’s waist.
Finch gulped his first whiskey down. Ordering another and another and gulping those two down also. Natasha's eyes widening slightly as he did so.
"Whoa, slow down, Little Bird.” Natasha sipped her own beer. "I know these things suck but...." She chuckled.
"Being the alien I am, I can't get drunk, as much as I'd like to be." Finch raised and tilted his drink, as if toasting.
"So that's what you were talking to Steve about earlier." Max smirked before Natasha then made him realize where their son’s eyes were currently aimed.
Smirking, she took her husband’s hand in one of hers and her beer in the other. "Have a nice night, Blue. Or at least as much of one as you can."
Finch murmured his response as his parents slipped away. His eyes were locked on Carol. The blonde in deep conversation with Wong and Thor. Her eyes shooting his way, smiling and nodding at him from a distance.
“Excuse me.” Carol nodded before slowly walking over to Finch.
Standing next to him, she smiled and wrapped her hand around the glass that he had offered, taking a few sips as she sat beside him. Both of them comfortable in each other's proximity as they often were.
Parties having never really been either of their thing but somehow they used their ‘partner in crime’ dynamics to get through it. Carol smirking a little as she drank and looked at Finch who was seemingly deciding the next course of action over a glass of scotch.
"How long do we have?" Carol questioned with a tone that Finch had heard many times.
Weighing the options, he smiled. "To make it worth it, a few hours, until anyone would notice if we were to slip away, not until the morning, until Tony makes a fool of himself.... That's a different question entirely."
Shaking her head, Carol was desperate to leave. She never understood the need for these parties. They always seemed worthless. Taking Finch’s hand in hers, she pressed small kisses into the skin of his knuckles.
"What if.... We just stay for a little while longer and then we leave?"
"Are you trying to proposition me or yourself?" Finch smirked already knowing the answers.
"I'm trying to find a reason to actually stay. I'm a fighter, not a party go-er." Carol looked around, assessing the situation.
Nodding, Finch took another sip. "I know. Neither of us are. At least not particularly."
Looking around, Carol watched as guests continued conversing, conversations that Finch could probably distinguish if he wanted to, with his abilities but Carol would have to use her imagination for otherwise.
A thousand thoughts still spiraling through her head. She was always thinking, always planning, always working something out. Even now, at a party. Small talk was one thing that Carol despised. Finch knew this well and never engaged in it. He too would look for ways out of it.
"Or we could just leave now?" Carol wrapped her hand around Finch’s arm. Getting a little closer to him and resting her chin on the side of his shoulder, kissing him on the cheek.
"I'd follow you to the end of time. You'll find no argument from me, Captain." Finch took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, pressing a gentle hiss on the back of her hand.
The two of them chuckling before looking around, making sure that no one would mind if they slipped away. Both of them heading out and walking towards the SHIELD apartment the two of them semi-shared when they were on Earth.
Heading to the room, the two of them walked in, Carol heading towards the bed, the blonde being the only one of the two that slept. Finch heading to the kitchen to grab Carol some water. The superhero calling out for him and him heading towards the bedroom, cautious in case she wasn’t dressed yet.
“I have water for you.” Finch tapped on the door so that he didn’t startle the blonde.
“Can you come in?” Carol questioned, her arms not wanting to reach the area to undo her dress.
“I think it’s me who should be asking that question.” Finch chuckled before slowly opening the door, bringing the water in, his eyes landing on Carol and a smile floating over his lips.
“I ask because…I’m stuck.” Carol tried to gesture to the dress that she couldn’t currently undo. “Could you help?”
Finch nodded before walking over to her, placing the glass of water on the bedside table and then gently placing his fingers on the zipper behind her.
“The strong and mighty, Captain Marvel, fighting Kree and Thanos…..but requires help with a dress? You really are human after all.” Finch smiled before gently starting to tug the zipper down.
“I think I sometimes forget that. I’m so busy saving and protecting people and taking on what seems like the impossible that I think I forget that I’m only human.” Carol almost whispered.
Finch nodded as he managed to get the zipper down the whole way. “That’s why you have people to help remind you. Though I do have to say, you’re a pretty incredible human.” He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her shoulder before she turned around to face him.
The two of them extremely close to the point that no air could change flow between them without them sensing it. Brown eyes meeting blue ones, Carol’s hand around Finch’s arm and the two of them leaning in close to each other.
Both of them meeting in a soft and slow kiss, Carol bringing her hands up to place them either side of Finch’s cheeks as Finch’s hands rested on her hips softly. The kiss lasting a few seconds before the two of them pulled away.
“You should get some rest, Carol. Been a busy day and an even longer week.” Finch suggested before heading towards the door, Carol nodding with a slight smirk. “You know where I am if you need me.”
“I always need you.” Carol smiled before sipping the water and getting herself into the bed. “Good night, Finch.”
“Good night, my Captain.” Finch gently closed the door behind him and settled in the kitchen.
»»——— ★ ———««
The morning came and Carol woke up with a smile on her face, exiting the bedroom, she headed towards the kitchen, making a small mug of coffee, enough to wake her up a little. She also noticed that Finch wasn’t in the apartment and definitely not where he usually was when she woke up.
Getting into her more comfortable clothing, grey joggers and one of Finch’s stolen SHIELD hoodies, she headed towards the training rooms to see if she could find the lovable alien.
Walking down the corridors, all of them seemingly endless, she heard noises coming from one of the rooms, heading towards it she leaned herself up against the doorframe as she watched Finch use his skills and his training on several targets and a punchbag.
She watched with a smile on her face as she saw him in his true Mal’Torian form. Something he usually only did when he knew and wasn’t expecting to see anyone else. She’d only seen his true form a few times, she understood why, not every human was understanding or open minded to allow him to share his true self.
She loved that he trusted her enough to show his true self around her, that he felt comfortable in his own skin to be that way around her. Even on her ship, he would rarely allow himself to be in his true Mal’Torian form. She understood why, not everyone you meet is open minded or understanding of people from different planets, people these days can barely get their head around different genders and skin colors let alone other planets.
“You sleep well?” Finch’s words breaking her out of the trance she seemed to find herself in.
Carol cleared her throat and nodded. “Yeah. Though I guess anyone sleeps better than someone who biologically can’t and doesn’t sleep.” She chuckled as Finch began putting weapons back into their usually homes.
Chuckling quietly to himself, Finch turned around to face Carol, the two of them now in close proximity with each other. Carol enjoyed being close to him, something comforting and calm and soft. Felt like a warm hug that the two of them shared.
“So who’s still here after last night?” Carol asked, remembering that the two of them had left the party and everyone with it relatively early.
“Most of us actually. I didn’t even know this building could hold that many people.” Finch laughed. Carol placing her arms around Finch’s neck, her hands coming to gently play with the hair at the bottom of his hairline. “Mom and dad obviously. Stark is probably too hung over. Steve and Bucky. Even Valkyrie stayed.”
Carol smiled and nodded before pulling the alien in for a slow and soft kiss, taking him off guard for a moment.
The two of them rarely getting time for themselves since they'd first kissed. Their world still consisting of enemies and battles to fight, someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I'm glad we met, Finch." Carol smiled brightly before both of their pagers went off.
»»——— ★ ———««
Heading to the conference rooms of SHIELD, Carol saw Fury, Max, Natasha, Valkyrie already waiting in various places within the room, Finch walking in behind her.
“Okay, Finch, you have the mic, tell them what you told me." Fury nodded at Finch who quickly cleared his throat and took his place in front of everyone.
"So I told everyone that the artifact is from different timezones. The Silhouette creature that everyone keeps seeing and hearing about went through different timelines to save its future only they didn't know what they needed to change and therefore it all went wrong for them. Each part of the artifact is supposed to lead you to a certain item or moment in time that needed to be changed.” Finch began trying to explain.
"So this ‘Silhouette’ person is a good guy?" Valkyrie tried to make sense of it.
The creative had come to the planet in different timezones repeatedly, it was safe to say that everyone had seen, heard or come face to face with the creature.
Shaking his head, Finch tried to figure out how to word it and how to tell them the information.
"The Silhouette is trying to save themself. But they're doing it no matter the cost." Finch tried to explain.
"So what do we do?" Max asked still trying to get his head around everything.
Fury shook his head. For the time being there was nothing they could do. Fury had already asked Finch to run simulations and theories and they'd both come up with nothing.
“Nothing? Really? We're gonna sit back and do nothing?” Natasha looked around, her eyes eventually falling back onto Finch. "Tiny Hill... Come on."
Finch shrugged. "This thing is traveling from world to world, destroying whatever gets in its way. Without leaving a trace. How do we fight something that doesn't leave a trace to follow, that doesn't technically exist?”
Fury’s eyes flickered across the screens that were showing the information. Trying to figure out what they could do. He also wasn’t used to being told that there were things that he couldn’t do. Always able to find some loophole out of it or some way forwards.
“Each piece of the artifact is traceable to a certain point in time, but it’s a lot more complicated than that.” Finch tried to explain further but had a feeling he wasn’t really getting anywhere with it.
Max nodded in understanding, his eyes flicking between the screens and Finch as if somewhere between the two of them he’d find the answers.
Fury sending everyone away from the room, there was no point in everyone’s brains being stuck on this when it wouldn’t be solved for a while.
»»——— ★ ———««
Most people had stuck around for a few days, knowing that it was best to stay near in case something happened, everyone keeping each other company due to some of them having direct contact with the Silhouette.
Carol hadn’t seen Finch for a while, the younger mix of Max and Natasha having stayed behind in HQ trying to figure out what he could and Carol hated the situation.
“You okay, Marv?” Val spoke to Carol who was in the kitchen, the two of them a little distance from each other.
Carol nodded, unsure how to answer that question. “Been through worse.”
“Haven’t we all. Doesn’t mean the emotions aren’t valid.” Val rubbed a thumb against Carol’s shoulder, the blonde nodding and smiling at the action.
Max and Natasha were sitting in the living room area going over theories and information, compiling what they knew and seeing what they could come up with.
Finch had still been putting things together when Fury walked in to check on him.
“How’s things?” Fury spoke calmly and poised, a stark contrast to what everyone else had been feeling.
Finch sighed out a rubbed his head, having looked at so much information in the last few days, Fury looked over and nodded with understanding.
“I know you always appear human here but you know you’re safe here right?” Nick spoke to him in a way that Finch had only heard a few times whilst in his original timeline.
Nodding Finch exhaled. “It’s an odd thing. You go so long running and hiding and fighting in order to protect yourself because so many people only see what they want to see. I’m an alien, with horns on my head and magical abilities and skin that doesn’t mark or break or bruise and yet…..people look at me like I’m a monster. So forgive me for currently choosing the safest option to live my life.”
Fury chuckled. Varra was the exact same. Of course she was a little different when they were in the safety of the own home, he gathered that Finch was the same. Natasha and Max had seen him only a few times in his own form and Carol had seen his true form a little more but he figured it was because of how close they were.
He only saw Varra a few times. Opting to see her only a few times in order to keep her safe, terms they both agreed on, he only came back to their home when his intention was to be Nick and not Fury. He’d see her true form a few times, when she’d trusted him enough and felt comfortable enough to be that person.
“Understandable. And the artifact?” Nick looked at the various screens surrounding the room, the pieces of information in which Finch had compiled together, elements of his original timeline coming in handy.
Finch stood up from his seat, stretching his arms before placing his hands on the desk in front and leaning over, a deep exhale coming from him before he looked at Fury in a way that told him everything he needed to know.
“You figured it out, didn’t you?” Fury looked at him, an eyebrow raised in question and concern.
Finch simply sighed, dropped his head down and nodded. “I figured it out before Stark’s party, I just haven’t told anyone, not even Carol.”
Nodding, Fury understood, some things you had to keep to yourself because otherwise you’d never be able to go through with them. “Tell me everything.”
»»——— ★ ———««
Their latest mission had been different. Natasha had felt it, Max had felt it, even Fury had felt it from Control. Carol had opted to stay behind, knowing that she wasn’t needed so instead Finch, Max, Natasha, Bucky and Steve had gone.
Except, the mission hadn’t been what they were expecting and no amount of training or briefing could have prepared them for that. There had been a hostage situation, Finch opting to get everyone out as quick and safely as he could, Max and Natasha finding the person holding them hostage and Bucky and Steve providing back up should they need it.
But when they’d managed to get the hostages out of the building and back to safety, they hadn’t been expecting the Silhouette to be there or at least a version of it anyways.
“I don’t know what’s worse, you believing you have a chance or fighting regardless of whether you believe that or not.” The Silhouette’s voice came out almost as an echoed distortion.
Natasha stopping dead in her tracks, guns aimed at the ready and Max right beside her, paging Finch without letting his eyes fall away from the creature.
“What do you want from Earth? Why are you here?” Natasha tried to give it the benefit of the doubt.
The Silhouette laughed, as if the answer was plain obvious which put everyone on edge, Max and Natasha looking over at each other quickly before Finch came crashing out of the ceiling and landed on top of the Silhouette, wrapping his arms around the neck the same way Natasha would normally do with her legs.
Both of them struggling as they tried to take the other down. Max kept his gun aimed and ready just incase he had to shoot. Natasha joining the fight the other side, attempting to sweep the creature off its legs with her escrima sticks.
Finch placing both of his hands either side of the Silhouette’s head, using his magic to disorientate it. Which had worked for a while until Finch was thrown through the air, hitting straight into a concrete wall.
“Finch, buddy, you okay?” Max shouted over whilst Natasha was still trying to take this creature down.
Getting up and wiping the rubble off of him he nodded. Walking back over to Max, the two of them tried to help Natasha take down the creature, Finch flying to find a vantage point somewhere else.
Natasha and Max taking it in turns to try and fight this person, Bucky and Steve fighting where they could but somehow getting nowhere. Finch watching on as he launched himself towards the person and grabbing them to throw them through the wall as they had done with him five minutes ago.
Instead, Finch landing on his back with the creature above him, it’s head tilting as if searching for a response and not quite finding one.
“Hmmm, you’re not…..of this world. Neither here nor there. A cosmic anomaly. You are the only one who can fix this.” The SIlhouette’s broken and distorted almost echoed through the building.
Finch looked up at it as he tried to grab his gun out of his leg holster. The Silhouette grabbing something out of its chest area and handing it to him. “This is the information you need, use it wisely. Don’t make my mistakes. Save me.” The Silhouette place it’s right hand to it’s left chest area before disappearing in a blue flickering light.
Finch pocketing the device before slumping back against the ground exhaling out harshly. Max and Natasha coming together and looking at the other to check for injuries before walking over to Finch.
“You okay, kiddo?” Max smiled whilst extending his hand out for Finch to grab.
“Am I the only one who thinks that could have gone a lot better?” Finch sighed out and chuckled before they all headed back to HQ.
»»——— ★ ———««
Max had been in the conference room with Fury whilst Natasha was attempting to check over her injuries. Max then joining Natasha in the other room, standing with his arm against the doorway as his eyes stayed trained on Natasha.
“You holding up okay?” Max smirked when Natasha’s head shot towards him.
The redhead chuckling and shaking her head as she looked at him. “I’ve survived worse.”
Max knew that for a fact, they come far together, Natasha had survived death, Chitauri, Thanos and the Red Room, Max honestly didn’t know how she somehow always found the fight to keep going but he was glad that she did.
“Are you okay?” Natasha asked as she slowly placed a hand on his cheek, rubbing her thumb back and forth slowly and softly.
Nodding, Max had handled his life so far incredibly well, getting through HRT, having the gender reassignment surgeries, then getting through the healing and recovery period and learning how to live with this version of himself.
“It’s our son I’m worried about. He took that thing on by himself and….” Both Max and Natasha had seen Finch practically take on the Silhouette by himself. The two of them barely able to make a dent in the thing, they knew that the thing had said something but Finch had remained silent on the way back, not giving anything away, Natasha knew that Finch would say something if he needed to but she couldn’t help but worry either and she was grateful that Max had been feeling the same way.
“I know. He’s strong and he’s smart and he can look after himself but….we’re his parents, we’re here for him, I just can’t help but fear that it said something to him and….” Natasha barely even let herself finish the thought.
Max placed a kiss on the redhead’s forehead, his slightly taller height allowed him to do it wit ease, Natasha humming contentedly before dropping her head against Max’s chest, his hand coming to rest on her back and rubbing soothing patterns into the muscle.
Finch had been in the training room, hitting a punchbag to get his frustrations out. Carol walking in to see him. She watched on as his body twisted and turned how each muscle flexed and contracted as to what he needed to do. Taking a step further in, Carol watched as Finch used a little too much strength and sent the punchbag flying off the hook and thudding against the wall.
“Whoa, hey now….” Carol stepped in front of him, placing her hands on his, stroking her thumbs over his palms before resting her forehead against his, something she had learned to do over the time they’d spent together on her ship.
Letting out a small sigh, Finch relaxed into the touch, his tense muscles quickly releasing. Carol smiled softly, a lot of the time that was enough for Finch, just being in her presence was often enough for him.
“It’s okay.” Carol kept her forehead against his, trying to give him any sort of comfort, she had heard from Fury that they faced the Silhouette again, then she’d heard from Natasha that it had appeared that the thing spoke to him, so she was unsure what to really expect.
“Breathe, you’re okay.” Carol whispered until Finch nodded.
“I know, Captain.” Finch smirked and the blonde was thankful that he was still himself.
“You might be okay but that punchbag isn’t.” Carol laughed and Finch honestly thought that was the best sound in the entire world.
Finch used his magic to float the punchbag back to the hook, Carol shaking her head at the show of abilities.
“What happened out there?” Carol questioned with a look in her eyes that she often had when it came to Finch, one that told him she’d understand anything he’d tell her.
Finch looked down a little, unsure of what to say or how to say it. “Fury put us on the mission and everything was going the way we thought it would and then the Silhouette came out of nowhere and mom and dad were fighting it, I tried to get the upper hand and got thrown but then it….came towards me and it was like someone was in control of my mind again.”
Carol nodded knowing that she might not understand what he went through during that time but that she was here and that so was he and that everything was okay. Though the look in his eyes was enough to know that right now he didn’t believe he was here, Carol taking his hands in hers, stroking a thumb across the inside of his palms, trying to provide him with a quiet comfort.
Nodding, Carol pressed a small kiss to his cheek before taking his hand and guiding him towards their semi-shared apartment in SHIELD. The two of them walking into the room, Finch happy to stay in the living room area about to sit down on the couch when Carol shook her head and tugged him towards the bedroom.
Finch slightly concerned at first, his eyes flicking around the room in a small moment of panic until Carol took his hand.
“I just wanted us to be in the same bed.”
Finch smiled as they stood in front of the bed. “You know I don’t sleep, right?”
Carol chuckled, that was a well know fact that Finch didn’t sleep, he didn’t need it, the Mal’Torian DNA making it so that he didn’t need sleep and physically couldn’t.
The two of them laying down on the bed, Carol laying her head on his chest as Finch wrapped his arm around her.
“You’re so warm.” Carol smiled as she placed her hand on his chest.
Finch chuckled, he always ran warm and Carol was often freezing. The two of them often balancing each other out. He felt it when Carol fell asleep, her weight on him a little heavier, more comforting, her breathing more evened out and she was at more ease than Finch had usually ever seen and known her to be.
»»——— ★ ———««
The following day, Finch had been in the tech station working on one of Natasha’s gauntlets, his pager buzzing before his phone dinged. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he looked at the message and noticed that the pager was the same message.
Heading towards the location, he knew that this meeting would be urgent, these things often were with G’iah. The two of them basically siblings and it was a rarity that G’iah ever called him when things weren’t urgent.
“Thank you for coming to meet me.” G’iah almost whispered.
Finch nodded softly. Sitting down the two of them sipped their coffees, G’iah unsure of how to begin this conversation.
“I…um…There’s a creature. A creature no one knows how to fight and it’s starting a war that no one will win.” G’iah began, Talos had come to her telling her the information and asking her to get help from someone she trusted and someone like them.
“The Silhouette?” Finch nodded. “We’ve had several run ins with it.”
G’iah nodded knowing that Finch was usually the one her people went to when things went wrong or turned for the worst. “It’s travelled from planet to planet, causing destruction where it goes and….none of us are strong enough to fight it. Not even your precious Avengers can fight this thing.”
Finch looked down at the table considering how to word to G’iah what the creature had told him upon their last meeting. “This creature….spoke to me.”
G’iah co*cked a brow in surprise. “To you directly?” Finch nodded. “Damn. What did it say?”
Finch shook his head. There wasn’t a single soul he’d told the words to. “Summing it up, they asked me to save them.”
G’iah nearly spat out her coffee upon hearing the words. “You have to be careful, Finch. Promise me you wont do anything stupid?”
“G’iah, I’m 12 years older than you. I know what I’m doing.”
“I know, Finch, you’re older than I am, you’ve been dealing with a lot longer than I have. You have different abilities to us and I know that you aren’t a Skrull but….you’re the closest thing I have to a brother, so please be careful. This creature has destroyed anything in its wake and its asking you for help?”
“I know how crazy it sounds, believe me. But I was on the floor after being thrown into a wall by it, they headed for me and they could have killed me but for some reason they asked me to save them. I have to at least try.”
G’iah nodded, it was the one thing she loved about Finch, he would always do whatever he could to help even if in the end it could possibly hurt him. It was made him so trustworthy within the Skrull community, the fact that he was willing to do anything regardless of the cost.
“Just promise me you’ll be careful.” G’iah looked at him. “And at least tell someone about te encounter, maybe that Captain you love so much.”
Finch chuckled. “Not telling anyone would make it easier on everyone.”
“And make it complete hell for you.” G’iah tilted her head and stood up to leave. “Hey, come with me, there’s something you need to see.”
Finch nodded and stood also, following closely behind her. The two of them heading towards a building with several Skrulls within it, a nod was sent to both of them as they walked through the building, Finch seeing many Skrulls living their lives, having conversations, walking around in their own skin.
G’iah lead them towards a room and opened the door slowly, Talos sitting inside, only standing once he saw Finch walk in.
“Finch?” Talos blinked rapidly, not really believing that the alien was actually in front of him.
Nodding, Finch stepped in the room unsure of what to say or what was going on.
“Thank you for coming.” Talos gestured for both of them to sit, G’iah and Finch sitting beside each other. “You already know about the Silhouette. But it’s worse than that.”
“Worse? What do you mean worse?” Finch looked around, the Skrulls seemed to be thriving.
Talos exhaled and shook his head. “This thing goes from planet to planet, never in its true form, bringing death and destruction wherever it goes. It’s not just SHIELD and Fury fighting this, everyone is.”
“I saw it. Twice.”
Talos flicked his eyes between his daughter and Finch. “Saw it…..as in?”
“We were on a mission for Fury, the Silhouette turned up, we tried to fight it, I ended up getting thrown into a wall and the Silhouette gave me something and spoke to me.” Finch tired to quickly explain the situation and leave out the important details that he hadn’t even told Fury yet.
Talos nodded quickly before he then slid a file over the table to Finch, the other alien opening it slowly. “This is everything we have on the Silhouette.”
»»——— ★ ———««
Max was looking through files of past dealt with aliens, threats and others, coming up with nothing every time, Natasha walked in behind him, her hands gently on the small of his back.
“Anything?” Natasha looked at him before then looking at the giant pile of files beside him and smirking. “Apparently not.”
“Everything I find is just….the opposite of what we need or they’ve been banned from the planet or something.”
“We need Finch.” Natasha rubbed the bridge of her nose before sitting on the table beside Max. “Come on, alien to alien would work, perhaps better than a bunch of humans telling an alien to go f*ck itself has ever been.”
Max chuckled, he had always thought that when Fury had suggested a team of heroes and then decided that half of them be regular humans, never understanding why he would expect otherworldly people to leave Earth when so called ‘puny humans’ were telling them what to do. But Finch had gone through a lot, whether it was the mind control or whatever the Silhouette had told him, Max knew that he would take time to come around and tell hem everything.
He could be patient but he knew that others and Fury would not be as patient, everyone wanted to know everything right away and of course, Max knew things were a lot more difficult than that, no one had all of the information, in fact that would probably be easier.
“Finch has been through a lot, he needs time, hence why I’m the one going through paperwork currently.” Max chuckled. “He’ll come around, he just needs time.”
“I just worry about him. And then I worry that I can’t help him because how on earth do I know what an alien is going through?” Natasha rubbed her temples with her fingers
Max took her hands in his, pressing kisses to the palms. “You know more than you think, Nat. You might not know what it is to be him but you know what it’s like to do things because someone else made you do them, you know what it’s like to be inside your head and have someone else pulling the strings.”
Natasha had remembered having the conversation with Clint after the whole ordeal with Loki, freeing his mind whilst helping him remember who he was, they had had multiple missions where someone had lost themselves or a part of themselves.
Natasha had spent so much time trying to become a better person, trying to be someone worthy of being called a hero and worthy of now having a son who looked up to her, she had so much red in her ledger that it was impossible to clean it and somehow she still hadn’t given up.
Max looked at his pager that began buzzing and smiled upon knowing that Finch was on his way back, the two of them heading over to see him, Fury having a conversation before letting his parents come and surround him.
Sitting down in the main conference room, Finch tried to come to a conclusion of what he wanted to tell them, how he wanted to word what was going on, he hadn’t told anyone that he was meeting G’iah and Talos, just that he was heading out, Natasha not paying it much mind after everything that had happened, she too also felt like SHIELD often had no air to process things.
Max sat beside Natasha, looking at Finch, it was strange having gone from not really believing or thinking that they would ever have children to then suddenly having one that you worked beside.
“I saw G’iah and Talos. They said that the Silhouette isn’t something only SHIELD is fighting, it’s everyone. It’s worse than some indestructible force that has suddenly arrived, which I guess I kind of knew but….”
“Talos said that it’s bigger than we think.” Max deducted having had his fair share of dealings with Talos through Fury.
Finch simply nodded not knowing here to really go from here. “I can come up. With multiple theories, hell, I have multiple theories and most of them check out but….this isn’t something we’ve dealt before. A mysterious force that only a few of us have had dealings with.”
Natasha nodded, knowing that it obviously wasn’t going to be as easy as they’d wanted it to be, they wouldn’t give up but sometimes they just wished it was simply 2 step mission.
“So what do we do….what’s the theory?” Natasha asked, wanting as much information as she could possibly get in order to somehow make up a plan.
Finch sighed and adjusted his comfort within the chair. “This is gonna require a full meeting with everyone involved.”
»»——— ★ ———««
Natasha was wondering around the halls and corridors of SHIELD when she found Finch in one of the tech training rooms, stepping into the doorway to watch what was happening before clearing her throat to announce her presence.
“You okay in here?” Natasha spoke in voice mixed between a whisper and a casual calm, one that Finch knew was only used when she wanted to speak to people who matter to her.
Finch nodded and smiled whilst he threw a knife into the centre of the target.
“Hey, talk to me, little bird.” Natasha came further into the room before sitting down slightly behind him.
Sighing and then using his magic to bring the knife back to him before throwing it again, Finch was figuring out what to say.
Finch tried to remember how to breathe, throwing yet another knife in the centre of the target. “The Silhouette…it….spoke to me and said that….I was the only one who could save it.”
Natasha took a few seconds to process what he just said but was still unsure of how to respond.
“It said ‘you’re not…..of this world. Neither here nor there. A cosmic anomaly. You are the only one who can fix this’ and I can’t help but feel like I’m gonna let them down. I hurt people, mama, I did a lot of unforgivable and unspeakable things and I don’t expect anyone to ever forgive me for any of what I did….” Finch began speaking, his breathing pattern slightly changed and Natasha knew from years of training to read people what that meant.
“You know, none of us see you any differently because of that. Every single one of us has f*cked up before, I know that it feels like no one will ever understand or ever forgive you but no one holds that against you.”
“Mama…I….you know what it’s like to be innocent your mind and have someone else take over the controls and be in the drivers seat, you know what its like to do things and hurt people be not want to. None of them deserved what I did.” Finch held his head in his hands.
“Hey, hey, look at me, little bird. I don’t care that you’re an alien. I don’t care that your abilities are stranger than most I’ve seen before, I don’t care that you were forced to hurt people because someone else had control of your mind. You are my son and I love you no matter what. I can’t pretend or even imagine what you have to go through on a daily basis but I am here.” Natasha rubbed a hand across Finch’s back.
“That’s the thing, mama, you do. Orr at least you know a piece of it. You know what its like to have gotten out of the Red Room and still question everything, to not really believe that you’re out and that at the end of all this someone will come to you just to tell you that te whole time you were following orders. You know more than you think you do, just like Pa and I can relate in other ways.”
“We’re a family and no matter what happens, that’s never gonna change.”
Finch nodded, he knew that, more so than anyone else, family was important and life was short, Finch threw another knife at the target.
“Why a knife? You could throw any other object, could even fire a gun, why is a knife the most calming?” Natasha asked, she did the same when she as angry or couldn’t sleep or was trying to figure something out.
“It’s not so much the object but the act. When you throw a knife it’s only going to lad where you throw it, there are no other variables, you pick it up, you throw it, it hits the target, there’s nothing else to think about because there only one result. I guess it’s calming because in our lives nothing is as simple as something linear.”
Natasha smirked and nodded knowingly, when Max had asked her the same question a few years she had given the same answer almost exactly word for word. The two of them more alike than they thought. Not that anyone had ever doubted it, the two of them were more than obviously related.
“That was what I said when your father asked me.” Natasha smirked as Finch threw another knife.
Smiling and nodding, Finch looked at Natasha once more, the two of them coming close to wrap each other in a tight embrace, the door then opening and Max walking in to find the two of them glued together.
“There a group hug going on that I wasn’t made aware of?” Max smiled before Natasha pulled him in to hug the two of them, making Natasha the smallest of the three.
»»——— ★ ———««
After Max and Natasha had left the training room, Finch made his way to one of the tech conference rooms, one that currently had everything they had on the Silhouette stored within it.
Taking the small device that the Silhouette had given him, trying to work out how to turn it on or what it did. Touching the device, he closed his eyes and took a few seconds to clear his head before somehow activating the device.
A bright light exploding before images flew up into the air, Finch’s eyes flicking between all of the various images now showing above him. His eyes landing on a few of the images specifically, one of an explosion, one of documents and one of a timeline of events.
