Infinity

Chapter 74

Marlie's POV

I leave home a little before one. I didn't want anyone to be able to track me, so I take my suit and fly to the outskirts of the city. Just as Maria said I'm taking my stealth suit and make sure the flash drive is stored safely inside. I also grabbed a couple of other things I may need. One benefit of the stealth suit it that there are several compartments to carry different things.

I land at the edge of DC and call a cab to pick me up and have it drop me off in the middle of the city. I then take several trains and busses in many directions before finally taking the one, that will bring me within walking distance of location I was given. All of the precautions may see over the top, but if Fury has asked for help, then whoever we're dealing with is extremely dangerous and good at what they do.

I arrive at the location thirty minutes before Maria said to and walk inside. It seems to be some form of safe house. I'm guessing that this will just be the first stop on this mission. I make myself comfortable.

I decide to take this time to look through the contents of the flash drive. I pull out my small Stark laptop that I brought with me. I plug it in and start going through the different files. The files all seem to be centered around SHIELD's scientific advancements from the beginning until the 1970s. I don't have time to look into them very deeply. But I open the first one and see it's a report. I scan it and it seems very familiar. When I reach the end, I can see why. My signature is at the bottom of the report. This is an old SHIELD report on a project that was completed in 1956. If the problem is centered around old SHIELD research, I can see why Fury wants me to come in. I'm the only person alive that was involved or at least signed off on most of the projects. I exit the file and start scrolling. There are hundreds of files on this drive.

"Friday, I need you to start going through these files." I whisper to my A.I.

"Of course, miss. Is there anything specific you are looking for?"

"No, so take note of anything and everything. I don't care how small it seems." I say.

I'm about to close out of the file, but I see a file that catches my eye. I go to open it, but I don't get the chance to because the door to the safe opens.

I hold up my repulse and point it at the door. I relax when I see that it's Maria with her gun out pointed right at me. "Hey it's me! Lower your weapon damn it!" I whisper shout at her.

She does as I say. "Marlie. You're here. I wasn't expecting you this early."

"Yeah, well it seemed important." I shrug. "What's going on Maria? Why do I have a bunch of old SHIELD files"?

She looks at me tiredly. "SHIELD's been compromised. Fury found out about it and brought me in. Someone tried to assassinate him earlier today. I spoke with him briefly after he escaped, and he is headed towards Roger's apartment to bring him in. We have a plan. I can't share all the details right now, but he needs you to help fill in some gaps."

I'm shocked as I sit back and try to process everything. After a moment, I have so many questions. "How is SHIELD compromised? And someone tried to assassinate Fury?"

"SHIELD has been infiltrated, we're trying to figure out who, how long, and how deep it goes. Since you're one of the founders, we thought that you would have a unique perspective on the situation." She says plainly.

I nod. "What do you need me to do?"

She is about to respond when her phone goes off and her face pales as she read the message.

"What? Maria, what is it?" I ask getting more concerned.

"We need to go." Is all she says before grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. I barely manage to grab everything before leaving the safehouse and following Maria to her car.