SHE | Marvel's Avengers [10]

Chapter 8 - Hello Old Friend

"Good job, Abila. You just spilled your secrets to a total stranger," I muttered. I had to meet Kamala and Banner in the room with the war table, so I set off. 

It was a maze, but I made it eventually. 

"Hey, Dr. Banner. Um, sorry about, um..." I trailed off. 

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"Any luck with you-know-who?" Kamala asked, coming in.

 "Good timing. I was just about to take a look. Can I get a hand on the other side there? Just push that button. Okay, here goes nothing," Banner said, with Kamala doing what he asked.

 "Good afternoon, Dr. Banner," JARVIS crackled. 

"Oh whoa...we did it! Tony Stark's super awesome computer pal!" Kamala said excitedly.

 "Oh, I'm just a rather very intelligent system. A pleasure to meet you, Ms...?" JARVIS started.

"Khan. But you can call me Kamala!" She said.

 "Just a rather very intelligent system. J, A, R, V, I, S. Huh," I said. 

"Oh, a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms...?" JARVIS asked.

 "Najafi. Or Abila, whichever you prefer," I said.

 "A pleasure, Ms. Kamala, Ms. Abila," JARVIS said.

"What's going on?" Kamala asked as the hologram started glitching out. 

"The War Table isn't getting enough power," Banner said. 

"The system is on emergency lockdown," JARVIS supplied. 

"Hmm...looks like I tripped the security sensors when I was in the lab. We'll have to disable them," he said. 

"I got this!" she volunteered. Kamala was eager to prove her abilities, I could tell that much. 

I was...a little underconfident in myself and my ability to keep a handle on my emotions.

 She disappeared upstairs, the power flicking on and a hum filling the air as the War Table reached full power and potential. "Nice work, Kamala," I complimented, and she beamed at me.

 "Ok, JARVIS, let's find Tony. JARVIS?" Banner said.

"Searching now. Hold on, something...something is wrong, Dr. Banner," JARVIS said.

 "That's not good," I muttered, crossing my arms.

 "Oh, dear. It appears my neural uplink was damaged when the Chimera crashed. It's highly specific SHIELD technology. Without it, I can't access the global database," JARVIS reported.

 "SHIELD? Uh...let's get Maria on the phone," he said.

 "Maria Hill? Is she leading SHIELD now?" she asked.

"Uh, sort of. No one knows what happened to Director Fury. So...Hill's the only one I know we can trust," he admitted. "

...Bruce? It's good to see you...After my run-in with the Hulk, I wasn't sure we'd be hearing from you again," Commander Hill said.

 "Yeah, sorry about all that. Hulk's been having some...issues," He apologized.

 "You don't have to apologize. All of our lives fell apart after that day. I'm just glad to see the Avengers back in action," Hill said.

 "Well, not quite," he said.

"Hi! Kamala Khan. It's just the three of us for now. We're trying to find Mr. Stark," she piped up.

 "Yeah, um, Maria, we're gonna need a neural uplink. You've gotta have one stored somewhere," he said.

  "All of our resources were seized by AIM and most agents are still in hiding. But, I may know where to look. I'm sending the coordinates to your War Table. I can brief you on the way," Hill said. "

Shall I prefer the Quinjet's engines, sir?" JARVIS asked. 

"Uh...what Quinjet?" he asked.

We headed to the hanger, where a Quinjet lowered down on a platform. "Did you know this was here the entire time?" Kamala asked, and Dr. Banner chuckled.

 "Absolutely not, I swear," he said.

 "Uh-huh. I think you just wanted to go on a road trip in your RV," she accused. 

"Haha, no...no, no," he said.

I set our coordinates as Dr. Banner turned into the Hulk. Just in case, I grabbed a nearby SHIELD jacket for him when he turned back into a person.

 "That obstruction should be here somewhere. Keep an eye out," I said into my com. The Hulk and Kamala were out in the field, while I was on the Quinjet with the instructions to come if there was a Code Shadow. After a while, there was a message on the coms.

"Abila, we're in. Come on down," Kamala said, and I stepped out of the Quinjet, shivering from the cold. I arrived where the other two were standing, joining them in the elevator. She spent the ride down asking JARVIS questions about anything and everything, while I picked at a stray thread on the jacket slung over my arm. The elevator finally stopped, and we all stepped out.

 "Wow. Check out all this stuff. Guess we'd better start looking," she said, going down the ramp.

Eventually, we tracked down the uplink, which was sat in an open box. I was the pack mule, it seemed, so I picked it up, keeping a secure grip on the precious device. All of a sudden, a blue light appeared and started to scan us. 

"Ooh. Whoa, what's happening?" Kamala asked, looking around as the Hulk swatted at the light.

 "I believe we may have triggered a classified SHIELD security system," JARVIS said.

"Avenger detected," a robotic voice said. 

"Hello, Avengers. It's been a while," A project whirred, a video of Nick Fury playing on the wall above us.

 "Nick Fury!" I said in awe. 

"If you're hearing this, then the worst has happened. I'm gone. And that means I need you now more than ever. I always knew SHIELD might fall, so I made sure it could also rise again. These are the SHIELD Protocols. SHIELD was built to protect the world. In times like this, when it all seems hopeless...That's when we've got to stand strong. So I need a favor. Deliver these protocols to any remaining sub-division. They'll give SHIELD why they need to rebuild. Good luck, Avengers. Fury out," on the screen, three faces appeared.

 Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader, Maria Hill, and Chebotaryova Anatolievna, the three SHIELD sub-directors. 

"That was Director Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director Fury," I said, my tone filled with awe. I had always admired him and looked up at him. 

"Those protocols he was talking about must be inside," Kamala said.

"Then let's go find them,"