Chapter 27 – A Helping Hand

(Washington DC - The Triskelion – 2011)

Fury was currently deciding which of the several incoming calls and the hundred or so emails he could simply ignore and which he had to pretend he hadn't received. The past few months had actually been rather peaceful since the events of his rather climatic week at the end of May, Stark was playing nice, Dr Banner was calm and under a close yet distant watch and he had even managed to keep Kal safely tucked away from prying eyes. All had for once been right with the world and Fury's biggest concern was getting things set up so that he could introduce Kal to the upper echelon of Shield on his terms.

However, of course, all that had immediately changed when he had received a call in the morning from Natasha Romanoff a week ago that Kal was no longer on the Barton Farm under the careful cover he had created. No Kal had decided that after months of keeping a low profile to suddenly disappear in the night without informing anyone about where he was going, which although bad Fury could have still managed if not for the second issue that had presented itself. Which was that four days ago a man matching Kal's description and using powers identical to his had 'attacked' a Canadian/Shield research site in the arctic and had departed with what could only be described as an alien spaceship.

Although Fury was very good at his job and was able to cover up incidents like this from the wider world, he was not able to cover up the event from his own people or their superiors who had immediately started screaming about an alien invasion. Which Fury couldn't blame them for, well he could actually, but he at least understood their mistake after the events of New Mexico if he didn't know Kal so well he too would be suspecting some sort of conspiracy or attack in the works.

"INCOMING CALL – ALEXANDER PIERCE, INCOMING CALL – ALEXANDER PIERCE" The electronic voice of his phone forced him to look down at it and a small grimace appeared on his face.

Fury simply placed the phone back onto his desk and let it go to voice mail allowing his old friend's message whatever it was to be added to the hundred or so other calls he had been ducking for the past several days. He stood up from his desk and looked out his window of Washington DC, his mind racing as he tried to figure out his next move which was hampered by the fact that he had no idea what was actually going on.

Had he made a mistake in trusting Kal? What was that ship Kal had found? Was Kal's story fiction? Is there a threat Kal was dealing with that he couldn't tell Fury about? Had he just found a way home and just left like he had last time? Or did he need to be genuinely concerned?

Fury needed answers to these questions so that he could figure out what exactly he would tell his superiors and what he was going to do about Kal. His most pressing question that needed answering was what was that ship Kal had taken and what was he planning to do next. From everything Fury had learnt about Kal from both Carol and the myths that surrounded the man on Earth, Kal was always a very distant, detached figure who appeared briefly, saved lives then left abruptly. So if Kal followed his regular pattern as Fury understood it, Kal would now likely disappear for a time and leave the so-called 'mortals' to their affairs now that he had whatever he needed.

A sharp distinctive knock sounded at the door, and Fury answered without even turning his head away from the window he was staring out of. "Come in Romanoff."

Nat walked in and although she held Fury in high regard and trusted him with her life and more importantly with the lives of others, she still felt like a little girl called in to see the principal when she came to see him in his office. As she looked at him, she knew why Fury for all his charm, his friendly smiles and sage advice was one thing above all else, he was dangerous, she remembered the Red Room's files on him, and what she had read had left a very deep impression on her.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Nat asked moving forward to stand at attention in the middle of the room her hands placed professionally behind her back, looking forward not to making eye contact with Fury.

A heavy sigh was Fury's response as he stared out the window before slowly turning around and walking back to his desk, he stood behind it leaning over its contents for a few moments picking up various files and documents scanning them quickly before returning them to his desk. Nat stayed silent as her boss seemingly ignored her presence and question knowing full well Fury was in fact fully aware she was there and was merely pretending to ignore her in hopes she would slip up and say something to get his attention.

"So, he left?" Fury asked the question standing up once more his arms crossing his chest as he stared at one of his most trusted agents.

"Yes sir, departed in the middle of the night with no warning," Nat replied moving her head slightly to look Fury directly in the eye, she had learnt if you looked someone in the eye and told them a half-truth they rarely questioned you for the rest.

Fury studied her for a few moments before he responded with something that caught her completely off guard he smiled, it wasn't a fake one either designed to throw her off balance it was a genuine one that was accompanied by a chuckle.

"So, he got you too." Fury just shook his head slightly as he uncrossed his arms and stroked his chin chuckling all the while.

"Sir, I can assure you Kal didn't comprise me in anywa-" Nat started to defend herself slightly alarmed that Fury either thought she could be so easily duped by someone or else had sold out Shield by letting Kal go.

Fury just cut her off by raising his hand and giving her a reassuring smile as he sighed slightly. "Not what I meant; I know Kal can have an effect on people, he's a good man or alien as the case may be. So tell me what did you and Barton leave out when you first called me."

Nat was silent only for a moment before she told Fury everything she had observed during her short time with Kal, down to the mannerisms he had and including the crucial detail of his pendant that he had been almost obsessed with. Fury was silent during her whole debriefing, merely moving back over towards the window to look out at the City again, as he absorbed every minute detail she could provide him.

"This pendant Barton said it started floating about 10 days ago?" Fury asked still looking out at the city not turning around to look at Nat who was now sitting down on one of the chairs placed in front of his desk.

"Yes, Clint said that it suddenly started floating, after which Kal just went quiet and wouldn't talk to anyone," Nat answered, however as she looked at Fury she felt like she was missing pieces of the puzzle Fury was putting together.

'10 days, what happened 10 days ago. No new signals, no asteroids or stellar changes, only … Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Dr Selvig had started at Pegasus and had managed to make the cube react' Fury's mind started connecting the dots, what they were adding up to he had no idea but it was certainly something, and he had a feeling that it was something that was going to cause him a lot of sleepless nights in the future.

When Fury spoke again his voice was calculated and measured, his gaze never leaving the city beyond the window. "Did he say anything at all about what he was going to do?"

"No, but -" Nat started but stopped herself as she wasn't sure if Fury wanted her to delve into her personal take on Kal, rather than sticking to hard facts which Fury preferred.

"Speak freely Romanoff." Fury stated half turning his head so that he could look at Natasha with one remaining good eye.

"I think whatever the pendant signified, it was something personal to him, Sir. I don't know what he is going to do, but I don't think this was planned, so I think any fears about an alien attack are unfounded." Nat gave her honest opinion on the situation, she genuinely believed whatever Kal was up to was not part of some larger plan he had been working on.

Fury turned fully back to her releasing a deep breath and bringing his hand to his face and rubbing his eyes the tiredness of the past few days finally starting to catch up with him. Fury despite looking exhausted still held his commanding air about him and his one remaining eye still glinted with unmatched intelligence.

"Personally, I think you are right, but I can't go to the World Security Council with feelings, I need hard facts especially after it comes to light that I was keeping Kal off the books for months and now that he appears to have attacked a Shield facility." Fury replied, his voice sounding tired and a look of annoyance on his at having to deal with the World Security Council which was made worse by the constant beeping coming from his phone and computer as messages kept pouring in.

Nat opened her mouth the reply when a hard loud knock came from Fury's door causing the look of annoyance to become a grimace on Fury's face, as he glared at the door. "I SAID I WAS NOT TO BE DISTURBED." Fury yelled at the door, releasing a heavy sigh and bringing his hand to his forehead rubbing it in aggravation.

"So, sir, what do you want me to do?" Nat, asked as she decided to speak up again hoping to get Fury out of the spiral of annoyance that was threatening to overtake him and figure out a plan going forward.

"Frist thing first is find out how much this can be containe-" Fury started before the loud knock again occurred at his door this time it was louder and more rapid causing Fury to curse slightly before shouting. "WHAT IS IT?!"

Fury's yell caused the door to be pushed open hesitantly as Teresa Fury's personal secretary came into the office. Teresa had an uncertain look on her face which was unusual as for long as Natasha had known her Teresa was always confident and no-nonsense which is what Fury liked about her, as well as the fact that Teresa probably could keep a secret better even than Natasha herself.

"Sorry, sir I know that you asked not to be disturbed but we have a situation in Washington," Teresa spoke her hesitation evident in her voice as she glanced at Natasha and then back to Fury.

Fury released a deep sigh, guessing that someone had done something stupid like try to call a Congressional or Senate hearing on Shield's actions in an attempt to embarrass him. "Dam it, who's on the phone the Speaker of the House or the Vice President?"

"Uh sir it's neither, we have a commercial airliner, Flight LX-AIR 889, that has had a mechanical failure and was about to try a Water landing about 20 miles offshore," Teressa reported looking down at her clipboard to make sure she got the details right.

A confused looked came across Fury's face as although Shield was involved with a lot of the security of the world and kept taps on everything it wasn't in a position to stop a plane from falling out of the sky due to a mechanical fault. That was the realm of local domestic agents in the US like the TSA, so Fury was confused as to why Teressa was interrupting him during a very important meeting to tell him about it.

"A tragedy, but unless it's international terrorism or the flight is carrying Shield cargo, it's not our concern." Fury stated, raising a questioning eyebrow at Teressa who had never once interrupted him during a meeting until now.

"It's not sir, but you are needed immediately because before the plane crashed into the ocean someone's caught it," Teressa explained, hoping to clarify why she was interrupting the meeting.

"Somebody caught the mechanical fault?" Natasha asked an equally confused look on her face as she too like Fury had no idea why Teressa was bothering to inform them of a plane crashing into the ocean.

"No, not the mechanical fault, the plane madam, someone flew in and has caught the plane itself, they are currently carrying it to the nearest airport," Teressa explained, clarifying what she was talking about, which caused Fury and Nat's look of confusion to turn to surprise.

Tapping the screen of her device a few times that was on her clipboard, Teressa brought up the live stream of a local news channel that was showing the events that were occurring. Clearly in the middle of the image was a very large jet being carried with ease by a man in blue, with a flowing red cape and a large S on his chest.

Fury was silent as he stared at the screen before a very loud curse broke the silence that had filled the room as they stared at the news channel's report. "SHIT"

(Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport – Washington DC – 2011)

Kal was feeling something that he had not felt in a very long time and discovered that he had indeed greatly missed, a sense of genuine peace of mind and purpose as well. He had not actually intended to brazenly declare himself again to the mortals of Midgard and had been on his way to speak with Fury about what he wanted to achieve given his newly discovered sense of direction but seeing the aircraft in distress and lives in danger he had just reacted. In truth, acting had felt not only exhilarating but also natural like he was meant to be doing this, which he supposed was in fact true according to Jor-El.

As Kal began his descent back towards the ground, he became suddenly aware of two things. The first was that his brazen intervention into the affairs of mortals had started him on a path he could now not deviate from. The second and more pressing of the two was that his carrying of the aircraft was extremely difficult, the actual weight of the aircraft was not the issue, but rather its design was proving problematic as he could hear the rivets holding the aircraft starting to bulk.

Kal glided forwarded easy the strain on the aircraft by allowing it more glide with him under his power rather than be carried. As he did so, he could already see a large crowd of people gathering on the runway he was approaching, some of them had their phones out recording him or taking pictures, and several had TV cameras, and they were filming him for the world to see. He could already hear murmuring, amongst which was a slight amount of fear at his approach but also awe as well, as Kal descended from the heavens with the sun shining behind him.

However, mortals that caught his attention were not the ones staring in awe but rather the ones wearing suits that had arrived in vehicles bearing a crest that Kal recognised, it was Shield. They had arrived on-site even before he had landed, which both greatly impressed him and filled him with slight dread as his newly chosen path was going directly against the deal he had made with Fury.

As he felt the weight of the aircraft leave him as he finally placed the aircraft on the ground, he suddenly felt it replaced by an even greater one, as he floated away from the saved aeroplane to hover in front of the crowd that had gathered. Kal breathed in and suddenly found that his mind was racing, he was not ineloquent by any means and in truth was actually good at speeches or at least he thought he was, but Kal had suddenly realised that he had at all planned what he was going to say at all.

The silence of him hovering there was only punctured but the snapping of cameras and the quiet whispers of a few brave souls of the News Reporters that were whispering into their mics. After a few moments, Kal actually spotted someone he knew, a young man, with red hair, slight freckles on his face and wearing a suit, who had moved forward with the Shield agents that had arrived. Kal glided down towards the man, causing the News Reporters' quiet whispers to grow louder as they all stared at Kal actually approaching them.

"Hello again, Son of Ol." Kal greeted the young Shield agent that he had met months ago with a broad smile, offering a respectful bow of his head.

Agent James "Jimmy" Bartholomew Olsen was currently training to recall if his Shield training covered what was currently happening, but as far he could remember it did not. Which caused him to cough uncomfortably whilst glancing at the actual senior agent in charge that Kal had just ignored and offered an apologetic look before responding.

"OH, um, uh, HI. It's good to see you too, and it's um OLSEN, not Olson" Agent Olsen replied hesitantly, actually wincing as he spoke at how bad his reply sounded even to him.

Kal however took no notice of the young man's awkwardness or poor reply merely giving a confident smile that put Olsen at ease slightly. "Of course, forgive me. The aircraft is intact apart from a ruptured fuel line in its left wing and the passengers appear unharmed apart from a few bruises, I would still suggest they be seen to by a healer."

Olsen knew what he wanted to say, he wanted to say that Kal needed to immediately come with them and place himself willingly into Shield custody, however, what came out was instead. "Of course, we will get right on that."

Before either, he or the senior agent was able to correct his mistake Kal had already moved off lifting off the ground slightly in order to both prevent people from getting near him in case they did something stupid like attacking him and to also give him a higher position to address the ever-growing crowd. As Kal cast his vision over the area, he could see that the crowd had largely been joined by first responders coming to assist with the recently saved aircraft but also a great number of civilians had somehow made their way out onto the runway. Everything was silent for a few moments until suddenly a blonde woman pushed forward standing slightly in front of the crowd and lifted a recording device out towards Kal to record his response better.

"Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair Magazine. I want to ask who are you?" The tall somewhat attractive blonde woman asked, trying to sound much more confident than she actually was.

Christine Everhart had actually been at the airport to catch a connecting flight and had only forced her way onto the runway because she thought the report of a man in armour saving a plane might have Tony Stark and she wanted to meet the billionaire again. However, what had greeted her was not the world's mortal man of Iron, but a god of a completely different calibre, Tony may have had a suit of armour that made him powerful but the person in front of her radiated power. So, she had decided to move first whilst everyone else was still too shocked to ask him a question, which she was slightly regretting now as his powerful eyes turned directly to her.

There was a part of Kal that wanted to just leave right then as he had before when he had helped the mortals during his early life, he would just fly in to save people and then leave doing as little impact as possible. However, he knew he couldn't do that if he was to be a symbol a real symbol for people to strive towards he needed to be more than just a mysterious figure that helped he needed to embody something greater.

"I am Kal-El, Son of Odin" Kal spoke loudly his voice booming clear across the airfield, his mouth still unused to the added sound at the end of his name that marked him as a son of Krypton rather than Asgard. "I am from another world far from here, your Ancestors knew me as one of the Æsir of Asgard and worshipped me as a God. However, I do not come here to rule or to harm you, merely to aid in the protection of your world and to help keep you safe."

Kal's address caused the crowd including Christine Everhart to become suddenly silent before exploding into a cacophony of noise as the floodgates opened unleashing a tidal wave of questions from everyone. Whilst to mortal ears it would have sounded like chaos Kal was able to hear every single question that was being directed at him, however, many he had no good answers to yet, and the rest were just idiotic. Feeling like he had done all he needed to for the moment Kal simply raised himself into the air and departed deciding that if was truly committed to the path he was on, he should do more than just save one plane.

(Central Africa – Later that same day)

Nayah Alhadji was holding onto her children tightly as the men that had attacked her village forced her into the centre of the village with the other women and children, along with the few men that were still alive. She could feel her daughter crying into her side whilst her son the youngest of the two was similarly sobbing whilst grasping her leg. Nayah was doing her best to keep her children's eyes from the horror that was occurring before them, but even as she shielded them she knew ultimately it would be futile.

Nayah and her husband had known men like this their whole lives, violent evil men that claimed to be glorious rebels fighting for freedom, just to have an excuse to kill, steal and terrorise as they pleased. Nayah had moved to this village after escaping a similar attack on her home years ago, as she thought that this village being closer to the capital would be safer but she was discovering it appeared evil cared not where one lived.

A sickening sound reached her ears and just clamped her hands over her children's ears as she saw the source of the sound be raised from its terrible sight. It was a machete that was now crimson from the hilt down and as the man wielding it, clearly, the group's leader, moved over to them he left a trail of crimson behind him. As he stood before the cowering mothers and women who were clutching their young to them, he merely made a gesture and suddenly Nayah felt her son being ripped away from her.

She tried to resist as any parent would, but the larger armed man merely hit her hard with the back of his hand, which sent her reeling into the dirt along with her daughter who just started to cry. What followed was worse as she watched the boys forced into a line as the machete-wielding man stood in front of them, examining them as if they were cattle.

Nayah's head was still ringing from the blow and the screaming of the mothers as they were held at gunpoint prevented her from hearing his words to her son, but she could guess what he had likely said and none of it was good. She watched in horror as her son was moved in out of the line and handed a rifle that was far too large for him, her horror then turned to dread as her husband was pulled over from behind a hut and dumped in front of their son. Her husband was badly beaten, a large cut was on his head and his right eye was just a swollen mass, but what made it worse was the look in his eye as he stared up at his own son pointing a rifle at him as it trembled in his small hands.

Nayah knew what was going to happen next, she knew what further horrors awaited her and her daughter after it occurred. Not able to face the horror before her, Nayah just grabbed her daughter pulling her into her chest turning her away from the scene and shutting her own eyes started praying as hard as she could for someone, anyone, to hear her and save her family.

It was then that the sound of thunder came that caused the armed men to look up at the clear sky in confusion before suddenly a great gust of wind occurred forcing everyone to stumble back slightly. Nayah opened her eyes and looked up at something she had not expected her prayers answered, above her was what could only be an angel a shimmering angel sent to deliver them from evil.

"I will give you one chance, drop your weapons and leave or prepare to face my judgement." The flying figure that appeared to be radiating light spoke in a commanding voice that somehow promised both salvation for the fearful and terrible retribution to the perpetrators.

The armed men's response to the flying figures' ultimate was to look at their leader wide-eyed obviously looking for direction, seeing his men's hesitation the leader merely pointed at the figure with his machete and yelled. "SHOOT HIM YOU FOOLS."

Even as the first round left one of their guns, they realised they had made the wrong decision as even before they could blink, the men were suddenly becoming ash, as twin beams of red light came from the flying figure smiting the men trying to attack him. Nayah watched wide-eyed as in less than a minute the scene that had promised to be just another forgotten tragedy in this part of the world turned into a scene from a fairy tale where the valiant hero arrived to save the day. As she looked around, she saw that her son had dropped the rifle forced into his hand and rushed into his father's arms, and the two were now crying tears of joy, however, her eyes turned to the one man that had yet to be dispatched.

The machete-wielding leader was still alive; however, it was clear that he had not been spared by accident as no sooner had his men been annihilated than had the flying figure descended and grasped him by the throat lifting him off the ground. The leader attacked their savoir with his weapon, but the machete just broke apart like it was a toy as struck the man's skin leaving no visible mark of damage of any kind.

"I will warn you now, I have intimate knowledge of the human nervous system and am able to inflict a great deal of pain and can also tell when someone is lying to me. So, you will tell me who you are, if there are more of you and where I can find the rest of you." Kal squeezed the man's throat more tightly to emphasise his words before dropping the man into a heap before him.

The leader started coughing and gasping for air as he looked around and saw what had happened to his men along with what remained of his machete, he immediately looked up at Kal with fear and almost started to cry. "Please if I tell you, you must promise to let me go."

Kal's eyes contracted at the man's words, and it was clear he was in no mood to bargain however he opened his mouth and spoke almost softly "I swear to you I personally will do you no harm. IF you tell me what I want to know"

It wasn't even a second later that the rebel leader started to spill everything he knew about the 'rebel' group he worked for, including where their main camp was and who their leader was. Kal's calm features became one of disgust as he listened to the man talk, every word from the man's mouth made Kal sick as the man describe what the other 'rebel' units were doing at the moment.

As the man finished Kal moved forward and lifted the man off the ground, he then turned a threw the man over to the survivors of the villages the man landed squarely at Nayah's feet, who just looked down in disgust at the man as she picked up a large rock next to her.

"He's all yours, I am going to deal with the rest of them," Kal announced as he turned his disgusted look from the man to the survivors a soft look replacing it as he looked at them. "After which I will return to help you rebuild."

As Kal turned to leave the man he had just thrown like a sack of rotten potatoes scrambled on all fours trying to crawl to him and away from the survivors who were arming themselves with large sticks and rocks. "WAIT, you promised to let me leave unharmed!" The man begged, reaching a hand out to Kal, who just turned his head slightly to look at the man.

"No, I promised not to harm," Kal responded softly as he started to take to the skies, and then gestured to the survivors of the man's brutal attack. "They however made no such promise."

Kal then disappeared into the air as he moved off towards the other so-called 'rebel' groups in the area where he needed to offer a similar choice, lay down arms or face his judgement.

(Washington DC - The Triskelion – Several Days Later)

"-THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Fury was zoning in and out at the moment it was only due to the slight shrillness of Councilman Gideon Malick's voice that he was again paying attention. Fury had a distinct dislike of the American representative to the World Security Council, Mallick was always quick to demand a reaction often before having all the facts on hand.

Despite having completely ignored everything that the World Security Council had been saying for the last half an hour Fury knew exactly what had been said, as it was the same thing that was being said by every general, politician and world leader who had his direct number had been saying. That Shield had to respond, that it was a complete failure that the world's foremost intelligence agency had failed to be aware of Kal's presence on earth and further failed at being unable to track him down.

The first was not entirely true, in fact, it was a complete lie that Fury had carefully maintained seeing no good reason in revealing that he had in fact not only known about the alien in their midst but had also actively kept him off everyone's radar from almost a year. The second point, that they had completely failed to track him down despite him appearing on nearly every continent was actually a point he had to concede. Kal was not operating in any discernible pattern, well he was, Kal was showing up anywhere people needed help but that was ranging from preventing full-blown genocide to helping get cats out of trees. However, that only allowed Shield to track where he had been not where he currently was, the world was a big place and unfortunately filled with a lot of places that needed help.

As the World Security Council continued its tirade Fury turned his attention to the various media feeds that for the past few days had been doing nothing but reporting on the mysterious visitor that had started helping out everywhere. One channel was reporting on Kal's dousing of an apartment block fire in Austin, Texas, a second showed him helping flood victims in India by helping build temporary homes and diverting the river that was causing the issue, a third was a local affiliate that was showing Kal merely helping a small girl get her cat out the tree. All of which although was generating a lot of interest and goodwill towards Kal, it was the fourth channel which was why he was being raked over the coals at the moment.

'REBEL ARMY WIPED OUT IN CENTRAL AFRICA'

That was the banner headline which was fixed under the WHiH World News anchor who was discussing the images and amateur film that showed Kal wiping out the Central African Rebel army. No one was shedding a tear for the group least of all Shield, in all honesty, Fury was glad the group was gone, they had been on Shield's radar for a long due to their tactics mainly child soldiers and reported genocide, unfortunately, they had not been a high enough threat to global security for Shield to actually take action. However, it wasn't who the group was that was causing problems but rather the fact of what Kal had done, in the space of an evening he had apparently wiped out an entire insurgent army that the local governments hadn't been able to dislodge in over 20 years. That was something that couldn't be ignored by the world's power and was causing alarm bells to go off across the world.

"It is clear we need to contain this individual; these brazen acts of interference cannot be tolerated, Shield must take action." That was the Chinese representative of the World Security Council, Chao Yen, whose voice although calmer than Gideon Malick's still held a high level of concern over the images and reports he was reading.

"And what action do you suggest Shield take Councilmen Chao?" Fury finally interceded his voice heavy with sarcasm as he just raised one eyebrow at the Council's suggestion.

"Whatever action is necessary, Director Fury." Gideon Malick replied for his colleague leaning forward to try and add emphasis to his words as he stared at Fury.

"So, you want us to go to war with a man, that a large section of the world's population currently supports, and we know very little about?" Fury asked the obvious question, trying to gauge how far the council was actually going to force him to go.

Although he too was alarmed by Kal's brazen actions, Kal had actually been rather restrained in his actions, he hadn't toppled any governments, he had actually mostly kept himself to small scale affairs. Even the whole rebel army incident had been massively contained, there had been zero civilian casualties and Kal had even handed over the men that had surrendered to local authorities before leaving.

"THIS ALIEN, Director Fury has no right to interfere in any situation let alone to take a HUMAN life, how do we know he is not part of some advanced guard of an alien invasion!" Malick's response was loud and accompanied by him slamming his fist on his table, which lost much of its effect as its sound did not travel through the microphone.

"Councilman, I think you are very much overcomplicating the situation, we have no evidence that Kal is doing anything but helping people" Fury responded trying to keep his voice calm as he started to get annoyed listening to Mallick's near-insane ravings. "Just give me a little time to track this man down, I have a prior history with him, and I am sure once I can speak to him I can allay any fears you might have."

"What makes you think you can convince this alien to obey you?" Chao asked drawing Fury's attention to the man once more, his voice was still calm but now had a curios tone to it as well.

Fury sighed, the Council was always about controlling and interfering in situations, very rarely did they understand that most of what Shield did was not interfering but rather monitoring and containing situations trying to make as little impact as possible. If Shield had to go in gun blazing or interfere directly then Fury was not doing his job properly.

"I don't think I can control him Councilmen and any attempt to do so is likely to elicit the very response we are trying to avoid. I know that I can reason with him, Kal is a man from another world with other values he likely doesn't understand the dangers his actions are causing." Fury tried to explain very much wanting to move away from any talk of controlling Kal.

"Understanding or not, this Kal's actions cannot continue he is starting to make a lot of very powerful people nervous." Fury turned to look at the new speaker which was the British representative Pamela Hawley, who Fury had found to be the most open to reason of her colleagues. "So, what I wish to know is what you are doing to rectify the situation?"

"I have already dispatched several teams into the Arctic circle as it was the direction that his craft headed to track him down, one of them has already come across a large metal structure buried in the ice. So we should have a location on him soon hopefully." Fury reported hoping this development would gain him goodwill back, as he continued on to his other projects. "Project Pegasus is making headway as well with Dr Selvig now on site, he seems confident that we can make Phase 2 a reality in a few months, and we have several promising candidates for the Aven-"

Gideon Malick cut off Fury releasing a frustrated sigh. "That program has already been terminated, however, we are pleased that Phase is now a possibility, push forward with Pegasus as soon as possible. AS to this Alien Kal, we will try it your way but get him under control Fury or we will get someone who can."

Fury wasn't even able to respond as Gideon Mallick deactivated his connection to Fury indicating that their meeting was now over, he was followed quickly by the other members except for Pamela Hawley who remained on the line for a few moments longer. Fury looked at her feeling of concern that she was sending him his way the two had always worked well together, and Fury even considered her a friend.

"Nick….. Just be careful please." Pamela stated before she too disconnected from the call leaving Fury alone in the dark.

Fury was not sure how long he was standing there his mind turning and scheming in the rare moment of privacy and peace he was given in his otherwise very busy and dangerous life. It was ended when he heard the sound of the door behind him opening letting in light and Maria Hill who walked in her feet barely making a sound.

"Sir, Lieutenant Hope has made contact." Maria Hill reported professionally standing with her hands behind her back.

Fury looked at his watch and released a deep sigh it was just past 3 AM, the Council meeting had lasted over 6 hours, no wonder he felt tired. However, he forced his mind to recall where Lieutenant Hope was assigned, and then recalled he was leading one of the teams he sent into the arctic and had reported that his team had detected a metal structure buried in the ice.

"Has Lieutenant Hope found the craft Kal took?" Fury asked keeping his voice measured and neutral, not wanting to reveal that he was desperate for any good news.

"No sir, but he has potentially found something better sir," Maria responded with a rare voice that sounded almost optimistic, which caused Fury to turn around fully and look at his second in command.

(Fury's office 2 hours later)

Fury had decided that it was better to just continue on, which was how he had ended up in his office at 5 AM finishing off a call to Phil Coulson, instead of actually going to sleep. Which although had proved productive he was now slightly regretting it due to the sound of glee coming out of his phone, as he listened to one of his most senior and trusted agents become a star-struck schoolboy.

"You're putting me in charge sir? And it's really him sir it's been confirmed?" Coulson had repeated that question about 20 times during the course of the call, disbelief and awe present in his voice.

"Yes Coulson it's been confirmed and yes you are in charge, so I need you to get on the next available transport out of the hu-" Fury's voice suddenly stopped as he felt the air pressure in the room change and felt a presence in the room.

Without warning Fury suddenly twisted around in his chair and pulling his sidearm out aimed it straight at the head of his intruder but didn't pull the trigger when he saw who it was.

"Coulson, I'm going to need to call you back." Fury didn't even wait for a response as he closed the phone and then addressed his unexcepted visitor. "You've been busy?"

Kal was stood in the centre of Fury's office his crimson red cape draped off his shoulders providing the perfect outlet for his newly enhanced armour, which the low light of the office caught perfectly making the S crest on his chest shine. Looking at him Fury could see that something was different about Kal, but if he was honest it seemed a good different, his old friend's eyes always seemed a little conflicted, as if he was constantly being pulled between what he wanted to do and what he had to. Fury knew that look all too well because his eye at times held the same look, he was the leader of the world's most powerful organisation able to topple governments with a phone call but unable to act due to either politics or fear of making things worse.

"Yes I have, apologise I was going to talk to you first but I got ….. caught up with things," Kal responded giving Fury a small smile, which he hoped showed that he was indeed sorry for not talking to him first.

Fury however remained neutral lowering his gun back to the desk as he knew it would be useless, as he stared at Kal with a blank face that betrayed nothing about what he was actually thinking.

"The ship you took, it's the reason that you left the Farm isn't it, because you knew despite our relationship there was no way my people would have let you have it if we got to it first." Fury summarised the limited amount of knowledge he had already figured out, asking the first question that had been gnawing at him. "Is it Asgardian?"

Kal shook his head slightly as he moved forward to be closer to Fury. "No, my Friend it is far older and infinitely more dangerous, it comes from my homeworld Krypton. And if it falls into the wrong hand the danger to your world, is indescribable." Kal stated in blunt honesty, having no reason to hide the truth from Fury but also giving him a look that all but stated 'I'm not giving it back'.

Fury sighed at Kal's response feeling that he was entering into a world of trouble that was going to give him a constant headache, Kal had already explained to him about his real origins but had thought little of it beyond feeling a little sad for his friend being alone in the universe. So he was more than a little surprised to find out that a relic of the long-deceased race had been on earth of all places, but he filled that away for later, instead of wanting to move on to the bigger issue they needed to address.

"Well, I might, and I stress MIGHT be able to get people to go along with that, but you have made everything extremely difficult with your current actions." Fury looked Kal straight in the eye and felt more than a little betrayed that Kal had broken the agreement they had made months ago.

The room fell silent as both men knew what Fury had to say next but he was clearly wary of the topic because he had no idea how Kal was going to respond.

"Kal, I understand that you want to help, but you need to stop." Fury stated giving his friend a slightly sad look, but both his voice and face were full of conviction.

Kal was quiet for a few moments as he looked at his old friend before a hard conviction came over his face as he gave his one-word response, that changed everything.

"Why?"