'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
(Word count: 1,489)
~ With Natasha, at the location of the attack ~
'What the hell happened here. . .' Natasha thought as she saw the aftermath of the attack. The first thing that caught her attention was the lack of surveillance in the area, just as Luke had said. 'This was a pre-meditated attack. Whoever these people are, they knew they could attack at this spot because there would have been no evidence that pointed towards them.'
The next thing she noticed was the parked vehicle riddled with bullet-like holes. However, when she took a closer look, she could not see any discharged shell casings or bullets around the area. Finally, the last thing she noticed was the dried corpse laying just beneath the vehicle.
After getting an initial look around, Natasha walked back out onto the main street to wait for the team that would assist her. She would need them to do a few things as she compiled her primary report for Fury.
~ An hour later, with Fury ~
Within the last hour since Fury gave his order to Natasha, Fury had been busy updating his list. The fourth entry had given Fury a few new names to consider and think about for the future. Since obtaining the diary, Fury had created five separate lists: 'Confirmed Identity', 'Unknown Identity', 'Allies', 'Enemies' and 'K.I.A'.
The 'Confirmed Identity' list is just as the name suggests, it includes all mentioned entities, both individual and group, written in the diary that Fury had confirmed. This list included identities such as Tony Stark, Virginia Potts and Steve Rogers, along with the newly added Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff.
The 'Unconfirmed Identity' list included the names of all the entities that Fury had not yet confirmed. The list included Thor, Loki, Bruce, among others. Fury had updated this list in the past hour to include the newly mentioned entities in the fourth entry, such as Ancient One, Strange, Masters of the Mystic Arts, amongst others.
Derived from the two list would be the 'Allies' and 'Enemies' list. The 'Allies' list included names that Fury believed could be called upon to help protect the world, such as Steve, Barton and Natasha. Fury had yet to include Tony into this list as at the moment, Tony had not yet become the hero that he had been in the parallel world.
While the 'Enemies' list is the opposite, including names such as Mad Titan, Ultron and TVA. This list was updated to include the newly revealed names of Dormammu, Marak Azathraal, True Demon God and the Abyssal Covenant.
The 'K.I.A.' list were filled with names of entities that the diary had said would die some time in the future. For instance, Natasha and Steve were one of the names included.
Fury also had a separate list for all the major events that had occurred in the diary. This included Tony's kidnapping, the Ultron incident, the 'Blip' incident, and more. This list also mentioned any interesting events such as Luke stating that there was a group of individuals who protects the world from 'Dimensional Threats'.
As Fury finished updating his lists, he had received the call that he had been anticipating. "Agent Romanoff, what can you tell me about the attack?"
"Well for one thing sir, the area had zero surveillance coverage, unlike the areas nearby. It suggests that whoever the attackers were, had researched the area and found the optimal location to carry out their attack in order to not leave any clues behind that could lead to them." Natasha reported.
"Just like what Luke had already guessed. The attack this time was more of a 'greeting' to him, to let him know that they are here too." Fury mused. "Carry on."
"Next, I believe we can confirm that Luke is a water ability user." Natasha started, "The scene of the attack indicated that weapons were used, specifically a weapon utilizing projectiles. But when we searched the area, the only thing that pointed to a projectile being used was a single bullet close to the main street and an empty bullet casing nearby the attacker."
"I believe that this bullet was fired by the attacker towards Luke, and must have failed from what we've read so far in the diary. Aside from that, we've found nothing. Nothing except water."
Hearing this, Fury had a guess as to what the water represented, however decided to hear Natasha's input first. "Water?"
"It wasn't raining, sir. The strangest thing is, we found water on the inside of a vehicle at the location as well. The vehicle was ridden with multiple holes that showed multiple projectiles had entered from one side and exited the other." Natasha explained.
"I believe this water is a product of Luke utilizing his abilities. As you recall, in the test we conducted a month ago, we conjectured that Luke could be a suspected ability user based on water."
"Although we got confirmation from the diary that Luke possesses an ability, he never stated what ability it was. If we connect the dots, it's easy to see that Luke's ability is water-based." Natasha concluded.
Thinking about what Natasha had just said, Fury found it to be sensible and acknowledged its validity. "In that case, this should be in our favour. At least we know that so far, Luke does not seem to have any malicious intent for this world and may even rise to protect it when needed."
"That's not all we found sir," Natasha interrupted, "At the base of the car, we found a corpse. What's peculiar about it is that it appeared that all the moisture in this corpse was removed from it."
Natasha let the silence hang in the air. Although she did not want Fury to have any suspicion on Luke, Fury did need to know about the peculiarity of the corpse she found.
"Are you suggesting that Luke was able to somehow suck dry the water contents of the corpse?" Fury asked.
"It is only a possibility, sir. After all, not much is known about this new enemy that we find ourselves with. Even Luke himself is not too knowledgeable about them, and he has been fighting against them for as long as 10 years in his world." Natasha stated, wording her reply carefully so as to not paint Luke in a bad spot.
'If Fury thinks that Luke can just remove the water from a person's body, I am sure that he would start doubting Luke's morality. Being the cause for a person to become a dry shell is reason enough for most, especially Fury, to not feel safe around Luke.' Natasha mused.
Choosing to change the topic before Fury could think too much of it, "I had the team collect the corpse and vehicle to send back to HQ for further tests. We should get our answers regarding the corpse by then."
"I know what you're trying to do, Agent Romanoff." Fury exposed. "From what we know, Luke has the ability to control water. And from the location of the attack, we find that there is a shrivelled body?"
"Every living being in this world is filled with water. But that's not the only thing with water, the surrounding air is also filled with water molecules. Do you understand how much of a threat that would make someone if that person could control water like that, Agent Romanoff?" Fury questioned.
At his question, Natasha could only remain silent.
- End of Chapter 41 -
Next time in C42 - Fury's orders, and Wanda's worries!
'Wait, since I am no longer at that orphanage, will I still get my powers in this life? Luke had written that when he first met the other Wanda, she had already gotten her powers. I on the other hand, am still a normal person without any abilities.'
.
.
.
In the following hours, Wanda remained awake, thinking of what she should do from now on to protect herself and her brother.
E/d note:
So a few of you have been worried about Marak Azathraal and what I have planned for the Abyssal Covenant. The reason why they were written so vaguely was simply because I wanted to leave open a plot device for me to use in the future, which fortunately came in clutch during my original arc between C56 to C63.
On the actually appearance of the God, I have NO PLANS to include his appearance. Moreover, Marak's abilities and actual appearances throughout the series will be touched on during the same arc. However, just know that the Yan Devil from the MTL was defeated easily in the MTL, so future appearances of Abyssal Covenant MAY have to be voted on by the viewers once we get to that point.