Ultraviolet

Epilogue: Fury

Prince House

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

After sleeping long hours and recovering from her ordeal, Isi convinced V to go to work on Tuesday. They'd had Christmas the previous afternoon with Quinn, and he'd missed enough as it was from worrying. She was home alone: Ariana was at work with V, and Guinevere had gone out on errands to take advantage of the after-Christmas sales and plan for New Year's.

Isi reveled in the silence. Even at night, when it was just her and V in the house, everything felt loud. Her ears roared. Her dreams screamed and tasted like smoke. But now, munching on leftover cake for a very nutritious lunch, there was silence.

There was plenty to think about, though. She was sure that Emma and Tucker had guessed that it had been she in the Mall last week, though she hadn't yet reached out to them. She'd lost her second phone in two months in the Mall, along with her favorite winter coat and her knife. And V had said that, so long as she was home, she didn't really need a cell phone, which meant she could only e-mail right now. Somehow, she didn't think that this was something she could say over the Internet.

Isi wasn't even sure she wanted to tell Emma and Tucker. Telling V was one thing. Talking about it with her friends would be entirely another.

A knock at the door made her pause, and she hesitated with a bite of cake halfway to her mouth. She wasn't expecting anyone. Anyone that belonged to the house had keys, and anyway usually entered through the garage. But the knock was definitely coming from the front door.

Isi got off her stool. She was the only one at home, so she would have to be a big girl and answer the door. She wished all of a sudden that she'd retained her knife. She'd tried to use her powers the night before, but nothing had happened but a few sparks. She was totally drained. Powerless.

There's no Durant, she thought.

She opened the door.

The man on the porch was tall, wearing black pants, a long black overcoat, and heavy black boots. He wore an eyepatch of the same color over his left eye and held a bundle of black fabric over one arm. "Elisabeta Tseldottir," he said. He had a deep voice.

"Can I help you?" Isi asked, not verbally confirming her name.

"I'm Director Fury of the Strategic Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. I have some questions regarding your involvement in the Hellfire incident."

"You don't happen to have identification, do you?"

Director Fury sighed, but produced a badge. "I sent Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff to collect you from the hospital. This—" He held up the black bundle— "belongs to you, if I'm not mistaken."

It was her coat. Her coat, that she'd left on Jefferson Drive before everything. And this was the mysterious boss, then, the one who had ordered her release from custody. No one else would know that Clint had gotten her, would they? The other name must have been the redheaded pilot. She was helpless... but V wasn't. He kept many things in his study. Some of them could be useful if this man was lying. She stepped back to let him in and started upstairs for the study.

She took the seat that was normally V's, and Director Fury settled in one of the chairs Isi normally sat in. His single eye roved over the room. "Nice keys," he said. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"So you broke me out," she said.

"I did," Fury admitted, leaning back in his chair. "And I jumped through about a million hoops made of red tape to get the FBI and police off your back. Not to mention the media—they don't have your name, and they wanted me to give it. You're welcome, by the way. I told them I didn't know and I didn't care. I gather they're calling you Ultraviolet."

Isi ignored that last sentence. "Why me?"

He shrugged. "You were there. In the circle, in the Mall. You were throwing magic with the best of 'em. You know something."

"It kind of sounds like you already have all the information."

"We know what happened when the walls came down," Fury corrected. "My division, it deals with... strange things. We were called as soon as the walls came up, and I need to determine if you're going to be an asset..." His eyebrow arched slightly. "Or a danger."

Isi tried to keep her face neutral. Neither option sounded good. And if she said or did anything wrong, she might be killed. Captured. Something worse that she couldn't imagine. Suddenly she thought it might have been a mistake to let Fury in without V in the house.

"Should I ask for a lawyer?" she joked weakly.

"This isn't an interrogation. All I want to know is what happened behind the wall."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Fury leaned forward, interest sparking in his dark eye. "Try me."