Tomb Raider - Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel

9 ~ The Other Woman With Magical Fists

So now she had powers. Freaking superpowers. Speaking of real-life superheroes...

Yup, powers. Now that they had established themselves very dramatically (and very painfully) they made themselves known by casting a fuchsia aura around her, faint, and really only noticeable in the dark, at least so far.

Great, now she looked like a walking, talking pink glow stick. Awesome.

It all sounded so bizarre, impossible, but she guessed that in a world where a soldier from World War II had been kept alive frozen in ice only to wake up 70 years later, alive and well, where gods apparently walked the Earth, and where aliens attacked New York, maybe it wasn't all that bizarre or unique. She was just another case.

A completely random one, it seemed.

Why her? Why of all people had a loner, stuck, twenty-five year-old orphan ('orphan' - she had never used that term to describe herself before, but it was the right term, wasn't it?) be granted with such powers? It made no sense.

"Double-fisting?" she joked, taking a sip of her own drink as Fury come over to their table, a beer bottle in each hand.

"One for me, one for our guest." They had arranged to meet Fury's ally in a pub the following night, and judging how quiet it was this time of evening, Nora wondered if Fury has worked his magic (no pun intended) and requested the pub all to themselves. She knew from previously working in a pub that this lack of action was unusual. This only made her more curious about who this ally was.

"Yes, speaking of: so, who is this 'other' woman?"

"An old ally of mine."

"So you said. S.H.I.E.L.D. too?"

"Eh... Sorta - not really... But we worked together, back in the '90s-"

"The '90s?" How old was this woman? Nora found it a little strange how secretive Fury seemed to be about this mysterious woman.

He chuckled at her bewilderment. "Trust me on this one."

As if on cue, the bell above the door rang, drawing their attention to the person who stepped into the pub and immediately strode over to their table.

"Fury," the woman addressed.

"Captain. Thanks for joining us."

"My pleasure."

Nora's first thought was, okay, the woman who she found herself staring at was nowhere near old - she couldn't be more than a few years older than Nora herself, thirty at most. Did she have superpowers too? Was not aging her power? Was she also a Captain America case? Nora would have scoffed at the thought but then remembered, oh, yeah, I have superpowers now too. Guess anything really was possible in this world, nowadays.

Nora's second thought, after processing and pondering how this woman could have worked with Fury in the '90s and still look so young, was that this woman was drop-dead gorgeous. She was dressed simply, wearing dark-wash jeans and a grey tank top with a leather bomber jacket over top, the collar baring a few pins, and combat boots. Her golden hair fell in waves framing her face and falling down past her shoulders. Not only that, but she carried herself in a way that screamed a certain brilliant confidence that Nora was instantly both envious of and in full admiration of. It made her so proud she wanted to applaud the woman for having such confidence. She also radiated a certain powerful nature that Nora couldn't exactly explain but one thing was for sure: this woman meant business and was definitely not someone to cross. The vibe she gave off was immensely alluring.

Great. It was already obvious that Fury had literally brought the coolest person to help Nora and she felt like a complete loser in comparison.

"Captain Carol Danvers, I'd like you to meet Doctor Eleanora Bane."