Avengers Facility, Upstate New York - Earth
2018
Buzz. "Hello?" Buzz. "Hello, is anyone there?" Buzzzzzz. "Avengers? I'm here on behalf of Nick Fury."
Buzzz. Nora tried the front gate buzzer one more time, but in vain. The facility seemed like a ghost town, abandoned, and no one answering confirmed this. She was the only one here.
It had been a mad flurry of hours - had it really only been a matter of hours since this disaster struck? Since she literally witnessed hundreds of people vanish into thin air without so much as a trace, including Nick and Maria? Grabbing an abandoned motorcycle she had driven it here, but the Avengers were obviously not home.
She tossed her bag over the gate, watching as it landed heavily on the grass on the other side. Withdrawing her staff and extending it, she used it to hover over the gate. She wasn't worried about anyone seeing her, for one, no one appeared to be around, and two, it wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen today.
The steady beeping of Fury's pager told her that the signal to Carol was still active - but it was becoming slower, so she would need to plug it into some power source soon, to keep the signal going, in order to reach Carol - how ever far away she might be.
The doors to the main building were sealed shut and locked, as she expected, also with a buzzer and control pad. Using her powers she imbued the control pad, and after a few minutes had the door open. She may have fried the circuits, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.
The inside of the building was as much of a ghost town as the rest of the facility. She called 'hello' a few times cautiously, just in case, but the only response she received was her own voice echoing through the empty space back to her eerily.
She set about locating the lab, searching for a power source with which to plug the pager in. The yellow star with the blue and red stripes continued to blink at her, so she took that as a good sign. It also struck her with equal nerves and excitement at the possibility of seeing Carol again in years.
Focus, Nora, she chided herself. Yes, it had been four years and she still had a big, fat crush on Carol Danvers, that, despite her trying to deny it, had not lessened the least in the four years since she'd seen her. Here she was; the world was in a state of emergency and she was getting butterflies over a crush. She scoffed.
Focus, indeed.
The cord she was working with sparked, making her jump, snapping her from her thoughts of Carol and back to the task at hand: keep the signal active.
"She gave this to me for emergencies," she recalled Fury telling her. "Emergencies only." Well, whatever had just happened was definitely an emergency.
While she worked with the charger she put the TV on in the background. A global state of emergency had been declared - it seemed that from the urgent, rapid footage, what was happening here in New York was happening all over the world, including her home in London. State of emergency indeed.
She spent a sleepless night alone in the eerily quiet facility, keeping a close eye on the pager. The way she was feeling right now, nothing would come between her and it.
Next morning, utterly exhausted, she was just dozing off when she heard voices and footsteps - she was no longer alone.
Figuring she knew who it was, but staying cautious nonetheless - who knew, some people may take the global state of emergency as an opportunity to break into the Avengers HQ. She brought her staff along and followed the sound.
The newcomers were just as cautious as well as startled upon seeing her inside their facility.
"Hello, Avengers? I'm Eleanora Bane, I work with - worked with - Nick Fury and Maria Hill."
"Them too?" asked Black Widow.
Nora only nodded sadly. "I was the last person to see him alive. He said this was a Code Red."
"It definitely is."
"It's nice to meet you, he always told me all about you lot. He was very proud of you. What the hell even happened?"
"We failed," sighed Cap.
"Thanos."
"What? Thanos? What is that?"
"Who. An alien, after the Infinity Stones, so he could snap away half of all life."
Was it weird that that wasn't the strangest thing she had ever heard? "Bloody hell... Well, I suppose that explains people fading away."
"Yeah."
"So this Thanos fellow - I'm sorry, but why are you staring at me like that?" She didn't mean to totally change the subject, but it was true - all of them were staring at her, and exchanging glances amongst themselves. Was it her wild pink hair, or equally bright eyes? But no, it seemed like something more than that - some sort of recognition.
"Cause you're number six," stated Cap after sharing another glance with Widow. "That we know of."
"I'm sorry?"
"You're another one of those chicks who looks the same, but different."
She was about to call out whoever had spoken so bluntly, until realizing who had spoken was a walking-talking raccoon. "Oh my God-"
"Go see for yourself."
They led her to the jet parked out front that had most likely been their source of transportation here. She gasped when she stepped inside.
There were three cots bearing the unconscious bodies of three women - different women, but all who she recognized. All because they resembled herself, who all bared a very close resemblance to each other, and to her.
"W-who are they?"
"Karen Granger, Yelena Belova, and Queen Kalyna of Sokovia," Widow explained.
"What happened to them?"
"We don't know. After the Snap, some people - lots of people - faded away, as you witnessed. These three just collapsed without any warning."
"We need to get them to the medical wing," Dr. Banner stated.
Nora assisted them in safely wheeling the cots to said medical wing, where Banner used the room's machines and equipment to assess the unconscious women's states.
"Their life signs appear stable. It's just like they're sleeping."
"It's another mystery," said Widow.
"Story of my life," mumbled Nora.
"Hey, what's that thing you've got hooked up in the lab?" Rhodey asked her.
"A pager, sending out a signal. It was Fury's last action. We have to see it through."
(Sorry for the delay, I wanted to update my 'Captain Marvel' story before this one cause that one focuses on Nora :)
This is my way of answering the question of how the Avengers got hold of the pager once Fury faded away. The start of this scene is kind of inspired by the Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer with Millie Bobby Brown calling through the radio asking if anyone's there.
Thank you so much for the 300+ reads already, that's amazing! :D I hope you enjoyed!)
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