Tomb Raider - Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel

12 ~ Sleuthing

Nora had become side-tracked ever since the power incident from digging into what happened to her parents. A lot side-tracked.

Both the powers and the parents were big projects, daunting, but she had gotten a start on both of them. Now all she had to do was carry through and continue. And thankfully, she now had help with both. Professional help.

She continued the sorting of her parents' office. There was nothing more to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. or the mysterious work they had done there. It all must be in that file Fury had mentioned. But that was still M.I.A.

She had been thinking a lot lately about when her parents had disappeared, the men in suits coming to the door to bring the news. The memory was fuzzy though, from eleven years ago, and it had all been a blur then as well.

"Hi Mary," Nora said into the phone. "How are you? Oh, I'm well too, thanks..." Mary mentioned nothing about the hospital, so Fury had kept his word and S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept the incident with her powers quiet, thank goodness. She didn't need people pestering her about an explanation to something she couldn't explain. "I was just wondering about the day those men came to tell us about Mum and Dad's - about Mum and Dad. What do you remember? Any little detail you can give me."

"Oh gosh..." Mary paused, and Nora assumed she was thinking back to then, that fateful day when her life had been changed forever. "Oh Nora, what's all this about anyways?"

"I've just been thinking about it a lot lately, thinking that maybe we could have missed something."

"Nora, I'm not sure if - oh, well, of course you're curious. Just be careful. I don't want you going and opening old wounds."

Too late. Old and new ones. "Describe it to me just as you remember."

"Alright, I'll try. Well, they came to the door - there was two of them. They said they were part of the team your parents were working with, though they didn't look like archaeologists, not like how your parents did. I don't think very many archaeologists wear full suits and ties to a dig."

"That's true." They looked more like S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, at least the ones she had seen while at the HQ building, only, of course, she hadn't known that then. "They showed us their badges, do you remember what they said?"

"Oh dear..." Mary paused, and Nora guessed she was deep in thought. "I'm afraid not, I wasn't really paying attention to their names, I was too shocked." Nora nodded, understanding. She recalled the dazed state she had been in herself after the men had told them her parents were missing, and just how little specificity she recalled because of it.

"Sorry, Love, I know that's very unhelpful."

"No, that's alright, thank you, Mary. I appreciate it."

"Of course, Love. Happy to help."

She clicked off the phone and pondered for a moment. It was all so vague and uncertain - how was she ever going to piece it together?

Her musings were interrupted then by a loud bang from above, on the roof, making her jump. Nora dashed outside, only to find that a familiar blonde in a red, blue, and gold suit must have landed on the roof.

"Bloody hell, I thought the roof was coming down," Nora called.

"I would have repaired it, I promise." Carol jumped down. "Why the long face, Doc?"

"Oh, I was just doing some digging, sleuthing if you will, into the day I learned my parents were gone. Since the whole powers thing I've been side-tracked from looking into their disappearance."