We Need More Time

Chapter Seven

Outskirts Of New York

Sometime Later

"I don't understand." Grant Ward scoffs while holding his gun towards the man that stood in front of him. His expression was guarded yet his eyes showed how fast his brain was working to try and figure out the truth.

"I told you." The man sighs. "My name is Echo, I'm here to help you and Hydra prosper in this dimension if you are willing to help me find what I am searching for." 

"Which is a circle?" Grant raises an eyebrow without moving his weapon.

"It's called the Sphere." Echo rolls his eyes. "And it's powerful, it holds the key to destroying my enemy once and for all." 

"That sounds a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Grant inquires.

"Tony Stark and his family of Avengers took everything from me." Echo hisses. "He killed my family and in return, I'm doing the same. The last of his bloodline is here and searching for that exact Sphere, I'm planning to use it to destroy her and the Stark legacy."

"Why not just kill her without the Sphere? It shouldn't be that hard." Grant breathes as he finally lowers his weapon, though he keeps it by his thigh just in case. 

"As of now, Abby possesses the power of invisibility and a forcefield created by forces of energy." Echo slowly explains. "Though now she's developed some sort of fire ability that I believe comes from her mother...I'm not too informed on that portion of her DNA just yet...I'm working on that." 

"So why kill her?" Grant demands. "Why not just...get her on your side? Someone as powerful as she could be a great ally." 

"I've considered that..." Echo mumbles while tapping his chin. "But she would never switch sides after her entire family was killed because of that war." 

"Then don't convince her." Grant crosses his arms. "Force her." 

Maria's Pizzeria - New York

Same Time

"Come on? Nothing?" Abby demands while clenching her fists in frustration. Abby's former best friend, from her dimension, sits in front of her with an unamused expression. Her name tag was crooked and her hat was falling off of her brown hair slightly, she honestly just looked like she wanted to get back to work. Thankfully, though, there wasn't anyone else in line behind Abby. "I need someone on my side in this place. You have no idea what SHIELD is or anything about quantum physics?"

"As I told you four other times," Hannah states, her voice monotone. "I don't know what SHIELD is, I don't know who you are, and I especially don't have a fucking idea what quantum physics is." 

"Damnit," Abby grumbles while slapping her hand on the counter.

"Though your story does seem interesting." Hannah shrugs. "There's no one else in this damn place so I'm not telling you to stop and I'm not going to call the police for harassment." 

"Thanks...I think." Abby mumbles. "Okay, so I told you about the Sphere and how I'm trying to beat Echo to it but the Avengers here are trying to step in the way because they believe that I'm their dead daughter. I told them off several times but they won't quit and Echo won't quit."

"Rant over." Hannah rolls her eyes while putting her hand in the air to stop Abby from continuing. "What you need to focus on is the Sphere."

"I have been!" Abby cries, aspirated.

"No, you haven't." Hannah scoffs. "You've been focusing on trying to get away from the Avengers and Echo as well as finding people that may help. If you're as powerful as you say you are, then you should be able to locate this thing on your own." 

"I've been looking for it for years." She throws her hands in the air. "Though my technology is advanced, it's not enough to track down this new alien tech that we now have to deal with! The infinity stones are gone, I have no access to them and I know I can't travel to different places-"

"Infinity stones?" Hannah interrupts. "Now that is something I do know about, the Avengers just gained the second one a few days ago." 

"The second...what?" Abby furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "No...not possible...all of them are in space, they wouldn't have access to-"

"One was found on the staff of Loki and the other on the tesseract." Hannah picks at her nails. "At least that's what NBC news said." 

"And you believe the news?" Abby slowly questions. "You do realize that they're trying to mind control you...right?"

"Not in this dimension." Hannah chuckles. "Well...it may seem like they are but in reality, they aren't...yet..." 

"Okay, so that's not a thing here." Abby purses her lips before going back to the topic at hand. "So the Avengers have access to two of the stones, which means I could manipulate them to help me find the sphere faster...I just have to sneak past their guard...or pretend to be the girl they think I am to gain the stones..." 

"So you good?" Hannah demands. "Because my shift ended like two minutes ago and I have a coffee date I have to get to." 

"Yeah, I think I can manage." Abby nods though it was obvious she was barely paying attention to Hannah anymore, eventually, Abby leaves the restaurant as her brain begins to formulate a new plan. Slowly, Hannah pulls her phone from under the counter and dials a number.

"Hello? Yeah, you were right, she came here." Hannah states. "She's planning to go after the infinity stones."