The Quinjet hummed a quiet rhythm. It was a stark contrast to the destruction they had just caused. Elara sat alone, somewhere a far and hidden from the assets that they just rescued. Her mask are off, her face was pale and damp with sweat. A fine, uncontrollable tremor ran through her right hand. It was a silent indicator of the raw power she had just channeled.
Clint and Natasha approached her and sat on either side of her. They were bracketing her and their silence were heavy with unspoken fear. Clint was white knuckled as his hands laced together. Natasha simply watched her. Her expression a terrible mix of agonizing relief and professional dread.
"That was, never again." Clint finally said. His voice was low, raw and entirely serious.
"Elara. You used everything. You risked everything. Fire, ice, air, earth. You know what you risked." Clint added.
"I didn't have a choie, Clint. They were going to hit the assets with nerve gas, and you two were trapped. I had to open a path, and the blast doors were sealed. A baton wouldn't cut it." Elara insisted. Her eyes are fixed on the empty coffee cup in her trembling hand. She can still feel the resedue of the power that she used.
Natasha reached out, as he placed a steady and warm hand over Elara's trembling right hand. The tremor stopped instantly, momentarily grounded by Natasha's touch. Elara flinched instinctively, but did not pull away.
"He's not yelling about the blast doors. We are yelling because we were terrified Elara." Natasha said and her voice quiet but carrying the full emotional weight of their history.
"When Gaia reported the energy usage and instability risk, I genuinely thought we lost you. I thought the power would consume you before the nerve gas could." Natasha's eyes stayed on Elara's face. Worry and fear fills her eyes.
"It was the last option. I made the cold, logical, strategic choice to save my family and the mission. I succeeded and I am fine." Elara pulled her hand back, the cold instantly returning.
"You don't get to make that choice for us, kid. You don't get to risk your life and your mind on a Hydra sweep. We would have rather taken the fall, Elara. We rescued you to give you a life, not to make you a powerful weapon. When you push that far, you risk becoming the very thing Hydra intended you to be. And that riskk, that risk almost broke us both." Clint said as he leaned forward, the humor gone from his eyes. His eyes was replaced with a deep and protection fury.
"I can't lose you. I won't lose you. That's why I have to be perfect. That's why I have to be the best." Elara looked away. She was hiding her raw and frustrated tear that was running down her cheek but she didn't fool both of them. They could see the tears.
"You don't have to be perfect, Elara. You just have to be here." Natasha wrapped her arm around Elara's shoulders and pulled her close, an act of pure, silent solidarity that bypassed all tactical reasoning.
Elara leaned into the embrace. The cold and protective shell that she built around her momentarily giving way to the raw, wounded heart of the girl who had been kidnapped decades ago.
Hours later, once they landed at SHIELD compound, an agent had approach Elara as she walk down the Quinjet, with her mask on her face.
"Enchantress. Director Fury is looking for you." The agent said and Elara nod at him.
"I am going to get more scolding. Can you two handle everything else for me." Elara said before she followed the agent. He escort her only to the elevator.
As she walk out from the elevator, she came across a few agents who stop on their track to greet her. Elara just nod at them as she make way to Nick Fury's office.
When she enter the vast, imposing space of Nick Fury's office, she saw Maria Hill stood off to the side, maintaining her stoic composure and Agent Phil Coulson was also present as she stands near the window. His presence was a quiet and stablizing force for Elara.
Elara click a button on her earpiece and the mask disappear into it. She walks toward his desk and he gesture her to sit.
"Mission successful. HRD-4 is dark. Intel recovered, assets secure. Damage assessment minimal, if you ignore the three floors you destablizied." Fury stated and his single eye unwavering.
"Thank you, Director. I logged the output. A controlled, four elemental burst was required to breach the counter containment blast doors." Elara replied, her voice chipped, professional and devoid of the raw emotion from the mission.
"It's noted. We covered your signature, but the next time, Agent, the collateral damage might be political. Never again." Fury warned. His eyes locked on Elara's for a few moment and Elara could see hint of wary from his eyes. He seemed to think through of the right words for his next sentence.
"Now, you are immediately being reassigned. Alpha-Level priority. It is a 24/7 covert operation. You will be pulled from a regular rotation until further notice."
"Is this because I use all four elements, Sir? You know I never do missions out in the open. It is risky for me and for the mission if Hydra see me."
"No, Elara. This mission is top secret and I don't see anyone else who fit into this mission other you." Fury said and Elara frown. For the past seven years she has known Nick Fury, and for the past three years that she has been an official agent of SHIELD, Nick Fury has never assign her to any open mission like this. No matter how critical the mission is.
"I need 48 hours to recalibrate, Director. I pushed my limits, and I am not stable." Elara said, as she can still feel the cold dread of her power inside her. But she didn't show it nor did she tell them.
"I am aware of your needs, Elara. But this is not negotiable. We have a problem, and the solution is sitting in Malibu, drinking a martini and flying around in red and gold." Fury stated, and his face is grim. Elara didn't say much as she nodded, as a sign for them to continue.
"The cover identity is Elara Vance, a high level candidate recruited from a Stark adjacent think tank. Through our embedded assets, we have manipulated the hiring process. Ms. Potts is expecting a candidate with your exact specifications and will believe she is hiring you legitimately. You will function as his new Executive Personal Assistant. Your scope is to work directly under both, but crucially, any task Stark assigns you must first be vetted and approved by Ms. Potts. This is a non-negotiable part of the cover job description, which we are using as a buffer. Your primary base of operations will be the Malibu residence, as the Tower facilities are not yet ready for long term personnel. The fact that Ms. Potts already exerts rigid control over Stark's daily operations gives us a critical, deniable chain of command before executing any high risk demands from Mr. Stark." Hearing Hill's words made Elara stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly. The air in the room dropped ten degrees.
"No, Fury." Elara said. The single sentence delivered with chilling finality.
"I said no. And you know exactly why." Elara added.
"The mission stands, Elara." Fury said as he leaned back and his eyes narrowed.
"The mission is a suicide vector for him and a catastrophic failure point for SHIELD! You know they know!" Elara hisses, her eyes locked on Fury's.
"You were the one who debriefed me! You know every single thing I did for those eight years! The villages I destroyed! The thousands of people I murdered! All because I was shown a blurry photo of a boy in a prep school unifrom and told that if I disobeyed, his heart would stop!" Elara's voice was raw and laced with the memory of the sheer, forced atrocity.
"Every single death is on my soul because of the leverage they had over me! You want to put me back in the blast radius of that exact weapon? If I am next to him, I am giving Hydra the clearest, easiest, most perfect target. They will use him to control me again! I won't risk him by getting close!"
"Phil, tell him! Tell him the risk is too high! I can't face that again!" Elara turned to Coulson, her voice pleading.
"Director Fury and I have discussed this extensively, Elara. Every known vulnerability has been accounted for. Your history is precisely why the Director believes this is necessary." Coulson said as his eyes met hers. His empathy was clear but his response was measured.
"I know their file on you, Elara. It calls you 'Ghost' and 'Weapon Prime', tied only to a single critical asset. We are fighting fire with fire. You are the only one who knows their exact methodology for using him against you." Fury said as he stood up. His gaze was unyielding.
"You are afraid of failing to protect him and you are afraid of being used by them again. Those fears are the perfect tools. Hydra used your love for him to make you a monster. Now, you will use that same love to make yourself his shield." He walked around the desk, stopping directly in front of her. Fury paused, his stern demeanor cracking slightly, revealing the mentor beneath the Director.
"I will not give you a direct order tonight, Elara. The burden is too heavy. But this is the only path. We cannot afford to lose Tony Stark, and you are the only one who can prevent it." Fury said as he turned, looking out the massive window at the city lights below.
"Take the next 48 hours, Elara. Do your diagnostics. Talk to Romanoff and Barton. Reconsider this not as a personal sacrifice, but as a strategic necessity. When you come back here, I expect a tactical acceptance of the mission, not an emotional refusal. You are dismissed."
Elara walk towards the door before she click the button on her earpiece and a mask appeared, covering her whole face and covering the anguish in her eyes. The mask was her fortress.
"Do not have your hopes high." Elara said before she gave Fury a curt nod, accepting the 48 hour death sentence. The weight of the world, and the horrifying shadow of her past, now rested solely on her shoulders. She walked out, leaving the overwhelming burden of the Stark name.