Forbidden | Carol Danvers

Chapter 17: People You Know

We walked through the long hallways, following Vers who clearly knew where we had to go. She stopped in front of an elevator and pressed the button, the doors sliding open immediately because it was already on our floor. She and Fury walked in, but I stayed still, the familiar panic rising in my chest. Looking around for a staircase, I didn't find one so I turned back to the lift where they were still looking at me expectantly, waiting to get in. 

'Right!', a light suddenly went on in Vers' head. She knew of my fear of elevators but the stress of the whole day probably made her forget for a second. 'Come on, it will be fine.' Grabbing my hand and gently pulling me in. My hand tightened around hers when it went down slowly and my heart pounded in my chest. I just stared at the numbers above the door that indicated which floor we were on and practically ran out when it opened at minus five. 

Taking deep breaths to try and calm my heart down, Fury looked at me weirdly. 'What?', I asked him a little more hostile than intended. 

'You are afraid of elevators?', he asked in disbelief. This man had probably rode more elevators in his life than he had walked stairs, so he had a hard time empathizing. 

'No. I am afraid of small spaces I can't get out off.' It didn't only include the elevator, but it was the worst one. 'Everyone is afraid of something', I added when his expression didn't change. 

'So you never use an elevator?'

'No. I always walk the stairs. You should try it sometimes.' Vers snickered at that. Fury looked offended but a little meow made him forget all his worries. A small ginger animal walked through the hall towards us. It looked up at Vers first, who halted to study it, like something in her mind recognized it, but walked over to Fury when it didn't get the attention it wanted. 

'Oh my goodness. Look at you. Just look at you. Aren't you the cutest little thing.' The grown-up man had transformed into a little boy at the sight of the creature. He was petting it and stoking it while the beast just purred. I had no idea what animal that was, but it looked cute.

'What is that?' Fury looked at me with the same face he had a minute ago, filled with disbelief. 

'This, is a cat', he explained, his hands still running all over the little beast's fur. 'Aren't you cute? And what's you name huh? What's your name?', turning over the little tag around the cat's neck, it read Goose. 'Goose! Cool name for a cool cat.'

'Fury', Vers' voice suddenly sounded from before us. Both of us looking up at her, even Goose turned its head, she nodded to the door she had stopped in front of. 

'I'll be back', the man whispered to the cat. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the door, reading the label next to it 'Records'. Ah, so she hoped to find something about Lawson in records. Very smart. 

Fury followed and when his eyes fell on the little scanner just like the one he had fooled before, his hand immediately went to his trouser pocket, getting the tape out again. 'Ah. Let me get my fingerprint out. Just let me unravel this puppy.'

Both Vers and I gazed at his hands while they worked and then to the handle of the door. Knowing what she was planning on doing, I joined in. Her photon blast blew out the lock first and my air slammed the doors open, all within a matter of seconds. Fury did not see that coming. He just stood there and stared at the doors for a minute, then back to us, with a look that said 'really?' 

Vers, still looking at Fury, raised her right hand for me to high-five and I hit it with my left one, looking him dead in the eye as I did so. 

'You sat there, and watched me play with tape', he held up the tape to emphasize his point, 'When all you had to do was-', he imitated Vers' movement with his right hand, meaning the use of her powers.