𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗢𝗢

𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗙𝗨𝗟

AEI: guess who didn't proofread!!! chaotic afternoon guys, don't blame me. i hate this chapter anyways but i'm convincing myself to write in the same way that harry was convincing dumbledore to drink the potion in that cave bc there's a bit of this fic that i am DESPERATE to write but i have to get there first

In the end, the Apple Store signal takes us to an army base. Except, it's not just an army base.

It's also SHIELD.

It doesn't really look like SHIELD at first. In my head, SHIELD is big and shiny and all the ceilings are taller than a trillion of me stacked on top of each other, and there are serious people in suits and trainees in hoodies and people being shouted at by Maria. SHIELD is the fanciest place I have ever been in, and also one of the busiest.

This SHIELD, though? This one's all empty.

Everything is covered in thick, fluffy layers of dust that make me need to use my inhaler, and all the stuff is in filing cabinets instead of on screens.

Old SHIELD. I don't think I like it very much.

My SHIELD is never this creepy, and it also doesn't set off my allergies.

I sneeze into my sleeve and hang onto Nat, tiptoeing through all the rooms in case something wants to jump out at me and say 'boo.' Everything is silent, not like normal SHIELD at all. I keep expecting to see ghosts.

In one of the weird rooms on the right, there are pictures on the wall. One of them is of a guy I don't know, but Nat says it's 'Stark's father,' and then the other one is of Miss Carter.

For a moment, I forget to be scared, and I let go of Nat's arm to go and look.

Miss Carter looks very pretty in her photo – but she always looks pretty so I guess nothing's changed – and her hair is all curled very neatly around her shoulders. She's smiling a very nice smile, all red lipstick and no teeth showing, and even though the picture's black and white, I can still see the sparkle she used to have in her eyes.

She still gets that sparkle, sometimes, but only when she thinks I'm my dad.

I reach up and touch my fingers against the very bottom of the photo – 'cause I can't reach any higher than that – and behind me, my dad sighs.

I stay exactly where I am, really hoping he's not mad, but when he talks, he sounds like he's smiling.

"She was beautiful, right?" He says to me. I give him a sort of half-nod, even though I'm still facing away from him.

"Still is."

"Of course."

Holding my breath, I listen as my dad comes up behind me. He puts one hand on my shoulder, reaches the other one up to take the photo off the wall and then blows the dust off of it. I sneeze again. He laughs a little bit.

"Allergies, huh?"

"Allergies."

"Yeah. Dust used to get me too." My dad picks a little piece of fluff out of my hair like it's the easiest thing in the world. "D'you get it with flowers, too? The pollen, I mean. Used to drive me crazy."

"Makes my nose itch," I tell him. He nods, looking down at the picture in his hands. I look at it too. Young Miss Carter, with her pretty smile and her pretty hair and all of the pieces of her brain still together. Miss Carter before she knew me, but not before my dad. Miss Carter before he was all she knew at all.

I rub at my eyes with my sleeve.

Just allergies.

My dad squeezes my shoulder.