“The name rings a bell, thanks,” said Darcy. “What about him?”
“Pym created these things called Pym Particles that give people the ability to change their size and shape on a subatomic level. When you’re teeny tiny, space and time are immaterial.”
Zelda stared at Felix without blinking. “Fun,” she said kindly.
“I was thinking about different realms during the car ride,” Felix said. “How to access them and stuff. Darcy, what do you know about the Water of Sight?”
“Oh! Is that the fancy spa?” Zelda tittered.
“It’s not a spa,” Darcy said. “And, Felix, don’t bring that up in front of Erik.”
“Why? He said it’s the key to everything,” Felix explained.
Darcy became annoyed. “When did he say that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Felix said, raising an eyebrow.
“Drop it, Felix. I’m serious.” Darcy placed ten test tube key chains on the counter. “I’ll take these, please.”
“Wonderful choice. Who are they for?” Zelda asked, stuffing the key chains into another bag.
“Don’t know yet.” Darcy shrugged. “I’ll see where the day takes me.”
Zelda’s tone changed from cheerful to cautionary. “I don’t know what brings you to Lil’ Odessa, but I’d be careful if I were you,” she warned. “There are secrets under this town. You don’t need to be sniffin’ around where—”
CRASH!
The sound of shattering glass came from the bathroom.
“Uh-oh,” Felix said.
Zelda scurried around the counter and raced to the back of the store. She tried opening the bathroom door, but it was no use. Selvig had barricaded himself inside.
“I’m comin’ in! Get ready, smarty-no-pants!” Zelda slammed her shoulder into the door, bursting through the blockage, to find a very unexpected scene. Selvig, in his infinite wisdom, had attempted to climb through a tiny window that led to the alleyway outside. He’d accidentally gotten himself stuck in the process. Zelda helped him down to safety. “You’re a real piece o’ work, you know that?” She pushed him down onto the floor, kneeing him in the back to keep him stationary.
“You don’t understand. There’s been a terrible mistake,” Selvig pleaded.
“Zelda, those judo lessons are really paying off, sister. High five!” Darcy held up her hand, but Zelda wasn’t interested.
“I want you out of my store,” Zelda demanded. “I don’t care if you’re some famous scientist. You can’t just come in here, break my windows, and do anything you want. Not here! Not in Zelda’s house!” She picked Selvig up, chucked him over her shoulder, and stomped to the store’s entrance. “And to think I almost got your autograph for my niece.” Zelda pushed open the door and tossed Selvig on his behind. Darcy and Felix shuffled out, deeply embarrassed by the bizarre episode that had just transpired.
“Sorry,” Darcy said meekly.
Zelda shook her head with disappointment. She slammed the door shut and changed the sign in the window from OPEN to CLOSED.
Darcy plopped down on the curb next to Selvig. He was pouting. “Do you want to explain what happened in there?” she asked. “Or should we just get in the car and never talk about it again, because I would be totally cool with that.”
“She was supposed to be here,” Selvig said anxiously. “She was supposed to be here.”
“Who?!” Darcy asked. “Who was supposed to be here? You haven’t told us.”
Before Selvig had a chance to answer, a woman poked her head out of a dilapidated storefront across the street. “Erik!” she shouted. “Over here!”
Selvig spotted her, and his frown immediately turned into a smile. “I had the wrong place,” he said. “Simple mistake. Come, you two.” He stood up and made his way across the street. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
“Anjelica!” Selvig exclaimed. “My dear, you are truly a sight for sore eyes.” He rushed across the street, forgetting to look both ways. Thankfully, there wasn’t any traffic in Lil’ Odessa. Though he hadn’t seen her in years, Selvig often thought about Anjelica Tan. They first met at the Scientific Frontiers conference. She was an astrobiologist who’d worked for NASA. Tan charmed Selvig with her humor and storytelling. They spent many late nights bonding over their shared love of the cosmos. They also loved to gossip. Tan claimed to know everything about everyone. Years later, Selvig hired Tan to work with him at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., where they studied the Tesseract day in and day out, and she grew to become one of his closest friends and colleagues. After the incident with Loki, their working relationship ended, and their friendship suffered. As a result, they hadn’t spoken or seen each other in a few years. Seeing her again filled Selvig with joy. She looked exactly as he remembered. Tan was a tall woman with soft features and a shaved head. She wore a sleek black suit. As Selvig moved closer, extending his arms for a hug, he realized Tan wasn’t as thrilled about their reunion as he was.
“What is wrong with you?!” Tan exclaimed. “Have you lost your mind again? You could have blown up my entire operation with your foolishness.” She grabbed Selvig’s arm and yanked him inside. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned while living in Lil’ Odessa, it’s don’t mess with Zelda.”
“I transposed the address,” Selvig said with a sheepish grin. “I thought I knew it from memory, but I’ve come to learn that memory can be a funny thing.”
Tan turned her attention to Darcy and Felix. “Hello there. Welcome! I swear I don’t bite. Come inside, won’t you?” She ushered them into her darkened lair. Once inside, Tan flipped a switch and a bright-white light filled the room. The space was stylistically out-of-date. Cheap brown wood paneling covered the walls. Yellow, puddled marks littered the dropped ceiling tiles where rain had seeped in through cracks in the roof. The thin, mangy green carpet was speckled with tiny burn marks. The room was otherwise unfurnished except for an old reclining chair that sat in the middle. Its oddly textured fabric featured a crudely designed woodland scene depicting a cheerful, dancing deer.
Felix looked behind him at the door through which they had entered. “Uhhhh. Did we just step through a time machine or is this place a total dump?” he asked.
Tan giggled. “Time machine? Ha! As if time travel were that easy,” she said. “For folks like us, it takes more than walking through a doorway to sidestep time and space.” Tan walked over to her recliner and plopped herself onto its cushions. She smiled at Felix, looking him up, down, and all around. “I don’t know you. Why don’t I know you?”
“Felix Desta,” he replied. “I’m the new blood.”
“Desta is Ethiopian, yes?” Tan asked. Felix nodded. “Beautiful country. Borders Wakanda, as I’m sure you know. There’s all kinds of new information coming out about the place. That reminds me. I need to look into how that Kimoyo Bead was cataloged.” Tan’s eyes formed a tight squint as she racked her brain.
“What’s a Kimoyo Bead?” Felix asked. “Is that, like, what they give out at Mardi Gras?”
Tan shook her head. “It’s advanced Wakandan technology made of vibranium. Capable of information storage, communication, and energy absorption. Don’t ask how I got my hands on it, or I’ll have to kill you.” She winked playfully at Felix, who wasn’t sure how to respond. “Eh. I’m sure it’ll turn up. It has to, right? Tell me, how do you like being Erik’s intern? You probably know this by now, but he can be a real pain in the—”
Selvig cupped his hands around Felix’s ears. “Please, Anjelica.”
“What?!” Tan exclaimed. “Stop being such an old man, Erik.” Tan swiveled around in her chair, thinking out loud. “Good interns are so hard to find. I was supposed to have a bunch from some elite magnet schools, but they all bailed at the last minute. Guess they didn’t want to get stuck in a basement in the desert all summer. I told them it was air-conditioned! Eh. Their loss.” She released an elongated sigh. “So, Felix Desta, did Erik tell you that he and I once—”
Selvig cut off Tan’s line of questioning. “Enough, Anjelica. Felix is not my intern. Not in an official capacity at any rate. Let it go. We can discuss all this once we’re underground.”
Tan made an odd noise at Selvig, like a grouchy pet growling at a stranger. She turned her attention to Darcy and softened her demeanor. “You’re the glue, huh?” Tan asked. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, girl. You’ve got the patience of a saint. If I were in your shoes, I would have bolted a long time ago.”
“Have we met?” Darcy asked.
“No,” Tan replied. “But you’re Darcy Lewis. Erik told me stories. I know your origin, sweetie. I know everyone’s origins. It’s what I do.” Tan settled comfortably into her recliner, leaning back all the way. “Brace yourselves.” She pulled a lever on its side.
CUH-CHUNK!
In an instant, the room began shifting as the sounds of metal thrashing filled the air. The wall’s wooden panels flipped themselves around to become shining, silver steel. Ceiling tiles folded themselves away, revealing a maze of rods and pistons hanging above.
“And now we’re in a trash compactor,” Felix said.
Tan stared down Selvig, cocking one eyebrow at him. “Wait a stinkin’ minute. Erik, did you not tell them what this place really is?!”
“Nope,” Darcy replied, shaking her head. “He didn’t say where we were going or why.” She put her hand on Selvig’s shoulder. “Had to rat you out, dude.”
“But you came anyway,” Tan said. “Because you, Darcy Lewis, are the glue.”
CUH-CHUNK!
The room jolted to a stop. “We’re here,” Tan said, lifting herself out of her recliner. “Welcome to my bunker. Like I said, it’s air-conditioned.” The steel walls descended into the floor on all four sides, revealing an expansive underground storage facility. Hundreds of rows of tightly packed metal boxes sat quietly undisturbed. Each box was meticulously numbered and labeled. Some contained classified documents; others contained mysteries and unidentified relics. Tan kept a small open-air office by the door. Her desk was mostly uncluttered. A laptop sat neatly on its surface, along with a mug featuring a tired-looking cat that said STOP STRESSING ME-OWT. Behind the desk was a shelf of miscellaneous items waiting to be returned to their rightful place. One item in particular, a spiked helmet covered in frayed wires, caught Felix’s eye. He made his way toward it, his fingertips electric with anticipation.
“Don’t touch that,” Tan warned.
Felix backed off. “What’s in this place?”
“S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. Mostly.”
Felix snickered. “I hate to tell you, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. database was exposed a while back. The whole organization blew up. All their secrets are out there, lady.”
Tan relaxed into her office chair and kicked her feet up on her desk. “Kid, I’ve got paper trails and mission briefs that never made it into that database. You wouldn’t understand because your whole world is online. Didn’t used to be that way. This place is the premier storage facility for the world’s most top-secret reports, testimonies, and chronicles. When everything went digital, organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. needed a place to put original documents and other items that they just didn’t have room for on the Helicarrier.”
“Most people shred old documents when they’re done with ’em,” Darcy said. “Just sayin’.”
“I don’t just store paper, honey,” countered Tan. She gestured to a shelf of boxed items beside her desk. “I’ve got tech here, too. Storing that stuff brings in the big bucks. Better to take dangerous items off the grid than risk them getting stolen by some idiot with mechanical wings.”
“You’re probably lonely,” Felix remarked.
“Eh. Sometimes. Overall? It’s not all that bad. When the slow season hits, I watch a lot of Saucy Sara cooking tutorials on the internet. She’s great. Makes a mean sloppy joe.” Tan let herself get wistful for a moment, and then she started speaking again. “Plus, I’ve got an assistant whose company doesn’t completely annoy me, so that’s something I guess.”
“Yawn,” Felix murmured.
Tan glared at Selvig. “They really don’t know who I am?!” she roared. “Erik, how much did we go through together, and I don’t get a single mention? I’m insulted.” Tan pulled up her pant leg to reveal a prosthetic limb. She kicked it up, showing it off to Darcy and Felix. “Got this baby after that dirty business with Loki and the Tesseract, back when I worked with Erik at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. One of these days, I’ll get around to outfitting it with some bionic enhancements.” She paused, perhaps remembering the incident that changed her. “Things didn’t go the way any of us planned. That’s life, I guess. I decided to take a step back from the full-time scientific hustle and bustle. Astrobiology will always be in my blood, but, for now, being down here suits me okay. Sometimes you just need a break.”
“Copy that,” Darcy said.
Selvig hadn’t spoken to Tan in some time. He’d missed her. After the debacle at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., he was afraid she might’ve blamed him for what went down. They’d never actually discussed it. Selvig wanted to express so much but very little came out. “Anjelica,” he said somberly. “Recent events have consumed me…”
“They’ve consumed us all,” Tan replied. “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get your head in the game.” Tan pointed at a door in the far corner of the facility marked INTAKE. “Felix, Darcy—my assistant will keep you entertained while Papa Selvig and I have a chat.”
Darcy and Felix quietly shuffled away. Tan focused her attention on Selvig. “What’s up, Erik?” she asked. “What do you need from me?”
“Have you noticed a shift in the cosmos?” Selvig asked.
A devilish grin crept onto Tan’s face. “I live underground cataloging things now, Erik,” Tan said. Her eyes revealed there was more to her story than she let on. “It’s not as if I’ve got a web of small, cloaked satellites surrounding the planet that inform me of changes in weather patterns and other strange occurrences. That would be impossible, you see, because when I began this new endeavor, I signed a very detailed S.H.I.E.L.D. document that forbade me from pursuing my astrobiological studies. Conflict of interest or some such. But, as you know, our world gets stranger and more fantastic by the day. Those satellites I don’t have? They absolutely did not pick up unidentifiable readings before mysteriously erasing themselves and self-destructing. That would be tragic. I definitely am not depressed and confused about it in case you’re curious. So, sadly, it seems, I’m of no use. Sorry, old friend.” She capped it off with the slyest of winks.
Selvig was humbled by her share. “Thank you for your candor,” he replied. “I’m looking for Doctor Jane Foster.”
Tan smirked. “Does it look as if she’s here?”
“It’s of the utmost importance that I get in touch with her as soon as possible. Do you know where she might be?”
Tan sighed. “Aruba? Jamaica? Who knows? I’m not her travel agent. You should’ve filled her bloodstream with tracking nanobots.” Selvig was in no mood for jokes. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but Jane may not be anywhere anymore. Half the world just turned to dust….”
Selvig wasn’t about to go down that road. “I’ve considered all the angles,” he said. “Jane’s work may contain the key to unlocking our understanding of the decimation event.”
Tan perked up. “Oh! Well, if it’s her work that you need, you’re in luck,” Tan said. “Wait here.” She took off down an aisle and soon returned with a light metal box. “This has Jane’s records, atmospheric data, and a couple of doodads from her adventures. You’re one of two people who’ve been granted access, albeit limited in your case, by Jane herself.”
Selvig opened the box and looked inside. He moved its contents all around, searching for something he wasn’t finding. “Where’s her journal? Jane had a leather-bound journal, but it’s not here,” Selvig said. He grew frustrated. “While we were working together in London, Jane came into contact with an
otherworldly power called the Aether. I believe it may be connected to the decimation event Earth recently experienced. Anjelica, I need that journal.”
Tan shrugged. “If it’s not in that box, I don’t know what to tell ya.”
Something about Tan’s demeanor made Selvig think she knew more than she let on. “I’m desperate, Anjelica,” he admitted. “If I’m able to connect the dots, I may be able to get to the bottom of what happened. Help me. Please.”
Tan dropped her poker face. She removed a flash drive from a secret compartment located underneath her desk. “This contains Jane’s video diaries. I was instructed to keep it away from anyone who came looking for it. Telling you it exists, friend of Jane or not, puts me in a difficult position,” Tan confided. “I’ve always believed in you, Erik, despite what you might think. I’ve always believed in your work and your commitment to the truth. If you’re telling me you might be able fix this, I wouldn’t feel right not sharing this information. You do understand the difficult position this puts me in, correct?” Selvig nodded affirmatively. “Good. Now come with me.” Tan ushered him into a small room containing a flat-screen television, a multimedia player, and two rolling desk chairs. She handed him the flash drive and a tablet. “Put the thing in the thing. Press PLAY. There are two viewable videos on this thing. Otherwise it’s encrypted, so no funny business. Capiche?”
Selvig nodded. He was thankful for Tan’s help, though he struggled to express it in the moment. “Effective communication hasn’t always been my strong suit, as you well know,” he said. “Thank you for your assistance in this matter, Anjelica.”
“No sweat,” Tan said. “Take whatever time you need.” She closed the door behind her and returned to her desk where she immediately began to rewatch Saucy Sara’s sloppy joe tutorial.
On the other side of the underground facility, Darcy opened the door marked INTAKE. She never in a million years expected to find her ex-boyfriend, Ian Boothby, staring back at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she yelped.
MARVEL's Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest, Volume 2 Page 3
