"Then I've no objection." The two of them spoke in guarded terms. The question of who oversaw whom was tabled, but the principle that the Avengers couldn't operate free of S.H.I.E.L.D. held. After weighing the various views, Nick Fury made a concession too, and with a mountain of matters on her plate, Daisy didn't press too hard—so in broad strokes, she agreed to it in principle.
This was actually just what the Council wanted to see: Daisy didn't blindly follow Nick Fury; she had interests of her own to press, which made it easier for the Council to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. in hand—or so they liked to think, at least.
With Nick Fury giving ground, the Council grudgingly signed off on forming the Avengers—within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s framework, that is. As for funding, that was a matter for the next round.
The several parties reached a reluctant consensus. Compared with the original timeline, where Nick Fury had pulled people together to build the team himself without authorization, this was at least a little more official. Just a touch…
Daisy hung up and followed Hill back to the surface. After no end of grueling effort, Thor had finally clawed his way up from below with nothing but his bare hands.
With no sharp tool to dig with and a frame two sizes bulkier than Daisy's, Thor had been halfway through his dig when he came across Dr. Erik Selvig—wedged between two metal plates, an oxygen mask on his face, at death's door. Because Mjolnir had never fallen in New Mexico this time around, the two had never met before; but seeing the old man still had some breath in him, Thor brought him out too.
Small as she was, Daisy had had to strain just to dig a hole half a meter across; those two needed one over a meter wide—more than double the work—so Thor surfaced nearly half an hour after her.
Daisy clicked her tongue. She hadn't expected the old white guy to be so tenacious—and, most crucial of all, the man had ridiculous luck. A metal door panel sturdy enough to bear the load, an oxygen mask, and Thor happening to pass right by: take away any one of those three and he'd have been a dead man.
In the spirit of humanitarianism, she had agents carry the old man off for emergency care, then turned to Thor, who was just as filthy and disheveled as she had been.
"Stay alert. I figure those others will be surfacing soon too."
Tough as nails, Thor was clearly several tiers above Daisy in constitution. She'd been out for half an hour and her face still showed her exhaustion; he'd only just surfaced and could already heft his hammer and fight on.
Hands clasped behind her back, Daisy studied the surrounding terrain, sending vibration frequencies deep underground. Anyone who entered her perception range could forget about slipping away.
Another half hour passed before a faint tremor rose from underground. Daisy quickly had the agents fall back, and then the ground first contracted sharply and then, like a volcanic eruption, spat an invisible wave of energy violently upward.
Black Bolt still had that kind of power left? Daisy's gaze tightened. In strength, stamina, and superhuman abilities alike, Black Bolt had her comprehensively outmatched.
She just didn't know how much he had left in the tank, or whether she and Thor together could bring him down.
The agents watched the pit tensely, every one of them leveling a rifle, unease in their eyes.
Sand, stone, and metal sprayed in every direction like rain, and at last the figures emerged.
They were in bad shape—worse off than Thor.
With his big household to look after, Black Bolt had had to rescue not only his wife and his general but also that calf-sized, next-to-useless pet dog, Lockjaw—and in the end, God knows why, he'd dragged Supergiant along with the group too.
Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Lockjaw the dog, plus Supergiant: five in all, three and a half of them dead weight. Gorgon the general had real strength on solid ground, but his physical stats fell far short by comparison; by the end he could barely keep himself breathing, never mind putting his back into the digging.
Medusa killed with her hair and Supergiant was a psychic manipulator—clearly neither was suited to rough labor like tunneling. Lockjaw was much like Daisy's own Tangbao: fat-headed and big-eared, never last in line at feeding time, hopeless in a fight, his one teleportation ability jammed by the Tesseract—and, naturally, the biggest of the lot to haul…
Hauling a pack of dead weight like that, digging a passage up through hundreds of meters of rubble—the task had basically fallen to Black Bolt alone.
Daisy had only herself to save; call the effort she'd spent a one. Thor, carrying the old white guy, spent a three. Which made Black Bolt, dragging his whole clan, a ten.
Even an exceptionally powerful Inhuman who outmatched Daisy on every attribute, after firing off energy blast upon energy blast, was near the end of his rope by the time he punched through the surface.
Being trapped deep underground, in a world without the faintest trace of light, was a torture to the will—and as king, with several lives resting on his shoulders, Black Bolt bore the heaviest burden of all.
The moment he cleared the surface, Black Bolt slumped to the ground like a heap of mud, chest heaving; the rest wore the look of people who'd just been pulled back from the brink.
The agents' weapons came up on reflex.
"We're not your enemies, sister—but right now we need your help…" Medusa, whom Black Bolt had kept shielded in the middle the whole time, said feebly.
Daisy gave a slight nod and gestured for her people to seize Supergiant, who'd collapsed off to one side. Thanos's confidante had long since passed out, so there was no need to worry about her mind control.
"Put this woman in a containment cell." At Daisy's signal, her aide-de-camp promptly ordered the Helicarrier to lower down a cell built specifically for superhumans—one that could absorb nearly any energy output.
With Supergiant locked in the containment cell, Daisy turned to the Inhumans.
"And your husband, now?" She pointed at Black Bolt as she asked Medusa.
"He is our king—you'd do well to show respect." Medusa's tone was solemn. Daisy held her gaze for a few seconds, then gave a small nod.
Medusa was visibly relieved; she had no desire to go to war with this Earth-born Inhuman woman either.
She glanced at her husband. "My husband has already broken free of that woman's control."
This time it was Daisy's turn to be startled—she really hadn't known what happened after the collapse. To think Black Bolt had broken free on his own from the double whammy of mind control and the Mind Stone; the man's willpower was a good deal stronger than Hawkeye's.
"I'll speak with them alone. The rest of you head down first." She shot Hill a reassuring look, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents withdrew together.
Seeing there'd be no fight, Thor said a quick word to her and, heedless of his own exhaustion, set off after Loki.
With only the few of them left, a silence settled in for a moment.
Medusa first introduced everyone on her side, and Daisy introduced herself in turn.
"My husband cannot speak—having fought him, you surely understand all too well why. I can speak on his behalf." Medusa began by explaining why she was the one doing all the talking. With a vivid memory of just how lethal Black Bolt's voice was, Daisy nodded to show she understood.
"You are one of our people. Are you aware of that?"
"I could tell at first glance. Where are you from?" Daisy seized control of the conversation and fired back a question of her own.