Chapter 194: Futures and Careful Friends
[Nick Fury’s Apartment, New York, Evening]
The argument lasted fifteen minutes.
Fury did not raise his voice but the quiet he deployed when he was genuinely angry was more controlled than his normal register, and every word landed hard and deliberate, like he had been composing this speech since the moment Talos confirmed the number.
Ten million.
"Ten million Skrulls," Fury said, for what Ethan counted as the fourth time, each repetition carrying more weight than the last. Living on this planet right now. And at no point in the last several years did you think that was worth mentioning to me?"
Talos sat across from him, steady and composed, picking his battles carefully. "You were busy, Nick."
"I was busy," Fury repeated.
"You were always busy."
"Talos."
"You asked us to be discreet."
"I asked you to not cause international incidents!" Fury stood up, walked to the window, stood there for three seconds, and walked back. "Not to build an entire hidden civilisation in my backyard without a single word about it!"
"It was only about seven million at first, but the number grew steadily over time," Talos said, careful and unhurried, knowing full well the information was not going to help but having nothing better to offer.
Fury gave him a flat look that conveyed a very clear ’motherfucker, are you serious right now?’
"It grew."
"We had children, Nick. Families. It is what people do when they are building a life somewhere."
Fury stared at him for a long moment, then sat back down, picked up his coffee, and drank from it without speaking. The silence that followed had genuine weight.
Ethan watched the entire exchange from his chair with Anna beside him, both of them staying carefully clear of something that needed to finish on its own terms.
’Ten million Skrulls living on Earth right under SHIELD’s nose,’ Ethan thought, watching Fury’s jaw work. ’Under his nose specifically. I am genuinely not sure whether to be impressed by the Skrulls or embarrassed for Fury.’
He kept his face neutral.
Eventually, Talos took his leave, looking like a man who had long ago learned how to carry burdens without letting them break him. The door closed behind him.
Fury sat in the quiet of his apartment and looked at Ethan directly.
"How," he said, "did you find a viable planet when Carol Danvers has been travelling through space for ten years and came back with nothing?"
Ethan weighed how much to say against how much was necessary.
"Carol was looking for something that already existed," he said simply. "I made something that did not." He stood and straightened his jacket. "Clean up the mess your Skrull houseguest left in this apartment. He was not a tidy person."
"Carter," Fury said.
Ethan stopped at the door but did not turn fully.
"Thank you," Fury said. The words came out level and plain, which from Nick Fury meant they were completely genuine.
Ethan glanced back. "Talk to Carol when she gets back," he said. "The Skrulls deserved better from both of you. Acknowledging that is the least you can do."
He left with Anna by opening a portal to their home.
[Carter Residence, New York, Late Night]
The living room was warm and dim, lit mostly by the television and the soft lamp in the corner that nobody had turned off since the evening started.
Blankets had appeared on the couch at some point over the last hour and nobody had questioned this because the blankets were comfortable and the night outside was cool.
Ethan sat in the middle with Jean tucked against his left side, her feet folded under her, her head resting against his shoulder.
Anna had claimed the right side with her legs draped over the armrest and a bowl of popcorn balanced on her stomach. Diana sat in the armchair to the left, upright as always but with her shoes off and a bottle of drink in both hands, which for Diana was about as relaxed as it got.
Elizabeth was at a sleepover at Chloe’s. Didi had reached through their telepathic link earlier to let Ethan know she was handling something and would be back later. So it was the four of them with the television, and the quiet comfortable weight of an evening that asked nothing of anyone.
On screen, two brothers drove through the American countryside in a black car that had clearly been chosen by someone with very strong opinions about classic muscle vehicles.
Ethan watched the opening sequence and felt something low in the back of his mind click into recognition.
’Supernatural,’ he thought. ’I watched this in my previous life.’
He studied the screen carefully. The broad strokes were the same. Same brothers, same car, same premise.
But there were small things that were slightly off, a line delivered differently here, a scene that played out in a different order there, the way everything in this universe rhymed with the version he remembered without being identical to it.
It was a feeling he had grown used to over ten years, the faint doubling that came from recognising something that was almost but not quite the thing he knew.
He could not say any of that out loud. He never could.
"Kitty said this was good?" he asked instead, watching the elder brother deliver a line with confidence, like he had never once doubted his own charm.
"She said it was addictive," Anna said, tossing a piece of popcorn up and catching it. "Those are not the same thing."
"Dean reminds me of someone," Jean said thoughtfully, tilting her head.
Ethan looked down at her. "If you are about to say he reminds you of me I am taking that as a compliment regardless of what you mean by it."
"I was going to say Johnny Storm," Jean said serenely.
Anna snorted. The corner of Diana’s mouth pulled up over her drink.
"That is deeply unfair to Dean Winchester," Ethan said.
"Dean Winchester would agree with everything Johnny Storm has ever said about himself," Anna said. "That is the entire point."
"They are both very aware of how attractive they are," Jean added. "And they both want everyone else to be equally aware."
"I feel like this conversation started as a compliment to someone and I am no longer sure who," Ethan said.
"It was never a compliment," Diana said, and took a sip of her drink.
Ethan pointed at the television. "Can we focus on the show?"
"You started talking," Anna said.
They watched in comfortable quiet for a few minutes. On screen, something supernatural occurred in a motel room and both brothers responded with the weary professionalism of people who had long since stopped being surprised by anything.
"I respect their commitment to the job," Ethan said.
"They died multiple times," Anna said. "And kept coming back... Multiple times."
Jean laughed softly against his shoulder.
"Do you think they ever simply want a normal day?" Diana asked, watching the screen with genuine curiosity. "A day where nothing tries to kill them and they can just exist?"
"Every episode they try to have that day," Anna said. "Every episode something goes wrong within the first ten minutes."
"Relatable," Ethan said.
Jean reached up and patted his chest without looking away from the screen. "You enjoy fighting and becoming stronger than the rest of us," she said. "You don’t get to claim you want normal days."
"I want normal evenings," he said. "Like this one."
Jean tilted her head up to look at him. Her eyes were warm and tired in the good way.
"This is a normal evening," she said quietly.
"I know," he said. "That is exactly why I like it."
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She settled back against him and returned her attention to the screen. Anna tossed another piece of popcorn up, missed the catch completely, found it on her shirt, and ate it without ceremony.
Diana took another beer bottle on the side table without getting up.
Ethan looked at all three of them and kept the thought that rose in his chest entirely to himself. ’I need more moments like this.’
With that thought in mind, he gently pulled Jean a little closer to him.
They watched the rest of the episode, argued about whether the ending was satisfying or purely setup for the next one, agreed it was both, and eventually went to bed.
...
[Aeon Biotech Headquarters, New York, Following Evening]
The meeting room on the executive floor had been set with five chairs and a coffee service, the city spread wide and amber outside the windows in the early evening light.
Ethan arrived with Anna and Diana.
He had given Anna the full summary the previous night and watched her process it, a sharp inhale, a moment of very still silence, and then the working face coming back online as her mind started running through implications. He had talked her through it calmly and she had settled, because Anna Marie Carter did not stay rattled for long.
’There’s a Celestial seed in Earth’s core, Right... of course there is,’ she thought. ’Why would anything ever be simple?’
Ajak and Ikaris were already seated when they arrived. Ajak rose briefly in greeting, warm and unhurried. Ikaris nodded once and stayed in his chair.
Ethan settled across from them, poured himself a coffee, and looked at Ajak directly.
"Diana gave me the full picture yesterday," he said. "So let me confirm I have it right. Arishem believes I have the potential to reach his level. He does not want future conflict with me and sent you both to establish a working relationship and also to open the conversation about the Emergence." He held her gaze. "Is that accurate?"
Ajak nodded. "Precisely, Dr. Carter." She leaned forward slightly. "I want to be straightforward with you. We are not here to pressure you or to present you with a situation you simply have to accept. We want to find a path that works for everyone."
She paused. "I told Diana about our history yesterday, but I wanted to tell you directly. Arishem is more powerful than I can adequately describe. But he is not unreasonable. He is watching how this develops, and he acknowledges that you change the parameters of what is possible here."
Ethan listened to everything, coffee held loosely in one hand, face level and attentive.
’I already know all of this,’ he thought. ’The Emergence, seed and the timeline. I have had a solution sitting in the back of my mind for longer than they have known I exist. It is not even a complicated solution. Move every living thing on Earth into the mirror dimension before the Emergence. Let the Celestial emerge into an empty world. Restore the planet afterward, return every living being, clean the memories. Mars is a viable secondary holding point if the mirror dimension proves insufficient. And if it comes to it, I can redirect the Celestial itself into the mirror dimension at the moment of emergence. I could not have done that a week ago. But I can do it now.’
He glanced sideways at Anna and Diana. Both of them had the look of people who had been thinking along similar lines and were about to say so. He reached along the telepathic connection before either of them could speak.
’I have a complete solution,’ he sent to both of them quietly. Then transmitted his solution options to them using telepathy.
’But do not share any of it with them yet.’
Anna’s eyes moved to him briefly. ’Why not?’ she sent back.
"I’ll explain everything later, but for now, just trust me."
Anna’s agreement came back quickly and Diana’s followed a moment later.
Ethan turned back to Ajak with an easy smile.
"I appreciate you coming in person," he said. "And I want to be clear that I am not looking for conflict with Arishem or with the Celestials. That is not the direction I want to go."
He set his coffee down. "I also want you to know that I have a solution for the Emergence that protects this planet and everyone on it completely. You do not need to worry about it."
Ajak studied his face carefully. "You are certain?"
"Completely," he said.
Ikaris, who had been silent through the entire exchange, looked at Ethan directly. His jaw was level. "What is this plan?" he asked. There was nothing hostile in it, only the flat skepticism of someone who had heard confident claims before and had learned to wait for the evidence. "You sound very sure for someone facing a Celestial emergence."
Ethan looked at him over the rim of his coffee cup.
’He sat through this entire meeting in silence waiting for exactly the right moment to ask that. I should respect the patience.’
He smiled, slow and deliberately smug. "It is going to be a surprise," he said. "I would hate to spoil it. Besides, we have another ten years before this becomes urgent. Plenty of time for all of us to develop solutions together."
He took a long sip of coffee and held Ikaris’s gaze over the cup without blinking. "I would not want to ruin the look on your face when you see it."
Ikaris’s jaw tightened by a fraction.
Ajak looked at him. "Ikaris." Her voice was quiet and he fell silent.
She turned back to Ethan, and her eyes were honest and direct. "We believe you, Dr. Carter. You have shown this world what you are capable of, repeatedly and without being asked. Arishem acknowledges you for good reason."
She paused "We are not here to pressure you. We are here because we hope, genuinely, that this world does not have to end the way the others did."
’She means every word of that,’ Ethan thought, reading her carefully.
He nodded. "Then we agree on what matters," he said.
The meeting closed after that, easy and without friction. Ajak and Ikaris left through the door.
The moment the elevator closed behind them Anna turned to Ethan, arms crossed.
"Why didn’t you tell them the plan?" she asked.
Diana was already looking at him with the same question behind her eyes.
"Because they report directly to Arishem," Ethan said. "Everything we say in that room, he can access. And I do not yet know whether he sent them here out of genuine goodwill or to see how much we know and what we are planning."
He looked between them both. "Until I know which, our plan stays between us."
Anna and Diana glanced at each other, then back at him.
"Since when," Anna said slowly, "do you think about being cautious?"
Diana tilted her head. "You declared your power to the entire galaxy to prove a point not very long ago."
Ethan laughed, warm and genuine. "That was a different kind of cautious. That was managing external threats by removing ambiguity." He turned toward the window, the city spread outside in the early evening glow, the last of the sunlight catching the glass of the buildings across the skyline. "This is about something else entirely."
He fell quiet for a moment. Anna and Diana waited.
"I am going to be a father," he said. The words came out steady and unhurried, carrying their full weight without performance. "Jean is carrying my child right now. And when that child arrives, every decision I make carries a different weight than it did before."
He looked at the skyline. "I have enemies I have not made yet. Decisions I have not taken yet that will determine who those enemies are and how many of them there are. I want to be deliberate about that. I want my kids to grow up in the best version of this world that I can build for them, and that means being smarter about who I trust and how much I show them."
Anna and Diana were quiet for few moments.
Then Anna stepped forward and wrapped her arm around his left side, her head resting against his shoulder. Diana moved to his right, leaning in close, the three of them standing at the window together while the sun sank slowly below the skyline and the city lit up piece by piece in the growing dark.
"You are going to be an incredible father," Anna said softly.
"I think you already are," Diana said.
Ethan put an arm around each of them and stood there in the quiet of the office, watching the light change from amber to gold to the first pale edge of dusk, and said nothing because nothing needed to be said.
A knock at the door broke the silence.
"Come in," Ethan said.
Chloe stepped in with her tablet, briefly apologetic. "Sorry to interrupt. Dr. Cho wanted to speak with you, Ethan. She says she has found something significant for the Baymax project and wants to walk you through it in person."
Ethan’s eyes lit up immediately.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Anna’s forehead, then to Diana’s. He straightened up with the energy of someone who had just been handed something genuinely interesting.
"Tell Helen I am on my way," he said.
He followed Chloe out, already thinking ahead, and the door swung softly closed behind him.
Anna and Diana stood together at the window in the quiet of the empty office.
"He is going to be completely insufferable as a father," Anna said.
"Completely," Diana agreed, without hesitation.
They both smiled, and looked back out at the city.
