(Billy's P.O.V)

Her words threw me on a loop. The change of heart was just too unexpected. One second she looks as if she wants nothing more than to end my existence, then the next she's calling me a hero?

Still, can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"So does this mean we're cool?"

I asked.

"Yes. It means we are cool."

She said with a smile.

Then her eyes perked up.

"And right on time as well."

I looked around the room. It was just the two of us and even in my Psionic range, I could feel no minds nearby.

She waved her hands in the air and sparks begun to form on the ground around me. Then a portal manifested right below me.

I remained floating above it.

Like a boss.

The Ancient One blinked. I blinked.

"You wanted me to fall through."

I smirked, seeing through her intentions.

"Sorry."

I added, flashing the TK aura around my body. The shroud was in a rainbow color.

"That wasn't going to...whoooaaaaa."

I trailed off as the Ancient One did something and up became down. Then it reversed, fucking with my orientation and sense of direction.

Ergo, I unceremoniously fell through the portal.

The last thing I saw was The Sorcerer Supreme slowly lifting the cup of tea to her lips and taking a single sip of it, then the portal disappeared.

"That...crazy woman!"

I cursed out in frustration. I hadn't even gotten the chance to ask her about the Crystal before she had booted me out of the Sanctum.

Speaking of which,

"Where the fuck am I?"

I spoke out loud, looking around.

I was in an office, the desk and chair behind it were indication enough. The layout was also simple.

Completely white walls with some abstract paintings framed along it. Minimal decorations with the stand outs being, the flag of the United States on the corner of the...wait.

I walked forward, eyes attracted to something behind the desk. A picture framed above the chair.

And on it was a familiar black man with an eye patch standing next to a green humanoid alien. A skrull. And the dark skinned figure was...

"Shit. I'm in Fury's office."

I said, taking a step back and knocking over the lamp beside the desk.

Telekinesis stopped it from falling to the floor. I gulped, looking for the door, I needed to get out before someone found me and thought I was stealing Shield secrets or something.

There! on the left.

A door.

Jackpot.

I walked over while spreading out my psionic range, to find out where I was.

It was some sort of huge building that I couldn't fully cover with my Psionic range.

Luckily for me, there wasn't anyone close or around the office. The hallway on the other side of the door was empty of any mental activity, meaning there weren't any guards keeping watch.

Good, I could slip out without Fury or Shield even knowing I was there.

And even if they did, (mostly on account of however many hidden cameras were in a Spy's office) I would be long gone by then.

Any other future consequences would be handled by future Billy with a side dish of Solomon's wisdom.

"The ancient one must have really wanted payback for the whole 'burst your heart out of your chest' thing. Why else would she set the portal to Nick Fury's office of all places?"

My musings were carried out as I spread my awareness through the door's locking mechanism.

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There was a sensor that would be triggered when someone was close to the door but it was only keyed in to authorized personnel.

Good thing, I could cheat. I manually applied pressure on the latch and the door beeped.

"Yes!"

I cheered as it retracted to the wall to reveal, Fury in all his glory, standing there with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Shit. I forgot you can hide from my telepathic scans."

I sighed.

"You honestly think you could sneak in to my office and avoid detection? The cameras picked up on the portal almost immediately and sent the feed over to me."

He said, holding up a pad that showed me get unceremoniously dumped into his office.

"Of course there were cameras."

I bit out sourly.

"So now what? Arrest me and charge me for trespassing?"

"I have something else in mind. Follow me."

Unexpectedly, Fury turned on his heel and begun walking away.

I looked on dumbly. Why was everyone acting so out of character!? First the Ancient One and now Fury.

As if sensing the question in my mind, he went on to explain once I caught up with him.

"You're Lucky I need you, Batson. Thank your lucky stars this happened while the prisoners of the Raft were planning their escape."

I frowned.

"Wait, the Raft as in the supermax for supervillains and other deranged superpowered Psychos?"

He looked at me from the corner of his lone eye.

"You know of it, good. That will save me time explaining."

We took a few turns and finally I felt multiple minds enter my range as we left the section of the building with Fury's office.

Thinking quickly, I directly equiped my costume just as we reached the deck.

Wait, this wasn't a building. The operations room had a direct view of the open sky...and not much else.

Why?

Because we were in the air. It took a second for things to click.

"Holy shit, I'm in the Herricarrier."

I muttered, looking around at the wide range of high tech devices and the Shield agents running around the busy operations room.

How had she sent me directly into the Helicarrier? I thought the Sling Rings Sorcerer's used could only take you somewhere you've been before?

Somehow I couldn't picture the Ancient One ever visiting the Helicarrier. Then again...she was the Sorcerer Supreme, any number of reasons could explain it all.

Despite the situation, I took a second to let it all sink in. Somehow it seemed even bigger in person than on the screen or the pages of a comic book.

What's even cooler was the sight of so many quinjets and other aircrafts out on the deck.

"How much further out are we?"

Fury asked Maria Hill who narrowed her eyes at me, before turning to her boss and answering.

"2 minutes. Then we will be directly above the Raft."

Her tone was crisp.

"Good, the sooner we resolve this mess the better. Impenetrable cage my ass."

Fury added that last part with a frustrated growl.

"Sir, Coulson has just pulled up at the Location."

Hill spoke up, still throwing strange looks my way.

"He says the door is locked and no one is home."

I resisted the urge to dive into her mind. Could she still be holding a grudge from our last encounter?

"Not that strange now, is it? The target is after all with us."

Fury replied, waving his hand over the main console which was set aside above a platform looking out into the operations room.

The look in Hill's eyes changed as recognition dawned on her. If anything her eyes narrowed even more.

"I'll inform him."

She finally said, turning to walk away with her fingers tapping on her earpiece.

"You sent Coulson to pick me up?"

I asked Fury, walking up behind him to stare at the satellite feed on the screen of the main console.

The display showed a grainy image of the Atlantic Ocean and on the surface, barely visible, was something. A structure roughly circular in shape.

A multitude of small figures stood on the prison's courtyard, with what looked like the remains of a burning chopper lying on the lift off pad.

"You were the only one available."

Fury responded.

"Iron Skull planned this whole thing out perfectly."

I was the only one available? How? New York had multiple superheroes running around at any time of day.

"What about the Avengers? A breakout from the Raft seems like something right up their alley."

Fury straightened.

"The Avengers are on a mission."

"Where?"

I couldn't help but ask.

"Classified. But it's delicate and far enough that they can't make it back in time. And before you ask, the Fantastic Four are unavailable, Spiderman and his team are handling something for me and anyone else is either similarly occupied or..."

"Unreliable."

I finished with a smirk.

"Which is why you needed me."

Fury threw an unimpressed gaze my way.

"I was going to say unreachable."

Oh okay. Couldn't let me have that, could you Fury?

He forged on,

"They chose the perfect time to strike. Which should be impossible without knowing where our main hitters would be."

And that was concerning. That level of planning could only be possible if Shield had a mole inside.

Christ, and they had just come out of dealing with the Hydra threat. As far as I knew, Shield was still under probation.

This only strengthened my decision to not join the organization or Spidey's team. It would be wise to have someone watching my back but not if the tradeoff was having my secrets exposed.

"So what's the situation?"

I questioned, taking the chance to probe Fury's magnetic field.

I hadn't been able to penetrate the AO's energy nullification spell to actually see her status.

Fury on the other hand was free game.

A row of text appeared before my eyes.

(???)

Huh?

What the hell? Why didn't it work?

Unaware of my confusion, Fury started to speak.

"Roughly 10 minutes ago, the Raft's scheduled maintainence was disrupted by an attack from this guy."

He pointed at the screen, which showed the image of a long haired man, dressed in a tight fitting red outfit with a royal cape flowing behind him.

The fangs clued me in on who it was.

"Dracula."

"With his assistance, the prisoners were able to break out and seize control of the prison. The Raft is now under the Cabal."

At this he frowned.

"And that's what I don't get. They've had more than enough time to plan their escape, so why haven't they? What are they waiting for?"

He said, more to himself than me.

And like a flash of lightning, the answer appeared.

"It's me. They want me."

I realized.

Fury whirled around to face me. Then his lone eye widened.

"Of course."

He muttered.

"It would make sense that the first thing the Cabal would do, would be to take revenge on the upstart superhero that captured them! Otherwise he risks his credibility. And one thing, Skull has in spades is his Ego."

Fury passed by me, hurrying towards one of the agents.

"How far out are we?"

I watched his back, probing his magnetic field once more.

The result came back the same.

(???)

This could mean either of two things. One, whatever was helping him hide his mind from my telepathy extended beyond just shielding his thoughts.

Or two, this Nick Fury was an imposter.

The only thing I was sure of at that instant was the same thing Solomon's wisdom was telling me.

I couldn't trust him. Which meant I couldn't trust Shield. Which meant...I was in this alone.

(General P.O.V)

One second Fury was enquiring something from one of the agents, then the next there was a loud crash as Shazam tore through the glass separating the room from the deck.

Then in a trail of bright color, the Champion of the Gods, shot off into the air.

"Motherfucker!"