A/N: i have big news!
if everything goes accordingly to plan (which it never does), then we have exactly TWENTY chapters of this book left!!
which means in about 20 weeks or so, this book will finally come to an end after three years. omg. i'm gonna hold off my speech until we actually reach the end, but i just wanted to let you guys know that things are gonna crash really hard and really fast so just be prepared!
and also this book will end on a cliffhanger
BUT before you panic, may i remind you that there WILL be a sequel directly after so don't worry, i've got it all under control 😁
just a friendly reminder, i have updated the playlist a whole lot as well so if you wanna check that out again as you read this chapter, feel free to :)
now, about this chapter, it's sitting at a hefty 6,000 words so it's pretty long and i'm gonna have to take you guys through a little history lesson you probably aren't gonna like but have fun!
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"Lukov...I'm so sorry."
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Adelaide was rifling through her closet while listening to Vivian talking about her date with Ned over the phone.
"I wish you could have seen it," she breathed, "In the evening, the candles and lights and everything just looked so pretty on the water."
Yesterday, Ned had taken Vivian out for dinner on a boat on the Hudson River. His uncle apparently worked at the pier and so he had asked him for a favor and was able to get a boat for about half an hour out on the river as they had dinner.
"And he was so nervous," she laughed.
"Well," Adelaide said, pulling out a pair of old jeans and throwing them onto her bed, "That's Ned for you."
"Everything went so well, I'm so happy," Vivian grinned and Adelaide smiled.
"I'm really happy for both of you," she said. Ned really deserved the best and Adelaide trusted Vivian with him. They made a great couple. And even though they had only met a few months ago, when they were around each other, they behaved as if they had known each other for years.
"Thanks," Vivian smiled, "And now that we've had our first date, I can't wait for the dance. I keep trying my dress on for no reason. Can you believe it's almost here? I mean, I know we still have so much left to do, but still!"
Adelaide, for the moment being, decided to pretend that there weren't more important things occupying her mind. Things that involved her past and possibly murder. Two words that always seemed to go hand in hand.
"I know, I'm very excited too," she smiled, thinking of how this would be her first dance with Peter, "We're going to have a lot of fun."
"Definitely."
"Listen, I have to go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" she said, pulling out a beanie and then closing the closet doors shut.
"Yeah, I have to go too. Bye!" she said. Adelaide hung up the phone, tossing it on the bed, next to her pants.
She looked around her room, letting a heavy breath out through her mouth and stressfully running her hands through her hair before letting them fall to her sides. She stared at the clothes she had picked out and took a minute to tap out and reconsider her decision to go after Graves like this. Tony and Pepper would be nothing short of furious if they were to find out. This was beyond stupid.
Everything she used to run from, she was now running towards.
All because of a gut feeling.
She had truly lost her mind this time. Nevertheless, she pulled on the incognito attire that hopefully would keep unnecessary attention away from her. She doubted that the beanie and sunglasses would do much to conceal her identity from those who were already looking for her, but it was the next best thing after invisibility. Even though she planned on being invisible for the most part, it was better safe than sorry to bring a disguise.
She just hoped that she wouldn't regret this.
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"Hi, do you know where I can find Professor Lukov's office?" Adelaide asked a student who was walking down the hallway inside the science building at Brooklyn College.
The girl stopped, pulling her headphone out of her ear and pointed over her shoulder.
"It's up the stairs and first office on your left," she said. Adelaide nodded gratefully.
"Thanks," she said and quickly began walking towards the stairs. Her heart pounded loudly with each step. She could only hope she was doing the right thing by trusting Lukov.
If Graves was wrong about this, she would kill him herself.
When she reached the top of the staircase, there was a closed door to her left, just like the girl had said. The only other people in the hallway were two tall men conversing quietly who she assumed were professors based on their attire. Adelaide squinted at the nametag hanging on the wall beside the door.
Professor Ivan Lukov, Physics
She reached into the pocket of her coat, clutching the note in her fist. This better work. The stakes were too high for it to not to. Taking a deep breath, she raised her fist and knocked on the door.
At first, she had heard nothing. Then,
"Come in."
Looking up and down the hallway one last time, Adelaide twisted the door handle and let herself inside.
The office was small with a single window and shelf to its right. He had his desk to the left, the long end against the wall. She spotted pictures hanging on the walls. There were several sticky notes hanging on the wall space above his desk with notes about his meetings or students. There was even an apple-scented candle lit on the shelf.
"Welcome to Brooklyn College," he greeted with a warm smile, standing up from his desk. He held is hand out for her to shake. "Adelaide Rivers, right?"
Adelaide snapped out of it, looking at him and then his hand. She quickly shook it. His appearance looked even more ghastly than she remembered it to be. His hand was ridiculously cold, but she chose not to mention it. She didn't want to offend her only lead.
"R-Right," she said hesitantly, still looking around the office unsurely.
"Please, sit, sit," he smiled, gesturing to the chairs beside the door. Adelaide took a seat, still hesitant. "I was hoping to see you again, Adelaide. What can I help you with today? A problem with your physics class, I presume?"
I wish.
"Um...not exactly," she said. Her heart was racing like a horse. It was too late now. She had to say it. "I-I um...I need your help with s-something else, actually."
"I'll have to say, if it's about an English paper, I'm afraid I cannot help you with that even if I wanted to. I can never wrap my head around how to write an essay. I mean, honestly, how do you even write a footnote?" he chuckled. Adelaide smiled nervously.
"N-No it-it's not an English paper," she said. Her palms began to sweat. "I'm not really sure how to ask you this, but...I'm looking for someone."
"Oh?" he said, surprised, "Well, I'm not sure how extensive my contacts are, but I can try to help."
She reached into her coat and pulled out the note. Her eyes flitted over it one more time before she held it out for him to take. He took it, glancing at her unsurely.
"I-I'm looking for a man named Graves," she said, feeling her heart beating in her throat, "He's...missing. I-I found this at his place and I thought that you might know him."
Lukov continued to read the note over and over, frowning in confusion. Adelaide narrowed her eyes, glancing from the note to him a couple times in worry.
"What is it?" she asked, holding her breath. Lukov looked up from the note.
"Adelaide...I'm afraid that Graves has passed away," he said.
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Graves has passed away.
She thought she heard him wrong. And then she realized that she was just in denial. Graves was really...dead?
"Um...I don't..." she shook her head, "...Wh...What?"
"Yes, I know, it's very unfortunate. Graves was an old, dear friend of mine. I was very sad to hear he had passed away," Lukov said.
"But...how do you know he died?" she asked. Lukov sighed sadly, shaking head at the floor.
"I got a call from the hospital. I was the last person who visited him. He told me the doctors said he had been suffering from a terminal lung cancer. Poor man, had no other family," Lukov said sadly, "I will miss him dearly."
Lung cancer?
She had no idea. Graves had cancer? Although, she supposed it did make somewhat sense. He smoked more than a factory. Adelaide was just surprised that it never came up. Even if they never necessarily had had a heart to heart...it just felt so strange that all this time, he had had cancer and she never even knew until after he died.
And that was when it really hit her.
Graves was dead.
And her secret had died with him. She would never get to find out what exactly it was that he had been so desperate to tell her. Regret washed over her. Why couldn't she have just let him tell her the truth the first time? Now she would never know. It was the stupidest thing she had ever done.
"Was he a friend of yours, too?" Lukov asked quietly.
Adelaide snapped out of her head, remembering that he was still in the room. She swallowed. Graves? A friend? They weren't even acquaintances. But even if she had stabbed his eye and even if he had locked her in a burning library, there was something from her past that had brought them together again. She had just been too scared to get involved.
"You could say that," she mumbled. Lukov sighed sadly.
"He will be missed," Lukov said.
Adelaide sighed. This had been a waste of time. Now that Graves was dead, there was no point in following this paper trail. She would just have to come to terms with the fact that she would never learn what he had tried to tell her. She supposed there was also no point in lingering in this office with Lukov anymore.
"Thank you for your time," she said, "But I better I get going."
Lukov smiled kindly in understanding, "Of course. Please, don't hesitate to visit again. My door is always open."
Adelaide nodded solemnly and stood up. When she turned to reach for the door handle, she spotted it hanging on the wall. She had missed it earlier when she had walked in because the door had covered it. But with the door closed, the picture was more clear than ever.
It was a picture of Lukov and Nick Fury.
Adelaide froze.
She thought she was seeing things, but the more she looked at the picture, the more she became sure that it really was them. How the hell did Lukov know the Director of SHIELD? Who was this man?
"Ah, that picture," Lukov said with a nostalgic smile, "He and I were close friends."
Adelaide suddenly had so many questions.
"Fury?" she asked, turning around in her chair to look at him, "As in Nick Fury?"
He chuckled, "Yes, Nick Fury."
"You and Fury really used to be friends?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her. She hesitantly sat down in the chair again. She and Fury hadn't exactly had dozens of conversations, but she had never seen him mention Lukov before. Why weren't they friends anymore? What had happened?
"We were," he said and he reached into his desk drawer, pulling something out. He handed it to her. It was another picture. Of him and Fury. They were at some sort of carnival, smiling together. Adelaide frowned. She had seen Fury smile maybe once in all the time she'd known him.
He actually looked...friendly.
"The man was hilarious," Lukov said, cracking a smile. Adelaide began to wonder if they were talking about the same person. But the picture in her hand was plenty proof. "And a genius, too. He could have led the country if he had set his mind on it. It was in his bones. He was born a leader."
"...But?" Adelaide asked, sensing a twinge of anger in his voice. How did someone go from being friends with Nick Fury to being a professor at a college? Lukov smiled.
"But he was a stickler for the rules," he sighed, shaking his head, "Messed up his judgement."
He looked down at the picture in her hands. A smile tugged at his lips.
"I apologize, I'm afraid that I've started to ramble about this again. I never really talk about it but since you pointed the picture out, I just couldn't help myself," he said, "I'm sure you have plenty of better things to do than listen to an old man talk about his past."
Adelaide frowned. He was right. She shouldn't get involved in this. She looked back down at the picture in her hand. But if she left now, the unanswered questions would follow her everywhere. Lukov did seem a bit...unusual, but she doubted that he could seriously harm her if she stayed a few extra minutes to listen. Besides, they were at a school.
And Graves did say to trust him...
"No," she heard herself saying before she could stop herself, "I-I want to hear what happened with you and Fury."
Lukov smiled, "Adelaide, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to get involved with this. Even though I used to work for SHIELD—"
"Wait, you used to work...for SHIELD?" she asked. Who the hell was this man?
"I'm afraid I've already said too much," Lukov said, pursing his lips.
At this point, Adelaide would have gone crazy if she didn't learn what all this was about.
"Why did you stop working for SHIELD? If you're worried about anything getting out...it won't. I won't tell anyone. I just...I want to know what happened."
Lukov sighed, thinking about it. Then he chuckled.
"You are very persistent. But even though these things happened well in the past, some of it is highly sensitive information, Adelaide," he said.
She studied his face intently as he said that. What did he mean highly sensitive? Maybe Lukov knew what Graves had tried to tell her. He did say that they were close friends, after all. Maybe this thing with Fury was related to Graves' secret.
"Was this information by any chance related to...Graves?" she asked carefully. Lukov pursed his lips.
"Well that depends," he said, "How much did he tell you?"
"Nothing," she answered quickly, "He tried to tell me, but...he never got a chance."
"I'm not quite sure why Graves would want to tell you about any of this," Lukov said almost suspiciously.
"Like I said, he was a friend," she lied, trying to hide her excitement. She was finally about to figure out what the hell it was that Graves had been trying to tell her. She had just never imagined that she would have to hear it from a former SHIELD agent as they were sitting in his office at Brooklyn College. Up until this point, she had been skeptical of Graves telling her to trust Lukov — a man that she didn't even know existed — but now she could see why.
Lukov was the only other person that Graves had trusted with this information.
"I admire your resilience," Lukov smiled, "If Graves trusted you, then I guess I do too."
"Thank you," Adelaide said, relieved. Lukov leaned forward in his chair, reaching back into his memory.
"Well, some 40 years ago," he started, "Fury and I worked together for SHIELD on many occasions even before he was the director of SHIELD. Alexander Pierce was actually the director at the time. Back in the day, we were both leading a team of scientists in a project funded by the federal government itself. It was highly classified and I could count on my hands the number of people who knew it even existed. Fury and I being two of them. And there were two other SHIELD agents who knew about it and their extensive research on light was critical to the project."
SHIELD agents? Extensive research on light?
"What..." she started, then hesitated, not sure if she should even ask, "What were their names?"
"Henry and Ava Rivers," he said slowly, eyeing her, "Do you know them?"
Adelaide felt her mouth go dry. So it was all connected. Her parents and Lukov and maybe even Graves. What a coincidence she had bumped into this man in a coffee shop and he turned out to be an old friend of her parents.
"They're...They're my parents," she said quietly. Lukov's eyes widened and he sat up in his chair.
"You...You're Henry's daughter?" he asked in disbelief. Adelaide nodded slightly. Lukov shook his head, seemingly shocked that the daughter of his friend was sitting in front of him just by chance. He laughed.
"I had no idea, Adelaide. I should have seen it before. Of course you're theirs. I mean, look at you. You're the spitting image of your father with your mother's eyes," he smiled.
At that, Adelaide's heart warmed. She loved her parents, even if she hadn't been able to know them for very long. And hearing about the similarities between herself and them always made her feel closer to them. She smiled slightly.
"Well, in that case, I suppose that I am free to tell you everything there is to know about this project," Lukov smiled, sitting back in his seat once again to continue the story.
"Besides your parents, at the core of this project was a man named Thomas Acosta. He was the one who had discovered the element in the first place. It was an entirely new element called Luxium. If it was inhaled by a human under the right circumstances, it was supposed to do wonders for the human body. Acosta did his research on Luxium for years before Fury and I were put on the project. He said the element would put the immune system of humans forward about couple hundred years."
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"Evolution, Adelaide. The systematical functions of human body are not the same they were hundreds of years ago. Our species has evolved over time and our immune systems are stronger every generation that passes. But that evolution takes time."
"And...Luxium accelerated the evolution?" she asked, fascinated.
"Exactly. Imagine a world where humans are immune to everything. There would be no flu, no asthma, no cancer, no other diseases. We would be a stronger race. No imperfections. We could live longer, healthier lives."
Adelaide ran over the idea in her mind.
Impeccable immunity? That would mean the many people who are hospitalized right now wouldn't have to be. Or that the people whose lives were shortened by a disease or virus would still be here. It could save the lives of millions of people. It would change...everything.
"But...why you?" she asked suddenly, "Why do you care so much?"
Lukov smiled as if he was about to let her in on a secret.
"My whole life had revolved around the war. I had joined the army the moment I was old enough to. It was the proudest day of my life. I was born to be a soldier, Adelaide. Everyone knew it. I'd fought for my life since the day I was born and I fought for my country. At first, I had joined the Soviet Army. We were in the Cold War at the time with America. I was only 18 back then, but the war...it aged me. I saw things that I will never forget. I didn't make friends because there was no certainty of a life back then. Then, I left the Soviet army for good."
The wrinkles in his forehead disappeared and the prominent frown of nightmares from the war settled into a soft smile that made him look decades younger and less ghastly. The corners of his dark black eyes crinkled.
"Her name was Mila Baker," he said softly, "I met her after the war. I thought I would try to settle down and I was lucky to find her. Most women didn't want a man who was battle scarred. She
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