Savage Lands

Dr. Bernard Kloss/Paleontologist

Bernard looked across the beautiful frozen landscape of Antarctica and breathed in a cold burst of air, making sure not to do it too deeply. Apparently taking deep breaths of the harsly cold air could do severe damage to the lungs. He breathed out again only to blink in confusion. "Huh, no frost."

"What was that, Dr. Kloss?" A woman asked behind him with a touch of an Australian accent. Bernard turned to her. The woman behind him was a little older than he was, wearing the same layers of protection against the cold he was. She carried a device in her right hand that she was using to scan the landscape. They'd chosen a section towards the middle of the continent to scan first, with a BRIDGE quinjet nearby that was ready to take them back when needed.

"Oh, just…" he chuckled. "You know when it's cold, Dr. Bergstrom, and you breath out, get that little puff of smoke? It doesn't seem to be working."

Dr. Dana Bergstrom chuckled, looking back at him. "Well, the air here is so cold that there is no condensation. Pretty much all water vapor that would cause that is, well," she gestured at all the ice around them.

"Makes sense," Bernard said with a chuckle. "Sorry. Last field assignment I had was in Montana. Doesn't get as cold out there."

"I'll bet," she shook her head. "It's not usual research, to tell the truth. I feel like this is a huge waste of time."

"Considering I'm a paleontologist in the middle of Antarctica? I'm inclined to agree," Bernard shook his head. "I mean, you hear stories though."

"Stories?" Dana looked up at him.

"Yeah. Old school 'Lost World' tales. Guys who came out here and end up in a world of dinosaurs. Manage to escape with all sorts of crazy legends."

"I've heard those, too," Dana chuckled. "But I've been out here for years, Dr. Kloss. BRIDGE is going to be disappointed if they expect anything."

Bernard laughed. They walked across the ice for several more minutes, scanning and getting-

BOOP!

Nothing?

BOOP!

"I-It's making a noise," Bernard said, shocked.

"I know," Dana sounded just as confused, staring at the blinking light.

"Well, what does it mean?"

"I don't know! I've never used this thing before, I got the manual-" she patted her pockets and came up with a white sheaf of papers. "Okay uh… wow, Tony Stark made this thing? Okay, so, green means there's an energy signature. The larger the amount of energy used, the brighter the glow."

"...It's pretty damn bright," Kloss noted warily. Indeed, the glow was illuminating the ice below to a nearly ridiculous degree.

"Yeah, I just don't… wait, the manual says if I," Dana flipped a switch. The front of the scanner let out a red beam of light. In front of them, the beam stopped…

The air seemed to split open. The ice floor gave way to dirt and plant-life. A warm burst of air gusted across their faces. The pair stared in shock.

"Holy-"

"Shit," Dana finished.

Then, their shock, something leaped out of a nearby bush. They stared at it, slowly backing away as the creature sniffed the air.

"W-What is that?" Dana hissed at Bernard.

"How the hell should I know?" he hissed back, slowly backing away with her, the two almost hugging.

"You're a paleontologist!"

"All the dinosaurs I ever saw were dead, I'm not a zoologist! Plus, it doesn't have feathers!"

"What does that even mean?!"

"Grrr?" the creature looked over at them.

The two froze.

The creature leered.

"Okay… it looks like a velociraptor," Bernard whispered. "Pack animal. That means-"

While they were distracted, two more raptors sped out of the jungle. Both scientists screamed.

Tan skin and orange fur swept down from the trees with twin roars.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

"Well, until that 'Savage Land' thing pans out," Fury somehow still sounded disbelieving. "We'll be continuing our sessions. Director?"

"Have at it," Maria said wryly. "Dismissed."

We all got up, Fury leading me towards a nearby room. Steve gave me a sympathetic smile as I left with the former Director and current 'something'.

We entered an interrogation room together. Fury picked up a notepad. I sat down at the table.

"Where did we stop last?" I grumbled.

"Don't complain, this is good for you," Fury reminded me.

"Yeah, if you didn't somehow end up asking about every embarrassing moment I ever had…"

"Grow up," despite the bluntness, he didn't sound mean. "This is just part of our work. We need to make sure your backstory in this universe is airtight."

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes.

We'd done this pretty consistently. Fury would sit down with me and ask me every question possible about my life. Everything from when I got my first driver's license to where I went to kindergarten to who my first crush was. It was like Facebook, but more invasive. Okay, less invasive. But I needed papers and such. As of now, a combination of AI trickery and spy stuff had crafted a pretty good identity for me.

Didn't make retelling my whole life any less embarrassing.

"Okay. So. I crashed my dad's car. It was a black BMW, kind of the nicest car my family ever had. German engineering meant my dad's car had a small dent. The other car, though, was a Prius. So from there, it was me working my butt off to make up for…"

After another session of interrogation, I was off to exercise. With our vacations technically over, it was time to get back to intense workouts. Starting with cardio.

Nat and I ran side by side through Central Park in our workout gear. It was nice and sunny. We were passing by people sitting on park benches, having picnics, running up to food carts. The smell of nature filled the air as sunlight came down through the trees. There was a peaceful nature to it all, something almost soft.

Nat and I hadn't come on our own. We'd had three other running partners. But uh…

"On your left," Steve said calmly as he passed by. For about the fifth time. Nat and I shared a look.

"On your left!" Bucky huffed lightly.

Nat smirked.

For a moment we were quietly running along. After a moment, we could hear what sounded like a train puffing toward us. Soon, Sam had caught up with us. "They did it again, didn't they?!"

"Yep," Nat said placidly.

"God damn it!" Sam put the pedal to the medal, rushing forward as fast as he could.

I would have laughed if I wasn't panting so hard. Nat, being far more fit, was able to do it for me. She tapped my shoulder. "Come on. Let's take a break."

"Oh thank god!" I stumbled. Nat shoved me over to an empty bench, letting me collapse into it like the cool dude I was. "How do they-?"

"Don't compare yourself to them," Nat rolled her eyes. "Steve and Bucky are super-soldiers and Sam has been training for a lot longer than you."

"And I guess I'm just slowing you down?" I asked.

"Yep," she grinned at the annoyed groan I got. "Don't worry. You'll get there."

Nat sat down next to me leaned back, arms outstretched on the backrest.

"...Remember all that time back, when I asked you to help me with dating trouble?" I asked.

"Yay, your love life, the highlight of my lonely days," Nat teased.

I winced and said nothing.

"Oh, you're serious," Nat leaned forward. "What happened?"

I quickly ran down what happened with Skye. How I'd essentially gotten turned down. I mean, was it even okay to act so affected by it? My problems weren't that big, I should get over it a bit.

She smacked me in the back of the head the second I said that. "Now stop. Everybody has this problem, don't be so down on yourself."

I took the hit without complaint. "Well, I can't help it. I don't want to start talking myself up. The last thing I need is to get super arrogant while I have the universe's most potentially powerful weapon on my wrist."

Like Ben had. Season 3 of Alien Force, man. Adorable my tan ass.

Nat pursed her lips, displeased. "Look, it's fine to be sad about something like this. We all get heartbroken. What's your real issue?"

I thought about what Skye said. That she might have said yes if I'd asked sooner. And I realized that it was part of what was bothering me.

"Do you think I'm not proactive enough? Or… that I don't really do things for myself?"

Nat frowned. "You know I'm not a psychiatrist."

"Like that matters? I just want advice from my friend," I asked, leaning back to look at her. A little kid flying a kite passed by. Their parents chased him, laughing together. Nat followed them with her eyes before looking back at me.

"I do. You're getting better at it. I mean, when you went out with Steve just for yourself, the two of you buying crap just to have fun-"

"It wasn't all 'crap'," I grumbled.

"It was good. You just having fun. It was good for both of you, really. But you need to start stepping forward and doing things for yourself. Ask a girl out when you're scared to, hang out with people for the sake of it. Take that attitude you have for all this superhero work and use it in your life."

I looked over at her. For a moment we were quiet.

"You going to take that advice for yourself?"

"Probably," Nat shrugged. "Maybe if we do, Steve will too. I swear, he probably hasn't kissed a girl since 44."

"Uh…" I looked at her again. She smirked, ruby red lips suddenly very prominent.

"I don't count."

"Bullshit," I grumbled. "The only woman hotter than you is Je-" I stopped, wincing.

Nat gave me a smile. "Oh? Now that explains a lot."

"Damn it," I grumbled.

"...We might die tomorrow," Nat said simply.

I nodded. "Yeah. That's a good point."

We might die tomorrow. So get things done as soon as possible.

Except that I had a flight to catch. Damnit