Chapter 34

Mikael stepped out of the elevator into the large living room of his residential floor as the group followed closely behind. Frank followed two of Mikael's security team with Maria as they placed his children in one of the bedrooms. Maria sat down on the edge of one of the beds and softly brushed the hair out of her daughter's face before looking over at her son sleeping across from her. Mikael leaned against the doorframe as Frank stood between the beds watching over his children as they slept.

"The bathroom is right there, I'll have a change of clothes delivered to you. Get some rest, come see me in the morning. I'll see what I can dig up on what's happening." Mikael told Frank as he turned and left the room. Frank looked down at his bloodstained hands as he heard the door close behind him, sinking the room into darkness illuminated only by the light from the bathroom .

Frank walked into the bathroom and stood over the sink looking at his reflection. His face was covered in blood, his clothes drenched and sticking to his skin. He changed out of his ruined clothes and stepped into the shower. He stayed in the shower for what felt like an hour as he scrubbed away the blood that was beginning to dry and came on his skin. He could barely even smell the soap over the overpowering scent of blood trapped by the water vapor.

As Frank stepped out of the shower he was surprised to be greeted by a floating box by the door. He carefully approached as it opened to reveal a pair of sweat pants and t-shirt. Frank quickly put on the clothes as he watched the box floated over and collected his dirty clothes using a mechanical arm before silently drifting out of the room. He stepped out of the bathroom and looked over his family laying quietly before him. Maria had fallen asleep next to Lisa while Frankie slept across the room from them. Frank took a seat on a chair in the corner as he listened to the soft breathing of his family. He rested his head against the wall behind him as he kept his focus on the sleeping forms of his family before exhaustion finally washed over him an hour later.

Mikael sat on a couch in the living room as his fingers rapidly tapped on a tablet in his hand. Sarah and Thomas sat down on the couch across from him as they stared in his direction. Jean sat off to the side with a cup of tea as she looked back and forth between Mikael and his parents.

"We need to talk." Mikael said as he set the tablet down on the coffee table in front of him. His parents sat quietly as they looked at him, waiting patiently to hear what he had to say.

"As you've seen already, I have powers. I've had them for a while now." Mikael said.

"Was it from the lightning strike?" Thomas asked.

"Sort of. The lightning strike awakened the force within me." Mikael replied as he placed his hands on his knee.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Sarah questioned as she leaned forward.

"Because the world is changing and it is changing quickly. I needed to be prepared myself before I could prepare you." Mikael answered as he looked out the window.

"There's a war coming that we cannot avoid. One that I have to fight but I won't be able to focus on fighting it if I have to worry about your well-being." Mikael continued as he looked back towards his parents. Sarah and Thomas sat in silence as Mikael waited for a response.

"How do you know this?" Sarah asked as she took a deep breath.

"I saw it. I found information on that starship before I destroyed it that warned me of several hostile alien species that have their eyes on Earth." Mikael answered calmly while using his power to mask any fluctuations in his expression.

"You destroyed the ship? But that would mean that you're-" Thomas started to speak before Mikael interrupted him.

"Archon? Yes, I am. I wasn't planning on becoming Archon so soon but the event in Egypt left me with no other option." Mikael said as he crossed his arms.

"That means you were the one fighting that creature. Why? There were others there that could've fought it, why did you have to take that risk yourself?" Sarah asked, her eyes focused on Mikael.

"Because I had to. I could've let them fight on their own but how many of them would survive? Not to mention if I hadn't stepped in, every nuke in the world would be floating harmlessly in orbit right now." Mikael answered causing Sarah to stare at him in shock.

"I know you wouldn't want me to put myself in harm's way. But I can't just sit back and enjoy my life when I know what will happen if I do nothing." Mikael continued as he looked his parents in their eyes.

"Judging by the look on your face, nothing we say is going to stop you is it?" Thomas asked as he took a deep breath.

"I know what I need to do and I'm going to see it through one way or another." Mikael answered as he crossed his legs, resting his ankle on top of the opposite thigh. Thomas let out an exasperated sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose and crossed his arms. Sarah looked at Thomas before she turned back to Mikael.

"So what about us? What are we supposed to do with all of this information? We're not going to just stand by and do nothing while you throw yourself into the fire, you know that right?" Thomas asked.

"I know, but there's nothing that can be done right now except handle things as they come. For now we'll deal with why people want the Castles dead. We'll handle everything else as it becomes relevant." Mikael responded as he picked up the tablet from the table.

"You should all get some sleep, there's several other bedrooms to pick from." Mikael told them as he gestured to the other doors in the large apartment.

"What about you?" Sarah asked as she looked around the floor.

"I'm trying to find some information on who our guests work for." Mikael answered as he scanned over various documents on the tablet.

"Aren't you going to get some rest?" Sarah questioned as she stood up.

"I'm fine. I'll get some rest after I'm done, it won't take long. Go to bed mom, tomorrow is going to be a very busy day." Mikael replied as he looked up at his mother and stared into her eyes. Sarah stared back at him as she watched him for any micro expressions before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. A second later she turned and walked into a vacant bedroom as Thomas stood up from his seat.

"Honestly I still don't fully understand everything that's going on but… just be careful." Thomas told Mikael before he walked after Sarah. Mikael paused for a moment at his father's words before turning his attention back to the tablet in his hands. Jean watched as Mikael's parents disappeared into the bedroom before she sat down next to Mikael. She waited for a moment before turning to look at him.

"You're still hiding things from them." Jean said as Mikael looked down at a video playing on the tablet.

"Only the things that aren't necessary." Mikael responded as he watched an afghani man begging for his life in Pashto.

"I've given them enough information to process without also telling them I have had visions of the future." Mikael continued as he watched the execution of the man before taking a deep breath.

"You should get some rest as well Jean. It could take a couple of days to handle this in a clean manner." Mikael said as he closed the video and started compiling the information.

"Really? I'd think this would be easy for you." Jean replied as she stood up.

"Sure, if I were to take care of it myself. But this is Frank's problem, he can handle it himself. I'll just give him the tools he needs and clean things up on the legal side." Mikael responded. He pressed the screen of the tablet one more time before he set it back down on the table. Jean looked down at the screen only to see a notification message appear.

[Files copied, encrypted and have been sent to Shield.]

"It's going to be a busy couple of years. Get some rest and enjoy yourself while we still have a moment of peace." Mikael said as he stood up and walked over to the window overlooking the city.

"You should take your own advice." Jean said before walking up the stairs to a bedroom next to his. Mikael watched her disappear into the room and the door close after her before turning back to the view of the city.

"Sir, you have an incoming call on an encrypted line." Ordis informed as Mikael started walking towards the elevator.

"Who is it?" Mikael asked as the elevator began to descend towards his office.

"I believe it's from Shield, sir." Ordis answered.

"Patch them through and monitor the line." Mikael instructed as the doors opened into his office. Mikael stepped into the large room as a familiar voice came through the line.

"Argent."

"Nick, what can I do for you?" Mikael asked as he sat down at his desk.

"Cut the crap. What the hell did you just send me?" Fury asked.

"Nothing much. Just an illegal operation that I thought you might be interested in dealing with." Mikael answered as he kicked his legs up on his desk.

"So why are you sending this to us? Why is this even your concern?" Fury questioned.

"Because they made the mistake of going after me and mine. I sent it to you so you can mitigate any fallout that may occur when they're dragged kicking and screaming into the light." Mikael answered.

"You're not going to send 'Archon' for this are you?" Fury asked putting extra emphasis on the name.

"No, that would be like using a tactical nuke to get rid of a pack of feral dogs. I'm going to let someone else deal with their… shall we say punishment?" Mikael responded as he looked over a screen displaying blueprints for a suit of armor.

"I'm just giving you a chance to keep things quiet."

"And why should I help you with this?"

"A high ranking CIA official created a private illegal death squad funded by smuggling heroin out of another country and murdered an afghan national police officer to hide it. What do you think will happen when that gets out?" Mikael asked as he spun a holographic projection of the armor around in front of him. Silence filled the air as Mikael waited for a response.

"Fine but I'm sending someone to get more details and oversee it." Fury agreed as he ended the call. Mikael removed his legs from the desk and stood up as a screen appeared in front of him.

"Well let's see how you handle this Frank. Ordis begin forging the M-01 armor, use adamantium for this one." Mikael whispered to himself as pushed aside the holographic image and started walking to his workshop.

As Mikael began working in his workshop, elsewhere in New York City a brown haired man paced back and forth in an office looking at a number of computer screens. Each screen displayed footage from different body cameras as a group of people walked through a quiet neighborhood.

"Sir, there's nothing here. We've just completed the third search of the neighborhood. It's like Alpha and Bravo team just disappeared into thin air. The traffic cameras didn't even show them entering the neighborhood." A voice stated from one of the monitors.

"This doesn't make any sense. People don't just disappear. You're sure there's no signs of them?" The man asked as he stopped pacing.

"Yes sir. There's no sign of their presence at all. No spent casings, blood, even the target's door seems perfectly intact." The voice answered.

"Dammit. Alright, return to base. I need to make a call." The man said as he sat down at a desk and picked up a cellphone. He held it up to his ear as it began to ring before the call connected minutes later.

"Is it done Russo?" A cold voice asked over the phone.

"No, there's a problem. I believe the secondary target's security team took action. The teams I sent in have disappeared without a trace and so have the targets." Russo answered as he picked up an envelope from his desk and started opening it.

"So you failed again. How? Your company is filled with the best of the best, how are you having trouble with with his security force? His company is barely a couple months old! Are you telling me his security force is better trained than your men?!" The voice yelled out over the phone as Russo set it down on the desk.

"Look Rawlins I don't know what's going on but an entire team of my men have disappeared without so much as a footprint! If you think it's so goddamn simple then why don't you do it yourself?!" Russo shouted back as he slammed his hand on the desk.

"How dare you?! I made you! Everything you have now is because of me! All I asked was for you to do your job!" Rawlins yelled in response.

"And I saved your goddamn life! If it wasn't for me Frank would've crushed your fucking skull! I did my job like you asked! Maybe if you had done yours and given us the proper intel we wouldn't have this goddamn issue right now!" Russo replied as he stood up and tossed the lamp from his desk against a wall. A moment of silence filled the room before Russo sat down and adjusted his clothes.

"So what do we do?" Russo asked as he picked up the envelope again and pulled out a photograph. His brow furrowed as he looked at the photograph of the Castle family surrounding him on a dock.

"I'll send someone to work with your men. When we find them this time, send everyone you have. No more slip ups." Rawlins answered before he ended the phone call. Russo sighed deeply as he held the photograph in front of his face.

"Sorry Frank."

{A/N: Pretty late I know. Bunch of things played a part in it. Had some trouble deciding how to pull his parents into the fold so I can actually start using them. Also work has kept me rather busy lately so I haven't had a whole lot of time to sit down and relax.

Anyway, this will be the last thing Mikael will deal with before Stark returns and all shit hits the fan. Chapter releases should speed up then.

Also I had no idea what to put as a chapter title}