Chapter 7: Invitation

Ally Miller sits in her chair. Her brown hair low, casual, as she leans over, and reads the responses from Karlen last night. She reads his responses to her questions causally. Written in Chinese, she pulls out her phone and uses google translate. As she translates the text. "Can a human not become a fox in your world?", he responded "Yes, but only so long as they keep there soul protected. Even a small mental barrier prevents the inversion process, its not enough to stop the physics of the realm, or fox-behavior, but it is enough to stop being turned inside out. Its working on you, because of long-term exposure with another shadow soul, one fully committed to being near you, i can't even visit home because I need to be here for the process to stay stable." So on. She sighs, unsure what half this means, but notes it down in her growing understanding of soul physics. Her other question "Why do the children with shadow fox links not transform." He responds "Because there shadow foxes are not fully there. They spend little time watching them. Its more like... they sense there children only when in large emotions. A somewhat solid wall is in place. One we do not have. Mr. Fox was the only reason that wall is not there. He choses the walls of his domain."

She stared at her own hand, laying still on the desk. Normal fingers. Normal nails. But she knew what she'd seen in the dream. Purple cracks. Animated skin. Fox ears. A tail flickering behind her like light behind glass. Thou she guesses everyone is animated in that dimension. But still... she kind of hates how animalistic she feels half the time. Yet... she still feels like herself. Her question "Would you want to be human?" His response "No. I enjoy being a fox now I guess. I have friends in the fox realm. A job. A purpose. I just want to be accepted. Thou I do miss how solid things feel in the real world." Then her last question for this session "Why do you think Mr. Fox chose foxes." Karlen's response? "I don't know, but... i think its because it reflects human nature. The truth, that we are still animals. Even with societies. We feel, assume, and go blind of things we should know. When in reality, animals are more honest. Animals don't lie, at least not as often as humans. We hide our animal nature. So, in his mind i guess, perhaps, when inverted, a soul becomes animal."

She then reads his questions to her. "Do shield kill because they lack power not to kill?" She was confused by the statement, and then remembered at work, her reading a report about a mission where they killed, from another department. She sighs, and writes on her computer, to print later in the proper language "I'm not sure, but yeah. We don't have the ability to pull people into TV's, and prevent them from harming people easily." She moves on "What do you miss about human movement most?" She responds "People not staring at me like I'm a freak." Leaves it at that with a annoyed face. She reads his next question "Would you like to visit the realm? Just for a night. Mr. Fox contacted me recently, and offered." She frowns deeply at this one.

She decided to think on that one. Printed her responses in Chinese, and got it ready to send to him next week. She arrived at work. A woman's suit on her form. But her walk was unprofessional. Her high heals helped with her natural desire to walk like a animal. But... her knees bent down. Making her already short-height, shorter. Her movements were precise, her eyes naturally wandered, and observed the room instinctively. Her shoulders slouched. Her hands closer to herself. A natrual anxiety. Others noticed, she did not fit in as she entered shield headquarters. Entering the elevator, and arriving at her personal research wing. A small area, with high-level security, and high-level secrecy. So they can talk about the fox case in private. As she entered, she got ready for there weekly meeting. Preparing her notes, and hypothesis on how Mr. Fox works, as they develop a further understanding of his phyc profile, his methods, and even potentially his physics. That is there goal.

The meeting started, with Agent Lawton, there head officer, herself, Tom, and Agent Dill. Dill was a security personal. Responsible for considering if this threat turns hostile. He... hated her... reasonable, considering she is walking more like a fox now, and has a fox in her shadow, and the entire team knows it. Just not... that she has communicated with it. Agent Lawton said at the head of the table. As her eyes focus on his eyes with raw eye contact unusual for a person. Lawton said "Lets start shall we. First we will go over the newest of Mr. Fox's kits. So far... no changes in behavior. Nothing. But... he has been expanding his reach. His pings are reaching into Mexico, and Canada. Its getting harder to track his pings. Predictions?" Tom says "My data analysis shows the pings will be able to reach the entire globe in just the next few weeks. I suspect he is expanding his reach, or he could always reach this far, and is deciding to reach further." She nods quietly. Dill says "That could be a issue. We have no idea how his senses work, or what all he can see. We don't know the limits of his information network." Dill gives her a stink eye. "Its likely at least, that every shadow fox is a eye he has." She looks at him, indignant. She is annoyed, wants to growl, but holds back. They got into a argument a few days back, and she yelled, and growled like a animal, as she left the room. He was not entirely wrong about the eye thing, just... Karlen chose what he told to Mr. Fox.

Tom breaks the tension "Seriously, stop it you two. She is already having a lot of stress from having a shadow fox following her..." Dill replies "She needs a check up before i would consider trusting her. She has been avoiding all medical examinations after that first one... you can all tell... she is not moving right." The room grew quite. She grew quite. Tom sighs "I kinda agree. But stop being so rude to her." Lawton says "Fury himself told me to let her be. She is allowed to keep secrets, as long as its for shield's sake. He trusts her as a diplomatic connection to Mr. Fox." Dill says "I would trust her more, if she was not so clearly hiding secrets."

Tom leaned forward too, arms folded on the table, his face soft with concern rather than suspicion, as he nervously says. "Ally. You know we don't think you're dangerous. But it's starting to be... visible. People are noticing." His tone was like that of a man who once talked down a bomb. "I've worked beside you for months now. You're still you. But you've got... someone in the passenger seat. We just want to know who's driving." There was sympathy in his voice. And worry. Not for S.H.I.E.L.D.—for her.

She feels like lying, avoiding it. But... she frowns slowly. They are right. They deserve to know. They are on this case too, and trusted by fury. So instead, she spoke slowly. "Fine, its just... personal I guess. first... as Mr. Fox said, shadows are people. Ones changed by his realm, but people. No mind control." Knees bent a little too much. Hands kept close to her core. Shoulders loose in a way that said "crouch" more than "relax." She didn't fit anymore, and the room knew it. They could tell she was relucted to speak. "So, that is first thing. The shadow foxes follow Mr. Fox because they choose after recovery." Lawton focuses on her. "That is intel no one could get normally... can you speak to Karlen? That shadow." There was a silence in the room after Lawton's question. It wasn't the polite kind. It was the thick, tight air of professionals dancing around fear. She blinked once. Swallowed. Then answered, carefully. "Yes. I can... kind of." Tom leaned back slightly, arms still folded, eyes narrowing—not in suspicion, but in recalibration. He'd suspected. Of course he had. He wasn't dumb. The data was always off around her. Her behavior didn't align with standard parasitic phenomena. She wasn't possessed—there was no external control impulse he could tell. He says "What you mean kind of?" Dill's eyes grew sharper. Lawton was focused on her, professionally, but yet... respectful.

She sighs foxishly for a instant, and cuts it off with a clearly forceful human sigh. She is nervous, anxious, slightly fearful. As she says "At... first nothing. I did not even feel weird. Not even a sense of his shadow. Ordinary people, or even are best sensors can not sense him. Then... well... weird dreams... and... i began to sleepwalk... and then i put up cameras... and then we learned to communicate... i... guess. But it wasn't possession. It was more like... sharing. We negotiated. We scheduled. Every Saturday night." They go quite. Dill's eyes sharpen to anger "You gave... that thing access to you?" She looks at him, angry, as her emotions flash "You try telling a man who's been stuck as a shadow fox for 40 years, who just learned, or reexperienced what food tastes like no." Dill is stunned "What do you mean! That thing is not human anymore. You have no idea what it is!" Dill begins to show his colors. "You have no idea what it means to be human. From all I've seen... he is. His mind is quite human still. He even once had a human body, a human life." Lawton angry, yells out "QUITE! Sit! We are here for the facts, and personal experience of Agent Miller!" Dill is unhappy, but sits, with teeth clenched. As Miller subtly growls in her throat, animalistically, turning away, sitting.

She had answers no sensor could pull. Access no other operative could get. Which made her dangerous. And irreplaceable. So he set his voice like stone. "Fury says we let her be. And I agree. She's not the same, but she's still with us. And if the cost of that insight is that she walks like a fox and growls at meetings—so be it. Miller... if you are willing to tell us more, let me know... Dill... your close to losing your position here. Fury has me on strict orders." Miller looks at him, with a quite surprise. Her expressions are often human still... its why they feel weird. Her face is human, her eyes are too... honest, or animal? Her movements are animal, yet human too. Its... weird. She is quite. Tom says "I'm sorry. I know your going thru changes because of this. But... we need to know them." She is quite. Then says "Fine." As she silently ignores Dill aggressively. "But i first need you to accept these shadows as human. They have cities in there world. They call there realm, the anima tied realm, or the Fox realm. Its a place where all things become animated, even people, even if they are not made into foxes. Being turned into a shadow fox is a somewhat effortful process for Mr. Fox it seems. As it depends on a persons mental resistance."

Tom asked "How human is Karlen?" She sighs, and rubs her head. Saying "More then most i know. Just... basic. He explained it like this... when someone becomes a shadow fox, is turned inside out. Inside out, reversal, results in a state... where you can not lie to oneself. Not hold back anything, nothing, not a single mental block. You feel sad inside... its not you feel sad. You dislike someone, it shows. You don't understand something, it comes to the surface as child like... curiosity." Lawton sighs "So they become something... human-adjacent. Human, but with no mental barriers." Miller nodded "Mr. Fox doesn't punish them, he allows them to create, and live even. Just as long as they don't lie, even to themselves, and be better people. They punish themselves it seems. Karlen said most chose to stay in that realm. Many don't even care anymore about being human when they recover. Mr. Fox can't make them human again for some reason after the shadow fox transformation." Lawton nods.

Tom asks "can they lie to others?" Miller pauses, and says "Yes, but only when they truly decide to lie. The only things they can do to balance feelings, is to balance opposites, or lower a feeling truthfully. Be truly mentally healthy." Dill couldn't sit still. He was seething—but not the hot, reckless kind. His anger was surgical. Cold. "You're asking us to empathize with a shadow creature that physically altered your body," he said, words clipped and precise. "You growl at people now. You walk like an animal. You're changing. That's not just personality. That's biology. We don't know where this will end. How long you will be..." He goes quite. Lawton gives a death glare. Karlen looks at him with visible, animalistic rage being held. While Tom looks at him annoyed, and angry. Karlen says "Yes... how is this any different then Captain America, or those others. The only difference is its because of some cartoonish other dimension, with its own rules, leaking energy into my soul, that is causing it." Dill says angry, "You just want to be a animal, is that it?" Anger sparks inside her... intense, as the screens nearby glitch for a second, for a instant, a shadow of ears behind her. She growls loudly, sounds perfectly like a animal. Then she stops... she breaths, trying to calm herself, griping the metal table so hard, it bends in. Then... silence. Tom smirk, with slight fear slowly "Proving my own point." As he leaves the room.

Tom finally speaks, softer this time. "Are you ok?" Agent Miller, Ally Miller is quite. As she breaths, and calms, and then bends her head back, and leans back, whimpers. "Yeah... just... can we get that guy off the team..." Lawton is quite. "I'm unsure... he has a right to feel concerned... Ally... you made the lights flicker... and that strength was above human. I can accept that you are human, the foxes are human. But they can still be dangerous, just like anyone with a gun can, except there gun is there body, and is shadows, and... unexplained phenomena." The room is cold. Miller is quite, visibly tired. Lawton inhaled through his nose. Weighed everything. Then said the thing no one wanted to hear. "We can't afford for this to escalate further without oversight. You need training... we need to see what you are gaining, losing, or becoming. I'm not calling for containment. Fury said no. I agree." She was quite, closed in. As she wimpers, and sighs in a halfway, and says "Fine... but... seriously, keep it the highest classified you can."