Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

"Are you sure about this?" Murdoc asked his boss as they stared at the swirling blue thing. It looked like electricity formed in the air and was constantly turning, that was the only way for him to describe it.

"You are kidding right? I know you are uncomfortable about the idea but we already tested it. I threw a can into it. The can disappeared, so it has to be a portal. Meanwhile the glasses and lab coats are all saying they are getting strange readings off of it." Director Carter comforted him with a grin on her face. For someone nearing the age of sixty she still had a lot of spirit in her.

Murdoc rolled his eyes, "fine, I still do not get why you have to go with me. I am the one on danger watch. I should be the only one that gets to do something that would be considered deadly." Murdoc double checked the pistol and other devices that SHIELD had set him up with.

It really was a new age despite only being 1978. Unfortunately it was nothing like the kind of technology his family was used to. "That's not why, this is a portal to god's know where. I needed someone who could understand what we found if it is technologically advanced beyond anything we have here."

"Haa…" Murdoc sighed as he glanced at the older woman. "I will go first. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I will follow a second after you enter." Director Carter told him happily.

"They wouldn't let you go first would they?" Murdoc asked while chuckling.

Peggy Carter sighed, "no they wouldn't." She admitted.

Murdoc rolled his eyes as he stepped forward. He walked into the blue circle and he felt a strange sensation like he was moving through a heavy liquid. A moment later he was blinking his eyes as he stepped through. He blinked his eyes and as he opened them he realized he was in the same place as before.

A hall in a hotel in London. It was the same hall, same building, but there was a slight difference. There were flags and regalia covering the walls. Unfortunately it was not the set of flags he would have been expecting to see in the center of England. He walked further down the hall until he got to a large set of windows which gave him a decent view of the city and he sucked in a breath of air.

"Hey, Murdoc this looks like- oh my god… Where are we?" Peggy asked in awe.

Murdoc sucked in a breath of air. It was England but back in time. The streets had soldiers patrolling them along with tanks going down the middle of the road. While in the air were planes flying over them.

But all the flags were either of Nazi Germany or of their Science Division called Hydra. England or at least London was conquered. "Well shit…"

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Ethan stood up and picked up his suitcase as he was walking to the lowering door of the private jet he had taken to get here. He had been forced to take a few days off of his internship but that would be fine. Ethan walked down the ramp in the private hangar his extended family owned in the United Kingdom.

Hopefully he would not run into them during his short trip here. As he stepped onto the ground he looked around seeing a few guards looking over at him quizzically. He ignored them as a black SUV pulled up right outside of the hangar.

Ethan walked to it and opened the back door hoping inside. Inside sitting in the front was a woman. "Liberty Lion?" He asked as cracked his neck. "What is the emergency?" He closed the door and she began driving off.

"This job will pay half as much as an assasination mission but it is funded by First Line. There are other benefits to be had upon successful completion instead. It is also classified so everything about what I am about to tell you and what you will see you are not allowed to share with others without permission." Liberty Lion explained.

Ethan frowned, "okay, what is it about?"

"In our world there are some rare events that have never been explained before. Since even before the founding of SHIELD there has always been First Line to take care of them. After the first world war is when they began appearing more frequently as far as we know. During the cold war we struggled with taking care of them which is why we expanded our businesses to spying and assassination as well."

"These rare events are essentially collapsing pocket dimensions. Miniature worlds that lead to our own after their universe fell apart. There is a certain amount of time before the pocket dimension collapses. Once it collapses the nearby area turns into the pocket dimension which destroys anything nearby and kills anyone in the vicinity. In order to prevent that we need to find two core components of the collapsing pocket dimension."

"But in order for someone to find the core components they have to travel into the portal leading to the collapsing pocket dimension. Once inside it will be a completely different world, there is no telling what it is like inside until you enter. The people inside the dimension cannot leave until it completely collapses but one of the cores which will always be a person can leave through the portal. You need them to leave in order to complete half of the objective in stopping the collapse. Doing so will also extend the time you have before the dimension collapses."

"The second core will be an item. Once both the item and the person are through the portal it turns into a contained collapsed. Which will condense into a material you have come across before, a dark metal. But it would be best not to be inside when the dimension does collapse. Any questions?"

"Is there any way to tell what the cores are? I am guessing they don't just glow or anything like that?" Ethan asked with a frown as he processed this information.

"Yes actually. After some experimentation we found that people and things from our world give off a different vibrational frequency as things from the collapsing pocket dimension. Then we further discovered that cores while inside the collapsing dimension give off a fluctuating vibrational frequency." Liberty Lion shrugged as they pulled up to an old and decrepit hotel that looked like it was about to be torn down. "I have a device by the setup I have near the portal. You can take it in with you."

Liberty Lion stopped the vehicle and stepped out. "Where is your equipment?"

Ethan walked around the vehicle following her into the decrepit hotel. He held up the suitcase, "all in here. I only came with my equipment and the clothes on my back. You said it was an emergency."

They walked into the hotel and Ethan sighed as he followed her in. They were walking up the creaking and falling apart wooden stairs up to the third floor. This place was really a hazard, it really made him wonder how they knew one of these collapsing pocket dimensions were here.

"It gives off a very rare and special frequency. We use a device to detect it." Liberty Lion explained as she saw his expression.

"Okay then," Ethan continued following her until they arrived at what she was talking about. He was used to strange things, through his computer monitors he had seen all sorts of strange things as well as living in New York. Nowadays as he worked as an intern he had seen portals popping up during Reed's experiments.

Which was definitely what that pulsating blue energy was, a portal. Sitting near it was a table with a black unlabeled box. It seemed to be a reinforced one. He used a \ similar one whenever he wanted to transport something precious. There was a chair sitting next to the table with a tablet sitting by it.

"I will wait here for you. Time passes differently, not too differently but it is still somewhat noticeable. But it is always that time passes quicker inside than outside." Liberty Lion explained as she opened the box and stood to the side.

Ethan walked up and pulled out the device that looked to be similar to a radio but with two antennas instead of one. "What happens when the person core does not want to leave the dimension?"

"You can kill them, but doing so inside the pocket dimension expedites the collapse." Liberty Lion explained as she sat down in the chair and looked at her pad. "You might as well get ready, that is the only piece of equipment I really have to help you."

Ethan nodded before stepping away and pushing open one of the many vacant and partially destroyed hotel rooms. He then opened the suitcase and began equipping and putting on the temporary outfit he had made in his downtime.

Ethan walked out of the room a few moments later as Liberty Lion was looking down at her tablet. He was adjusting one of his gloved hands. When she looked up her eyes widened in surprise and Ethan could see through her disguised face that she was completely caught off guard.

Ethan was dressed in an all black outfit. The more cloth-like parts of his armor were reinforced carbon fibers. While the shiny metal parts all along his body and limbs were a lightweight reinforced steel. He had a hood covering his head and a black mask that was a flat surface instead of the ones with holes he usually used. This mask instead had a digital interface that he could interact with inside using his eyes and brain waves. As for the equipment he had on him it consisted of a grappling hook, a few throwing knives, a smoke grenade, and two emp grenades.

"Actually before you go, I need you to do something else. Never remove that mask while inside with the women around at least. Also do not tell them anything about the collapsing portal dimension or how you are finding the cores. You will understand when you enter." Liberty Lion explained with a sigh as she brought a hand up to her temple and began rubbing it.

"Understood." Ethan did not understand in the slightest bit. But he was sure that this whole thing was one confusing situation. "Am I good to go in?"

"Yes, if you are ready, take this tracker and go in. Be careful." Liberty Lion warned and watched him walk up to the blue portal and then walk in.

Ethan walked through it and felt a comforting sensation. He also felt a sense of familiarity as he moved through this liquid-like substance. Then he was through, stepping out into the same hotel but far newer and-

"Who the hell? Did we do that?" Ethan stared at the group of scientists in lab coats who were staring at him. It took him a moment to process that they just fired something at the portal using a device. But that was not the important part, the important part were the several World War Two era Hydra troopers who were surrounding him with their weapons drawn.

He was feeling sluggish and could not react instantly to them after exiting the portal, "Shit."