I am trying to stick close to the movie, however some things are going to change. It will be mostly from Claire's point of view. When it does switch I will label it. Claire is my character, the rest belong to Marvel.
…
The day was ticking by, slowly. The lunch rush had already ended and the only customer was a regular. He was sipping his coffee at the other end of the diner. I had already wrapped silverware and cleaned off all the tables. I was exchanging my tips, dollar bills for larger bills, when the bell on the door chimed. I glanced up briefly, stowed my money and walked to the front counter.
"Miss Barton," Fury greeted me from the other side of the counter. He gave a small nod and smile, trying and failing to act friendly.
"Mr. Fury," I said kindly. I pulled my order pad and a pen from my apron pocket. "What can I get for you?"
"A burger, to-go." I furrowed my brows but nodded. Something was wrong. I put in his order and gave him a copy of his receipt. I glanced around, the diner was almost empty, save for an older man at the end of the counter drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. Fury spoke in a soft voice. "I need you to come with me."
I sighed and looked at him. He gave me a look that said that it was important and I nodded. "Mr. Johnson, I'm not feeling well. Would you mind if I went home early?"
He looked at me, his mouth set into a hard line. I slumped my posture slightly, looking up at him. Let me go home, I thought. "You're my only waitress, Claire."
"I know, and I wouldn't go if I didn't feel terrible. I think it's that flu that's going around," I lied smoothly. Let me go home, I thought again. He frowned but gave in, nodding his head.
"Feel better, Claire." I nodded a little and tugged my jacket on, pretending to be cold. I slipped out the back door and met Fury in his black SUV half a block down the street. Slamming the door shut, I looked at him.
"This had better be good, Fury, I just gave up half a day of tips," I mutter, pulling my seat belt on. "What do you need?"
"I'll tell you at the jet," was all Fury gave. I narrowed my eyes.
"Fury," I said, facing him. Sweetly, I asked, "Do you want to tell me now?"
"At the jet," was his reply. I huffed like teenager and slumped into my seat. "You can have the burger, I know you don't eat enough."
Biting my lip, I watched New York fly by out of my passenger window. His offer was tempting, but I shook my head. "Give it to Maria."
We reached the jet a short time later. Fury shook his head as I opened my mouth to demand an answer. Pursing my lips, I climbed into the jet with him. He spoke to the captain for a few minutes while I buckled myself in. I learned the hard way last time when Clint took me for a ride.
"Now can I know?" I asked him as he buckled in beside me. He looked like he was going to open his mouth to say something but the roar of the jet engine cut him off. He looked at me as apologetically as he could. His face seemed to be set into a permeant scowl though. The entire climb to the sky, I stared at him intently. Once we reached a cruising altitude, he spoke.
"How much do you know about Clint's current assignment?"
"Everything," I stated, looking at him with a dull stare. He should have known that Clint would tell me.
"You know that Clint has been guarding a very valuable item?" He quizzed.
"Yes," I sighed. I knew that I would have to tell him just how much I knew. This would probably get Clint in trouble. "Clint told me that you put him in charge of overseeing the Tesseract project. Watching to make sure nothing went wrong, just like you asked. He's stationed at an underground base, somewhere in the Southwest in a desert area. He didn't even know the exact location. He won't even call me while he's there. Why? What's wrong with Clint?"
"Do you know what happened in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico last year?" He questioned again.
"Some god was banished from his home, his jealous brother tried to have him killed," I said, trying to read his face. "Flattened the entire town. Clint told me that it was a war-zone when a giant robot attacked, nothing was left of the town. There was a scientist or physicist there too, trying to help the banished god."
"Yes," Fury said. "A Norse god by the name of Thor was sent to Earth by his father. His brother, Loki, tried to have him killed. The scientist is Dr. Erik Selvig, the astrophysicist is Dr. Jane Foster. That is not really important. Loki, the 'jealous brother', came back to earth. He stole the Tesseract from the underground base where Clint was working."
"Clint," I swallowed hard, dread filling my stomach. I felt sick. "Is he alive?"
"Yes," Fury spoke slowly, he looked like he wasn't telling me something. I felt the jet start to drop for landing. When I peered out the window, I noticed that it was going to land on a ship in the middle of an ocean. "Loki had a staff, the staff allows him to have control over people, over their minds. Mind-control, if you will. He has Dr. Selvig and Clint."
"What?" I took a deep breath, unstrapping myself from the seat as soon as I felt the plane touch down. "What do you mean by that?"
"Agent Clint Barton has been compromised," Fury's words hit me like a ton of bricks and left my blood like ice. I stood in the jet for a second. I didn't move until the pilot came up to me and told me that he needed to get it into the carrier. This sent me scrambling to catch up with Fury. I finally found him in the control room. I had just found the control room when I felt the ship move, causing me to stumble slightly. From the front windows, I could see the ship rising into the air. It was no ship, but a helicarrier, I soon realized.
"We're at level, sir," Maria Hill spoke.
"Good, let's vanish," Fury responded, then turned to look at me.
"What do you mean to tell me that my brother has been compromised?" I spoke with slow words and deep breathes.
"Claire, calm down," Director Fury spoke in a soft tone of voice while my own hysteria rose. "We'll get him back."
"Calm down, Nick? Calm down?" I nearly shrieked at him. As I glanced around, I noticed the people in the control room were starting to stare. Except for Maria Hill, who was trying to enjoy the burger Fury ordered. "Nicholas, you promised him. You promised me. You told me that he wouldn't get hurt, that he would be safe."
"And he is," Fury then added softly, "for the most part."
"Being brainwashed by a god from a different planet is not safe."
"Gentleman," Fury greeted.
"Ma'am?" A soft tone interrupted the argument Fury and I were having. The stranger discreetly handed Fury a ten dollar bill while I furrowed my brows.
"What?" I said coldly, turning to face the voice. When I turned, I was staring into a broad, well defined chest covered by a plaid button down shirt and a brown leather jacket. I looked up at the man towering above me. He has sandy blonde hair and sky blue eyes. His jaw was clenched, making it look more square than it really was.
"Miss," the man trailed off, not knowing my name.
"Claire Barton." I said harshly. Vaguely, I heard Fury talking with another man, thanking him for coming. The man replied with a snarky comment that made two of the agents closest to me giggle.
"Miss Barton, we will find him. We will bring him back safely." The man said politely, he spoke like he was trying to calm a frightened child.
"Claire," Natasha's voice made me turn quickly on my heel. "Claire, Clint's tough. We'll get him back."
"Tasha, I hope you are right." I huffed out with a pout on my lips. Natasha moved silently to me and embraced me in a hug, rubbing gently on my back. It was good to see her again, even under the circumstances. I pulled back from Tasha after a brief moment. I noticed that the control room was starting to get rather crowded. Tasha stepped back from me, looking at Nick Fury and Maria Hill.
"How far are you with that?" The man with a gray suit spoke.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." Agent Phil Coulson replied. I looked at him as Natasha mentioned that it might not be fast enough to find Clint in time.
"Dr. Banner, Captain Rogers, this is Agent Clint Barton's little sister, Claire. She's going to be helping us with this mission." Maria spoke up, directing her attention to the doctor and Mr. Rogers. I looked at the screen with Clint's face on it, then to the screen replaying the clip from inside the room that housed the Tesseract. Quickly, I looked away. I didn't want to see what happened to Clint yet. "Claire?"
"Hm," I said, Fury's voice shaking me out of my trance.
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please." Fury asked.
"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys," Tasha joked.
"Miss Barton, please show Captain Rogers to his room?" Fury eyed me.
"This way," I said as I started to walk.
"I know it must be hard on you, seeing your brother in danger," Captain Rogers spoke once we reached the hallway. As we walked, a few people on the carrier said hi to Captain Rogers or saluted him, which made me wonder how he was so popular. I remembered the disc in my bag that contained profiles on everyone and made a mental note to look at that as soon as possible.
"Yea, it is," I looked up at him. He must have stood at least six foot tall, easily towering over my five foot three frame. I spoke again when we reached a door, "Here you go, Captain, I'm right across the hall if you need anything."
"Thank you, Miss Barton, and please, call me Steve." He smiled before turning the doorknob and letting himself into his room. I nodded and went into my own room and sat on the bed. The disc that Fury handed me with everyone's file nearly burned a hole through my hands. Quickly, I put the disc into the computer drive and looked through the files. Clint's file held footage of what happened at the base, it made my stomach sick to see how easily the 'god' took control of him.
Looking through each of the files on the disc, I took in the information like a sponge. There was a file on something called "The Avengers", which would include Captain America, Natasha, Dr. Banner, Tony Stark, Thor, Clint, and myself. Some of the names I recognized, some I did not. I carefully studied each file, reading the articles and watching all the video clips.
Steve's POV:
Director Fury had given me a disc with file's on everyone for me to look at before training tomorrow. Carefully, I inserted the disc into the computer slot and waited for it to start up, my mind wandering to Claire Barton. She was a petite girl, but from what I saw with Fury, not one to be messed with. I skipped over my own file, looking at Clint's. His file held his picture, video clips of him in action, his statistics, nothing too special. The bottom of his file was label "Compromised Until Further Notice." The next file was Claire's. Her file was scarce. A few pictures of her, no videos, where she used to work, her statistics, but nothing more. I stared at the black haired, blue eyed girl looking back at me from the screen. It said she was only five foot, three inches tall and weighed 115 pounds. I found it strange at how much was missing from her profile after I flipped through everyone else's. I remembered how Director Fury mentioned that she was Agent Barton's sister, but they looked almost nothing alike. The only feature they shared was their eyes. Briefly, I wondered if they were only half-siblings.
I found myself thinking back to the argument she and Fury were having. She was a spitfire when she was mad, that's for sure. There was something else about her that I couldn't place, she was a mystery. She drew me in, like a moth to a flame.
