We Are Only Human
Summary (Volume 1): It has been two years since the attack on Manhattan by Loki and his Chitauri army, but something is stirring among humanity. When a new evil claims that a woman thought long dead is the Clairvoyant, The Avengers team up with old and new faces to find this threat and save the woman.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or the characters therein. I do however own my OCs Avril, Jessica, Tommy, and Rayne (and various others that occur). The characters are creations of pure fiction, although some are based on conglomerations of personalities from my friends, family, and editors. Also, for the purpose of this story, the events of the first Avengers movie happened in 2013 (it just makes a little more sense to me).
Chapter One
November 21, 2015. 0900 Hours.
A young woman sat in a chair. Her hair was done neatly. Clothes freshly changed into a nice white button up blouse with a black over sweater vest, the top two buttons of the blouse were undone. She was wearing a flowing ankle length black skirt. A pair of thick rimmed glasses adorned her face. She looked like she was a librarian or a teacher of some kind. She folded her hands together and blinked a few times before speaking.
"My name is Professor Avril Barnes-Xavier. I tell you this because most people refer to me as the Clairvoyant." The blinking continued. Her voice was monotone with a very soft – almost unnoticeable – British accent. "We have infiltrated your government and will strike at any moment if our demands are not met."
Coulson paused the recording there. He had known this woman from past encounters.
"Sir, shouldn't we report this to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Ward asked.
"We will, but I want a closer look at her eyes first. Could you zoom in on them?" Coulson asked Simmons.
"Sure," Simmons replayed the message but this time zoomed the screen in on Avril's eyes.
"Morse code," Coulson stated while looking down at the desk in front of him. "She's trying to get a message out."
Skye was intrigued by this professor. Her blue green eyes shown darkly, dark baggy circles were under her eyes as well. "Could they be torturing her?"
"That would be my guess. Professor Barnes would never side with these people." Coulson pulled out a pen and paper and started deciphering what the young professor was saying.
"We desire the eradication of all mutants."
Coulson stopped writing. He frowned then handed the paper to Agent May. "She's being controlled by them all right. Professor Barnes would never say that."
"Why not?" May inquired while reading the note.
"She's a mutant, class 5."
Everyone tensed.
"Sir, what was the Morse code?"
"Help, they've got control of me. Call the X-Men and Avengers. Help, help, help." Coulson folded his hands together and stared at the frozen image of the black haired woman. There was a dull amount of fear in her eyes. But there was a lifeless aspect to her as well. "I've got a few phone calls to make."
After Coulson had walked out of the room, Skye looked at May and the others. "X-Men?"
"A group of mutants." Ward stated while looking over the image of Professor Barnes. "Did she say Professor Barnes-Xavier?"
"Yes," May answered. She knew what Ward was thinking.
"I thought Professor Barnes was dead, died during the Invasion of Manhattan. They had a massive press release about it."
"Apparently she isn't dead."
"If the X-Men are told, they would tear apart the world just to find her."
"Why?" Skye looked at her teammates confused.
"She is the last living descendant of their former leader, Professor Charles Xavier. She was considered their heart and soul, at times. Although, according to all records she was completely human."
Coulson walked back in and looked at his team grimly. "We've been given orders to help find the Professor…and pick up certain people from Portland Oregon."
"Who?" May was actually curious.
"Agent Farnsworth."
Everyone fell silent. Skye looked around curiously.
"They want us to take the Inquisitor on this mission?" Simmons asked while fidgeting nervously.
"Yes, Agent Farnsworth personally requested to come with us on this one."
"Coulson, if we bring the Inquisitor, we'll have to—
"I know. Skye, I have a favor to ask of you." Coulson turned his full attention onto Skye.
"OK, what's up?"
"When we get to Portland, I want you to go into the holding cell and stay there."
"What? You can't be serious."
Ward frowned. "Agent Farnsworth is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s personal Inquisitor. He can see the truth in every situation, if he were to see you—
"He would arrest you." May finished.
"But—
"The Inquisitor has a higher security level than I do, second only to World Council." Coulson explained quickly. "He will probably know that you are with us and what you've done."
"Probably?"
"Most likely." Coulson corrected while trying to not think about Portland. The last time he even thought about the place was when his old girlfriend left him so she could participate in a very prestigious orchestra.
"So I have to pack up and move into the holding cell? How crazy is that?"
"It's better than being arrested and left at the Portland base."
Skye fell silent and looked at Fitz and Simmons. They looked genuinely concerned, if not frightened. "How scary is this Inquisitor anyways?"
"He is the best at interrogations, and in some instances has more pull than the Director. I've heard stories about how he faced down four of our agents who went rogue. He wasn't afraid, and the Inquisitor killed each of the rogue agents."
"I remember hearing in the academy about how the Inquisitor once had to put Director Fury on trial, under orders of the Council of course, and almost convicted him of whatever crime it was they thought he did." Simmons said while trying her best to hide her unease.
May walked out and towards the cockpit.
"How did he stop?"
"He found a single shred of proof that Fury wasn't guilty. It was enough for the Inquisitor to cancel everything."
"But none of you have actually met him?"
"No, the Inquisitor doesn't talk to anyone face to face. Only Fury has seen Agent Farnsworth and knows who he is. Until now, that is." Ward glanced at Coulson. "Is it even safe for us to have Farnsworth with us sir?"
"I don't know, if he is interested in our little team then no…but if he's just here to help save Professor Avril – which I have my doubts – then we're fine." Coulson pulled up the file of the Inquisitor, at least the sections he had clearance for. "Apparently he's been in Portland investigating the Rising Tide and potential agents who have leaked classified information to them."
"Which means we really need to hide you."
"No use hiding her, I just got a message from the Inquisitor." Coulson said while looking up from his phone. "He wants to meet Skye as soon as he gets onboard."
"That's bad, isn't it?"
"Won't know until we land and pick him and his crew up."
"Crew?"
Coulson shrugged. "I'm not sure."
Author's Note: Here is the complete redo of my old Marvel fanfiction. I have taken quite a few years to do this so please bear with me. Volumes 1 and 2 are complete already with 3 being a real work in progress. I have a twitter account now so that you can stay updated about when I am going to post new chapters and new stores it is sam_westcroft or Samantha West-Croft. I'm still learning how to work twitter (I have been seriously avoiding it until one of my cohorts managed to wrangle me into it). I still have the Facebook account as well. Your reviews and comments are appreciated but I would prefer constructive criticism instead of flaming or trolling. Thank you for reading, Sincerely SJW-C