A/N: Welcome to my Avengers fanfic! I gotta be honest- I was never going to write one, but was instead waiting for a friend to post hers when some ideas came to me. This is probably the first story I had planned out properly. I actually know what's going to happen for once! Hooray!
...I only just realised that my OCs all have a Doctor Who reference in them somewhere. I assure you, that was an unintentional, but very funny, coincidence. Also, "What are you going to do- Assemble cabinets at them?!"
Anyway, I won't hold you here much longer. Enjoy! :D

Chapter 1: Thunder

"Ms Tyler. Ms Tyler? Jess! Earth to Jess!" The voice snapped her out of her daydream. Jess' eyes re-focused and raised to meet Agent Phil Coulson's face, showing badly concealed concern. He was trying to be indifferent, but she couldn't mistake that gleam of worry in his eyes.
They were standing in Phil's office aboard the quinjet, nicknamed the Bus, discussing Jess' new mission. Or, they were discussing the mission until a certain Agent Tyler zoned out and was faced with the horrifying memories of New York. Of course, she wasn't on the front line herself. No, she was with a small group of agents working to keep civilians away from the action in an assigned area, while dealing with the stress of her first week in S.H.I.E.L.D.
She'd only just been promoted to 'Agent' and all its fanciness when she was thrown head-first into the first Battle of New York, or BNY as people were beginning to refer to it as. Not six days in the field and she'd already seen enough innocent deaths first-hand to last ten lifetimes. The ringing in her ears after an explosion didn't really block out the blood-curdling shrieks of people burning alive. People dying. Even now, she heard the echoes of the noises. The grinding of metal against metal as buildings crumbled. The sound of hundreds of windows shattering. The-
"Jess!" Phil was looking almost annoyed now. He had been leaning on his desk before, but was now standing at his full height, which was about an inch or two shorter than Jess.
"Sorry, sir. You were saying something about guarding..?" Jess apologised, only half sorry. It was, after all, tradition for her to get her missions standing on solid ground and not be halfway to the mission location when she was told about it. So, naturally, she was a little on-edge.
Coulson had that smirk on his face which usually meant he was still a little annoyed, but wouldn't go as far as to show it.
"...Yes. You've been assigned to a small group of agents that will keep an eye on Stark Tower for a while. You'll be guarding some very important... stuff while you're there. I assume you're fairly familiar with Agents Reynolds and Cobb, since you'll be living with them for the next year or so. They're already on site, since they were briefed by Director Fury yesterday." Phil smiled a little, showing a glimmer of humanity behind the business-like manor of his exterior. Phil had this way of getting to know everyone and generally being fatherly to everyone who worked under him. That way, if you didn't do well, he could give you a disappointed look and you'd feel instantly shamed.
"Thank you, sir." Jess smiled back, friendly but respectfully distant. Coulson nodded curtly in dismissal and Jess made her way out of his office as he went to sit down. Only when she was sure she was alone did she sink down into a chair and let her head fall into her hands.
Oh god... Stark Tower, the most well-guarded, yet completely visible to the public, building in New York? Guarding important 'stuff'? Using rookies like her, Reynolds and Cobb? Almost in New York before she heard anything?
Outside, rainclouds gathered above the city and thunder rumbled away in the distance.

Now, Jess Tyler was not recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. for her skill in the field- rather since it was more of a lack thereof. No, Jess was chosen because of her bizarrely accurate perception skills. Way back when, as a little girl, she'd loved reading books about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Instead of being amazed by Sherlock's deductions, she'd noticed a similarity between herself and the detective. She, too, came to conclusions about things relatively quickly, even if her deductions were far less remarkable as a child. Even now, as an adult, she was little more than a Watson to Holmes. Still, such people are rare, and even rarer are those that would willingly join S.H.I.E.L.D.
That said, Jess often missed things. Big things. Seeing every detail made the big picture all too clear, and disturbing. She often averted her gaze and focused on small, less important parts of the picture. Like why in the world she was currently sitting in a silver Audi R8 with blacked out windows, driving through the city as it rained heavily.
The driver was a serious-looking middle-aged man with a discreet earpiece in his right ear. Second marriage. Two children. A black-and-white dog with long hair. Though, it could just be that he got a different wedding ring for some other reason. There might only be one very messy child, or three neat ones. And the 'dog' could just be the result of a strange fur coat. Jess had learned very early on not to just blurt out what she thought. It often didn't end well.
Still, she allowed herself a quick victory-grin when she saw the picture of his family for a brief second when he re-checked the safety on his gun.
The drive to Stark Tower from the private airport was a silent one. The man chose to drive there swiftly, using as many shortcuts as possible. Jess gathered that the reasoning for the R8 was simply that no one would question it disappearing into the garage of Stark Tower, which was what it did after sailing through New York faster than the Newbie Agent would've guessed possible. Surely there was traffic in the heart of the Big Apple..?

Even the garage was guarded to the teeth. They were mostly hired goons, though. No S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives here. Each guard had some form of weapon, like they didn't know what to expect. Naturally, Jess blinked nonchalantly at a guard who waved them through a door armed with nothing but a baseball bat.
The building itself was a lot more modern than Jess had expected. In the bright entrance, she shook the hands of some more scary security people before being ushered to an elevator. A woman in a suit and pointless sunglasses told her the passcode to get to the floor she needed to go to, with a serious warning to never reveal it. Jess nodded, a little flustered at how fast everything was moving.
There was no slowing down, no break. Don't go here, remember this. It was like High School all over again. Honestly, if she hadn't tuned out part of the way through, she would've been so overwhelmed she would've missed the arrival of Agent Cobb and Agent Reynolds.
The former was the first to notice Jess, and with a wide grin, she nudged her friend a little too roughly with her elbow. Reynolds' eyes narrowed in a playful glare (that, honestly, still would've turned a grown man to stone) and the two young women made their way over, donning poker-faces. Both Reynolds and Cobb wore dark suits, not unlike Jess' own pinstriped one. She'd been instructed to wear formal attire when moving to the Tower. More than likely, the two women were given the same advice.
Some Agent was telling Jess about the facilities Jess would be able to use while staying at the Tower. She'd be provided with a room for however long she was needed, along with access to the main residential areas of the building.
The man was halfway through telling her which kitchen to use in the morning when he was interrupted by Agent Reynolds.
"Excuse me, Agent, but I believe we will be able to show Agent Tyler around." The youngest of the three women spoke in a business-like manner to the other Agent, who nodded curtly and turned on his heel. Soon, they were the only ones standing in what looked like a living space, complete with amazing view and massive television, connected to just about every new gaming platform available, and one Jess'd never seen or heard of before. The whole area was a mixture of whites and soft browns, aside from the technology obviously.
Jess stared at the two women for a moment, expressionless. Until she narrowed her eyes, dropped her chin and grinned like a shark. Both Reynolds and Cobb burst out laughing.
"Creeper Smile!" Jess fixed her expression and joined in their laughter. When it finally died down, Jess smiled at them. "It's good to see you guys. Seriously, it's been way too long." A pause, then Cobb smirked. Jess proceeded to hit her. Reynolds sighed, not trying very hard to fight the smile.
"I thought you two would've grown out of that!" She rolled her eyes.
"Never, Rose! Especially when Amy twists my words like that." Jess beamed, before pulling the two of them into a bear hug. Amy ended up crushing both of her friends' ribcages.
"Amy- can't... breathe... let go!" Jess gasped, feeling herself be strangled by a shoulder.
When they were finally released, the young women exchanged excited news and gossip since they'd last met, basically filling in every gap. Eventually, they curled up on the sofa in the living space, still talking.

"So, what do you think we're guarding?" Amy asked, eating some of the chocolate she always seemed to have on or around her person. Rose stretched over her friend to select a section of the delicious bar. She began nibbling at it quietly, thinking over what she knew.
"Well, whatever it is, it can't have arrived yet. Those guards downstairs look ready for a full-scale terrorist attack and they're still waiting for the bomb to arrive." Rose thought aloud.
"Maybe it's some secret new weapon, or some alien tech." Amy ventured.
Jess stayed silent, watching the dark, ominous clouds rolling over New York with frightening speed through the massive floor-to-ceiling window perpendicular to the white couch. Rain poured down in rivers on the glass.
The two others quickly noted her lack of guesses.
"Jess..? What's wrong?" Rose asked, eyeing her friend with concern mixed with a hint of suspicion. Jess sighed and turned towards the two girls, worry etched across her face.
"Whatever- or whoever- we're guarding is gonna be here shortly." She then pointedly turned and stared out the window at the oncoming storm. This time, Amy and Rose followed her gaze. Lightning crackled through the clouds, lighting up the sky. Thunder rumbled loudly a few seconds later as the storm closed in on Stark Tower.

A/N: This chapter's fairly short, but don't worry. The others will be a lot longer, hopefully! Also, if you wanna see the characters' designs, I'm on Polyvore-dot-com as 'thepawsification'.
...Don't ask about that name. Long story. ;)
See you next time!