A/N: This is my first time writing outside my usual so bear with me. If you like this story, shoot me a review, and I will continue it. I of course do not own Marvel or the Avengers, shame that.
DG
Assembly Required
The Events in this story take place shortly after the first episode of Agents of SHIELD
The Nevada desert was a place of many secrets. Many holes had been dug out in the desert over the years, and many problems had been buried and forgotten out here.
Agent Riley Adair hoped that he would not be one of them. He looked up into the night sky, watching the many stars that shone brightly overhead. After the Manhattan Incident he supposed that he would never look at the stars the same way again.
No one would, he supposed.
Adair was not a very imposing individual. He did not stick out in anyway, his short brown hair, black pressed suit, and generally bland demeanor meant that he could pass through most areas without attracting much attention, but that of course was the whole point. An agent that stood out was not a very good agent. His work depended on his anonymity. The sooner people forgot him once he was gone the better.
Though in his late twenties he still had a boyishness face that made many of his peers not take him seriously, of course, those that worked with him changed their tune after seeing the agent in action. He was not afraid to get his hands dirty, and often took jobs that led him into…well…some very strange places.
He had been recruited into SHIELD in his late teens, and after almost ten years of service was seen as a man who could get things done. After his most recent success in Venice, he had been reassigned to a team working out of a SHIELD safe house in Beijing.
When the call came to return stateside he was wondering what had happened. As far as he knew he had not done anything wrong. The team he was working with had been functioning well, and everyone had been getting done what needed to be done.
So…why call him home, and why ask him to come here, in the middle of nowhere.
He leaned back against the door of his black SUV, He did not see any vantage point that someone might be hiding but that did not mean much.
If Fury wanted him…removed, he had all kinds of ways to make it happen. Ways that even Riley Adair would not expect.
He tried to kill such thoughts. Though enigmatic at times, Nick Fury was not an overly cruel man. If he wanted Adair sanctioned, he would not have gone to all this trouble.
At least…Adair hoped that he wouldn't.
Approaching headlights drew his attention, a lone vehicle moving fast down the road. It was dark, but he recognized from the sound of the engines that it was not a SHIELD military vehicle. In fact, it sounded a little like a sports car.
Riley smiled slightly.
He had heard that engine before, it had taken him a bit to remember where, but now that he had…
That old son of a bitch.
The sports car stopped, bathing the agent in the yellow glow of its headlights. A lone figure emerged from the driver seat. He was dressed in a black suit almost identical to Adair's. He was balding with brown hair, and had a bland almost unrecognizable face.
It had been a few years since they last worked together. Riley had heard a lot of rumors about what happened before the Battle of New York.
He was pleased that not all of those rumors were true.
The new arrival picked up a large manila envelope from the passenger seat of the sports car. He walked up to Riley and shook his hand.
Adair glanced back at his fellow agent's vehicle.
"Lola sounds a little rough?" he said.
"She doesn't like the desert," the other man shrugged, "She'll probably need a tune up when I get back to the bus."
Riley smirked.
"It is good to see you again Agent Coulson."
"And you as well Agent Adair," Phil Coulson responded, "How was China?"
"Wet," the younger man chuckled, "How was Tahiti?"
Coulson smiled.
"It's a magical place."
Riley almost snickered, the thought of Phil Coulson laying a beach somewhere, he just couldn't see it.
Hopefully if he ever almost got killed in action Fury would give him such a relaxing reassignment.
'An odd place to meet sir," he glancing around at the desert, "You and I aren't filling any holes out here are we?"
Coulson's expression turned more serious, if that was possible.
"Director Fury wanted our conversation off the books, which is why we are meeting out here instead of back at base."
Riley looked up.
Coulson smiled.
"No SHIELD birds overhead tonight," he informed the younger man, "They are having technical difficulties, a minor hiccup. They will be fixed by the time we are done here."
Adair nodded.
"Good to know that SHIELD is watching over us."
He turned to his old ally.
"I heard that Fury gave you a team Phil,' he said, "I was a little shocked you did not invite me to be a part of it. Who you got handling the wetwork?"
"Ward."
Riley made a face.
"Ward is not really a team player is he?"
"Not really," Coulson agreed, "I know you could have done the job that is not the reason you weren't contacted."
"So what was the reason?"
Coulson smiled.
"You are going to be a bit too busy to work with me on the bus. Unlike Ward, you are a team player, and you have the experience behind you to handle more…unusual situations, the Parks business for example."
Riley frowned.
"Arthur Parks was dangerous. I did what I thought necessary to stop him."
"And you did it well," Coulson agreed, "Good enough that you caught Fury's eye. He wants you out on the west coast. It is time to bring the Avengers Initiative back into play."
Riley's jaw almost hit the desert floor.
"The…the Avengers, Phil…I…I…don't know what to say."
Coulson quirked his lip with amusement.
"It is not what you think Riley."
Adair chuckled.
"Working with Stark and the others? I guess that isn't what anyone would think."
"You won't be working with Stark."
That caused Riley to pull up short.
"Does Captain Rogers know that?"
"You won't be working with Rogers either."
Riley was becoming more confused by the moment.
"What about Barton and Romanoff, surely they…"
Coulson shrugged.
"I won't be working with them either, will I?"
"Don't take this as an insult Riley."
The younger man frowned.
"I thought you said I was going to be working with the Avengers."
"You will be, just not the New York team."
Riley shook his head, suddenly everything seemed to be breaking hard to port.
Coulson sighed.
"Fury never intended for the Avengers to be a one trick pony," Coulson said, "Rogers and the others did well in New York, but some problems, some battles will require a bit more discretion then Stark, Banner and the rest of them can handle.
Coulson glanced up at the stars and shuddered.
"When you fight a war, you need soldiers, when you want to prevent one…"
"You send assassins," Riley added.
Coulson gave him an enigmatic smile.
"The Avengers Initiative was always meant to be bigger than a single team. You are ready to work without oversight. You are ready to take command. The candidates we have found are good, but they will need a firm hand to turn them into a team, that is where you come in."
Riley quirked his lip.
"Does the Council know about this?"
"No, and Fury would prefer you kept it that way. As far as the council is concerned you are training a new group of special operatives, which is not a lie."
"They are just more special than the council realizes?"
"Exactly."
Coulson handed him the envelope. Riley broke it open. He frowned.
"Most of these are civilians?"
"Yes."
"You sure that they will be okay playing ball with me on this, I know the council was not happy with Stark hacking the SHIELD mainframe when he was on the Helicarrier."
Coulson shot him a look.
Riley grinned.
"I've been in SHIELD for a while now; I do have my own contacts you know."
"Fair enough," the older man sighed.
Riley shook his head as he regarded the motley crew that he was supposed to turn into Avengers.
He still wasn't sure what to make of them, from their pictures anyway.
The first was a young man about his age, dressed in a lab coat and standing in front of what was likely one of SHIELD's science facilities.
"Dr. Dane Whitman," he murmured.
"Your tech-specialist," Coulson said, "He is a skilled scientist and has a degree in medieval studies. He also is quite familiar with Stark's repulsor technology."
"Could be useful," Riley murmured.
The next was a young girl, maybe seventeen or nineteen, dark red hair was a streak of black running through it.
Riley frowned as he read her dossier.
"Crystal Doe…hm…elemental powers?"
Coulson nodded.
"Miss Doe is an amnesiac; we found her wandering on the side of a road in upstate Maine. A trucker tried to…take advantage of her; she apparently picked him up with a whirlwind, tossed him fifty feet."
"Damn."
"She agreed to come with us willingly. She doesn't remember where she is from or where she learned to use her abilities. All she knew was her name…Crystal…beyond that…nothing."
Coulson shook his head.
"She seems more scared of herself than she was of us."
Riley touched the face of the girl in the picture.
Poor kid.
"Does she know how she ended up in Maine?"
"No," Coulson frowned, "The doctors at our observation facility did note that she has been having nightmares. Wakes up shouting for someone named Meddie…we don't know why…yet."
Riley frowned.
"Does she understand what we are asking of her?"
"She seems eager to help," Coulson nodded.
Riley nodded turning to the next dossier. It showed a ruggedly handsome man with dark hair in a business suit, he might have been an actor or celebrity. Riley snorted until he read the name.
The bile rose in his throat.
"Marc Spector…wait…Spector, thee Marc Spector?"
Coulson smiled.
Adair glared at him.
"The creep behind that mess in London a few years back?"
"Spector's apparently a changed man," the older man said, "Some mess in Egypt, since he returned a year ago he has become a major philanthropist."
"He is a hired gun, a scum bag!"
"Give him chance Agent Adair, Fury's orders."
The younger man shook his head.
Marc Spector…wonderful.
He turned to the next dossier, his eyes widened.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"Of course not," Coulson replied.
Riley held up the picture. It showed a blurry image of a woman with orange skin and tiger striped markings, and unless he was wrong…
Riley gasped.
"This woman has a tail!"
"Most men would agree," Coulson chuckled.
"A real tail Phil," he said, "And fur…I…god…and why is she wearing a bikini?"
"She said normal clothes are too hot for her. Having fur they probably are."
Adair's eyes widened, this…this wasn't some joke!
"So this is real? This woman is real?"
Coulson nodded.
"Greer Nelson…we found her Detroit, she was hunting a group trying to sell kids overseas. One of them started calling her Tigra…she seems to like it."
Coulson smirked.
"Her tracking abilities are second to none, even are electronic sniffers aren't that good. We promised to help the kids she saved, and she gets out of Detroit and a generous SHIELD pension to boot, everyone wins."
Riley shook his head.
The woman would fit right in in LA he thought.
He looked at the next candidate, a heavily muscled man with short curly brown hair and matching beard.
He gave Coulson a puzzled look.
"A SHIELD team working in Cyprus found our next candidate. They detected an energy spike in the atmosphere; we had not seen anything like it since the Foster incident in New Mexico."
The young agent swallowed.
"So he is an Asgardian?"
"An Olympian actually," Coulson said, "You don't seem surprised?"
Riley shrugged.
"Thor and Loki were real, why not this guy."
Coulson winced; his hand went to his chest.
Seeing his old friend's reaction made Adair grimaced.
"Sorry," he murmured.
He should have realized that the name Loki was not one that Coulson wanted to hear again, had the rumors he heard been correct.
"It's okay," the older man said, "old wound."
Riley shook his head; he still could not believe it. The world now knew that the Asgardian gods were real, why not an Olympian demi-god.
He gave Coulson a wistful smile.
"So…this is Hercules, the real Hercules?"
"He says he is, and his strength is in the superhuman level. You and Whitman can see if you can verify that."
Riley shook his head.
If he could not work with Thor, having the real Hercules might be a boon…
…If this man was the real Hercules.
The last dossier was of a blond woman in an air force uniform, a full captain if he remembered correctly, an extremely familiar looking woman…he…
He gave Coulson a shocked look.
"Your team's field commander,' Coulson said, "I believe you two have met."
Riley swallowed hard.
"Carol…Phil, why is Carol Danvers involved in this?"
"She has…abilities and training that makes her the perfect candidate. When the council does find out, they will like that we have a military presence in command, and her abilities…
Coulson grinned.
"She is strong, quite strong. She might be able to hold her own against Banner if she had to. She should be able to keep Herc and Spector in line."
"How," Riley demanded, "Warbird…Carol was always a great pilot, but…she never had that kind of power…what happened to her?"
Phil gave him an enigmatic look.
"You will have to ask her yourself when you two meet. I'm sure she will pleased to see you again."
Adair looked like he was going to be sick.
"She is going to kill me Phil! After what happened in Atlanta…if…if she is as strong as you say she is now…"
"You will just have to turn on the charm," the older man said heading back to his vehicle, "That worked well for you in Atlanta."
"Yeah, before I did my duty…by then she, wait…Phil…has anyone told her I'm involved in this?"
"She knows that she is working for SHIELD, and that there is a liaison coming, beyond that…no."
Riley Adair remembered his last goodbye to Captain Carol "Warbird" Danvers.
It was not the kind of good bye a woman forgot…or forgave.
Coulson turned the ignition, Lola roared to life.
"You sure Fury doesn't want me dead," he asked his old friend.
Coulson chuckled.
"The director has faith in you Agent Adair, don't disappoint him."
Lola roared as Coulson spun her back on the way she had come. The car roared down the dusty road, the red glow of her tail lights vanishing into the Nevada night.
Riley Adair stood alone, the names and faces of his Avengers in his hands.
He thought of what the New York team had faced, a mad Asgardian god, mind controlled agents, and then finally an alien invasion.
All of that seemed easy compared to what he would soon face.
He shook his head and returned to his car. The Address of where he was to meet his new team was included with the dossiers; he could have probably driven into Vegas, caught a flight and been with the team by tomorrow evening.
He decided against it.
He needed time to think and time to plan.
"She is going to kill me," he thought, "Carol is going to rip my head off, probably quite literally."
He thought of Loki and his alien army.
He would much rather face that right now.
An alien army would be far less hostile than Carol Danvers.
He was sure of that.
A/N: So what did you think? If you want to hear more shoot me a review. I like Riley and would like telling more tales about his Avengers and what comes next.
Hope to see you all soon.
DG