Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Adri, my OC
Adri carefully rounded the corner of the dimly lit hallway with her gun pointed ahead of her. After she had snuck past a few guards and danced over the motion sensors, she had followed the instructions given to her before she began the mission. The farthest stairwell to the right, down to the lowest level, the second right, the third left, down to the end of the corridor, the thirty paces to the right.
Adri's special abilities meant she didn't have to worry about being seen by security cameras, but hidden motion sensors or a guard with good hearing would know she was there. She moved slowly and deliberately, keeping her eyes and ears locked on anything suspicious. Although there were a people roaming the halls this late at night, she tucked herself against the wall and quieted her breathing until they past. Being invisible could have its advantages.
There. It looked like every other door in the building, but she had been careful and followed her instructions to the detail. This was the door she was looking for. The keypad by the handle glowed in the faintly lit hallway, and Adri unclipped the palm-sized piece of technology from Stark from her belt. She plugged it into the keypad and waited as it came to life.
A message appeared on the screen, "Just relax, kiddo." Adri smiled. She could feel her heart pounding and new that with fear came mistakes. Listen to Stark, she thought. Just relax.
Adri plugged in numbers and passwords exactly as she had been directed, and the door clicked open. She edged into the room. Three guards and two scientists looked at the open door unsurely, unable to see who had opened it. The room was small, with just a few computers and scientific devices Adri had never seen before. She moved towards one of the computers and pulled the flash drive out of her pocket. Her mission was to steal the information regarding a new weapon, which would stored under the name KHAN-L111.
"Who's there?" One of the guards called out as all three of them pulled out their guns. They began to move around the room with their guns pointed as the scientists huddle together beside one of the computers.
Adri moved away from the door, stepping as gently as possible to avoid giving away her location. Her eyes searched for the spot to plug the drive in and realized that it had to be in the back of the computers, against the wall. Her heart sank. To get to the computers she would have to move them from the wall, which meant giving away her location and engaging the guards.
She stepped to the closest guard, and with a swift chop to his wrist, caused him to drop his gun. Before he knew what had happened, she landed a blow to the side of his head, and with one more he was out cold.
The other guards had moved to stand back to back while the scientists, both old and feeble looking, were punching in codes into the computer. Adri moved to them next, knowing that they could be deleting information. She bashed the head of one into the desk and chopped the other in the back of his head. She briefly wondered what it looked like to the two remaining guards, their colleagues being beaten up by some invisible force.
"There's been a breach in 312," one of the guards said into a walkie-talkie.
"Backup is on the way," came the voice from the walkie-talkie. From studying the layout of the building, she knew they were in a remote corner and that it would take some time for the guards to organize and reach her. Still, she had to move quickly.
Adri wouldn't be able to surprise theses guards like the first one. One fired a round of shots sporadically across the room. Even though he didn't know it, he had come very close to hitting her.
"Where are you?" The other growled. They looked ready to fire another round, and Adri knew she probably wouldn't get lucky again.
"Over here," she whispered and then dove out of the way. The guards fired to where she had previously been standing, and in the process had moved out of their back-to-back position. She snuck behind them, and swung her leg up to kick one in the head, and with a solid thud the guard dropped to the floor. She swiftly rolled across the room as the other frantically pointed his gun in every direction.
As he began to unload another round, she crouched behind the unconscious form of one of the scientists, knowing that he wouldn't risk shooting him. When he began to unload his gun, she sprung up and dove at his hands, twisting his wrists until the guard dropped the gun. With a knee to his kidneys and a blow to the back of his head, Adri knocked the last guard unconscious.
She moved to one of the computers and groaned from the effort of pushing it away from the wall. She pushed the drive into the correct slot and moved to the screen. The drive had been programmed to search for and download anything pertaining to the KHAN-L111 files. Even though the scientists had been attempting to delete information, the KHAN-L111 files were untouched, and they began to download onto the drive.
With less than half of the information complete, Adri heard the thunder of guards approaching the room. There was nothing useful to guard the door with, so she took one of the scientists' lab coat off of him and covered the computer screen with it. If the backup didn't notice the download in progress or the foreign flash drive protruding from the backup the computer, she could still make it out.
Her heart was pounding so loudly she feared it would give up her location as the guards entered the small room. Four of them pointed their guns around the room while two more search the hallway outside.
"Clear," one of them in the room shouted.
"Clear," the guards in the hallway echoed. Medics came and took the unconscious guards and scientists out of the room to care for them.
"Whoever was here, they're long gone by now. Get someone in here to dust for fingerprints and run analysis on the computers to see what was stolen."
Adri stepped carefully to the computer and peered under the collar of the shirt. Only ten percent more.
"I wouldn't be too sure they're gone just yet," a familiar female voice said. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, glided into the room. Adri couldn't help it – she gasped. She had trained with Natasha, knew that she was one of Fury's most trusted agents. She was one of the Avengers, and though the woman had a questionable past, the thought of betrayal never crossed Adri's mind.
The guards look around, alarmed, but Natasha only smirked. "I'm surprised they sent you Adri. Pretty big mission for someone so fresh. Then again, I'm sure you're surprised to see me too," Natasha was crouching slightly, completely alert for even the slightest sound. She moved to where Adri was standing.
Adri knew that files were done downloading. If she went for them, Natasha would know her exact position, but if she didn't it would only be a matter of time before the guards found the drive, and once it was gone, she would have no way of bringing the information to SHIELD. Natasha wasn't called the Black Widow for no reason; Adri knew she couldn't take her in a fair fight, and she was even unsure of the outcome even being invisible. She would just have to trust herself to make it out without having to engage anyone.
"Turn it off Adri. Let's just talk," Natasha said calmly.
Adri hesitated for a moment, contemplating Natasha's offer. But no, she knew too much about the woman and her missions to believe that Natasha would just talk. Adri rolled to side, wincing at the sound of her body hitting the floor. She grabbed the flash drive and ducked behind the computers as the guards and Natasha fired at where they had heard her move.
Adri knew she had to move quickly, and she was preparing to spring over the computer and across the room when the lights suddenly went out and three bullets through the glowing computer screens put the room in pitch blackness.
"We can't see you, and now you can't see us. A little more fair don't you think?" Natasha's voice came from Adri's right. She put the flash drive in the pouch on her belt and made sure it was secure before taking her gun out of the holster. She could just fire randomly. Odds were in her favor that she would hit someone, but that meant giving away her location, and the odds were not in her favor that everyone would miss hitting her.
She heard a thud to her left – two of the guards had run into each other. Other than that, it was as if no one was breathing. With her left hand in front to feel for anything and her gun in her right, Adri began to inch around the computer in front of her. She pictured the room in her mind. If she could make it around this computer and then feel her way to the next one, the door should be straight ahead. The guards she could manage, but where was the Widow?
She rounded the first computer and began to move towards the second. She could hear breathing in front of her. One of the guards no doubt. Instead of leaving the guide of the computers to go around him, Adri kicked her leg out, and was rewarded by the grunt of the guard as he flew backwards. She moved quicker now, knowing that her position was given up. She felt the second computer screen and was turning to face the door when someone's fist contacted her temple. Natasha.
Adri saw stars, but quickly assumed a defensive position, prepared for the next blow. It came from in front of her this time as the Widow's leg shot out. It hit Adri's chest, and as the wind rushed out of her, she grabbed onto Natasha's ankle and held strong as she tried to pull it back. Adri twisted Natasha's ankle and heard her grunt in surprise as she hit the ground. Without hesitating, Adri used Natasha's ankle to fling her to the side. Adri darted forward and felt the doorknob on her fingers as someone kicked her shins out from under her. She came down and her chin landed hard on the floor. She tasted blood in her mouth.
She lunged forward and grasped the doorknob. She twisted it and flung the door open. The light illuminated the room and Adri was able to see the guards and Natasha standing around her. They all pulled out their guns, and Adri dove out of the way before they littered the wall in front of them with bullets.
"Lockdown the building. No one in or out," Natasha told one of the guards, and he relayed the message to the others with his walkie-talkie.
Adri sprinted down the hallway. She knew that she couldn't get out of the building the same way she had come in, but the upstairs rooms had windows. She followed her memory to the staircase, avoiding the guards moving to their new positions. She picked a floor randomly and flung the door open. One guard noticed the door opening, but she was able to dive out of the way as he randomly fired at the door. She sprinted past him and picked a room.
She slowly opened the door and peered inside. It appeared to be empty, and it had a window. As she examined it, she noticed it didn't open. Adri stepped back and aimed her gun. She would have only moments after firing the weapon to make it down the two stories and get away from the building before it was flooded with guards.
The glass shattered as Adri shot three bullets at the window. A piercing alarm immediately went off. Before Adri could hoist her body out of the window, the door was open and guards were pouring in. They approached the window just as she dropped down and landed softly against the ground. She pressed her body against the wall.
"Get the Widow over here," one of the guards said. Adri counted silently to three in her head, and when it seemed as if the guards weren't going to fire, she took off. A wall with barbed wire on top surrounded the building, but she just had to find where she had gotten in to get out. She followed the length of the wall until she found it. Lowering herself onto her stomach, Adri wiggled under the metal. She let her invisibility fade, and met Fury's eye as he stared at her now visible form.
"Not too bad, Adri," Director Fury said when she reached the other side.
"We're supposed to meet at location B17. What are you doing here?" She asked hesitantly.
"Why don't we go back to SHIELD and we can talk about it there?"
"There's something you need to know first. Natasha, she was there. She fought me."
"She's there because I told her to be. In fact, every single person was there because I told them to be."
"I don't understand."
"You're not supposed to. But you will. Let me show you what's in the files you just stole." A black SUV pulled up and Fury and Adri rode in silence to a private landing strip.
"Where are we going?" Adri asked before boarding the small plane.
"New York." Fury said plainly.
Adri followed him onto the plane, and was shocked to see Natasha already seated. Although Adri knew she looked worse, she was proud to see the bruise that had blossomed on Natasha's jaw. She was uneasy to be on a plane with someone she had just fought, but after everything that had happened to her, Adri trusted Fury. Although she was filled with questions, she knew asking would be pointless. Fury would just ignore her until he was ready to talk.
The plane sputtered to life, and rolled across the runway. It was only after takeoff and some time in the air that Fury began to speak.
"The flash drive, Adri." She pulled it out of the pouch and handed it to Fury, but kept her eye on Natasha. Natasha, however, seemed to be asleep.
Fury plugged the drive into a small computer and the SHIELD symbol filled the screen.
"You had me steal something from SHIELD?" Adri implored.
"Yes and no. You've heard of the Avengers Initiative I'm sure?"
"Of course. After New York last year it wasn't much of a secret."
"The Avengers is our response team. They're a group of remarkable people who can fight the battles others can't. You've met most of them. As I'm sure you realize, your abilities qualify you. But of course, we have to make sure you're ready. What just happened, stealing this drive, fighting Natasha, that was your test."
"My test? As in…"
"As in, to test if you were ready to become an Avenger or not. This entire thing was a simulation set up but SHIELD. There's no way to truly gauge how you will do if there is another crisis, but with the previous missions you have completed for SHIELD, the reviews of your trainers and current Avengers, and this test, the Avengers would like to invite you to be a part of our team."
Adri searched Fury's eyes. She knew enough about the Avengers to know it was truly an honor to have been invited, but also that it was a great danger. Though there hadn't been another attack from an extraterrestrial force since New York, she also knew that there were other threats that came from this world. Yet wasn't that why she had decided to join SHIELD in the first place? To put her powers to use? To make all the terrible things that had happened to her worth something?
"I accept," she said, and Fury smiled "But what did I steal?"
"You stole the files on the Avengers. I thought it would be poetic," Fury said. He handed her the computer. "You have some reading to do."
Adri took the computer. Natasha had become alert during their conversation, and she gave Adri only the slightest of nods before closing her eyes again. Adri couldn't help the small smile as she immersed herself in the files about the Avengers Initiative.
Author's Note: This is my first shot at writing fan fiction, so I would love some feedback. Hope you all enjoyed it!