"And, last thing, I promise, why are you applying for this?" The examiner set down her clipboard, expecting a long and detailed explanation of a harsh childhood that made you want to fight poverty with every breath you had. Instead, I told her, "I'm applying because I think you need to know some things that I know. I hope I can assist because of that." The examiner glanced down at the board, short, dark hair falling back into her face.
"Look, um, Regailia… that's kind of hard to believe. It looks like you just wrote random answers on the application. Your secondary talent… is fencing? Your alternate identity is something that sounds made-up, and you look like you're barely out of high school!" There was a sudden knock at the door and a girl with a long, blonde ponytail stuck her head in and said, "Agent Hill, we need you on the bridge, we're lifting off in ten minutes." Then, she shut the door and I could hear the quick pattering of feet.
"I need someone to finish up here; I can't be relied on to do everything!" Agent Hill called out into the hallway. Another agent walked in. His bald head glowed softly, almost like he had a light bulb in his skull, rather than a brain. As he sat, I shifted, looking around nervously. "It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Agent Martwin."
"What did she mean, we're lifting off?"
"Are you afraid of flying?"
"No. I do like knowing when boats become airplanes, however." Agent Martwin looked like he was trying not to smile. "Yes, I do, too. Let's see. It looks like the only thing you haven't answered is why you applied." I told Martwin the same thing I told Agent Hill.
Agent Martwin raised his eyebrows.
"Sure you can. How old are you?" The question was not unkind. I decided to keep my real talents to myself, as well as the truth on a lot of subjects. "I'll be fifteen in December." Agent Martwin scribbled something on the clipboard. "It says something different here. Can you read that?" Again, it was not a rhetorical question, but one you might direct at a mentally insane and very stupid person. "Yes, it says that someone named Regailia, but called Eridin, is three thousand, four hundred fourteen years old. Maybe I am that person maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm a pathological liar, but I can tell that you think that's not the case. In answer to your question, yes, I am actually three and half thousand years old." The agent nodded absent-mindedly and asked, "Can you really do magic?" Instead of answering, I flicked my wrist, revealing a palm full of fire. "Does that solve it?"
"Yes I think it very well does," Martwin said nervously. He stood up and said, "Follow me." His face had suddenly turned grave. "You need to talk to Director Fury."
Walking out into the hall, I saw agents turn and stare at me, something that never fails to make me nervous.
"And you think you can walk in here like you own the place, and tell me my team needs help?! Captain, how would you deal with this?" The director was a tall, black man, and as he turned to the sandy haired man, I saw a patch had replaced his left eye—the same one as Odin's. The sandy haired man had bright, inquisitive blue eyes. He said, "Well, we don't know what Regailia can do. I say we see how well she fights, and how long she can keep it up. Before-"
And chaos erupted. Sirens blared, red emergency lights flashed. The entire ship tilted to the left. I fell, sliding and scrabbling for a hold. A pale hand reached out around a door, and I instinctively reached for it. The strength behind the grip was amazing! I was pulled to the doorway, and my free hand latched onto it. Suddenly, the ship righted itself with a lurch, and I scrambled to stand upright.
The hand belonged to a rather short man, with medium dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. He had strange wrinkles on his face, creating a permanently worried look. I must have been gaping, because he said, "I'm Hawkeye." His voice was the opposite of worried, like the ship fell out of control every day. It was quiet and measured. I liked him immediately. "Thanks for the save. I think I might be new here. Call me Eridin."
Hawkeye nodded once. "We had better get to the bridge. We were attacked, and I bet Fury will want to talk to us." Just as he finished saying this, the PA crackled to life, and we could hear Director Fury yelling, "And if I ever find out who jacked my system, I will personally make sure they can't get out of prison, for treason and arson!" I exchanged a look over my shoulder with Hawkeye. As we walked down to the bridge, I heard another set of footsteps. I whirled around, drawing a long dagger from my sleeve as I did.
The footsteps belonged to a woman of average height, with short, red hair and full lips. Her skin was even paler than Hawkeye's. I put her as Russian, or maybe Canadian. She didn't stop, even with the threat of the knife, and strode toward us. "Who're you?" She asked as if I weren't thinking about gutting her, and she didn't make any sudden moves. She reminded me of another woman, someone I knew very well from school.
"I'm Eridin. I might be joining you here."
"Oh. I'm Agent Romanoff," she said. Her voice had a slight lilt to it, almost like she was singing. "So you are Russian."
As I walked beside her, Agent Romanoff said suspiciously, "If you've read my file, what else does it say about me?" I smiled and said, "I don't even know if they'll accept my application. I'm just really observant. I noticed your complexion, and your slight accent. It's been affected by other languages, too, though. You probably know lots. I'd bet you've traveled a lot to learn all those languages, which either implies that you feel like you don't belong, or that you hate being tied to just one place."
The agent's eyes got wider and wider as I talked, and when I finished, she said, "Wow. That's actually… right. Except for the last bit. I just like to travel." Hawkeye laughed at this, like it was a secret joke between the two of them.
By then, we'd reached the bridge. The door alone reminded me strongly of every space age-y type movie I'd ever seen. It slid open with a slight whine, protesting our arrival. Then, I was much too interested in the room itself to listen to a complaining door.
The bridge was filled with computers, and everything, right down to the swivel chairs, had a high-tech feel to it. I saw agents Hill and Martwin working, as well as the girl with the blonde ponytail. She waved and smiled at me. Most of the agents glanced up when we walked in, and then went back to work.
"Well, then. After we figure out what's going on, we'll see how you fight," Director Fury said. "But first, we need to sort this out. Do you know anything about this attack?" The question was directed at everyone, but I could tell it was pointed at me. For the first time, I had a chance to think. At once, I dismissed the idea that it was an inside job. It was too sudden, and no one seemed to expect it. I hadn't had the time to observe all the agents, but something told me that it was from an external source.
"I know someone that might have an idea, if not a hand in it," I spoke up.
"Who? How long would it take us to get there?" The question was disbelieving, but tainted with alarm, as well.
"I can go right now. It won't take an hour." With that, I whirled into deep space. The last thing I saw was the ring of surrounding agents gaping at me, and then I was gone.
Swirling winds screamed and threw snow at me. My thin tunic flapped like baby birds' wings. I growled to myself, cursing my haste. Then I looked around. The village surrounding me was nearly deserted, but there was a candle flickering in a window. I made a dash for the inviting light.
When I burst in with a flurry of icy air, an evil-smelling man hiding in the shadows stood and said, "I was beginning to wonder when you'd arrive." He was short, but not remarkably so. His hair was dark and greasy, hanging in ropes around his sallow face. I gagged and said accusingly, "I thought you said you'd take a bath after I left." His face split open in a gruesome attempt to smile. "Did I now? I don't remember saying any such thing, which means you're lying. Little girls are not supposed to lie." I glared and told him to go wash up.
He took a long time drawing water from the well, and even longer heating it. By then, I'd put out a feast. Mashed tubers, roast rodent (I didn't know, nor did I want to) and soft white bread. When the man came in, he grumbled, "I don't know what you think you'll get by bribing me, but I plan to enjoy it while it lasts."
"Thorirl! You know exactly why I'm here. I need to talk to someone in the castle, and you're the only way to get in." I frowned and added, "You know that I'm working with the humans now."
Thorirl exploded.
"You what?! This is everything I go against! You know I loathe humans, even if they are just as barbaric and puny as we are! How could you side with those foolish pigs? I'm surprised you're still alive!" He banged his fists on the table, knocking his goblet over. "Why did I ever think you wouldn't lose yourself?" He took a deep breath, and said more calmly, "I'll get you inside, but getting out is your problem."
Loki was held in a tiny cell beneath the regular dungeons. He was wrapped from neck to ankles in what appeared to be wire, but I could tell that moving, even slightly, felt like being dipped in lava- slowly. He glared at me and growled, "Come to have a laugh, have you, like the rest of Asgard?" I shook my head and told him quietly, "You were close to Thanos, and I have a feeling he was behind an attack on some of the humans earlier today." He started to nod, then seemed to realize what he was doing. He grumbled to himself, "That's probably true, but I wouldn't know why. He knows that they've gotten rid of the Tesseract."
"Can you tell me any more?"
"Let me out first."
Rolling my eyes, I told him he could forget it. "But, if you tell me anything else, I'll loosen the wire so you aren't tortured quite so much."
Then it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Sure you will. People come in here and say that every day. Like you'd do any different. You hate me, and with good reason." In answer, I looked around furtively, and then I loosened a single knot. His sigh of relief was obvious.
"I will loosen it a bit more, but only if you tell me more about what Thanos is planning."
Loki glared, furious, all other thoughts forgotten. "You foolish girl! You haven't any clue what you're up against. Thanos will crush you! You don't stand a chance against the likes of him. The Chitauri were only the beginning! More will come, and you humans will bend like grass in the wind."
"Hmm. Well, that's interesting, all right. Here, I did say I'd loosen these." As I finished, I whirled back to the village, just as Loki drew breath to call for guards.
Thorirl rose out of the same chair he'd been sitting in. "Shocking. I thought that Shifter magic would be blocked in the castle."
"I did, too. If Loki were any more heavily guarded, though, he'd have a hard time sneezing. He said he didn't know anything about the attack today, but he is the patron god of tricks and lies. What do you know about Thanos?"
Thorirl's eyes widened and he said, "Never say that name aloud again unless you know for certain that none of his agents are around! What are you thinking, girl?" he thumped me on the head. "You could be killed! His people are everywhere, and if you just go blurting the name everywhere you go you will get hurt," he hissed quietly. "Your arrogance may kill me yet. I thought you would go off on your own; I hoped you'd keep to what I taught you when you were just a few hundred years old. Of course not!"
"The Chitauri, apparantly, were only the beginning. He told me that humans would bow like grass in the wind. He acted like he had known about it before, but he wasn't sure if the plan had changed or anything. What do we know about Thanos, anyway?" I finished giving my general report and assessment of the situation. "I mean, all I know is that he's in love with Death, and that he's purple."
Fury said, "We didn't even know that. Anyway, Thor probably knows more about him, and maybe even what to do. Until Thor comes here, though, we can't contact him at all. Before you even think about whisking off like you did before, I want to see how you fight. Come with me."
He frog-marched me down into the belly of the ship. "Agents are going to be spread throughout the whole ship. I want you to avoid them, but if you do have to fight, only disarm them. I don't want to have to deal with a whole bunch of injured agents. Your goal is to get to the bridge."
The task was simple enough.
"And they'll be armed. You won't."
Oh. "Yes sir," I said in a tiny voice. This will be fun.
Being silent is very difficult on certain surfaces. Dead leaves, for example. Or tile. There is one type of flooring that I think silence is very nearly impossible to achieve. Metal makes slapping noises when you run, clopping noises when you walk, and really loud clanging noises when you lose your grip on a pipe and fall from several feet up. It also hurts, if you don't manage to land on your feet.
No less than six agents heard the racket I made. Thinking they'd each been the only one to hear, they each radioed for backup. In total, I think about eighteen agents pounced on me. I heard them thunder around a corner near me.
Knowing I only had a few seconds, I quickly glanced around for an escape. There was none to be seen. I ducked behind another corner just as the first agents arrived in the corridor. Of course, they just had to search for me. I took a deep, quiet breath, and let it out slowly. Then, I exploded out of my hiding spot.
I ran up, vertical on the wall and grabbed a pipe. I landed on an agent's shoulders, and from there I hopped around, hitting pressure points and nerve endings to knock people out as I went. They would only suffer minor headaches in the morning, in addition to bruises and bumps. After about five minutes, everyone had fallen to the floor. I continued to the bridge.
Taking moments to visualize my location, I snuck through a door that looked like it had been broken at least once, only to find my nose inches from a small, red-haired girl covered in freckles. She stifled a scream and whispered, "I had nothing to do with it!" I barely heard her. I was busy trying to grasp the magnitude of what I was seeing.
Phase Two. The S. H. I. E. L. D. agency was still hoarding alien weapons of mass destruction. This was something the general public would never know. I backed out of the room. The other girl had vanished. I ran, racing my heart, thinking I'd run forever.
That is, until I ran into a door. Realizing it was the door to the bridge, I forcibly wrenched it open. I burst in like a whirlwind, panting and shaking.
"That was the fastest time we've seen so far, next to Steve, here. Thor might be faster than both of you, however." Director Fury seemed impressed. "I've never seen anyone your size move quite so fast. Here, look at the security tapes."
I leaned over, and caught a flash of red hair, which reminded me of the stowaway. I didn't know her, though, and I didn't want to rat her out. She wasn't causing any trouble. I saw a blur of feet and a swish of color, the same color as my tunic. The blur was there for only a second.
"Wait! Go back," an agent said. "There was something I wanted to see."
The tape zipped back a few seconds, and then played forward in slow motion. The red hair flashed again, but the agent didn't say anything. When I appeared, the agent said, "There! Look at her face. People don't move like that unless they're really spooked. I want to know what you saw," he said, rounding on me. My face, looking pale and scared, was zoomed in on every screen. "I-I didn't s-see anyth-thing," I managed to sound reasonably out of breath. Fury said gently, "I think I know what you saw. Regailia, you saw the remnants of Phase Two. Fortunately, the Council overrode the government on this one. I agreed with them on keeping this agency open, and that meant having to put up with their garbage about how this will work better against aliens than an actual alien." He probably meant Thor, as well as the other Avengers. Fury sounded like he was choosing his words carefully, something I didn't like. When people choose their words, they're usually avoiding something.