Amelia Claire Pallis was not one to be late. One might call her a perfectionist. A control freak, even. So how did she find herself driving 30 miles over the speed limit, running every red light she came across, the tires of her black Volkswagen Jetta screeching to a halt in front of the restaurant she worked as a hostess at, a whole hour late?
It all began with that Stark Industries internship.
A program organized by Pepper Potts, the girlfriend of the infamous Tony Stark, the Stark Industries Internship Search was created to change the futures of two lucky young adults who would be chosen to participate. Only the top of the top would even be considered, as the internship was described by Potts as 'an incredibly difficult but rewarding job'. The two chosen were given the opportunity to live in Stark Towers for a year while they assisted Tony and his team of engineers in whatever they were needed for.
Amelia was a smart girl. She finished her four years of high school with an unweighted GPA of 4.0, and she was the valedictorian of her class. Amelia was president of many clubs within her school. She had many friends, and even managed to pull a boyfriend or two along her high school career. They never lasted though. Despite having a close group of friends and a loving (for the most part) family, after graduating senior year Amelia had never felt more alone. She was tired of the same day to day activities. She was tired of the ridiculously easy classes. Most of all, she was tired of not being challenged. She yearned for adventure, for an academic struggle of some sort, she felt like her brain was wasting away in the small Florida town she resided in. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there and make something of herself; she had her pick of colleges thanks to her outstanding credentials, but it all seemed so mundane for her. She had moved out of her mother's home right after graduating, but found it hard to live comfortably so after a year she returned to her childhood home.
Then she hears about the internship. Read about it online somewhere, perhaps; either way, she knew she had to apply. Amelia knew she was smarter than most her age, and frankly, smarter than most adults she knew. Not that she considered her friends and family to be dumb, she just genuinely enjoyed problem solving and putting herself to the test. It maybe had something to do with the fact that she was a major control freak and had to prove her self worth to herself. Regardless, getting away to New York for a year and working on equations and machines and the works with none other than Tony Stark was exactly what she needed. So she applied.
Initially, Amelia had wanted to be a doctor of some sorts. Then, she began leaning toward becoming a biomedical engineer. However, she also enjoyed mechanical engineering - basically the job description of the internship.
You would never guess it, looking at her. She stood at barely 5'3. Her Greek roots from her father gave Amelia lightly tanned skin, but she gained the thick blonde hair falling to just below her shoulder blades and big hazel eyes from her mother. An average weight, some might say on the slender side, anyone who knew Amelia would doubt that she even knew how to drive a car.
The 22 year old (she graduated two years late at age 20, since she was out of school for two years after her junior year for reasons she tried to forget) not only knew her way around a car - she could take one apart and put it back together. It was the same with anything she came across; her laptop, her ex-military father's guns, even her family's kitchen appliances. She loved knowing how things worked and had a thirst for knowledge, and quite frankly, something more challenging than the ridiculously easy college courses her high school schedule had been filled with.
One can imagine how ecstatic she was to return home from a shopping trip one Saturday afternoon to find a thick envelope labeled 'Stark Industries Internship Search' in the mailbox.
Amelia raced inside, shopping bags long forgotten in the trunk of her car. She barely even heard the muffled 'Welcome home' her mother greeted her with from the other room before she screamed.
"Look what I got in the mail! Everybody get your asses down here right now or I'm opening it without you!" Amelia's voice filled her home.
Within seconds, her mother, step-dad, 19 year old brother, and 6 year old sister were crowded around her where Amelia stood in the living room. Without even explaining, she took a deep breath, prayed it was an acceptance letter and not a rejection, and ripped the envelope open.
Her hazel eyes hungrily scanned the letter, fingers shaking as she gripped onto it so tight her knuckles turned white. A few moments of silence passed before her sister finally spoke up.
"Did you get in Lia? Did you do it?" The 6 year old was grinning with anticipation. Amelia spared her a quick glance and smile before she cleared her throat.
"Dear Amelia Pallis, I am so pleased to announce that you have been chosen to participate as an intern at Stark Industries for the next year. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are thrilled to meet you and see your talent in action. We would appreciate if you would refrain from disclosing this information to anyone other than close family members, due to security reasons. Enclosed inside is your plane ticket and all the paperwork to be completed. You and the other applicant chosen will be debriefed on your jobs and what's expected from you when you arrive in New York, where Tony and I will be present to gather both of you from the airport. We look forward to it! Signed, Pepper Potts." Amelia spoke, voice wavering with excitement. Her mother had tears in her eyes as she embraced Amelia.
"I can't believe this. I'm so proud of you!" Her mother choked out in between tears. Amelia rolled her eyes playfully.
"It's not that big of a deal." She said with a knowing grin and giggle before she looked down at her plane ticket and paled.
"June 15th? That's in three days!" Amelia panicked. She was used to planning out every single detail of everything she did, and now all of a sudden she was supposed to just pack up and leave? She wondered for a moment if she would even have time to color code the contents of the luggage she would be bringing.
Not your biggest problem, Amelia.
Even with the anxiety of basically leaving everything behind so suddenly, she was beyond excited and after accepting the congratulations of her family, Amelia took a detour outside to grab the forgotten contents in her trunk and immediately raced into her room to begin researching and packing (but not before pressing her finger against the scanner she had built on the wall outside of her door- at one point during high school Amelia got tired of her siblings barging into her room so she crafted a fingerprint security system to protect from the annoying intruders.)
Through the excessive use of google, two hours later Amelia had absorbed just about all of the information about Stark Industries she could find. Nothing too useful could be discovered through google - she figured it was for security reasons.
Nonetheless, Amelia shut her laptop and stood up from her desk, looking around at her perfectly organized room. She would miss it here, and wondered idly how much she would be allowed to decorate her room in Stark Towers.
An hour and a half later, Amelia had located two huge suitcases in her mom and stepdad's closet that they allowed her to take, and one was filled to the brim with countless shirts, pants, dresses, shoes, and accessories. You could never be too prepared in Amelia's eyes. She figured she would wait until they day before to begin packing her non-clothing luggage, since she still had two days of living in Florida.
Her phone, lying forgotten on her desk from when she was researching, chimed. Amelia crossed her room and grabbed the phone, eyes scanning the text she received from her co-worker Erin before she almost gasped in surprise.
'Hey, where are you? Are you not coming in today? Your shift started 30 minutes ago and I know you're not one to be late.' The text read.
Amelia thanked God that she had decided to wear a dressy black long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans to go shopping, since the outfit abided by the restaurant she worked at's dress code. She ran a brush through her loose curls and grabbed her apron, slipping on her black ankle booties before she yelled a quick explanation to her mother and ran out the door.
She wasn't typically a rule breaker, and if she ever was, it was usually voluntary on her part. However, all the rules of the road went completely forgotten to Amelia as she drove like a maniac down the back roads to the restaurant, an Olive Garden. Even though she would have to quit her job, that didn't mean she didn't despise being late with a passion. It made her feel like a failure.
However, while driving, Amelia realized she wasn't ashamed to admit that she was glad her nights would no longer be spent serving breadsticks and carb-loaded fake Italian food to snooty old people.
Fast forward to the present: Amelia's hands clutched the steering wheel with incredible force, her eyes flickering across the parking lot in search of a space, her heart pounding with the thought of being tardy. Within minutes, she located an empty space and pulled in rather recklessly, her tires screeching on the gravel. She ignored what may have been her worst parking job ever and practically ran across the lot, before bursting through the front door in search of the shift manager.
"I'm here! I'm late but I'm here and I promise it will never happen again - well it'll never happen again because I'm quitting today but that's a different story - I'm so so so sorry I feel so bad-" Her rambling was cut off by the shift manager, Erin, gasping.
"You're quitting? Why?"
Amelia was glad that the attention was diverted from her tardiness, and regained her cool composure with a beaming smile.
"I'm traveling to New York for a year. To study. My flight leaves on Tuesday morning." Erin raised her eyebrows at this confession.
"Not exactly a two weeks notice, but if you say so. It's a shame; who's going to take apart the microwave and wire it to be ten times as powerful now?" Amelia giggled at the memory Erin had brought up.
"I'm sure you'll find someone."
Her last shift went smoothly and was over before she knew it. Amelia clocked out for the last time, and knew she should feel sad to be leaving her first ever job (and the friends she had made in it) behind, but with the news she had received today Amelia doubted she was capable of being sad.
/
"Three days pass really damn quickly." Amelia's brother, Niko, spoke from her doorway. She looked up from her vanity where she was skillfully applying the last of her makeup for the big day, and gave her brother a small smile, her lips painted a shade of pink.
"I'll visit, and we can Skype if you're really gonna miss me that much. Idiot." She added the insult at the end to take away any notion he might have received that she was trying to have a 'moment' with him. She scoffed at the thought.
Before he could respond, she continued. "Besides, maybe by the time I'm back, you'll have finally grown the balls to move in with Jacob." Amelia said with a grin, referring to her brother's boyfriend who had recently invited him to move in. Her brother rolled his matching hazel eyes.
"I'm not going to take an insult from someone insane enough to color code an entire suitcase. Deuces, sister." He said with a nod of his head as he walked out of her room.
Amelia frowned with a look towards the first suitcase containing her clothes, zipping it up. She was proud of the aesthetically-pleasing organization feat.
"Lia, it's time to get going!" She heard her mother yell from another room.
Taking a deep breath, she admired her room that she loved so much one last time, toying with a few of her favorite little inventions on her desk before checking over her reflection in the vanity's mirror one last time.
The flight would only be three hours, so she didn't bother dressing like she was going into hibernation. Amelia wore a form-fitting and slightly high waisted olive green pencil skirt that reached down to just below her knees in an attempt to make herself look taller, matched with a long-sleeved white shirt with a bit of a plunging neckline and white lace-up heels. She slipped on a gold necklace with a small diamond she had received from her father as a graduation gift that rested on her collarbones, and a gold-colored cuff bracelet. She wasn't a big fan of purses, so opted for her favorite nude Michael Kors clutch wallet that she had treated herself to with extra money earned from work. Her makeup was done to look natural; it consisted of a tinted moisturizer, blush, highlighter, a few sweeps of neutral gold eyeshadow, a light coat of mascara, and her favorite dusty rose colored matte lipstick.
Scanning over her outfit one last time and making sure everything was in place, Amelia was ready to leave. She was a bit uncomfortable; she enjoyed dressing up and wanted to look professional, but admittedly much more preferred jeans and a nice top.
"Lia!" Amelia's thoughts were interrupted when her 6 year old sister Chloe came running into her room and almost knocked her over with a hug. The elementary school girl was tiny, but strong.
"I'm going to miss you sooo much Lia, but mommy says we're going to talk on Skype and text you a bunch!" Chloe said with a gap-toothed grin as she wiped her eyes, obviously trying not to cry. Amelia's heart softened.
"Don't cry you little monkey, I'll visit! And maybe you guys will get to take a trip to New York and visit me!" Amelia wasn't sure if her mom was quite behind the idea but hated to see her sister so sad.
"Cool! New York is where the Avengers live, and where they fight the bad guys. I bet if Star Wars was real then they would live in New York too. I think that everyone should live in New York! Remember that one episode we watched of Wonderpets where they went to Coney Island and-" The small girl's blue eyes shone with excitement as she rambled on about New York. She was a bit of a tomboy, and loved anything action-related, hence why she idolized people like Captain America. Chloe was cut off by her mother shouting that Amelia had better hurry up or she'd miss her flight.
After a bear hug and kiss on the nose to Chloe, Amelia bid her step-dad a slightly awkward goodbye hug. They were close, but not too close. He was a car fanatic, and if Amelia wasn't so handy with them she doubted they would have anything to talk about.
After loading her suitcases into the trunk of the 'soccer mom' van, as Amelia so lovingly named her mother's car, she took one last look at the home she grew up in. She would miss it badly, along with her family because of how incredibly close they were, but her mind was too busy thinking up of all the things she would be busy with in New York to dwell on the aching in her heart upon pulling out of the driveway and hitting the road.
Along the drive to the airport, her mom tried to make light conversation. Amelia was far more interested in putting her shaking hands to work, and got halfway through dismantling the GPS in the car before she was caught.
"Amelia Claire! Please fix that in the next ten minutes or we'll have to get a new- how did you even get it into that many pieces- you keep a SCREWDRIVER in your wallet? Of course." Her mom seemed to give up as Amelia giggled and began putting it back together.
/
One tearful goodbye and three-hour plane ride later, Amelia arrived in New York. She could hardly contain her smile, and could feel an ache coming on in her cheeks. After locating her suitcases, her eyes narrowed slightly as they wandered the crowd, looking for the face of Pepper Potts. She realized this was a very small airport, as there were only a handful of flights scheduled to arrive and leave.
After a bit of searching, she finally saw Pepper sitting in a waiting area near the front of the airport, talking on what Amelia presumed to be a bluetooth earpiece. She approached Pepper with an uncontrollable grin, her loose blonde curls bouncing with her as her high heels clacked against the tile with every step.
Pepper looked over to the sound of the heels, and her eyes instantly met Amelia's with a warm smile.
"Tony, I'm not going to keep arguing with you on this. Just talk to the poor boy. Stop being a big baby. Yes you are! She's here, I'll see you in a minute." Amelia could hear the end of the supposed argument between Pepper and Tony as she approached the now-standing woman.
"Amelia! How great to finally meet you! You look gorgeous. I'm so excited to have you here, I think this internship will be a great experience for you and Zach."
Amelia beamed even wider, if that was possible. "Thank you so much, and I hope so!" She took a moment to process the rest of Pepper's sentence and questioned, "Mrs. Potts, may I ask who Zach is?"
"Oh please, call me Pepper. Zach is the other one chosen, he's a great young man from California I believe. He's in the jet meeting Tony right now, he arrived maybe twenty minutes ago? We're on a bit of a tight schedule so please forgive me for rushing you along but we've really got to go meet Tony in the jet now!" Pepper responded while a couple of workers took Amelia's suitcases and led them outside, where a private jet was waiting. Amelia's jaw went slack for a few seconds before she regained composure and quickened her pace to match the older woman's.
"Oh, and don't mind Tony. Between you and me, he really wasn't behind this whole internship thing. He never wants to admit that he needs help, but we've got a bit of a problem that we really needed a few more hands to help on. We had to choose between the ages of 18-25, Tony didn't want anyone older than that in fear they would be a double agent or some other possible security breach like that. Background checks are much easier and accurate when one is under 25," Pepper explained before continuing, "Tony is just bitter that he's come across something he can't figure out on his own. It will probably take him a while to warm up to you. He's been with Zach not even thirty minutes and has already threatened the poor kid twice." She said with a small roll of her eyes. Amelia hadn't even realized they had reached the jet, but was brought back to reality when the door opened and Pepper led her inside.
"Tony Stark, Amelia Pallis. Amelia Pallis, Tony Stark." Pepper said with a small smile as she took her seat next to Tony.
Oh my god I'm standing in front of Tony Stark oh my god he's real and he's right here oh my god It's fucking Iron Man!
Amelia's thoughts were running a mile a minute, but she was good at keeping cool even when her anxiety was through the roof.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark. I look forward to working with you." Amelia announced with a kind smile and held out her hand, noticing how reluctantly Tony put his hand in hers, but nonetheless gave him a firm handshake.
"Call me Tony, 'mister' makes me sound old." He said, crossing his arms. Amelia was a bit surprised. Was this him warming up to her already? Tony quickly shot down that idea with his next sentence.
"You're an engineer? I don't believe it. You don't even look like you can drive a car."
Amelia raised an eyebrow. Pepper muttered something along the lines of 'Oh god, here we go.'
If the first statement wasn't enough, Tony kept on going. "How old are you again? I'm confused, because your face and body says 25 but your height says 13." Amelia's eyebrow raised even higher at this, a small grin growing on her face.
"I may be the height of a 13 year old, Tony, but if you did your homework on me you would know that I am, in fact, 22 years old, turning 23 in two months. You would also know that I've earned an A+ in every single course I've ever taken, I have dismantled and not only rebuilt but improved more cars, guns, and appliances than you could ever count, and I have a handful of my own inventions that I'm sure could rival yours. Respectfully, I believe I'm capable of getting the job done." Amelia said with a simple smile as she sat in one of the seats across from Tony and Pepper, crossing her legs and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
Pepper seemed to be waiting for Tony to, for lack of better words, get super pissed off. Amelia could tell by the distressed look in her eyes and how her shoulders slumped forwards slightly.
Tony surprised everyone when he began to chuckle.
"Oh, I like this one. She's like if me if I were a tiny 22 year old girl!" He said between chuckles, breathing a content sigh before going back to looking at some blueprint on his tablet.
Both Pepper and Amelia were shocked at this reaction, exchanging a wide-eyed look. Amelia shrugged lightly, before she heard a man clearing his throat.
She turned, and a few seats down from her sat a young man Amelia assumed to be Zach.
"I'm Zach Rhoades." He confirmed with a shy smile. He had dark brown curls piled on top of his head, chocolate brown eyes, and thick rimmed glasses. He appeared to be at least 6'0, and an average weight. He had a hint of a British accent, and Amelia noticed he was cute in a really nerdy way. She wasn't looking for a relationship, though; she hoped they would become good friends since they were in the same boat and all. She gave him a warm smile and waved.
"Hi! I'm Amelia Pallis, obviously. So, I guess we're going to be living together for the next year. How old are you?" She questioned.
"Just turned 25 a few days ago. This was a pretty awesome birthday present." He said with a laugh before continuing. "You know, I never really thought about that, I guess we are gonna be flatmates. I'll try my best, but I have to warn you - I'm quite unorganized" He admitted shyly. Amelia almost laughed out loud.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of absolutely everything related to organizing, it's therapeutic to me. If I'm being honest, both of my suitcases are completely color coded." She said, half embarrassed and half proud.
"No time for bonding. Time for work. We'll be landing in a few minutes, where I'll introduce you guys to Frosty #1 and Frosty #2. Then we'll all explain our, shall we say, conundrum."
Amelia was confused for a few moments, scrunching her eyebrows together in thought before she began to realize.
Wait, he didn't mean- he couldn't have.
Zach almost spit his sip of water out in response to Tony's statement. "Are you referring to Captain America and the Winter Soldier?" He questioned Tony in disbelief.
"Someone's been doing their research. Yes, sadly, I am." Tony said with a small sigh.
"Wait. The internship is supposed to be for engineering. What do Captain America and the Winter Soldier have to do with this internship? Not that I'm not thrilled to meet them, it just wasn't exactly in the job description." Amelia asked with slightly narrowed eyes, the cogs in her brain turning as she tried to figure out a possible reason.
Tony sighed again and leaned back in his seat. "Well, it is about engineering. We needed- Pepper thought we needed help. I don't like hiring new people because of, hm, current circumstances. I had to make sure that the help we got wouldn't be from spies or anyone affiliated with anything suspicious. Background checks are far more accurate when whoever we're checking is under the age of 25, so that means our target group had to be young adults. What are young adults interested in? Internships. Hence why Pepper launched this program, to find the smartest of the smartest of the smartest young adults interested in helping. We need new viewpoints, new ideas. If I had more time I would have been able to do it by myself." He muttered the last part under his breath and Pepper rolled her eyes.
"Okay… so what do you need help on that's so top secret?" Amelia questioned slowly, still processing Tony's initial response. She subconsciously began pulling on pieces of her hair.
Pepper and Tony shared a knowing glance.
"Ever heard of an organization called HYDRA?"
A/N: Hi! This is just an idea I've had for a while after seeing Civil War but never got around to putting it on paper. It's a Bucky/OC. Read if you want, ignore if you don't. If you do read and like, drop a review or follow/favorite! Updates will most likely be irregular. Sometimes it might be one a day, sometimes one a week. School's ending soon as well, so I'm super pumped. Also disclaimer, I don't own shit except for Amelia and Zach. Another disclaimer- I'm by no means an author. This is purely for fun and I don't mind constructive criticism but just letting you guys know, I'm just a high schooler with too much time on her hands!
