Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Ella Ross had a fluttering ache of fear in her stomach the entire drive from the gym to her house. The ache gurgled to the back of her throat when she pulled into her driveway. Though it was just past seven in the evening, the lights were off throughout the house. Both of her parent's cars, as well as her younger brother's car sat dead in the driveway. Something was definitely wrong. Ella reached for her glove compartment and pulled out her handgun. She kept the gun raised as she crept out of her car and up the winding stone path to her house. With her free hand, she pushed the front door open and crept in. The silence of the house sent shivers down her spine. She groped the wall until she found the light switch for the foyer. It clicked back and forth a few times before Ella accepted that the power was out.
Screw it, she thought to herself. She lifted her left hand and concentrated for a spit second. A glowing blue orb appeared in her palm. Using her electric hand as a guide, Ella began to make her way through the first floor of the house. The hall between the living room and the kitchen revealed bloody handprints lining the pale peach walls. Ella squinted her eyes shut and let out a deep breath. She had to keep going. The kitchen featured more blood. It coated the stainless steel appliances and the marble floor her mother took so much pride in. There was no way to maneuver around the blanket of red on the floor. Ella swept through the blood, pulling her feet slowly. Her tennis shoes left an abstract pattern in the blood behind her. The pattern evolved into a streak of crimson as she passed into the dining room.
Her blue orb lit up the graphic scene in the dining room. Ella had been preparing herself for the scene since she saw the first bloody handprint, but years of training and field experience combined would never prepare her for the slaughterhouse in the dining room. The blood in the kitchen was nothing compared to the crimson in the dining room.
She saw her younger brother, Erik, first. He was stretched out nude a few feet away from her. She let out a sob and fell to her knees. His blood was still warm as it morphed around her skin. Ella dropped her gun and reached to touch his face. His eyes were open, frozen with fear. His body was like a cutting board, featuring dozens of nicks and scratches. She could make out faint marks on his wrists and ankles from where he was bound to something.
Feeling sick to her stomach, Ella stood up and swept her hand across the rest of the room. Her mother was face down on the table. Like Eric, she was naked and featuring slashes all over her body. With shaking hands, Ella approached the table. Her mom's petite body was drowning in blood. Her backside featured bruises, particularly around her hips, giving indication that she was sexually assaulted.
Ella's father wasn't in the dining room. She managed to escape the torture chamber in the dining room and stumbled down the hallway and into the only obvious place he would be, his study. There he was. Like the rest of her family, her father was stripped of all his clothing. He still remained tied to his desk chair with coarse rope. The first thing Ella noticed was his open eyes. They showed no fear. He bore the same markings as her brother and mother did, but Ella was jolted when she saw he was missing his penis. Blood was painted from his chest down to the ground- an obvious sign of his castration. It was then when Ella saw the message on the wall written in blood.
U R NEXT ELLA
Ella tried to remain calm as she bolted back through the house. Once outside, she tore her gym bag apart looking for her cell phone.
"Ford speaking-"
"They're back."
"Ella? Calm down. What do you mean? Who is back?"
"Coyote. They broke into the house. Everyone is dead."
Agent Ford, one of her father's associates at the CIA, shouted a muffled command. Ella could hear organized chaos on the other side of the line. A second later Ford's rugged voice was back in her ears.
"We're on our way, Ells. Don't worry, we're on our way."
The cemetery was a sea of black as her father's colleagues, mother's friends, and brother's classmates bid their final goodbyes. Ella excused herself from the crying mob of people, fading through the sea of hands reaching out to offer condolences. Ella hadn't shed a tear since the first night, and she definitely did not need anybody else to tell her they were sorry for her loses. She wanted revenge. Ever since the terrorist group Coyote kidnapped her when she was twelve, the CIA had been "hot on their trail" without making any progress. Ella was tired of waiting. She was taking matters into her own hands.
She made it a fair distance away from the large group of people when she heard a voice.
"Miss Ross… Where exactly do you think you are going?"
Ella noticed the two agents following her when she left the group, but didn't acknowledge them. They weren't from the CIA, but from SHIELD. She'd encountered a few SHIELD agents in her youth, particularly Agent Fury. Fury was one of the agents following her. The other was a voluptuous red head.
"I think you know the answer to that," Ella said as she kept walking.
"I'm going to have to ask you to stop, Miss Ross."
"Make me."
There was a slight pause before Fury stressed, "Do you want to cause a scene at the funeral of your family members?"
With a sigh, Ella stopped and turned to the two agents, who were hot on her heels. She crossed her arms and asked, "What to do you want?"
"We want you to… temporarily join forces with us to take down Coyote," The red head spoke. Her voice sent shivers down Ella's spine.
"What if I say no?"
"You won't," Fury said flatly. "Agent Romanov will accompany you to your house to gather some personal items, and then you will immediately fly to New York to stay with SHIELD until we are finished with our mission."
Romanov and Fury shuffled Ella to the road. The two women slid into one black car and Fury into another. Ella tried to occupy her time in the car by messing with the edge of her black dress. She kept sneaking glances at Romanov, trying to place her face, before it finally hit her.
"2004," Ella spoke up, catching Romanov off guard. "2008 in Rome- that's where I know you from. You were working for Marino, and I was working for Colombo. We fought at The Circus of Maxentius. You're Black Widow."
"Nice to see you again," Romanov said with a weak smile.
"You nearly killed me."
Romanov's smile curved even more, "You're luckier than most."
"I know I got some good blows in there."
"You scorched my arm and my side," Romanov admitted. "And I had to paint my eyebrows on for a few weeks after Maxentius."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ella saw the bright yellow police tape roping off her house. She closed her eyes as the car pulled to a stop. When she opened them again, Agent Romanov was staring at her. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of sorrow and determination. She must have gotten soft since she started working for SHIELD.
"You've got ten minutes tops," She said. "And don't try anything. I'm keeping my eyes on you."
Ella climbed out of the car and slowly approached the house. She'd been staying at Agent Ford's house since the attack happened. After the crime scene was processed, the CIA paid for an entire cleanup of the house. There was no way in hell Ella was going to continue to live there with the memories the house carried. She planned on selling it as soon as possible. Looks like that was going to be delayed for a while.
With a deep breath, she pushed through the front door. She did a B-line to the spiraling staircase, avoiding all the spots that were once covered in blood. Her room hadn't changed much over the years. Ella moved out when she was younger, and her parents had kept the room the same. When she moved back in, she didn't care enough to switch it up. She grabbed a few suitcases out of a closet and tossed them on her bed. She nearly emptied her closet and dresser drawers. Her room held no other mementos, so she moved on to her brother's room. He was a junior in high school, and his room reflected that. The walls were lined with posters of half-naked women and football players. Ella looked at the room for a long second before grabbing the gold trophy featuring a football flanked on their side by red and blue ribbons. Her brother had just won the award a few months prior for being the best player in the district. It was his prized possession. Ella moved to her parent's bedroom. It was warm and still smelled like her father's cologne. She slid open her mom's jewelry box and picked up a beautiful sapphire ring. Her mother received it for Christmas years ago, and it was her favorite piece. Ella only stopped on the way out of the house to grab an overstuffed photo album.
She still had four minutes to spare when she slid back in the Lexus. They drove off immediately. Ella rested her head on the glass, snatching one final glance at her house. She had a feeling it would be her last. She was going to take Coyote down or die trying.
Ella was targeted by a mutant underground terrorist group, Coyote, in the nineties. Her father was the lead agent on the Coyote case, making his fourteen year old daughter a perfect target for the group's rage. They kidnapped her at the height of their power, keeping her for a little under a month. She was kept in a lab, hooked up to machines, as Coyote poked and prodded her with the intentions of turning her into powerhouse they could manipulate and eventually use against her father. Coyote manipulated Ella's DNA, giving her the power of electrokinesis. Ella was rescued as they were tweaking her agility, leaving her with superhuman quickness and nimbleness.
After months of recovery and uncertainty from the government and her parents, Ella was placed in a top of the notch private school for mortals that cranked out future spies. There, Ella focused on using her human strengths, though she did receive additional training to utilize her electrical powers. Over the next five years, Elle mastered her ability to control, generate, and absorb energy. When she graduated from the program she disassociated herself with the United States Government and went overseas to freelance. She roamed Europe for three years before returning to the states. She moved back in with her parents and decided to enroll in school for psychology. She finished her degree and was preparing to go back into the field. That was, until her family was slaughtered by Coyote.
Clint shut the manila folder containing the file on Ella Ross. He ran a hand over his head and let out a sigh. The Avengers were a new group, still working out the kinks. They definitely didn't need another emotionally disturbed former agent for hire tagging along.
On cue, the large stainless steel doors leading to the main living area for The Avengers retracted into the wall. Pepper, who designed the building from head to toe, walked in alongside Ella Ross. Her cropped photo in the file did not do her justice. She was slightly shorter than Pepper, though she held herself like royalty. She wasn't petite, but her body wasn't completely characterized by her muscle definition. Her face was round and surrounded by loose brown curls. Her piercing emerald eyes held a solid stare. The stare was intensified by her arched eyebrows. Her nose had a slight curve to it. Her red lips lay on her face like a perfect heart. She was wearing a simple black dress, but she looked stunning. If one didn't know she was an electric wielding super-agent, they'd never guess.
Tony zipped into the room with two bags, breaking the silence. He set the bags on the ground and clapped his hands.
"Fantastic, isn't it?"
Ella's lips curved slightly as she shrugged, "I've seen better."
Clint cast his eyes down as he snickered. Steve, who was sitting opposite of him reading a magazine, tried his hardest to not laugh. Tony's face fell and he waved his arms around.
"You're joking, right?"
"Does it look like I'm joking?" Ella asked. "This place is a two and a half, at best."
"Pepper!" Tony whined. "You're not going to just let an orphan-"
Tony was cut short as Ella lifted her hand. A glowing blue ball of electricity appeared in her palm and she aimed it at Tony.
"What? The orphan bit? Was it too much?"
"Enough," Nick said, walking into the room. He crossed his arms. "I'm tired of babysitting a bunch of grown ass adults!"
"He started it," Ella seethed.
"Oh be quiet, Surge," Tony rolled his eyes. "That's what they call you right?"
"Just put your… hands… down," Pepper tried. "And Tony, just… be quiet."
The ball disappeared from Ella's hand. She sighed heavily and stared at Nick.
"Did you kidnap me from my family's funeral so I could come here and have a bitch fight with America's favorite playboy billionaire?"
"Wait," Steve interrupted, standing up. "You made her leave her family's funeral?"
Natasha entered the room, "Don't try to play the victim, Ella. You were leaving anyway."
"I think we all need a little breather," Pepper suggested. "Clint, Ella's room is across from yours. Why don't you help her with her bags and show her where the room is?"
Clint rubbed the stubble on his cheek as he stood up. He took a step towards the bags lying on the floor. Ella picked them up effortlessly and stared at him. He let out a sigh and started walking. Each Avenger had their own suite, though there were a few extra in case any SHIELD agent needed a place to stay for the night. And of course Tony had an entire floor to himself.
"Here you go," Clint grumbled, extending his arm to the door.
Ella pushed the door open with her shoulder. Her bags thumped loudly on the floor. Her eyes met Clint's for a brief second before she slammed the door in his face.
This is going to be so much fun, Clint thought to himself as he retreated to his own suite.