Hulloooo! Welcome to my first Avengers fic ever! WOOT WOOT! So... basically I have an outline for the plot, but if you have any suggestions to make it better, feel free to review them! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas Alex Rider, jamais ne le sera jamais (google it if you really need to know)
Alex Rider has always been somewhat of an anomaly. He was a teenage spy for crying-out-loud! But even beyond that fact, he was special. You see, one of the reasons Alex made such a good spy was the fact that he had a way with shadows. An understanding of sorts. They listened to him, he controlled them. The shadows helped him disappear, helped him to travel wherever he needed. It made him a quiet lad. What with the shadows being the only retreat from his life, it wasn't as if he could share his talent with others. They would call him a freak, make him into a science experiment. They would make it so he was even more of a reject. That is why he was quiet.
But I suppose that that is not the purpose of this story. That is not the reason I am typing this up. The reason, you see, it that I have a story to tell. The story of the newest Avenger. The masked boy clad all in black. A miscreant, he stood on the border between bad and good. A little too wild for his own good. Reckless, and young. Yet that is what made him so important.
Chapter One: England
England was a dreary place on normal days. The sun rarely came out and today was no exception. There were no bird-calls as Alex Rider exited his house. No sunny flowers to make him smile. No passer-byes to greet him 'good morning'. Just the rain that continued to fall. Drip drop, drip drop. Alex supposed it was fitting. Any day where he was being called to the bank was not going to be a good one.
Alex subconsciously called upon a slight cloak of shadows to make him less noticeable. Alex did this far more than he realized. Disappearing was something he often wished, the shadows just made it more possible. Darkening the aura around him, making pedestrians cross the street to avoid this dark teen. Dogs would whimper as he strolled by and babies would start to cry. Even they could sense something wrong.
That's just what I am, though, thought Alex wrong. I am wrong in so many ways, wrong in the fact that I shouldn't even be alive. Alex had had many near death experiences. One was nearer than the others though. Near enough that he actually felt himself letting go. Ready to cross over. Ready for peace. If MI6 hadn't broken in at that exact moment, he would be dead. As it was, he was forced to live on. Forced to endear the scars and the looks of the people. Forced to maintain a facade that he wasn't broken inside. Some part of him had crossed over. He hadn't been quite complete when he had woken up. That missing section had soon been filled with darkness. This darkness is what gave him the control over the shadows. The ability to manipulate the absence of light. The darkness had made him a freak.
Alex stomped in a puddle that was laying in the street in front of the Royal and General Bank. The water sploshed unhappily, soaking into his combat boots. He yanked the front door open and stomped a little heavier than necessary into the lobby. He glared at the receptionist who immediately notified the heads that 'One Alex Rider is here to see them'.
He was the only one in the elevator and he could practically feel the different cameras, all x-raying and taking pictures of him in ultraviolet. When the elevator dinged, he went straight into the heads room. Alex didn't bother to knock, they were expecting him, so why bother?
"Alex" Blunt said monotonously, without looking up. "Do you know why we called you here today?"
"No, but I have a distinct feeling that you're going to tell me." Blunt ignored his comment.
"It had recently come to our attention that you have been losing your trailers." (I didn't know how to phrase that, sorry) Alex had known he had had someone following him. That was one of the reasons he used his 'Shadow Cloak' so often. "It has also come to our attention that you have developed...a way with shadows" Alex refused to look at them. "It is due to these developments that we have decided to move you over to America, so they can keep an eye on you."
"What!? You can't do this!"
"On the contrary, Alex. We can do this. We own you. We can do anything we like."
"You just love to remind me of that, don't you." He could've sworn Blunt nodded. Except Blunt wouldn't partake in such childish banter.
"You leave in the morning, we'll have an agent pick you up at 7. See Smithers before you leave." Blunt went back to the continuous stack of files on his desk. It was clear that Alex had been dismissed.
"Alex! Old chap! How have you been?" Smithers was as large and jolly as ever. It was a relief to see that at least one thing was the same.
"I've just been wonderful"Alex made sure his sarcasm was noted.
"I hear you're going to America" Alex made a noise closely related to a pigs flatulence "Oh, it won't be that bad. I hear you're staying with some lovely people."
"Who?
"Spoilers" he sang
"Did you really just make a Doctor Who reference" Smithers winked at him
"Anyways... on to the gadgets. I'm only allowed to give you a few. First off is this watch." The watch looked like any other watch. It was silver with black figures on the face. "I'm not allowed to tell you what it does till you get there, so I put the instructions on the watch so you can watch them when you get there." he snickered at his pun. "Next is a dart gun, it shoots out paralytic darts. They only work for two hours though. The gun will clip onto your watch so you don't have to carry it around. Just hit the button on top!" Next Smithers pulled out something that Alex had been waiting for
"A gun!"
"Yup, but only to be used in the most extreme of situations. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but try to shoot so you only wound or maim someone. Killing is to be left to worst case scenario situations."
"Ok"
"And finally you have your pencil case. Just like the other one I gave you for your Crocodile Tears Mission. It's coated with lead on the inside so it should be no problem at security. It contains extra ammo for your gun and your dart gun. I'm afraid that's all I can give you, though."
"How am I supposed to contact you?"
"That's the thing, you don't. I'm afraid this'll be the last time I'm working with you, Old Bean. You're going to become property of the CIA" Smithers made a face and whispered "I don't like the way they consider you property." Alex leaned in close and whispered back
"Me either."
"If you're ever in a sticky situation, though, speed dial 6" Smithers winked at him "It'll connect you directly to me"
"Thanks, Smithers"
"Oh, come here, you" Smithers pulled Alex into a big hug "Good luck out there"
"Thanks for every thing, bye"
"bye" Alex could've sworn he saw Smithers wipe away a tear as he left, but he knew that wasn't possible. He was with MI6, MI6 men don't have emotions, but all the same, Alex was getting a little teared up too.
True to his words, Alex's doorbell rang at exactly 7 in the morning. Alex opened the door and frowned at the nondescript man standing there.
"Agent Rider I am here to-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Have any ID?" The Agent frowned but pulled out his badge. "So...Harold, when's my flight?" 'Harold' sighed, he would've preferred being called Agent (or Mr.) Barkwell.
"In two hours, I was also instructed to give this to you." Harold handed Alex a thin folder."You can read it on the plane."
"Ooooooorrrrrr... I could play my gameboy and cram read it when we get there." Agent Barkwell was seriously regretting accepting this job.
The flight was 8 and a half hours. There had been a slight delay due to storms rising around New York City. Alex, as promised, had played his gameboy the entire flight. Only stopping to pelt Harold with peanuts. Halfway through the flight Harold snapped at the teen.
"Do you have to be so childish?" Alex pulled out a small book from under his seat.
"Yup, says right here that from 12-3 annoy Harold by pelting him with cheap nuts" indeed it did. Alex's personal planner was full of odd things like that and things like 'follow Tom home and steal all his shirts' Harold didn't know who this Tom guy was but he felt sorry for him. His name was the one most written in the planner.
Around 5:30, Harold woke up from his short nap to find that they were descending over the city of dreams. Harold yawned, but stopped midway. People were pointing and laughing at him. Harold was a big man, standing at 6 ft 2. People normally did not laugh at him. So this was odd. Alex was sitting still and looking oddly innocent for once, that was Harold's second tip-off. The agent started to get up to go to the bathroom, but a flight attendant quickly rushed over.
"I'm sorry, sir, but you must remain seated while we're landing." Even she look ready to burst laughing.
"What did you do?" He growled at Alex, Alex, who seemingly went deaf, just pointed out the window.
"Look, the Statue of Liberty!" Harold sighed.
As soon as the plane landed, Harold was the first one off. Grabbing his carry-on, he ran off the plane. Making his way to the nearest bathroom, he saw that someone had draw on his face with marker. He scrubbed his skin raw, but the marker barely faded. Sighing he left the bathroom, intent on killing Alex, only to realize that the boy had gone. Nowhere to be seen. Harold's phone rang, he answered while still looking for the boy.
"I see you've landed." The curt voice of Mrs. Jones was unmistakable.
"Yeah,"
"You sound distracted. I just called to warn you that it is likely that Alex will try to escape once you get to America, so you need to keep a close eye on him."
"Oh, ok, um, got to go, bye" Harold knew it was probably job suicide but if he didn't find Alex it would definitely be job suicide. He had let the brat trick him into leaving him alone. He ran to baggage claim and low and behold, Alex was there.
"Miss me?" the boy said cheekily. Harold gave him a perplexed look. "Oh, don't worry, my escape attempts haven't even started yet. I just wanted to scare you a little. I'm going to wait until I get wherever I'm supposed to be going."
"If you had read the file then you would've known."
"eh, I like surprises." Harold assumed that Alex had a vague idea of where he was going on, Harold also expected that he was way smarter than he let on. The fact is, Alex had everything planned out, even down to Mrs. Jones calling to check up on him. The real plan would start as soon as he got to Stark Tower.
"Stark, I need you to gather up the rest of the Avengers, we have an important meeting, so tell them to get their asses down here."
"Rightio, Fury. Everyone! Meeting in the living room!" The other Avengers gathered in quick procession (I'm not going to describe them, you know who they are, so deal with it)
"What's up?"
"I'm going to be introducing a new Avenger to the team later today." shocked silence filled the room.
"Why?"
"He's a former spy who they need us to keep an eye on. He's supposedly got some sort of powers but the government didn't give me much to go on."
"C'mon, Fury, you can't expect us to just welcome the new guy and become all buddy-buddy with him."
"Yes, I can, and I do expect you to be all buddy-buddy with him. He'll arrive around 7, I expect all of you to be on your best behavior."With that, the hologram of Fury disappeared
"I don't have a best behavior. I have a better behavior, but not a best." Stark mumbled.
"Of course, it's a guy, what do you have to do to get some female companionship around here?"
"You have Pepper."
"Yeah, but all Pepper wants to talk about is you and makeup and stuff."
"Not bad topics..."
"But still, I'd rather talk about how to kill people with heels instead of how to walk in them."
"Maybe he'll be a drag queen?"
"No, Clint, I doubt he'll be a drag queen." Clint shrugged semi-apologetically,
"you never know..."
Oi, I'm not really pleased with this chapter. I'll try to write more soon, till then, please review and thanks for reading! ;D