Max was directed to Oliver's office by Director Nick Fury of SHIELD. She had flown over Nick the previous day and caught his attention. Although he was impressed with her, he said that recruitment to SHIELD was not his field of work.
Max knocked at the door with the plaque "Agent Oliver, SHIELD Human Resources manger" on it.
Inside the room, Oliver was on a phone call. "Yes, yes I know," she expatriated. "Tell him I will get back to him tomorrow."
Oliver rubbed her forehead muttering, "I have gotta get a break." Her desk was piled high with paper work and forms. On one corner of the desk sat a desktop computer with a screensaver of SHIELD logo spinning. On the other corner set the Star Wars stationary, which she had collected over the years.
"Come in," cried Oliver from inside.
She turned to Max, surprised to see an unfamiliar face "What can I do for you?"
"Can I offer you a cup of tea or coffee," she added. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."
"Coffee would be nice," Max said as she held out her hand, "I'm Maximum Ride, and I believe I can offer something to SHIELD."
Oliver shook Max hand firmly. "Agent Oliver, at you service." "Milk or sugar?" Oliver said as she got up to make some tea.
"Both," Max replied as she twiddled her thumbs. She was quite nervous.
Oliver stirred the sugar into the coffee and added some milk. She returned to the desk and handed the coffee to Max and sat down.
"Thanks," Max said as she took the cup from Oliver,
"You look rather young " Oliver said as she sipping her tea.
"I don't actually know my date of birth since I was created by a lab in Itex," Max replied.
Oliver raised her eyebrow. "Created in a lab? Okay, so you have my attention, please tell me about it."
"I was created in a lab," Max replied, "An experiment by the scientists at Itex at genetic splicing. When I was a fetus, they splice avian DNA into me. I'm 2% bird 98% human. My bones are hollow so I'm actually lighter than normal humans. One of the affects of the splicing is that I have wings."
Max unfurled 14-foot wings and almost knocked over Oliver's Star War's stationary.
"Watch it," Oliver said smiling.
"Sorry," Max said, "And can breathe underwater. Plus, I have sharp vision and rapid healing."
"I see ...," Oliver replied as she turned to the computer. She tapped on the computer keyboard and she pulled up the files SHIELD had gathered about Max on her computer. "Well, you do appear to have some useful skills. How exactly did you end up here?"
"Well, Nick Fury directed me to you," Max answered, "I kinda flew overhead of him and caught his attention."
"I can imagine you would have," Oliver said, "So what makes you think you are SHIELD material?"
"I think I make perfect SHIELD material, Max replied. "For one thing, I have the abilities. And I'm strong and tough."
"Do you have any experience in the field? You have to understand that you can't just become an asset...it takes training," Oliver said peering at Max over the computer.
"I have fought the Erasers before, and other bad guy," Max replied.
"Wolf-human genetic hybrids, am I correct?" Oliver said as she examined Max's files.
"Yes," Max replied. They're quite mean and nasty. Yes, how did you know?"
"We're SHIELD, it's our job to know," Oliver said, "Well that is quite impressive. Perhaps we could run you through some tests."
Max stares at her and shudders, "You mean like lab tests?"
She thought back at her time at Itex when she was jabbed and poked at by the various scientists. She remembered when she was kept in a cage like animals by the Itex technicians.
"You OK?" Oliver asked to Max.
"I'm fine," Max replied regaining her composure. "It's just that I have a bad memory of tests since I was a lab experiment at Itex. I was jabbed and poked at like lab animals."
"Oh no, not those kind of tests, just some basic exercises to see what you can do. Test your abilities. Physical ones to test your abilities," Oliver replied, "follow me."
Max followed Oliver to the winding hallways of SHIELD HQ.
Max pass by a gym room where SHIELD members trained. She saw Captain America throwing jabs at a punching bag. She also caught a glimpse of Tony Stark walking in the outside corridors.
"Is that," Max exclaimed, "Captain America and Tony Stark aka Iron Man?"
"Yes," Oliver replied. She waved at Tony and smiled. He waved back at her.
"They are one of our core members of SHIELD," she explained.
Oliver led Max to an outdoor courtyard indoor testing facility full of machines that beep and whirled. Oliver reached out to a cabinet and took out a mask.
As she handed it to Max, she explained, "This will measure your oxygen level."
Max placed the mask over her head.
Olive then took out a wristband and attached it to Max's wrist. "This will measure your heart beat, speed, and the such."
"First, I would like to test your flight maneuvers," she continued. She tapped into a panel and a drone came out of a hole in the cubical. "Try to avoid the drone."
The drone fired at her causing Max to cry out, "Whoa!"
Max ducked and the fire left a scorch mark on the floor.
"Don't worry, it won't kill you, just give you a nasty sting," Oliver replied as she smiled. "You can start anytime."
Max snapped open her wing and shot into the air. The drone chased after her. It fired at her left wing. Max tilted her wings and banked sharply to the right. Try as she might, the drone was still on her tail.
Time to lose the drone, Max thought. Max flapped her wings harder and shot forward at 300 miles per hour. The wind whistled past her ear as she flew.
Back on the ground, Oliver glanced at the data read outs. "This girl is fast," she muttered. "And she's hardly breaking a sweat."
Max glanced back at the drone but it was nowhere in sight. Just then, the drone popped out of nowhere above her causing her to lose a feather or two. Max pulled upwards but the drone was still following her. Suddenly Max got an idea.
Max dove to the ground and just before she hit she spread her wings and pulled upwards. However, the drone was too slow and didn't pull up in time. It smashed to the ground.
Back at SHIELD HQ, Olive watched the video footage of the exercise suddenly turned to static as she lost signal from the drone.
She saw Max flying back to her with a grin on her face. Olive was a little worried. How could she explain to Nick Fury that a thousand dollar equipment was destroyed in a second.
"How did I do?" Max asked Oliver.
"Well, I have to admit you impressed me," Oliver replied smiling, "I wasn't expecting you to out fly the drone.
"So what's next?" Max asked.
"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing how your hand to hand combat is. We could head down to the gym?" Oliver replied.
"No problem," Max side smiling, "I could probably use a work out."
"Follow me then," Oliver said, leading Max to one of the empty SHIELD gyms, "Wait here. I'll be back in two minutes."
Oliver then went into the changing room and returned in training gear.
When Oliver returned, Max asked, "Won't I need one?"
"If you want to change into something more comfortable be my guest, these are just standard gym pants and vest," Oliver replied.
"But I didn't bring any with me," Max said.
Oliver went to one of the lockers and tossed Max a pair of dark blue tracksuit. "Here you go."
Max changed into those and returned. While she did that, Oliver did some standard stretches and warm out routines.
Max came out changing room looking absolutely gorgeous. The tight fitting shirt and pants hugged her body accentuating her curves. "How do I look?" Max asked.
"Fine," Oliver replied, "Although I'm not assessing how you look. So what kind of hand to hand combat are you familiar with?"
"Well normal punches and stuff. Maybe throwing a few objects around. I mostly utilize my wings for aerial attack," Max replied.
"I'm afraid I can't compete on an aerial attack, but show me what you've got," Oliver said as she beckoned Max to attack.
Max rushed towards Oliver and threw a left hook. In response, Oliver raised her right arm to block and stepped aside. "Again."
Max flipped over her and then jabbed Oliver from the back. Oliver, surprised by Max's speed takes the hit before dropping to a crouch. Then she extended her legs and spun around, knocking Max to the ground.
Oliver extended her hand and pulled Max up. "You should use your wings more, if they are supporting some of your weight at all times that wouldn't work."
"Are you suggesting me to fly and attack?" Max said confused. "Is there enough space here? I'm not used to flying indoors."
"Not necessarily," Oliver replied, "but if you're ready for flight, it might mean that you don't fall if someone goes for your legs."
"Oh. But my wings is 14 feet wide" Max said.
"It's worth bearing in mind if you're in an open space. Want to try again?" said Oliver.
"Of course," Max replied, snapping out her wing and hovering in the air. "Also won't it mean more of an attack area?"
"Yes, but sometimes that's the situation you're going to find yourself in," Oliver replied. She changed her stance, waiting for Max to attack.
Max shoots off into the air and dives at Oliver. She then grabbed Oliver's hand and pulled her into the air.
Oliver grabbed Max's other arm and pulled herself up. Then placing her feet on Max's stomach, she pushed hard, prompting Max to let go. Oliver somersaulted as she fell, landing in a crouch position. "That's more like it," Oliver said grinning as she ran towards Max.
Max flapped her wings and flew higher. Then she dove to the ground, tacking Oliver from behind.
Oliver threw her elbow back and connected with her shoulder, before twisting around and grabbing her wings. Max wince in pain.
Max wept at Oliver's leg. Oliver jumped over the sweep, twisting to grab Max's arm and restrain her. "Not bad, given your lack of training.
"Well I got on the job training fighting the Erasers," Max replied grinning panting hard.
"That's true," Oliver said as she let go of the hold, "You obviously have a good instinct for this, any experience with weapons?"
"Umm none... without any ids of any sorts, I'm pretty sure I can't buy guns," Max said as she stood up. Max was panting and sweating a lot.
That's fine, I'm not testing you on things you don't know. Well I'll have to get this written up for the Director.
Not wanting to look bad, Max said, "Well I could always learn how to use it. I am a fast learner."
"I can't provide you with firearms," Oliver said, misunderstanding Max. "You've not passed any training and you're not in SHIELD. I'm sorry."
"No what I mean is that although I cannot use firearms, I can be trained with it if I do get accepted," Max responded quickly.
"Well it does form part of the basic training," Oliver said. "You'll find there's a lot of things you'd need to learn if you're accepted.
Max said, "So what's next?"
"I'm afraid there's nothing else to do," Oliver said, I'd better escort you out, but we should get changed first."
Max and Oliver headed towards and changed. Oliver finished first and waited outside for Max to come out. When Max emerged, Oliver said, "So where are you living at the minute?"
"Umm a small apartment a few miles from here," Max replied.
Oliver escorted Max through the compound. When they got to the main entrance of SHIELD, Oliver said smiling, "So you'll be okay getting home then?"
"Yeah," Max said as she snapped open her wing. "Hope I'll hear back soon. You know my number right?"
"Yes, I'm sure we'll be in touch soon," Oliver said.
Max leaped into the air, flapped her wing, and took off.