Prologue
Every now and again you get an opportunity that you just can't turn down, not for the money or the promise of climbing some ladder, but solely for the awe of what, or more importantly, WHO the opportunity entails. And I was presented with such an opportunity as this. Little did I, Piper Greene, an overweight fair skinned small town girl from Michigan, know what the acceptance of the opportunity would lead me to...
I couldn't believe that I was here, Stark Tower, of all places; the home of the Avengers. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere for the first time in my life. I had always had the ability to know when someone was lying. I never thought it was a gift or something supernatural, I only thought that I was perceptive. Only a week earlier I had gotten a phone call for a strange interview, fresh out of college with a completely useless degree in vocal performance and with no job, still living with my parents at age 23, I couldn't exactly turn down the offer.
When I showed up to the quaint coffee shop for the interview there was only one person there. She stood in her very expensive professional red dress and shook my hand. Blonde hair pulled into a flawless bun, with small rectangular black glasses sitting immaculately on the bridge of her nose, giving me a warm smile as I approached her.
"Hello Miss Greene, I am Mr. Starks personal assistant, here to interview you. If you'll kindly sit here, we will begin."
"Um, yes hello, ok."
I sat down awkwardly as she handed me a pair of headphones, I looked at her questioningly as she simply looked at me expectantly.
"If you would kindly listen to each statement, and after each one please tell me if you think its a lie or if they're telling the truth. There will be 10 audio recordings, do you understand the directions Miss Greene?"
"Yes Ma'am, I do."
"Excellent!" She beamed a smile at me and opened a thin white laptop in front of her.
I placed the earbuds into my ears and listened carefully to each statement, taking notice that most of the recordings were of one voice, a husky but smooth seductive male voice; it felt like a sweet poisonous syrup to my ears. Most of what this man said was a lie, apart from one statement. After I was finished, I removed the headphones and smiled at her nervously; after a bit of typing she smiled at me.
"After Mr. Stark reviews-" She was interrupted by her phone ringing and she excused herself to take the call, stepping out of hearing range across the shop.
I grew increasingly more nervous as she looked over and smiled at me casually. She started to walk back and after she said a quick 'Yes sir' she hung up and stood in front of me with her hands clasped around her phone gently.
"Miss Greene, if you would kindly accompany me to see Mr. Stark."
I couldn't help but be speechless and just stare at her for a few moments longer than was necessary before responding in a jumbled mess of 'yes's and 'sure's. I followed her to a very sleek black car, where her and I both climbed in back and rode in silence to a private air strip just outside of my hometown.
As i got out of the car, I looked up to see none other than the infamous Tony Stark coming down the stairs of his private jet. I was now a giant mess of nerves as he looked up to see me with a smirk.
"Lie Detector! I've been itching to meet you!" He said with a firm shake of my hand and a clap on my shoulder.
"I'm going to cut right to the chase here, Pip, I need you on my team. The Avengers team that is. Whaddya say?
I felt like I was going to either faint or throw up, and I silently prayed it was NOT the latter of the two.
"Wait, what? Why?"
He chuckled lightly and put an arm around my shoulders as he led me away from the jet and his assistant slowly.
"Well we've recently had a new wrench thrown into our not so well oiled gears by the name of Loki, I'm sure you've heard of him, he tried to take over the planet and destroyed New York, yadda yadda, and apparently his punishment was to stay here on earth and work with us to try to atone for his actions. We need someone to keep an eye on him, someone who can tell if he is lying or not, because obviously he cant be trusted. And you, Pip are like some crazy human lie detector. I need you on this. You in?"
My god this man could talk. And before I knew what I was saying...
"Yes...I can totally do that. No problem"
"Awesome! My assistant here will take you back to your place where you can pack up and meet me back here at the Jet. One hour!"
Stark walked away with a confident stride and got into a sports car and sped off, leaving me there on the air strip wondering what the hell I had just gotten myself into...