Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers, but I did create Henrietta and Dee.

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Chapter 1

Claxons blared, boots pounded the hard linoleum corridors, and the intruder could hear the click of guns locking and loading. "Damn it. This shouldn't have happened – I planned for all the variables!" the young girl yelled to no one in particular. She could feel her anger begin to pulse within her ('Don't get angry, don't get angry', she begged) – a swirling and horrible rage that she couldn't contain ('don't get angry, don't get angry',) – and it built and built until –

"I told you this would happen." The cool voice came from the intruder's five o'clock. She whipped around, her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail that whipped her face in the process, only to see the smirking face of a young woman leaning against the wall. Her ankles were crossed about a foot out in front of where her torso rested languidly against the metal surface, her brown hair was cut short, and her arms were folded across her chest. "So, thank you."

Anger and aggression gave way to confusion and frustration – her friend always had this effect on her – and the intruder furrowed her brow quizzically. "What are you thanking me for?"

"I told you this was a bad idea because I knew – and expressed to you – what would happen if you did it. Yet you did it anyway – giving me the opportunity to tell you 'I told you so' – and we both know how much I love using that phrase." Her smirk widened and there was undeniable mirth in the girl's eyes.

The intruder just rolled her eyes. 'I suppose I'm not angry anymore', she thought.

And, as she always seemed to know what her friend was thinking, the girl against the wall laughed. "You're welcome." She looked way too pleased with herself. That was never a good thing…

Enough was enough. "Look, can we just get out of here? Those guys aren't going to be so friendly when they catch us."

The girl by the wall stood up straight and put on an air of mock indignation. "Us? What is this 'us' you speak of? You stole the documents and it's you they want. They don't even know that I'm here."

"Gee, thanks for the solidarity Dee." 'She's wasting time. They'll catch us soon, and they won't discriminate between her and me when they do.'

Seeing the look of frustration and worry on her friends face – and driven by not really wanting to get caught by the agents running down the corridors toward them – she grabbed her friend's arm. "Buckle up Heidi, those bootstraps won't even know what happened." And sporting her signature smirk, she and her worried friend disappeared.

The intruder wrenched her arm free of her friend and glared at her. Dee looked both amused and offended simultaneously. "What?"

The longer-haired girl rolled her eyes at her friend. "How many times have I told you not to call me 'Heidi'?"

"1,767 times if we're including this one." Which was probably a pretty accurate number– Dee was usually right about these things.

"Yeah, well – then maybe you should stop."

"But it fits!" Dee's protestations were actually quite funny. She looked equal parts sad, frustrated, and confident.

"I don't care that it fits – it's not my name and I don't like it."

Dee crossed her arms in front of her chest and a mischievous look graced her deep brown eyes. "For all you know, it very well could be your name."

This was an old argument. They had had it many, many, many times before – but it didn't change her mind. At all. "My name is Henrietta Jekyll. Learn it and use it."

At this, it was Dee's turn to roll her eyes. "I know your name Henry. I picked it out. So, as far as I'm concerned – I can call you whatever I like. And 'Heidi' fits!"

"It can fit all it likes, Dee – but I'm still me right now."

Dee rolled her eyes and grumbled, "You're still you when you're green too, but you're definitely more agreeable in that state."

Henry looked at her friend like she'd lost the remaining portion of her absolutely brilliant mind. "I'm pretty sure that Xavier's school would disagree with you on that."

"More agreeable with me. Beyond that, I don't really care who's school you demolish like so many Lincoln Logs." The saddest part is this: Dee was completely serious about this. Henry really had demolished Xavier's school a few years back – and Dee really didn't care how much destruction Henry left in her wake as long as Dee and whatever new project she happens to be working on at the time are left out of it.

Which always seemed to work out for her.

For someone so frustrating to be around, Dee was actually incredibly calming. It probably never really reached boiling point because the two girls had been friends for a long time, and Henry knew that Dee was, essentially, harmless. Unless she's experimenting. Or, doing pretty much…anything.

Dee strolled on over to the fridge in the corner of the kitchen they were standing in and pulled out a bottle of root beer. Henry raised her eyebrows skeptically. "You're resorting to stealing people's soda now?"

Dee stared at her friend as if she'd suddenly turned purple. Then she laughed. "Hardly. I don't think it's classified as 'stealing' if it's your own damn apartment." Henry's jaw dropped open. Dee smirked. "The soda's mine as well. In case you were wondering." She winked snarkily at her friend who continued to observe her surroundings in shock.

Now that she looked around she realized that it made a lot of sense. The style of the place was very hard rock: it was composed of reds, blacks, golds, silvers, and a few blues; the couches, saucer chairs, retro coffee tables and lamps, and the high-tech, modern kitchen; the posters and classic platinum records gracing the walls instead of the paintings and family photos that people usually decorate with; and instead of fake plants, there were signed guitars by some of Dee's favorite bands and artists. Oh, yeah. This was very Dee.

'How have I never seen this place? Why have I never been to my best friend's apartment? Oh, right. She's offered, I've declined. I don't want to freeload. No, I'd rather stay in an abandoned, rundown apartment in which I'm pretty sure a family of rats has taken up residence.'

Dee looked at her friend with an amused expression on her face. "You done gawking? I put your things next to the couch. There's no bed, but it's a futon."

"Why isn't there a bed? Isn't that a bedroom over there?"

"You're seriously more surprised that I don't have a bed for either one of us than you are that I took your stuff from your place? Which, by the way, isn't much of a place."

Henry rolled her eyes at Dee. "Yes, yes I am. You have never had a regard for other people's personal possessions."

"True. But I don't really sleep either, so I decided to convert what should be the bedroom into a lab. Much more useful." She popped the cap off of the bottle in her hand and held it out Henry. "I'm out of food – I've been too busy to eat – but if you want to order out, there are pamphlets for take-out in the top left-hand drawer underneath the coffeemaker. My treat." With that, Dee walked off towards her lab. "Oh, and I have OnDemand, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus set up on the TV. There's also a couple of video game consoles with various games meant for them in the drawer beneath the TV set. The universal remote for the entertainment system is on the coffee table and the glass case next to the plasma is filled with TV shows and movies. I'll be in my lab if you need me so…please don't need me."

She was through the door, with it closed and presumably auto-locked, almost immediately after finishing her statement. Henry was still a bit shell-shocked. She knew Dee was ridiculously rich and never seemed to care all that much but this…most people wouldn't just tell you to start spending their money. Then again, Dee was not most people.

Henry decided she was hungry, but she wasn't about to let Dee pay for her food. She dug through her bag for her wallet but couldn't find it so she went into the bathroom in the hopes it had somehow ended up in her toiletries. It had. It was wedged between her toothpaste and toothbrush in her hanging bag. "Dee…you're brilliant but how do you not know where to put a wallet when you pack someone's stuff?" She meandered back to the kitchen, and had only to dial the last number of the Thai place when she realized that she didn't know what address this place was at.

But Dee had made it pretty clear that unless Henry was in the process of destroying Dee's lab, she didn't want to be disturbed. "What's the address of your apartment?!" she tried calling out to Dee. Henry clearly didn't realize that the door to the lab was steel reinforced and sound proofed both ways – and even if it wasn't, there was no way Dee would've heard her friend's call over the sound of Highway to Hell and her soldering iron.

Henry jumped about six feet in the air as a disembodied British voice responded to her question. "Miss Jekyll. When Miss Stark wishes to order out, she simply tells me what she wishes and from where – I take care of the rest."

Henry was still freaked out. There was a disembodied British butler's voice talking to her. How? No, no wait. Never mind. This is Dee. "Umm…okay. I guess I'll go with the fried tofu and peanut sauce from the Thaikwondo Palace. If that's okay?"

"Of course Miss. I shall call immediately." And then…silence. No more random voice from nowhere. Weird.

Author's Note: Please review :)