Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to the Avenger's. Just my character. The rest belongs to Marvel.
**Italicized sections are flashback**
Chapter One: The Day
Never had I thought that day would come.
The light blue glow shone in my face, revealing to me a world completely foreign. I blinked several times, trying to make sense of the situation I was in, only to see all those seated around me were in the same position as I, only they appeared to know what was going on. Symbols…letters…words were flashing across the screen on the computer in front of me, but it was useless for me to try and understand what it was they wanted me to do. I hadn't been hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to be a computer technician; that was common knowledge.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to step aside," I said with authority to the shaking, blonde haired woman standing in front of me in that old, beat up building just outside of New York City.
"Agent Coulson-" my ear piece was getting feedback and I could hardly hear a word any of them at base were saying.
"My husband never did anything wrong!" She screamed at me, standing directly in front of the power box in which I needed to break open.
"Shoot," A voice in my ear piece said, clear as day. Never that day had I heard such a simple, direct command. It baffled me to hear this, but I had been leaning toward this action anyways. The power box was right there and one shot would destroy it for good.
I aimed to the left of the lady, who was sobbing so hysterically, she hadn't the slightest as to where she was in relation to where I was shooting.
"You sure?" I muttered into my head piece, wanting to clarify before pulling the trigger.
I knew what I had heard, but before making such a bold move, I wanted to verify, however, the lady came running at me and left me with no choice. I sidestepped away from her, pointing my gun directly toward the power box. With a single pull of the trigger, I had been able to destroy my career as an agent.
A single pull of the trigger.
I shook the memory from my head, knowing I couldn't remember the situation if I wished to maintain my composure. Therefore, I went back to the keyboard sitting in front of me and tried tapping in one or two different combinations that the head computer geeks, I mean, specialists, had taught me just moments before. However, time and time again error messages popped up on the screen.
Out of frustration, I ran my fingers through my hair and pushed the chair away from the computer. I tried telling Nick Fury it would have been better to simply fire me…but what did he say? He said it was stupid for me to say something like that and to "just wait" because he could probably get me back in the system after the dust had settled on the case.
Just about the time I was going to get up, one of the technicians working beside me pushed up his glasses and looked at me," Do you want some assistance?"
I wasn't used to having someone offer me help on something. Most of the time, I could get something done on my own standards and not have to answer to anyone else(for the most part). Already, I could tell that I was going to love this job.
"Your question is worded poorly," I said dryly, scratching my head as I turned my head back to the screen. "I don't want assistance…but it appears as though I haven't an option, therefore, a better question would have been: do you need some assistance? To which, I would have answered in a much more chipper tone of voice and-"
"Agent Coulson," I heard a voice growl from behind me, only to look and see it to be my brother, Phil.
I rolled my eyes," Please, Phil…I thought we agreed a long time ago-"
"It's not proper protocol, Agent Coulson," He said just as firmly as before. He seemed to be taking my new demotion quite seriously.
"Well then, Agent Coulson," I said just as sternly back and only slightly mocking him. "We certainly don't want to break protocol…"
Every time I saw the light-haired fellow I couldn't help but wish to roll my eyes, even though we were related. Memories from our childhood flashed back to my head, he was always the one to go crying to mom. Mom always liked him better because he was the more honest one of the two…the more "genuine". It never really paid off for him…until now…until he was the one actually getting the attention from S.H.I.E.L.D and I was the one sitting in front of some computer system I had no idea how to work. I truly did love him, but sometimes the guy drove me up a wall.
Many hours after the event…I was forced to sit through an evaluation of what had happened.
"Nick Fury, you know I wouldn't do such a thing…" I told him, pleaded rather as I let my head drop, staring at my shoes as the reality was thrust upon me.
The man with the eye patch sighed," All I have to go on is what Agent Romanov tells me and what the camera suggests. The council said you were not to be trusted from the beginning and it appears as though they had the right idea."
The idea of being screwed over for something I knew I didn't do enraged me incredibly. I knew the council hated me; I knew that Nick Fury was the only reason I was even hired at S.H.I.L.D. It was for this reason I couldn't afford for him to no longer trust me…
You would think I'd have this computer thing down considering it was a trait that would have been handy in my field, or the special officer field, rather. Truth is, I couldn't tell you much of a computer to save my life. Sure, I paid attention enough to learn how the gadgets work and memorize enough codes to pass me through the course, but actually applying any of that geeky stuff may as well have been a lost cause.
I sat back as the fellow beside me starting spitting out all sorts of terms that I had no idea what they meant. I knew I was going to have to learn one way or another, but that didn't mean I was completely paying attention to him. I nodded my head, did the basic things he told me to do, but as soon as he rolled himself back over to where his screen was…I was back to the drawing board.
I clenched my fist before my gaze moved over to Agent Romanov, who sat two seats away from me. Biting down on my lip, I said," Both you and I know the circumstances under which my actions occurred, Agent Romanov. For goodness sake…just tell them the truth."
She looked at me with a stone-cold look on her face before stating simply," I have no substantial evidence to support your defense."
"You heard the conversation…you heard that they set me up!" I nearly yelled at her, growing so frustrated.
She looked away before looking at Fury," I heard no such thing."
Looking past the computer screen, I watched as Nick Fury himself strolled in. Flanked by Maria Hill, an agent known as Hawkeye, and none other than Agent Romanov herself. How badly I wished to hear their conversation, but my distance prevented me from hearing anything of the sort. Therefore, instead of doing much of anything productive, I spaced out from all of the thoughts running through my head.
I genuinely couldn't believe that all of this had actually happened in a matter of forty-eight hours.
Seriously, in a twenty-four hour period I had gone from being perfectly content in my role at S.H.I.E.L.D. to…perfectly not content. All of my dreams, everything I had ever trained and worked hard for had seemingly been tossed out the window.
All because of something I did not intentionally do.
Fury's eyes…or eye rather, met my own. I could tell that he truly was apologetic, but there genuinely was nothing more he could do for me. He was the only one who had ever stuck up for me and it was at this point in time I knew that any case I could build for myself would only be shut down by the others.
It had been no secret since I arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D. that Agent Romanov, otherwise known as Black Widow, couldn't care less about me. Granted, I'm not the type of person to want to make friends with everyone, but our relationship had always been tense to say the least.
"Is this what you really want, Natasha?" I asked coldly, looking her straight in the eye.
"What do you mean?" She asked blankly.
"Are you going to let a little grudge you hold against me ruin my career?" I spat out at her, looking back to the table.
"This has nothing to do with me, Agent Coulson," She said, colder than ever before. "You must take responsibility for your own actions."
"Agent Coulson!" A voice yelled from the opposite side of the room. I looked up to see it be none other than Nick Fury himself. His gaze was set directly on me as he spoke. "I am not paying you to sit around and stare at computer screens all day!"
It took all of my effort not to say something slightly…disrespectful back to this, but I swallowed hard before calling back to him," Of course, sir! I'll get back to work…"
Deep down, I was cringing. I began using what knowledge I had retained from the courses in the beginning of my training combined with what the geek next door had just told me to produce myself typing furiously away on the keyboard. I could at least look like I knew what I was supposed to be doing…
"Take responsibility for something I didn't even-" I was beginning to explode and Fury could obviously tell this.
He raised his hand and voice alike as he boomed," It's done! Elizabeth Coulson…you have presented your case to the council and it has been rejected. Now we can sit around and point fingers all day, but the verdict has already been declared. I've no choice but to demote you to the lowest position we have here at S.H.I.E.L.D. until you can prove yourself worthy."
"And why is it you don't just fire me?" I shot back with a slight tone of bitterness to my voice.
"You keep giving me crap and I might just do it. Right here. Right now, agent. You wanna get fired? Just keep talkin'," His eyes were nearly raging and I knew this was my cue to shut up unless I truly did wish to lose my job.
It was in this moment that I sat there, staring at yet another error screen that I wished I had said one more word to him and gotten myself fired. I didn't mean that of course because truly…what life did I have outside of this? I had lived in New York City for most of my life, but moving back in with my family would have meant they were right and I was wrong about becoming an agent. I certainly couldn't stand the idea of that conversation; I had become an agent to prove a point.
Sure, there was my ex-boyfriend still waiting in the city…but I surely didn't want to go crawling back to him…not after the way our relationship ended. I wasn't even sure he would look at me again not to mention allow me to move in.
Point of the matter being simply: I signed on to S.H.I.E.L.D. to work in the field, not stare at a computer and do their technological duties.
However, taking my other options into consideration…I found that due to my current predicament, it was best I stay put and hang in there for the long hull. A while back, I had to prove myself in the ranks and I suppose this was just like that only a little worse since I had already been on the other side and knew how much better it was there than where I currently sat.
This time, I had been able to revert the computer back to its normal setting on my own and get rid of the error message. Mentally, I congratulated myself and tried to make the best of the situation while the agent next to me chuckled under his breath.
"Excuse me?" I asked, raising a brow at the fellow.
He coughed several times trying to cover up his laugh," Oh, its nothing….just, uh, good job."
I smirked slightly and took this for as much of a compliment as I could. It truly was a joke. I was the agent everyone teased about not being able to hack into a system as quickly as the others; I may as well have been computer illiterate. In my defense, the type of computer work they were doing was a completely different type of computer work that I was used to.
Nick Fury and his posse split up several moments later, dispersing throughout the rest of the plant. From the side of my eye, I watched as one by one they exited, presumably heading off to new assignments. Agent Hill was still standing beside Nick Fury, as always, probably discussing a "very important" matter. I knew I couldn't dwell on this forever, but…this was all still so fresh to me. It was hard not to dwell on what had just happened.
Everyone from the meeting had left, leaving me and Fury still in the room. I was still seated, still in shock that what had happened…I hadn't expected it. Never…not even after what had happened, I thought they would believe me. I thought there would be no doubt that I would never do such a terrible act.
"Listen, kid, I know you're upset, okay? Just hang in there alright? I might be able to get you out of this mess, but you can't cause any trouble in the computer sector," He told me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I've never caused you problems before. You know I haven't," I said, my jaw slightly clenched.
"I know. That's why you got off as easy as you did. The council immediately wished to fire you, but I stuck myself on the line for you. Don't start a new habit," He warned me and just as he started to leave, I stopped him.
"Will you tell me something? Honestly?" I asked, pushing myself away from the desk in the meeting room.
The man with the eye patch stopped, turning to me as if waiting for my question," Sure thing."
"Do you think I killed all those people? Do you think I would go against blatant orders?" The words fell out of my mouth before I could contain them.
He bit down on his lip and turned his head to look at the tall walls of the meeting room. The silence hung for several minutes before he spoke again," Coulson, I'm not suppose to pick sides, you know-"
"Sir, I just want your honest opinion," I said, desperation setting in on my words.
He made direct eye contact with me before saying," I believe you, kid. But my opinion means nothing, I can't move you back up until the council believes you. No offense, but I have bigger tasks coming up in the near future that I'm gonna have to go 'head-to-head' with the council on. As for now, you're being pushed to a lower priority, but when the opportune moment arrives, I'll stand by you."
It couldn't have been more true. All parts of it. Nick Fury was one of the few who even liked me from the beginning. It was probably thanks to him that I even had a job to begin with. Even as I looked at him in that moment as he spoke to Agent Hill, I knew he still believed me. It came at such a poor time really…there were many larger, more important projects that were coming up that would overshadow the importance of my job promotion.
Never had I thought that I, Elizabeth Coulson, would be sitting at a computer screen fighting viruses instead of fighting villains.
Never had I thought that I would be labeled murderer by my own bosses.
A/N: So, the Avengers has basically been my obsession for the last few weeks. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I would like to make it known that I do not claim to be a master of the Marvel comic books by any means. I am mostly writing this story for leisure and for any other fans to enjoy :D With that being said, expect for some things in this story to be a little AU. Please let me know what you all think! This chapter was a little broken up with all the going back and forth between flashback and current, but I promise the others won't be formatted as strangely! haha
Next chapter, you'll get a little more background!