A/N: Sorry this has taken me so long to update. Miriellar, race2win, thank you guys for following. PLEASE stay with me. I'm telling you after this it get's better.
We finally get to meet the others, and this was seriously hard to do, because in my head, all the relationships are formed. So having to go back to the very beginning and strip it down was very hard for me. But I've got it now. We're good.
Eragon and Murtagh are owned by Christopher Paolini. Alice is owned by… I dunno, but she's not owned by me. Lisbeth is based loosly off of Lisbeth Salander, who is owned by Stieg Larsson. JC, Max, Mia, and Kaden are all original characters of mine… please don't steal them. Avengers is owned by Marvel and Disney and that whole crew.
If you sue me, the only things I can give you is my book collection and my Tardis cookie jar. So it's not really worth it.
ON WITH THE SHOW!
To say that we were a little high strung was an understatement. The half of the small restaurant we were occupying was littered in straw wrappers, tissue, fries, and liquids. We had spread ourselves around the tables, either perched on them, or the backs of chairs.
No one would sit still. No one would even attempt it. The coin in my hand flashed in the light, flipping from knuckle to knuckle. The skin had worn down from it, and it was starting to bleed.
We'd been sitting here for a little over an hour. Waiting, scoping, planning, prepping, waiting some more.
We were all so very close to losing it and leaving.
Eragon saved us.
"They're coming." He called from the table he had spread himself over. With varying levels of energy, we arranged ourselves into a slightly more presentable orientation. Mia placed herself near the half wall that separated our area from the rest of the building. Eragon and Murtagh placed themselves at the two fire exits, chairs pushed up to keep them from opening, front legs off the floor. They both gave an air of nonplused, but I noted Eragon's reddening ears and Murtagh's tapping pinkie. Their own tell tale signs that they were nervous. JC and Lisbeth perched themselves on the arms of chairs, chatting in Swedish. I had plodded behind a table in the corner, giving me eyes on the whole situation. I could barely suppress a growl as Alice squeezed herself beside me.
"Mia put you on babysitter duty?"
She gave a snort of laughter, elbowing me.
It was a serious question.
Kaden sauntered over to the opening and leaned against the table there. He would be the first one they saw. Oh how wonderful.
I tapped beside Alice's hand. She arched her eyebrow and I tapped again.
What's up?
Who put Kaden in charge?
Why? Whatever could be the problem with that plan? We're not trying to make a good impression, are we?
I gave her a look, and she just about lost it there. She was trying to recover when they all walked in.
First in was the Captain of course, brisk and all military like. Next, the Demi God. That was like watching a mountain come through the door. He had a pleasant enough smile for the people that looked up when he walked in, but I'm not one to trust folks whose arms are thicker than my neck. After him came the two Assassins. Typical behaviour. Scanning of exits, weapons, opponents, possible casualties. After being with my crew for a year, I was used to it. It weirded me out know when I didn't see it happen. And bring up the rear were the brains. Stark was talking Banner's ear off. Banner looked like he wanted to be here as much as I wanted to be. They crossed over the restaurant to our area, and Kaden began his act.
"Friends, co-horts, fellow freaks. Welcome to the show!" He gave a grand bow, extending his left arm out and waving it through the air. All of them breezed past Mia, barely glancing at her. That was the point. The Assassins both gave a quick glance, which was all they needed, but the others barely even gave her a once over. Cap was too busy glancing between Eragon and Murtagh, who were covering the only forward exits. Murtagh grinned and gave him a wave, cheeky bastard.
We were situated more to the right of the room, so they all wrapped around the left of the main table. Hawkeye and Black widow pressed up against the wall, parallel to my table. Alice turned to partially block me from view, thus getting herself into a staring contest with the Widow.
She's going to poison your drink if you keep it up, y'know. I mumbled. She had stayed connected, and I could feel Murtagh also connected with her. We were all probably chained together, but I still wasn't aware enough to feel more than one or two secondary links. I checked my blocks, remembering to keep them strong, but leaving… feelers out so that I could keep connected to Alice.
Sucks for her I can't die then.
As far as we know….
Well if she figures it out, I will personally come back and thank her. She gave a quick smile. It was a joke. A twisted one at that, but still a joke. If Alice was joking, we were okay.
As soon as everyone was sitting, Kaden gave a toned whistle, letting it rise through the scale. When he stopped, the cook came out and started blabbering in Korean. Within minutes, we were the only ones left in the diner. The Avengers all tensed, glancing around. We kept our charade up, waiting for their move.
"Staking the deck a bit, aren't we?" Cap said. Kaden swung around and plopped himself in a seat across from them.
"Hey, early bird gets the worm. That's fair, right?"
"This was never a neutral location, was it?" Banner spoke, analysing a fork he had picked up.
"Nope. Wishing you guys had taken this a little bit more seriously, aren't ya?" He gave one of those grins that made me want to slap him.
"So… should we all just torch the files we got?" Stark shot. His looked reminded me of a chess player that had been duped into a stupid move.
"The files are all real… but our caregivers are unaware that we're here with you. They're still convinced we're tucked snugly in our beds, sleeping away the hours till dawn. But the files are all real." Kaden leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his head, grinning from ear to ear. Everyone else in the place was tense. Even Eragon and Murtagh's façade had slipped. JC 'stared' at a point in the wall, Lisbeth glared coolly at Thor, and Alice spun the point of a knife into the table. I had kept my hands under the table, but the coin still flashed back and forth across my knuckles. Mia had placed herself at the head of the table, standing in the doorway to the rest of the diner.
I reached up and tapped beside Alice's hand.
Are we doing okay?
Struggling a bit. Mia's going to have to intervene soon, or Kaden's going drive this boat into the rocks.
Should I do anything?
Sure, crack 'em a smile.
Okay. I forced my mouth into what I was hoping was a suitable visual for a smile. Alice glanced my way, then did a double take and stared.
Max, I was joking. You're scaring the Demi God kiddo.
Oh…. I let my face go slack, feeling it heat with blood. She was right though; Thor had glanced my way, and was now giving me a confused look.
Mia picked up on the cues, or either Alice had relayed the message of Kaden's unstable captaining of this ship.
"We need your help."
"And we would help a rogue band of kids that blew up a hospital…why?" Banner looked up at Mia. We were expecting that one to come back and bite us in the arse.
"That was my bad." I mumbled. Everyone looked over at me, and the one time I actually wanted Alice blocking me from view, she shuffled away, leaving me out in the open.
"It was supposed to slow burn, but I read the labels wrong when I was making it, and I added the wrong chemicals, it went boom instead of burn." I stammered out my excuse, like it was going to help.
"We didn't want to blow it up. It was just supposed to be a distraction. We just wanted the files there…. Sorry."
Alice shifted back over, covering me from view.
"You don't have to say sorry."
"She injured people, ruined life saving equipment." Cap said.
"This is a war Mr. Patriot. You of all people should know that shit happens."
"If this is the kind of stuff you want our help with, you can count us out. We're not going to go around causing havoc and wrecking stuff."
"If I remember correctly, that's exactly what happened in New York." JC piped. That was a bit of a low blow. We'd seen the footage when we had returned from a field mission, and although NYC looked like a battle field –which it had been- we knew it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It was then when we started thinking about reaching out and expanding the crew.
"We were hoping that if you helped us… we wouldn't have to be breaking in to all the facilities." Alice cut through. She crossed her arms and leaned back into the wall (oh look, I'm in view again, that's a good thing).
"You're kids… why should we be putting you in danger? Why should we trust that you won't go screaming to mommy when it gets ugly?" Stark said. He glanced at us all, like he expected us to crack a laugh and call it a night. WE all tensed, pissed with the 'mommy' comment. All for different reasons.
"You don't know shit all what we've been through. You think you get the whole picture, a fraction of the picture from some words? Besides, according to your file Mr. Stark, you'd shit yourself if some guy with a jihad accent came up behind you and muttered 'boo' in your ear." Kaden shot back.
Damn. Even I knew that was way out of line.
A harsh silence fell on the room as the blood drained from Stark's. His fist wrapped around a knife in front of him. Before he could try and stab Kaden with it (failing miserably in the process), Mia intervened.
"Ou moun fou! Naga!" She walked over and twapped Kaden over the head. The chair crashed to the ground as he span out of it, a knife now in his hand. He stopped dead though when he got a good look at Mia's eyes. A low rumble rolled through the room, and that was enough to make Kaden drop the knife and move along. He kicked JC's chair, making the kid wobble on his perch, then threw himself into the chair behind Lis.
Mia watched him for a moment, then slowly seated herself at the main table. She kept her hands flat down and away from any sharp objects. To most it looked completely non-threatening, which was the point. But I'd seen her toss tables across rooms with her hands in that position.
"Excuse the sociopath. He's harmless really."
"Are you the leader of this little group?" Cap asked. He looked angry. Pissed would be the word Murtagh would use. That's because he had just discovered it, and was in love with it.
"When its appropriate."
"You need to keep better control of those who look to you." Cap actually leaned forward, pointing a finger at Mia.
Stupid is as stupid does. Mia at least kept her cool.
"I said he was harmless."
"He insulted one of my men. Are we supposed to take you seriously if stuff like that happens?"
That finger jabbed its way in her direction.
Before Captain dumbass-let alone the rest of his team- could blink, Mia had grabbed his wrist and twisted in such a way that his head slammed into the table, her free hand pressed to the side of Caps neck, a knife resting against the back of his neck.
"MIA!"
Thor, Stark, Barton, and I are standing. The accused now stares at me like I'm a lunatic.
"We need them."
"No we don't."
"Yes! Yes we do. Mia, trust me."
She stared at me for a moment, then pulled back slowly. The knife disappeared back into the folds of her clothes. Good luck ever finding it. As soon as she let go of his neck, Cap whipped back up. He looked like he was either going to lose all control over his bowels, or start swinging. Neither option was recommended. Instead, he lowered himself back into the chair as Mia retreated and leaned against the table that JC and the others were at. Barton leans into the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. Thor and Stark both sit though.
Which leaves me standing, and everyone staring.
Alice isn't hiding me from view.
Hey, cool.
I stand there like an idiot for a bit, trying to formulate a sentence that everyone would understand. Trying to figure out how to say that we need a roll model. Trying to figure out how to tell them that we are way over our heads here. Trying to figure out how to tell them that we could use their help.
"We… we need you guys. We need to know that someone has our back. This whole… thing is too big for us, and we could use some extra hands. The fact that you're tied in with SHIELD, which is tied in with the US government kind of helps also. Too many people tied in with the experiments are slipping through the cracks… and we're just… we're shadows in this whole thing. No one's going to listen to a group of misfit kids, especially misfits like us." It all falls out in a jumbled mess, and I stutter like there's no tomorrow… but it's out, and it's said.
You did good kiddo, Alice tells me, and I can feel myself relax a bit. There's a pain in my hand, and I realize that I've got a death grip on my coin. The pain grounds me. I don't feel like I'm going to float away anymore.
"So what do you want us to do?"
The Super spies finally make some noise. Romanoff is looking at me, but I am all out of words.
"Whatever you can do."Mia steps back in to the conversation, "If that means we just tell you what we've found, give you names so you can be on the lookout for them, or if that means you're actually coming into the field with us. Whatever help you can offer is all we're asking."
Mia's put the ball back with them. At least, I think that's the right term used for this situation. I'll have to ask Alice later. Cap looks down at his plate, and you can tell he's thinking it over. Silence falls over us again, and my band starts getting twitchy. Daniel would be so proud of us if he could see how long we've all stayed in the same room without blowing something up or creating a fight.
Daniel can never know this happened.
Which means we have to get back to Haven tonight.
Which means I still have do to the test tomorrow.
Damn.
I'm snapped out of this depressing thought when Cap finally speaks up.
"If we decided to help in the field, when would you need us?"
Mia smiles, giving a small nod.
"Two days Cap. Friday night."
Yup… still gotta do that test.
A/N: Well, now that the first confrontation is out of the way, I can now breathe and relax with this. Next chapter is going to be a little twisted and dark… I apologize. Hopefully it will be up in the next 48 hours. Please comment with any suggestions, comments, critiques and questions. They mean the world to me.