And so she waited.
They had arrived at Avengers Tower, Tony had presented the suit, Alex contributed whatever he needed her to, and Fury had called a meeting of all staff. So the most she could do was sit outside and wait.
About a half hour into her wait, Captain Steve Rogers had come out for a drink of water.
"As far as they know," he had whispered, "I just came out to keep you company. It's rude to keep a lady waiting." Rogers winked at her, his face timeless, and went back inside.
Unfortunately, that had been an hour ago and, thanks to the soundproof doors, she couldn't listen in on what they were saying. Frankly, it surprised her that her father was so into her joining S.H.I.E.L.D. He had been so adamant about her not joining the last time she asked.
"Alexandra, no."
"Why not?"
"Your mother wouldn't want it."
"Well she's not here. She hasn't been here."
"That doesn't mean she'd want that kind of fate for you."
"You sealed my fate when you named me Alexandra."
"How?"
"Alexandra means defender of mankind. That's what I want to be, I want to join you, I want to be one of Earth's mightiest defenders!"
"But your mother –,"
"When she left, she decided she had no say in my life."
"She never said that."
"I did."
And, with that conversation, she had effectively shut out her mother from her life forever. Alex didn't know where her mother was, what she was doing, or why she left, but she left. That was all she needed to do to be sure that her daughter wouldn't be in contact with her any time soon.
A noise behind her startled her – the door of the meeting room opened. Fury led the way, his face showing defeat. Behind him was her father, beaming with victory.
"Alex Stark," Fury said, holding his hand out, "welcome to the team."
"Nuh-uh!" Alex replied, her smile as big as her father's, "this is so great! Oh god." She shook Fury's hand enthusiastically, and then went beyond him to hug her father. "How did you do it?"
"Well, dear," he laughed, "it took a little bit of the old Stark charm."
"And saying that it was your dream to be a member of the Avengers and that if 'my little girl doesn't get her dream, you don't get your genius'."
"Can it, Banner."
It really didn't matter to her how she got in – it was exciting all the same.
"So now what?" she asked, following the crowd down the hall.
"You'll need an informing," Fury replied, "Thor's brother is causing trouble again, and it's getting ridiculous."
"An informing?"
"Barton and Romanoff will tell you all you need to know, whether it's about Asgard, the Bifrost, or what type of army he's building up this time."
"So basically a Norse history lesson?"
"… Yeah."
"Awesome."
From there he left her with Clint and Natasha, the resident assassins. She had known them since she was a little girl as well – Natasha had provided for her a motherly role model and Clint had watched over her while Tony was out on missions.
"Now, Alex," Natasha started, sitting down at one of the linoleum tables, "what do you know so far about this from Thor?"
"I know that Asgard is a beautiful kingdom, one of legends. The Bifrost connects the other realms. Ours is called Midgard. Asgard is sort of trapped in a time of Anglo-Saxons – warriors, boasting, mead halls, the lot."
"And Loki?"
"Loki is the god of mischief. He can shape shift, multiply himself, and is a very good liar. He's manipulative, powerful, and dangerous."
"That's all you need to know, really."
"Well what about his army?"
"Your father thinks he's pairing up with a protégé of Ivan Vanko's in Russia and the Ten Rings organization. Basically he's aligning himself with terrorists and men who know Stark technology."
"What can we do about it?"
"Cut them off. Cancel out the branches of the operation and work our way in."
"And that's what Dad's been doing in Russia?"
"Precisely."
"What do I have to do?"
Natasha and Clint looked at each other, a mischievous grin on each of their faces.
"Well," Clint said, leaning in close, "Fury wants you working office. He wants you running computers, keeping stats, et cetera."
"We want you out on the field, with us. Preferably with Banner."
"Why with Dr. Banner?"
"He's known you since you were born. If you were to ever set off the Other Guy, you would have the best chance of survival out of all of us."
"And besides, Tony's been working with ways to keep Bruce in control of the Other Guy – mostly an anchor, something to keep him connected to himself."
"I'm the anchor."
"Precisely."
They sat in silence for a bit. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exchanged another look.
"Don't stress yourself out," Natasha said, patting her shoulder, "your father won't let anything happen to you. And neither would Bruce."
