Second chapter of Their New Handler enjoy
"Once more," Agent Coulson said as Alex finished an obstacle course at S.H.I.E.L.D's training center, he already ran it four times in a row yet barely broke a sweat so he didn't argue and began to run it for the fifth time that day. Agent Rider has been training with Agent Coulson for almost five months now, Alex learned a lot in that short time. He truly has appreciated Phil's guidance, he almost was a fatherly figure to Alex, support and belief were common in their training sessions. Alex was almost halfway across the half-mile obstacle course already, and even now he was not lacking, five years of being a spy made sure of that. As Agent Coulson watched he could tell that Alex has made great progress in the time since they met on the Helicarrier, Alex had helped with multiple assignment in the past five months which because of him were all successful.
"Just to warn you Phil, I tend to be lacking in self-preservation when on missions," Alex said a week into training.
"What do you mean?"
"I will try just about anything to succeed on a mission, my partners in the past tend to use the word 'suicidal' in my plans of action,"
"Why would you do that?"
"Blame the fact that my first year were all practically suicide missions,"
"How many?"
"Um, maybe the first eight, then there was a change of directors so she didn't put me on any more of those." Alex rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Eight?"
"About that, I didn't know better as I was only fourteen at the time."
"You realize that makes me have a whole new level of respect for you, some can't even handle a single suicide mission without going mad."
"Kids tend to bounce back better,"
"Well, we'll try to put some sense in that head of yours." Coulson joked as he poked Alex's head.
"Please do that, I have no idea how I lasted this long without it." Alex joked.
Suddenly Phil felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, pulling it out he answered it, "Coulson,"
"Rider is to begin his assignment in three days, is he ready?"
"As he'll ever be, sir."
"Have him pack up, he will head out for New York tomorrow."
"Yes Director Fury." Then the line cut off. As if on cue Alex jogged up to where Coulson was waiting. "You're ready, you head out tomorrow." Alex smiled
"Finally, the fun begins."
The Avengers were hanging out at Stark Tower all those months after their last mission. Banner was in the lab, Captain, Clint and Natasha were in the gym, Pepper was at some meeting as she is the CEO of Stark industries, and Tony was in his workroom, designing a new suit.
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. said, "It seems we have had a breach in security." Tony stopped moving for a second in shock of what his AI just told him.
"Someone tried to break in?"
"Not exactly, there is someone unauthorized already in the building." The british voice said with a hint of worry.
"They're in the building?"
"That would be correct, what would you like to do about it?" As he asked that Tony was suiting up.
"I will deal with it, but have Natasha as back up with a tranq gun."
"Yes sir, and they were last detected on the balcony level."
"Who are they?"
"I don't know sir, I have not been able to collect any data on the person, it is all either heavily guarded material or not in any database." In the time J.A.R.V.I.S. informed Tony on the intruder, Tony had almost reached the balcony level.
"Seriously? Nothing?"
"Nothing, sir." The elevator doors opened to the balcony level, there was no one that could be seen. Everything was in perfect order for once, there was no mess in the bar/kitchen, and there were no sounds beyond the noise of the city and noise that Tony made as he was wearing an Iron Man suit.
"Hello? Anybody up here? Weird unidentified intruder? J.A.R.V.I.S. are you sure he is up here?"
"Yes he was, sir."
"Then where is he?"
"Behind you." A new voice chimed in, causing Tony to jump and turn in midair, as he landed he brought up his hand to point the plasma blaster on the figure hidden in the shadows. The figure chuckled like Iron Man was funny, "You won't hurt me." He said as he walked out of the corner and closed the distance between him and Tony, as Tony was standing in the middle of the room but was still close to the elevators. Tony could now see who spoke, he was tall, well built and walked with an air of authority; yet he was wearing converse high tops, jeans and a grey sweatshirt with the hood concealing his face.
"Why wouldn't I?" Now the hooded man was about eight feet away from Tony, the plasma blaster still aimed on his heart. Tony felt that he should know this guy; the guy's voice, the way the guy walked around, the way the guy looked in itself he felt he should know but it is out of his reach.
"Sir, Voice analysis and other data have concluded on a possible candidate for our intruder's identity." Tony ignored J.A.R.V.I.S. and stared at the hooded man.
"Why wouldn't I?" He asked again as the hooded man did not answer, then he chuckled again.
"Because you wouldn't hurt your little British friend, would you?" It clicked, mainly because in the past year he met only one person that fit his profile and was British.
"Agent Rider?" Tony asked, the hooded figure looked up from under his hood, as soon as his face was visible J.A.R.V.I.S. ran the face analyst and quickly matched it with the candidate's picture that J.A.R.V.I.S. pulled up on the mask screen, perfect match with a snapshot from security footage during their time aboard the Helicarrier months ago.
"Hello Mr. Stark, it is nice to see you again." Agent Rider said with a smirk, Tony lowered his hand.
"What are you doing here?" Tony said, just then Natasha came around the corner with the tranq gun aimed on Rider, and he couldn't call her off without letting Rider know. She pulled the trigger and to Tony's surprise the agent in front of him spun on his heel to do a 180, dodging the tranq dart entirely as it shattered against the Iron Man suit Tony was currently in. Both Natasha and Tony were in shock as he was able to do that, while he stood there with his arms crossed and sent a bored stare in Natasha's direction.
"Now, Now, Agent Romanoff, we will have none of that," He said, putting Natasha in a greater state of shock as that was then she realized who she just shot at.
"What the hell are you doing here, Alex?" Nat was mad, anyone listening at that moment could hear the anger and shock that was in her voice as she practically yelled at Alex, yet he was unfazed while Tony flinched within the suit.
"I was about to explain when you rudely barged in." Rider said, he glanced up at the ceiling then, "J.A.R.V.I.S., would you mind calling up the rest of the team, as this concerns all of them."
"Yes sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. said.
"How do you know about J.A.R.V.I.S.? You've never been in the Stark tower before." Tony asked and Rider turned back around.
"Why would you think that?" Rider said, making Tony worry that he actually has been here before but undetected. "Relax, I know about him as I am a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and as an agent I have access to security footage," He glanced at Natasha now, "so I know who tranqed me on the helicarrier, let's not let that happen again." Natasha visibly paled at that, before she could respond, the elevator dinged open and out came Barton and Bruce.
They did a double take when they saw Agent Rider standing there, when Steve came up from wherever he was, he actually smiled and shook Agent Rider's hand, "Nice to see you again, Agent Rider."
"You too, Steve. Hello Dr. Banner, Agent Barton."
"Will you please explain why you are here?" Natasha was annoyed because the explanation of why Alex; the boy that was sent to space, the now young man who remained in the spy world after five years; was in New York City, more specifically in Stark Tower and somehow entered the premises without any of them knowing. Said agent motioned for them to sit at the dining table, grumpy as she was she could tell she would get the answers she wanted by doing as he asked.
Once they all were seated, bar Rider who preferred to lean on the table, Barton asked, "When did you get here?"
"Two days ago," They were not expecting that.
"How? How did you get past my security system?"
"I had an access code and avoided all your cameras." Rider shrugged like it was easy.
"Will you finally explain what the hell you are doing here?" Natasha said as she was getting very annoyed, seeing this the rest of the team inched away from her as she stared daggers at Agent Rider, who again seemed oblivious to her wrath.
"Well, Agent Romanoff, if you insist on knowing the reason for me being here. The answer would be that Fury told me to,"
"That isn't enough intel," she replied.
"Why are you talking like Coulson would?" Tony asked, now out of the suit.
"Who do you guess trained me for this assignment?" Rider said like it was obvious.
"What assignment?" Clint asked.
Alex smirked, "I am your new handler."
What do you think so far? R&R