"You need to slow down a little," Phil said. "People like S.H.I.E.L.D don't recruit people so young."
At his words, Melody whirled around from facing her punching bag, anger flashing in her eyes briefly. "I am not too young!" she exclaimed indignantly, a light Russian accent on her tongue. "I'm thirteen, and I'm actually better than most people older than me if you haven't noticed."
"Don't get too cocky," he scolded lightly. "And thirteen is way too young to put your life on the line on these type of missions."
"Intruders broke into my home and murdered my dad, and nearly murdered me if he hadn't stopped them in time," she said quietly, her red hair falling over her face before she pinned it back into her ponytail. She turned back around, and began pounding the punching bag again. "I wasn't too young for that."
"You're not going to bring him back by getting yourself killed trying to finish what he started," Phil shot back with a raised eyebrow. "Although, you guys are made of tough stuff. Just slow down a little and try not to get banged up too badly. If I find out you've gotten yourself killed, I will drag you from your grave, bring you back to life, and kill you again."
Melody's bell-like laughter rang throughout the room as she turned around. A contagious, bright smile was plastered on her face that made her emerald eyes light up. "You wouldn't, you'd miss me too much," she laughed.
"I will, trust me," he said, though unable to keep the smile off his face. His phone rang, and he regained his serious composure. "Break. Go practice your fencing or knife throwing. Your choice."
He answered, and put the phone to his ear. Melody smiled as she took a drink from her water bottle, and grabbed her duffel bag nearby. She took out two fencing swords. Good grip, light weight. With a small grin, she traced the blade with her finger, remembering how Phil got them for her birthday when she was ten after begging him for three months. Sharp, just as she liked them. Every morning, she made sure to sharpen them so sharp that when her friend Leo accidentally touched the tip once, his finger started bleeding instantly.
Taking a deep breath, she swiped one sword at the dummy in front of her before whirling around, and tossing the other at a target on the opposite side of the room. It spun across the room, and landed dead center in the middle, sticking out while the dummy split in half, and the top half slid off the bottom, tumbling onto the floor. She smiled, and internally cheered for herself, but kept it in since Phil was still in the room and she didn't want to seem unprofessional in front of him.
Melody sighed, tucked a stray curl behind her ear, and went to retrieve the sword, pulling it out of the target before repeating the process. By the time most of the dummies were destroyed, cut in half, and most of the targets had holes in them from where her swords pierced them, she heard Phil hiss into the phone, "What?! Fury, she's just a kid! Yes, I know she's the best student here but we all know she's not ready. She's too young." Despite herself, indignation filled Melody at his words as he paused for a minute. "Alright fine! But if she gets hurt..."
A minute later, he walked back into the room, stopping at Melody. She looked to him hopefully, her anger deflating. If it had to do with Director Fury, the news had to be good for her, right? "What happened?" she asked, pulling her sword out from yet another target.
Phil sighed, "Clint's been compromised."
"What?" Melody said, hope dissolving into worry and confusion. Clint had been a good friend of her father, and soon after he died, hers as well. "What happened?"
Another sigh. "They don't know yet, only that he goes by the name Loki. And he's not from here. We decided the Avengers initiative is back up, and we-and by we I mean Fury-wants you to go as backup with Natasha Romanoff to take the big guy." Melody's expression brightened considerably at the mention of going with her role model, though she attempted to hide it, one Phil could see through easily. Regaining her serious composure, she scoffed, twirling the sword in her right hand.
"That should be easy," she said with confidence. "Tony's not so hard."
Phil bit his lip. "Actually...I got the big guy, you two got the green guy."
Melody instantly stopped twirling the sword, and dropped both of them. The hulk. The hulk, Bruce Banner, the hulk. That was a challenge. At least it wasn't boring. She thought her first mission would end up being when she was eighteen at most, and a boring one, too at that. Get in, get the object needed, get out. Done. But the hulk? Internally, she squealed loudly in happiness and excitement, but externally kept a solemn face, or tried to at least.
All that pent up energy and excitement made Melody begin bouncing on the balls of her heels. It took only a moment for Phil to notice. He sent her an amused look. "It's fine, let it out," he said.
Instantly, as of the words were a trigger, Melody burst out so loud he wouldn't be surprised if the entire academy heard her, "Yes!" She wrapped her arms around Phil so tightly he felt she was choking him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret this, I promise! Let's go!" she said all at once before running out, breaking into a cartwheel right as she exited the room.
Yep, that was Melody, one big ball of energy at times, and such a chatterbox that if you let her keep going, she'd never stop. "She's going to eat them all alive," he deadpanned, shaking his head, almost pitying them.
Melody sighed, donning a brown wig over her red curls, making her appear like the girl she asked to help lure the hulk to the hut where Natasha was waiting. An old friend who owed her a favor, and it just so happens Melody needed it. Other than their skin tone, the girl's being tanned and Melody's being pale, with the same colored hair, Melody almost looked like she could be her older sister.
Nodding at her friend, Melody followed her as they ran through the streets, passing people and vehicles. When she poked Melody's arm to get her attention as she saw Bruce Banner through the bars, Melody quickly put on her best helpless face, appearing afraid and worried. The woman up front began talking to them, and Melody's friend talked back in the same tongue until Bruce caught sight of them at the door. After a moment of her friend telling Bruce the story they'd gone over to get his attention, he pointed to the sick people nearby, clearly asking if their parent was sick.
Melody nodded, and held out the money un her hand, even bringing fake tears to her eyes to seem more believable. "Yes," she said softly in English.
Running again through the streets, leading Bruce to the destination in mind. He put out a hand to stop them from getting run over, and as soon as the vehicle past, they ran to the hut. Once they reached the door, Melody stopped and nodded to her friend before giving her a hug, and whispering, "thanks" in her ear. The girl only nodded in acknowledgement so as not to give anything away, and ran inside.
She ran to the room, crawled into the window, and crawled out. She made a run for it once her feet touched the ground. Behind Melody, Bruce had the realization he'd been tricked, and scoffed, "Should've asked to be paid upfront."
Melody sighed, and took her wig off, shaking her hair out so her red locks tumbled down her shoulders. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she turned back to Bruce, one corner of her mouth quirking up.
Natasha walked out, pulling her shawl over her shoulders. "You know, for a man who's avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle," she said.
"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," he shot back.
"Then what is it, yoga?" she asked.
"You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart," he said. "I presume the whole place is surrounded."
"One," Melody spoke up, "she didn't bring you here, I did. And two, nope."
"Just the three of us," agreed Natasha.
"And your actress buddies, they're spies too? Do they usually start that young?" he asked curiously. He paused, and looked at Melody. "Come to think of it, you look awfully young."
"I'm thirteen," sighed Melody, her accent coming out thicker in her irritation. "And not all, just those like us."
"Who are you two?"
"Natasha Romanoff," Natasha replied.
Bruce rubbed his hands together, looking down at the floor. "You two here to kill me, Miss Romanoff, 'cause that's not going to work out."
"No, no, of course not. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D," she assured him.
"S.H.I.E.L.D," he repeated. "How'd they find me?"
"They never lost you actually," shrugged Melody. "They've been keeping other interested parties off your scent even."
"Why?"
"Nick Fury seems to trust you, and if he trusts you, so do I. In fact, I am a huge fan of your work, both as you and the other guy," she grinned, forgetting she was supposed to be serious and keep this business-like. "So's my friend Leo. When I told him I was coming here, he was 'green' with envy." When no one laughed at her little joke with her, she shrugged and waved it off. "Tough crowd. Either way, I feel bad to tell you this, but we kinda sorta need you to come in."
"What if I say no?"
"We'll persuade you."
"And what if the other guy says no?" he asked.
"You've been more than a year without an incident, and you don't seem like the kind of guy who would want to break that streak," Melody retorted sassily. "Now would you?
"Every time I get what I want." Natasha got her phone out, and found the picture of the cube.
"Doctor, we're facing a global catastrophe," she said.
He rolled his eyes. "Well those I try to avoid."
"That," continued Melody, hoisting herself to sit on the table as Natasha slid the phone across it to him, "is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."
Bruce got out his glasses, and put them on, picking up the phone as Natasha took a seat. "What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?" he asked.
"That's the thing," Melody smiled. "He wants you to find it, not the hulk. The Tesseract was taken from us, and it emits a gamma signature that's too faint for us to trace. We need someone who knows gamma."
"And no one knows gamma like you," Natasha said, leaning back in her chair. "If there was, that's were I'd be."
Bruce took off his glasses, and gave the girls a long hard look, noticing how much they looked so alike, but contrasted so much in personality. "So, Fury isn't after the monster?"
"Not that he's told us."
"And he tells us everything," Melody mumbled sarcastically under her breath, saying exactly what Bruce was thinking. She in turn recieved a dirty look from Natasha that had her turning her gaze down at the table.
"He needs you in on this," Natasha continued to persuade.
"He needs me in a cage."
"No one's gonna-"
"STOP LYING TO ME! " he yelled, slamming his hands on the table. Natasha immediately grabbed a gun she'd hid from under the table, and pointed it at him. Melody flinched, but made no move to draw out any weapons. She didn't feel afraid of him, knowing he did anything he could not to hulk out. After a moment, he stood up straight, an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see how you would react," he apologized, putting up his hands to show he meant no harm. "Why don't we do this the easy way. You put down the gun, and the other guy doesn't make a mess. Alright, Natasha."
Slowly, she lowered the gun, and Melody looked to him with a grin. "That was sneaky, manipulative, and, yeah, a little mean. I like you already."
"Stand down," Natasha whispered into the ear piece in her ear.
"Just the three of us, huh?" Bruce mocked. Melody raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, I think we both knew she was lying," pointed out Melody with a shrug. She tucked a stray strand behind her ear.
"Let's get going, shall we? I got a jet waiting for us," said Natasha. Once she left the room, Melody stuck out her hand to Bruce.
"I know this if supposed to be only professional but I've never been very good at following rules," she smiled. "So let's pretend I didn't deceit you into coming here against your will with someone who owed me a favor. Hi, I am a huge fan of your work, a little more of the hulk though so expect me to brag all about this to my friend Leo. I can't believe I'm actually here, and can't wait to work with you. Also, question my abilities as an agent because of my age, I will prove you wrong. I've heard it way too many times in my life." She said all this at once without stopping to catch her breath until she finished. Bruce raised an eyebrow.
"Well you're a chatty one," he said, taking her hand and shaking it. "Bruce Banner."
"Melody. Last name, well, I'll have to say my dad's instead of my mom's maiden name, though I'd love to use my mom's because my dad's is Carter," she rambled, earning an amused small smile from the scientist. "Melody Carter doesn't have that ring to it like Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner or-" She cut herself off once she realized her mistake. "Sorry, I might talk a lot but next time just tell me when to-"
Her sentence was cut off as Bruce clamped his hand over her mouth. "Does that work?" he asked. Melody nodded and shrugged in reply as if to say Yeah, that works.