Flashbacks in /\\.
"Take some rest, John, you've done a lot this week," Carly Diggle said into the phone.
"Heck yeah, I have," John Diggle responded. "I've been running off of maybe an hour of sleep per day for the past week."
"Yeah, Vertigo has been nasty," Carly said. "I better get Andy to bed. You better get some rest right now, John!"
"I will, Carly. G'night," John said. He set his phone down on the counter and threw a hot pocket in the microwave. The doorbell rang and John walked cautiously to the door, drawing his pistol. He had lost track of the number of people who tried to kill him at his doorstep long ago, and drew his gun out of habit. He cocked the gun and slowly opened the door. He was not expecting to see her. His ex. They met in Afghanistan, and she joined the FBI afterwards.
"Johnny, it's been awhile," said Lyla Michaels.
"Lyla, hey, hi, come in," John said in shock. He opened the door wider and let Lyla in. "Sorry, it's kinda a mess," he said, gesturing to his apartment.
"No, it's fine, you've been busy lately with all the Vertigo around Starling City," Lyla said as she sat down on the couch. "How's Carly?"
"Carly's good. And how has Vertigo made me busy lately?" John had not told Lyla about his nighttime escapades as Spartan. "I mean, it's been terrible driving, and I've started carrying another magazine with me-"
"Johnny, I know what you do for this city," Lyla interrupted.
"How? How long has the FBI known?"
"Johnny, I'm not with the FBI, I just told you that because I had to."
"Then how do you know?"
Lyla sat up straight. "I work with a secret government agency called SHIELD. We keep tabs on people like you there."
"Something tells me that you aren't here just to reconnect with your ex-husband," John said suspiciously. "What do you mean, SHIELD keeps tabs on people like us?"
"We just like to know what vigilantes and metahumans are out there," Lyla explained. "We don't want to lock you up, Johnny. You've done this city a lot of good, and it needs more good than ever."
"Which is saying a lot," John grumbled. "Me, Black Canary, the new one, Atom. And Starling City still has ridiculous levels of crime."
"And SHIELD usually has an agent here to stop villains as well," Lyla added.
John sighed. "Why are you telling me about SHIELD? We haven't seen each other in years, Lyla. I know you want something."
Lyla pulled a manilla envelope out of her bag. "Everything you need to know is in here, Johnny. We need your help." Lyla looked at her watch. "I'll give you until Saturday at noon. Meet me at the nearest Big Belly Burger." Lyla stood up and walked to the door. "I'll see you then, Johnny." She silently closed the door.
John picked up the manilla envelope Lyla left him. He walked to the bookcase and revealed the hidden stairs. He walked down to the hidden base under his house, skipping the last two steps. He sat down on a chair by a computer and opened the manilla folder. Inside was some files. There was a file for himself labelled Spartan/John Diggle. The others were titled Black Canary/Dinah Lance, Raymond Palmer/Atom, Anthony Stark/Iron Man, Steven Rogers/Captain America, Thor/God of Thunder, Avengers Initiative, Hydra, and SHIELD. John skimmed through the files. What do they want? he asked himself multiple times.
When he got to the file on the Avengers Initiative it all clicked. Why Lyla had come, why he had all these files on other heroes, why Lyla wanted to meet with him. SHIELD wanted to build an elite team called the Avengers. And they wanted Black Canary, Atom, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and himself to be the team.
This is ridiculous," John thought. Lyla comes back just to ask me to join some secret government elite team. Hey, it's been years since I've worked in a team with anyone other than Carly! Sure, I did one thing with Black Canary, but we both hated it and agreed to only do it again if the Nazis came back for Round Two.
There was a reason John didn't do well in teams. Even working with Carly put him through a lot of heartache.
/"How's your first day in Afghanistan?" John asked his younger brother, Andy.
"Better than I expected, I guess," Andy answered. "Do you ever get used to sleeping here?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to sleeping on a normal bed once I'm done with the Army," John replied jokingly. "They feel like marshmallows, it's like I'm gonna sink to the ground."
Andy laughed. "I guess I'll figure that out when I'm done here." He stared off into the distance, looking at the rest of the US Army camp. "Who knows? Maybe I'll be back here soon enough."
John smiled. "Y'know, when I first joined, I thought it would be a one time thing, and I'd be back home to work on that engineering degree I was considering. But on my first tour I did more than fight a war. I discovered myself. I'm a soldier, a fighter. And I'm willing to make sacrifices to protect out country and the innocent."
Andy lightly punched John's shoulder. "You saying I'm gonna be telling someone that in a few years?"
John smiled and shrugged. "Who knows? But I'd be proud of you, Andy. I'm proud of you on your first day. I was proud of you when you signed up. I was proud of you when you married Carly. I was proud of you when you got your diploma. Heck, I was proud of you when you got an F on your physics project from high school! No matter what, Andy, I'll always be proud of you."\\
She should be here by now? John thought. He was sitting at a table at Big Belly Burger. He checked his watch. 12:08. What's going on? Lyla is never late!
Just then, Lyla walked through the door. She was in skinny jeans, a white tank top, an unbuttoned pink and green plaid shirt, hiking boots, and shades. When she saw John, she smiled and walked to the table and took a seat.
"Hey, Johnny," she said.
"Hey, Lyla. So, with this, I have several concerns," John said as he threw the manilla envelope on the table. "Why does SHIELD want me for the Avengers? In case you didn't know, I'm not good at playing well with others. I tried teaming up with Black Canary last year to deal with Clock King. Did not work at all. We both agreed to not work together unless it was bad enough. If Nazis attack, I'll happily help you out, but until then, it's a-"
"You'll help if Nazis are involved? Good, because they are," Lyla said.
"Wait, what?" John scrunched up his face and eyebrows in confusion.
"Well, they technically aren't Nazis, and they have a lot of Soviet influence." Lyla sighed. "I'm assuming you know about Hydra."
"Of course, Captain America stopped Hydra during World War II. So?"
"Yes, Captain Rogers defeated the creator, Johann Schmidt or the Red Skull, but Hydra grew in secret." Lyla sighed. "Peggy Carter and Howard Stark founded SHIELD after the War, and they would've saved us a lot of trouble if they had known about this and stopped it before it became a threat. SHIELD has known about Hydra for two years. But they've done nothing. Me and a few others know that we need to stop them now. They could do anything. If we let them stay, I wouldn't be surprised if a nuclear war started in the next three years."
This took a moment for John to process. Luckily, Carly, the waitress, had just brought them their burgers, giving John time to think. "Thanks Carly," he added.
"It's nothin,' John," Carly said. "Hey, Lyla, nice to see you. How's the FBI?"
"Little stressed right now. Some big stuff happening behind the scenes right now," Lyla answered.
"Well, I hope it gets better. Have a nice lunch, you too!" The entire time, Carly had been asking John if this was supposed to be a date, if John and Lyla were getting back together. John answered with the imperceptible shaking of his head. With an answer, Carly went back to her job.
"Has Carly been okay since-"
"Please don't continue that sentence, Lyla. She, she's been doing well," John interrupted. "So, lemme get this straight. Hydra is still out there. SHIELD isn't gonna do anything about it, so you wanna start the Avengers Initiative so we can stop Hydra?"
"Basically, yes."
"Why me? There's a truck load of other people out there."
"I don't know exactly why Amanda—she's my superior—chose you. Whatever it is, it's something the team needs. I know for a fact you have the skills required. You're better than a lot of SHIELD. The only reason SHIELD didn't recruit you after Afghanistan is because you made it clear that you wanted no part of the Army or anything related to the government. You have skills that none of the other candidates have, Johnny." Lyla took a deep breath. "Please, Johnny. The world needs your help."
John sighed. "Fine. We stop Hydra and I'm out."
Lyla sighed. "We'll negotiate that later."