A game. Something fun, easy, relaxed. Barely any thought needed. Something so incredibly... simple. Until someone complicates it to the point where there is no possible comparison to what you were playing before.
Initiating Launch sequence... Read the text across the glass monitor.
Scanning... search complete. Subject location confirmed. Sending data... Project Next Avengers enacted.
Adam sat outside his home. He was procrastinating going out. There were so many things he had to do and not a lot of time this week. In all honestly he could have just stayed there. Creating images and watching the different colored lightning crack across the darkening skies.
Adam sighed and got up, his light blue eyes looking up at the sky one last time before getting up. He pushed his wet, clumped blonde hair out of his eyes. He walked across the muddy grass to the edge of the lot to his car. Adam lived a ways outside the city of Washington DC, but that's how he liked it. He liked a clear view of the sky. There were reasons for that; first one being the signs. It frustrated him to no end, but more importantly it worried him. His Dad never usually took this long to send something his way. Ever since Ragnorak... the skies had been the only way they could ever communicate. Both having a tie to the skies and storms and the stars made it easiest, although it would really have been easiest if Adam's Dad could actually get back, but no such luck blessed them.
Adam drove over to his Mom's observatory, his childhood home. Adam now being 22 didn't live there anymore, though he did visit frequently as his mother always found projects or chores and experiments that she always needed extra hands for and Adam didn't have the heart to leave her alone. He knew she was lonely even since Dad had gotten stuck off world as she would put it. It happened years and years ago, but she never did get over it and Adam never blamed her. She was never very charismatic or social, that last trait being something that must have run in the family.
Adam pushed open the glass front doors, not bothering to knock. He swore his Mom had some sixth sense for always knowing when he was around or getting into trouble and it lasted still to this day.
Adam found his mom, sitting at the kitchen island with papers scattered all around. Her red hair was tousled and pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her eyes were peering down at different equations and various charts that she had, more than likely, drawn up herself.
"You should have known better than to ask me over to help you organize," Adam said, his version of a joking greeting. His mother, Jane, grinned lightly. Light wrinkles appeared around her mouth and eyes, slight marks that came with age.
"I was hoping you had gotten better over the years," she replied wryly. Adam snorted, amused.
"You haven't seen my place."
"You've never invited me. How could I have seen the apparent mess?" Jane shot back immediately, though there was no venom behind any words spoken, just playfulness from the banter between the two.
"Part of the reason I've never brought you over," Adam said, sitting down on a stool when Jane got up.
"Don't get too comfortable," she said, picking up a few papers and attempting to organize them, "I've got a few plans for today, starting with the glass and charts in the observatory and someone sent something for you to this address again."
"Again? I moved out nearly two years ago," Adam said, a little annoyed, possibly exasperated. Jane shrugged.
"I left it on the desk." Adam nodded and got up to get all that out of the way first. He was surprised to see a large box. He certainly hadn't ordered anything, college student's never did have much extra spending money.
Adam ripped the top of the box open only to be met with a faint blue glow. He pulled the cardboard apart to find a blue and silver case. There was a familiar logo on it, one that brought back memories that made Adam's blood boil, but there still was that pang of curiosity that overpowered his grudge. Adam looked around, seeing his Mom was no where to be found and he was in fact alone. Adam then pulled the case out and examined it, he then ran his hand over the blue, glowing S.H.I.E.L.D logo. He felt a prick at his finger, he pulled his hand back, then and suddenly other parts of the case lit up and the thing whirred to life.
"Confirmed identity," the computer's voice said in a robotic monotone, "Avengers compatibility: Thor." Adam's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion and curiosity. Avengers Compatibility? What was S.H.I.E.L.D running here? Adam was all but ready to decline and zap the hell out of the thing when he paused. There would be others.. he thought. This was it. This was his sign. Adam glanced out the window out into the sky. A low rumble of thunder could be heard. Adam smirked. He tapped the S.H.I.E.L.D icon for additional information.
"What the hell?" Questioned the strawberry blonde haired teenager. Her blue eyes trained themselves on the strange case. She flipped it up vertically. She was beyond confused. "Hey, Connor!" She called out loudly through the hall for her older brother, "I think this is for you!...Connor?!" Of course he was out, or maybe he was just ignoring her to go spend time with his new, dumb, fiance'. The girl sighed dully and ran he palm over the case, she was startled when it stabbed her hand with a needle and suddenly the case buzzed to life. A metallic bird logo at the center of it. She couldn't help but kick the case back in surprise.
"Confirmed identity: Aurora Maria Stark. Female. Age: 14. Progeny of Virginia Potts-Stark and Anthony Stark. Location: Manhattan, New York. Reading Extremis download... Avengers compatibility: Iron Man."
"Whoa..." was the only word that formed on Rori's lips. What could this possibly be about? She wondered. She circular button with the metallic bird was flashing and Rori pressed it with no hesitation. Maybe she wouldn't tell Connor about this one.
James was helping his dad move various boxes and such of training supplies out of the huge storage hall. His blue eyes took in everything. It was often where his Dad would let him into places of the Silver Star HQ like this. Or even let him off of the living area of the compound. The blonde boy was the spit and image of his Dad, Steven Rogers. It also helped a lot that the boys Mother, Sharon Carter-Rogers, also shared very similar psychical traits.
"Um, hey Dad," James called out, "I think we missed one!" At that point Steve was too far away to hear, work being the only thing on his mind today. So James meandered over and picked up the case, it pricked his hand and so he dropped it just as the thing began to light up and glow.
"Confirmed identity: James Alexander Rogers. Male. Age: 15. Progeny of Sharon Carter-Rogers and Captain Steven Rogers. Location: Boston, Massachusetts. SS serum download... Avengers compatibility: Captain America."
"Damn.." James muttered, oddly wondering what his Dad would say if he heard him cuss.
The red head worked away on the bike in the shop today. She was handy, there was no doubt about that. She pulled the mask over her hazel-blue eyes to protect them as she worked. Working in a garage really did suck sometimes. She honestly only put up with it because it was good money and her and her Mother didn't really have all that much to begin with. They moved around quite a bit, but oddly enough never left the northern tier. The girl's hand slid over a busted part of the bike and she cut her hand and wrist.
"дерьмо," she cursed as she got up from the concrete ground. She removed her goggles to get a better look and her palm. She scowled and looked over the work table to find something to cover it with. She grabbed a rag to wipe up some of the blood so she could get a better look at how deep the slash was. By now she new a thing or two about injury as her and her Mother had taken quite a few blows. Afterwards the girl threw down the rag and grabbed a roll of gauze, it would do for now, but as soon as she finished wrapping up her hand and wrist was when the distraction hit. Something from underneath the blood rag illuminated blue. She moved the rag to see a silver case with blue glowing bits.
"Confirmed identity: Alice Natalia Belova. Female. Age: 16 Progeny of Yelena Belova and Unknown. Location: Moscow, Russia. SS serum download... Avengers compatibility: Black Widow."
"Боже мой ... интересно," said Alice, her lips quirking upwards ever so slightly.
Goddamn the fact that his Mom had to go and date a freaking psychologist. Sure, Matthew liked the guy, but sure as hell not recently. It was infuriating for him to try and diagnose Matthew with something like bipolar. He wasn't manic depressive for crying out loud! But then Lenard had to go and convince Matthew's Mom that something was up and now they were both on his case. It was hard enough hiding his freaky abilities without his parent's breathing down his neck 24/7.
Matthew shut himself in his room. His dark blue eyes looking for the light switch in the darkness. Once he found it he slammed down of it with his tanned skinned hand and moved further into his room. He kicked his backpack out of the way, though it was hardly in his path to begin with. He just was in a rotten mood tonight. He didn't care. He slammed his hand against his closet doors. This had been, without a doubt, one of the worst days ever and Matthew wasn't even going to get into it all. Matthew fell back onto his bed, but that wasn't the only thump in his room. Matthew slowly sat up and saw his closet doors had been shoved open and something lay on the floor holding them like that. Matthew got up, curiosity urging him to, and he examined the item. It was a silver and blue case. He curiously poked at the metallic bird symbol only to have it poke back. Matthew didn't shy away and only pressed it again.
"Confirmed identity: Matthew Anthony Ross. Male. Age: 15. Progeny of Elizabeth Ross and Unknown. Location: Washington, DC. Unknown chemical download... Avengers compatibility: Hulk."
And Matthew had completely no comment on any of that. His frustration gone in and instant as he began to toy with the strange box.
"Miss Morse," called the teacher impatiently. The blonde stopped in her tracks and moved through the kids who snickered. Though most looked confused or sympathetic. Everyone seemed to like the friendly, witty, fun girl with big green-blue eyes. Well, except for a few, but hey, every school was like that and the teenage girl didn't mind. "You sighed your paper Canary?" The teacher asked, incredulously.
"Yeah, what of it?" Canary asked, but not in a rude tone, in one that was generally care-free. The teacher sighed.
"It's not the name that's on your fo-"
"My school form? Files? I always sign my stuff Canary."
"With every other teacher? Even permission slips?" The teacher continued to press. Canary grinned shortly.
"You're new to working here, aren't you?" The teacher shrugged and pushed herself up from her chair.
"Yeah, what of it?" She said in near mock tone, reiterating what Canary had previously said. Canary quirked an eyebrow. "You may be some big shot with your parent's being who they are, but in my class you listen to my rules. Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Canary said, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips as she backed out of the room. "I'm dropping this class." The teacher laughed shortly.
"You're dropping classes in a near military school?"
"Yeah," Canary said, grabbing her backpack, "I'm not as scared as you'd like me to be." The teacher scowled lowly and quickly wrote up a detention slip. She handed it to Canary.
"That big mouth of yours will get you in a lot more trouble."
"Oh, I'm betting on it," was the last thing Canary said before she walked out of the class room. She sighed and pushed her long blonde, curls out of her face. The hallways are empty, so the other kids were already in class and she was gonna be late. She went to her locker so she could through her books away. She had no idea why her school still had books instead of Stark Pads. But schools like this were just too old school. Canary could just blame her parent's for sending her to military school. Canary twisted the lock and threw open the door, her eyes were nearly blinded by a blue light. After blinking a few times and waiting for her eyes to adjust, Canary could clearly see it was a case. Hey, nobody was around around, so Canary took the case out of her locker, it stabbed her hand and she dropped it; the sound echoed through out the hall and Canary was lucky no one heard. It was 6th period, most everyone was outside by now.
"Confirmed identity: 'Canary' Isabelle Morse. Female. Age: 17. Progeny of Barbara Morse and Step-father, Lance Hunter. Location: Oregon, Salem. Militant, focused skill set... Avengers compatibility: Hawkeye." Canary stayed silent for a moment before smirking. She was by no stretch of the imagination and idiot.
"Damn strait," she muttered, as she walked off school ground with the case.
"Jay..Hey.. JP!" Adeline shouted to wake her younger brother up. JP rolled off the couch and Adeline rolled her eyes. "It's just about show time," she informed the lethargic, silver haired boy with silver eyes to match.
"I know," muttered JP lowly.
"What was it you were up so late looking at last night anyways?" Adeline questioned and JP only shrugged, but Adeline didn't miss his ghost of a grin and suddenly, she couldn't hide her own.
"Fine, don't tell me," she said with a wink, "you know I'll find out later."
"You'll try," JP said with a challenging smirk of his own. The siblings laughed shortly. Then soon after someone called out for Adeline and JP. Adeline walked out onto the stage, already in costume, set up for their show on the road. Adeline kept a smile plastered on her face, though it wasn't quite genuine. Never was. She danced and performed fantastic acrobatic moves that made people cheer. Every time someone would look away, she'd perform something even crazier. Then, when she had everyone's attention, JP would pickpocket various people. He would never take everything, but enough for what he and Adeline and some of the other performers needed.
However, even as the music play loudly and people cheered, JP couldn't shake last night's memory. He found an odd case in with his personal stash. He pulled it out and it pricked him shortly, but then it sprung to life, he remembered it well.
"Confirmed identity," it had said then, "Jeremy-Pietro Aaron Maximoff. Male. Age: 14. Progeny of Wanda Maximoff and Unknown. Location: Eastern Europe, Sokovia. Mental manipulation download; classification: Energy manipulation... Avengers compatibility: QuickSilver."
It wasn't long after the show when Adeline found her own case.
"Confirmed identity: Adeline Daphne Maximoff. Female. Age: 16. Progeny of Wanda Maximoff and Unknown. Location: Eastern Europe, Sokovia. Mental manipulation download; classification: Mental enhancement... Avengers compatibility: Scarlet Witch."