Aimee spent the rest of the flight mulling around in her head the ups and downs of taking this job. What about the dogs? The dogs would be fine under Jennifer's care. But what if no one in the Avengers likes her? Who cares? She'll be helping people.
By the end of the flight her head hurt and all she wanted was to take a hot shower and sleep for ten years. Yes, ten years should do it. The Avengers wouldn't be a thing in ten years, right? She pushed her temples lightly with her thumbs and looked up when she saw a shadowy figure stand over her.
"We're going to be landing soon," Rhodes said, holding out a glass of water. "You got a headache?" He added, watching her thumbs massage her head.
"Yeah, actually," she said, eagerly taking the glass of water. She took a long sip and then set it on the cup holder to her side. Tony was still typing on his phone, as he had started doing when Aimee had told him she had to think.
"So..." Rhodes trailed off and scratched his neck awkwardly. "How does it work? Can you like... Make the headache go away?"
Aimee smiled. "Yes," she replied softly. But I like to feel it. Reminds me that I'm human."
Rhodes nodded like he understood. "Well, if you do get tired of the pain, I've got Tylenol. That's also something humans do."
Aimee smiled and took another sip as the plane began it's descent. Tony put his phone away and buckled his seatbelt. Aimee followed his actions.
The flight hadn't taken too long but the sun was almost done setting when the trio finally stepped down the flight of stairs and onto the runway. The lot was lit up by large spot lights so Aimee could make out a welcoming team as they made their way to the airport. Tony and Rhodes walked on either side of her and Tony smiled and enveloped a woman as they met up with the waiting people.
When he pulled back, Tony motioned to the woman. "Aimee, this is Pepper. Pepper, this is Aimee."
Pepper held out her hand and Aimee eagerly took it and shook it. "Wow, the Pepper Potts. It's so nice to meet you!"
Pepper smiled and pulled away her hand delicately. "You all look tired. Let's get you to the Tower."
After loading into another black SUV, Aimee stared out the window as they drove into the heart of the city. It was still rumbling with tourists and locals alike. The city that never sleeps. Aimee hadn't been back since The Incident, but it felt like she had just been there yesterday. She leaned her head against the cool glass window of the SUV and closed her eyes.
"Hey, sleepy head," a voice startled her awake. "Time to go."
Aimee sat up with a start, immediately wiping the dried drool on her chin. She looked across the seat and saw Tony leaning in with a gleeful smile. "You are just quite the snorer," he added, winking before backing up.
"Oh my God," Aimee groaned, before opening the door on the SUV. "I was having the greatest dream too. I was in a hot springs with the most beautiful man you could ever imagine." She smiled, thinking about it when Pepper brought her out of her trance.
"Okay, I have the rest of the members up and waiting in the meeting room. Fury and I thought it might be best to introduce Aimee to everyone first."
"Just what I was thinking," Tony says.
"Okay, but hear me out," Aimee says, stifling a yawn. "What happens when everyone really likes me and then I decide not to join the team? I don't want to break any hearts, ya know?"
Tony laughed. "I like your confidence. And I don't think that'll be a problem."
"Okaaay, if you say so," Aimee shrugged.
The entered the back of the building through a heavy steel door that was guarded by two agents. When they saw Tony, they nodded and stepped aside, like he was some sort of king. They headed right towards the elevators and Rhodes, Tony, Pepper, and Aimee stepped inside. The agents that had traveled with Aimee originally took their place next to the elevator to stand guard as the elevator doors closed.
"Hello, Mr. Stark," a voice boomed over some speakers and Aimee jumped, grabbing Tony's suit.
"Who said that?"
"Relax," Rhodes said, laughing slightly. "That's just JARVIS."
"JARVIS?" Aimee looked around at the ceiling, letting go of Tony's now wrinkled suit sleeve.. "Is he a ghost or something?"
"Oh no ma'am. I'm not a ghost. I'm an artificially intelligent computer."
"An artificially intelligent... computer?"
"Okay, that's a story for another time." Tony placed his hand on a scanner and had his retina scanned when he pressed one of the top floors of the tower. The elevator immediately began to shoot up and Aimee felt her stomach turn slightly at the speed. All others in the elevator did not react and Aimee felt completely out of place. She wasn't used to all of this high tech technology. She had just upgraded from a flip phone to an iPhone the previous year, which she now realized she had left in her car while she had been at work.
The elevator door dinged open and Aimee had to blink a few times to decipher just exactly what she was seeing. The elevator led out to a open room, with two fireplaces and sitting areas, a kitchen to the left, and doorways leading to other rooms. There was a large flat screen TV (even bigger then the one on the plane), along with a bigger bar nestled next to the kitchen.
"Wow," she breathed, as her comrades walked into the room and past the amenities while Aimee struggled to keep up, while also admiring all the extravagant things she'd never seen before.
"So who's here?" Tony asked Pepper who was flipping through a tablet.
"Natasha, Clint, Banner and Rogers," Pepper replied.
"So everyone besides the God?" Tony asked, stealing an apple off the bar top counter as the walked by and into a hallway leading to a different part of the building.
"Yes, he's a little hard to reach," Pepper said, and Tony chuckled.
"I can see that." He paused before a door. "Okay," he clapped his hands together and turned to face Aimee and Rhodes.
"So, this is it, huh? End of the line," Aimee squinted her eyes and tried to peer through the glass door, but it was frosted so she couldn't make anything out.
"Think of this like... A meet and greet. You'll introduce yourself, and then we'll get you settled in for the night. Easy peasey."
Aimee scrunched up her nose but nodded. "I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be."
"I have the utmost of faith in you, Smith."
And with that, he turned around and opened the glass door with a dramatic entrance. Pepper followed, then Aimee, and then Rhodes, who gave her a reassuring smile before she entered the room.
"Alright my amigos and amigas," Tony strode all the way to the other side of the wooden table that sat in the middle of the office-type room and then turned around to face the bored people sitting at the table. "Here she is," he motioned to her and smiled.
Aimee felt her heart jumping in her chest. What did she get herself into?
Aimee stared at the table, or more like, the people sitting at the table. On the right, sat the very redhead and absurdly beautiful Natasha Romanoff. Sitting on the table with his feet propped on one of the office chairs was Clint Barton, who stopped polishing his bow when Tony walked in. Sitting in a chair who looked as if just woke up from a very nice nap was who Aimee guessed was Banner. In the news reports, they mostly just showed his alter ego, The Hulk, tearing through the city. And pacing on the side of the room was none other than the Captain himself. Steve Rogers.
Aimee felt her knees go weak at the sight of them and almost considered turning around and running down all 60 something flights of stairs to get out of this situation. But something kept her glued to the spot.
"This is her?" Natasha said, crossing her leg and looking at her up and down.
"This is me," Aimee said, her voice slightly more high pitched than she wanted it to be. "Wow, you're the Black Widow," Aimee breathed before walking towards her and shaking her hand. "It's an honor, really."
Natasha awkwardly accepted the handshake but pulled back after a few seconds.
"Wow," Aimee breathed again. "You're so much hotter in person."
She trailed off and then looked around the room. "Crap, did I just say that out loud?" She cleared her throat and then looked around the room again. "It's an honor to meet all of you. I'm Aimee."
"Aimee, this is Bruce," Tony said, motioning to the man who had since perked up since Aimee had called the world's deadliest assassin hot. He waved and smiled. "And this is Clint," he motioned towards the bow wielding man who merely nodded in greeting. "And you know Natasha," he smiled wickedly before turning to the last man in the room she had yet to be introduced to. "And this is the most patriotic pain in my ass, Steve."
He rolled his eyes but then held out his hand to Aimee and she took it, hoping he couldn't sense her hand shaking. "Nice to meet you," he said curtly, before pulling away again.
"So what? Are you a super nerd like Tony? Clint asked, clearly judging her small frame.
"No, I would say by her absolutely shock of JARVIS, she doesn't do technology like Tony does," Rhodes said before taking a seat across from Natasha and folding his arms.
"So what do you do?" Natasha asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"I-" she stammered, looking around the room at all the eyes watching her like she was a piece of meat and they were the hungry wolves. "I'm really good at bathing dogs," she offered, her chest feeling tight. Was it hot in here? She wished she was wearing a tank top instead of her heavy t-shirt from work.
No one said anything for a moment. Tony looked disappointed that she had not revealed her secrets. He was about to speak again when a voice spoke from behind her instead.
"Ah, now. Don't be modest Miss Smith. You are one of the most talented and individuals in this country... Hell, maybe even this room."
Aimee turned around and saw a tall, buff man standing in the door frame. There was an eye patch going across his eye and Aimee bit her lip.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said, pushing himself off the door frame and reached out a hand. This time, it was Aimee's turn to take it tentatively. "My name is Nick Fury, and I'm the person who put this whole team together."
He smiled brightly and Aimee felt slightly blinded by his stark white teeth. There was something cold in his handshake but Aimee smiled back nonetheless. "Aimee. But I guess you already knew that."
"I did, yes. I know more about you then you think." He let go of her hand and strode over to wear Tony stood, motioning towards a TV that was hung on the wall behind them.
"Exhibit A. JARVIS, please play the tape from May fourth, 2012."
Aimee looked at her feet as all the Avengers turned to look at the TV.
The TV played black and white footage from the attack on New York City. It was from a cell phone. Probably a lower grade phone, since the picture was grainy and hard to make out. A man was running, but of course, had his phone good and ready to record everything that was happening because why not? That was the way of the world now. Film first, run later. He ran past several people, who stumbled to get someplace safe from Loki's army. He found a small crowd and pushed through to get the best footage possible.
A woman lies on the ground, her shirt bloodied from glass shards that had fallen from a building's window. A large piece of glass stuck out of her chest. Her eye lids fluttered.
"Is there a doctor anyone?!" someone called out. "She needs help!"
People are flying past the woman on the ground, screaming. Running for their lives. Suddenly, a figure pushes through the small crowd. She's wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses, her dark hair pulled back. "Move," she says to the man who had originally yelled for a doctor. He stands back and watches as the woman evaluates the woman's injuries. "She's dying," the woman says.
"Can you help her?" the man yells.
The woman pauses and then reaches down and wraps her hand around the shard of glass sticking out of the woman's chest.
"Don't pull it out!" a woman screams, her face scratched and bloodied too.
The woman ignores her and pulled the glass from the woman's body. Blood rushes out of the now opened wound. The woman uses her arm to wipe the sweat of her brow, in turn, pulling off her sunglasses and revealing her face. Aimee turns away when you can clearly see it's her in the video.
She then puts both her hands on the woman's bleeding wound and closes her eyes.
"What the Hell are you doing?" a man screams.
"Shut up!" Aimee screams, readjusts herself, and then focuses again, with her eyes closed tight. The man's phone is still blurry and grainy, but you can briefly see a light shine from underneath Aimee's hands in the video.
"What the-" the man filming starts. Then Aimee lifts her hands from the woman's body and stands up. There's still blood on her shirt, but the wound is completely gone. The man moves in closer to the woman and sees that all her scrapes and cuts from the glass are gone. The woman suddenly gulps air and sits up, clutching at her chest.
"Hey, you're okay," the man filming says, as he moves in closer to her. The woman's eyes are stained with mascara and her lips shake as the man helps her to her feet.
"I thought-" the woman starts. "I thought I was going to die."
The man filming moves his camera to where Aimee had been standing, but she's no longer there. He turns the camera this way and that, but the woman is gone. The camera shakes and then Fury pauses it.
The room is quiet after the video is paused. Aimee bites her lip and shuffles her foot uncomfortably.
"You're a tough lady to find. After the video was put on the video, people concluded that it was photoshopped. Edited. Because there had no introduction of an Avenger that can heal people." Everyone looked from Fury to Aimee.
"So, you healed her?" Bruce asked, folding his hands together and looking at her now with interest.
"It wasn't a big deal. I mean the cut wasn't even that bad," she shrugged.
"There was a giant shard in her chest," Clint said bluntly.
"She would've died if you hadn't done that," Steve Rogers observed. Aimee felt her cheeks grow hot.
"So what's the story then?" Clint says, seeming slightly irritated. "You can literally heal people by just touching them and we are just now finding out about you?"
"Clint-" Natasha warns, but he stands up and paces towards the video.
"Think of how many lives you could've saved that day! How many civilians, officers, children! Succumbed to their wounds!"
"I did tell you we should leave the hot-headed assassin out of this conversation until we had a better grasp of it all," Tony interjected to Fury.
Fury furrowed his eyebrows. "Clint, stop it. Now."
"No," Clint growled. "I want to know why we are just hearing about this woman now."
Aimee clenched her fist and felt her eyes start to water. No. I can't cry in front of these people. "It's not that simple," she muttered.
"What do you mean?" Natasha asked, her eyes narrowed, but not full of malice, but pure curiosity.
"I just," Aimee trailed off. "There's a reason I was a hard woman to find. I didn't want to be found."
"Join the club," Bruce muttered, running his hands through his hair.
"Why don't you want to help?" Steve asked, his face impossible to read.
Aimee tore her eyes away from the Captain and shook her head. "I told you I'd hear you out. I did. Now, I want to go home. I can't do this."
Before anyone could protest, Tony clapped his hands together and smiled. "Actually, you agreed to stay the night, I believe. How about we all go get some nice beauty rest and tackle this again in the morning?"
Clint shook his head. "What's the point? She clearly has no interest helping anyone." He gave the girl one last dirty look before sauntering out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.
"Who pissed in his cornflakes this morning?" Tony muttered, before shaking his head. "Alright, clearly Robin Hood is not the best person to introduce new recruits to. But let's get you set up in one of our lofts," he emphasizes the word as if that will seal the deal, "and you think about everything tonight and tomorrow, we can talk again. Sound good?"
Aimee reluctantly nodded, and the people around her began to stand up to leave. Natasha gave her a half smile as she walked past her and Rhodes lightly squeezed her shoulder before walking out, but Bruce, Steve, Fury, and Tony stayed put in the room.
"Hey, look," Bruce walked up to her, his hands in his pockets and his voice small so that Tony, Fury, and Steve couldn't hear him talk from their position by the TV. "I don't know why you don't want to help, obviously. But I do know a lot about not wanting to be found," he trails off but then looked deep into her eyes. "I'm glad I was."
He smiled sadly at her and then walked out the room. She bit her lip and sighed. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. Then again, he was The Hulk.
"Alright, let's get you settled then," Tony said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She didn't realize that Steve, Fury, and he had finished having their private meeting and were now standing next to her, ready to bring her to her home for the night.
Tony led her out of the office and back towards the elevator. Now, it was just the two of them. She was absolutely speechless, which shocked her more than anything from this day. She stood elbow to elbow to him as she waiting for the elevator doors to open.
After what felt like an eternity, the elevator doors slid open and Tony stood aside to let her on first. Aimee muttered a quiet thank you and the awkward silence hung heavy once again after the doors closed. They were only going down one flight, so luckily the doors opened within another two minutes and she was spared a little bit of the awkwardness.
"I had the Stark Tower redone after The Avengers were formed. The top floors have all been redesigned to suit the team's needs. This floor has housing options for everyone, though not everyone uses them," he says as they walk down a hallway and to a room down the corridor.
The room is very simple. There's a bed in the center, with a plush white comforter and two pillows at the head. There's a modern desk across from the bed with a large flat screen TV hanging above it. There's a door to her right that's closed, but Aimee assumes the door leads to a bathroom, or a closet. Aimee steps forward and runs a hand over the comforter
"It's not quite five stars, but it'll do." She turns and smiles at the billionaire still standing in the doorway.
Tony chuckled and says: "I had Pepper get you some pajamas she thought would fit you. "They're on the bed," he motions to the pair of very expensive looking silk pajamas resting on the comforter. Aimee feels the fabric between her fingers and sighs. She had never touched anything so expensive in her life.
"Thank you, Tony, I really appreciate this."
"Of course. Don't stress about everyone's reactions from the meeting. They're just constantly in a state of stress. It's just their nature. Think about what you want to do tonight, and we'll discuss it tomorrow."
"Can I use your phone?" she asks, before he turns around and leaves. He stops and reaches in his pocket to pull out a phone that Aimee is almost positive is too high tech to be out on the market yet.
"Do you have yours?" Tony asks.
"I left it in my car at the shelter."
"Right." He cringes awkwardly. "Speaking of that, should you decide to stay, your items at home will be collected and brought to you."
"Eh, don't trouble yourselves. I don't have much. And I'll just tell Jennifer to take it all." Aimee types in Jennifer's phone number as she absentmindedly waves off Tony's offer.
"Who's Jennifer?"
"My friend. She practically runs the dog shelter I work at."
Jennifer answers the phone. "Hello?" she sounds tired.
"Hey Jenn it's Aimee."
"Aimee? Why the Hell are you calling me so late? You in trouble? Please don't tell me you went to Vegas again."
Aimee chuckles. "No, Jenn, I'm not in Vegas." She notices Tony raises his eyebrows at her response. "I'm in New York City."
"New York City?!" She sounds like she's about to have a heart attack. "Jesus. What are you doing there?"
"It's hard to explain. Listen, I just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to make it to the shelter tomorrow. For obvious reasons. I hope I'll be back tomorrow night, but I'll keep you updated. If you need to contact me, just call this number."
There's a long pause and then Jennifer sighs. "You give me high blood pressure, woman. Okay, I'll take care of everything tomorrow. Keep me updated."
"Will do."
The line goes dead. Aimee sighs and hands him back the phone. "Thanks."
"Of course." He turns to leave again but stops. "Remind me to ask you about Vegas."
Aimee laughs and shakes her head. "We'll see."
And with that, the door shuts quietly and for the first time since that morning, Aimee was completely alone. Being alone was something Aimee wasn't afraid of. In fact, she had grown to enjoy the comfort of silence and freedom of peace. She had spent most of her life alone. And while she was enjoying this brief moment of solitude, she found herself wishing she was back at the kennel. While being with dogs did not make her alone, she found the presence of dogs a lot more enjoyable than the presence of humans, after all.
She turned the handle of the mysterious door in her room and was relieved to see it led to a small bathroom. She really didn't feel like scoping around the downstairs right now, with there being the chance she'd run into Clint.
She felt joyful taking off her dirty clothes and tossing them in the corner of the bathroom. She wasn't lying when she said she probably smelled disgusting, and she wondered if maybe her ill smell had been part of the reason Clint snapped at her like that. She had trouble at first getting the shower to actually work. Tony didn't skimp on the theatrics, even in a guest bedroom's bathroom. But after a moment she figured it out and relished as the hot water poured over her body, like a waterfall.
She spent extra time as she washed her hair, working the luxurious shampoo and condition through her long dark locks and thanking God there was also a razor and shaving cream in the shower as well. This time, she shaved all the way up her thighs, instead of stopping at the knee as usual. She wasn't expecting anything to happen, but with so many gorgeous men around, she assumed it would be better to be safe than sorry.
After her shower, she spun her thick hair into a hair turban and put on a white robe that hung next to the shower. She grabbed some of the fancy lotion that waited in a small basket on the sink and rubbed it on her tanned skin. It had been a long time since she'd paid this much attention to her vanity. She wasn't ashamed to admit it felt nice.
It wasn't long after she'd let her wet hair down and changed into the silken pajamas when she heard a light knock on the door. She assumed it was Tony, maybe with a massage therapist and facial expert to go along with all of the other luxurious items but when she pulled open the door she was shocked to see Captain America facing her. She immediately felt naked beneath the thin fabric of the tank top she wore and crossed her arms over her chest.
A/N: Okay, MAJOR cliffhanger but if I get a decent amount of reviews I'll post the chapter with Steve tomorrow!... So if you like the story please review! I know there are some inconsistencies with the story… Like Tony's PTSD but there's never really a moment in the movie verse where they're just the Avengers with no drama lol. So I made my own little timeline but I promise it'll work into the movie verse really well!
Thank you so much to Captain Dingbat and ahandley for your reviews!