Hey guys! (:
First, thank you thank you to the people who reviewed my prologue! I was ecstatic! :D
Anyways, this is my first fanfiction! I'm totally open to brutally honest criticism. Reviews and/or follows would be wonderful! Just so I know someone out there is reading my story (:
Anyways, here's the first chapter!
Monday, September 23, 2013.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Base training room, Chicago, Illinois.
He watched from his hidden perch as a beautiful young woman, appearing to be no older than her early 20's, cautiously took a step out from behind the obstacle course's cement wall. Her long hair had come out of its pony-tail and now flowed freely like rolling waves of black ink swirling in every direction. He silently pulled his bow string tight and took aim.
Hold it Clint. Wait for it….
She slowly took half another step out. Most days she would be observing her surroundings, taking in everything, but today she was blindfolded.
Come on…just a little further…
She took one more step out and was now standing in the open.
Gotcha.
The master assassin allowed himself a small smile before letting loose the arrow. Just when it should have pierced her heart from behind, she whirled around, caught it, and sent it flying back to its owner in one fluid motion.
Shit.
He threw himself down onto the gymnasium-type floor as the arrow detonated right where he had been crouched. He tucked and rolled, then glanced up at the woman. The volume and impact seemed to have disoriented her. Not wasting any time he strung another arrow and let it fly in a matter of milliseconds. This time, it found its mark. But instead of slaying her, the steel-tipped aluminum arrow shattered.
"OW! Gosh friggin damn it, Clint! That HURT!"
Clutching her chest, she ripped off the blindfold and glared at him with intense, sparkling blue eyes.
Agent Barton got up and brushed himself off.
"Oh, and throwing myself onto the hard floor from and 8 foot perch was just a walk in the park!" he shot back.
"Instant karma. You shot an explosive arrow at me and look what happened," she retorted.
"Not all of us are indestructible super-humans. Anyways, I still won," he said, smirking at her, "which means-"
"Oh no…" she groaned, her shoulders slumping, all of her rage deflated.
"Oh yes."
"Oh no, please Clint! It's our last day-"
"No way you're getting outta this one, kid. Double archery tomorrow," he said crossing his arms.
"I can barely contain my excitement" she replied sarcastically, still rubbing where the arrow at hit, "I don't understand why I have to be able to shoot with a bow anyways, I can run faster than any arrow."
"Just wait until you're back with Natasha. You'll be begging to be back at the shooting range with me!" Clint said, laughing. Her training had been going back and forth every couple weeks between himself and Agent Romanoff.
"Oh no! Please, sir, please, anything but the dreaded Agent Romanoff!" she said in mock horror. They both laughed.
"So, how 'bout we hit the pool? We can do some 'water aerobics'" she said with a devilish smile, making quotes in the air at "water aerobics".
"Water aerobics. Right, you mean let's-see-if-we-can-drown-Clint-today-with-our-ancient-voo-doo-water-bending?"
The woman made a show of smiling sweetly and batting her eye-lashes.
"Pretty please, with a cherry on top? You owe it to me. You shot me."
Clint chuckled and went over to the bench to pick up his bag, with her following close behind.
"Okay, I suppose. But for the record, you shot me back."
"Yes! Thank you!" she grinned at him and gave him a hug, nearly crushing him.
"Meet you there in 5 minutes!" she said, then she was gone, and the door to the locker rooms was drifting shut. He never even saw her move.
Agent Barton slung his bag over his shoulder and began walking towards the pool. Smiling to himself, he muttered, "Alice….you're so full of yourself."
Monday, September 23rd, 2013.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, New York, New York.
Director Fury's office.
It was the end of a long day. Nick Fury had done his best to make the world a better place. In the end, there were still people dying, still suffering.
But less at least, thanks to me.
He was preparing to leave for his apartment for the night, when something stopped him. Amidst all the small lights of computers and the soft glow of the monitors, there was another glowing. In the center of the room, there was a dim haze with no apparent origin.
The Director slowly reached for his holster and watched in wonder as the haze began to take the form of a man. The man continued to materialize until Thor the God of Thunder was standing right in front of him, though still flickering strangely.
"Thor! How is it you're here without the tesseract?" he exclaimed, relaxing slightly and laying his gun down on the desk.
"Director Fury! It is a pleasure to see you again!" Thor said, smiling widely, "as for my way of travel, I did not actually come here. This is but a projection of my spirit, and it only lasts a short while. I did not want to risk bringing the tesseract to Midgard."
"I see. That was a wise choice. But I trust this is more than just a social call?" Fury said, crossing his arms and standing in front of the god.
"That is right. I bring grave news...you may have another visitor from outerspace."
The Director listened intently, "Go on."
"For many thousands of years, a race of foul evil creatures called the Vakre roamed though the Nine Realms. Your people commonly refer to them as vampires."
Fury nodded, the gears beginning to turn in his head.
"They lived off the blood of others, and their bite would infect and turn good people into one of them. They were beautiful, often using that to their advantage when seducing their victims, but heartless and cruel. Their race began to spread like a plague, and many feared that if they united with one another they would be unstoppable. Around 300 years ago the Valkyrie, a group of fierce maiden warriors, decided to put a stop to the madness. They organized hunts and killed every vampire throughout the 9 Realms. My father did not agree that was the solution, but he did not try to stop it. It was a terrible loss of life. Every last one had been killed to ensure the race would not come back. But the universe was a better place, or so we thought."
"Somehow they lived on."
"Yes."
Fury's thoughts turned to a girl S.H.I.E.L.D. had recently employed…
"One of the Vakre sired a child, a girl, with a mortal woman. Whether it was a plan to keep the race alive or he actually loved her, we will never know. She was what Midgardians refer to as a witch, a spellcaster. Hiemdall saw this, but knew that telling anyone would result in an innocent child's death. He only just informed father and I yesterday."
"So why is he telling you, now?"
"Because there is another who has seen the girl," Thor said, worry creasing his brow, "Thanos. In my opinion, he is the embodiment of evil. He was one of the reasons for the downfall of my brother," he said sadly.
"What's his game?" Fury was almost positive he knew who the girl was.
"He will try to bring back the Vakre, though not as a scattered bunch of demonic individuals. He will build an army. An army of Vakre would be nearly unstoppable. With their speed and strength, and impenetrable skin, even I would be challenged to bring one to its knees."
"Impenetrable skin?"
"Not completely impenetrable, but there are very few weapons that can cut a Vakre," Thor remarked, "but as of now our primary goal is to find the girl. I know only her name, but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s magic boxes should be able to find her," he said, gesturing towards the computers.
"We're in luck," Fury said striding towards a filing cabinet and unlocking it, "I believe we've already found her. Is her name, by any chance, Alice Wildes?"
"Yes! That is her!" Thor said, looking surprised.
"We picked her up not 6 months ago," Fury said and pulled out a manila folder. Opening it, he layed it on the desk for Thor to see. A picture of a gorgeous, blue-eyed, smiling girl looked up at them.
"That could most definitely be a Vakre," Thor said, admiring her beauty.
"She put up one hell of a fight when we took her in, but surprisingly didn't kill anyone. One of our agents spotted her intervening in an armed robbery. The local police thanked her and sent her on her way, but our agent reported that something was strange about her. They played back the security tapes from one of the traffic cameras, and saw he was right. Her speed and strength were inhuman. They reported it to me, and I agreed. We went to talk to her, told her we were interested to know how she came about these powers, and she bolted. It didn't take us too long to find her and take her in. If she hadn't been trying so hard to make sure she only wounded and not killed our attacking forces, she probably could have escaped."
"Really? She…has a sense of moral?" Thor asked, intrigued.
"Very much so," Fury said as he flipped through her file, "after we brought her in, I talked to her in the interrogation room. She said she honestly didn't know how she was what she was, she only knew that she'd been born January 18, 1688, and that she stopped aging at 22. Her mother died when she was very young, and the old woman who raised her was killed when she was 16."
Thor looked fascinated.
"I asked her what she thought of the idea of joining S.H.I.E.L.D. She didn't like it much, but I had a feeling she knew the alternative was a specialized prison cell. I told her we were the good guys, that we saved the world and she would be putting her talents to good use. She said many years ago, a man had said very similar words to her, and she ended up killing a lot of innocent people 'for the greater good'. She'd been talking about HYDRA."
"The same HYDRA the soldier was associated with?"
"Same one. And since she's been around for quite a long time, she could have been part of one of the exact bases Rogers took down."
"I see. So, Alice, what is she like? I know the Vakre were very cunning manipulative. My friends and I, and Loki, once came across one. Had it not been for Loki and his knowledge of such magical things, it would have tricked us then killed us."
"She's quite the opposite. After she agreed to join us, she began training with Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton. Barton compared her to a kid on his birthday who's had too much sugar. She's very friendly to all the agents in her current facility, so far everyone likes her. I've been keeping tabs on her, and I have to agree with Barton."
Thor chuckled, "Amazing….but, what is to be done? If Thanos does in fact know she is here, he will not be long in coming. We must keep her from him at all costs. I believe it would be safer if we took her to Asgard, and so Midgard does not suffer the same devastation it did last year."
"You're right, but how will we get her there? I don't want the tesseract back on Earth if Thanos is coming."
"There is a way...but I do not think you will like it." Thor looked at Fury with a cautious gaze.
"If it is the only way, then it's what we'll be going with," stated Fury.
"Very well. There is a sort of road, the same way the Frost Giants used when they first visited Midgard thousands of years ago. But magical enchantments black many paths to all but a Jottun…"
"You'll need Loki." Fury didn't look too happy.
"Yes," sighed Thor, "he has served many punishments for his crimes against Midgard, and is still imprisoned. I believe he will help, and there are enchantments we can place on him to ensure he does not leave my side. We will travel with Sif and The Warriors Three. The journey will be long though...and we will need time to prepare. Thanos may come before we arrive…"
"Leave that to me. We survived and extraterrestrial attack once, we can do it again. Go back to Asgard, tell everyone what's up, then get your ass back here. And make sure your enchantments for Loki are exceptional."
"It is agreed," Thor beamed at him, "And do not worry about Loki, my father will call some of the best spellcasters of the universe. Until we meet again, Director Fury," Thor smiled and nodded, then began to flicker. Soon he was nothing but a haze of light, then he was gone.
Fury sat down at his desk and picked up the phone.
Guess I won't be going home tonight after all.
He dialed, then listened to it ring. After 3 rings a woman's voice answered.
"Director Fury, this is Hill."
"Agent Hill, something urgent has come up."
"Sir?"
"I'll explain when you get here."
"Yes, sir."
"Agent Hill, we will need to assemble the Avengers."
Soooo…I hope you guys liked it ^_^ I'm not sure how frequently I'll be updating, but probably no less than every other day (:
If you like it, a review would make my day! ;)