:: CHAPTER ONE ::
TROUBLE COMES KNOCKING
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Tuesdays nights were always quiet at Danny's Pizzeria. Sitting on a wobbly barstool behind the cash register, Dominique anxiously waited for closing time. She'd been doing this for hours. Without a customer in sight, her patience was thinning and she couldn't find much of anything to rid her of her boredom. She swore if she read through the employee handbook one more time she could recite it word for word. Yet here she was, counting down the endless hours until she could clean up and leave.
With all things of the past considered, there still wasn't much to complain about. Deep down, she was just happy being able to obtain a job in downtown Yonkers without the appearance of wide eye strangers upon seeing her. After what happened in Queens five years ago, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Enhanced index protocol had relocated her along with the addition of a new identity, in hopes of avoiding any conflict with civilians. Since her relocation, only a few people had noticed her. For this, she was extremely grateful. It allowed her to live her new life quitely.
However, not all things in Dominique's life were quiet. The shuffle of feet turned her head from the employee handbook to the sight of her boss leaving his office. His hair curly red locks were disheveled, his white polo untucked, and a worn out expression was on his face. Danny, her boss, sighed heavily as he leaned against the door behind him.
"Hey, I'm gonna have you take the rest of the night off." His voice was soft and Dominique could see the effects of tiredness etched in his features.
A confused frown appeared on the woman's face as she processed his words. Even on quiet nights such as the one she was currently dragging herself through, Danny had never let her off from her shift so early.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
Danny averted his gaze away from her as he ran his fingers through his fiery mane of hair, an action he tended to do whenever he was stressed. "Yeah, it's just, um..." He paused for a brief moment, his blue eyes slowly starting to water. "We're losing a lot of money, and I can't seem to fix it."
As much as Dominique wanted to be blindsided by the news, she had a feeling that it was going to happen sooner rather than later. Over the past few months, Danny had been letting off most of his employees due to the pizzeria's financial issues. It was only a matter of time before he would do the same to her as well.
She slid off the stool and folded her arms against her chest. "Is there anything I could do to help?" Dominique asked softly. "I could go around town and put some posters up or hand out fliers."
Danny shook his head, "Already tried that. Nothing's worked for a while." He heaved out another sigh as he awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
The feeling of pity washed over Dominique. She desperately wished there was something she could do to help Danny out of that situation because of all the people she had ever met, he deserved it the most. He had pursued his dream of opening a pizzeria and having the best tasting pizza in all of Yonkers, which he had accomplished. The only problem he was truly facing was the little amount of recognition he was receiving, thus resulting back to his financial issues.
When the deafening silence grew between them, Dominique knew it was her cue to gather her belongings and follow the same fate as the other former employees. She pressed her lips together to form a small line and nodded to herself. "I'll just go grab my things then."
"I'm sorry to do this to you, Monica." Monica. A name that she would never get used to being called. Monica Richards was the identity she was given to by S.H.I.E.L.D as part of the protocol and Dominique had to force herself not to cringe whenever someone mentioned it. Fortunately, Danny hadn't noticed.
The woman shook her head lightly. "It's okay, Danny. You did everything you could." Dominique gave him a small smile before turning around and headed towards the employee workroom. She walked past the enormous stacks of extra pizza boxes and other types cardboard stacks to the tiny area where the beige colored lockers were placed. She quickly entered in her combination, grabbed her raincoat, and her small brown purse that was so close to completely falling apart, and left the backroom. Dominique stepped towards Danny who tried to give her a smile, but failed miserably. "I really do hope all works out for you. You deserve it."
Then, the woman turned on her heel as she quickly slipped into her raincoat and made her way towards the exit. She opened the double glass doors and was immediately greeted with the humid, spring weather. Dominique pulled her hood over her head and trudged down the empty street to head back to her apartment.
The distance between the apartment and her job—well former job—wasn't too far of a walk which was good. Especially because she couldn't afford a car and it was better to walk everywhere in New York since the traffic was a total nightmare. But for that day, the walk back to her place felt farther due to the rain and from getting let off at Danny's Pizzeria.
Though as much as she wanted to, Dominique knew that she shouldn't complain. There were people in this world that lived their life far worse than her, and it would be incredible selfish of her to whine about her problems.
After walking a few blocks down the somewhat deserted sidewalk, the woman noticed the familiar apartment building. In her opinion, it wasn't very pleasant to look at. It looked like any other apartment building with the maroon colored bricks and fire escape balconies, except hers looked rather worn and distressed with all of the graffiti, broken windows, and the trash people have littered around. Yet once again, it could be worse.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was the reason she was able to live in a somewhat stable apartment in the first place. After everything that happened in Queens, Dominique didn't know where else to go. She knew she couldn't go back home to her parents and face them when they knew what she had done. The woman faced limited options and then S.H.I.E.L.D. interfered with her life, and placed her under their index.
And if she were completely honest, the index protocols weren't as bad she thought they would be. At least once a month, a couple of agents would show up at her door (unannounced of course) and would proceed with the monthly check up routine. They would usually ask the same questions every time: "How are you?" and "What have you been doing recently?" and the dramatic "Have you used your abilities on anyone?" Even though they provided her new wrist gauntlets that cancelled out her powers every time they met with her, they still ask that one question that constantly made her stomach drop. But that was the only thing she had endure. The constant questioning and then they would leave promptly. Other than that, she would continue on with her normal routine.
Upon entering the building, Dominique was greeted with what felt like a thousand heartbeats. They rushed over her like an ocean's wave and she had to pause for a moment—slightly overwhelmed. It wasn't easy for her to handle the sensation whenever she was in a crowded area (which was highly ironic since the woman lived in one of the most overpopulated states in the America). Over time, it had gotten better, but the feeling still made the woman unsteady for time to time.
Once Dominique regained control, she released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and resumed walking. The woman meandered her way past the lobby and jogged up the stairs to get to her floor. To her dismay, her apartment was on the ninth floor and Dominique wanted to scowl whoever carried through with that idea. It was a hassle to reach her room every night, especially after a long and dull day at her former job.
But, once again, she shouldn't be complaining.
After she reached the ninth floor, the woman strolled down the long hallway to reach her apartment that was located at the end. While she passed the other rooms, she could feel the sources of life inside. She could feel the soft and steady heartbeats of families that were already sleeping and the quickened pace of worry in those who were struggling to make ends meet. It was almost like a routine that Dominique would feel.
However, the woman paused abruptly when she felt another presence. Her eyes traveled to wherever that energy came from and they landed on the last door on the left. Her apartment.
Her stomach sank into an abyss as the fear crept inside of her. Oddly enough, she was more afraid for the intruder rather than herself. She knew that nothing could happen to her. The intruder, on the other hand, not so much.
Instinctively, Dominique reached inside her worn out purse to retrieve pepper spray that she carried at all times and cautiously tipped-toed to her door. With one hand on the door handle and the other held the pepper spray, the woman inhaled deeply and quickly opened the door (which was already unlocked by the other person), ready to spray the intruder. Her heart hammered against her chest as she saw a silhouette of a man that hid himself in the shadowy corner of her small living room. To her surprise, the man didn't even flinch when noticed her. It seemed as if he had expected her to arrival.
"You can put the spray down, Miss Holmes."
If there was one voice that was implanted in her head for forever, it was the voice of Director Fury. Even though they had interacted only a few times over the course of five years, the way he spoke was unlike no other. He was the one who picked her up from the ground, gave her a new identity, and a chance to start over. Granted she wasn't able to do much due to the extensive rules under the protocol, but the woman was still more than thankful for what he had done for her.
But thankful was not the emotion she felt in that current moment. Dominique was more shaken up and slightly furious for the man having to break into her apartment and scaring her senseless. "You know, breaking and entering is still considered a crime." Dominique retorted as she lowered her pepper spray back into her purse. "Even for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury leaned over to the side and flicked on the light switch of her lamp, instantly making her apartment filled with the light. He stepped out of the corner and headed towards her tiny dining room table. Dominique noticed that he was in the same attire as usual, with the infamous eye patch over his left eye, down to the freshly polished shoes, all in black of course.
What was different was the silver briefcase he carried in his right hand. She wanted to ask what it was for, but knowing how secretive he was, she decided against it. He sat down on the wooden chair and placed that briefcase beside him in the floor. "Well, I have some urgent news to discuss with you that needs to be taken care of immediately," he informed her as he leaned against the back of the chair comfortably.
Urgent news, she thought curiously to herself. Not once had Fury ever mentioned anything similar to that and it only made the fear rise back up in her. Nevertheless, Dominique was still interested in what he had to say. "What's going on?" she asked as she shrugged off her raincoat and purse, and put them on the armchair next to the table.
"How would you like to go out of hiding and use your powers to kill an evil god?" he questioned bluntly.
The woman raised her brows and gawked at him. She waited for him to wheeze out a laugh or to even crack a smile to indicate that he was joking. But the hard look on his face told her otherwise. "Wait, are you serious?"
"Deadly," he responded. A pointed look appeared on her face. Did he really believe that Dominique would be comfortable with the fact that he had broken into her apartment and expected her to drop everything to go murder someone? If he did, then he had wasted his time on a lost cause. As if he had read her mind, Fury pulled a beige file out of his deep jacket pocket, and tossed it onto the table. "Before you jump to a decision, have a quick look at it," he suggested, as his hand motioned towards the file.
The woman hesitated. If she were completely honest, Dominique wasn't entirely sure if she should listen to his request or to shut him out entirely and send him back to wherever he came from. However, if she followed through with the latter, she knew Fury wouldn't take no for an answer. Especially if it revolved around something extremely important. So Dominique ended up doing as she was told, sitting in the seat across from him and opening up the file.
First thing she saw inside was a S.H.I.E.L.D. document meant for only Level 7s' and above. Why Fury showed her that even when she wasn't a part of the organization was beyond her. Yet, she didn't feel the need to question him since he always had his reasons. The document was labeled Tesseract in bold letters, which appeared to be an abnormally glowing, blue cube.
"What is this?" she asked.
"That was HYDRA's secret weapon during the second world war." Fury leaned in the chair, folding his arms across his chest. "Howard Stark found the cube while he was searching for Captain America."
Captain America. That was a name she hadn't heard since her history classes back in high school. Everyone in the nation, maybe even the entire world, knew of Steve Rogers' persona of Captain America. The legendary super soldier who took down a terrorist group, known as HYDRA, by sacrificing himself for the greater good. He saved the world from a greater evil by sinking a plane that carried dangerous weapons into the Atlantic ocean, ending his short lived legacy. Well, that was what everyone thought until they discovered the hero had actually been frozen for 70 years. Dominique remembered watching the news not that long ago and heard the anchors excitedly discussing the uplifting situation.
"An Asgardian god, calls himself Loki, took the tesseract just a few hours ago," Fury continued. "And I'm recruiting a group of people who can stop him from using the cube."
Dominique flipped through the pages of the file and noticed familiar names: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner. All of them have been on the news, especially Stark since he loved showing his face in front of the camera. And it made questions form in the woman's head as to why Fury wanted her to tag along. "I'm sorry, but why do I have to be involved?" she asked, which only made him tilt his head in response. "I mean, you've got all these other people so why do you need me?"
Fury leaned forward on the table and placed his arms on top of it. "Well, for one, you do have a unique set of abilities that we may have to use if the things go south." She frowned upon his choice of words, but decided not to interrupt. "And, for another, you can't die."
That sentence made her heart sink. She quickly averted her gaze from his and crossed her arms over her chest, an act she did whenever she was uncomfortable. It caught her off guard that Fury would know about what happened a few months after the incident in Queens. But then again, she should've have been surprised since he happened to know everything. But nevertheless, she still softly mumbled, "You know about that?"
"You mean about your overdose? Yes, I know about that," he answered truthfully, with a hint of sincerity. Yes, she overdosed. With what happened five years ago, Dominique didn't know how to move on from the past and focus on a future. She didn't see a light at the end of the dark and empty tunnel so she tried to find her own way out. But she swallowed a bunch of random pills from her medicine cabinet in the kitchen and quickly collapsed onto the floor to only have woken up, back to normal.
To put that in more simpler words, Dominique Holmes tried to kill herself, but eventually realized that her abilities wouldn't allow her to.
Fury noticed he hit a nerve when he saw the tears starting to form in her eyes. He sighed and tried a gentler approach. "Listen, Holmes, you're the most valuable asset we have. We could really use you to—"
"No," she said sternly as she glanced back to look at him. Dominique didn't want to be used and that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted to use her powers even after she vowed to herself that she would never use them to harm another. In fact, he wanted to make her a hero when she never wanted to be one in the first place. "Come on, Fury, let's be real. We both know that I don't have what it takes to be the hero that you want me to be. With that being said, I would really appreciate it if I lived the rest of my life unbothered by you," she continued rather harshly.
The woman didn't usually have a hard tone whenever she spoke, so it surprised both Fury and herself when the strong and defensive words slipped out of her mouth. But at that current moment, she didn't really care. All she wanted was to get back into her normal routine and forget that this entire conversation ever happened.
To her dismay, Fury wasn't ready to walk away without getting his entire point across.
"So you're willing to let innocent people die just so you can stay out of the spotlight?" he fired back. He knew those words would stab Dominique in the heart, but her feelings didn't matter at that point. What mattered was stopping the Asgardian god and protecting the nation. When Dominique didn't answer, he continued. "Look, all I ask of you is to be there as our back up option. We won't need you unless it's absolutely necessary. And the sweeten the deal," he started, reaching down to pull out the silver briefcase that she saw earlier and placed it on the table. "I've brought a couple of things for you."
He unlocked and opened the briefcase and spun it around for the woman to see. The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of silver arm gauntlets. Carefully, she pulled them out and examined the details of the design up close. It was a lightweight material that was freshly shined and formed to fit from the back of her hand to halfway down her forearm. The material felt awfully similar to the power canceling bands she wore on each wrist that she had been wearing for the past five years. Fury himself had given them to her once he placed her in the index.
"Those gauntlets were handmade by my top two agents, Fitzsimmons," Fury informed her. "They've been studying your abilities for a while now, and created them to help you control your powers instead of canceling them out completely."
Dominique nodded. She gently set the gauntlets to the side to continue looking through the briefcase. The next item was something that was completely out of her comfort zone. It was a skin-tight black suit with dark red detailing on the seams. She raised a concerned brow at Fury, "You want me to wear this?"
A chuckle slipped out of his lips, "Fitzsimmons made that as well. When I told them that they would be making protective wear for you, they got a little carried away." A ghost of a smile showed on her face, but soon vanished as she remembered what all of the items were for. They were for her only if she were to accept his ludacris offer.
Once again, Fury seemed to read her mind. "I know that you don't want to do this, but don't think about yourself at the moment. Think about the people. Think about the lives that will be lost if you aren't there as backup."
And as much as she didn't want to, Dominique had to admit that the deal wasn't all that bad. If she were to accept, then all she would have to do is sit on the sidelines and watch the real heroes do the dirty work. After all, what were the odds of Fury's plan going downhill when you had Iron Man and Captain America? And like the man had said, she would be there as backup. What could go wrong?
"So I will be the last option?" she asked, just to clarify before she came to a final decision.
Fury nodded reassuringly. "Our last resort."
Dominique sighed in defeat. Well, here goes nothing. "Okay."
