I'd like to make a quick note about the POV of this story. If it's in first person(I, me, us) then it will always be from Crystal's POV. Sometimes, it might be in third person(he, she, they). In that case, it is probably following one of the other Avengers, but not in their POV. Just to clear things up if they were confusing.
Also, I know Crystal is only thirteen and because of that can't get shipped with any of the Avengers, but there's a reason for it. And there won't be any shipping between her and an Avenger.
And now, onto the story!
I examined all the people in the room. There was Fury, obviously, who I had met already. I also knew Natasha; the fiery redhead has been the first agent who had tried to 'collect' me. And then there was that Tony guy. The three other men, however, I did not know.
There was a blonde man wearing a plaid shirt. He stood straight and proper, like he was going to meet the Queen of England or something. Yeesh.
Next to the blonde stood a brown haired man in a purple shirt and worn out jeans. He stood with his shoulders slouched like he was embarrassed.
The third man had shoulder length blonde hair and huge muscles. He had his brows furrowed like he was thinking really hard. The weird thing about him, however, was the clothes he was wearing. It looked like he worked at Medieval Times.
"So, what do you want this time?" I asked, directing my attention back to the eye patched man. I leaned back in my chair, crossing my legs and folding my arms over my chest. "And make it quick. I've got to get back before curfew. Mrs. Franklin's gonna yell at me if I stay out late again."
"Ms. Lutz-"
"Crystal."
Fury sighed. "Crystal, I wanted to talk to you about something. It's called the Avengers Initiative." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tony, Natasha, and the rest of the men exchanged looks.
It's probably something to do with them, I realized.
"What's that?" I asked, playing with the zipper on my jacket.
"SHIELD has recruited the 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', as Stark phrased it, to protect the world." I stood up, and paced the room, chewed on the inside of my lips, thinking.
"So, it's like a superhero squad?" I clarified.
Fury nodded and said, "SHIELD would like you to be part of the team."
"Wait." Plaid Shirt stepped forward. "Her? An Avenger?" He glance at me. "No offense or anything, but she doesn't look very...well, threatening."
"Yes," Knight-in-Shining-Armor agreed. "She would never stand a chance against the mightiest warriors of Asgard. She is puny." Fury opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.
"Well, she can hear you, for your information," I retorted, glaring at the buff man. I quickly turned my gaze over to the other blonde, who had taken a step back. "And I can be pretty threatening when I want to."
"Ha! You guys just got burned by a..." Tony stopped talking when I turned around and gave him the stink eye.
I looked over at the fourth man, who looked impressed, yet a little scared. "Got anything to add?" He shook his head. "Good answer." I smirked and looked over at Natasha. She was suppressing a smile.
"Uh, sorry," Plaid Shirt apologise, avoiding my gaze.
"It's fine." I plopped back down into the chair. Turning to Fury, I said, "So, about this Avengers thing?"
Fury, who apparently didn't get distracted easily, answered, "I want you to join the Avengers, a team with the world's best superheroes." I thought about it for a moment.
"Team?" I finally asked. "Who's on it?" I looked over to where Natasha, Tony, and the other three men were standing. The men were all exchanging hushed comments while Natasha leaned against the wall, expressionless.
"Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and two of the greatest spies SHIELD has ever seen."
"Who're they?" I wondered, balancing my chair on its back legs. I heard a gasp coming from Tony.
"You don't know who any of us are?" he asked, genuinely stunned. "Don't you watch the news?"
"Stark, if you keep interrupting me, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Fury said, clearly irritated.
"What kind of a seventh grader watches the news?" I retorted, ignoring Fury. "It's boring. I have heard of Captain America, though." Plaid Shirt perked up, looking slightly surprised.
"You have?" he asked.
I nodded and replied, "Yeah. He's in textbooks and stuff. World War II." The man looked embarrassed as he rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.
"Bit of a cream puff," I muttered under my breath. I looked at everyone in the room, my mind racing.
Well, they're probably all on this 'Avengers' thing. Otherwise they wouldn't be here, I realized. Fury did say there were six people, though. Where's the sixth?
"So, Ms. Lutz, will you join the team?" Fury asked, looking at me with his good eye.
"You could've just sent me an email or something," I suggested, putting my hands behind my head. "Why go through all the trouble of 'collecting' me if you just wanted to ask me a question?"
"Ms. Lutz."
I tilted my head to the side and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about his question. I didn't really know much about the team, or who was on it, but I bet it had to be better than where I was before this whole thing.
My thoughts trailed to where I had lived before SHIELD found me: the Franklin Foster Home in Colorado. My mom had died when I was three and my father had abandoned me as a baby. I didn't have any siblings or extended family, so I was sent to Franklin. It wasn't much, just a normal foster home. There were about twenty other kids running around the place, but, despite the number of kids, I didn't have any friends. They all though I was weird, except one girl, a shy, redhead named Kitty. We became fast friends and were now as close as sister.
Focusing back on the present, I decided that I didn't want to go back to Franklin. I opened my mouth to answer Fury's question, but a huge explosion cut me off. Everyone whipped around to look out the door of the room. From the view, I couldn't see anything, but I could hear the commotion out the door.
Fury put his hand up to his ear and listened to something before saying, "It's Loki." The faces of the adults in the room were full of emotion, ranging from surprise to confusion, from worry to determination.
They quickly ran out of the room, calling things back and forth. I jumped up out of my chair, stopping Fury before he followed the others.
"Wait, what's going on?" I asked, confused. "Who's Loki?"
Fury shook his head. "You should watch the news more often." And with that, he ran out of the room, holding his hand up to his ear and barking commands into it as he went. I stood in silence for a moment, before finally running out into the hall.
Outside the interrogation room, there was pandemonium. There was a gaping hole in the side of the Helicarrier. A deafening wind ran through the air, whipping my hair around my face. Agents and scientists were running around, some towards the wreckage, some away.
I pressed myself against a wall as an agent ran past me. I pushed my hair out of my face, but it was no use; the wind just messed it up again. That was the worst part of having short hair: I couldn't put it up to keep it out of my face.
Zipping up my jacket, I trekked my way through agents and scientists towards the wreckage, looking for the source of the trouble. I stood on my tiptoes and looked out into the sky, thinking to see a classic, nicely-dressed man, but, instead, I saw a flash of gold and green before a jet flew away in the sky.
I sighed, dropping back down to flat feet and watched to jet speed away until it became a dot in the sky. All around me, people were still rushing around, jostling me, bumping my shoulders. I was about to turn around and go back to the interrogation room when I heard a shout.
"Help!" I looked over at the gap in the Helicarrier, where I heard the voice coming from. I pushed through the mass of people and ran to the opening in the ship. I looked out over the edge and, though my whipping hair, I could seen an agent, probably a junior, his hands gripping the edge of the wall Helicarrier. His body was flying in the air. Beads of sweat lined his hairline from holding on.
"Someone help me!" he yelled again. I was about to move forward to help him when someone rushed past me, hitting my shoulder and knocking me to the ground. Luckily, I was standing by a crate, so I could stop my fall. Looking to see who it was, I saw Plaid Shirt, but he had changed and was now wearing a red, white, and blue spandex suit. On his right arm, I recognized a red and white shield with a star in the center.
Captain America. I recognized him from the history textbooks from school.
He's much shorter in real life, I thought as he ran over to the struggling agent. He grabbed the man's arm and tried to pull him into the Helicarrier, but the agent slipped and fell out.
I gasped as the captain jumped out after the man, grabbing his arm and a loose wire at the same time. He struggled up the wire, pulling himself and the agent into the massive ship. The two collapsed to the ground.
"Wow," I said softly. "Maybe not a cream puff."