Author: Jaded
Story: Alpha Operations
Disclaimer: Power Rangers are owned by Haim Saban, Avengers and Co are owned by Marvel. I write for fun, not for profit.
Summary: When SHIELD starts sniffing around the Rangers, the Rangers take preemptive measures to make sure they don't get drafted against their will.
A/N 1: I meant to get this out quicker but I'm subbing for fifth grade for two weeks and didn't get the chance. :/ It's here now though!
Chapter Two
"Why did I get pulled into this, again?" Kim demanded as she smoothed her pants down her legs. They were black, to go with the black jacket she had on over the light purple blouse. She'd specifically chosen a color not her own for this meeting, as they weren't quite willing yet to reveal who she was.
"Cause you have experience in politics, you like arguing, your father is on the committee that funds SHIELD, and you had nothing else to do," Carter answered promptly. "And we all agreed you're the one who was most likely to be underestimated based on looks alone."
"Also, Tommy insisted it wasn't his turn and everyone else yelled 'Not It' before you could," Adam added with a grin. Kim made a face at them both.
"You guys suck," she grumbled. "This is gonna end in disaster. The first chance I get, I'm turning this baby over to someone else—maybe even Tommy."
"But he said 'Not it'" Captain Mitchell reminded her blandly and Kim resisted the urge to kick out with her foot.
"Look alive," Carter said suddenly and Kim focused on the two individuals in suits heading their way. More softly he told her, "That's Agent Sitwell on the right and Agent Romanoff on the left. Agent Sitwell is in Fury's inner circle, one of the higher members of SHIELD. He's handler for the Avengers and liaison to Stark Industries at the moment, since Agent Coulson died. Agent Romanoff...I think you already know."
Sitwell was older than her, though she was uncertain as by how much. Hispanic and bald, he gave off the impression of being completely no-nonsense. She'd heard about him before; he was heavily involved as the liaison to the Senate committee that decided how much funding and support the US would give SHIELD and thus, someone her father complained about constantly at the beginning of every year.
The woman she recognized as being the Black Widow, the only woman on the Avengers (which all the female rangers were still being pissy about). Her identity had never been revealed and most news footage of the fight didn't even have the Black Widow or Hawkeye in them, but Kimberly wasn't most people—Billy's satellites had been monitoring everything the moment he'd heard about the attack and the moment she knew she was the one to be doing this, she'd been watching the footage non-stop.
"Agent Sitwell, Agent Romanoff," Captain Mitchell greeted them once they stopped a few feet from them. He held out his hand and shook both of theirs. Carter quickly followed suit but Adam and Kim hung back a moment. Mitchell finally turned to the two of them. "These are two of our associates. Ms. Kimberly Hart and Mr. Adam Park. They're here for our meeting with Director Fury."
"We weren't aware you were bringing anyone," Agent Romanoff said, frowning. Kim leveled her with a look, not flinching at the veiled violence in the other woman's eyes. She kept her face blandly professional, un-intimidated, which was a lot easier to do than she'd been expecting. As terrifying as she'd been in the battle, Black Widow still didn't hold a candle to what Kim had faced in high school. At most, she was like Tommy when he'd been evil. Her lips quirked slightly at the thought and she saw the agent's own lips twitch in response. She couldn't possibly know what Kim was thinking, all Rangers were immune to telepathy thanks to the Power, so it must have been approval. She gave the woman a nod and then turned to Sitwell who was frowning at her.
"Agent," she greeted him coolly.
He gave her a once over and she could see the underestimation start, which was surprising given who was standing next to him. He frowned again. "I wasn't aware Senator Hart was interested in these proceedings."
"I'm not here for my father," she said simply and didn't add, 'though he knows I'm doing this'. "I'm here on behalf of Alpha Operations."
For the past month she'd been trying to subtly test her father on his opinion of the Rangers. He'd admitted to being concerned about them not being answerable to anyone but he had also made it clear he did not want the the US military to have control over any of the Ranger tech. He felt it would cause already high tensions with the other not-so-friendly nations to escalate even further—and given the anger of even their allies over the US's unwillingness to part with any of the recovered alien tech from New York, it would just make things even worse with them as well.
They'd discussed options for what the Rangers could (supposedly hypothetically) do about the whole situation. She'd given their actual plans as a possibility and to her relief, he'd been completely supportive of it, even going so far as to suggest he may suggest that himself to the President next time they spoke.
Having his approval, she'd gone ahead in the next part of the plan, which was telling him what, exactly, she'd gotten up to in high school. Only he'd broken down laughing before she'd even gotten to the important bit. Apparently he, her mother, and Pierre, had all known since high school. It was why they hadn't put up much fuss when Kim had asked to stay with Aisha to finish the school year before she'd ended up in Florida. They figured she and the team were trying to find a replacement, like they had with Jason, Trini, and Zack. He'd even gone so far as to inform her that all their parents, from the Scott's straight on down to the Hillards, had known and simply hadn't said anything.
She was still a little miffed about that, to be honest; all those years of sneaking around they'd all done, all the convoluted schemes Billy and Zack and Rocky had come up for on the few occasions they couldn't get out of their houses, and for nothing!
Her only consolation was the expression on Tommy and Jason's faces when she'd gone back to Reefside and ordered them to call and apologize for all the worrying they'd put their mothers through.
She focused back on Sitwell when he asked what Alpha Operations was. She smiled at him. "I'm afraid that's classified," she told him sweetly. "I'm only to speak of AO with Director Fury."
Years of dealing with her father's staff and various political allies and enemies had given Kim a keen ability to read people and right now, both Agents were displeased with her. She resisted the urge to smirk. It was about time the shoe went on the other foot!
"I'm afraid I cannot let you through to see Director Fury unless I know who you are, besides the daughter of a senator," Sitwll said sternly.
"We're vouching for her," Carter broke in. "Director Fury will want to meet with her."
"Be that as it may-"
"It's fine, Agent Sitwell, I can see when I'm not wanted," she said, smiling coolly, catching sight of Agent Romanoff's amused expression. She turned to Carter, her mind choosing her next words very very carefully. "Mr. Grayson, please inform Director Fury that once he wants to seriously discuss the Ranger situation, I'll be happy to take his call."
She and Adam were five steps away when Sitwell seemed to finally break out of his surprise. "Wait!" Kim allowed herself a brief smug smile before she smoothed it out and turned to him. He was looking between Carter and Mitchell and her and Adam with a look on his face that was part confusion, part worry, and part curiosity. "You never said said this was about the Rangers."
"Agent Sitwell, Ms. Hart and Mr. Park are with us and the only business we have with SHIELD has to do with the Rangers," Mitchell said, frowning and crossing his arms as he stared the other man down. "Why else would they be here?"
"Alpha Operations..." he started.
"Is classified but I didn't think I had to publicly announce it had to do with the Rangers," Kim broke in. "As Captain Mitchell said, our being in their company should have told you that. You're not a very good agent if you didn't pick itup right away."
"She's right," Agent Romanoff broke in and she was smirking. That was one woman who knew exactly what had just gone down and approved. Sitwell gave her a disgruntled look and she shrugged. "You really should have known. I did."
"Follow me," Sitwell said abruptly, turning on his heel and walking purposefully away from them. Pride, she suspected, had just been hurt. Part of her felt bad but a bigger part of her knew she had to do it this this way because otherwise, the repercussions could be...unfortunate.
"Kim..."
"Shush," she said, knowing what Adam was about to say. He'd been surprisingly quiet as she played Cat and Mouse but her actions were kinda mean.
"I was just going to say I think they chose well," he said simply. She frowned. Adam had been hesitant about Tommy and Jason's appointing her as the spokeswoman, not sure if she could hack it on the political level even with her father being who he was. It was part of why he'd tagged along. If he believed the group had chosen well, then...
Crap.
She really needed to get better at Not It.
