Chapter Four
When I came around again, I was no longer on the barren planet. Confused, I rolled onto my side, squinting as the bright glare of sunlight hit my eyes. At least past dinner time, I guessed. I had slept a long time.
Stiff, I sat up, stretching. I would need to find myself a new set of clothes and a shower soon. I was begging to smell like I had been rolled through a city dump, and probably looked the part too. Getting to my feet, I remembered Agent Hill's words before she had left last night. Director Fury. Shit.
Trying to remember my way through the twisting underbelly of a system that connected the apartments to Stark Tower, I jogged along, breathing roughly. It was farther than I remembered. A few people in the navy blue SHIELD uniforms gave me strange looks, probably wondering why a short girl with untidy hair and torn clothes was running through an authorized section of their headquarters.
At least I reached a set of stairs that looked familiar, stepping up them. Sure enough, they ended right at the trio of elevators that I remembered. Stepping into the middle one, I searched for buttons. There were none.
"Where to, Miss?" The British voice asked calmly. I jumped, my back striking the wall. JARVIS, I soothed myself, closing my eyes. Only JARVIS.
"Um...Director Fury's office. I'm not sure where it is."
The lift began to move. "May I ask your purpose for going to the Director's office?"
"I was asked to go there. Mar- Agent Hills told me last night."
"Very well, Miss."
The rest of the ride was quiet, a slight ding announcing each floor as we rose up. At last the lift paused, the doors gliding open. I stepped off, smoothing my jeans. I ran a hand through my brown hair, trying to settle it as best I could without a brush. A single door stood at the other end of the room. Guessing that that was where I needed to go, I walked to it.
It swung open.
A small group of people were clustered in the small space. I recognized Agent Hill, she stood with two large men also in SHIELD uniforms behind Fury's desk, a small smile on her face. Agent Barton was also there, dressed in his odd black jump suit. A small woman with flaming red hair sat beside him, her mouth turned down in disapproval. I wondered if that was the Natasha who had been arguing against letting me stay yesterday.
Fury sat at his desk, leaning back into his chair. "Good day, Sam."
"Good day," I squeaked back, my voice embarrassingly high. Stark laughed from where he leaned, long and tanned, against the opposite wall, his eyes obscured by sunglasses. A shorter man stood beside him, his hair curly, his dark eyes sad looking. A badge was pinned to his white lab coat. A doctor...?
"I trust you slept well?"
I nodded.
The muscular man sitting to the left of his desk, his pale brown hair flopping in his baby blue eyes, watched me. I felt my ears grow hot. I hated being stared at. And everyone in the office was staring at me.
"I brought you here today to make you an offer. Your father was one of my best agents. It would be a shame to let his bloodline go to waste. While you are here, you clearly won't be studying Law."
He cleared his throat, continuing. "On behalf of SHIELD, I am offering you a position as a first level agent. If you accept, you will relocate to Manhattan permanently. You will be trained for extents of six months over the course of three years until you reach military status. If you wish, you can proceed at that point to continue on and be a level two agent. That would require another three years of training."
My tongue felt dry in my mouth. An agent. Just like my father had been. That would mean leaving my brothers behind...I didn't know if I could do it.
"My brothers," I started, unable to find the words I wanted. I thought about them in Chicago. Jacob would be graduating grade twelve next year. Josh was only in grade eight. It was my job to look after them.
"They're fine, Sam. They're safe. The less they know the safer they are. Your aunt and uncle provide for them well enough. You can visit at anytime you want."
Safe. Yes, they were safe. The further away from me they were, the safer they would be. Cold determination seeped through me.
"I accept your offer."
Everyone but Natasha smiled at these words. She simply stood, showing herself out of the room. Agent Barton watched her go with an expression that was more annoyed than anything.
"Excellent. You will be added to squadron 73. They're relatively close to your age. Beginners, too. The first term begins tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" I echoed.
"Yes, tomorrow. I'll have your uniforms sent up to your room after supper. Which reminds me - are you hungry?"
The mess hall was literally what the name suggested - a giant hall filled with agents and workers, all of them scarfing down meals off their paper plates and trays.
Fury led me through the hall, heads turning to look at me, whispers growing in intensity. We stopped at a table close the eastern most wall. About fourteen people sat at the table, all of them close to my age except for a weathered old man and a middle aged woman.
"Agent Saunders, Agent Hall." Fury nodded at the man and woman. "This is Samantha Green. She's Coulson's daughter."
There were a few gasps of shock from those in ear shot. I looked down the table, eyes flickering over the twelve other agents. Agent Saunders, the man, squinted at me. One of his eyes was milky. I guessed it was blind. A thick scar wound down his face, drawing one side of his mouth into a permanent pout. "Welcome to SHIELD, Samantha. Please, have a seat."
Agent Hall eyed me with narrowed eyes. Judging. I looked down at my lap, avoiding the other members of the squad's searching eyes as well. Fury stood by the head of the table. Eventually, he drifted away. It was then that Hall spoke.
"You are not very big," she observed. I felt my cheeks flush. I was short, I admitted. But it wasn't like I was a smurf or anything.
"My father wasn't very tall either. That didn't stop him from being one of Fury's best men."
Her eyes narrowed further. "No, I suppose no. We shall see how you fair for yourself tomorrow. Don't be late. Gym 11 at 7:15, sharp."
She stood swiftly, dumping her tray into the trash can. Her meal was untouched. I sighed, not raising my eyes.
A red tray slid in front of me hesitantly. I peeked to the right, seeing who was pushing it at me. It was a boy, his black hair cropped short. His amber eyes were crinkled around the edges, as if he smiled a lot. "You don't have to be hungry, you know."
I picked up the plastic fork hesitantly. Eleven pairs of eyes met mine. I stabbed the fork slowly into the piece of chicken. Raising it to my mouth, I tried to ignore the eyes. There were seven boys and four girls in the squad. Five girls, if you counted me.
The dark haired boy spoke again. He had a quiet voice. "My name's Ben."
"Sam," I muttered, shaking his extended hand.
He grinned, letting me eat more of my food before speaking again. "So you're Coulson's kid, huh? Wow. That must be pretty awesome. Back before..." he cleared his throat. "Back before the incident, he used to be around a lot. When we were going through initiation he would watch sometimes."
"I didn't know him that well. He, ah, left when I was small."
Ben nodded, looking around the hall. "You have his eyes," he said quickly, a pink tone spreading across his cheeks. The boy to his left smirked, snorting slightly. Ben elbowed him. "Have you gotten your apartment yet? I'm in Building B."
"So am I."
He grinned. "Wicked! My brother Micheal," he pointed to the boy sitting across the table from me. He looked almost identical to Ben. His hair was a pale blond though, unlike his brother's inky black locks, "and me share a room on the second floor. Becca and Cody are in our building too."
A brown haired girl with dark skin smiled at me shyly, the fair-skinned boy with beside her nodding curtly. I tried to keep names to faces as Ben introduced the rest of the agents sitting around us. It was hard.
We cleared our trays, making our way to separate elevators. Ben was in mine, along with Becca, Micheal, Cody, and another boy. I forgot his name, but he was one of the ones who didn't make an effort to talk to me. He seemed unfriendly, and I wasn't going to push my luck.
Resting my hand on my apartment door, I frowned. Something was off. I paused.
Tremors. I could feel tremors.
Heart thundering, I clung to the door handle. I had never been in an earth quake before. Was this an earth quake? I frantically tried to think of warning and safety signs I had seen before. Nothing came to mind.
From somewhere in the tremors and crashes, a voice came through JARVIS's PA. Stark. "All first level agents, report to your dorms immediately! Stage IV attack. I repeat, Stage IV attack. Systems have been breached." The line faded to static.
I didn't know what a Stage IV attack was, but I didn't want to find out. Hurrying into my room, I bolted the door, nearly running to my bedroom. Slamming the door, I slid to the ground. I had a feeling that a certain god was involved in this.
I didn't want to find out.