MAIL BAG:
IAmAnElf (guest) (ch7): I vote Josh. Just to get that out of the way. A fire/water thing could be interesting (plus riptide and pheonix sound cool together). I wouldn't put Loki in there. He has already been in so much it's getting boring - don't get me wrong, I love him. But contrary to Shakespeare's opinion, you can have too much of a good thing. Make up your own villain, and make him/her awesome. Try and mix little aspects of other marvel stuff in. Ari and Torch (TFF) could work together, and a little bit of Spidey and the X-Men can never go amiss. Good luck with the rest of the story and please update quickly. This is brilliant!
Re: Thank you SO much for your input- it truly means a lot to me. Your suggestions will be taken to heart. Regarding Loki and potential villains, my only worry is that I could be introducing too many OC's, and I don't want it to overpower the Marvel aspects, but I don't want the situation to be the opposite, either. Maybe if you could help me find a happy medium...? B-)
Leanne (guest) (ch7): I have been waiting SO impatiently for you to update this story! Its so freakin' amazing! Please don't be gone for so long again, I don't think my heart can take the strain ;) seriously though, this is so good.
Re: I'll try not to be as absent-minded as I have been with writing. It will be easier during the summer.
Disclaimer: who would think that I own the MARVEL universe? Seriously!
Special Thanks and Shout-outs: I-JUST-LOST-THE-GAME; Skye Grace; TroubleBecca123; molly . dyte (no spaces); ewez610; No.21; Forged In Fire and Flame; amegos; Takahashi Amaya; Misshoneyliberty; and Ria Delrado. Thank you all so much for the encouragement.
Title: "Secrets" by OneRepublic
SHIELD Helicarrier Cafeteria, Somewhere in the Pacific
9 March 2014
1037 Hours, AKST
There it is. My entire story is now out in the open for everyone to judge. Of course, I'd glossed over the details of how Allie and I first became close. Even though the events that brought us together happened over five years ago, in reality, my mind has had barely four months to recover. I'm still not ready to talk about it.
"...After that, we had about a month to catch up with society," I continue. "Cassidy started sending us on missions and such. Eventually I got caught up in Russia, and one month later, Coulson rescued me and, well, here I am, standing in front of you."
The Avengers remain quiet for a few moments, probably to let everything soak in. During our little session of class story time, Clint and Thor made their ways into the audience among the rest of the Avengers, but remained silent throughout. Coulson and Fury stand stoically in the back of the room, arms crossed and no emotions present on either of their faces. Almost all of the agents had left, save for a woman who is wearing the standard blue jumpsuit. Her medium-brown hair is pulled back into a bun, and a Bluetooth piece adorns her left ear. She waits next to Coulson and Fury, also silent.
Seems to be friends with Fury and Coulson, I note. I'll have to ask about her later. "So... there's a peak into the hot mess that is my life," I conclude awkwardly. "I'll probably tell you the first half later, about how I joined and everything."
"A very interesting yet tragic story," Thor comments. "It saddens me that you cannot contact those you love dearly."
I turn to him and give a small, sad smile. "Thanks." But why? What for? For his pity- pity that I don't want? No, I realize. Simply for listening. I guess, before this, it never dawned on me just how heavy the weight of these events truly are. Ever since joining InFUSE, I'd almost always been one of those people who takes their burdens in stride, thinking that if everyone else could, then so could I. I'd never focused on how heavy the duty placed upon my shoulders truly was. Each mission that I led Savior in became a sort of routine in my mind: go in alive, get out alive, no questions asked; to my own surprise, though, I realized that I was good enough to think like that.
"Have you ever thought about going back to see your family?" asks Bruce. He has a sympathetic look on his face, and I can't decide whether I should hug him or not.
"Every day. However, I know I'd only put them in danger, and I just couldn't do that to them. I never would."
"SHIELD offers protection to the relatives and close friends of any of its operatives," Fury pipes up from the back of the room. "Your parents will be under the watch of our agents, and they won't even know it."
I nod in thanks. "Part of the reason why I'm so hesitant... so scared to see my family is that I have no idea what I'd say to them, or what they would say to me. I haven't talked to my mom or my brother face-to-face in almost six years. All I've sent them are written letters or emails, but again, those stopped five years ago. They'd... well, I actually have no idea what would happen if I were to show up still looking how I did back then. Half of a decade has drifted slowly past them. To me," I snap my fingers once, "it went by like that."
I search the faces of my new teammates, some part of me wishing that the answers to all my questions regarding my family had been written in Sharpie on their foreheads. Steve doesn't meet my eyes; his gaze is angled downwards and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. It takes milliseconds for my mind to register how Steve could've taken what I said.
"Oh, Gawd, I'm sorry!" I rush to fix my mistake. "I didn't think it- I mean, I didn't-"
"It's okay," he mumbles, glancing up at me. "I know you didn't mean to."
The lull in conversation hangs awkwardly between us, only to vanish when Fury cuts in again. "Why don't we start our meeting now?"
A few minutes later, Fury, Coulson, the agent (whose name I soon discovered to be Maria Hill), and the Avengers and I are seated around a stainless steel oval-shaped table in a conference room. Fury begins the meeting by saying to me, "I only recently discussed this matter with Tony; because you are now part of the Avengers, you will be residing with them at Avengers Tower."
"Oh, okay." I hadn't given any thought to what my living situation would be like once we made it back to the states. I suppose it makes sense, though.
"In addition, we will be taking off shortly; we will touch down at the Triskelion, which is in New York City. You, along with the Avengers, will depart shortly before we dock. You will be taking a separate jet to the Tower. Our ETA is approximately five hours."
"How're we gonna get there? Are we taking jets or something...?"
"Or something," Tony replies.
"What exactly does that mean?"
"It means exactly what you think it means."
"It means," Bruce cuts in, "the Helicarrier flies."
I stare blankly at him. "...Wait, what? You're serious?"
"It's actually pretty amazing when you see the transformation."
My eyes widen in curiosity. "Why? What happens?"
"Can we please get back on topic?" Fury interrupts.
"Sorry," I apologize. "Continue."
"As I was saying, we should be in New York around fifteen hundred hours. Ari, I want you to lay low for now; try not to be seen hanging around town with any of the Avengers. I want you to stay low until I give the word. When I do, I want you to be seen saving as many lives as possible. This will get the general public to trust you. Afterwards, a press conference will be held, and your status as an Avenger will be officially announced."
"Sounds like a plan. I mean," I shrug, "at this point, I'm pretty much open to whatever you need me to do."
"Good. We never know when we may need you."
The meeting doesn't last too long after that. Fury informs us of a few issues that could possibly grow into full-scale problems, but he doesn't disclose too many details on the subject. I refrain from reading his mind; I'll let him make decisions for now. If he's withholding information, it most likely means that he isn't one-hundred percent certain on anything yet, and because of this, he does not want us to worry over a matter that could end up being completely irrelevant. His reasoning makes sense, but if I were in Fury's situation, I'd tell my team just in case.
The Helicarrier takes off right after the meeting ends. I stand on the balcony in the front observation deck and watch in awe as dozens of crew members take their seats at the rows of computers below. Among the chatter, I can hear individual voices call out:
"Engines at one-hundred percent power!"
"Reflection panels ready for activation!"
"All thrusters are in position!"
"Deck is secured. All systems clear for takeoff in three... two... one!"
I grip the railing to stabilize myself as the Helicarrier is readied for takeoff. I can hear the mechanical rumble as metal plates on the outside shift and readjust. Only a couple of yards to my right, Fury stands tall at a group of four holographic displays. Their central position overlooks the entire control deck below. I switch my gaze back to the enormous windows. My eyes widen as we lift almost straight up out of the sea. Any water that fills an outer crevice flows out in torrents to return back to where it came from. I grin as I feel the hum of the vibrations of the Helicarrier rising from the ocean. Way cool.
I hear Agent Hill call out from below, "SHIELD Protocol one-eight-four-point-two in effect."
"Reflection panels successfully engaged," Fury announces. "We are now out of sight."
I make my way to the Director as he fidgets with something on the control panels in front of him. "This is incredible. I really wish InFUSE had one of these," I say with a smile. "Or two. Or five."
He gives a barely-visible half-smile before asking, "Is there anything specific you came to see me about?"
"Yes, actually." I drop my grin as I pull out my iTouch. "I was wondering if you'd be able to run an international facial recognition scan to find someone I'm looking for. Here," I punch in my lock code and search through my pictures. It's somewhere near the top... ah, there it is. The man it depicts is Indian, and he looks to be in his early forties.
"He's my father-"
"Naveen Sibal."
Oh my God. I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. "You knew him?" My voice is barely above a whisper.
Fury looks at me solemnly. "He was one of my best agents."
Yeah! I tried to finish this ASAP, as a thank you to all those who commented, favourited, followed, etc. Hashtag-plot-twist at the end though, amirite?
I have over ten favourites and almost twenty follows on this story. That may not seem like a lot, but to an author who isn't well-known, it is, and I thank every last one of my reviewers, followers, favouriters, etc. for giving me encouragement. Thank you, and happy writing!
So. Comment? Even if it's just spelling or grammar corrections, it's appreciated. :-)
Warning: flames may be harnessed by Ari and used to cause mass destruction.
