Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the Last Five Years.
I suggest playing Climbing UpHill from the Last Five Years in a loop as you read this chapter. It doesn't matter which version you listen to, they're all great.
"Lewis, Rachel."
Rachel gripped her sheet music and stood up. She ignored the looks from the other girls and followed the prim-looking woman with a clipboard back through the door.
The room was a standard dancing studio with wooden floors and giant mirrors covering the walls. In front of the them was a long table where three men and a woman sat.
The woman, stern-looking with her square-rimmed glasses and tightly bunned hair, was handed papers. Rachel tried not to fidget as the woman, who was clearly in charge, hummed and muttered over the papers handed over by the assistant.
"Miss Lewis. State the role you'd like to play and the song you have prepared for us." the woman-in-charge said without glancing up. Rachel took a deep breath.
"I'm auditioning for the role of Cassie Ferguson," She said, trying to maintain eye contact with the people on the table. "and I will be singing Climbing Uphill from the Last Five Years."
The stern woman nodded and handed the papers- her resume, Rachel realized- to the man next to her. "Go on then."
The blue-haired woman stepped towards the piano where a kind old man sat. She smiled nervously as she handed him the sheet music. The placating smile she got back did nothing to calm her nerves.
She returned to the center of the dance floor and closed her eyes. She could do this. It was just a song. She could sing a silly song.
"-I'm up every morning at six
And standing in line
with two hundred girls
Who are younger and thinner than me
who have already been to the gym"
Rachel tried to scrutinized their reaction. She knew it was a risk to sing such a cheeky song, but she lived with a bunch of super heroes and one thing she learned from them was to go big or go home.
The casting people stared at her blank-faced and she tried not to wince. They look at everyone like that, she tried to console herself. All she had to do was get through it.
"When I walk in the room
There's a table of men
Always men-usually gay"
The woman chuckled and Rachel had to contain herself from shrieking in excitement.
"Who've been sitting like I have
and listening all day
to two hundred girls
belting as high as they can!"
"Thank you all for meeting with me." Director Fury said once everyone took a seat. Tony smirked and leaned back against his chair, his arms crossed behind his head.
"Anything to keep Mom happy and out of our hair." He said. Steve shot him a look of disapproval from across the table. Tony ignored it.
Fury wisely ignored the exchange and gestured for Agent Hill to approach the table. "For a couple of months now, there have been disappearances throughout the New England Area."
Agent Hill pulled out a hologram that showed a map of the United States. A couple of red dots dotted areas in and around New York.
"One on May 18 in Boston Massachusetts. Lucy Chum," Agent Hill stated, pulling up a picture of a young asian woman in firefighter gear staring determinedly at the camera. "She was rescuing a couple that was allegedly stuck in a burning building. The building was saved in time, but Chum and the couple were never found."
"Freaky." Clint muttered. Natasha hummed in agreement, leaning forward in her seat.
"June 21. Jonathan Reed. New York City," Agent Hill pulled up another picture this time a mugshot. A handsome man with a chiseled face and dark curls across his forehead stared angrily at the camera. "He was reported missing two weeks after his disappearance by his old foster parents and by the manager of a local night club called the Kiss & Fly."
"Why did it take them so long to call?" Bruce asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Because they didn't know he was missing until their son told them." Fury explained. "He hadn't been under their care since he was seventeen. As far as they know, he had been MIA for awhile."
"Yet their son knew." Steve stated, his eyes furrowed as he stared at the picture of the young man. "Do you think he knows what happened to Reed?"
"He reportedly told the police that a woman with green hair had attack Reed with a noise that sounded and I quote," Hill opened a file on the table and pulled out a paper with an odd expression on her face. " a hawk and banshee hybrid."
"Sounds like a mutant," Natasha noted. Director Fury nodded.
"We have our specialists look through the Index to see if anyone there matches with that description," he said.
"The index?" Steve asked. Thor looked equally as confused beside him. Fury just gestured to wait. Agent hill pulled another picture up.
"November 2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rogerio Ruiz." A picture of a short portly priest with rosy cheeks and a thick mustache stood in front of a church, little children around him holding cans. " He had been in charge of a food drive for the homeless when he decided to go for a walk. He never returned."
"Thanksgiving day. Providence, Rhode Island. Abigail Drew." A school picture of a little black girl with curly brown hair and a big toothy grin smiled at the group. "Her mother reported her missing after she didn't show up after school. "
"Those bastards," Tony muttered angrily. Steve didn't bother to admonish him for his language.
"And the most recent abduction. Two days ago. Litchfield, Connecticut." Two pictures popped up. A little boy who looked to be around the same age as Abigail smiled sweetly up a the camera as he sat on top of a horse, his bowl cut hair blowing against the wind. The other picture was of a beautiful woman with long platinum blond hair staring coldly at the camera.
"Sam Weaver and Bobbi Morse." Agent Hill said after a long pause. She stared intently at the pictures. "Sam was reported missing after his parents made a call towards the Connecticut police that he didn't return back to the reservation."
"And Morse?" Bruce asked. Natasha glance towards Clint. His face was frightenedly blank.
"She didn't report back to base." Director Fury spoke up. The rest of the Avengers looked at him in surprise. "She's one of us. Agent 19 was suppose to return back to duty after recovering from an injury."
"That's why you're taking an interest on the case, isn't it?" Tony scoffed, leaning back against his chair again. "Because you lost one of your little agents?"
No one except Natasha saw it coming. As it was, the assassin merely sat there, smirking as Tony was knocked clean on his back. He stared blankly at the arrow that was lodge in his chair, a couple of inches from his eyes, his own logo mocking him. He fucking hated himself sometimes.
Everyone turned to stared at Clint. His own chair was pushed against the wall. He was standing straight, his face expressionless, and holding his bow tightly at his side. No one rose to help Tony up.
"That Agent, Stark," Clint began, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion. "is my ex-wife and the best damn agent we've ever have."
"I should have told them I was sick last week
They're gonna think this way I sing
Why is the pianist playing so loud?
Should I sing louder?"
Rachel was ready to scream. Despite the woman's moment of weakness, no one even twitched.
She couldn't even remember why she had chosen this song in this first place. All she remembered was the Avengers smiling and even laughing through the number and thought that that was good enough.
"Jesus Christ, I suck, I suck, I suck..." She trailed off, raising her hands in exasperation. She caught a couple of smiles.
Her heart soared.
She could get this role. She could finally get off S.H.I.E.L.D's payroll. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful. She was. She had needed the money during a time when living in California proved to be too expensive and it gave her the opportunity to get to know the other Avengers.
"I will not be the girl stuck at home in the 'burbs
With the baby, the dog, and the garden of herbs
I will not be the girl in the sensible shoes
Pushing burgers and beer nuts and missing the clues"
But now it was time for her to do what she loved again.
"I will not be the girl who gets asked how it feels
To be trotting along at the genius's heels
I will not be the girl who requires a man to get by"
Rachel closed her eyes, belting out the final notes.
"And I…" She trailed off. The piano's last keys trickled down. Silence filled the room.
"Thank you. We will call you." One of the men, with spiky blond tips, said smiling at her. Rachel nervously smiled back and stepped out of the room.
She didn't look at the other girls.
Once she was out of the building, she pulled out her phone to text Natasha.
To Nat: The audition didn't completely suck. Steal a couple of bottles from Tony's cabinet though. I need to calm my nerves.
She was in the middle of getting into a cab when her phone vibrated.
Nat: Already on it. I'm bringing Clint along.
Rachel smiled. That's fine.
It's almost over! Six more chapters left,I think, I need to check my notebook. I already finished the next chapter and I don't know how you guys will feel about the ending. I debated really hard on it. Anyway, ENJOY!