Chapter 7: There Came A Day Like No Other
2012:
Adora was in her usual place, the Triskelion Gym, doing simple exercises. Natasha could tell her all she wanted about how she spends too much time training, but Adora always felt she wasn't doing ENOUGH training. Besides, how else was she going to spend her time. If she wasn't trying new food, she was either training or out on assignment. And Right now SHIELD didn't have an assignment for her yet. Even her SHIELD mandated Therapist was having difficulties getting the concept of 'relaxing,' through to her.
She was also in general just bored. She had found it difficult to make friends, even among members of SHIELD, so she really only had a few, and they were all busy with assignments. Natasha, who still acted like a mother to her, was somewhere in Russia dealing with an arms dealer. Clint, who was more of a cool older uncle, was running Security detail for some top secret assignment. Agent Smith, who she still tried to act professional with despite him being more willing to act like a friend to her, was somewhere in Peru. Then there was Phil Coulson. He was almost always busy.
At least until today. To Adora's surprise, Phil walked into the room. "Oh, hey Coulson. Got a job for me?" she asked, dropping from the pull-up bar and getting a drink.
"In a sense, Adora. The Avenger Initiative is being put into effect effective immediately." he replied, tossing her bag over to her.
"Jeez, something must have the World Council scared. What are we dealing with?" Adora asked as she walked to the locker room to get changed into her uniform.
"Fury will fill you in when we reach the Helicarrier. We will be heading to New York first of all, recruiting Mr. Stark. And Adora?" Phil said, stopping Adora before she entered the locker room. "Barton's been compromised."
Adora froze in place hearing those words. Her fists clenched and she took a deep breath, "Understood..." she replied, cleaning up and changing into her SHIELD uniform. She stopped briefly seeing her bare back and the claw scars running from Shoulder to mid-back and sighed heavily. The attack had torn the jacket Nat had given her, and while it was easily repaired it was just too painful to wear right now. Instead. She put on her more standard issue uniform. It was a Navy-blue spy-suit similar to Natasha's, though zipped up all the way to the neckline. She had a SHIELD Eagle on the back, and put on black finger-less gloves, and combat boots. She finished off the look by making sure her hair was put up in her usual Ponytail.
"So first we get these files to Mr. Stark, then we pick up the captain?" Adora reiterated and Coulson nodded, pulling out his phone.
As they walked into the newly christened Stark Tower, Phil was repeatedly ringing Tony, even asking Tony's AI JARVIS to let him through. Eventually though they both realized they weren't going to be getting anywhere and as the two boarded the primary elevator, Coulson simply overrode the security systems and they rode to the penthouse. If Stark wasn't answering, they were going to make him listen.
The moment the doors opened, they saw Tony and his girlfriend Pepper holding champagne glasses and turning to face the door. "Security breach, that's on you." Stark deadpanned, clear annoyance on his face.
"Mr. Stark." he greeted hanging up his phone.
"Phil, Adora, good to see you both. Come in" Pepper said standing from the couch.
Adora smiled as she and Phil came out of the elevator and approached. "Nice to see you too Ms. Potts, we can't stay long."
"Excuse me? Their first names are Agent." Tony quipped, causing an eyeroll from Adora.
Pepper gave Tony a look and shook Adora's hand. "We were just celebrating." she explained, with Tony feeling the need to add that was WHY they couldn't stay.
Phil held out a laptop, "We need you to look over this as soon as possible."
"Sorry I don't like being handed things." Tony responded.
Thankfully, Pepper was yet again the voice of reason. "I on the other hand love being handed things, so let's trade." she said smugly, taking the laptop and handing Phil her glass...and then taking Tony's glass, handing him the laptop, and taking a drink.
Tony groaned and turned the Laptop in his hands. "Official consulting hours are between 8 to 5 every other...Thursday." he stated, very clearly trying to make sure today wasn't Thursday.
"This isn't about a Consultation." Phil said swirling the glass.
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked, before noticing Adora giving tony an exasperated look. "Which...I know nothing about?"
"The Avengers Project was scrapped I thought." Tony said, unfolding the laptop as he walked over to a nearby workbench. "Thought I didn't even qualify."
"I didn't know that either." Pepper added.
"Yeah apparently I'm Volatile, Self-Obsessed, Don't play well with others."
Adora snorted a laugh and smirked smugly, "Well that's got you to a T, Mr. Stark." she quipped, clearly bugging him.
Coulson gave an Adora a look causing her to quiet down, but still hold her smug grin. "This isn't about personal profiles anymore."
"Whatever, Ms. Potts, got a sec?" Tony quickly said, bringing Pepper over as he fiddled with the laptop and spoke quietly to her. They seemed to be discussing something before Tony brought up all the files of the people Fury had chosen as Avengers, as well as an image of the Tesseract. Adora went wide eyed, she's heard stories about the Cube but she hadn't actually seen it. It then clicked for her that it was very likely the Tesseract research Clint was assigned to, and now it was taken from SHIELD. The two spoke a little longer before Pepper kissed Tony and walked over to the Agents.
"So, Any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?" she asked.
Adora nodded, "We can drop you off." Adora replied as Coulson put the other drink down.
"Oh Fantastic!" Pepper responded as the three entered the Elevator. "Say whatever happened with the Cellist, Phil?"
"Oh uh she moved back to Portland." Coulson responded and Adora gave him a sly glance.
"Ooh is the unshakably professional Phil Coulson in love~?" Adoras replied with the biggest smirk.
"This coming from the woman who didn't know what romance was until last year. " Coulson replied, immediately flustering and shutting Adora up.
After another quick stop, Adora found herself riding next to Steve Rogers in a Quinjet, headed straight for the SHIELD Helicarrier. Steve was also handed a laptop, and after Adora showed him how to work it, was watching Footage of the various people they were scouting.
Specifically, Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk
As the pilots gave an Estimated Time of Arrival for reaching the Helicarrier, Steve spoke up. "So this Dr. Banner guy, he was trying to replicate the serum used on me?" he asked, briefly glancing at dora who wasn't really paying attention.
"A Lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero after all." Phil said, standing up and walking over, holding onto a part of the jet. "So far, only the people who made Adora have managed, and we still have no idea how the pulled it off." He motioned to the device in his lap, "Banner thought that Gamma Radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's Original formula."
"Didn't go so well for him did it…?" Steve dryly commented.
Phil gave a slight nod, "No it didn't. But when he's not that...thing… he's a regular Stephen Hawking." Phil stated, before noting Steve's confused look. "He's...a Really smart person."
Adora piped up, "Stephen Hawking is one of the smartest people on the planet right now." This seemed to help Steve understand.
"I gotta say," Phil began, and Adora knew EXACTLY what was coming. "It's an honor to meet you. Officially." Steve gave him an amused smile. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."
"PHRASING PHIL!" Adora yelled out through barely held laughter, causing Phil to look incredibly embarrassed. Steve simply stood up and walked to look out the plane's cockpit.
"I-I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." Phil tried to salvage the initial foot-in-mouth, and stood next to him. "It is just such an honor to have you along for this..."
"I just hope I'm the man for the job." Steve replied, sounding unsure of himself.
"Oh you most definitely are." Phil quickly replied, and Adora just shook her head, facepalming. "We've made some modifications to the uh, Uniform. I had a little design input."
Steve looked at Phil in surprise, "The uniform? Aren't the Stars and Stripes a little….old fashioned?" he asked, shrugging as he did so.
"Well, with everything that's happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need something a little Old-Fashioned." Phil calmly replied as Adora walked to the front and pat Steve on the back flashing him her sweet, childish grin.
"So, what do you think of the plane Steve?" She said, trying to make some small talk.
"Well...back in my time when something flew this high, it wasn't called a plane." he replied, looking over the horizon.
"What was it called?" Adora asked in genuine curiosity.
"Science Fiction."
Some time later, the Quinjet landed on the deck of the Helicarrier. The moment the back hatch opened, Adora ran out and practically leapt at Nat in a hug. "Good to see you again Natasha!"
Natasha smiled returning the hug. "Good to see you too kiddo." She replied with a smile, then looked at the surprised Steve.
Adora let go of Natasha as Phil walked over. "Captain Rogers, this is Agent Natasha Romanoff. Expert SHIELD agent and Adora's unofficial mother." he explained.
Natasha rolled her eyes, exchanging greetings with Steve. "They need you on the bridge, they're starting the face scan." She told Phil, who nodded and headed straight for the bridge. Adora remained with Steve and Natasha as they walked along the deck. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Agent Coulson was gonna swoon."
Adora giggled, "He DID Nat, don't sugar coat it."
Natasha chuckled and looked over at Steve. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America Trading cards yet?" she asked.
Steve gave an incredulous look. "Trading Cards?"
"They're vintage. He's very proud." Natasha deadpanned as the two approached their other new guest. He was a brown haired middle aged man wearing a rather nice brown suit, and looking around nervously. Adora was surprised at his rather plain appearance, considering she'd usually only seen footage of his alter-ego.
"Doctor Banner" Steve announced walking over and shaking Bruce Banner's hand.
"Uh yeah hi. They told me you'd be coming." Bruce calmly replied, before looking at Adora.
"Agent Greyskull. Call me Adora." she said. Banner was about to open his mouth before she added, "Yes as in She-Ra."
"Word is you can find the Cube." Steve asked. Adora looked confused. Just how many people knew about the Tesseract. Though she did have the sense to realize they would have to inform multiple people they were bringing on board, and Steve DID fight Red Skull when HYDRA had their hands on it.
"Is that the only word you've heard about me?" Bruce asked, clearly nervous.
"Only word I care about. It'll be good to have you aboard." Steve cheerily replied, putting Bruce to ease.
"Likewise." Adora said, shaking Bruce's hand.
"Must be strange for you huh? All of this?" Bruce asked Steve motioning around them.
Steve looked around, catching sight of drilling marines, bustling workers, and the jets all around. "Well, actually this is all kind of familiar." he replied.
Adora and Natasha got contacted from the bridge and a smirk came to Adora's face. "Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." she calmly told the two as the PA system announced for all crew to secure the deck. Workers began making sure all jets and equipment were secured, and Adora was getting excited. She'd never been on the Helicarrier personally and now she was going to see it lift-off.
"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked as he and Bruce walked over to the edge of the carrier.
"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?" Bruce quipped.
Adora ran up beside the two and happily said, "Well not exactly~"
It was then the three witnessed the turbine engines raising out of the water and beginning to power up, causing the Helicarrier to begin lifting out of the water. This, obviously, didn't improcve Bruce's mood. "Oh no...this is SO much worse." Bruce deadpanned. The three were then lead inside by Natasha.
Entering the bridge, Adora walked right to a nearby table and took her seat. Agents were rushing around making sure all the final checks were ready, before Director Fury gave the order to engage the cloaking device. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like Steve handing a ten dollar bill to Fury, and stifled a laugh. I'm gonna guess Fury made a bet Steve hadn't seen everything yet. She thought with a grin.
"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury said, walking over and shaking Bruce's hand.
"Thank you for asking nicely..." Bruce replied before looking around and taking a few breaths. He then asked, "So...how long am I staying?"
Fury kept a professional air as he explained, "Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you'll be in the wind."
"And where are you on that?" Bruce Replied. Fury motioned over to Phil, who took over explanations.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Laptops, Cellphones, if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears to us." he explained. Adora noticed that Nat was hunched over a screen showing Clint's face and sighed heavily and sadly.
Natasha looked over and added, "That's still not going to find them in time."
Adora agreed, and Bruce spoke up next. "You need to narrow your parameters, how many spectrometers do you have access to?"
"How many are there?" Fury simply replied.
"Call every lab you know, tell them to put their Spectrometers on the roof, and calibrate them for Gamma Rays," Bruce said taking off his coat, "I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places." Fury nodded, seeming to follow him, even if Adora was totally lost. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Fury turned to Natasha, "Agent Romanoff, Agent Greyskull, show doctor Banner to his lab please."
Adora and Natasha got to their feet and lead Bruce out of the room. "You're gonna love it Doctor, we've got all the toys." Natasha quipped as they left the bridge.
They got Bruce set up in a small lab below deck and Adora helped hi with moving a few things around.
"You're a pretty strong kid, y'know?" Bruce commented as he began working on the algorithm.
Adora groaned. "I'm 17, I'm not a kid anymore. As for the strength well….I'm a super soldier like Captain Rogers. Long story Bruce." she answered, before looking back at him, "No offense but we probably shouldn't discuss it. I don't want to get you too angry." She nervously said.
Bruce smiled at her, "Fair enough. I don't think anyone wants to see the other guy." he responded, giving a slight shrug.
"It's a shame too. You seem like a pretty nice guy. If people would just leave you alone there wouldn't be a problem." She commented over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you can tell General Ross that. You seem pretty nice yourself. For a child soldier I mean." Bruce said, before attempting to backtrack.
"Nah it's alright. I know what I am, I accepted it. Natasha and SHIELD are helping me get past it." she explained, finishing the set up and dusting herself off. "All things considered, I'm pretty well adjusted don't you think?"
Bruce shrugged, "I'm….not really the one to ask." he admitted.
Adora giggled a bit. "I'm still hoping we can find my creators. I left...a friend behind there. And I made her promise. I'm gonna get her outta there if its the last thing I do." Adora said, with a determined look.
Bruce looked up from his workstation and removed his glasses. "You must really care about them. I'm sure you'll manage it." he said, which brought her smile back.
Natasha then entered the room and motioned for Adora to follow her. "We've found the target. He's in Stuttgart." she said. Adora jumped to her feet and ran to join her.
"Good, who's this bastard that took Clint." she asked.
"Loki." was the reply. The two headed for the hanger to load onto a Quinjet.
"Loki." Adora deadpanned before giving an irritated sigh. "That week in New Mexico just will not go away will it?"
"You think that's bad? I had to deal with Tony Stark on a near permanent reckless bender when he was living on borrowed time. Before he repaired his arc reactor." Natasha mentioned, "You read my report about his party?"
"I thought you were kidding, honestly." Adora replied, before whacking Natasha on the back, "Then I remembered you almost never joke on the job."
Not much long after, they met with Steve in the Hanger...and Adora could barely hold back her laughter at the costume. Though there was admittedly a bit of charm to it, the suit did look ridiculous. The Shield on the other hand, it looked as incredible as she had read, as he put it on his back. "Looking forward to working with you Captain Rogers." she called out as they boarded.
"Likewise Agent Greyskull. Likewise." the captain responded.
Natasha got into the pilot's seat of the Quinjet while Adora took co-pilot's seat, and the three were soon on their way to Germany.
To Be Continued….
Sleep? What's Sleep? My schedule is beyond fucked because of the pandemic and continuous lockdowns. But onto brighter things. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
And yes, the scars from her fight with Catra, and the torn jacket will be a recurring thing this story. Some scars just never truly heal, and they will always remind Adora of what occurred.
I do not own She-Ra or the MCU, all characters belong to their respective owners.I HAVE NOT SEEN FURTHER THAN SHE-RA SEASON 1. I apologize for adding this to every chapter but I really want to avoid as many spoilers as possible.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated. If you like what you've read, leave a review please. As this is my first, motivated story I like to see that my wok is being seen and enjoyed. Furthermore, I would like to know areas I can improve and if people enjoy the twists and turns of the story.
NEXT TIME: The Team Unites….but a Trap is laid.