AUTHORS NOTE: Hi! I'm hoping you guys will enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed writing so far. I can't honestly say I know where I'm going with this or how to work this site in all actuality BUT we all live and learn. PLEASE let me know what you think and what you hope to maybe see. Pointers on how to work this site are WELCOMED. This story will definitely have its lows and highs for our main character. I'll be following the MCU mostly, maybe some comic related facts will come into play but just think from our first beloved movie to eventually the newer shows POSSIBLY. The ending I haven't worked out in my mind yet tehehehehee regardless I hope you enjoy the first installment of Hellfire. The only characters I own are the ones I've made up, all the MCU characters belong to who they belong to. Just a fyi; this is starting basically from The Avengers (#1).
p.s. bolded italics are the...other thing and regular italics are the main characters thoughts
She sighed heavily as she sipped her tea, sensing the people who had been tailing after her for months. They tried their best to conceal themselves but to no avail after the first two weeks she easily sensed them. To the naked eye, they blended in seamlessly but she was not a simple being. She finished up her tea, feeling their auras in different parts of the room. She wasn't sure if they knew the extent of her abilities, cause she wasn't even sure of them herself, but they still tried to spy on her. With that alone she respected the three who followed her. She could easily kill them in an instant but then the reason for the intrusion of her privacy would dissipate until the next spies would show undoubtedly.
She needed to find out why they'd been following her since despite the great lengths she took to stay hidden, these people found her no matter where she went. Paris, Canada, Africa, and even Antarctica they followed her not too far behind until they were at the same place she'd be at. Today would be the day she decided to confront them and potentially get her hands dirty. Bemused at the thought, she stood up after paying and left the dainty little cafe. The breeze outside was welcomed for inside was slightly too hot for her comfort.
Walking briskly, she made way to a part of the street that was mostly unoccupied by people. She didn't intend to fight for their auras didn't indicate any malice but just in case, there'd be less casualties that way. Just like she thought, with a small stretch of her senses those three familiar auras followed behind closely. Quickly she dipped into an abandoned alley and stopped further down it, letting there be space between her and her unwelcome companions.
"You have been on my ass for the last few months and I've grown tired of this cat and mouse game," she spoke nonchalantly to her spies. "I now want to know the reason."
They said not a word which caused her to turn to look at her potential victims. The man in the middle was obviously in charge of the other two, old age slightly gracing his features but she assumed it be more from stress then actual age. He stood tall and void of emotion which was unusual in a human. The other two were younger, both woman with short curly red hair and the other with also short black hair pulled into a pony tail. She eyed each one carefully, taking note of their guns holstered to their sides.
Typical humans, it mused to herself, using only the visual threat of guns. They couldn't hurt us if that's all they brought with them.
"We don't want to fight with you, we just want to discuss a potential win-win situation for the both of us." The man answered broadly, eyes finally showing a hopeful flicker. "We know of who you are and what you do from the shadows. We appreciate it fully, however the law isn't on your side no matter how good your intentions. We can fix that."
Amusement filled her as she contemplated the mans words. So they had been indeed watching her before employing these field operatives. She thought she did a good job at dealing with the wrongs in this world quietly, but it seems she was wrong. Someone took notice and now they shone their curiosity blatantly.
You should just kill them and move on, it whispered to her in her mind, I wouldn't mind feeling the blood on our hands. It's been awhile. She pushed the thoughts down and went with her plan of finding out what they wanted with her instead.
"What do you know of me? I know I have no records here on Earth, so that leads me to believe that what you do have are merely the things you've seen of me." She mused out loud, the twitch in his face and the spike of his aura confirming her assumptions.
"We know enough to understand you're a gifted individual, one we'd rather have on our side then fight against." The red haired agent spoke softly but sternly.
"Yes, we'd much rather have you doing your work...through us then against." The man piped in, agreeing with his colleague. "Like I said before we don't want to fight, if anything come see for yourself."
It wasn't the first time a group reached out for her, but upon investigation she found that normally these groups wanted to take over the world and use her as a weapon. While she may have unique abilities, she didn't want to be utilized as a way to wrath destruction. These people sounded no different yet she felt compelled to see. If she didn't like what she saw, then it'd be easy to squash this virus before it took full reign. She promised to herself to protect the place she called home.
"Do I have a choice? To me it seems I don't, considering I know four other agents are looking down at us as we speak." Observing their eyes harden at her comment made her tense, her senses having caught on to the others in the buildings around them.
"Well if you don't attempt to join us, we have to deem you as a threat." The man said matter of factly. "Trust me, we don't want to deem you as one, but the higher ups are getting antsy of having an enhanced running around with no identification."
She relaxed and stood at full height. These people had no idea what they were tangling themselves into. She pushed back a strand of her pink hair behind her ear, smirking at the obvious threat in the statement. Brave souls they deemed to be, a lot braver then some of the people she had killed in her past. Her eyes wandered up to where she sensed the snipers, counting off all four of them in her head. Looking back at the trio in front of her, seeing their hands inching towards their guns at her silence, she breathed out loudly.
"Well considering you humans know to an extent my capabilities, I see no harm in 'checking in'. But just know, if I don't like what I see you will all be dead."
"Aria!" A young boy yelled while running down a path.
"My dear brother," she softly spoke as she knelt down and engulfed the small boy in a tight hug.
She reached out with her senses to see if anyone else was around. After sensing one other person, she retracted her sense to stave off the exhaustion it took to do that. She was improving with keeping her senses spread but the improvements seemed rather minimal with how tiring that small moment seemed to be. She let go of him but held onto his shoulders, smiling at his innocent face.
"You've been behaving I assume?" She asked him gleefully, knowing the response she'd get.
"I've been so so good! Mom hasn't gotten mad at me since a day ago!" He beamed his biggest smile.
"Proud to hear it," she chuckled as she stood up and ruffled his hair. He tried pushing her hands off his hair which made her giggle before she ushered him inside.
"Mom! Arias home!" He yelled while running to the kitchen where their mother was.
Her mother, dorned in a kitchen apron over her usual blouse and skirt, turned to them. Aria had missed her mother and brother dearly, already saddening at the thought of having to depart soon again. She walked towards her mother to give her a welcoming hug, one she desperately craved after her last week of living. Her mother's arms embraced her, tightly, and she couldn't help but feel the relief rack through the woman's body at the hug.
"Huskon, go upstairs. I must speak with Aria about an important matter." She said with a serious tone, her eyes casting a look of emergency that made Aria tense.
"Mother, please if it's about what I'm doing-"
"What you're doing is madness Aria! It will get you killed! I have seen it with my own eyes daughter and the death will be agonizing." Tear ridden eyes looked at their daughter pleadingly.
Her eyes were closed as the memory trickled it's way from the forefront. She sighed deeply, her emerald eyes opening to see the red head staring at her.
"You do know it's rude to stare," she spoke to the red head.
"Rude? Maybe. Out of place? Not at all. I don't trust you" she shot back, her eyes offering no emotion other then curiosity.
"Likewise. You seem smarter then the other two, keeping watch on me. If you think I'll kill you," she paused looking toward the other two agents piloting the aircraft "you're not wrong."
Silence fell between them. It wasn't uncomfortable as she had thought it would have been, more filled with a curiosity of one another. The red head did behave in a different manner then the two other agents, more calculating and cold. It intrigued her and made her fond of the women. Maybe her initial assumption of the man being in charge was wrong.
"My name is Aria...if that helps any with your curiosity of me," she offered as she leaned back in her seat.
"Natasha Rominoff. And it helps a bit to know who I'm talking to," with a small chuckle the woman leaned back as well, her eyes still glued to her.
"Maybe you can qwell some of my curiosity, but I always wonder what is known of me."
"Well, for one you're powerful. We've gathered people call you various names but 'Hellfire' is the one more commonly used. As far as what else is known, that mystery will stay up until we know you're on our side." Natasha spoke casually, giving no information.
"I'm not on one side or another, good or bad. The side I am on however is that of life," Aria offered.
"Well that seems to make two of us," Natasha continued, visibly relaxing at Arias statement.
They landed on what seemed to be a ship. Getting off of the aircraft, they walked towards a gate and ventured inside the bridge. Garnering stares from other agents walking by, Aria was amazed at the various bits of technology that littered the whole place. From the outside, it looked like a plain ship but inside the bridge was a marvel. They walked through a series of hallways before getting to the main part of the bridge where a man dressed in black stood overlooking the rows of computers and people.
"Fury, we brought in Hellfire." The man called out.
The now named Fury turned to look at them, specifically Aria felt at her, before gesturing to the table at her right. She kept her senses to herself, not wanting to be overwhelmed with the amount of feedback she'd get from the various people in the room. Taking a seat at the head of the table, she watched as the man walked over and caught sight of the grim look on his face.
He's scared of us and what we can do, the voice spoke, let us sink this waste of space and be on with our day. Foolish girl, you know what will become of this venture. The thoughts sneered and growled menancingly.
Quiet, I want to be focused on this. Maybe they're different. Not all man should be doomed to death and chaos. Obviously you know this because you see me. She retorted to the voice, feeling it cackle at the back of her mind. Ignoring it for now, she focused on the mortal as he sat next to her. She noticed the other agents besides Natasha were gone. She slightly wondered where they went.
"I am Nick Fury, basically the head of this whole operation. I know you go by Hellfire, but do you also go by an actual name as well?" He introduced while eyeing her with his one good eye. The other covered by a black eye-patch.
"Aria Czen. It seems I have been recruited but I have come to no reason why"
"Earth is in trouble and you aren't the only one being called. There are others, whom you'll meet here shortly. I'll debrief you on why I've asked you to come, then you can decide what you want to do."
"It didn't seem to me I had a decision in all of this considering you sent seven fully equipped agents to retrieve me."
"I needed to make sure you'd come," he truthfully admitted.
Aria breathed out rolling what he said about Earth being in trouble and about others in her head. One look towards Natasha seemed to prove he was speaking the truth. Her eyes lazily rolled back to him, raising her eyebrows as a sign she was listening to what he had said. She wanted to know where she fit in this puzzle piece before she determined whether or not to sink the ship like the voice mentioned earlier.
"We had our hands on a great piece of technology that could solve our problems of having clean, pure energy. However, that was taken away and some of our agents were compromised by a being out of this world," almost magically a folder dropped in front of her and he waved his hand to show her she could look, "its called the Tesseract. We don't know what this other being wants with it but I'm sure it's up to no good. He calls himself the God of Mischief."
Glancing through the paperwork, Arias eyes scanned the paper labeled "The Tesseract" with a photo of a blue cube. Saw the markings of the energy he spoke of. She also looked over the papers of the compromised men, seeing a particularly interesting man named "Clint Barton" with his occupation listed as "Hawkeye".
Oh my dear, what a marvelous piece of information you've stumbled on, the voice hungrily intruded, the cube is more powerful then this stupid human knows. It's one of the things that created me.
Created you? What do you mean? How powerful is this thing?She questioned as her brows furrowed at it's statement.
What it does alone is magnificent but what it does combined is heavenly, it cryptically answered before sauntering away to the back of her mind.
Frustrated at her company's lack of answers, her focused returned to the speaking man before her.
"—I call it the Avengers Initiative. Agent Romanoff is apart of that, along with others. It would be of the best interest of the world for you to join and fight for us." Fury finished.
She looked up to the woman, seeing her visibly uncomfortable at Arias silence. She smirked at the mortals, eyeing them both before returning her eyes to the papers. Smirk vanishing, she pursed her lips together as she looked at the Tesseract. Her companion seemed to know of it, seemed to want it even, which slightly scared her. The humans were playing with fire and it seemed to burn them if they were calling for help in the options of her. She looked further in the files and saw pictures of a green monster and a man who seemed as patriotic as one can be. She also saw pictures of the woman and the compromised Hawkeye together and concluded they must've been partners. Looking further she saw a man in an iron suit and of her. She was proud to find that the paper that included her had little to no information. All of them fell under the tab of what the man had called "The Avengers".
"This Tesseract has seemed to land you guys in a spot where danger looms over the world," breaking her silence finally, "and to think humans would've learned to not play with the toys that weren't meant for them."
Fury looked slightly displeased at her comment, but stayed quiet. He seemed to be guilty, from what Aria could tell. She put the files down and stood up, walking to the board behind her and seeing pins and threads connecting with one another titled "God of Mischief". Eyes roaming she saw he's been spotted in various parts of the world, never seeming to stay in one spot too long. No visible pattern. As she looked at the board, she spread her senses out to just feel the mans aura.
He seems upset but hopeful. What a crazy man he is, bringing me in first. He knows I could kill them all very easily and has me brought in before any of the others. Or maybe they rejected his offer...
"And the others?" She asked, back turned towards them still.
"Being collected as we speak. I certainly have no shortage of capable agents here." Cooly stated, he got up and pressed his hand to his ear, "in fact it seems to me that two of our other friends made it."
Natasha stood up at this and walked the way they had come in, presumably to meet these people. Aria stayed behind, not so eager to meet them. She normally worked alone, but at the voices hungry feelings at the Tesseract she decided to stay. She needed to figure out what the box was and why her inner voice craved it. She also didn't have enough information on this organization to deem whether she should eradicate it or help cultivate it. They seemed to have various things at their disposal, things she could potentially use. Mind set, she turned towards the man.
"I've made the decision to help you in your efforts but believe me, if I find any trace of malice to tarnish you and your organization" she paused and pushed the thoughts of destruction and fire towards the man. Watching him visibly flinch at the implanted thoughts, she continued "I will destroy everything around you and let you suffer slowly before you die."
At that moment, Natasha walked back in with two men by her side. The patriot and the green monster but human. The looked around the hull just as she had, amazed at everything around. The patriot walked up to Fury and handed him some money before walking forward and whistling. The other man just stayed behind, unease apparent in his features. Aria felt for the man for he was still afraid of what was inside of him and knew that once he accepted fully who he was, that then he would lead a better life. She knew from experience.
Gasping for breath, Aria laid limply against her constraints. Sweat dripping down her forehead and tears down her cheek. Her skin felt as if it were burning and her insides as if they were boiling. She didn't know if she couldn't take this any longer and decided to voice her concerns.
"I don't think I can keep up any longer!" She screamed in agony
The intercom came to life with a mans voice, soothing her fears, "Aria remember why you decided to do this. You're almost there, the readings are off the chart. Your...energy...seems to be morphing you have to continue to try. I know it's scary but this is all on you. The answers we're looking for are deeper then the surface Aria!"
At his words she focused and tried again delving into her mind. Relaxing her body and doing her best to ignore the pain, she called out to that voice in her head. It seemed to only speak to her sparingly and at first she thought it was just a figment of her imagination. After her mother started becoming concerned that Aria was mentally ill, her mother went to her older brother for help and now they were there.
Yes my child, I am here. I will always be, for you and I are one. Let me show you what we can do... the voice slithered around her mind and Aria feared what it would show her.
Screaming from the pure energy that began to rush into her body, Aria writhed against her shackles before the energy began to build up past her body. The shackles broke and everything around Aria was blown away towards the walls. The energy had grown so quickly and was strong, strong enough that even the human eye could see the energy around her. She fell to her knees, looking up to the heavens, her arms spread out with her hands fisted in pain, and Aria decided that this was how she were to die. Her mother was right, this was gruesome.