Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 9 of As the World Falls Down. Thank you to all of those who have stayed with this story. I hope that you guys will be enjoying the next part of this story. It will be a flashback chapter which I hope that you guys will enjoy. It is finally the chapter for Alexia's path with Shield will begin. Without further ado chapter 9. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Alexia came into the workshop with her hair piled up onto the top of her head wearing her night clothes with a robe over top covering her nightgown. She bit her lip softly when she noticed Tony was wearing a Mark III gauntlet, wired to his RT chestpiece, turning a screwdriver to adjust the power. "Tony… it's late."

Tony looked up at his sister as there was noise coming from the television behind them.

"The ten mile drive to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into Hell,

into a modern-day Heart of Darkness. Simple farmers and herders, from peaceful villages,

driven from their homes at the butt of Western rifles and the turrets of modern tanks. Displaced from their lands by Warlords and insurgent groups emboldened by their newfound power - a power fueled by high-tech weapons easily purchased with Poppy money on the black market - and further destabilizing a fragile region which for decades has been a tinderbox of tribal feuding and ethnic hatred -"

Tony aimed the gauntlet at some light fixtures and gave them a blast. They sparked and fell from the ceiling.

Alexia jumped back gasping. "TONY!"

"The villagers have taken shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find - in the ruins of other razed villages, in the cold barren scrublands, or in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Our translator relayed to us one human tragedy after another. A seven year old boy, thin as a scarecrow, clutching yellowed photographs and holding them out to anyone who would stop, with a child's simple question: where are my mother and father? A woman, begging for news of her husband, who'd been kidnapped by insurgents - either forced to join their militia, or to be shot without reason."

Tony adjusted the gauntlets again, raising the power level. He then blasted a window in the lab, shattering the glass and knocking a painting off the wall.

"With no political will or international pressure, there is little hope for these newly-formed

refugees. Refugees who can only wonder one thing: is the world watching?"

With one final adjustment he fired another blast wiping out the plasma tv.

Alexia let out a breath. "Do you feel better now?" She questioned crossing her arms looking at him with a sour look on her face.

Tony looked at his sister and saw that Alexia's feet were bare. "Sorry."

Alexia pointed around to the mess he had made. "I'm not cleaning this up." She said as she moved to leave the workshop.

"Alexia I really am sorry."

Pepper entered the room and looked at the destruction that Tony had caused. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Get my house in Dubai ready. I want to throw a party." Tony said not looking at her.

Pepper was rather flustered by his abrupt tone. "Yes. Mr. Stark." She said as she left the room.

Alexia let out a breath. "You know if she liked you… you just pretty much ruined it." She said as she turned on her heels and walked out being very careful of not stepping on anything. She pulled out her phone as she walked.

"This is Agent Coulson."

"Hey Coulson, it's Alexia… I was wondering if you needed me back."

"We always want you back, Agent Stark. I take it things aren't going well with your brother?"

"You got that right." She said as she walked towards her room. "I will be there soon." She hung up her phone letting out a soft breath. She closed her eyes and took a breath and walked towards her room.

IMIMIM

July 15, 2007

Carnegie Mellon University

Alexia walked towards the large college building. She was there for a tour of the school to make her final choice of which school she would be going to in the end. She had finished her years in high school and graduated, granted not as quickly as her brother did but she didn't want to be seen as her brother. She wanted to do things her way. She took a breath as she walked knowing that this would be the best choice for her. She looked over and saw a black SUV waiting up near the school. She blinked a few times as a man got out of the SUV dressed in all black, and wearing an eye patch and he was looking right at her.

The man walked up to her. "Miss Stark."

Alexia recoiled a little bit, how on earth did he know who she was? "Can I help you?" She asked, her voice coming out fairly softly.

"Yes, my name is Director Nicholas Fury of Shield." He said introducing himself to the young woman.

"And what can I do for you?" She was quite concerned about why this man was talking to her.

He moved closer to her. "I am here to recruit you."

"Recruit me?" She asked her brows furrowing a little bit. Why would he want to recruit her? "Why? I'm nothing special."

Fury let out a laugh as she looked at the young woman. "You are special according to your file and of course your father."

"My father? My father has been dead for almost 16 years now." She said as she looked at Fury. "My father couldn't have told you anything."

"Oh but he did." Fury said with a smile. "You and your brother were his greatest creations in life."

Alexia looked at Fury, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Is that what you really think? That Tony and I are his greatest creations? From what stories my brother had told me about our father he wasn't father of the year. He didn't care about us… our mother did though." She said as she crossed her arms looking away from him.

"Your father helped create Shield years ago… he wanted you and your brother to join in."

"Join? You make it sound like some secret boy band group." Alexia said looking back up at Fury.

"Your father wished for one of you to join and your brother wasn't the best choice to join."

"But I am?" She questioned cutting him off.

"More than you know. We want you to become an agent."

"An agent really?" She questioned as her brow raised. She let out a soft huff looking down in thought. "Becoming an Agent… what exactly would I do? I came here for a college tour, Director." She looked up at him. "It would stop me from going to my classes."

"You would be enrolled over the internet. You would be able to work as a Shield agent after some training of course."

Alexia let out a breath. "And my brother would know nothing of this?"

"He would never know unless you told him."

Alexia took a soft breath. "Alright… you have yourself a deal. You have a Stark on your team." She said softly knowing that this probably wasn't the best choice, but it was her choice. She could only hope that her brother would never find out that she joined something so dangerous that it probably would kill her at some point.

"You start your training tomorrow. You'll be coming with me to the base… Agent Barton will be teaching you everything that you'll need to know."

"Yes, sir." Alexia said softly following Fury towards the SUV knowing that this would be the only time that she would see this place and she would never be a normal college student. She would be travelling the world once she was trained and she wouldn't get the chance to see her brother often and that was something that concerned her and she would have to lie to him. At least for a little while.

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This is the end of Chapter 9. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was kind of rough with the whole introduction to Shield and how Alexia joined them. But it was worth a shot and I'm not the best at writing Nick Fury just yet, but I tried my best with trying to keep him in character. I hope I did well with it. Reviews keep me going and I hopefully will be updating soon with the next chapter. Until next time.