I followed Fury through SHIELD headquarters. He said that there was accompany him to the observation room.
"What the hell am I supposed to do here?" I asked as he opened a door. He said nothing, only smiliing mischieviously at me. I rolled my eyes and entered the observation room. There were three people relaxing. One was standing with his back to me while reading a file, and the other two were sitting on a couch. "Nigel, how's it going?" I looked at the agent.
"Same old, same old." he replied. I turned my head to the second person on the couch, who was beginning to stand up.
"Barton! Jesus, it's been ages!" I chuckled, high fiving him.
"Yeah, I heard you were relieved from Chryo duty." he chuckled. I nodded, pointing my thumb at Fury and making circles with my pointer finger.
"Ahem." Fury cleared his throat. I immediately turned around, my hand at my side.
"This is her?" the man who was reading looked up at me, then at Fury, who nodded. He raised his eyebrows and straightened up. Now that he wasn't leaning against the table, I could see that he was a good three or four inches taller than me. "Steve Rogers." he held out his hand. My eyes widened and I stiffened, saluting.
"Sir!" I exclaimed in surprise, my face turning into stony seriousness. This was Captain America! The leader of the Avengers and the first real Superhero. And an American soldier all around. Captain Rogers raised a quizzical eyebrow at Fury, chuckling.
"At ease soldier." he smiled. I lowered my arm, looking around nervously. "Let's try this again." he added, kindly. "Hi, I'm Steve Rogers." once more, he extended his hand to me. The strong urge to run laps was tugging at my legs, but I refrained.
"Naomi Gale." I sighed, shaking his hand. Behind me, I could hear Nigel's stifled laughter. "Shut up before I punch you, Mclauson. You're just as much of a fangirl as I am." I said over my shoulder. Nigel's face reddened and he cleared his throat awkwardly. When I returned my gaze to Captain Rogers, he was looking at the floor, scratching the back of his neck and his face was scarlet.
I almost squealed 'Awww' out loud, but I stifled the noise and it ended up sounding like someone had stepped on my toe.
"Wow, I haven't seen this much blushing since Thor walked through the lab in his skivvies." a familiar voice said from the door. Annoyed, I looked at the source of the remark.
"Anthony Stark, you little shit!" I grumbled jokingly.
"Lan-" Steve slapped his hand to his mouth before he could finish whatever he was going to say.
"Good to see you too, Naomi." Anthony rolled his eyes.
"You've grown." I crossed over to him and ruffled his hair. "Last time I saw this kid, he was just a scrawny, awkward teenager! Innit that right, Anthony?" I pinched his cheeks.
"My name is Tony, and no. I was never an awkward teen, I was cool." he recoiled from my granny love.
"Pfft, as if! This kid got shoved in so many lockers, he became magnetic." I looked at the others, rolling my eyes.
"I'm not a kid! Fury, what the hell is she doing here? You didn't tell me she'd be here." Tony complained, pointing his finger at me.
"I told you that we'd be evaluating an agent and re-assigning their a rank." Director Fury smirked.
"Wait, what?" my smiled faded.
"You're getting re-ranked, since you don't really listen to the protocol of the rank you're in now." he looked accusingly at me. I shrunk slightly, laughing nervously.
"It's not my fault those doors didn't open. I simply wanted to go to a new floor." I mumbled, looking away grumpily.
"Wait, are you the one who tore the doors off of the elevator?" Barton asked, laughing his ass off when I nodded. "Man, that's great!"
Fury rolled his eye and motioned for me to go into the environment simulation chamber. The door closed behind me and the metal plates shifted, changing the room into a forest. The buzzer sounded, signifying that the simulation had begun. I crouched by a tree, listening. Gunfire and shouting was coming from deeper in the forest. I ran from tree to tree, getting closer to the ruckus. Suddenly, I broke into a clearing. There were trucks and tents, most of which were on fire, and men were firing guns at each other.
"Would be nice to know what side I'm on." I grumbled, my eyes darting around the glowing battlefield. My gaze rested on a man rapid firing arrows at the soldiers on the other side of the clearing. "Barton, of course." I chuckled lightly. Fury programed in one of the only people I really trusted. I nodded, sprinting to one of the trucks, rolling on the ground and knocking one of the enemies over. He went flying backwards and his gun landed in front of me. I grabbed it and shot at a truck on the farthest side of the clearing. It exploded, sending many of the snipers that were shooting at us flying. Barton jumped off of his perch and landed next to me, shooting at the gunners.
"You got the melee?" he asked, knocking another arrow.
"When don't I?" I scoffed, shoving the butt of the gun into a man's face enthusiastically. As I said that, enemies flooded in from the tree line and surrounded me. I pulled one by his wrist, flinging him around and knocking others over, and letting him go flying. Pain spread through my spine as someone kicked me. "Bitch! That hurt!" I spat in defiance, swinging around and punching the guy in the nose. Barton and I were slowly being pushed towards a ravine with a dangerous amount of rocks in it. I kicked someone in the chest and they fell into their comrades. While they recovered, I picked up a large tree branch and ran at another group of men. They tumbled backwards, grunting. I set the heavy branch on them and returned to Barton's side. The few straggler's had run away and nobody else, nobody conscious at least, was on the battlefield.
"Excellent job, cadet. You should join the military or something." a voice accompanied by the sound of clapping came from behind a truck. A tall, scruffy man stepped out from behind it and prowled towards us.
"The new head of HYDRA." Clint growled to me, readying an arrow.
"Don't insult me with those toys, you fool. I'm not here to kill you. I'm simply here for her." he gave me a sickening grin. I took a few steps forward.
"Naomi-" Clint objected.
"It's fine, Barton. I've got this." I waved him off. "No weapons. It's not very sportsman like." I glared at him.
"You mean you'll put down your gun and I'll put down my crowbar and we'll just try to kill each other like civilized people?" the head of HYDRA sneered.
"I could just kill you now, if you'd like." I raised the gun that now held no ammunition. He shrugged, tossing the crowbar aside. I did the same with the gun and raised my fists. I ran at him, swinging my fist halfheartedly. As expected, he dodged his head the other way. I put all my strength into my knee as I jammed it upwards into his ribs, wrapping my arm around his neck. I swung around him, falling downwards into a full on body slam. He picked himself up with me still hanging on his back from his neck and reached back, digging his hands into my suit and pulling me forwards over his head. Air left my lungs as his fist slammed into my stomach.
"Naomi!" Barton called. I saw him pull back an arrow, about to let it loose. Then the sound of a gunshot rang through my ears. Barton's chest jerked back suddenly as he dropped his bow and toppled backwards over the cliff side.
"No!" I screamed, swinging my head upward and into the man's nose. He stumbled backwards and I bounded closer to the cliff. A hand shot up, latching onto the edge, and was soon joined by another.
"Naomi, grab him!" Clint yelled, referring to the villain. I turned my head to see said man cackling and walking triumphantly away.
"What a cliché problem! Will the hero save the friend? Or perhaps go after the bad guy?" he gave another sharp laugh. I stared wide eyed from him to Barton, who was starting to slip. Both were a yard or two away. I glared darkly at the man, who had his hand firmly on the handle of a vehicle. Quickly, I leapt back, going over the edge of the ravine and shot Clint's grappling hook into the air. I landed next to the SHIELD agent and grabbed hold of him. The wire pulled us up and over the cliff and I set Barton down.
"You let him go." Barton breathed out, wincing at the gunshot wound in his shoulder.
"Do you really think I'd jeopardize a mission just to save your sorry ass? Wow, how narcissistic." I shook my head. "No, I'm far too professional for that." I scoffed as the wire of the grappling hook pulled the head of HYDRA across the ground towards me. The hook had wrapped around his legs and caught in the hem of his pants.
"How in the hell did you even do that?" Clint looked at me in bewilderment.
"I lifted this off of you while we were fighting side by side." I shrugged, kicking our prisoner in the face and knocking him out. Just as the lights went out for him, they came on for me. The room was once again bright and made of metal. I waited by the door, waiting for it to slide open. As it did, I could hear talking from the observation room. I stepped in just as Fury was saying something.
"You did good." Steve congratulated me from his place, leaning against the glass window into the ESC.
"Yeah, my only problem is that she won't save me unless she can get the bad guy too." Clint chuckled, taking a drink of his coffee.
"One of my problems is that she makes witty comments. We can't have anyone on the team who does the wit and sarcasm stuff, that's my thing." Anthony crossed his arms, shaking his head.
"It was mine first." I sang, flicking his nose.
"I'm older." he narrowed his eyes. Yes, it was true. Technically, he was older than me.
"I was born first." I shot back. "And I have pictures of little Anthony Stark." as I added this, Tony's face paled slightly.
"Well, I think we have a winner." Clint clapped me in the shoulder. I smirked triumphantly.
"Agent Gale, you are dismissed for now. I'll call you back when I need you." Fury ordered.
"'Course you will. That's the only reason you boys ever call me back. You know, sometimes I'd like to have an actual first date before doing favors for people." I sighed, closing the door behind me and walking down the hall to the elevator. The door was back in order and not a single scratch remained. 'Maybe if I get a higher rank, I won't have to tear the doors open to go where I want.' I thought peacefully as the elevator descended. 'Just maybe.'