Rendezvous
When the Quinjet arose from the water, Peter was astounded once again by its amazing technology. They were now soaring straight into the air. This continued for about 15 more minutes until they reached the SHIELD helicarrier. Peter's seen naval bases before on TV and stuff, but he's never seen one floating thousands of feet in the sky. He supposed it was possible, but not to be done anytime soon, until now.
"It's amazing," he commented.
"You get used to it after working there for a while," Black Widow said dully.
They then landed on the flight deck of the carrier and Black Widow escorted Peter to the interior. Of course Peter wanted to stop and watch at some great views of the place, so Black Widow didn't mind slowing down for sometimes, though she would love to hurry up and get this over with as soon as possible.
They then made it into the command deck, where there were a bunch of agents working on computers and doing all kinds of stuff nobody but a genius would know about. Black Widow then approached one agent who was a brunette and dressed in a dark blue catsuit as well. The woman then turned and nodded to Black Widow.
"Agent Romanoff," the woman spoke.
"Agent Hill," Black Widow returned a greeting. "This here is Peter Parker, the one and only 'Amazing Spider-Man."
Peter slightly blushed.
"Wait, you mean he's the-
"Yeah."
Agent Hill then took a good look at Peter herself. She thought it was amazing just how young he was, and that Fury was interested in recruiting him. He was only a kid. Why use him for war?
"It's nice to meet you," Agent Hill greeted. "I'm Agent Hill, SHIELD's second in command."
"Hi, I'm Peter," Peter politely replied.
"Yeah, I've read your profile. You've done some pretty amazing things, I'd say."
"Yeah, I guess the word 'amazing' is the only way people seem to be able to describe them," Peter joked.
"Is Fury in his office?" Natasha asked, getting back to business.
"Yes, he's been expecting you, Mr. Parker."
"Oh please, call me Peter," Peter just had to say. Being called Mr. Parker a thousand times just gets old.
"Alright, Peter," Agent Hill said without a problem.
"Agent Hill will escort you to Fury's office," said Natasha.
"Ok," Peter casually replied.
"Right this way," Hill said as she led the way to the office.
As they were about to turn into the hallway, Peter looked back at Agent Romanoff, remembering what she said as she looked at him with a certain look that said, "Remember, this is gonna change your life for good."
When they reached the door to the office, Agent Hill pushed the buzzer to inform the Director that they were there, and Fury unlocked the door from pushing the button on his desk. Hill opened the door for Peter and Peter stepped inside the dark-bluish room. There he saw Fury casually sitting at his desk as if expecting him, which he was. The first thing Peter noticed about Fury instantly was that he had an eye patch over his left eye. Peter could only imagine how that happened. Fury also wore a black cloak over a black undershirt.
Agent Hill spoke.
"Sir, this is-
"Mr. Peter Parker, yes, I know," Fury finished. "Thank you, Hill."
Hill then gave a small nod to the director and then a quick smile to Peter before she left, probably giving him some good luck before having to deal with him because she knows how much of a pain Fury can be, and then closed the door behind him.
"Hello, Peter," Fury spoke again. "My name is Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, as you may already know."
"Hi," Peter replied without a smile or anything. Just saying a casual hi.
"Please, have a seat."
Peter sat down in one of the chairs in front of the director's desk.
"I know these past weeks have been really strange for you, but I assure you, it'll all coming to a close. Now tell me, why is it that you're here?"
Was that a trick question? Peter thought. Why is it that higher authority figures like principals always ask a person some question like that, especially every time a kid gets in trouble for something and is sent to the principal's office to discuss whatever, and the principal asks that exact same question, "Can you tell me what you're here for?", knowing the answer already.
"Uh, don't you know already," Peter asked, trying not to sound rude, but at the same time there was no other way to not sound rude.
Fury laughed at this.
"You're quite a clever kid, Peter. You really are. I've seen all of your current and past report cards from each grade level you've been in, and they all show signs of a true child prodigy."
"Nah, I don't think the stuff I do in school is that big of a deal," Peter said modestly.
"Oh really? You don't think so?" Fury said puzzled, raising his eyebrow.
"Not really," Peter answered once again.
"And tell me why that is so?" Fury asked as he comfortably sat back in his chair with his hands clasped together.
"… because… I just don't think that my credentials are that special to match up with some of the other geniuses out there in the world."
"Really? You sure did use a very 'smart' word just now. Credentials. I think geniuses would use a word like that, wouldn't you say?"
"Well…
"Well?"
"…"
"Peter, for you to say that you don't believe that you're a prodigy is like me denying the fact that I'm missing a left eye," Fury stated, poking fun at himself. Peter did not laugh at this, however.
Fury went on. "You have astounding skills in science and mathematics that I have never seen in someone as young as you."
"What about Tony Stark?" Peter questioned.
"He's an exception," said Fury, almost devaluing Stark. "But you have something that he doesn't. You acquire great power at a younger age than he did. He had to build his way to get to where he is today, and so did you, but you got there faster than he did. You're already saving people's lives and fighting crime, while still getting the girl at the same time. "
Peter tried to force himself not to smile.
"And if you ask me, you've matured a lot faster than him."
"Than Tony Stark?" Peter asked with curiosity.
"Trust me, I know the man well enough," Fury assured. "But the point is that you are remarkable, whether you choose to believe it or not. Which brings me back to my first question, tell me, Peter, since you are truly 'genius' enough to know, why are you here?"
Peter swallowed. He realized that Fury was more intimidating than he expected. He wasn't stupid, that was for sure. There was no hiding anything from this man before him now, given that he seems to know everything about Peter, including his mentality.
"I'm here because I fit a profile for your initiative," Peter answered as simply as he could.
"But yet you deny that you fit a profile of any kind?" Fury asked, not understanding Peter's thinking at the moment. "How can I accept anyone who doesn't have confidence in themselves to join my initiative? Does that make sense to you?"
"No," Peter answered honestly.
"So tell me once again, Peter. Do you think you're worthy of my initiative?"
That's a question that was bothering Peter all this time. He felt that he was too young, and hadn't matured as all of the other members of The Avengers. They all seemed like mature grown adults who had experienced life in all of its messes, and understand what it means to be a hero. A true hero. The only real time Peter got to see the ugly side of life was the murder of his late Uncle Ben, and the disappearance of his parents, if that even counts. But what more did he need to prove that he had really experienced life, and that he was ready to take up such a responsibility?
"I don't know," Peter spoke.
"You don't know? Why don't you know?" Fury questioned wondrously.
"I just don't feel like I can match up to the rest of The Avengers."
"That, Peter, is a false statement spoken out of self-doubt. I already told you that you possess feats that Stark doesn't have, also further noting that I didn't mention your superhuman abilities that he could only match up with using his suit, but the rest of them all have their own little story of their life. And each one of their individual stories doesn't make either one of them any more special than the rest. It really doesn't. They've all lost something that was dear to them at some point, and that's what pushed them to be what they are today. As heroes. If I'm not mistaken, didn't you lose something?"
Peter knew what Fury was talking about. It's almost as if he read his mind. Uncle Ben may not have been what was most dear to Peter during his time on this earth, but it reflected the lesson that you don't realize how much someone means to you until you lose them, and that now held true to Peter's life experiences.
"That's different," Peter said foolishly.
"What makes it different?" Fury asked.
God, this man asks a million questions Peter thought in his head.
"It's different for a big group of superheroes who have grown and seen life more than I have compared to some kid who's just lost his uncle that no one else in the world knows or even cares about," said Peter. "I mean, there are some places in the world where people walk down the streets every night and day and get mugged, shot and killed. No one's gonna care about some poor kid living in Brooklyn who just lost his uncle. It's not like its Detroit or someplace like that."
"So losing someone dear to you, in a place not as dangerous as Detroit, makes you not live up to the rest?" Fury ensured. "Is that what I'm hearing?"
Peter said nothing.
"Peter, do you believe that if you were to be fighting alongside The Avengers one day to save the world from… I don't know, a space alien invasion, do you think that you would be of any use?"
"I really don't know," Peter answered.
"Is 'I don't know' really going to be the only answer you're going to give me from this point on?"
"I mean, I wouldn't know how I'm supposed to fight aliens. Alien anatomy isn't really something I study on a regular basis."
"So you don't think you would be of any use?"
"No, not really."
"Well, she thinks otherwise."
As Fury said this, he nodded his head towards the door and Peter turned to see Black Widow standing there the whole time. Peter was really surprised this time.
"I didn't hear you come in," said Peter, dumbfounded.
"You never hear me come in," Black Widow added.
True Peter thought.
"It seems that you have gotten to know Agent Romanoff pretty well now," said Fury.
"I wouldn't say pretty well," Peter replied, while looking at Natasha. Natasha wasn't amused. She never was, really.
"She has many secrets, so you're right for saying not pretty well, because more than likely you'll never know her pretty well," Fury noted.
Natasha walked over to the side of Fury's desk and sit at the edge with her arms and legs crossed, while looking straight at the wall ahead of her, and not at Peter or anything else. She was just listening, but she was more than likely probably there to make Peter feel more comfortable by the fact that he already knows as her as not being a serious threat and that'll make him more likely to spill information out of his mouth that Fury needs. But neither of that was probably true either.
"You've made encounters with Romanoff, a.k.a. The Black Widow, on several occasions now, have you?" Fury asked Peter.
"Yes," Peter answered.
"And when she told me about her first encounter with you I thought she was just saying that so I could stop stressing myself from work," Fury went on. "She told me that you found her."
Peter then looked at Natasha and she looked back with a normal expression on her face still.
"Is that true?" Fury ensured.
"Well, I wouldn't go so far to say that I found her, because actually what happened was that I heard a gunshot while swinging around New York City late at night, and I went over to where I heard the gunshot, which was the roof of this skyscraper, but it turns out it was empty with no one in sight. So I was about to leave, then suddenly I hear her voice, and I turn to see her for the first time."
Fury and Natasha exchanged quick glances.
"Had she not said anything," Peter continued, "I wouldn't have known she was even there."
Fury sat there for a moment and slowly nodded to assure that he understood everything that he Peter told him.
"You do make a great explanation, Peter," Fury commented. "But, I must also note that had it not been for your inclination to investigate the area where you heard the gunshot, then you would have never met her in the first place. And then you probably wouldn't be the man we were looking for after all."
Fury laid it all out on the table for Peter pretty much. The man knew what he was talking about.
"I think we should also put that on the list as to reasons why I believe you're fit for this initiative," Fury went on. "The desperate urge to want to help other people and to check and see if something is wrong by suspicious activity. Does that not sound like a man with great virtue? Does that not also share a similar characteristic with the one and only Captain America, also part of this initiative?"
Peter knew he couldn't win against Fury at this point. Fury seemed to know him better than Peter did himself. There was no getting through to Fury. All Peter could do now was to answer the big question with either a yes or no, or something more detailed than that, which it probably would be.
"Can I just give you the yes or no now whether I want to join or not?" Peter asked, cutting to the chase.
Fury smiled at this.
"Well, Peter, you seem to know enough about all this to decide whether or not you want to," said Fury. Natasha then looked over at Peter with a certain look in her eyes. Peter knew what she meant, too.
"I won't be upset if decline the offer, I'll just have to accept your decision, and tell you that I understand," Fury continued.
Peter swallowed. It was by far one of the most intense moments of his life, with him just sitting there thinking of what to tell this man who's offering him either the red or blue pill here. He kept on thinking back to the people he loves and cares about in his life. How was it going to affect them? What would it be like when the day comes that he has to admit that he works with SHIELD, which is almost the same as saying I work for the CIA? There's so many ways this thing can go wrong with his life. He'll ruin everything. Should he really trust Natasha though? Is everything she told him about SHIELD true?
Well, he didn't exactly need to trust her answer to figure out that based on his own common sense, joining any intelligence agency would cause huge stress in one's lifetime. So that was really out of question. But the other question about joining The Avengers Initiative is that what more was he seriously gonna do with his life? He already saves people's lives on a daily basis for free, and he already has the girl of his dreams, and an aunt who loves him like a mother, what more does he need? He has a simple life already. Well, actually, it's not simple at all, living a double life, but it's simpler if you take away the joining SHIELD part.
Natasha then looked away from Peter and hoped that he would make the right choice for himself.
"Director," Peter finally spoke. Natasha then looked back at him the moment he spoke. She had to hear this.
"I appreciate the kind offer, and you believing in my abilities as something far greater than I presume."
Fury was just sitting there with one expression on his face, listening only to Peter and what he was about to say. Natasha couldn't believe it herself, but she was actually caring for Peter's life at this point. She actually wanted him to say no, for him to say no and not be bothered with all of the complications that SHIELD has to offer.
Peter began to open his mouth, ready to say his final sentence.