So, this chapter is much longer than I realized... and it still hasn't reached the point in the plot i want it to... Oh well!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers
Chapter 4: Secrets Part 1
When Erica and her friends got out of the subway close to Philip's Bay, her phone started vibrating. Unfortunately, as soon as they had gotten back into the light Tim had started running, following the insane directions that his mobile tracking device was instructing him, so all Erica could do was hope the message wasn't important and race after that crazy boy with a talking flip phone. Tim insisted that he had programmed the tracking device to describe the fastest path to the point of interest, but after traveling several questionable alleys, Erica was starting to doubt that.
Nonetheless, the phone did eventually get them to Philip's bay. To the casual passerby, they probably looked very unusual. The star quarterback, a nerdy introvert, a sassy tomboy, and a visibly shy girl (Lily dose look shy, until you get to know her) all out of breath and glaring at a geek fiddling with three phones at once. Timothy walked up to large crate and brushed one of the phones along the sides, as if he was scanning for something.
"Here it is!" Tim suddenly shouted.
"Here what is?" asked Erica.
"The entrance to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base!" Tim replied.
"Uh, Tim, that's great and all, but we're here for Ana. Not to follow your crazy Avengers fantasy," Lily told Tim.
"Yeah, seriously dude," James agreed.
"You guys don't get it," Tim explained. "I'm not planning on going through the entrance. Unless, of course, Ana has gone through before us. But that's unlikely. Look right there," he pointed to a small bolt close to the top of the crate. "Since there aren't any other bolts in a line with that bolt, and it would make no sense if they where there anyway, then there is not a cross-beam attached there. Which leads me to deduce that…?" Tim turned to his friends expectantly.
After a few awkward moments, Phil figured it out. "The bolt isn't actually a bolt? At least, it doesn't serve the function of a normal bolt. By the way, have you been reading a lot of Sherlock Holmes recently?"
"I have, actually. Anyway, this fact, as well as the fact that this is a S.H.I.E.L.D. base leads me to the conclusion that this bold is actually a security camera."
"Wait, so they can see us?" James asked.
"Only if they're looking. I think that the camera's function has more to do with checking to make sure that anyone getting through the entrance is who they say they are. You know, facial recognition, iris scans. All that fun high-security stuff. However, a camera is a camera. And a camera with the range and angle that I think this one has, it would be able to pick up someone going anywhere past here from the subway stop. And," Tim suddenly looked very embarrassed, "since my tracking device is only accurate up to 1 mile radius, we need a better idea of where we need to look. "
Erica suddenly figured out what he was going to do. "You're going to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D."
"WHAT!" everyone else shouted.
"Only for a few minutes," Tim explained while typing like a madman on his Smartphone.
"Are. You. INSANE!" Lily shouted.
"I think so. Seriously! Hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. for some video. That's like going into an army base just to ask for directions." Phil stated, in shock over the stupidity of his best friend.
"Can't we, you know, walk up and down asking people if they've seen her?" James asked. "You know, like normal people looking for their normal friend?"
"What generation are you from, foot-boy? The 80's?" Tim replied, still typing. "Besides, we aren't normal people. Get used to it."
In the next few days, Erica would contemplate the irony of Timothy's statement. But at that particular moment, she was a little more occupied by the screaming alarms and Agents with guns pointed at her.
After Tim's hacking had set off the alarms, Erica and her friends where led down an elevator (Which was located in the crate Tim had said was the entrance. Tim was really proud of that) and into a conference room. There they were told to wait until "Director Fury can come and access the situation" which was taking a while. All of Erica's friends seemed to be in different levels of panic.
Lily seemed to be the least panicked out of the five of them. Then again, she and Erica had gotten into awkward situations before. Just not on this level.
James looked like he had absolutely no idea how to react. Erica figured that he had never gotten into trouble before, since he always seemed to be a goody-two-shoes perfect guy at school. He was keeping his cool pretty well, though.
Tim looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Everyone in the room was glaring at him. The agents had taken all three of his cell phones. Mind you ,he was the reason they were in this situation in the first place, so Erica didn't exactly feel sorry for him.
Phil looked like he was bordering a psychotic breakdown. The poor guy was breathing heavily and had shaking hands. Erica asked him what was wrong.
"Huh? Oh, nothing just nervous. I don't like enclosed places." Phil tried explaining. His shifting eyes told a different story.
"Are you claustrophobic?" James asked.
"Nah. I just… enclosed spaces… its complicated."
Before any of them could continue interrogating their friend, the door opened and a man in a black coat and an eye patch marched in.
"Alright, which one of you kids tried using A.I.M. technology to hack into my base?" the eye patch (Erica figured that he was Director Fury) asked.
Everyone turned to glare at Timothy.
Tim didn't even try to deny it. "You mean A.I.M. still hasn't updated their programs? I made that code, like, years ago."
"Wait, you MADE that code? For A.I.M.?" Director Fury asked. "What's your name, kid?"
"Timothy Star. Yes, I did make that code. However, A.I.M. stole that code from me. It's a bit of a long story."
"Wait, hold up, what's A.I.M.?" James asked.
"A group of evil geniuses," Tim replied.
"You know, its funny Mr. Star," Director Fury commented, looking over the shoulder of an agent typing on a computer. "Although there are records of you in almost every other database in America, S.H.I.E.L.D. has no record of you. No birth date, no previous school records, nothing. Care to explain?"
Tim looked uneasy. "Like I said, it's a long story."
Director Fury sat down. "We've got time."
Erica leaned forward, listening intently. Despite how much she thought that she know about Tim, she was suddenly very much aware of how little she knew of his past.
Tim took a deep breath. "You see, I have absolutely no idea who my parents are. When I was a baby, A.I.M. kidnapped me and raised me."
"Why would A.I.M. want to take a baby?" one of the Agents asked.
"He got farther into our systems than anyone else who's last name isn't 'Stark'. I can see why they would want him." Fury answered.
"Wait, seriously, I did? Nice!" Tim smiled.
"But, Director, they couldn't have known that when he was a baby!" the agent countered.
"Well, I did hear one of their goons talking about gathering 'protection money' from my parents, and another one said something about 'enjoying making my parents suffer', so I guess that might have something to do with it." Tim commented. "Anyway, growing up with A.I.M. wasn't exactly heaven. So, by the time I was 9 I had already tried escaping 14 times. I always was stopped at the last minute. Then, last March, I finally managed to escape and get on the midnight subway. After that, I decided to lay low and pretend that I was normal to stay off A.I.M.'s radar until I could go back and find out my parent's names and finally get to meet them. I used the hacking skills I learned from A.I.M. to give myself fake records. I decided to go to high school in order to get a better idea of what my life would have been like if I hadn't been taken. I wandered to the school I am now and saw…" Tim suddenly turned to look at Erica. "Anyway, I decided that school was as good as any other and faked my records. The emergency number on my records goes to an automated response program I created so anyone trying to contact my parents wouldn't be the wiser. I got an apartment by hiring a guy I from the internet to sign the lease, pretending to be my father. And that's it. I guess it isn't that long of a story after all. It just feels like a long story, since it is my entire life."
Director Fury nodded, and was hopefully about to tell them they could go, when an all-too-familiar voice said, "Director, Agent Hill needs you on the bridge."
Director Fury nodded to the familiar figure in the doorway. "Thank you, Agent Barton. I'll be there in a moment."
Erica gasped. "Ana? Anastasia Barton?"
For the first time since Erica had known her, Anastasia Barton looked stunned.
And now we have begun to scratch the surface of everything that is Timothy Star! Next chapter (or two chapters) will work on explaining Ana, James, Phil, and scratch the surface of Lily. Both Lily and Timmy have really complicated back stories that will take a while to explain fully, or even for them to find out themselves. Erica should be explained over the course of the story.
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