Chapter 6

One year later

"I'm bored"

"Your always bored lately." Replied Jen as she snuggled with Luis. Amy and I had won the bet, they had finally gotten together, with no help from us, no matter what Ryan and Johnny claim. We were currently sitting on a bench outside one of New York City's museums, as for her birthday Amy wanted to spend some time here. Amy was still inside the museum as far as I knew, Ryan and Johnny were in the building next door selling some of their inventions again.

"Well yea, you can exercise your talents whenever you want as you can blend in, Luis is just lazy, oh don't give me that look you know it's true." Luis just shrugged in agreement, while Jen still glared, though it was half hearted now, "And Amy, Ryan and Johnny are constantly making things as that is what they enjoy. I on the other hand only get to use talents when Ryan and Johnny need a power source or a test subject, I would make more jewelry and sculptures but I don't enjoy making things like that as much as they do. I don't even know what I would enjoy doing."

"Warning, angst alert" Luis drawled

"Oh shut it, I'm just worried, and bored, which would lead to angst and you know it." I replied. Harry had written me, he was entered in a deadly contest without his permission. Halloween was not a very good day for my friend, as something bad always seemed to happen. On top of that, Ron was being an idiotic git, which I told Ron in a letter, though I doubt he will read it let alone listen to me.

"Well, why don't you go for a walk, and we'll meet you at the tent tonight, maybe you'll find yourself or something," snarked Jen

I rolled my eyes, but a walk sounded good right now, so I just nodded and got on my way. I contemplated calling Tony, but I wasn't sure if he was in California or here, which seemed to be his home away from home. I also hadn't actually used the phone since he had given it to me, just kept tabs on him in the news to make sure he hadn't gotten himself killed yet.

I let my thoughts wander as I walked aimlessly around New York City, watching all the people rush to and fro. I've been with this little family for a little over two years now. I still have nightmares, but they come less frequently, and are not as intense as they were before. However, a new worry was starting to creep up on me. Instead of worrying over them not wanting me around, I was afraid that they would be forcibly taken away from me, or I from them. Fewer people were after us now, or at least it seemed that way. I was starting to get paranoid, to many things seemed to be going well for us, Harry not included for obvious reasons.

"Stop being so morose Alice" I muttered to myself. Just then, a guy thrust a flyer in my face. He was walking really fast, practically throwing his flyers at everyone. "Feel like serving your country? Come to the recruitment games, where all departments are looking for good people to help them win this year's big prize, 1 million dollars grant money. The department of your choice will train you up to run in this year's obstacle course. All participants must be 18 years or older."

Well, this seemed like the perfect thing to not only combat some of my worries, but to break me out of my boredom. The address listed on the flyer was only a few blocks away, so I folded the flyer, put it in my pocket, and headed towards the building. Even though I was not 18, I knew that I could easily get past that little rule.

I got there, and walked in, where there was a big burly guy at the door. "Sorry little miss, you have to be 18 to participate, buzz off."

I gave him a look that was a combination of a hurt look and a glare. "I am 18, I had horrible guardians, they made me stay in a cupboard under the stairs, and didn't feed me much, which stunted my growth and makes me look tiny. It's not my fault!"

"O-oh, sorry, go right on in" he said, looking ashamed of himself. I walked past him, hiding my smirk, he didn't even ask for proof of I.D.

The conference center was filled with tables for every department, Army, Navy, Coast-Guard, CIA, FBI, were just a few of the numerous booths scattered throughout the huge room.

After walking around and visiting all the booths, I was disgusted. I stood in a darkened corner, looking at all the people signing up and shook my head. "Why haven't you picked a team yet Miss?" The question came from behind me, where a booth was in the shadows, one I had apparently missed. It said Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, and underneath that had a shorter name, S.H.I.E.L.D. I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I ignored it.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Why haven't you picked a team yet? Nearly everyone has. Are you even old enough to be here?" The man asked again, his eyes following my every move closely. He was a tall guy with short blonde hair, a quiver on his back, and a barely noticeable frown on his face.

I ignored the last part of his question, as I started pointing out all the flaws I saw with every group. "The Army table is going after is choosing buff people only, the Navy only focusing on who swim really well, Air force is taking air heads, Coast Guard is only taking life guards, the Marines are going after those who are buff and can yell loudly, and the FBI and CIA seem to be competing over the researcher types. None of the tables are going for variety, which if we are to compete in an obstacle course, which implies multiple types of challenges, makes no logical sense. It's really stupid."

"That's clever. Why don't you join our team?" A woman, who was sitting next to the blonde guy, said. She pushed a clipboard towards me.

I glanced down and saw that it was blank. "Your desperate, aren't you?" I laughed.

"You could say that" the woman shrugged. "How about you answer a few questions for me?" she asked slyly. "So why did you come if you don't like any of the teams?" she went on, not giving me a chance to object.

"I'm bored" I shrugged.

"What makes you think you can beat people like him?" she pointed out a particularly buff looking guy.

"I highly doubt here are any working cells in that bulbous head of his. Also, there are… certain advantages I have." I answered vaguely.

"Like what?" the man asked, speaking for the first time since he caught my attention.

"I'm small." I said, my time making it clear that I wouldn't say anymore on that subject. Both of them shared a quick knowing glance.

"How strong are you?" asked the guy.

I shrugged, "I don't know, strong enough?"

"For what exactly?"

"For whatever you can throw me." I answered, slightly cocky, but seriously, how hard could it be compared to being Ryan and Johnny's favorite guinea pig?

"How old are you, really?" he asked his final question.

I blatantly ignored it and remained silent, pulling over the empty sheet and signing my name on the top line.

"Alice! PLEASE tell me that you didn't just sign that paper!" I turned around to see Phil Coulson storming towards us.

"Uhhhh, maybe?" I replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head. "Why? Did I just screw myself over or something? Wait… you work for S.H.I.E.L.D don't you?

"Yes you did, and yes I do. Hill! Barton! How could you let her sign up!" he rounded on the two at the booth. So that's what their names were. He face me again, "how old are you now? Fifteen?" Hill and Barton looked surprised at Phil's words.

"Fourteen actually. What? I'm bored." I said, defending myself from Phil's glare.

Phil started arguing with Agent Hill about how irresponsible she was being or something. While Phil and Hill bickered, Barton silently handed the clipboard with my name on it to a woman who was coming around to collect them. Then he walked over to me and held out his hand. "I'm Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye. I'm the sniper expert here. I'll be one of your main trainers for the completion. I shook his hand, and snorted as he did the typical guy thing and started squeezing my hand really hard. I guess he wasn't satisfied with my answer on strength.

There was a sudden noise, someone was tapping on a microphone. "Ok everyone, that concludes the recruitment part of the challenge, please gather everyone who signed up for your team and head on out. You have two months to train your team, and then we will meet here again to give you and your new recruits their first instructions on the 10 leg obstacle course, and begin the race.

Clint and I turned to Phil and Hill, who had finally stopped bickering. "We'll I guess that's it then, I'm on your team. Or, should I say, I am your team," I said, "before we head off to your base or headquarters or whatever, could we swing by the weapons expo that's next to the museum? My family is there and I think I should tell them that I'm going off for two or more months, and not over the phone as that may cause them to panic."

"You have family?" asked Clint, his eyebrows raised. He obviously thought I was an orphan, he was only partially right of course.

"Sort of, we aren't really related, but we stick together." I replied.

"Sure, that's on the way anyway." Replied hill in a dismissive tone, Phil had a bit of a scowl on his face

We walked out to a plain black sedan and got in. We had just pulled up and parked by the museum when a loud boom echoed through the air. I clenched my eyes closed and started chanting, "Please don't be purple, please don't be purple, please don't be purple, PLEASE don't be purple."

"What don't you want to be purple?" Clint asked

"The smoke," I replied as I turned around and groaned. "Damn! It's purple, I thought I hid it where they couldn't find it! How did they manage to find it?!" I ranted

Amy ran towards me, covered head to toe in shoot that had a slight purple tint to it. "Alice! They did it! It worked!" Amy said breathlessly.

"If it blew up, why do you say it worked?" Hill asked, walking around the car to stand by us, "and why hasn't anyone reacted? If a bomb just exploded-"

"No one can see it" interrupted Amy. "Well, at least except us."

"And how is that possible?" Hill demanded. I just raised one of my eyebrows at here as Amy and I elected to ignore here for the moment.

"Hey Alice, do you think you could do something about this?" She gestured to the soot covering her.

"I could, but I won't. Serves you three right." I said stubbornly, as Ryan and Johnny walked up behind her, the layer of soot thicker on them, and their eyebrows were singed. Luis and Jen were behind them, both trying to hide their snickers.

"Please!" all three of them begged, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"No. Anyway, I have some news." I said, trying to quickly change the subject. "I'm going away for about two months or so…" I said trailing off.

"WHAT? Why?" They all asked at once. I took out the flyer that I had stuck in my pocket and handed it over to them, explaining. "I was bored, and what do I always do when I'm bored? Something nuts. I signed up, yes I lied to get around the age requirement, scandalous I know, and the training apparently lasts for 2 months, then we come back to start the race. And yes, I do realize that not only will this probably be dangerous, but possible deadly as well. It is the government after all, no matter what country they are all basically the same."

"This does seem like you." Said Luis, folding the flyer up and putting it in his pocket, probably to keep the address. We'll try to hang out here in new York till you're done with your training, but I'm not sure if we can manage that or not…" he trailed off.

I bit my bottom lip, I had an idea, but I wasn't sure if it would pan out well or not.

"Uh-oh, she has her thinking face on, that's never good." Quipped Jen

"Oh shut up." I said, pulling out my stark phone again, it wouldn't hurt to try. Barton, Hill and Coulson were staring at all of us.

I brought up my contacts and dialed 'The Sexiest Man Alive.' I never had the heart to change the contact to Tony's name. Clint and hill, who were both looking over my shoulder, raised their eyebrows.

On the third ring, Tony actually picked it up. "Hey mini mystery, haven't heard from you in, well, ever. Ready for that drink now?"

I snorted, "no, I've already done something underage today, don't need to add another one. I was wondering If I could send you the boys, as well as the rest of my family to stay with you for two months. I have this thing and they need something to do. We are currently in New York City"

"Sure, I worked on those weapons that they gave me a year ago, and created some more, I could use their brains. I'll send the jet to pick them up at JFK. What's this thing you have?"

"Ask Agent Coulson, he'll tell you. Thanks Stark." And I hung up before he could respond.

"Awesome!" yelled Ryan and Johnny, while Amy just grinned. Jen looked bored, and Luis looked a little relived, this way they were with someone who would be able to find out how I'm doing.

"Stark?" asked hill, her eyebrows still raised in a skeptical/shocked look.

"Don't ask" Phil and I said together.

"We should get going." Said Clint, opening the car door and waiting for me to get in. I gave everyone a hug, catching Amy twice as she seemed to not want to let go. I got in and we were off. I saw My family apparate away in the rearview mirror, no one else catching it. I would see them in 2 months, hopefully.

A/N Hello all. Sorry this took awhile, I have managed to develop a life and it took over for a bit. That paired with general procrastination lead to long waits on my part. You all are lucky Silent bugs me on a daily basis to get this done, and the fact that I am avoiding my class work as finals creep up on me and I get frustrated with studying. I hope this lives up to standards and was funny enough to make up for lack of action. The training will be next, and Natasha comes back in. Then I have the chapter 8 after that, then Silent is back, who already has Chapter 9 written and just needs to make some adjustments as I come up with the chapters before hers. We also have about 3-4 chapters worth planned out past chapter 9. Be excited, and Please Please Please Please review. I promise Virtual Brownies if you do! AliceinCrazyland.