What the hell! Randall paced across the tiny space of his room aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier. He admitted now that maybe backhanding Banner across the training room wasn't that great of an idea. But what the hell, that was his way of expressing his excitement! There was nothing wrong with that, Banner was the one who was acting weird. Wasn't he supposed to be the son of a giant green rage monster? Where was all the rage? This big blue softie was more like the son of a small greenish blob of boring.
Randall was a fighter, plain and simple. When he walked into a bar or a party, he was the alpha dog; especially since he started "borrowing" that suit from Dr. Pym. Randall supposed that fighting was his way of expressing himself. Yeah. Like, he was an artist, and the other guys face was a piece of paper to smear blood-paint all over. Okay, maybe that was a bad analogy, but it only proves the point that Randall was one for fighting, not words.
He sighed, frustrated, and exited his room to go raid the kitchenette. There had to be some alcohol in there. Maybe an old scotch, or some celebratory champagne even? He rooted through the empty cabinets and then the fridge, which was full of mostly just health foods and juices. Christ, he couldn't even get a soda in this place! Suddenly, Randall remembered something he'd brought with him. He stalked back to his room, where he rooted through his large duffle bag. The doctor had requested that Randall take copies of some of Pym's published works on Pym particles and communications with insects to try to sell to S.H.I.E.L.D. while he was here. The good doctor had even sent with him a model of his size-changing ray prototype, but all Randall cared about right now was whether or not he remembered to pack his emergency kit. Jackpot! Randall pulled the six pack of beer out of his bag and kissed it, overjoyed to have remembered to bring them. Upon realizing that his beer was a little too warm to drink, he took it down to the kitchenette to store in the fridge.
Terra sat in her room, which was located on the first floor. She and her father had installed Stark-class quarters close to where all the important parts of the ship were, just in case something went wrong. Right about now, Terra was second guessing this New Avengers initiative. Between Randall picking fights, Erick not fighting, and the immense threat that faced them, Terra was starting to wonder if they should even bother trying to evade the inevitable. She shook her head, she was being unreasonable. She had no reason to believe that the group wouldn't pull through in a fight. After all, it had only been their first time suited up together. Terra looked at the clock that sat next to her slightly-larger-than-the-rest bed. The bright green numbers read 10:45. It had been a long and tiring day indeed. She stood up, and changed into her night clothes (which were little more than a sports bra and panties), and, turning off the light, crawled into bed. However, in the dark of her room, she did not find rest. Terra's mind wandered over the events of the last week.
Terra had been busy that night, at the Stark Tower in New York City, working on the fine tunings of the Iron Valkyrie suit. She had been paid a surprise visit by two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, at one in the morning, in her private lab.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had issues with privacy.
One of the two agents had slapped a manila folder on one of the workbenches, and told her to report to the New York S.H.I.E.L.D. base the following morning for debriefing. Along with a warning to ensure that the contents of the manila folder remained confidential. Terra demanded to know how they'd gotten past JARVIS' security systems, but the two ignored her as they entered the elevator and descended the tower. Terra scowled after them for a moment, then looked down at the folder. She opened it up to find only a small disc in a white paper sleeve. She immediately recognized it as her father's technology; a super-secure form of data containment that made it impossible to transfer data off of it. It also had a fail-safe automatic data-deletion program.
The data had simply been an official S.H.I.E.L.D. report covering the events of the Chitauri invasion of her father's day, as well as the official version of Aro's story and plea for help. When she reported to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in upstate New York, she was unsurprised to hear that they needed her help as the Iron Valkyrie, as well as a representative for Stark Industries. She'd asked why they wanted her instead of her father, who'd been an Avenger for years, and had been a crucial part of Earth's victory in the Chitauri invasion. They replied by bringing up her father's continually worsening mental instability (much to Terra's chagrin), as well as her ability to be more effective in a fight. Point taken. They had then slapped another folder in front of her, introducing her to their New Avengers initiative. Terra was a bit insulted, as well as honored, as she flipped through the profiles of their target team members. She was insulted that they would try to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner and Captain Steve Rogers and not her father. Her father had been a pivotal member of the Avengers! He'd even helped S.H.I.E.L.D. to start the Avengers for Christ's sake! They had even listed an old doctor by the name of Hank Pym, who had been an on-again-off-again, later member of the Avengers. Any of her father's 'mental issues' had been from serving the human race as a life-long Avenger!
However, the fact that they would recruit her alongside such a prestigious line of members was an honor that Terra would not scorn. On that note, Terra had also not been surprised to see profiles on two of the children of the Avengers, the son of Dr. Banner, and the daughter of Captain Rogers, who, conveniently enough, was already an accomplished agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
For the next 72 hours, Terra worked alongside a specialized group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to locate and recruit all of the target members of this New Avengers team. It had been tiring, as well as frustrating, trying to convince the original team members to come out of their retirement and to fight for Earth once more. Terra was a little upset by the reasons that some of the older members gave her. Captain Rogers had rejected her plea for help on the premise that he and S.H.I.E.L.D. had had a falling out years ago, and that he was trying to live out the rest of his days with his wife in peace. The Mrs. Banner had told one of Terra's agents that they hadn't seen the Hulk for twenty years, and that Dr. Banner would like it to stay that way.
After hours of frustration at all their failure, and the unbelievable stubbornness of the original Avengers, Terra was given a small bit of hope. Their team had gained contact with Dr. Pym, and, while he had turned down the invitation, he was desperately trying to send someone else in his stead. Terra had taken over the call, and had heard the doctor's enthusiastic recommendation of his protégée, Randall. Terra had been pleased to hear that this man was supposedly the son of Janet Van Dyne, who had served the West Coast Avengers as Wasp. Terra had agreed to allow Randall Denning to come serve the New Avengers, on the condition that Dr. Pym send every bit of information he had on Denning. Soon after that, their team was contacted by the son of Bruce Banner, Erick. He had agreed to go serve the New Avengers in his father's stead. Roughly 90 hours after Terra's original visit from S.H.I.E.L.D., the young Stark sent their complete team report to the recently instated director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Director Maria Coulson.
Terra rolled over in bed, her mind comforted by the memory of her recent success.
'Yes,' she thought to herself as her mind slowly drifted into sleep, 'I think we'll be okay…'
No sooner had Terra closed her eyes, than the alarms went off.