Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, Universal Technology Systems, Yarra Junction or any of the tv shows and movies mentioned.
Chapter 2: Too Many Questions!
Since there was a SHIELD base in Arizona, and the Avengers had their own quinjet, it only took twenty minutes to get there. Fury was waiting on the edge of the landing zone with his arms crossed, scrutinising them with his good eye. No one said anything until they were sitting down at the desk in Fury's office.
When everyone was ready and seated, Fury got straight to the point. "I have reason to believe that I have found someone else worthy of being on this team," he started.
"Who?" Clint asked curiously.
Fury didn't reply because Agent Hill started talking into his earpiece. "We'll be right down, Agent Hill." He looked at the group before walking out the door, expecting them to follow.
He led them to the main meeting room, where Agent Hill was instructing a group of new recruits to stay where they were. Then she walked over to the others and looked at Fury. "She'll be here at any moment now, sir." She nodded to the Avengers before walking back to the group and leading them to another room.
"Director Fury, who and where is this person that you deem worthy of fighting alongside the mighty Avengers?" Thor asked. Everyone nodded eagerly.
"Her name's Baylee," Fury answered. "And she'll be here in a minute."
"What's so special about her?" Natasha asked impassively.
"You'll see," Fury said, grinning.
It was quiet for about two minutes before a door opened at the end of the room. A girl, no older that fifteen, walked through the door. She had chocolate eyes and long, honey-bronze hair that hung in waves at her hips with bright blue, purple and green ends. She was wearing ripped black skinny jeans, a grey Mickey Mouse singlet and metallic purple Converse Hi-Tops. She had a small amount of makeup on, but nothing too noticeable. She wore a mix of nervousness and excitement on her features.
Baylee watched the Avengers as she made her way over to them, receiving a different reaction from each: wonder from Bruce, confusion from Thor, shock from Steve, the slightest hint of sadness from Natasha, curiosity from Clint and coolness from Tony.
"Nice shoes," he commented when she stopped in front of Fury, who put his hands on her shoulders in comfort and reassurance. Tony knew that if Pepper had tagged along, she definitely would've hit him over the head, but lucky him, because she was too tired to go out at midnight, and she had loads of work to do tomorrow.
"Thanks," the young girl muttered in reply, which got some more looks from the team.
"This," Fury announced, "is Baylee. Baylee, meet Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Thor and Tony Stark." He pointed to each of them and they all shook hands with Baylee when Fury said their name.
"How old are you?" Clint asked.
"Fourteen," Baylee replied confidently, apparently pretty good at acting. Natasha looked down, and Clint gently rubbed her shoulder in comfort, which didn't go unnoticed by Baylee, although no one else seemed to notice.
"You're Australian?" Bruce asked.
"Yep. Aussie born and Aussie bred," Baylee replied, giggling to herself at some inside joke that the others didn't understand.
"Cool, I like Australians. They're awesome!" Tony commented enthusiastically.
"Why did you choose her?" Natasha asked rather coldly. Baylee didn't feel offended in any way, she just naturally wondered why Natasha felt that way.
"She is, without a doubt, one of the top recruits, and she's only been here a week. She's nearly as good as you," Fury said, looking pointedly at Natasha.
"How did you recruit her?" she asked him, finally looking up at him. Natasha dreaded the answer, hoping that this young girl wasn't in the same situation that she had been in at her age.
Fury looked to Baylee to tell the group her story. She nodded and they turned to face her. "I got kicked out of school and didn't see any reason to finish. I know some of the agents here, they pointed me this way. That's how I got here." Natasha nodded to herself.
"I was too advanced for most of primary school, so I went to high school when I was ten, but I only went through to tenth grade, as you would call it here. Even though I excelled in calculus, engineering and chemistry, I was always sneaking around the school behind the teachers' and students' backs, spying on them and getting information from them without them knowing I was there," Baylee grinned.
"One day, I heard someone talking about me, saying things that I didn't like. I retaliated, and for that I was kicked out. Even though I still had three years left, I didn't see why I should finish school if I could get a job, which was difficult because of my age. Then one of the agents here suggested to me that I go for a job at SHIELD, because apparently I'm well-suited to this type of job. That's pretty much my whole life story," Baylee finished sarcastically. She had seemed to become less nervous towards the end of her speech, and more comfortable around the Avengers by the second.
"What can you do? What skills do you have?" Clint asked, not fussed about the reason she was kicked out of school, unlike some of the others. Steve and Thor were quite unsure about her, and Bruce was a bit, too.
Baylee smiled. "Well, I can do all the spy stuff, you know, like picking locks hot-wiring anything, throwing knives, martial arts, ghosting, seduction, hacking, hiding, acting, etc. I'm also a chemistry and computer genius. I can speak five languages fluently, and I'm a master archer and knife thrower, and level eight international gymnast," she finished, flicking her long, colourfully dip-dyed hair behind her back as she stared at the Avengers.
The team, apart from Clint and Natasha, were standing there with shocked expressions on their faces. Baylee briefly wondered how much shock they could take before someone passed out, quietly giggling at the thought.
Clint and Natasha merely nodded at the information that they were just given. They didn't seem too fazed by what Baylee could do, but that was either because they had fantastic poker faces or because they were used to hearing things like that.
There was a short silence before the shocked men recovered. "Where'd you learn all this?" Tony asked Baylee eagerly.
"I've done gymnastics since I was three, archery since I was five, and knife-throwing since I was seven. I started karate when I was four, and I learned all of the other things by myself or at school," she answered him casually. Tony had taken a liking to her - she liked engineering and science and could kick ass like Natasha could, but Natasha didn't really care too much for engineering or science.
"Tell us a bit about yourself, family and personality wise," Steve cut in, stopping Tony from asking more unimportant questions.
"Well, have three younger sister, Charlotte is twelve, Emily is nine, and Adeline is four. My parents are Carla and Jonathan, and they own Universal Technology-" Tony gasped, cutting Baylee off.
"Universal Technology Systems is the biggest software company in the world! I only buy software from them now!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"Cool," Baylee smiled, before continuing on with her story. "Okay. Where was I? Oh yeah. I have heaps of pets: three snakes, two dogs, one cat and two horses. My parents own a whole street in Yarra Junction, which is in Victoria, Australia, and we live somewhere on that street. I can be very sarcastic at times and I joke a lot, as well ad quoting movies and tv shows. Some of my favourite movies are Marvel movies, Twilight, Pirates of the Caribbean, and I love the Big Bang Theory, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Sesame Street and anything with the Muppets in it," she concluded, smiling comfortably at the group.
"Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?" Bruce asked Baylee when she had finished her long rant.
She nodded. "Yep, and I also tend to yell a bit and sing songs out loud. I also talk to myself half the time," Baylee grinned cheekily.
"Well," Fury said, piping up for the first time in a while. "How about-"
"Fury, I need to talk to you," Natasha butted in, grabbing Clint's wrist and dragging him along. She led him out of the room and Fury followed, giving the remaining people in the room a look before walking through the door.
After they left the room, Tony, Steve, Bruce and occasionally Thor resumed asking Baylee random questions about Australia, school and herself. She felt that she was beginning to fit in with the group and she saw that most of them had warmed up to her, too. Although, she couldn't tell with Clint or Natasha, who were currently questioning Fury about his decision.