"Am I fashionably late enough or should I go back out and come in
again?" Beca spoke as she entered the conference room, demanding
everyone's attention as she sauntered towards the head of the table and took a
seat as if she herself had called the meeting. "Did I miss the
refreshments? Someone please tell me you saved me one of those cute little
finger sandwiches."
"Nice of you to join us Stark," CR greeted. There was no annoyance in
her voice. She had come to expect this behavior from Beca.
"What up Shaw-shank?" Fat Amy inquired from where she sat two seats
away from Beca. She twirled her hammer in her fingers and looked at Beca with a
grin that reminded her of the Cheshire Cat.
"I swear Fat Amy, one drunken mishap in your presence and you never let me
forget it," Beca retorted.
"It's not my fault you got yourself arrested," Fat Amy replied,
"Thats what you get for challenging a god to an arm wrestling match."
"If I remember correctly," Aubrey Banner spoke up from next to Amy,
"It wasn't the arm wrestling that got her in trouble. It was the double or
nothing where she insisted she could do a front flip onto that table."
"That thing was a piece of crap," Stark defended, "I could have
built a better table out of pipe cleaner and duct tape."
"So wait," Staci, better known as the Black Widow interrupted,
"You got arrested for breaking a table?"
"No I got thrown out for breaking a table," Beca clarified, "It
was the being drunk in public that got me arrested."
The last person at the table, Lilly aka Hawkeye, grabbed everyone's attention
as her lips began to move but no sound came out. Hawkeye didn't say much, and
what she did say you usually couldn't hear anyways, so Beca had stopped trying
to listen to her a long time ago. Fat Amy however found it entertaining to try
and figure out what the archer was saying.
"What was that Lily?" Aubrey asked.
"I have a guess," Fat Amy piped up, "But I'm pretty sure you
don't want to know."
"Let's get this meeting started shall we?" Beca interrupted, "I
have scotch to drink tonight and the company of a pretty lady to do it
in."
"We are waiting for one more," CR began.
"So the big bad guys want Banner," Beca continued, ignoring Fury all
together. The occupants of the table sat back in their chairs. No one attempted
to interrupt again. They had all witnessed Stark's ability to run away with a
meeting. "So the Il Popolo. They're from all walks of life. Different
backgrounds, different skill sets, different faces, making them almost
impossible to identify. No one knows where they come from because they come
from everywhere. No one knows how many of them there are because there is
always just enough to finish a job. And no one knows when they strike because
they always strike at the right time. Motivated by money, the have no loyalty.
But that doesn't make them easily swayed because if you're their target, by the
time they find you it's usually to late. They've been described as greedy,
merciless... And phantoms. Only one woman has actually laid eyes on them and
has lived to tell the tale but even she isn't sure what she saw and the story
she tells around the campfire changes every time. Now someone has hired them
and they're after Aubrey. Fury has brought you and I here to protect her. We
are supposed to protect Banner from a fable... a fairy tale... A ghost
story."
Beca's words hung in the air heavy and thick. Fury didn't bother speaking up.
Beca wasn't wrong. There was no reason to argue. CR looked around the table,
taking in the expressions of the each individuals Avenger. She was looking for
signs of doubt. Signs of regret and unwillingness. Like most true heroines
their expressions were unreadable. Even Aubrey had the bitchy mask of a
perfectionist firmly in place.
"So," Fat Amy was the first to speak, "When did you become an
expert on the Il Popolo?"
"Last night." And just like that the light hearted respond broke the
tension in the room.
"So we are supposed to do the impossible and save the indestructible from
the invincible," a voice echoed into the conference room, "Sounds
like I came to the right room." Everyone looked up to put a face to the
unfamiliar voice. Standing in the doorway was an incredibly sexy red head that
Beca had never seen before. She leaned casually against the door frame with a
skateboard dangling in her hand. She had a light sheen of sweat on her
forehead. Her red curls fell passed her shoulders. Her piercing blue eyes were
hardly hidden behind her dark. thick rimmed glasses. Beca found herself
immediately distracted by the dangerously low cut purple top tucked neatly into
a pair of skinny jeans held firmly in place by a black belt. "Sorry I'm
late. I missed the bus so I had to skate all the way here."
"Well hello," Staci spoke, obviously unaffected by the beauty of the
red head that just entered the room. "And you are?"
"Chloe Beale," she introduced herself.
"This is_," CR began.
"Spider-girl," Beca interrupted. Fury rolled her eyes. She was
beginning to give up on any notion that she was running this meeting at all.
"Don't let the pretty face fool you ladies. This broad has super strength
and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, and she's got quick
reacting spidey senses to help her do it. On top of that she's a brain. She
invented her own devices to help her shoot web from her wrist and fly around
the city like a damn kite."
"And when did you become such an expert on one Chloe Beale?" Banner
asked.
Beca cocked her eyebrow and looked Chloe directly in the eye, smirk firmly in
place as she replied, "Last night."
A/N: So there we go. Another chapter so you guys know I plan on sticking around. A little character development and what not. I'm doing my best to combine the personalities of the Bellas and the Avengers. Let me know what you guys think.