Nicole stalked into the meeting room, all furious professionalism. Inside was a sleek, oblong table surrounded by shiny swivel chairs that were, fortunately for anyone sitting next to Jesse and Rowan, attached firmly to the ground.

Three ladies were already seated with closed briefing folders in front of them. Two of the ladies were Jesse and Rowan. The third was a professional, if petite girl with naturally highlighted sandy hair that curled slightly and clear, blue eyes.

"Welcome ladies," said Nicole as she swept in, taking her place at the head of the table. Behind her, Rowan mimicked her and Jesse barely smothered her giggles.

"Lea," said Nicole, pointedly looking at the third girl and ignoring the other two, "glad to have you." Lea smiled slightly, a gentle air of confusion about her face.

"Happy to be here Agent Grey, but," she paused, biting her lip, "why am I here?" Nicole gave her a sympathetic look,

"Director's orders. He has a job for us."

"What is it?" asked Rowan excitedly. Nicole picked up a slim remote, dimming the lights as a screen behind her flickered into life.

"Have you ever heard of the Avenger's Initiative?" Nicole asked. The other three shook their heads. "I didn't think so. It was a top secret project from a while ago-"

"If you knew we didn't know, why did you bother asking?" interrupted Rowan. Nicole glared at her, but otherwise ignored the interruption,

"... known only to Director Fury, the board and more recently, myself. The Avenger's Initiative is the formation of a highly elite… response team."

"Response team for what?" asked Lea softly as Nicole paused. Nicole took a deep breath,

"A response team for the world." The other three exchanged looks.

"And who," asked Jesse, "qualified to be on this Initiative?"

"DID I MAKE IT?!" blurted Rowan excitedly, spinning around a full 360 in her chair for effect. Nicole gave her a withering look,

"No." Rowan's face fell and Jesse patted her consolingly on the back, saying,

"I would have put you on the team." Rowan turned to her with the look of a hope, but Nicole interrupted the moment,

"Anyway, despite, Rowan not making the team, there are several potential members."

"Why are they potential?" asked Jesse and Nicole gave vent to another long suffering sigh.

"Because Nick Fury only ever told one of them about the existence of the project and at the time he didn't qualify to be on the team. Either way, in light of recent events, we have been hand chosen by Director Fury to be on Operation Retrieval, a five phase mission of retrieval."

"Retrieval of what?" asked Lea.

"The Avengers."

"Cool," breathed Rowan and Jesse.

"But why me?" asked Lea. "I'm in the healing ward and scientific operations. I'm not a missions agent."

"I know that, but Director Fury doesn't seem to care about what your 'division' entails. He chose each of us based on our past performances to see who would be most capable of getting the individual Avengers here.

"Each of us has been assigned a phase of the operation. I've called you here today on Director Fury's orders to debrief you all on your missions and send you on your separate ways. Understood?"

The three nodded silently.

"Good, then let's begin," Nicole turned to face the screen. "Phase 1: The Soldier. Lea, this is you. You're job is quite simple actually. You are to fetch Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America-"

"SHUT. UP." exclaimed Rowan. "Captain America? As in THE CAPTAIN AMERICA?!" Nicole rolled her eyes,

"You know more than one?"

"CAN I SWITCH WITH LEA?! PLEASE!"

"No! No switching jobs! Now shut up!" Nicole continued. "We have his current address and his training area. He rarely ventures outside of these two areas.

"The coordinates of both are in your folder. When we're done here, you go, get a ride and find him and bring him back. Understood?" Lea nodded. "Good. Read the folder onroute."

Nicole now turned to Rowan and Jesse,

"Against my advice, Director Fury has decided to team you two up for Phase 2: The Assassin." Nicole looked at them as though contemplating whether or not she would follow through with Fury's orders or give the job to someone more capable. Then the moment passed and she continued,

"Have you heard of Minx?" The two girls looked at each other, eyes wide. Finally, Jesse asked,

"As in Most Wanted in over sixty eight countries and organizations including S.H.I.E.L.D.? That Minx?"

"That Minx," said Nicole gravely, "apparently she too qualifies. Fury believes you two can… er… make her see the error of her ways. We've hired her several times before and Director Fury thinks she's 'warming up to us'.

"You two have coordinates and tracker identification codes for her in your folders, which you will also read onroute."

"What about the other phases?" asked Rowan curiously.

"I," Nicole said, "am assigned Phase 3: Male of Metal."

"What? Like Iron Man?" asked Lea in confusion.

"Yes, actually, exactly like Iron Man. Fury's attempt at wit, I believe. Either way, Coulson is Phase 4: Gamma."

"Who's he collecting?" asked Rowan excitedly.

"The Hulk. And Fury is taking on Phase 5: Secret." The other three girls facing Nicole frowned.

"Secret?" asked Jesse. "Who is he getting then?" Nicole sighed and shrugged helplessly,

"I wasn't confided in on that point. He just said that he'd be taking it since it was the least likely to succeed."

"Well that's cryptic," said Lea, deep in thought.

"Yes is it," said Nicole, falling into pondering as well. Then she straightened, "But that's not our mission so we don't need to worry about it.

"It's early and there's a full day ahead for all of us ladies, so go get yourself a ride and get on your missions, keeping in mind this is a Security Code Red Operation. Keep your headsets on Fury's private channel, whose frequency is also found in your folders."

She paused, looking at the three agents in front of her with grim satisfaction.

"Well, you have your missions! Off you get!" The three stood, Rowan and Jesse racing each other out in their eagerness to get going. Lea, however, paused in the doorway, looking back.

"Agent Grey?"

"Yes Agent Charleson?"

"Why now? Why not before, when the Tesseract first appeared?" Nicole sighed, letting her exhaustion show for the first time.

"I don't know," she said wearily. "I just don't know."