So after going back and rereading my last chapter, I was horribly embarrassed to find so many mistakes. The idea had hit me so quickly and I had gotten so excited about it that I forgot to proofread. I know, I'm shaking my head too. But now that I have actually been able to plan out the story a little bit and have a general direction in which way I am going, I hopefully won't be having anywhere near the amount of mistakes as I did last chapter.
Well happy reading! =]
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Charlie looked around the beige walls of the small conference room she was seated in. The room was a plainly furnished room with a conference table with about ten chairs around it. She wondered if the meeting was going to be held in here. She hoped not because the room still smelled like wet paint, which didn't surprise her much after hearing the story behind the facility she was sitting in. S.H.I.E.L.D had recently put the finishing touches on this section of their new facility that was based out of Iowa. The one fact Charlie had come across about the still in progress facility was that the entire building was designed by Tony Stark. It was even disguised as Stark Production Plant. Most of the tech that the Iron Man had put in his other structures, throughout the United States, was now in this facility. What this exactly meant, Charlie hadn't been sure because she had only been transported to this new building only two days ago. Director Fury had finally deemed her ready to be introduced into the program, and introduced to her new colleagues.
Leaning back in the chair she was sitting in, Charlie looked down at the polished wood table and sighed a sigh of relief. Finally, she thought. The past year had been nonstop working, planning, moving, and training. Not that she hadn't been used to it because of her previous training but when she had been living in the little cabin with Creena, everything had been routine. Even the training exercises that Creena had set up to test Charlie for the unexpected were still only that, training exercises.
After that monumental day one year ago, where Creena had announced the plan was to finally be put into action, everything had been such a blur. The ridiculously long list of tasks Creena and she had to complete, and then the tasks she had to complete by herself, seemed to have been never ending. Throughout the entire process, it had become more and more obvious how much of the plan had already been laid out. It was obvious to Charlie, after some time, how much work Meanion and Creena had put into laying the foundation for her to succeed, which terrified her. There were years of preparation that Charlie had no knowledge of before this past year. And it had all come to her attention while they had prepared her to be snatched up by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Creena had laid out exactly what Charlie was supposed to do and say. Much of the information about their past life Charlie had already memorized due to her time at the university. Together, they had planned how Charlie and her powers were going to be discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. They made sure it was in a way that would make her seem impressive but still controllable. S.H.I.E.L.D was all about having control over their agents currently because some of their more imperative agents resisted any sort of control at all. It had been organized that after Creena had died and Charlie had come into her "inheritance" (which ended up being way more than was legal), Charlie would be put into a situation that would call upon Charlie's special abilities in a public place.
Charlie still rolled her eyes at the slightly too theatrical stage that had been laid out by Creena and Meanion in downtown Denver. "Coincidentally" S.H.I.E.L.D had already been in the area because they had been getting readings of out of Earth's atmosphere travel to the exact place Charlie had been staying. A few car bombs and Charlie catching said cars out of thin air was enough to catch S.H.I.E.L.D's attention in a strong way. She had spent less than another 24 hours in her hotel room, before a S.H.I.E.L.D agent was at her doorstep to bring her in. Charlie still couldn't figure out how S.H.I.E.L.D hadn't figured out that they had been played because it seemed pretty obvious to her but they had bought it easily enough.
She had left her hotel room that she had been living in for a month and had been taken to one of the many underground training facilities that were apart of S.H.I.E.L.D's organization. She had been staying in the hotel since the funeral for Creena who had "died suddenly due to an unexpected heart attack". Charlie still wasn't sure how exactly they had gotten away with that but Creena had produced a near exact human replica of herself that had all the signs of death by heart attack. That had been one of the harder parts of the past year. It hadn't been saying bye to Creena that was hard, but pretending to the EMT's that had arrived at their small cabin that she had found her adoptive mother dead in her bed. She had to fake the tears and fake the emotion. Charlie hadn't ever had to do anything like that and even though she had assured Creena that it was going to be very easy, it wasn't.
After Creena's death had been announced, though very few humans knew who she was, there had been a phony funeral and Charlie had been immediately contacted by Creena's lawyer. This had been the first time that Charlie had even known that Creena had a lawyer but alas there he was. She had been surprised to say the least. This is when Meanion and Creena's hardwork had really started to show itself to Charlie.
The whole situation after Creena's "death" had been one surprise after another. Charlie had suddenly come into a very large sum of human money. This had been extremely helpful for Charlie's survival. There had always been food when it was allowed and a place to stay. She was suddenly thrust into a world without any guidance at all. Creena had prepped her for this part, but it had helped little when it came to the real thing.
Charlie put her hand in her pocket and ran her fingers over her first act of disobedience after she had been left on her own; a small white iPod that she hadn't been allowed after she had returned from the university. When she had finally been left alone, she had walked into the nearest store and asked where she could buy one. Now the small device rarely left her side. Charlie grinned as she yanked the headphones out of her pocket but stopped as the door at the other end of the room opened.
"-another member of the team?" came a haughty voice from behind Fury's tall form that had just entered the room.
"Yes, Stark and here she is. Meet Agent Rollans," Fury said waving in four people.
First walked in Tony Stark who Charlie had seen before on the little television she had watched over the past month and at the university. He had dark hair and a strange glowing spot under his t-shirt in the middle of his chest, which Charlie assumed was the thing that was keeping him alive and helped him power the Iron Man suit. Stark was followed by a medium height man who reminded her of a professor who taught one of her classes. He had messy hair, his glasses were tucked into his shirt, khaki slacks and worn, scuffed dress shoes. His eyes were drawn and tired looking, with dark circles rimming his sockets. Charlie was at a loss at who this was; she didn't recognize him at all.
The next man that followed was tall, handsome, and impressive. Blonde hair, with cool eyes and a stern look adorned his face. This man carried himself much differently than the others; a sense of authority rolled off of him like it was his cologne. Charlie had a feeling this was the Captain America that she had heard of already. The last of the four was wearing the standard S.H.I.E.L.D uniform that Charlie had refused to wear from day one. He had muscles for days and had an intimidating scowl marring his attractive features.
All four men peered at her with confused looks, obviously doubting that she was their new teammate. Charlie gave the men a small smile as Fury continued explaining the current situation.
"Take a seat gentleman, there are some new developments that you need to be brought up on," stated Fury looking around at the people sitting at the table, "As you may have noticed, this is the first time we have brought you all back in at the same time since New York. I know most of you keep in contact outside of S.H.I.E.L.D, and some of you I keep a constant communication with."
Fury took a seat at the head of the conference table and folded his hands in front of him, "There is a potential threat that we have been monitoring for quite some time now. We haven't been too worried about it, as it has been very constant for the past few years. We were also slightly otherwise preoccupied."
The men at the table all exchanged knowing looks before turning their attention back to Fury.
"As of recently, the stagnant threat has made some very new, very frightening developments. Some of you have bits and pieces of the information but we intend to bring you all up to speed. Because this threat is coming from somewhere outside our planet, we decided to call you all in. Better safe than sorry," Fury stated matter-of-factly looking at each person directly in the eye.
"Well no offense Fury, but what does that have to do with Miss Teeny Bopper over there," Stark said leaning forward in his chair and jabbing his thumb in Charlie's direction, "I mean I know we want to be more prepared than we were the last time some psycho homicidal maniac decides they want to pick a fight but come on! Are we just picking people up off the street now?"
Fury rubbed a hand over his brow in obvious annoyance, before continuing, "Agent Rollans has a special set of skills that will make her very valuable in the Avengers Initiative." The professor looking man peered past Stark at Charlie with curious eyes that made Charlie uncomfortable. She looked down at the table avoiding the awkward eye contact.
"So what? Is she going to attract them to death? Don't we already have Natasha for that?" said Stark sarcastically still looking at Fury.
"Don't let Nat hear you say that Stark," said the man wearing the S.H.I.E.L.D uniform crossing his arms over his chest.
"Let me hear what?" came a feminine voice from the door. Agent Romanoff walked into the conference room and sat gracefully down next to the man who had just spoken for her. Charlie had already met Agent Romanoff when she had arrived. Natasha had been introduced to Charlie upon her arrival, so Charlie assumed she had already known about Charlie's joining of the Avengers Initiative. The woman raised an eyebrow at Stark.
"Nothing, nothing," said Stark vaguely, looking back towards Fury.
"Even though everyone is not present, I wanted to make introductions and bring everyone up to date. Agent Rollans, this is Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Agent Barton, and Bruce Banner," Fury said pointing to each man, "And you already have met Agent Romanoff. There are two other members to the team that you will meet when they arrive tomorrow."
"Sir, you mean one. The only member missing is Thor," said Agent Romanoff quietly looking at Fury confused.
"Yes, well this is another fact that I was planning on sharing with you today. Thor will be returning tomorrow by using the Tesseract, but he will not be returning alone. He will be bringing back another to join our efforts to keep this world safe," Fury said sternly looking around at the members seated at the table. Charlie was confused by Fury's demeanor and was wondering who else would be joining them. She had only heard of one of the gods helping S.H.I.E.L.D defend the planet.
"Loki will be returning with him," Fury stated calmly.
The uproar was instantaneous.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LOKI?!"
"Sir, do you really think this is a good idea?"
"Director Fury you must be mistaken."
"Reindeer Games is playing on our side now? Ha fat chance!"
Charlie looked around at the obvious outrage pouring off the people sitting around her. All except one, Bruce Banner was looking very nervous as the other members of his team yelled at Fury about the statement he just made. She was trying to remember who Loki was and why his joining the team was causing this reaction.
The yelling only continued for a few more seconds before Fury had decided it was enough. He slammed his fist down on the table hard with his first word, "YES! That is what has been decided!"
The rest of the group quieted and stared. Some looked at Fury as if he had lost his mind, others looked as if they could barely contain their rage. Then it dawned on Charlie, Loki was the crazy alien that had tried to blow up part of New York City last time. He was the homicidal maniac that they had been talking about before. No wonder they're pissed, she thought looking at the people around her, But why is Fury bringing him back here?
"Thor has informed me that Loki will know more than any of us about this potential threat. Especially if it has anything to do with the enemies he was related with the last time he was here," Fury said sternly attempting to keep the outcries against the current plan to a minimum.
"But Sir, wouldn't that be enough reason alone to keep him from coming back? He might still have contact with the current threat. How do we know he won't turn on us?" Natasha asked her calm façade back across her face.
"When I say he will be back, that doesn't mean that he will be walking around freely without any sort of security," said Fury his eyes flicking quickly to Charlie and back to Natasha. If Natasha had caught the glance she wasn't letting on but Charlie had sure noticed. Security? Of the maniac? That made about as much sense as locking this Loki character and Agent Barton in the same room together for five minutes, since the guy looked like he was about to put his fists through Fury's face.
"We will be taking the necessary precautions but we are not going to be discussing them now. I just wanted to introduce you to the new plans, and the new teammates. You will all be getting your individual assignments tonight or tomorrow morning. Thor and Loki will be arriving late tonight. If you wish to be present, they will be arriving in the courtyard across from the Stark Production Plant," said Fury rolling his eyes at the last part. Everyone stood up and started heading towards the door. Agent Barton was still fuming but doing it silently. Natasha was already gone and Steve Rogers followed quickly after. He didn't seem like the friendliest of sorts. Charlie stood up and realized that Bruce Banner was the only one left in the room. He looked at her as if he had a million questions and the look confused the hell out of her.
"I apologize for not giving a better greeting before but we were all shocked by Director Fury's announcement," he said quietly holding out his hand in a greeting, "I'm Dr. Bruce Banner."
Charlie shook his hand lightly and stared, This is odd, she thought.
"Um.. I'm Charlie. Not Agent Rollans. I'm hoping the whole, me being a part of your guys team works out," she said awkwardly as the doctor gave her a small ironic smile.
"Well I just wanted to introduce myself personally just in case… Well if something happens that is," he said just as awkwardly his smile turning hard. He turned and headed toward the door, "I hope that isn't something that we will have to worry about but you never know with me." He shrugged and walked out the door.
Charlie stared. What the heck was that all about?
Fury popped his head back into the conference room and barked, "Agent Rollans, I need you to meet in the main work floor with me and Agent Romanoff immediately. I need to go over your first assignment."
Charlie nodded and walked out of the tiny conference room. In the hall she took a deep breath. She had forgotten the smell of the new paint but now she felt her worries had just multiplied by many.