Author's note: Alright, folks, this is where it gets interesting. I commend you if you've stuck with me this long, and you will be rewarded, because it only gets better from here. Wait until chapter seven! I shan't keep you any longer, however. Enjoy!
I sat in my room, staring intently at the blueprints. The A/C was blasting through the vents of the helicarrier, being as we were flying pretty near Utah right then. I'd been studying the prints for days, but I couldn't figure out anything useful. There didn't seem to be any way around the explosive device rigged to go "boom" if I tried to get the necklace off. All I could figure out was a way to tweak the voltage. (What? So I studied engineering in high school.) Well, it's better than nothing. I thought to myself. Now all I needed was a way to open the control panel…
"Oh, naughty girl." I practically jumped out of my skin. Loki was leaning against my wall, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't there before.
"How the hell did you get in here?" I asked. He smiled smugly.
"Easy. All I have to do is snap my fingers, and" He disappeared in an instant from the spot in front of me. "I can teleport just about anywhere." He whispered into my ear from behind. I jumped up and ran to the other side of the room. He chuckled. "I shudder to think what Fury would do if he were to find you with those blueprints. I don't believe that collar is meant to be a temporary accessory."
"Of course it is." I said, twitching. "Fury said he'd remove it once I learn to be a functioning member of society."
"And what reason do you have to trust him?" He replied, sitting down on the bed. "What has he done for you, other than steal you from your home, confiscate your property and fit you with that lovely piece of jewelry you're trying so hard to remove?" I said nothing. Everything he was saying… it was all technically true. "Not to mention." He continued. "At what point are you counting on becoming a 'functioning member of society'? Do you really think you'll be able to turn yourself around like that? And do you really want to?" I swallowed nervously.
"Did you want something with me?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. Fury is calling a meeting of the Avengers."
"So he sent you to get me?" I raised one eyebrow.
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean, not exactly?"
"Oh, I only thought I'd inform you that the Avengers were meeting. What you decide on doing with the information is entirely up to you." He stood up and checked an imaginary watch on his wrist. "Ah. Fury's doors will be opening soon. Of course, once a door is opened any manner of creatures could slip through…" He left through the door, no less. Gee… subtlety really isn't his thing. I waited a minute, then stepped out the door. I walked the halls until I got to Fury's office, and slipped in after Stark, hiding myself behind a stand of potted plants. Used to be furniture in Fury's office was barer than Bruce's lab, but he seemed to be… redecorating lately. It seemed all the Avengers had been gathered. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Loki, Rose, even my Bruce; The Hulk.
"Can I just ask why we're all here?" Stark asked, addressing Fury. "Pepper and I were in the middle of something, if you know what I mean."
"Yes, well." Captain America, or "Steve" as I call him, said. "Despite Stark's subtleties, I think we'd all like to know why we're here."
"You're here because of this." Fury said. He pressed a button on a small remote in his hand, and a projection took up the window in the back of the room. It was a woman, sitting in fancy leather office chair behind a desk. Her hair was long, and black like her eyes. Her skin was fair, and her lips as red as blood. Hell, anyone who didn't know me would've thought we were related.
"Hello, Nick." She said with a devious smile. "It's me again." Wendy saw Fury scowl at the woman in the projection. "If I did everything right, you should be watching this about now. No doubt you have your little "Avengers" huddled around the screen, too. Good. Because I'm here to deliver a message; I'm back. And this time, I will succeed." The video blipped out.
"Who was that, and is she single?" Stark asked.
"And what about Pepper?" Bruce said. Stark raised a finger as if in protest, then promptly lowered it.
"That," Fury said. "Was Charlotte Vanderburg, codenamed the Evening Star. A very well known, very dangerous woman who I've dealt with in the past. We picked up the transmission this morning."
"She called you "Nick." Stark remarked. "Nobody calls you Nick."
"Like I said, I've dealt with her in the past." Nobody pressed the issue.
"What threat does she pose?" Bruce asked. "She said this time. What happened last time?"
"She nearly assumed control of all the world's governments."
"And how did she do that?" Loki asked. "She doesn't look very powerful to me.
"Charlotte is a mutant, born with some very… interesting powers. She can crawl into your mind and use you like a puppet, controlling you from the inside out." Clint shuddered, and Natasha put a hand on his shoulder. Fury continued. "Her powers started to show in high-school. She used them to get back at bullies, teachers she decided she didn't like. Eventually, the authorities caught wind of it. But by then it was too late; three of her classmates were found dead. Charlotte was apprehended, and spent eight years in a mental hospital. When she finally got out, she lay low. Played the goody-goody for a few years. But all the while she was amassing a following. And by the time she made her move, she had a goon in every branch of the U.S. government. She almost had the entire country under her boot. But S.H.I.E.L.D stormed the white-house in a last ditch effort to stop her. A couple of agents cornered her on the roof. And she jumped. The last I saw her, she was lying on the ground with a snapped neck, in a pool of her own blood."
"Then how is she here now?" Natasha asked. "If she died the last time you saw her…"
"Necromancy." Thor piped up. Everyone looked at him. "Necromancy, magic which is used to control the dead. It is a rare magic, but not uncommon. We may have a necromancer on our hands."
"Well, would you look at that?" Loki scoffed. "A thought actually managed to penetrate that thick skull of yours."
"I would watch your words, brother." Thor growled. He stepped closer to Loki, hands poised above his hammer, Mijolnir.
"Calm it down, boys." Fury said. Rose held tight to Loki's arm and Natasha did her part to subdue Thor, albeit with some looks from Clint. "At the moment our enemy is Charlotte. We don't need to be fighting each other."
"Ah-choo!" I sneezed from behind the plant. Oh crap.
"Unless ficusses developed nasal passages and no one told me, we've got an uninvited guest." Stark said. Thor walked up to the plant and pulled me out from behind it by the back of my shirt, lifting my feet off the ground.
"Put me the hell down!" I shouted as the collar buzzed and crackled. I saw Bruce looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He didn't look surprised in the least. Figures.
"Trescott, what were you doing back there?" Fury asked testily.
"Wouldja get goldilocks over here to put me down first?" Stark snorted, and Loki gave a little chuckle. Fury sighed, and nodded, and I was returned to the floor. Fury looked at me, expectantly. At the same time, Loki was giving me the same look. Let's see… which did I least want pissed at me, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, or the god of mischief? "Loki told me about the meeting. I thought I'd swing by." Just as I had expected, Loki tensed and glared daggers at me, but Rose tightened her grip on his arm. With him on such a short leash, I was pretty much guaranteed safe for the moment. "So." I said. "What're you planning to do about this "Star" Woman?"
"I was getting to that." Fury said. "At the moment, the best thing we can do is to arm ourselves."
"Got it." Stark said, making a move to stand up from his chair.
"With knowledge." Fury finished firmly. "But we will need your help. See if you can track where that video came from."
"That, I can also do." Stark said. He stood up and moved over to one of the computers, and he began to type furiously. "Honestly, Fury, when're you going to upgrade to 3D projections? This whole "typing" thing feels too much like manual labor." Fury ignored him, turning to the others.
"The rest of you, ready yourselves. Trescott?" I froze, in the middle of trying to sneak out of the room.
"Yeah?" I turned my head.
"That means you too."
"Say what?" I stepped away from the door, facing Fury. "You mean… you want me on this mission?"
"Like it or not, you became a part of the mission when you snuck in here. None of the information I disclosed was meant to leave this room. So the way I see it, it's help, or die."
"Isn't there supposed to be a "cake" option somewhere?" I joked nervously.
"Not today."
"Done." Stark said triumphantly from his seat.
"How did you do that so fast?" Steve asked, genuinely amazed.
"Oh, I see where you're confused. See, in modern days, we don't use paper anymore. We have these things called "computers", and-"
"Stark?" Fury said. "Shut it."
"I was just trying to help." Stark said, holding up his hands in mock-defense as he stepped away to let Fury look at the computer.
"New York." Fury said. "She's in Queens, New York."
"What's she doing in Queens?" Steve asked.
"God knows. But whatever she's doing there, we've got her right down to the address. Natasha, Wendy?" I looked up, surprised that my name had been called. "Prepare for a stealth mission."