Welp, had this lying around so figured I'd post it. Got the idea from a manga/webtoon "Villains Are Destined to Die" and I've not done a gamer fic before so... enjoy?
Do feel free to harass me to update things in the discord server! discord .gg zGAvS4eHXm
There will be triggers for suicide in later chapters which I will put at the top of said chapters.
"Hey, is she okay?"
"I don't know."
"She hit the floor pretty hard."
"Don't look at me! If she'd rolled properly, she would've ended up on the mat! Not my fault she's got one of the lowest combat scores!"
"Shouldn't someone take her to the infirmary?"
"Oh, hey! I think she's waking up!"
W-What… What happened? I cringed as my head throbbed, reaching a hand up and blinking open my eyes to see blurred figures gathered around me and hovering over me in concern. Something was wrong though. Everything felt strange and it was hard to tell with my vision swirling dangerously but it almost looked like there was something hovering just over their heads. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision and ease my headache as I pushed myself up onto my elbow. Everything felt off though in a way I couldn't explain. Maybe my head injury was the cause but… But I don't remember how I got here… Or where here is…
"What… happened?" I muttered, though frowning slightly because… That's not my voice. "I… What's wrong with my voice?"
The figures around me turned to one another before a louder voice cut through the murmurs of those around me.
"Why are you all standing around? Get back to your training! Jenson!"
"Yes, sir!" A figure near me said, snapping to attention as I grimaced at how loud their voices sounded.
"Fifteen laps around the perimeter for excessive force on your opponent."
"Yes, sir," Jenson bit out, rushing off as the others around me dispersed to go back to what they were doing before the apparent leader approached and eyed me.
"Sterling, can you stand?"
I wasn't sure who he was speaking to and my head was only getting worse. I groaned and curled slightly forward, holding my head until a hand rested on my shoulder to stop me. I reluctantly opened my eyes, hoping my vision would stay still long enough to see who was in front of me.
"Hey, are you okay?"
I blinked hard, staring back into the frowning face of someone very familiar. "You're…"
He raised a brow.
"...that arrow guy," I breathed, surprising him before promptly passing out as he caught me.
"Sterling? Sterling, hey!"
Hawkeye…
When I woke up again, the confusion remained though my headache had dulled to a small throb. I sat up in a bed I didn't recognize and a room that was obviously an infirmary of some sort. Everything still felt off, however, and I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember what had happened for me to have ended up here. I was… walking home and passed by that construction building and then… I got the vague sense something had happened and my head ached terribly for a moment before there was a knock on the door, drawing my eyes to the man standing there.
He was the physician, made obvious by his white lab coat and ID tag pinned to his breast pocket but I didn't recognize him as he approached. He came over to my bedside and sat on a rolling stool, grabbing a clipboard and idly drawing the pen from his pocket to make notes.
"How are you feeling, Sterling?"
"Who?" I questioned, drawing an odd look from the man as he eyed me for a second before looking back at his clipboard.
"I've been told you were in a training accident. Got knocked about on the head after missing the mats. Reports from your other trainees said you were unconscious for a few minutes before waking up rather dazed. Mr. Barton then intervened and when you fell unconscious again, he brought you here so I could take a look at you. Though, I highly doubt a small shove off the mats could cause any excessive damage."
I went to speak—knowing that whoever this Sterling person was, they couldn't be me—when my gaze caught on something just over the doctor's head. It was a number.
-2
I wasn't sure what it meant or why I was seeing it until the doctor cleared his throat and drew my attention back to him. He looked slightly annoyed but pulled out a penlight from his pocket and started to look me over properly. I winced at the light being shined in my eyes before he put it away and scribbled something on the clipboard.
"You have a mild concussion and will be exempt from the rest of the physical training course for today. I have some mild painkillers if you'd like, though do keep the amnesia jokes to a minimum."
"Jokes?" I choked out, more than confused as he turned to grab the medication he mentioned and I finally found my voice to question what was happening. "I'm not joking a-and what do you mean amnesia? You're talking to me like I'm this Sterling person but I—"
There was another knock and this time that familiar person from before stepped in, silencing me in an instant. The doctor sighed in apparent relief, placing a bottle of pills in my hand and standing to leave.
"Perfect. Mr. Barton, if you could escort Miss Sterling back to her training, that'd be great."
"N-No, wait—"
The doctor slipped away though, leaving the Hawkeye to roll his eyes and look over at me.
"You heard him, Sterling. Your physical course is over for today but you know the drill. I've got somewhere to be and only meant to stop by and check on your injury. You're okay, right?"
I nodded dumbly, gaze more focused on the number over his head.
3
I got up, clinging tightly to the pill bottle in my hand as I followed after him and tried to understand what was going on. He's… He's Hawkeye. The Avenger. A-And they keep calling me Sterling and talking about training. What is happening? I-I was just walking home from work! How the hell did I end up in this mess? Why am I here? A door was opened for me and Hawkeye raised a brow, eyeing me.
"You sure you're okay? You look a bit pale."
"I-I'm… fine," I managed, awkwardly sliding past him and into the lecture hall where the next course would be. "Um, t-thanks?"
He grunted and left, sparing me one last strange gaze and leaving me to find a seat in the room. Whatever the lecture was on, I couldn't recall. I hadn't even brought things to take notes and just stared as more and more people wandered in and I saw more numbers. Every single person had one. Most were 0 and a few were in the negatives; one of which being the person who'd been punished in the last course. Yet, none of them made any sense and as soon as the lecture was done, I hurried from the room and ducked into the nearest bathroom.
I splashed water on my face and clenched my eyes shut as I hovered over the sink, gripping the porcelain tightly. "S-Something's wrong. Very, very wrong."
I lifted my gaze to the mirror and felt my heart stop. The person staring back at me wasn't me. My short blonde hair and blue eyes had changed. No, everything had changed. That's why it all felt wrong. This wasn't my body. The long, brown hair tied back in a ponytail and green eyes weren't mine. My nose, face, and lightly tanned skin weren't mine. I was a completely different person. No, more than that…
"I-I'm not in my world… am I?"
Turns out, no. I wasn't. I was no longer a bumbling thirty-year-old struggling to make rent while working a dead-end job as my dream to be a baker just drifted away in the wind. Instead, I was now Aiden Sterling, a bumbling thirty-year-old struggling to keep up with younger trainees who applied for a role at Shield. And yes. That Shield. The group that helped gather up the Avengers, who trained agents and spies to hunt down superhuman people and put an end to Hydra. That Shield.
If I had my way, I would have left the second I realized this. However, I'd also heard the rumors that those who knew about Shield and their inner workings like us trainees, didn't get to just quit once they knew. Did I believe that they were killed or had their memories erased or whatever other nonsense people said? No. Was I going to test that theory? Also no. That being said, I wasn't exactly trying either.
Sterling hadn't been the best at being a trainee even before I somehow took over her body. Her scores—just like mine—were only slightly above average for the initial picking of trainees. Then, quickly became the lowest or close to the lowest, after the fact. The only plus side to me ending up the same way—I was not a combatant in any form—was that we both tended to go unnoticed. This was key to my survival… or so I thought.
See, I wasn't stupid enough to think that some average person like me who happened to know how the Avengers movies turn out, would be in any way important or helpful to what was going on. Spilling what I knew would just turn me into a target or would get me killed and the last thing I wanted in a world full of super-powered crazies was to be noticed. So, being average and unnoticeable should have been key to surviving. There was just one problem.
Those damn numbers.
Early on, I just ignored them. Floating numbers didn't mean a thing to me and would have just made me sound crazier than I already did. Rumors had already gotten out that after my head injury, I was acting strange and may have actually had amnesia. Which wasn't my fault. Being put into someone else's body with zero clue who they were or how they acted was bound to confuse someone. The point was, those numbers held no real meaning to me at first, given I didn't know what they were.
I figured it out after getting a hit in on my normal sparring partner. The same man who'd gone out of his way to be excessive in fighting me and gave me said head injury, had already been in the negatives but one lucky punch dropped his number even lower. The opposite happened when I actually made a friend as well. One of the other lower-ranked students who rarely interacted with anyone had found I was the perfect person to work with. I was quiet and only bothered them when needed. Slowly, their number went up.
This helped me recognize what they were for. The numbers were the amount of favorability someone had towards me. To make it simpler, the numbers showed how much someone liked or hated me. Why could I see these numbers? I hadn't the slightest. Were they helpful to me in any way? Sort of. They let me know who hated me and when something I said or did was beneficial or harmful to my relationship with them. It wasn't exactly life-saving information though, and in a world where any moment could become life or death, these numbers were useless.
Nothing else really significant had revealed itself to me either, other than those numbers. So, I assumed it was just a fluke or some weird trick. Once they were put in the back of my mind, going about the rest of the training was far easier. I did what I could but only enough to get by. There was no point in trying. The good trainees got further training and would eventually become agents who did their own missions or worked closely with the higher-ups or even the Avengers themselves… once the Avengers team was made, anyway.
The whole thing was kept secret from the trainees but after a few years of training, my group of trainees was selected and separated into the great, the decent, and the basic. I was a part of the basic group and became a general office gopher. I handed out coffee, filed documents, typed reports, or added them to the system. I wasn't low enough to turn into janitorial staff or anything but I didn't have the skills to do more than the bare minimum. In fact, the only way I would even leave headquarters would be if something happened that required a large group of us to go out into the field.
It was just my luck that this ended up happening after five more months of peace. The only positive side to things was that it let me know where I was in the Marvel timeline. New Mexico wasn't bad other than the heat of the day and the chilly temps at night. Still, I was ever wary of what was to come. Knowing that this was where Thor would undoubtedly come to try and reclaim his hammer we were studying had me a little uneasy. I may have been nothing more than a grunt working for Shield, but that wouldn't matter when he came barreling through.
It wasn't long before he did show up, summoning lightning and a downpour of rain in his wake. The second the announcement over the comms came in that we had a breach, I was sticking close to Agent Coulson. He was the only Avengers character I was willing to be friendly with while I was here and that was simply because he was the safest. Until Loki—I pushed the thought aside for now and simply rushed out of the trailer after the agent with an umbrella. He gave me a glance but turned his gaze to the crater we were standing above with a frown.
"You should wait in the trailer, Agent Sterling."
"It's going to rain, sir," I replied idly, shuffling slightly as I look down into the crater myself. "And I don't care for waiting in an enclosed space while some muscle head runs around attacking people."
The number on his head ticked up from 15 to 20 as he cracked a half smile that quickly vanished when we went to check the tent where Thor had gotten in. I winced, knowing the guards would be scolded later for messing up so quickly and for the damage being caused because of Thor. Then, rain started to fall as Coulson began barking orders to nearby agents and pulled out his radio.
"I need eyes up high. With a gun."
I followed Coulson as he moved back through the tunnels, working his way toward where the hammer was waiting. I grew a little more uneasy, knowing that I was technically following him straight to Thor but I knew that I would still be safe for a while longer. I don't have a weapon. I'm also a woman. Thor was always a bit… old school. He won't hurt me and he doesn't try hurting Coulson either. I'm still safe.
I snapped open the umbrella as Coulson and I stepped outside, moving toward the center tent where he'd been summoned by Agent Sitwell.
"So, what do we got?"
"There's a massive electromagnetic surge coming off that thing. Systems are barely coping."
Coulson gave it a glance before bringing up his radio. "Barton, talk to me."
"You want me to slow him down, sir? Or are you sending in more guys for him to beat up?"
"I'll let you know."
It wasn't a minute later that Barton chimed in again. "You better call it, Coulson, 'cause I'm starting to root for the guy."
My umbrella opened once more as we stood above where the hammer was and where Thor had stopped. A quick glance upward showed me where Barton was waiting but my gaze didn't linger for long.
"Last chance, sir."
"Wait. I want to see this."
Thor tried to pull the hammer up and my grip on the umbrella tightened as he failed, letting out a roar of frustration before collapsing to his knees. Coulson watched for only a moment longer before speaking through the radio.
"All right. Show's over. Ground units, move in."
Agents flooded the crater and hauled Thor to his feet, though the man gave no resistance. He was shut away in one of the interrogation rooms full of one-way mirrors and Coulson went to talk to him after a few hours of letting him sit in silence. Thor hadn't said a word even as Coulson stepped out but said agent had caught me staring.
"You want a go?"
I jumped, startled by the offer and nearly dropping the tray of drinks I had as he took one. "Sir?"
He shrugged, humming as he sipped the drink and eyed his pager. "I don't know. He doesn't seem the mercenary type and who knows? Maybe he'd open up to you."
I hesitated, uncertain about this. "Because I'm a woman?"
Coulson glanced at me. "Because you're you."
I wasn't sure what he meant but glanced back over at Thor.
"I'll give you a minute," Coulson offered, waving his pager. "Can't leave him alone for long and sometimes all you need is a different approach."
"Sir, I'm not qualified—"
"Then, just give him a drink," he said, lifting his glass. "If he talks, he talks. If not, then it's no problem. Step out of your comfort zone, Sterling. You don't want to be serving drinks your whole life, do you?"
He stepped away and begrudgingly I picked up the last glass and headed for the interrogation room. It's not that I want to be noticed. I don't. I just… I'm not heartless. I feel bad for him, is all. When I opened the door and heard Thor say goodbye though, a chill went down my spine. Loki. I swallowed thickly and stepped into the room, drawing Thor's sad yet curious gaze.
"Sorry," I apologized first. "Didn't mean to interrupt."
He stiffened slightly and I felt like smacking myself for that response. Idiot. No one would have known Loki was here. Don't say anything stupid. I lifted up the glass, brushing off what I'd said and hoping he would too.
"I brought you something to drink. It's lemonade."
I offered it to him but he didn't take it, leaving me to just lightly place it on the ground in front of him. When I straightened though, my eyes automatically went to the number over his head.
-1
I mentally grimaced. Of course, he wouldn't like me. I'm a part of the group harassing him and attacking him when he just came to get back what was his. I turned my gaze away, wishing Coulson would come back already or at least wishing I could see outside the room in the hopes he was waiting and watching. I looked back at Thor uneasily not knowing what I should say or what would be safe to say. I can't give away that I know anything. God, I shouldn't say anything anyway but…
"Is it yours?" I blurted out, though everything in me wanted to just leave. "The hammer."
"Mjölnir," he corrected; the first thing he'd said since being captured.
"Oh. From Norse mythology, right? If it's yours, then are you Thor?"
He straightened in his seat and I grimaced. Idiot! Just shut up! Stop talking!
"Ah, sorry. I don't know much mythology so it's not easy for me to follow. I just…" God this might be a mistake. "If you can't lift the hammer, I think maybe you should reevaluate what's important to you, I guess. Thor might have been this big almighty God but… he's kind too, right?"
The words tumbling out of my mouth sounded stupid to my ears and I was quickly growing more and more embarrassed the longer I stood there in his silence. Looking at the number over his head was the final straw.
"Sorry. Don't listen to me. I don't even know what I'm talking about. Just, um, enjoy your drink," I blurted out, rushing for the door and nearly bumping into Coulson as he raised a brow.
"Everything all right, Sterling?"
"Yup," I answered, bringing a hand to cover my mouth. "Just talking out my ass, sir. R-Respectfully, I mean. Sorry. I-I'm just going to go."
He didn't get to say anything more as I rushed off to distract myself; one thought flying around my head. Why did it go up? Why is it at 4 now? Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?
While I would love to say things improved from there, they kind of didn't. That was just how the Avengers superhero world worked. Things always got worse.
For starters, we left New Mexico nearly ten agents short. I hadn't been there when the metal creature Loki sent down attacked but I was there for the aftermath. I had to attend their funerals, look through and send out the reports, sit in the same helicopter as their covered corpses as we returned to headquarters, and listen to the many apologies Coulson was forced to give to their grieving families. It was the first time I had experienced a death that close to home and I never wanted it to happen again, but when was anyone so lucky?
As it was, Thor's appearance had brought with it a whole new issue. He was a God of unknown proportions and the world didn't like that. The world was scared. Namely, the government and people of Shield. We had no way of fighting them if they chose to come after us and we knew that. Shield had to step up and try to fix this the only way they knew how: stealing technology and creating weapons.
Not everyone was informed of said decisions. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be initially but I had made myself known to the one person who wouldn't let go. Coulson had taken a liking to me and it didn't take his favorability number hitting 30 to tell me that. No. He'd started being friendly in a way that was decidedly… not friendly. He was giving me more work to do.
Within days of accompanying him to New Mexico and helping with the aftermath of the situation, I had been promoted from office grunt to Coulson's office grunt. His… protégé, if you will. Not of my own free will, mind you—given there wasn't exactly a way to refuse—but I was given my own little office space near his and began doing work directly under him instead of being in a group setting.
It was strange at first and I wasn't sure why he'd fought for me to be moved. I'd been informed he had fought for me to get out there given my training results and lack of experience. It didn't make sense to me and questioning him gave me the same answer every time.
"Because you have potential."
I assumed he was just suspicious after my dealing with Thor and not telling him what happened. Though that thinking didn't last long given any and all thinking time I had was soon full of extra lessons. Coulson had demanded I improve in some of the areas I nearly failed in training and got me one-on-one lessons with a few agents in cyber infiltration, firearms, and stunt driving. I hadn't been thrilled but again, couldn't refuse when the agents already made time for me because of him. I was—as he constantly reminded me—too kind to argue and eventually gave up and did as he wanted.
I did surprisingly well too, given I had no real previous experience doing these things in my past. I wanted to be a baker, for God's sake. I didn't know anything about computers other than what basics I learned in a college coding course I took because of a friend. Stunt driving was even more terrifying and while I had handled a gun before thanks to an uncle who had far too much time on his hands, I hoped to never have to use it.
This body though—the actual Sterling—had a good handle on things. She was relatively fit and flexible, had no dietary issues, and had a generally nondescript appearance. She was someone who could act as anyone and would probably get away with it.
It still worried me though. I had some sleepless nights wondering where she had gone and what would happen if she came back. If she was suffocating in the back of my mind somehow or if I was the result of some mental break she had and my past life was fake. It was worse early on but even now I still had the occasional nightmare of her screaming at me to get out of her body.
So, in a way, the extra work was a blessing. It kept me busy, helped me not think about her or what was going to happen in the future. Keeping my head in the books kept my gaze from wandering to the floating numbers over people's heads when I spoke to them; kept me from altering my speech to make the number jump up or down. It was tempting sometimes to do that. To change what I was saying or how I said it to earn more favorability with someone. Coulson himself made it hard sometimes but I somehow managed to keep a lid on it. After all, the nice thing about Coulson was that he appreciated a lack of verbal filter sometimes.
"Have I told you how much I hate you sometimes?"
Coulson cracked a slight smile as we sat in a car outside a rather large skyscraper with a name plastered across the top; a laptop in my lap whose keys I was jabbing.
"I can tell you more often if you like," I rambled on, a furrow in my brows as I glared at the coding on screen. "Lord knows I apparently don't do it often enough."
"Have you gotten in?" He asked, ignoring my complaints. "Or can you walk and type?"
I shot him an annoyed look. "Do I need to walk and type?"
He raised a brow and I sighed.
"Sir."
He hummed as that number above his head jumped from 36 to 37. "I'd prefer it if we dealt with this quickly. We have another appointment, remember?"
He got out of the car and I begrudgingly did the same, balancing the laptop on one arm as I typed with my free hand.
"I'll have you know this is harder with one hand," I muttered as we walked into the building undeterred thanks to the hacking I was doing on the building's security.
"Good practice." He lifted his phone and I nodded, letting him know he would get through this time as we boarded the elevator. "Mr. Stark, we need to talk."
"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message," Tony quipped back in response, earning a small scoff from me as I closed the laptop while we neared his floor.
"This is urgent," Coulson added, glancing upward in exasperation.
"Then leave it urgently."
The elevator opened then and Coulson hung up as he gave Tony a drab look.
"Security breach," Tony pointed out, gesturing to Pepper Potts at his side. "That's on you."
And here I thought it'd be nice to meet some of the Avengers while remaining unnoticed. Nope. Tony is and always will be a bit of a dick, I mused, glancing at him and Pepper and idly spotting the numbers over their heads.
1
Wow, a whopping one from Tony. Honestly surprised it's not negative given we've just interrupted a potential date. Pepper's was at a 5 though, which was interesting. We had never met but it was always possible she just naturally liked people until they did something to annoy her. Or it's because I'm with Coulson, I mused as she smiled over at us.
"Phil! Come in."
"Phil?" Tony scoffed. "Uh, his first name is Agent. Who's the chick?"
Pepper ignored him as did I. "Come on in. We're celebrating."
"We can't stay," Coulson offered with a half smile as Tony agreed.
"Which is why they can't stay."
Coulson nodded to me and I held out a file, passing it immediately to Pepper, knowing that Tony didn't like being handed things.
"We need you to look this over. Soon as possible."
Tony raised a brow at me for not passing it to him but Pepper happily traded her drink for the file, and then the file for Tony's drink.
"Thank you, Miss…?"
"This is Agent Aiden Sterling," Coulson introduced. "She's working under me for a while."
"Well, it's nice to meet you," she replied, sipping her champagne as Tony looked at the file.
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," he muttered as Coulson gave him a glance.
"This isn't a consultation."
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked, quickly making a poor attempt to cover up the mistake. "Which I… I know nothing about."
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought and I didn't even qualify," Tony replied.
"I didn't know that either," she offered as he wandered off toward his desk.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."
Bit of a dick. Yeah, we know.
"That, I did know," Pepper joked, spotting my roll of the eyes and giving me a wink as her number ticked up to 7.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson replied, getting brushed off.
"Whatever. Miss Potts? Got a minute?"
Pepper mouthed an apology to us and walked over to him so they could talk while I looked over at Coulson and lifted the glass of champagne in my hands. He sighed a bit, shaking his head as he awkwardly looked away from Pepper and Tony's more intimate conversation. I begrudgingly placed the champagne glass down on the nearest table as Pepper headed over toward us, wishing I wasn't the driver this time around.
"So any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?"
"We can drop you," Coulson agreed.
"Fantastic. Oh, I want to hear about that cellist. Is that still a thing or…" Her gaze shifted toward me and I wrinkled my nose. "Ah, not your type?"
"We barely know each other. Work only," I said, earning a half chuckle from Coulson as we stepped into the elevator.
"She moved back to Portland."
"What? Boo."
"And Agent Sterling is too… self-conscious for my tastes," he hummed, getting an annoyed look from me. "All work, all the time. Doesn't know how to relax."
"Maybe I would relax if we weren't part of a government organization that rounds up dangerous superheroes and fights bad guys," I quipped. "And what do you mean, self-conscious?"
"You ignore your potential. Stuff it down to go unnoticed. You'd do better to just let loose, Sterling." He tapped the laptop tucked under my arm. "You've already proven me right, just now. Not just anyone can hack through Tony Stark's security."
Pepper too looked impressed. "That was you?"
I felt a bit sheepish now, not having realized that it would be that big of a deal. "Just… don't tell Mr. Stark. I don't like attention."
"See?" Coulson pointed out as we got into the car and I slid into the driver's seat. "You could do with standing out a bit, you know. Might get you somewhere more than being just the office grunt."
"So you've said," I muttered, driving us off and leaving the two of them to chat.
After dropping off Pepper, I drove us back to headquarters, letting Coulson rest for now until we returned. We had to gather our things though since we were moving with a number of other agents to the Helicarrier and Coulson left me to pack them onto the Quinjet as he went to get the next Avenger we would need. It felt weird to know I would have met just about all of them within the span of a few months and while I was internally a bit giddy and thrilled to meet them, I also knew how big of a danger it was. This put me off trying to stand out while around them. I was always a fan of Tony and Thor though. Tony hardly ever bothers with boring people and Thor was always preoccupied… and a bit oblivious. Banner is a bit better but is too shy and self-loathing… which is a bit hypocritical of me to think…
I sighed softly, tipping my head back and closing my eyes as the pilot in the front announced how far we were. Steve Rogers was only a few seats down from me but neither of us had said a word to each other. He was focused on watching the video files of the Hulk rampaging through a city and I wasn't exactly a huge fan of his. He always came off as… naive. Bold, brave, and stupid. I idly brushed the thought off, knowing that my personal feelings wouldn't matter when it came to working and the steady 0 above his head informed me that he was just as uninterested in me as I was in him.
Coulson got up from his seat then and I almost rose to see what he needed but he waved me off so I settled back down, idly listening as Steve spoke to him.
"So, this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"
"A lot of people were," Coulson replied. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."
"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve commented.
"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like Stephen Hawking."
Steve looked up at him in confusion, given Stephen Hawking was after his time and I lightly spoke up.
"Like Einstein. He's a genius."
"Oh."
Coulson couldn't help himself then, given he was a huge fan of Steves. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."
"Creepy," I muttered under my breath, wincing when Coulson pushed my foot off my knee for the comment. "Sorry, sir."
He rolled his eyes as I returned to getting comfortable and they stepped over toward the pilots. "I mean, I was… I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really… it's just a… just a huge honor to have you on board."
"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job," Steve offered him, ignoring the awkwardness.
"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh… we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."
"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little… old-fashioned?"
"Kids are into that nowadays," I chimed in, waving a hand lightly. "It's all vintage so they think it's cool. Besides, there are a few other people out there who love the big old red-white-and-blue. Trust me, no one will mind… and if anything, it's iconic and easy to recognize."
"Right… and you are?"
"Agent Aiden Sterling," I hummed, peeking an eye open and offering a little wave. "Coulson's lackey. I make him coffee."
Coulson sighed. "Little more than that, but she does make a mean cup."
"You're welcome."
"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you," Steve greeted.
"Same. Let me know if you have a drink preference. I'll add it to the list. Pastries too, if you want. Lord knows I don't get enough time in the kitchen since all the agents are too prideful to admit they want a sweet sometimes."
Coulson leaned over to him. "She makes damn good cheesecake."
I cracked a smile as I went back to lightly dozing until we would arrive on the Helicarrier. All it took was mentioning I made a good cheesecake and he's already jumped up to 3. The trip didn't last much longer and once we landed, Coulson stepped out with Steve while I gathered the baggage and started unloading it. Natasha was waiting outside and didn't spare me a glance as she told Coulson he was needed on the bridge.
"Sterling, with me. Leave the baggage to the other team," Coulson called out and I nodded, setting the bags down and offering a bow of my head to Natasha and Steve as I bounded off.
Natasha's the opposite of Pepper too. -5 all the time. Naturally defensive and doesn't let people in… I wish I could see the favorability of other people. How they look at others. I immediately hated the idea and shook my head as we stepped inside. The Helicarrier was soon in the air and camouflaged. Steve, Natasha, and Banner were brought in as well and despite what they may have thought, I hadn't gone inside to assist in take off. The ship had enough technicians and pilots to deal with that themselves, so once again, I was on coffee duty. Not that that was the only thing I'd done. I'd also gathered the appropriate files that Fury would need as well as the two Avengers who were soon gathered with him.
"Gentlemen," Fury greeted the two men, getting handed ten dollars from Steve as he went to look around and Fury went to greet Banner.
Banner obviously wasn't thrilled about being dragged into this mess, judging by the -2 above his head as I placed a tray on the meeting table and started sorting through the drinks.
"Where are you with that?" Banner asked, regarding the missing Tesseract, and Coulson spoke up from the lower level.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha noted as I handed her a cup.
If she was surprised by the glass of blood orange juice, she didn't say anything though the number ticked to -4 as I went back to the tray.
"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner questioned Fury who cracked a smirk as I handed him his double macchiato.
"How many are there?"
"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Banner asked, removing his coat and jumping slightly as I moved up beside him to take it.
He hesitantly handed it over and I passed him a cup.
"Oh, I don't drink—" He paused though, surprised at the scent of the chamomile tea. "How did you…"
"I'm just good at my job, sir," I replied, offering a small smile as his number changed to 3 and I moved over toward Steve. "And I brought you coffee. Let me know if you want cream or sugar."
"Oh, um, thanks."
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury asked and Natasha nodded, accepting Banner's coat from me and leading him out of the room. "Yeah, how did you know what he liked to drink, Agent Sterling? It's not exactly in the files."
"Jumpy guy with a quiet rage monster lying under his skin? Coffee would get him amped up. Alcohol would lighten his mental hold on the beast. Tea would calm the mind," I offered with a shrug before nodding to Steve. "Mr. All-American over there I asked but figured his choices in drink would be just as American as him. Agent Romanoff was easy given she makes the same orange juice every morning and your choice is actually in the files… sir."
Fury hummed but said nothing more as Coulson gave me the nod to dismiss me for now. I wouldn't be needed again for a while so I stepped out of the room and went to my designated bedroom where I fell onto my bed with a groan; hands shaking.
"This is way too stressful."
