Hi! Here I come, a brand new story. I have to say, welcome, I hope you're all excited. Leave a comment if you like!
T
Phoebe Tonkin | Gemma Bloom
Chris Evans | Steve Rogers
Robert Downey Jr | Tony Stark
Mark Ruffalo | Bruce Banner
Scarlet Johansson | Natasha Romanoff
Chris Hemsworth | Thor
Jeremy Renner | Clint Barton
Denzel Washington| Mathew White
James Franco |Tony Allan
Violante Placido | Lidia Bianchi
Shia LeBoeuf | Sam Harris
[ any other MCU characters to appear in this story will still be played as their current actors ]
ONE
"There's a member of your team, sir, who may be able to help start the Avengers Initiative," Phil Coulson told Agent Matthew White as they walked through S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters.
"And who might that be?" Matthew responded, a frown forming on his features as he heard the answer.
"Gemma Bloom."
Gemma had just finished pulling some research on the victim from the latest case she was working on, ready to present it to her boss, Mathew. Gemma had been a S.H.I.E.L.D agent since part-way in University, and when she graduated from that, she moved into S.H.I.E.L.D full time. Over the years she'd been there, she'd become a Level Six Agent, working her way into Level Seven now to be on the same level as everyone else on the team.
"I brought coffee!" Agent Tony Allan exclaimed, holding the carrier in the air to present four cups. Tony was holding his coffee in his hand. "The boss man not back yet?" he inquired, as the desk next to Gemma was still empty.
"No," Lidia Bianchi answered Tony truthfully, taking her cup from him and sniffing it.
"Yeah, I think he's in some kind of meeting," Samuel Harris added, watching as Gemma grabbed her cup with both hands.
"You got almond milk, right?" Gemma asked. Tony nodded as he handed Sam his cup, leaving their boss' cup on his desk.
"Maybe we should run through what we already have," Lidia suggested.
"I don't want you stealing my intel," Sam joked, and Gemma rolled her eyes.
"We should probably tell Tony some facts, though," she suggested. "So he's not completely clueless," she added. "That would be embarrassing."
"Thanks for the faith, Bloom," Tony told her as she smiled sweetly at him.
"I got your back, Tony," she replied, sipping on the caffeinated drink. At that exact moment, Matthew walked into the bullpen, with another S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Gemma recognised as Phil Coulson, who was sort of a legend around there. The team had worked with him every so often, so Gemma knew that the legends were true.
"Vic, go," Matthew ordered, snapping his fingers. Immediately, all of them crowded around the screen behind Gemma's desk, where she projected something from her computer screen.
"James Langley, twenty-five. Worked in HR," Gemma started. Lidia continued.
"Mother and father died a few years ago. Langley lives with his wife, Anna, a nurse."
"His history is relatively normal. Nothing out of the blue, no criminal record, no debt," Sam added. "Everyone I've called so far has called him lovely."
"He was nice," Gemma agreed. When she first joined S.H.I.E.L.D, Langley was the HR Agent assigned to her.
"Not to everyone, or he wouldn't have been murdered," Matthew jumped in. "Allan, I want you to go down to Aaron, see what he's found about the body. Lidia, Harris, head to forensics. Gemma, you're with me."
"Where is it we're going, exactly?" she asked him, frowning in confusion.
"Director's office." Not for the first time in her life, she cursed Mathew's inability to explain facts.
"Yes, boss," she muttered meekly, pushing herself up with an even deeper frown.
"Agent Coulson, Agent White, Agent Bloom," Director Fury greeted the trio as they entered his office. Unsurprisingly, there was paperwork all over his desk, but the Director discarded it immediately to give his agents his full attention.
"Am I in trouble?" Gemma whispered to Matthew nervously, but her boss only chuckled as they came to a stop.
"No, Agent Bloom, rather the contrary," Fury answered her, standing up. Gemma's eyes went wide. "Agent Coulson, if you will." Phil handed Gemma his tablet and some files and started talking.
"The Avengers Initiative is a program that combines all the superheroes we can muster to fight against... whatever needs fighting. Extraordinary people to help save the world," Phil explained.
"Isn't that what we're for?" Gemma asked, frowning in confusion.
"I don't mean your average crimes," Phil corrected.
"You've heard of Thor?" Fury asked. Gemma nodded. "From somewhere other than earth. That means that there are forces out there we've never heard of, that might decide they want to stop off at planet Earth for a little more than a restroom break."
"We might not be able to stop them, but these people..." Phil trailed off, and Gemma finally understood.
"Right. Where do I come in?" Gemma asked, looking at Mathew, who had yet to say a word. He shrugged. Phil smiled at her.
"We've heard nothing but good things about you, Gemma," he told her. "You can help me to recruit them, and then look after them. You've got good fighting skills too, so there's nothing to stop you joining in during battle."
"So, I'm not working with White's team anymore?" Gemma queried, frowning at her boss.
"You'll be with me in between missions," Matthew finally said, patting her shoulder to reassure her.
"So, are you in?" All three men looked at her. After a minute, Gemma nodded.
"But what about my training?"
"So, you're working with the big dogs now?" Tony confirmed, taking a bite of his pizza slice. Currently, the team was in the bullpen, trying to pull an all-nighter to solve the case. Gemma shrugged, struggling to keep her eyelids open.
"I wouldn't necessarily say big dogs," Gemma corrected, handing her crust over to Lidia.
"Who are these people, anyway?" Lidia asked. Gemma pushed her swivel chair back so she could reach her desk, then pushed herself away from it so she was back in the centre of the bullpen.
"Err, Captain America... we all know who he is, right?" They nodded. "Next... Tony Stark. Iron Man. Again, we all know who he is?"
"You know why I'm so great?" Tony asked the team, smirking.
"Don't say it, don't say it..." Sam trailed off, but Tony ignored him anyway.
"Because I share his namesake. Great minds think alike," Tony told them, tapping his temple. Sam groaned helplessly, and Gemma giggled at his response.
"Weren't you named after your father?" Lidia asked him, a teasing smile on her face. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Small details," he replied, and she threw the last bite of Gemma's crust at him.
"We then have Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow."
"Wow. She's more legendary than Lidia. Can you get me her number?" Tony teased. Gemma threw her napkin at him. "Why am I so attacked by everyone?"
"Bruce Banner, the Hulk."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sam asked her, worry in his eyes. Gemma shook her head.
"He's nice as Bruce Banner, which is who we need. Clint Barton, Hawkeye. But we have to rescue him on this mission." They all nodded. Clint was an S.H.I.E.L.D Agent too; he'd worked with the team once, although it was before Gemma had joined it. "And me and Coulson."
"Boo," Tony said. "You got that great line up, and then you? Why not Lidia?"
"Hey! I was only hired to be their babysitter," Gemma reminded him, throwing another napkin at him.
"You're wasting napkins," Sam told her. "He's not worth it." Tony stuck his tongue out at him.
"Aren't you kids meant to be doing something?" The team scrambled out of their leisurely positions as they heard Director Fury interrupted their conversation, followed closely by Mathew and Phil. "Are they always like this?" Fury asked Mathew. Matthew let out a small smile at his team.
"Most of the time," he replied. "Gemma, you're up."
Gemma looked at the notes in her hand, then double-checked, then tripled checked, just to make sure she was in the right place. Weirdly, she'd lived in this apartment complex for three short months just before she'd moved into her house. Which was not important right now.
Right now, Gemma was supposed to escort Captain-fucking-America (she was freaking out about that. Big time) to the quinjet that was going to be the base of their task. Fury had done most of the talking, so Gemma just had to make sure he wasn't going to drop out last minute. Which, at the crack of dawn, made Gemma feel like dropping out herself. She did, however, come with a peace offering- a nice big cup of coffee. She wasn't very sure what to expect, but coffee at this time of day could surely never be turned down. Bracing herself, very wary of the time, she knocked on his door. She could hear some moving about for a few seconds, then the lock turning in the door.
"Steve Rogers?" she asked, smiling. He frowned. He still had a hand behind the door, and Gemma sensed some sort of weapon.
"Who's asking?" Steve responded.
"Gemma Bloom, SHIELD." Gemma couldn't lie; he really was very breathtaking and dreamy and muscular. She held forwards a coffee. "Coffee?" He took the cup.
"Come in," Steve said a moment later. "Did Fury send you to herd me there?"
"More or less," Gemma responded, looking around the apartment. Somehow, it was almost exactly what she thought it would look like. "Plus, I figured you don't really know where you're going when walking around SHIELD and I kinda know where the quinjets are, so I guess you can think of it like when you're on a school trip in primary school and your teacher makes you buddy up so you don't get lost." Gemma watched as he grabbed a bag and a file.
"Primary school?" Steve asked, raising a brow.
"Sorry, I'm British. I don't really know the American equivalents."
"I think they've probably changed since I went to school." Steve looked around his apartment. "So, where do SHIELD keep their quinjets?" Gemma jingled her car keys.
"Let's get there first. You need me to grab anything else for you?" Steve shook his head, and so they both left to go to her car. Gemma also wasn't really sure why she had to bring Steve in; surely Coulson would've been better.
"How long have you been at SHIELD for?" he asked, observing her driving. Gemma was a very safe driver.
"A few years." The small talk felt very awkward in her car, but it was better than the music quietly playing.
"What about America? What made you come?" A few memories appeared behind Gemma's eyes.
"Since I was eighteen. I got a full-ride scholarship at NYU and I haven't looked back since. Although," she added, looking back over at him. The sun was starting to come up. "There's loads I miss. Like the chocolate this side of the pond. It's really shitty."
"You kiss your mother with that tongue?" he teased. Gemma smiled and concentrated on driving.
"What about you? There must be stuff you miss from before your seventy-year nap." She heard him sigh and hoped it wasn't too much of a touchy subject.
"I mean, the chocolate is far better now than it was then."
"All that tells me is you've never had good chocolate." Gemma stopped in front of the SHIELD building and parked up. She looked over at Steve. "Time to go do our jobs."