WHEN TONY STARK DIED, THE AVENGERS DIED WITH HIM.
The world's mightiest heroes are now gone, but their enemies aren't. If anything, they've multiplied, stronger and smarter. It's...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"AND NOW I'M STUCK LEADING A TEAM." Hill finished, feeling rather irate, Agent Kemp gave her a sympathetic look.
"It must really be horrible, leading the new Avengers," Earl Kemp said lightly, rifling through the files, Maria had to dump all the news on someone else, and with most other agents she knew retired, dead, or evil, Kemp was her best choice, cool-headed, logical, and rarely emotional, he was a perfect box for keeping secrets.
She rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache grow "It's going to be a pain, I refuse to work with people like Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes- Cut that actually, Wilson was fine, Barnes isn't."
Kemp nodded gravely, pulling out a manila folder and frowning at it, "So...what will you do? I'm assuming you didn't turn Fury down."
"I didn't." Of course, she probably should have asked him if he can't lead them himself, or ask a certain someone from the moon to help out, but she was too stunned by the whole backup plan to react to the fact she was leading them. "So," She traced her fingers over her desk "I'll have to make the best of what I've got, namely, S.H.I.E.L.D agents."
The level six looked at Hill with a confused expression, as if he wasn't aware of the fact he wasn't the only agent in S.H.I.E.L.D. "I'm assuming...you've got a few ideas."
She did. Not to mention that the creators of the plan had a few brilliant ideas about who the recruits could be.
"Possibly." She decided, staring at the file on her desk.
THE PROTECTORS INITIATIVE.
"I've also got a...timelimit," Kemp cracked a smile, shaking his head as he flipped through the files.
"Any particular reason why you've decided to confide this information with me?" He asked carefully. Maria raised an eyebrow. He suddenly stopped. "Oh, dear..."
"Fury said you'd be ideal for the mission...and a few more people, some of which I don't have a fond spot for." She finished in distaste. Kemp still seemed petrified by the offer, but he eventually unfroze and picked through the files with newfound energy.
He hummed and pulled out a file. "Nobody from Coulson's team?"
"No." She shook her head to emphasize the denial. "Definitely no, Fury and I agreed on that, so...no Sk-Daisy-Qua- whatever she picked her name to be."
Kemp considered a file and pulled it out slowly. "I think she settled for 'Daisy'." He observed the file, flipping it over and 'hmmph'-ing. "What about Mr. Maxwell?"
"Maxwell who?" It took Hill a minute to differentiate between the two Maxwells: The Maxwell Fury wanted, and the Maxwell which ticked everyone off and cracked too many jokes, and who poor Agent Robin Barton had to babysit, sometimes sharing her duties with Agent Mist, and once upon a time Agent 13.
"Peter D. Maxwell." Kemp handed her the file, Hill rose, taking it cautiously, hoping he'd changed his picture from the last time, but no such luck. A curly brown-haired man grinned up at her from the black-and-white pictures, someone must have wrestled him into more dignified clothes, but his hair was an untidy mess like it usually was. "Honestly, I find him...chaotic, but he may do well."
"Fury seems to agree," She frowned at the 'LEVEL 6' sign on Maxwell's profile. "It also seems he wants...a certain Maxwell Parker...but he said he's going to handle him."
They both exchanged a look. Fury handling something was never a good sign.
Kemp cleared his voice. "Anybody else?"
"Robin Barton...Florence Rogers...Earl Kemp...Noah Rodriguez...Ramiro Stark-Ramos..." Maria listed off "...Brooklyn Barnes."
Kemp looked deeply disturbed by the last name. "Isn't she...?"
"Sixteen?" Maria finished grimly, Kemp nodded, appalled by the face a sixteen-year-old could be on a team of such importance. "Well...apparently being related to some assassin makes you a great spy...and she's a kid, nobody would see that coming."
The level six slid out the flies of the named individuals. "Not Mist?" He inquired.
Maria sighed. "Mist's been pretty...unpredictable lately," She shook her head. Mist had basically evolved from a twenty-six-year-old haunted by her broken memories to a fierce woman capable of fighting the Winter Soldier (okay, probably losing or achieving a tie, but walking away with her life). But now, something during those five seconds of dust changed, she was broken inside and out. "I'm not going to force her into anything, then again, I'm not going to force anyone."
Kemp nodded in agreement. "I should keep searching." He gestured at the files, which Fury and a few file-loving S.H.I.E.L.D agents had sent Hill to look through them. Of course, she called the only person which would enjoy sorting them and was present: Agent Earl Harrison Kemp, who has more than happy to flip through them and ramble about 'someone forgot to add Agent Maxwell's middle name'.
"And I...should get going." Maria checked her clock, four thirty, the moment when Robin and Peter would return, and right before Agent Rodriguez and Mist would leave.
Earl flipped over some files, a picture fell out. He leaned down, picking it up slowly, frowning at it. "Agent Hill-" He turned around, but she had vanished out of thin air. "-I think there was a mistake..." He trailed off, looking down at a pair of files.
They were...green instead of beige, and made out of a floppy plastic they used in schools to cover up notebooks, he opened one cautiously. A pair of pictures fell out, the first featuring a figure wearing a dark hoodie, its hands stuffed in its pockets, with a backpack slung over it's back, the only visible features were pale skin, and a few curls of strawberry-blonde hair. The second was a scrap of paper, old, and probably beaten up.
Char Avie sool o gfted child.
The 'gfted child' was crossed out and written upon in a messy black scrawl, the owner clearly had a messed up sense of humor:
'MUTANTS.'
GRACE Okay, this might be a bit boring and a bit mehhh... we need more action, less flipping through files, don't worry, the next chapter (This Wednesday!) is going to be a bit more actioned pack, third might be even more. Opinions? I tried, I tried veryyy hard, but it's like a bad Enola Holmes clue. Oh well... No new characters were introduced (sad) only mentioned...so, nope, no aesthetics, sorry guys. I'm probably also gonna get these chapters written as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, if you want another apply fic, go check out WARRIORS, which is about the Avengers Initiative. Thanks so much for reading!
