Unexpected

Making a Decision

When my grandparents returned home that evening I didn't tell them about my visitor. I didn't mention Fury or show them the business card that I had tucked in the pocket of my jean shorts. The rest of the evening I spent quietly thinking, pulling out the card, staring blankly at it, and shoving it back in my pocket. I nodded to my grandparents when they complemented me on the jalapeno poppers I hadn't touched all day, and shrugged saying I was tired when they asked me why I was so quiet.

Turning in early, I lay in bed on my back, glaring at the shadowy ceiling and contemplating the proposition the director had handed to me. A job? Seriously, he had offered me a job to work for this super-secret organization that knew about aliens and pieced together superhero teams! What kind of crazy was this? Me, Penelope Copper, an agent? Why would he think that I wanted to be an agent after all I've gone through? I've had enough of fighting, secret plans, invasions, aliens, and superheroes! Then again... it was a job, a real job that could really help people and use my newfound powers. I had been wondering how I was going to be able to go back to an average life... What was I thinking? That was ridiculous, I couldn't be an agent! What would I do for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Work correspondence and translate? That part sounded fine, that's what I wanted to do basically, but the whole 'training', 'discovering the extent of my powers' thing, that sounded... like a comic book. It seemed unreal and scary and too much like what I had already experienced.

I groaned in frustration at myself and turned over onto my side. I'd think about this more in the morning. Closing my eyes I tried to force these thoughts from my mind. I just wanted to stop thinking for the night, to go to sleep and not have nightmares. I didn't want to think about my uncertain future or remember everything that had happened to me in the last month. I just wanted to forget everything and slip into the oblivion of sleep. Well, maybe not everything. My fingers moved up to the teardrop shaped pendant hanging around my neck even now. Where was he? How was he? As I started drifting off I could almost have sworn that the pendant grew chill to the touch then warmed up to a soothing heat, but I had slipped into unconsciousness before I could consider it.

Two days passed as they had before, with me making applications and calls, searching for an employer, but every time I turned in an application and even after I had set up a phone interview with a company, I'd pull out Fury's business card. What if? Finally, I made my decision on Saturday afternoon. Picking up my cellphone I stood tall in front of my bed with a sheet of paper with notes scrawled on it in front of me on the comforter. The phone rung once, twice, a third time, then I heard a masculine voice say, "Hello?"

"Is this Director Fury?"

"It is."

"This is Penelope Copper."

"Ah, Miss Copper, I was wondering when you'd call."

I swallowed quickly, questioning once more if I really wanted to do this, then setting my face in a determined expression even though Fury couldn't see it, I opened my mouth, "I'd like to hear more about this job opportunity."

The next two hours were spent on the phone as I had Fury lay out the job for me, what they wanted me to do, what my duties would include, and what the training would entail, where I'd receive this training, the pay, and the risks. To say the least, it was a lot to take in. As I scribbled down what Fury told me I had to pause several times as my chest clenched at the thought of what I would have to do and the situations I'd have to be in.

To start off, Fury said that for training, I'd have to move to Washington D.C. That was enough to make me really question if this was what I wanted. I mean, that was the other side of the country! They'd help me with my physical therapy there for my ankle once my cast was off and get me training to put on muscle, learn how to defend myself and attack, and weapons training, which was all necessary for my position. That sounded like a lot of exercise, which just so happened to be one of my greatest enemies. They also wanted me to learn the extent of my abilities and how to hone them. I'd also be learning protocols for working for an espionage organization that dealt in things that seemed impossible. Then I'd be working in communications and correspondence with my many languages, the only thing that I was truly comfortable with. Fury told me outright that he planned on having me go on missions in a year.

At this point in the conversation I was about ready to hang up the phone and forget about it altogether. This was crazy! I couldn't do this! I kept listening anyways, my pen flashing across my notebook paper as I tried to scribble everything down that I could. When Fury came to the part about pay, my pen stopped completely for a second. Was the pay grand? No. But it was more than any of the companies I was applying to were offering, much more, but Fury was asking a lot more from me than those companies.

At the end of the call I thanked Fury and told him that I'd contact him within the next week. The Director said he'd be waiting and hung up, and there was silence in my room again. What was I going to do? I thought long and hard that day weighing pros and cons, trying to gauge whether it was worth it? Did I want the job or was I simply curious? I didn't want to be that far from my grandparents. They were really the only family I had that cared for me; they'd raised me basically for heaven's sake! Moving to New York had been bad enough... and the job was risky. Who knew the dangers I'd have to face? What if I couldn't pass the tests and training that becoming an agent would take? Was I getting in over my head? But I could help people, save them from situations like mine had been, and with my power and with all I'd gone through, how could I stand simply working an eight to five job at a desk?

I considered all of this through that day into the evening when my grandparents and I sat in the living room around the coffee table after dinner with the TV playing in the background as we played Dominoes. My grandmother was talking about how her sister, whose knee was going a-wall, needed to stop procrastinating and schedule a knee surgery. "She keeps saying that her doctor is insisting on her getting one, and yet she just sits around bemoaning how badly she hurts. And it's not like they can't pay for it, either, they have a great insurance policy, or that's what George told you when they came to visit us, right Jacob?"

Grumps huffed an agreement as he placed another domino in place with a clack against the wood.

"I told Lori that you two could have matching casts, Penny." Then she rolled her eyes, "Unless she keeps putting it off, then you'll be back on your feet and back to normal before she even places an appointment!"

"Speaking of things getting back to normal..." My voice trailed off as both of their eyes raised to mine. Taking a deep breath I tried to keep my voice even, steady, and slow since I knew that once I started I'd try to get everything out in a babbling rush, "I don't think things will go back to the way they were before."

Grams opened her mouth, probably to ask what I meant, but I continued before she could. I told them that I had received a job offer with the same government agency that had paid for my medical bills, that I'd be working in correspondence and translation for them and that my work would help keep the world safe, and that they'd pay for my physical therapy for my ankle. I told them that I'd have to move to Washington D.C. for a while for the job at least for a year unless I was relocated, that I'd have to travel a lot which I had always loved the thought of, and to try to lighten these blows I told them of the perks and payments that I had been told about. What I didn't tell them however, was that Director Fury had come to our house, that if I accepted the job I'd be trained and work as an agent as well, that I'd be working on my power which my grandparents didn't understand and had been uneasy about when I had tried to explain it to them at the hospital. I didn't lie to them, but I left out the danger and most of the risks. They'd gone through enough worry on my account already; they didn't need any more anxiety about me and my safety on their shoulders.

After I gave my spiel, Grumps got serious, talking pros and cons with me, asking me if this job was what I wanted, what my duties would include, how I'd find an apartment in D.C., would I be okay being so far away from all I've ever known and all the people I love? It was a hard conversation and as we talked a knot grew in my chest as I considered all of this. The conversation spread over the next few days as I took my time to consider what I wanted. In the end, however, after some deep thought and another deep conversation over the offer, Grumps sighed and said that he thought it would be a good opportunity for me and that from what he understood it would utilize my abilities and skills. "You were always a smart one; I knew that some employer would realize how much of a jewel you are." Tears were shed at the thought of being so separated, but Grams agreed as well.

With their encouragement, the next morning I called Fury for the second time and accepted the job.