Street Magic

Deal With The Devil

When someone walks into their apartment and sees a strange man standing in their living room petting their cat their first instinct is to run or yell for help. For some reason when presented with this situation your response was entirely different. "I think you have the wrong apartment?"

The man petted your orange tabby one more time before turning towards you. As you took in his appearance you didn't know what to be more nervous about, the fact that he had a gun strapped to his hip and a mask covering his face or that his left arm looked like it was made out of metal. He continued to stare at you even as your cat walked over to your feet and purred affectionately as she rubbed her head against you.

"On the contrary (L/N), I think we have the right one." You turned towards your kitchen and saw an older gentleman in a grey suit leaning against your counter. He had neatly styled blonde hair and black-rimmed glasses, overall, he was a lot less intimidating than the other guy.

"I'm replacing you with a guard dog, Scully," you whispered to your cat as you picked her up and held her protectively to your chest. "Who are you people and what are you doing in my apartment?"

The man in the suit walked closer offering you his right hand, "My name is Pierce. I was in town and thought it was only appropriate if I introduced myself in person."

You kept your arms around Scully forcing Pierce to lower his hand. You gestured to the man with the gun still standing incredibly still in your living room, "Is he going to introduce himself or is that hand of his just for show?"

Pierce smiled, "Please excuse my friend here, he doesn't talk much. I had to bring him along for security reasons, we had no idea how you would react to our proposition."

"Proposition?"

"I'm here to offer you a deal (L/N). I suggest you listen closely as it could benefit you greatly." 

You could hear the gears shifting as Pierce's so-called friend flexed his arm. It was a scare tactic and it was working. "Okay talk."

Pierce reached into his blazer and took out a playing card offering it to you. You grabbed it and examined both sides. On the front, it looked like an ordinary ace card but on the back, there was a familiar drawing that made your stomach drop. "We know what you're capable of. We can help you put those skills of yours to good use."

"And if I'm not interested?" you flicked your wrist making the card disappear into thin air. 

Pierce nodded his head towards the man with the gun who then walked right into your bedroom. You could hear as he rummaged through your things until he finally walked back out holding a duffle bag in each hand. He placed them down and unzipped them revealing large amounts of cash in them. 

"After several unsolved robberies, my organization noticed various charities were getting generous amounts of money from several accounts, all of them tracing back to this apartment." Pierce gave you a smug smile, "You should do a better job at covering your tracks."

"Got me there." You knew those donations would come back to bite you in the ass, you just assumed you would go down in some sort of police rave not in whatever this was. "So, what are you going to turn me in, or kill me."

"No, we want to recruit you. A person with your abilities would be a waste dead. I'm offering you the chance to serve your country and have all of this swept under the rug, a fresh start." 

"Again, what if I say no? You'll turn me in? If you really know what I'm capable of you should know I'll just get out, you can't keep me in one place." For emphasis, you snapped your fingers and suddenly you were right behind Pierce, your cat Scully purring as if you hadn't moved.

The man with the metal arm immediately reached for his gun but stopped when Pierce raised his hand. "To be honest I'm more surprised you're still performing in the streets of New York and not some casino in Vegas. My people know how to deal with individuals like you (L/N), you can teleport halfway across the country and we would still be able to find you. Why spend the rest of your life running when you have the chance of doing something good with that power of yours. With great power-"

"Okay, I see your point," you told him. You looked at the guy with the metal arm and knew that whatever 'organization' these guys were a part of was no good and they weren't someone you wanted to cross. Robbing banks was one thing this was entirely different. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"We'll get to that eventually. So, what do you say?"

"I don't think you're leaving me with any other choice."

"In that case, welcome to Shield (L/N). We leave for D.C. immediately."