The Avenger's Witch

Chapter 2: The Unescapeable Choice

Three Months Later

"Have a good day" I waved after my last customer of the day. "Who knew we'd be so busy here?" The sunset shone through the glass at the front of the store. I flipped over the closed sign from behind the counter with a wave of my hand. My dark purple hair hung in front of my face. I left it as is when we moved. I didn't feel like using my powers to make it look different.

You did choose the fifth largest city in the United States. When I recommended we come to America, I didn't mean to such a massive city. We could be spotted quite easily. Circe spoke as she cleaned her large ears on her counter cushion. You need to be more careful.

"Please, everything will be fine. We haven't done anything newsworthy." With a wave of my hand, books started putting themselves back on shelves.

What about last week? You stopped a car before it could hit a child. I know you wanted to help but you'll be lucky if S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't show up soon.

I rolled my eyes. "You know cameras don't work around me, plus Phoenix has over a billion people, it'll be near impossible to find me."

"Nearly impossible, yes, but still quite possible." I jumped, dropping the stack of books putting themselves away. A man in a suit stood by the door. He had lightly balding grey hair on his head. Shit, I think he saw that.

I warned you, but do you ever listen, no.

"Damare." I snapped at her in Japanese. I turned back toward the man trying to stay calm. "I am sorry but we are closed. I'll have to ask you to leave."

He had been silently watching me up to this point. "Ms. Dupoint you are a rather difficult lady to keep track of. It took us four months to find you last time. This time it was slightly easier when we saw you on a viral video." He held up a phone. A video played. It was the incident Circe had been talking about, I groaned. An SUV had been barreling toward a crosswalk in front of a school. Apparently, the brakes had gone out. It took no time to stop the car of course, but Circe scolded me for hours afterward, calling me reckless. In the video, all you can see is a flash of purple from my eyes before it all calms down.

"That could be from anything. Bad lighting or a camera flash, it doesn't mean anything."

He put the phone back in his pocket, "But we have been watching you since you were a child. Ayda Dupoint, born to Henry and Chelsa Dupoint, both historians, of Boston, Massachusetts.  At the age of 10, you were pulled from school and moved to rural Nebraska. At 12, your house was found burn-"

"Okay! I get it." My body shook. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the memories. The screaming, the smell of smoke. "You know who I am and have been watching me since forever. That's great mister whoever-"

"Coleson."

"What?" I looked up at him.

"Agent Coleson, of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Circe was right, I should've been more careful. I kept as straight a face as possible. "However, it doesn't tell me why you have been trying to recruit me for the past two years. I have told every person you sent, I'm not interested."

"Early this morning, a creature calling himself Loki came to our world through a portal. He attacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. base in New Mexico and captured several agents. He also injured our director, Nick Fury, and stole a very valuable item. We have decided it was time to bring in various persons of interest to assist us in apprehending him. You included." I froze. This morning? You don't think... I looked at Circe. We had felt the ripples of a portal being opened to a different world around that time. The Mark between my shoulder blades tingled.

"And what makes you think I can help?" Was I seriously considering this? This was exactly the kinda thing my mom had warned me about when I was younger. Helping people who just wanted to use me.

"You aren't trained in combat but we hope you can track him or the location of the object he stole."

"Can you give me some time to think about it?" Hopefully, if he leaves, I can escape.

"You have five minutes. I'll be waiting outside. I also have people surrounding this place so don't think about trying to leave." He gave a small smile and stepped outside. Crap, there goes that plan.

"What do you think Circe? Should we? It'd be nice to finally stop running from place to place, to help people, and I have a feeling doing this will bring us closer to them." I asked her in Japanese, just to make sure the agent outside wasn't listening. I believe so too. Are you ready for that?  "Can one ever really be ready to meet their soulmates? Especially someone like me with so many. I have my mental shields. If we find out that their terrible people, we can pretend that we have no connection to them and part ways after it's over. Deal?"

Deal

The agent stepped back inside, "Time's up. Have you decided?"

I looked to Circe again. She gave a short nod. "I'll do it. But Circe is coming with me, or else no deal."

"That's fine. Follow me." I nodded. I grabbed my hat and cloak and stepped outside, Circe followed me.

"One moment." I turned back to the store and held out my hand, "Cludo" The shop began collapsing in on itself until it was its standard suitcase size.  "Okay"

Agent Coleson looked stunned. He quickly gathered his features and lead me to a dark SUV. The windows were tinted completely black. I climbed in and sat in the back. Circe jumped in after me and curled up in my lap, immediately closing her rosy eyes.

We pulled away from the now-empty lot and toward my new fate.

Hooray.

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So that happened