The Avengers waited in the meeting
room for Nick Fury. He had called them in that morning with news of a special
mission.
“What kind of mission do you think
he has for us?” Steve asked.
“Probably cleaning up some mess the
Fantastic Four made,” Clint laughed.
Just
then; Fury burst in, towing along a young woman. She was pretty enough, kind of
plain. She had brown hair down to her shoulders, large blue eyes, full lips,
and smooth skin. But she looked very cranky; her hair covered her right eye,
her round eyes glaring at anyone who bothered to make eye contact, and her lips
set in a scowl. Clint wondered what happened to make her so upset.
Fury
broke through the silence. “This is Shadow. You’re going to train her, teach
her everything you know.”
Tony went to move, as if to
protest, and Nick cut him off. “Save it, Stark, she’s not a permanent member.
Once you’re done with her, we’re sending her to the West Coast. They need some
help out there and she’s our best option.”
Steve stood up and shook her hand;
at the same time he nodded to the others to do the same. They each took her
hand in turn; she looked up only when Bruce approached her.
Nick spoke again, “Tony, take her
home, give her a room. Steve, don’t let Tony break her. Start her training as
soon as possible. If you get any missions, take her with. California’s this
close to falling into the ocean.”
The
ride back to Stark Tower was silent and awkward, Thor tried multiple times to
break the quiet with loud jokes and smiles and laughs and the whole time Shadow
sat looking at nothing but her hands. Tony showed her to her temporary room and
told her how to work all the toys, and Steve brought her the small bag full of
her few possessions. She remained in her room the rest of the night; Tash passed
by her door and thought to knock, then decided against it, remembering the
bitter look in Shadow’s eye when she met them all.
The next day, Shadow showed up to
training in skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Steve was going to say
something, but instead left it alone. If she didn’t want to work hard, that
wasn’t his problem.
Tony showed up and announced
“Today, we’re going to do a chaos situation to see what Shadow can do.” He
activated the simulator and the room turned into New York City and robots
spewed out of buildings. Tony shouted quickly as madness took over “Smash the
red bots and save as many of the green ones as you can” They all began to
tackle the red bots as fast as they could and somewhere through the mess,
Shadow disappeared. Bruce, watching through the observation window noticed
this; he scanned for her and found something unexpected. There was two
Hawkeyes’.
The night before, all the Avengers sat around discussing
what she might be capable of. They had assumed she was a skilled agent like
Black Widow; though she’s a little short and broad for one. Bruce now saw that
she must be a Morph; that she’s able to become a perfect clone of anyone she
chooses. He wanted to study her powers, to find the extent of her powers, and
to see if she had any other tricks up her sleeve.
After
they had restrained the all the red bots, they gathered to discuss it.
“What did you guys think of
Shadow?” Steve asked.
Tash spoke first. “It felt like she
disappeared after a while, I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“Warrior Hawkeye fought with much
gusto, though!” boomed Thor, “He seemed to be in two places at once!”
Clint sat forward, “I was barely
trying, big guy, I figured I should leave more work for the new girl.”
“Shadow? What exactly are you able
to do?” Steve asked.
Shadow smirked, “Dr. Banner knows.
Ask him.”
Banner
looked surprised. How did she know he knew? “Well, Cap, Shadow has a morphing
ability which allowed her to become a mimic of Clint. That explains why Tash
thought she disappeared. What I don’t understand, Shadow, is how you knew I
knew.”
“I read your mind, Dr. Banner.
Besides being able to morph, I can read minds and can control minds. Mind
control’s trickier though. I have to be able to touch their skin, so I never
really use that one.”
“What!?”
Tony shouted.
Across the table, Clint froze. The
mention of mind control freaked him out after what Loki did to him.
“You heard me, Stark,” she grinned,
“May I go, Captain? I’d like to familiarize myself with my surroundings.”
Steve sighed and dismissed her. As
she left, Tony yelled after her, “…And only Fury can call me Stark!”
Clint
broke out of his silence and blinked. “Bruce, tell me she’s kidding? About the
mind control?” he choked out.
Bruce shook his head. “I don’t know,
I can’t know the extent of her abilities until I’ve done some tests. I mean,
she did read my mind, which means, oh
no! She heard about all the testing I wanted to subject her to! I need to go
say something!” With that, Bruce rushed out to Shadow’s room, where he hoped
she’d be.
While
the Avengers were still talking, Shadow was in her room, looking at a scrapbook
full of pictures of people she couldn’t remember. She pulled out one photo in
particular and held it gingerly in her hand. The woman in the picture looked
like her mother but she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t be sure of anything. She
couldn’t remember her past at all. All she could recall is waking up in a
parking garage with her abilities. Where ever she went, she had to disguise
herself because her enemies can recognize her but she can’t recognize them. She
was lost deep in thought when, with a jolt, she heard a knock at the door.
“Shadow,
it’s me, Bruce. Can I come in? I wanted to apologize for earlier,” he mumbled
through the door.
“Yeah, come on in!” she shouted.
Bruce came in and sat down on the
bed. “Listen,” he said, “I want to apologize for wanting to test you.” Shadow
smiled and shook her head.
“It’s ok,” she spoke quietly, “You
aren’t the first to want to test me, but you’re definitely the first to say
sorry. Besides,” she continued, “You know what it’s like being poked and
prodded; you wouldn’t have done anything you wouldn’t have put up with
yourself.”
Bruce smiled, “You’re right, but I
guess my scientist side is still thriving.”
“Good,” Shadow laughed, “We need
scientists like you! You’re the one who’s willing to enter the field and risk
getting sick to help some poor natives with no access to medicine. You’ve got a
big heart and that keeps your inner scientist in check.” Bruce smiled. Shadow seemed to admire him.
“If you wanted,” she continued, “I
could get you the test results from when I joined S.H.E.I.L.D. “
“Why did you have to be tested when
you joined?” Bruce asked.
“When Fury found me, I had no idea
what I was capable of, so he had some tests to help me discover all my
abilities,” she said, “Fury got me out of a situation I never could’ve
survived; in return, I work for him.”
He hummed, “That might make you the
only person in this building that actually likes Fury.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! I never
said I like him,” she laughed.
“So,” he continued, “You were
pretty cranky when we met yesterday, what happen?”
“My handler quit on me. He said he
was sick of my ‘obnoxious attitude and frequent requests for bagels’. It turns
out he used to handle Clint before Coulson took him on,” she laughed. Just then
something in Bruce’s pocket started beeping. He pulled out a small I.D. card
with a big letter “A” on it. From a tiny speaker, they heard Tony say “Avengers
Assemble! Let’s go punch some bunnies!”
Shadow sighed, “I don’t know if I
want to punch bunnies.”
Thanks for reading!! Part 2 will be coming! Also, can I point out how much I hate the Blogger text editor?
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