Chapter 7
"And what does that mean?" She asked, smiling widely at the fact I'd given her an answer and not another sarcastic remark.
"I'm safe. You'll protect me." I said, I knew this to be a fact however I didn't know how. When I looked at Fury and saw the soft glare of a green light surrounding his frame, every instinct in my body told me to trust him. I looked over at Nat too, trying to replicate what I had seen and after a short while of concentration, I saw it on her too - but much stronger and brighter than it had been on Fury.
I could have sworn a glimmer of a smile passed over Fury but if it, did he didn't let it linger.
"That's excellent work Melissa. We have more to cover but it's getting late. You're going to be staying at the Avenger's compound from here on out. We'll meet again tomorrow to discuss this further and I will answer any questions you have then." Said Nick, as he headed to the door.
"What is the Avenger's compound? Why can't I stay in my dorm?" I asked Nat. Fury wasn't giving me the option to ask him as he walked away.
"My house!" She smiled at me and gestured for me to leave the room.
I just looked at her, not moving from my spot when she headed to the door too.
"Look, you can't go back there now Sweetie. Nick's right, we really need your help and having you stay with us is going to be the most efficient way of getting you trained and ready." She said sympathetically.
"Ready for what? And anyway, I have college - I can't just leave." I said, despite the fact I likely didn't have college to worry about anymore.
"Don't worry we'll take care of college. Shield has many allies. Every single university in New York is under one of our investors. They literally pay us for protection so if we need a degree out of that agreement, we'll get a degree. No more failed semesters." She winked at me. How did she know I was failing? Oh right, because Shield seemed to know every single thing about me.
"Okay..." I said, hesitantly. "But, my Aunt Erica. I can't just go and not tell her where I'm going. She'll panic!" I said.
"So call her. I have your stuff outside. You're not a prisoner Melissa." She said, amused.
"And tell her what?" I asked with an astonished laugh.
I tried to imagine what she would say if I told her I'd been kidnapped by Shield, and had to go live with superhero's in their secret superhero house, and oh yah, I had new found abilities so I guess that makes me a superhero too now, or a superhero in training at least. She would either drop dead of a heart attack or think I was on drugs.
"Erica knows about Shield. She knows what happened with Sarah. Your dad knew too." Said Nat.
It didn't seem possible to me that could be true. Surely the woman who sat with me while I lost my father, her brother, would never keep something like this from me. She stepped in to make sure I didn't lose myself to grief, kept me fed, kept me sane. Hell, she'd been the closest thing to a mother I had ever know. But just looking at Nat I knew that it was true and my shock started to fade. I felt a rage start simmering inside of me at the fact all of this had been hidden from me for so many years. I wondered what other secrets she'd been hiding from me.
I'd decide whether to call Erica later. Right now I didn't feel like she deserved the truth from me, I'd never had it from her after all.
I followed Nat out of the office into the corridor. She handed me my rucksack which had been sitting just outside of the office the whole time. We walked to the end of the corridor and got in an elevator. When the doors opened after a minute or so we were in a car park. There can't have been a car in there that cost less than $100,000. I found myself trying to picture what kind of superhero drove each car that I walked past, but ultimately landed on a middle aged dude in a full fancy suit with each one. I knew nothing about cars except that these were shiny and pretty and expensive.
"Here's our ride." Nat smiled over at me from the passenger door of a stunning white range rover. The windows were tinted but as soon as she opened the door I saw Wanda sat in the drivers seat. I immediately felt a little nervous and hesitated before getting in the back. Wanda turned in her seat to look at me, a sad sympathetic smile on her face.
"I'm so so so so sorry Melissa. I didn't want to do that to you, please believe me." She said.
"So why did you?" I asked. I tried to be calm and reasonable but I couldn't help feel a little pissed at her. I hated the thought of someone else having control over my own mind. That should be the one thing I had complete sole access to and Shield kept on breaching that privacy.
"Melissa, what colour is Wanda?" Said Nat, who had also turned to look at me.
I turned back to Wanda, whose eyes were now rimmed with tears. Just from that alone I could tell she was genuinely sorry for putting me down earlier, but curiosity had a hold on me and so I shifted my vision to find what I had decided to call her 'aura'. It seemed most fitting. Either I was getting better at this or Wanda was actively pushing her aura out to meet me, because in just a few short seconds she was surrounded by the most vibrant and beautiful viridian green colour. My instincts told me that she would protect me with her life, without hesitation. I had no idea why she would do that but I knew it to be true.
I felt my own eyes start to water and whispered "Thank you." as they were the only words I could find to fit what I felt inside. Wanda's solemn look quickly transformed into a genuine smile, relief washing over her face.
We had been driving for almost an hour when Nat announced we had arrived at the compound. As we pulled in to the long drive I was quick to take in my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was all the trees. There must have been thousands surrounding the compound, likely for security or privacy, but it made for beautiful scenery. I could hear water but I couldn't see it, I thought perhaps there might be a lake nearby or maybe a river.
My attention was quickly pulled to two fantastically large white buildings. One was level and looked like some kind of warehouse. The other one sort of stuck out at the top and had a huge glass window at the front. They both looked quite clinical but in a smart, stylish sort of way.
"How do you wanna do this Mels?" Nat asked, quickly pulling me out of my observations.
"What? Do what?" I asked.
"Well Sam, Steve and Bucky are all out hiking and Peter is helping his Aunt May move house. But Tony, Bruce and Clint should all be in." She said. "Do you want to meet people yet or do you want to get settled in first?"
"Who are, all of those people?" I asked, forgetting practically every name that was thrown at me. I was going to need some flash cards or something.
"The avengers!" Wanda smiled, making it clear she had a lot of love either for them or for being a part of them.
"Um, I hadn't realized there would be more of you." I said honestly, feeling flustered and anxious.
"Yeah I'd guessed. Look, you don't have to meet everyone at once, I totally get how that would be overwhelming, and we just want you to be comfortable here so however you'd rather meet the guys is down to you. But you do need to meet them." Said Nat.
"You're gonna love them sweetie I promise!" Wanda chimed in, in an attempt to reassure me.
I couldn't think of any kind of solution that didn't fill me with dread.
"Hold on." Nat said, raising a hand to her ear. "Clint, where is everyone right now?"
I assumed she had some kind of communication device that I hadn't noticed before and after a few seconds she said "Okay it's just Clint. Tony and Bruce have gone out somewhere too. You good with meeting Clint on our way in?"
I nodded yes, hesitantly before getting out the car. As we made our way into the compound I wasn't surprised to see that the interior matched pretty much exactly with the exterior. There was a lot of glass everywhere, each wall was made from white panels, lots of spot lights lining the ceilings. I noticed there was an infinite amount of doors and I couldn't help but wonder what was behind each one.
As we made our way upstairs into what I guessed was the living area, it felt much more homely. There were less white walls and more wood paneling. Instead of the harsh artificial lights there was an ambient soft orange lighting, which was magnified by the sunset seeping through the windows. There was still a lot of glass but id didn't feel like an office complex as it had downstairs. What surprised me the most was a huge book shelf with hundreds of books lined perfectly together. I wouldn't have thought superhero's had much spare time to read.
We walked through the big open plan space I tried to imagine myself living here. Tried to imagine what it would be like cooking in the kitchen, or sat at the large dining table with a group of people, most of which I hadn't even met yet. Would there be space for me on one of the four red sofas I could see? Where would I sleep? Would I be sharing a room with someone? I hoped it'd be Wanda if anyone.
"Ah hey!" I heard the voice of a man coming from the kitchen area. "You must be Melissa."
He walked over to me with a damp cloth in one hand and the other extended out to meet mine. He smelt strongly of surface cleaner so I assumed he'd been cleaning. I wouldn't have thought superhero's did much of that either.
"I'm Clint Barton." He said with a genuine smile as we shook hands.
"Um, Hey." Was all I could muster out. I was concentrating on finding his aura while also taking in his appearance. He had a soft face, gentle features, and really big hair for a dude. He had a sort of Edward Cullen quiff thing going on and it amused me. He was surrounded by a light blue aura, the first of which I'd seen.
"You don't trust me?" I asked, it just came out. I hadn't even expected myself to say the words but they were out there before they even hit my brain. Everyone had the same concerned expression initially but for Nat that quickly changed to anger.
"Clint!" She snapped.
"What? I, I didn't say, I just said hello!" He said, holding his hands up in defense.
"She can see your intentions you idiot! With her eyes!" She snapped again, punching him in his muscular upper arm.
"Ouch!" He glared at her.
"Oh whatever, don't be jealous that she has real powers and you don't!" She teased. It was quickly becoming clear they were good friends.
"Fuck off Nat." He rolled his eyes at her before turning back to me. "I'm sorry Melissa. You're right, I don't trust you yet but hey, we have only just met. I'm a little hesitant is all but I hope that you will trust me when I say I believe we'll get there."
I smiled back at him. He had the kindest blue eyes.
"I thought you all had powers?" I asked, confused at Nat's remark.
"NAT! See what you've done?! Now she thinks I'm a loser." He snarled at her as she let out a loud laugh.
"You are a loser Barton." She cackled.
"I totally have powers. They don't call me Hawkeye for no reason." He said.
"HA! Oh come on, throwing sticks at people is not a power!" She laughed. Wanda had joined in too and was hiding her small chuckles behind her hand.
"I'm a master archer thank you very much. At least I have a skill set, you just beat the shit out of people and call yourself a pro." He joked.
"I'll beat the shit out of you if you carry on!" She quickly hit back at him.
"Come on, lets leave them to their bickering and I'll show you your room." Said Wanda, as she took my hand in hers and lead me out the room, Client and Nat still going at it.