THE JOURNEY AHEAD
Fury took us to a big black car,and I believe those are called jeeps by what Jean had told me. It felt really weird though once it started moving. It was a driver and me with Nick. He had his eyes fixed on some big screen he held on his hand,his eyes constantly moving as if he was reading something.
“Here” ,he said after a while and passed me the screen. Seeing how I didn't really know what to do though,he continued. “ They are files you scroll down with your fingers like this” ,he moved his finger up and down and so I copied him.
They were information about certain people,accompanied by each ones picture. Date of birth,given name,background,studies everything. We had those too,just not in screens.
Anthony Edward Stark, Iron Man. A man with yellow glasses and a weirdly shaped beard in a suit,smiling at people.
“...kidnapped by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan...created an armored suit...agreed to serve as a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D... “
Captain Steven Grant "Steve" Rogers , Captain America. An old picture of a man with a big build. I couldn't make anything of his face though; something about him...
“..World War II ...Project Rebirth...the only recipient of the Super Soldier Serum...the serum greatly enhanced Rogers' physical abilities to superhuman levels ...he posed as a patriotic mascot under the moniker of Captain America...Rogers spent sixty-six years unconscious and frozen in ice under a state of suspended animation, before he was eventually found ?”
“What the fuck...”,i mumbled.
There were many names on that list besides those two,but I couldn't really concentrate on reading.
I scrolled my way up until I reached an all white page with one big title on it.
“The Avengers Initiative?” ,i asked aloud.
“Yes,that's right” ,he answered seemingly unbothered.
“What is that exactly?”
“A secret project to create a response team comprised of the most able individuals humankind has to offer “ ,he said with his hands together,supported on his knees as he leaned towards me.
“It's not in activation yet,so i'd much appreciate it you didn't go around running your mouth to all the others”,he paused,taking one good look at me.“And I believe you are a good candidate miss..?” ,oh right.
“Persephone. No miss-es “ ,i said in an all serious voice.
“Persephone? Like the Greek Goddess?” ,it made me somewhat happy that people in this planet knew my destined Goddess. “The one that Hades kidnapped right?” ,he asked with a chuckle.
“He didn't kidnap her; she went with him in her own free will. She is the Queen of the Underworld,show some respect” ,i snapped and he lifted his body up.
“Okay then,scratch that. Is that your full name?”
“ What do you mean?”
“Like,your surname,what is it?” ,i thought about it for a second. Jean had talked about this before. People here have family names as well as their given ones.
“Uhm,Pearse “ ,i gave Jean's surname,as if to have something of hers. “By the way,is it mandatory to have another name? Like these ones,Iron Man,Black Widow and all?” ,i asked still reading through the files.
“Well..not really,yet the all have one. You can have one too if you'd like. What do people call you?”
“ Bringer of Death, the Cursed Pyreph..you know,something like that” ,i said casually,my eyes fixed on the screen.
“That...you really wasn't much liked in your home,were you” ,it was mostly a statement.“But,what the fuck is a Pyreph?” ,he asked in a loud voice and I looked at him with knitted brows.
“You guys don't have Pyrephs? Did you annihilated their clan too? How about Geans or Hithors? Etherians at least?”
“Okay,first of all” ,he began talking with a finger pointing upwards, “ you keep assuming that I know what the fuck you're talking about”
“Could it be..” ,the dots began to click at this point. “..that you don't posses the power to harness the elements in this planet?”
“ So you're not from Earth then “ ,it wasn't a question,but mostly some form of validation. “ I assumed the street fiasco happened because you took part in some experiment gone wrong,you know,as per usual”
“What the fuck do you mean as per usual? You people have that a lot?” ,my face only showed my pure bafflement and Fury awkwardly readjusted his position on the seat.
“Well,you know,it's not something we often take pride in “ ,he shrugged and I shook myself obviously judging him.
“Anyway”,he coughed, “ We need to make one of these for you too” ,he said pointing at the screen and I assumed he meant a file. “I'll have some people make you one once we get to the Helicarrier ,with your help of course”
“What's..a Helicarrier?” , my head was again tilted and Fury gave me a puzzled look.
“Mostly a big jet really” ,he explained but my expression gave away just how little this meant to me.
“Girl you serious?” ,he asked in an almost high pitched voice. “Okay,you know what,let's just start sorting some things out here,just so you won't make my agents get too crazy”
“Uh..alright”
“First off. Which planet are you from?”
“Pelimorre”
“Alright. Never heard of it but then again,i've also never heard of people bending fires. That's a start. You can fill us up about this Pelimorre once we get to the Helicarrier- which by the way isan aircraft carrier”
“A..what?” ,he rolled his eyes at my ignorance.
“A magic machine that can fly and you can stay inside while it does” ,he said a little too impatiently.
“Oh..”,i nodded with pursed lips. “Nice”
“Next,these things you mentioned,the pyrats the geas and all”
“Pyrephs and Geans” ,i corrected him
“Right. What are those?”
“They are clans. Each one representing the mastering of an element. Geans are the masters of the land,they can bend the rocks,the mud,the streets”
“Alright.. And the other one? It's the fire ones?”
“ There are the Seetheerins,whom can bend the metals,and the Hithors who can bend the water. And,Etherians but their deal is much more complicated. And as for the Pyrephs- i'm the only one”
“How come?” ,he was genuinely interested to find out.
“It's..a long story”
“Alright. We're here anyway”
The car suddenly stopped and as soon as we got out I was astounded by the view; a huge platform was laid out,filled with all sorts of people on top of it. I could see the horizon,the point where the sea separated from the sky as the cold breeze brushed by cheeks.
“Whoah...”
“Let's get up; The others should get here soon enough” ,Fury said as he quickly paced towards the platform,followed by a few men coming out from jeeps parked right behind the one we were in before.
“Wait!” ,my voice came out loud and running to reach him I accidentally activated my Gean bending,a small green circle glimmering inside my pupils as the the point my feet were touching was now acting as a slide. “You mean the ones from the files?”
“Yea- Pearse what the fuck are you doing?” ,he asked looking how I barely walked yet I was moving thanks to the concrete underneath me.
“What? So we'll be like,a team or something?”
“Yes”
This must be what Reeta meant. Those people will be the ones to help me fight my war. I can feel it,i'm getting close.
“ Ah Romanoff,you're here. Big guy's here too,right?”
“Yes,everything is in place. We're waiting for Captain any moment now”
Fury spoke to a tall woman with short hair,red as fire.
“Who's that?” ,she asked Fury when she noticed I was there too,though her voice wasn't as quiet as she intended it to.
“I'm Persephone” ,i answered for him.
“Pearse here is the new member of the team”
“You never mentioned that” ,she turned to him again.
“Yes,she's someone we only now found out about. She'll be a good addition” ,he assured her and then began walking again,cuing me to follow. I could feel her gaze fixed on me until I was no longer in reach.
Fury took me to a small room surrounded by glass instead of walls. There was a short,blond man with freckles on his face and somehow kind eyes. He wore an all white coat and said his name was Maximilian. Maximilian asked me all sorts of questions,Fury standing in the corner of the room,only cutting us to ask something even more specific. Maximilian was pressing some buttons on a thing they called a computer.
It felt like an interrogation,but the ones I was used to. There was no bleeding,no fingernails pulled out,nothing of the sort. Fury explained to me that by giving me access to all of my soon to be teammates' files he was bypassing a bunch of regulations. That's not how they worked things out,and my file would be confidential. Still,he needed me to trust them. Good move,i said.
I told them everything; from the customs of my people up to the war,my father's obsession with power down to the murder of my mother and my exile. I decided I should play most my cards,showing to Fury all he needed to see,but made a specific request for the events leading to my mother's murder to be kept classified at most. They both complied.
After that he asked me if he could get a blood sample from me,as well as run a few tests. I agreed,no harm in that.
After one long hour,my file was now complete. Fury gave me one of these screens he had on the car, a tablet as he said,and accompanied me to my room. He also asked me to take a shower since i've been living on the streets for this past week and reeked of booze and sweat as he said.
I tried not to be too bitchy and asked him how I could clean my clothes.
“I will ask someone to bring new ones”
“No,i want these ones”,i was stubborn.
“Fine,i'll ask someone to clean them,they'll be on your bed by the time you get out”,he huffed,not feeling the need to bother too much. “Just don't get the illusion that you're gonna have maids around,princess”
“Thank you”, I moved my lips slowly as I said that and he rolled his eyes. “ And don't call me that”
“We fly in thirty Pearse. Read the file in your tablet. It has everything you need to know about the mission”
I nodded and he left.
Truth be told,there was nothing better than the warm water running down on me. I felt my hair getting heavier by the water,now reaching even further down my shoulder blades. I could now see my body much clearer,something I hadn't done in a long while. My fingers unconsciously traced down some old and healed wounds,now only left behind as scars,the tissue pink and white.
There was one on my sternum,a big horizontal cut made by a Seetheerist's metal blade.
Four small and round ones on my right thigh,caused by a Hithor; the most dangerous thing a Hithor can do is freeze up droplets of water; these fuckers cut more sharply than any blade.
There were some other ones,caused by some interrogators during the war,some burned spots,some small cuts,but nothing too serious. Those were the mail scars I carried.
The thing about having a master element is not only the fact that said element is drawn to you,sewn in your soul,but that you also carry the biggest potential in exceeding in it. Seetheerists for example wouldn't need an entire box of metal in front of them in order to be lethal in a fight. They could feel each mineral inside the ground bellow them, dragging out the unprocessed metals,using them as the wished.
And so,the Hithors could use the water inside their own bodies,the one coming out for the plant stalks on their feet; as my father used to say,it was the most dangerous element,according to ones mind's limits. Thankfully,as divine laws had it,it was strictly prohibited for Hithors to use the water inside someone else's body,orelse it would be chaos,tyranny. Everyone who wasn't a Hithor would be dead in an instant. There are ,after all,laws to comply even in a war.
And so,having fire as my master element,i would never be as good at harnessing the metals as a Seetheerist,or at bending the land as a Gean. I was good,but not perfect.
But fire? A was a damned good Pyreph,as Kalios had noted many times inside my soul.
After I got out I found,as I was told,my clothes folded on top of my bed,clean and dry. They smelled like lavender.
I then increased the temperature on my body in order for my hair to dry as well as my body. My hair though needed more time as steams began getting out of each pore. I grabbed the tablet and began reading about that so called mission.
Loki of Asgard...the Tesseract...Erik Selvig..Clint Barton?
I wasn't born yesterday. I had heard of Loki of Asgard.
Asgard was one of the Nine Realms,and even though Pelimorre was a closed off planet,our people only known for their fighting skills and how they never leave,my father has been trying for years to make Pelimorre the Tenth one.
Last thing I heard,he was getting close.
Asgardians were noble people. Fighters,like us.
Every history book we carried as children spoke of them. If Loki,son of Odin and brother of Thor,the thunder God,was our enemy..this was bad. Really bad. These were people whom had lived for hundreds of years. Legends,if nothing more,godly creatures.
But,i loved a challenge.
But,this Clint that Loki has taken with him..
“I read that name..he works with SHIELD,right?” ,i mumbled to myself.
His Scepter can make each person it touches to subjugate and be controlled by him...
“That's cool actually. And perhaps not the only dangerous thing he carried. I should probably avoid it though”
After that it was mostly some kind of attempt to profile Loki's behavior and/or mental state. But not much were written. They weren't expecting him,but there was something about Thor of Asgard as well,although it said he wasn't an enemy as far as we can tell.
How truly interesting. Both the Asgardian brothers to have such ties with this planet.
After that I decided to do some more reading about this Avengers Initiative.
There was a certain doctor Bruce Banner,whom as I can see was exposed to too much radiation – I can see Fury's point now – and can thus ...transform into a huge, rage-fueled, nearly mindless creature called Hulk …?
That's..interesting enough. Poor man must be leading a rather sad life though. Imagine living with two souls inside your body..
And then,there was Natasha.
Originally a KGB operative, whatever the fuck this means, and a dangerousassassin, she was recruited by some Clint Barton. Oh,the one whom Loki got with him. Alright.
She's some really big shot...kinda scary actually.
I really hope these people will be the ones Reeta spoke of.