ONE
AFTER COULSON CAME TO GET HER, Hope and Phil went to go recruit Tony Stark. Hope knew that Natasha had gone undercover to evaluate him for the Avengers Initiative, something she wasn't aware of her name being attached to until Phil told her.
She had also met Pepper Potts quite a few times when the woman was working on Iron Man cleanup jobs with Phil. She was a good woman, Hope admired her.
The two had already entered Stark Towers when Phil decided to call Tony first. Tony kept denying his phone call so Hope used her magic to patch their call through as she also used her magic to get them inside the elevator without being detected.
JARVIS, Tony Stark's A.I., warned his creator of the breach before they were officially patched over, a FaceTime-like call. Hope stayed in the background so Tony wouldn't notice her.
"Stark, we need to talk" Phil spoke seriously.
"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message".
Hope couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face, amused at the man's antics that reminded her so much of her uncle Kol. "This is urgent" Phil warned as they got closer to Tony's personal floor.
"Then leave it urgently".
Before anything else could be done, the elevator arrived and Tony couldn't help but gawk in shock that Phil and the girl with him were able to hack their way up.
"Security breach" Tony turned to his girlfriend. "That's on you" He muttered. "Mr. Stark" Phil spoke up, getting the attention of the pair once more. Pepper smiled warmly at the two. Phil looked awkward while Hope was slightly amused at the Philanthropist's actions.
"Phil, Hope, come in!" Tony followed behind his girlfriend who made her way to greet the two agents. "Phil? Uh, his first name is agent. And who even is she?" Pepper rolled her eyes, although more fondly than annoyed.
"That's Hope Kenner, an agent along with Phil" Pepper then turned her attention back to the two. "Come on in, we're celebrating" She encouraged with a sweet smile.
"Which is why they can't stay" Tony looked at the girl in confusion when he realized she was a teenager, wondering why and how a government agency had a minor working with them.
"We need you to look this over. Soon as possible" Hope took out a file as Phil spoke, holding it in front of Stark. "I don't like being handed things, kid" He dismissed, eyeing the girl as he tried to figure out what her deal was.
"That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade" Pepper handed Hope her wine glass to hold. Ignoring Tony's joke about giving alcohol to a minor, she then took the file from Hope's other hand and gave it to Tony while she took his wine, drinking it all at once.
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday" Tony replies dryly, not even looking at the file yet. Hope rose any eyebrow challengingly before speaking up.
"This isn't a consultation, Mr. Stark" Hope stated. "Is this about The Avengers?" Pepper's eyes widened slightly when she realized what she had just said. "Which I...I know nothing about" Hope sent Pepper an infamous Mikaelson smirk that she rightfully inherited from her father.
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify" Tony started to walk away to screen the files into his system. "I didn't know that either" Pepper lied, more in a joking matter than serious. Hope knew that if the woman truly wanted to lie, it would be practically unclockable.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others" Pepper smiled. "That I did know" She commented with a smile.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore" Tony rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?" Tony pulled his girlfriend off to the side.
Tony put the two files he was given into the database as Pepper reaches him. "You know, I thought we were having a moment" Hope pretended as if she couldn't hear them. Her super-hearing was really a curse sometimes.
"I was having twelve percent of a moment" Pepper teased before looking at the two agents for a moment. "This seems serious, Phil and Hope are pretty shaken" Pepper looked back at her boyfriend.
"How did you notice? Why is he, Phil? And why do you even know a teenage spy-agent?" Pepper ignored his question and watched what he was doing. "What is all of this?" She inquired.
Tony took the files and put them up as holograms surrounding the room, each with information about the candidates for the Avengers.
It has footage of Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, and even Loki when he took the tesseract. What really shocked them, more than Loki, was seeing the teenager that was in the tower as one of the candidates for the Avengers. The footage they had of her was her using what seemed to be telekinesis to fight off bad guys.
"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight" Pepper spoke up, not tearing her eyes away from the footage. "Tomorrow" Tony tried to persuade her.
"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework" Pepper acknowledged the forms and footage. "Well, what if I didn't?" He inquired, wishing he could just spend time with his girlfriend instead of heroic duties.
"If you didn't?" Pepper looked at him with a mixture of fondness and mischievousness. "Yeah" Pepper smiled. "You mean if you finished" Tony nodded. "Well, um...then..." Pepper proceeded to whisper something in Tony's ear, Hope's face flushed awkwardly due to the fact that she heard.
Tony gasped loudly. "Square deal. It's the last date" Pepper kisses him passionately. "Work hard," She told him before walking away, eventually walking out with Phil and Hope.
***
The two agents were on the quinjet the next day, which was flying them to the helicarrier. Awkwardly enough, Steve Rogers was on the same quinjet as them.
Hope wasn't dazzled by him, not like poor Phil was. Hope didn't understand what it was like for Phil considering her family had all kinds of ties to famous people in the world. Hell, her aunt Rebekah had a one-night-stand once with one of the members of One Direction.
Hope watched in amusement as Phil approached the Captain who had been watching footage of the Hulk. "So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" He questioned.
"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula" The Hulk roared with fury as he slammed a Jeep apart in the footage, Steve didn't hide his disappointment/sadness that these poor people were spending so much time trying to recreate something that, to the public's knowledge, only he had.
"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Hope snorted, gaining the attention of Steve. "Does it ever? When he's not the jolly green giant, the dudes super smart. Like Steven Hawking smart" Steve looked at her in confusion, reminding Hope of a sad puppy.
"He's like a smart person" Phil then turned into a fangirl. "I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially" Steve smiled politely at the man. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping" Hope couldn't help but laugh, earning a tiny smile from Steve before the man walked to the side of the quintet and looked out the window.
"I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board" Hope's laughter couldn't be contained, amusing Steve who was glad to have someone happy like her on the team. After watching the footage he was given of her, he wasn't expecting her to be so lively.
"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job" Hope rose an eyebrow at the hint of her name in the sentence. "Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh...we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input" Phil rambled.
"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?" Both Phil and Hope turned somber for a moment. "With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned".
***
The quinjet finally landed on a massive battleship, aka the Helicarrier. The three walked down one of the ramps from the runway, meeting up with Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow.
"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers. You already know Agent Kenner" Natasha sent Hope a small smirk before turning her face back into a stoic expression. "Ma'am" Steve greeted. "Hi" Natasha then turned to Phil. "They need you on the bridge. Face time" She informed him, her voice seeming almost monotone. "See you there" Phil walked off, leaving three behind.
"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked as they started walking towards where Bruce Banner was.
"Trading Cards?" Steve looked at her in both confusion and a bit of embarrassment. "They're vintage, he's very proud. Hope got him some rare ones for his birthday" Steve looked at the auburn-haired teen, it was the first time someone used her first name which made him believe they were extremely close.
"They were my brother's" She admitted, actually not lying. They were Marcel's, he was glad to give them to his adoptive sister when he heard they were for a man who was a father figure to her.
Banner didn't notice as they approached him, he was obviously nervous and skittish. It was unbelievable that he was the Hulk, an angry green giant who smashed everything. Then again, everyone had a dark side, Hope knew that all too well.
"Dr. Banner" Steve greeted once the man finally noticed them. They shook hands, he seemed a bit more relaxed when he saw Steve and Hope which probably meant he saw the files and footage and knew that they were more than likely able to keep their own against the other guy, maybe even subdue him.
"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming, you too" He looked between the super soldier and tribrid. "Good afternoon Dr. Banner" She greeted warmly. Bruce was a bit taken back at her warm tone that was foreign with all the other agents on board. They were extremely tense and weary of him.
"Word is you can find the cube" Bruce couldn't help but be amused at the words of the man out of time. "Is that the only word on me?" Steve sent him his notorious kind smile that made everyone feel special.
"Only word I care about" Bruce took in the sentiment before speaking again. "Must be strange for you, all of this" Bruce gestured around. "Well, this is actually kind of familiar" Hope smiled at the two, happy that Bruce had at least one person he felt comfortable around.
"You get used to it pretty quickly" Hope gained their attention. "How long have you been with S.H.I.E.L.D?" Bruce asked, wondering how and why the agency would hire a kid, even one with extraordinary powers like her.
"Almost three years" The girl replied as Natasha stepped forward. "Gentlemen, Hope, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe" As if on cue, the Helicarrier started shaking as if it were ready to either fly or sail.
"Is this is a submarine?" Steve questioned. "Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Bruce scoffed. The two moved closer to the edge to get a better look.
Four huge lift fans on the sides started to lift into the air. Steve was in awe while Bruce smiled bitterly. "Oh no, this is much worse" Hope smirked at his tone, although slightly nervous like him.
She hoped that Banner could stay in control, or at least she could subdue him with her magic if necessary. They would just have to wait and see what happened next.