Next Generation

14: Last Days

It was down to the last five days before the Stark Expo/charity ball weekend, and tension and excitement were flying through the roof.

Agents were running around, gloating about how they met the Next Avengers before anyone else. The girls worried about what ridiculously expensive gown they were gonna wear, and the guys contemplated what girl to ask to the ball.

Everyone was gathered at the living room, apparently an emergency meeting was called for instead of training.

Steve went about pacing back and forth. Bruce kept fiddling with his thumbs, staring down at the ground. Tony looked tense sitting at the corner of the couch. Natasha looked stressed, her eyes following Steve. Thor looked worried as he swung his hammer. Clint looked as if he was ready to pounce at anyone at any given second.

"What's going on?", Victoria was the first to ask as she sat beside Tony. Tony let his arm rest over the couch, his fingers curling themselves in her black hair.

"A lot actually", Luke's eyes wondered around the room, sensing that something was wrong.

"It's too late to cancel", Tony mumbled.

Victoria sat up, "what do you mean?".

Before anyone started to freak out, Natasha found enough courage to explain. "Director Fury", the kids shared a look. Who the hell was that?

"He called in this morning to inform us that somehow someone found out about you guys. That someone also found out when, and where you guys were to be introduced and may or may not be planning to attack", she sat up from the couch, her clasped hands at her waist. She was so professional even when she didn't mean to.

"Stark was planning on canceling the whole thing, but it's too late now. Fury thinks it's just some idiot who wants to scare us", she rolled her eyes at her last statement.

Luke's face paled, a lot. Francis stepped away from everyone else. James tightened his fist so hard his knuckles turned white. Torunn stood her ground, she seemed the least worried among any of them. Victoria buried her face in the palms of her hands.

"I have to fly in to New York tonight", Tony informed as he also stood up.

"What? Why?", his daughter asked in a heartbeat.

"I have to check up on everything. And think about it, if I'm there I get to keep a close eye on whatever's going on. It's probably nothing anyway. Maybe it's some low income agent looking for some extra money", he tried to shrug as he took a sip from the cold glass on the table next to him.

Steve grimaced at his last comment. It took a really long time to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. after the whole Hydra infiltration thing, and Steve played a key role in it. As a hero, of course.

"Stark's right", Bruce commented as he finally looked up from the ground. He pushed up his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

Natasha and Clint nodded.

"Alright, Stark flies in tonight and informs us about anything suspicious. You should meet up with Fury", Steve ordered.

Tony's face lit up with amusement. "Oh, Fury. Always so delighted to talk to me", he laughed to himself.

"Who is this Director Fury man you speak of?", Torunn asked.

Tony looked down at her, smiling. "Oh, you'll get to meet him very well".

"Okay. What about them?", Clint pointed to the kids, although they weren't really kids, gathered at the center.

Steve walked up to the group, his hands behind his back, and a concerned yet firm look on his face.
"You guys know what you signed up for, right?", he tried to smile.