Ghost (Hawkeye's Daughter)

Ch10: Boarding the Helicarrier

Steve's POV

We were 40 minutes out from where S.H.I.E.L.D. was based. I looked over the others that were gathered's files seeing as I have a lot to catch up on. There was Anthony Stark; Howard's son, also known as Ironman, Natasha Romanoff; an assassin turned  S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Dr Bruce Banner; a man who is intelligent and can turn into a green thing, Agent Scott Fury; Fury's son, a teen prodigy and equipped with a strong arsenal and finally, a girl, Agent Riley Barton. I was most interested by Banner and Barton. Banner seemed to have tried to replicate my formula and failed. Barton, on the other hand, didn't have much information on her. All it said was that she was highly skilled in combat, intelligent and that her father, Clint Barton, was the compromised agent. There was no information on how she was trained, no background and no footage of her in action. Hiring his son is understandable but why would Fury hire a kid? Maybe I could ask Coulson.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" He walked over to me. "A lot of people were. You were the worlds first superhero. Banner thought gammer radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula." I looked back at the footage of a green monster destroying New York. "Didn't really go his way did it?" "Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy is like a Stephen Hawking." I looked up at him, confused. Is that some kind of bird? "He's like a.. smart person." Ooooh. I then go back to Barton's file. "And what is it about this Barton girl? All the others have a background except her and there is no footage of her in action." Coulson became uneasy at the question which made me more curious.

"Well, Agent Barton's history is not so easily accessed and I don't have the authority to give that information. That, you will have to ask Director Fury or Barton herself. The footage part, on the other hand, is because it doesn't exist. She is so good that there have been no sightings of her." I nodded in understanding, I wasn't going to force it out of him. "I gotta say, it's an honour to meet you officially," I smirked at him as he continued, "I sorta met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Well... that's kinda creepy. "I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." he tried to save it as I walked over to the cockpit but it was too late, "You know, really it's just a huge honour to have you on board this..." he trailed off. "I hope I'm the man for the job." "Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh, we made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." I looked up at this. "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old-fashioned?" "Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need 'a little old-fashioned'."

~~~~~~40 minutes later~~~~~~
Riley's POV

I waited with Banner as Nat went to greet Captain Rodgers. He seemed anxious but I didn't blame him. He has spent all these years hiding to save everyone from the monster within... I can kind of relate to that. "Doctor Banner, Agent Barton." I heard someone call from behind us. We turned to see Natasha and Captain Rodgers walking to wards us. Seeing as he knew our names, I guessed he read our files (not that mine tells you a lot of information). He shook Banner's hand first. "They told me you'd be coming." Bruce commented. "Word is, you can find the cube." "Is that the only word on me?" "Only word I care about." Rodgers reassured him. He then turned to me and shook my hand. "Good evening, Ma'am. I'm sorry about your father." "It's alright Captain, we'll find them soon. This must be strange to you, waking up to a new world." I felt bad for him. At least I knew what the world was like around me, he just missed 70 years of his life. His friends, family, possibly a lover, they are either gone or won't be here for much longer. "Yes but this," he looked at his surroundings, "this is actually kinda familiar." He looked down at me curiously, I guess he's wondering about my file.

Natasha came over to tell us the Helicarrier was about to take off. "It's going to get a little hard to breath." Could you be anymore cryptic Nat? Banner and Rodgers walked over to the edge and I followed behind them. "Is this a submarine?" asked the Captain. "Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Banner questioned Fury's sanity, which I can understand. "Not quite Doctor, Captain." Just as I spoke, the Helicarrier began to rise out of the water, revealing the turbines as we raised a few feet into the air. "No, No this is much worse." I heard the Doctor speak and I chuckled. Natasha and I lead them inside to the bridge. Agents busied about as Rodgers and Banner looked around until we were at level to use the reflective panels. The Director turned around and addressed the two men, "Gentlemen." Steve walked over to Fury and handed him 10 bucks. Is that some kind of 1940's custom or something? He walked off to look around and Fury then walked over to banner and shook his hand. "Doctor, thank you for coming." Oh, so he does have manners. I never really warmed up to Fury properly. Yes, he did give the order to infiltrate the Red Room, but wasn't convinced easily and the amount of secrets he keeps as well as his treatment to his own son makes me unsettled. I respect him but don't trust him.

"Thanks for asking nicely." Banner returned, "So, um, how long am I staying?" "Once we get our hands on the tesseract, you're in the wind." Banner nodded to this as if he was impatient to leave. "Where are you with that?" he questioned and Fury indicated over to Phil. "We are sweeping every wireless accessible cameras on the planet; Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us." As much as I like Phil, I don't think this is enough. "It won't find them in time, the field is to large. We are talking about over 7 billion people and one isn't even human." I expressed my thoughts and Bruce agreed as he continued, "You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" "How many are there?" "Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Banner was ready for business so Fury looked to me. "Agent Barton, could you show Dr. Banner to his-" I gave him a look that told him I wasn't going to let him discriminate Scott, even if he is my boss, "*sigh* Agent Fury's Laboratory, please?" He finished irritably, squeezing the bridge of his nose and I gave a pleased smile as I walked passed them for the doctor to follow. "Right this way, Doc. I'm sure Scotty won't mind you borrowing his toys."