𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 ▷ 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 [✔]

02 | THE STAR SPANGLED MAN WITH A PLAN

VALERIE'S P.O.V.

"Any chance you two are driving by Laguardia?" Pepper asked, as she walked our way, slipping on her flip flops in the process. My mind had been too preoccupied to answer her inquiry. I called up the elevator, feeling a bit out of place in the Stark tower penthouse. It was obnoxious, yet fascinating in all it's glory - that was undeniable.

"We can drop you," Phil answered for me, giving me a questioning look, before Pepper took the glass of champagne from him and downed it. She then sat the glass on the table not too far away from the elevator.

"Fantastic," She replied genuinely, smiling as she grabbed her jacket. The second the elevator reached our floor, we all pilled in, leaving Tony inside of his magnificent penthouse to look over the S.H.I.E.L.D. case file that we hand delivered to him. By the looks of it, he had a lot of reading to do. Pepper just thought it would be best to let him do his thing without the chance for her to distract him. Agreeably, it would take a bit of time to read up on all the information, due to the severity of our current predicament. Tony would need all the time he could get.

"Well I wanna hear about the cellist," Pepper spoke up, "Is that still a thing?" She wondered curiously.

"She moved back to Portland," Phil told her, sounding a little disappointed before he glanced over at me with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes at all. If only she had known what that look meant.

"What? Boo!" Pepper expressed her displeasure as the doors closed shut to the elevator. She must be referring to my mother. I rolled my eyes while she was too busy expressing her concern for my father's -  believed to be brief - relationship.

Aside from being my mom, playing her cello practically defined her entire existence. She had been playing long before I was born. It was one thing about her that would never change. She had worked in Orchestra for years, and was a phenomenal player, one of the very best I had ever seen or heard.

Phil had loved her, I know he did, but with him being involved in this work field, she didn't want anything to do with it. Not to mention he'd sleep better at night knowing she wasn't. I could see it now, in his eyes as he glanced at me with pain and reminiscent yearning. He missed her, but he knew things had ended the way they had for the best.

I on the other hand, was the opposite to my mother when it came to views on S.H.I.E.L.D. I had been completely absorbed into it like a sponge. It gave my life a little more purpose than just surviving amongst the motions as if I were exactly the same as everyone else. I was incapable of a 9-5 life at this point. I was younger when Coulson explained to me exactly what I would be getting myself into by living a life like his, but he left deciding that to me. Although I needed to wait until I was an adult to make an official decision, my heart was set, and had been for a very long time.

The second I graduated high school and I was within the age requirements of the agency, I had immediately signed up for the S.H.I.E.L.D. training academy. I even managed to get an internship at the side of my very own father, which classified as a field assignment towards my studies. After completion of this assignment, I would be able to graduate my classes at the academy early. Initially, I had felt cheated, like I had only managed the position through my father. How could I possibly be accepted for the position simply for being the man's daughter?

It had taken a little while to get used to, but I soon realized that it would be the only way I'd get in at such a young age, and with a lack of experience in the field. My father had provided a handwritten recommendation for the position, and despite my emotions, it had carried me farther than I could've ever imagined. Graduating early? With field experience amongst the Director of Shield, as well as the most advanced agents in the entire division? How could I deny such a enlightening position?  I couldn't.