A New Life

Chapter Four

"Alex?"

The voice he could hear was muffled as if he was underwater and someone was talking from above. He tried to swim to the surface, but his arms hung heavily at his sides, and he couldn't move his legs.

"Can you hear me?"

He opened his mouth to respond to the person above him, but the water came rushing inside. All he could do was let out a strangled cry as the water took hold of him, dragging him further down into its depths...

"Alex!"

He was brought back to reality with a bang, jerking upright and spluttering out water that had never entered his lungs, pushing the person leaning over him aside with an arm that moved on his command.

"I need you to calm down! It's me... Dr Banner."

Alex looked around to see himself in a bedroom he did not recognise, lying in a bed that he had never seen in his life. "What happened? Where am I?"

"One question at a time, Alex," a voice said beside him.

He jumped, turning quickly to see Captain Rogers getting up from the chair at his side.

"You're in the Avengers Tower, and before you ask-" He held up a finger to stop Alex from interrupting, "-Fury was the one who ordered his men to grab you. Not us. Now get dressed and come out. Everyone's waiting."

Bruce followed him out of the room and shut the door before him, leaving Alex alone.

He cautiously slipped out of bed and opened the bag sitting beside him. It held a couple of shirts, a pair of jeans, and his favourite pair of sneakers. Apparently, they've thought of everything, he thought dryly as he got dressed and walked over to the window. He couldn't help letting out a small gasp when he saw the view... and how high up he was. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, instead trying to see if there was a window he could escape out. There was no way he was staying here... that much was certain!

"You will not be able to get out that way, Mister Rider."

Alex nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the robotic voice, spinning around to see who has spoken. "Who was that?" he demanded.

"My name is Jarvis."

Alex looked up at the ceiling, where the voice had come from. "You're a... robot?"

"Of a sort."

Alex thought for a moment before giving his head another shake. "I must have hit my head harder than I thought," he muttered before turning and walking out of the room.

"He can't be any older than 16!"

"15, actually. But I agree with Rogers. He's just a kid!"

"You were a kid once too, Romanoff."

"It's different Stark! He's not a Russian spy! He's a teenager!"

"Enough! All of you! This is not negotiable! He is going to be working with you for the next few months, whether you like it or not!"

Alex cleared his throat, and immediately all eyes were on him. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Fury got to his feet. "I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sorry that you had to be brought in like this. As you refused to co-operate with us the first time, I had to-"

"I get it. You got some of your agents to bring me in. Don't worry... I managed to get a few good punches in before they knocked me out with a crowbar."

Fury didn't even blink. "That was a bit excessive... but we needed you off the street as soon as possible."

"I'm not working for you. Like I said before, MI6 were bad enough. I'm not about to throw away my only chance of a normal life because you want me to."

Natasha got to her feet and walked over. "Here's the thing Alex," she said softly. "We don't want to take that away from you. We're not giving you a normal life, but we're giving you a chance to start over." She paused. "We're giving you a chance at a new life."