Chapter Text
"Wait. Wait wait wait." Tony put a hand over his mouth and shook the other with each word. "The new Avenger recruit you've been hinting at for weeks now is…?"
"Her name is Anarinda Deine, age sixteen, alias 'Atta Girl'," Coulson continued without even blinking. He made a gesture with his right hand, and the TV turned on.
A gas mask clad figure with long braided hair ran atop an enormous wave of flame, dealing blow after blow to the underbelly of a red ant the size of a school bus. With a final sharp burst of blue from the figure's left hand, the ant's thorax completely collapsed. The footage rapidly cut to that of a bystander's iPhone. He shakily approached the dead ant. On a slab of concrete next to the carcass, "Atta Girl" was written in ash, along with a simple flame symbol.
"Holy shit," Clint breathed.
"You can see how much of an asset she could be to us," Coulson felt a smidge of satisfaction at his team's slack jawed silence. He'd go recruit her as soon as possible for the impending attack Doom was planning, and their team would be that much stronger.
***
Anna watched as a sleek black car with tinted windows parked on her street, tense, with a vague, heavy pit forming in her stomach. She had been expecting this, had done her homework at the windowsill for the past few weeks in preparation, but that didn't stop the pounding in her ears. A balding man stepped out of the back seat, wearing a suit way too nice for her neighborhood. He eyed her modest row house with an expression Anna couldn't read before approaching the doorbell.
Anna untangled herself frenetically from her fleece blanket, mumbling obscenities. She stumbled toward the front door and reached it in time to take some deep breaths before it actually rang. She waited another ten seconds after that to answer. She wasn't nervous. She wasn't.
"H-hello?" she said, cracking the door open.
"Hello, is this the Deine residence?" he was intimidating, amount of hair on his head notwithstanding.
"Yes, sir. How can I, can I help you?" she willed her voice not to shake.
"This is Agent Coulson. I'm from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," his expression softened, sensing Anna's anxiety. "I have my ID if you'd like to see that?" Anna nodded mutely, and the man, Agent Coulson it would seem, flipped open his wallet to a legitimate-looking ID card. "I'd like to ask you and your guardian a few questions."
"Yes, sir." Anna opened the door further and motioned for him to enter.
"Do you want to sit down?" she asked, walking slowly to the modest living room.
"That would be lovely."
They sat down across from one another. Agent Coulson looked as though he expected something of her. She eyed him suspiciously. There was a terse, uncomfortable silence for about forty seconds.
"How much do you know about me?" Anna broke the silence, trying not to confess anything inadvertently.
Agent Coulson looked at her fondly. "Enough, Miss Deine."
"I'm, I'm not getting arrested, am I?"
He stared at her for a moment, and her discomfort mounted.
"Was that a stupid question?" she was growing more desperate for answers. "Because I'm not sure if you're trying to tell me 'of course' or 'of course not' and it's starting to freak me out a little bit."
"Miss Deine, you are not being arrested," Agent Coulson patted the air in a placating motion. Anna cocked her head slightly. "You've heard of the Avenger's Initiative, correct?"
Her eyes widened in recognition. "You're, you're here to recruit me?"
Agent Coulson nodded, seemingly grateful that she was starting to catch on.
"You're here to..." she petered off, breathing heavily. "I'm...I'm gonna be..."
"Calm down, Miss Deine," he soothed, leaning forward towards her without crowding her. "It'll be something like a trial run. We'll work with you for a few missions, and decide from there what the best decision is for everyone."
Anna considered this, and her breathing slowed. It wouldn't be such a terrible thing if she got some practice working with a team, building connections. There's a lot of world that needs saving, and teaming up was only practical. She'd just go to New York for a few days, and...
"Wait, are you flying me out to New York?" Oh, crap, Liesel. "What about school? What about my sister? She doesn't know about the flicker, I've been waiting to tell her when the time was right and I knew she wouldn't take me out of school or make me stop-"
"We'll come to an arrangement with your school, don't worry about that," Agent Coulson was remarkably calm in the face of a panicking teenager. "And as for your sister, I can have that discussion with her if you'd prefer."
"I doubt she'd take it better from you than from me," Anna pointed out.
"Well, that settles that. Is she here? I'd like to fly you to New York as soon as possible."
"She'll be home from work any time now, I thin-"
Liesel Deine walked in the house wearing a rumpled waitress uniform, then leaned against the front door and sighed. She turned her head toward the living room, and raised an eyebrow at Anna, shooting her a what the hell did you do.
"Uh, Liesel?" Anna stood up and walked toward her sister. "Can I talk to you for a quick sec? Alone?"
Liesel took it better than Anna was expecting, given the circumstances. That is, she hyperventilated for a few minutes and needed a few more minutes to herself in the bathroom. She came out collected, but weary, adjusting her glasses.
"I'm sorry for not having introduced myself earlier, Agent," she said. "I'm Liesel Deine, Anna's older sister-slash-guardian."
"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Deine," Agent Coulson said politely.
"So, I'm sorry, I'm still a little confused about this," Liesel started, "are you taking her to New York? Alone?"
"There will be a government jet arriving at O'Hare in just under an hour, yes."
"Can I see some ID?" she asked. " Do you have paperwork for this? Because I'm a little uncomfortable with a full grown man swooping in and taking my baby sister to New York without a real solid reason."
"Believe me, Ms. Deine, I would much rather we go about this a different way, but there is a potential emergency in New York which requires as much manpower as possible to combat it." He handed her his ID as he explained.
"Like, 2012 Alien Attack-level emergency?"
He nodded.
She handed him back his ID after studying it carefully. She turned to Anna. "Are you...Is this something you want to do? Are you okay with this?" There was something pleading in her voice that Anna recognized, and felt herself melt.
"I'm sure, Liesel."
Liesel smiled sadly, then looked back at Agent Coulson. "If it's what she wants, there's no stopping her." She turned back to her sister. "Let's get you packed, okay? If you'll excuse us, Agent."
He nodded graciously. "Take all the time you need."