SHIELD (A Captain America Story, Book 1 of the SHIELD Series) COMPLETE

Chapter 14: The End of the Beginning

The morning before she was to be deployed back into SHIELD, Ava was awoken by a phone call. 

"I'm not back on active duty until tomorrow," she said, barely repressing a yawn.

"This is not an assignment, Agent Light," a familiar female voice replied. "Not yet, anyway."

Ava sat up straight in her bed. "Agent Hill?"

What the hell is Fury's second-in-command calling me for?

"I'm just here to notify you about your clearance level being updated."

Ava's stomach flipped. She knew Fury wouldn't let her get away with all of this. She'd be bumped back to Level Two for sure, especially now that she didn't have Coulson to back her.

"Congratulations," said Hill, with just a hint of smugness. "You're being promoted.  Welcome to Level Six, Agent Light."

Ava had to try very hard not to drop the phone.

"Or should I say Chimera?" Hill asked.

Ava's heart fluttered. Level Six agents, there being very few of them, often had codenames that they used in the field. Mostly because, since they operated in more dangerous and non-secured areas, code-names could be used to prevent their identities being leaked if a SHIELD transmission were intercepted.

In some cases, as in that of the Black Widow, the name itself took on an identity.

And now she had one of her own.

"Thank you, Agent Hill," Ava managed.

"Don't thank me just yet. Your vacation's being cut a day short. Fury's sending an operative later today to speak to you about your next mission."

"At my apartment or at the Times Square base?"

"Fury asks that you continue your plans as usual. She'll find you."

"Understood. Thank you, Agent Hill."

"Good luck." Hill hung up the phone.

Ava sat up, staring at the phone in her hand for a few more minutes, trying to absorb what she had heard. She couldn't sit there forever, though, because she had another phone call to make.

Up until that moment, she'd had no idea how to respond to Tony's offer. Tony was right, about everything... but so was she. She had only offered to work with the Avengers as a SHIELD agent, not as a member of the already shaky, only partially approved initiative. Even Romanoff and Barton weren't supposed to be involved―Romanoff was invited on off of another SHIELD mission in Russia after Barton was compromised, and Barton stuck with her once he was brought back. And Romanoff was returning to her active duty, though it seemed as though Barton was separating himself from SHIELD entirely, at least for a while. And Ava still couldn't shake the devotion she felt to SHIELD, and now, to the memory of Coulson.

And now this.

Ava dialed in the number and waited until Tony picked up the phone, not even bothering to move from where her legs were still curled under the blankets.

"I assume you have an answer for me, considering your two weeks are up," Tony began without so much as a 'hello.'

Ava smiled wryly. "Good morning, Tony."

"I'm waiting."

Ava sighed. "Thank you for your offer, Tony, but... I think I'll be staying with SHIELD for the time being. I might not be right on the front page, but I don't know if that's where I want to be just yet. I'll keep Ava Stark in the shadows for a while longer, I think. And we'll put off your PR manager's heart attack for another couple of months."