Eloquence and Twisted Fate

Chapter 3- The unpleasant truth.

"The rest of the team, as in Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye?" I asked, remembering what Connor had said about Thor not having arrived yet. They all stared at me and I realized that I had once more demonstrated my ability to know things that most people didn't.

"Yes..." Fury said slowly.

"Great!" I said, standing up from my chair and brushing myself off. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some people I need to update. One of which will most likely be very pissed off at me for doing this." I paused. "So, what time should I be back?

"By four, please." Director Fury said, sensing that there was no point in arguing with me.

"Righty-o." I said, heading out the door and back to my room. Then I put a coat on over my uniform so I looked less obvious before I headed down to the lobby and out the front door. Connor's apartment building was just a short walk away, and I made a beeline for it. Stepping into the lobby, I headed directly into the elevators and hit the button for the first of his floors. I knocked on his door and he opened it, his face bright red.

"What the hell, Paige?"

He used my superhero secret identity, not my real name, so I assumed that Wade was in control right now. I sighed. That made everything ten times more difficult.

"Sorry. I had to do it."

"The hell you did! Why did you jump on Fury's bandwagon?"

"Well, the first reason is that he managed to track me down. That made it clear to me that there was no more hiding from him. Second, he offered me a nearly irresistible deal that included a place to live right in the center of town, a steady paycheck, free time to visit Aunt May, and a caretaker for her who is much better than anything I could be!"

"Why is the room and board so important? I could offer you the same."

"There is no way I'm moving in with you, Wade."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Well, first is the thing that we've been dating for a total of six days! Not even a week! Then is the fact that you are quite possibly the most unstable person in the world. Connor one minute, Wade the next. I'm not ready to deal with that! And you certainly are not ready to deal with the fact that I'm responsible and perfectly capable for my own choices. I'm not anybody's property, much less yours!" I said, words coming out like daggers.

His mouth fell open and he stood there, stunned.

"Sorry." I said, realizing what I'd just said.

"No, no, it's fine." He said quietly. "It's fine. I get it. You don't want to be with me. You want to go solo. That's cool."

"That's not it at all! Of course I want to date you! I just don't want to be totally committed into a relationship with an unstable-"

"Goodnight, Thea." Connor said, closing the door. The lock clicked.

I stood there in the hallway, too shocked to begin to comprehend what had just happened. then I turned around, and headed back down the elevator to the lobby and out the front door. Then I headed straight for the Oscorp tower, praying Haley would be there. I needed someone to talk to, right now.

"Paige?" Dr. Osborn said, as I barged into the room. "What are you doing?" A pause. "What are you wearing?"

"Long story. Is Haley here?"

"Not right now, but she'll be here in about half an hour. In the meantime, I think you should explain a few things."

"Fine. What do you know about the Avengers?"

"You mean that secret team of Earth's mightiest heroes which I of course know nothing about?" He asked, grinning.

"That one. Yeah. Well, I kinda just joined it."

"That's why you're wearing a SHIELD uniform. I see. Does that mean you've given up on life as an unknown identity?"

"Of course not! No, Fury just confronted me yesterday in an alley, so I figured 'what the heck?' and now I live in SHIELD HQ. It's been rather fun, actually. You should've seen his face when I took off my mask." It occurred to me that I was rambling, and my mood had just done a 180˚ turn and ten minutes ago my pseudo-boyfriend had just kind of dumped me. I guess that was my way of dealing with the shock. Fortunately, Haley had decided to arrive early and I was able to  tell both of them the full story at the same time.

Haley looked impressed. "So now you're an Avenger? Like Tony Stark?"

"Sure. But, I tell you, it's had some consequences. Wade's pretty pissed at me right now. I was just at his house and we had a big fight."

"What?" Haley gasped. "You guys broke up?"

"You know, I'm not sure we were going out in the first place."I said fairly. "He asked me out and all, but in reality I was only dating half of him."

"Jesus, girl, your love life is complicated."

I just shrugged. "I'll apologize sooner or later, but for now I'm going to be busy with school and training. Speaking of which, I need to be back at HQ in ten minutes."

"Well, thanks for the update at least." Dr. Osborn said. "And remember, if you get any brilliant ideas, don't hesitate to share them."

I sprinted towards headquarters, but had to take a detour or two down a quiet side street because a girl running around at above-average speed down the main road in a skin tight suit tends to attract attention. I arrived at Fury's office with approximately thirty seconds to spare. He didn't even blink and showed me down to level twelve below ground.

"This is our main training floor. We've designed this one to suit your abilities." Fury said, showing me into an empty warehouse-sized room. Then he put a visor on me almost exactly like the one Dr. Osborn had given me, and a completely different scene unfolded in front of my eyes. In the corner of the display, a little clock began to count down. 10:00, 9:59, 9:58... A wave of faceless humanoid creatures began  to advance on me, and I lost myself in the fight.