Eternally Grateful (CH 9 / ???)

A/N OH MY GOD! I am SOOOO sorry for not having this out sooner!!!
PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!

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"Clint... Wha... What's going on here?" I asked. This was all to much for me to understand. What is Clint doing here? What is this place anyway? The man with the eyepatch spoke instead of Clint.

"You are in SHIELD headquarters." He said standing up from his seat. "I am Director Fury." Clint walked forward. "Barton here, is not who you think he is." Fury continued. I looked curiously at Clint.

"He's not an archery instructor?"

"No. He is an Agent here at Shield." Fury said. "Known more commonly to the public as... Hawkeye."

"Oh my... God..." I said in complete surprise. "That's why you looked so familiar when I first met you!" Clint is Hawkeye. Clint... Is Hawkeye. Clint. Is. Hawkeye! When I was young, my arhcery tutor always used to talk about a man who was considered the worlds best marksmen. I remember that once she showed us a picture of this man. I can't believe I didn't recognize him before! When I first met Clint, I could have sworn that I've seen him before, could have sworn that I knew him from somewhere. I can hardly believe that I didn't figure it out until now! Holy... I was giving archery lessons... From Hawkeye. How freakin' amazing is that?!

"The 'Lessons' you received were actually tests." Fury went on to explained, intertupting my thoughts. "Tests to see how you skills rank. And, according to Agent Barton, You are more then capable."

"...Capable of what?"

"Later." Fury said, his expression turning very serious. "Right now you need to give us all the information you have on the fugitive that you've been harboring."

"...Fugitive?" I said, confused. Fury pressed a button on the table and in the center a holographic screen popped up showing many different pictures and videos of... My house... my mothers house... All of them zoomed in on Loki. "Him? But... He's not a fugitive." You think I'm crazy dont you? You think I've lost my mind to say that Loki isn't a criminal. Well, you aren't seeing things from my perspective. If you look back at the past few days, Loki hasn't done anything wrong. He did 'kill' that man at the warehouse, but that man isn't actually dead. He's alive and well. When I saw him on the news he looked like he was in near perfect health. Loki may have me under blackmail but does that really count as a major crime? He hasn't even made me do anything really except for take Archery lessons.

"Oh but he is." Fury replied.

"We brought you here for your own protection." Clint Added.

Protection? From Loki? Is he really a fugitive? I mean, sure, I noticed that there was an obvious antagonistic look in his eyes, and he certainly seemed like he could commit crimes if he so wanted, but I have yet to see him do anything that makes me think of him as a criminal. Think back to the night when I was up late, just crying my eyes out in the living room. Loki sat there, and listened to my rammbling about how I felt so bad for fighting with Nikki. Would a criminal really want to hear a 18 year old go on and on about that sort of thing? I think not. He helped me, comforted me. It also cannot go unnoticed that... He saved my life. If he hadn't been in the warehouse when I was about to be attacked by those canine mutants, if he hadn't magically appeared at just the right moment, if he hadn't been there... I wouldn't be alive right now... I am alive, because of him. I am seeing the light of day, because of him. I am standing here, right now... because of him. Does all of that spell out criminal?

I can barly see how he could be so dangerous that Shep and I have to get dragged out of our house and-

I then gasped. "Where is my dog!? If you hurt him, I swear I-"

"He is fine." Fury stated, cutting me off.

"I didn't ask if he was alright, I asked where he was!" I said raising my voice. "Where is he!!"

"He is with Agent Coulson... In fact," He pointed behind me at the door. "There they are now."

I turned around and saw Shep come running through the doorway, followed by a man who was wearing a suit, and an earpeice in his right ear. I bent down to the ground and hugged Shep when he was by my side. "Thank god you're okay." I petted him on his head. When my hand was on his neck, I felt his collar... It was different. Instead of the blue leather collar he had before, there now was a shiny, metallic red band around his neck. I looked at the front of it, noticing what looked to be a small circular speaker. Shep's dog tags were connect to a little loop underneath it. "What is this?" I asked, touching the collar.

"It is a device that Mr. Stark created." Agent Coulson said, motioning to the man wearing the black sabbath t-shirt.

"Turn it on. I'm sure you'll love what it does." Stark said.

I looked back at the collar, and saw a small on and off switch on the bottom of the speaker. I flicked it on, and the speaker lit up, having a slight blue glow around it. It made a few quiet noises, and click. I stared at it, trying to figure out what it did... a few moments passed by and it seemed like it did nothing.

"Why is everyone staring at me..." I heard a voice say. "Wah! Who said that!?" Sheps head quickly looked around the room at everyone. I just looked at him with widened eyes.

"Shep... You can talk!" I nearly shouted, I bent down next to him, giving him a big hug. "Oh my god, this is amazing!"

"I... I can talk?" Shep said. "Good Lord! And I sound British!" Shep pulled himself out of my hug and then continued talking, saying different "british" sayings. "Good day friends! Top of the morning! Would you care for some tea? Oh hahaha! I love this! Who is this Mr. Stark person!?"

"That would be me." Stark said. Shep jumped up into a chair so he could better look at Stark.

"I say! You are genius, man! To create a device which allows me to talk must have been most difficult!" Shep replied.

"It's still a proto-type so there may be bugs that need to be worked out."

"No matter! Giving me the gift of a voice makes up for any of the glitches that may occur!" Shep was obviously overjoyed with his newfound abilities. His short little tail was wagging back and forth and he had the most elated look on his face. I saw from the corner of my eye that Fury was about to speak again, but before he could, Shep interupted him. "Oh! And Alice..."

"Yes, Shep?" I replied.

"Now that I can speak my mind I have something to say to you." He said. I nodded in reply and he continued. "I don't like my dry food anymore! It's bland, tasteless and unsettling. Don't buy it anymore."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Haha. Okay then."

Glancing around the room I noticed another agent walking. In her hands she carried a large plastic bag, and inside of it I recognized my custom laptop cover.

"Wait!" I said as I remembered something. I half-ran over to the Agent and asked if I could use my laptop. The agent looked at Fury, and he nodded in approval. I took my laptop, taking it back over to the table. I took it out of the bag, and opened it up. It was still on, the battery at about half power. I quickly clicked through a few folders and brought up the picture I took of Loki when he was using Shep like a pillow. I turned the laptop towards Fury showing him the image. "Does that really look like someone who's a fugative to you?"

"WAH!" I heard Shep say. "When in heavens name did you take that!"

I looked towards him. "Oh come on, You looked pretty darn comfortable being his Pillow." I said.

"No... No!" Shep retorted. "I... I wasn't comfortable in the slightest!"

"Oh really?" I replied, sarcasm coating the words.

"Oh fine! I may have... Allowed him to lay his head opon me, but I was half asleep!" Shep explained. "And... And he scrached behind my ears! You know I love getting scratched there!"

Clint looked at the laptop screen. raising an eyebrow and laughing a bit at the photo. Fury mearly glanced at it, and then dismissed it, closing my laptop and pushing it back to me.

"Getting back to the task at hand," Fury started, obviously frustrated with the distraction. "Agent Barton says that your skills have greatly advanced. He thinks that you are more the ready."

"Ready for... what?" I asked.

"To be the new recruit to the Avengers."

Before I could reply to him one of the agents who was sitting a moniter turned around and started talking to Fury. "Director, We've detected a small scale attack on city hall." The agent informed him, pointing to a blinking dot on a map which was on his computer screen.

"Threat Level?" Fury asked.

"Low." Replied the agent. "But, due to it's location it would be most recomended to sort it out quickly."

"Hum." Fury said. He stood there for a few moments and then looked at a female agent who was in the room. "Agent Hill, take Helios down to Armory and Storage, and get her back here in no more then 5 minutes."

Before I could even ask anything, the female agent, Agent Hill, grabbed my hand pulling me with her through the door. She led me down a few hallways and then into an elevator. She released my hand and pressed a button, causing the elevator to decend down to it destination. When the doors of it opened again Agent Hill motioned for me to follow her, which I did. I'm not sure exactly where we were but after walking into the room, Hill looked though a shelf which was full of what looked to be uniforms. The same uniforms that Hill and all the other agents were wearing. She kept looking for a few more moments and then threw one of the uniforms over her shoulder at me. I caught it, and Hill turned around to face me again.

"Put those on." She said. "What size shoe do you wear?" I told her my shoes size. "I will return in a moment."

She left, walking into another room which was connected to this one. I looked down at the clothes that were in my hands. It consisted of an undershirt, A long sleaved jacket that was dark Blue/Black in color and had a logo on the upper arm that looked like an eagle, or some other large bird of prey inside of a circle, and a matching pair of pants. Not knowing what else to do I just decided to go along with whatever was happening, and I put on the uniform. Hill returned to the room after I finished changing clothes.

"Something wrong?" She asked, noticing that I had been moving around akwardly in the uniform.

"Uh... No. I just... never really wear clothes like this...."

She walked over to me. "You'll get used to it." She handed me a pair of boots that matched the uniform. "Here. These should fit you just fine."

Taking the boots from her I bent down to put them on, now realizing that I was only wearing socks. When those agents came to my house I didn't have my shoes on. I slipped the boots on, pulling up the zippers on the side. They were just the right size, as Agent Hill had previously stated. After that, the agent started walking, while she waver her hand telling me to follow her again. We returned to the elevator, and she pressed the button, taking us back up to the previous location.

"Um... What's your name?" I asked. "I know you're Agent Hill, but what of your first name?"

"Maria." She replied to me.

"I'm Alice."

"Around here you'll be called Agent Helios."

I know I have already stated that I don't like "titles" but... Agent Helios. I kind of like the sound of that.

The elevator opened again and we returned to the room from before. I saw Shep laying on the floor, out of everyones way. Clint was still in the room but he now was wearing different clothes then before. He also had his bow that I seen him use at one of our archery lessons, and a quiver of arrows on his back. Fury walked into the room from a different door. Behind him was agent Coulson.

"I see you arrived back within the time constraint." Fury said. He turned, looking in Clints' direction. "Barton, You and Helios are to go and handle the attack on city hall." He turned again, now looking at me. "It will be the perfect mission for you to prove yourself worthy of being our new recruit."

"Now wait a minute!" Shep joined in the conversation and got up from the floor, walking in front of Fury, staring up at him. "You are actually going to send he out there unarmed? Are you mad, man?!"

"No, you didn't let me finish." Fury shot back at my dog, in obvious frustration. Coulson walked over to me. I saw now that he had been carrying an archery bow, which looked similar to Clints', along with arrows. He handed them to me, and Fury continued. "That will be your weapon. The arrows have been color coded for you so you can learn their unique abilities. Barton will tell you all you need to know about them on the way."

"May I accompany Alice?" Shep asked.

"Certainly." Fury said a bit more over-enthusiastic then needed. I can imagine in his mind he's saying 'yeah get the mutt outta my headquarters.' Fury doesn't really seem like much of a dog person.

"Move along then." Agent Hill said from beside me. "There is no time to waste."

Clint walked over, and Shep and I followed as he left the room. Navigating down a few hallways, we came to a door and went outside. Once outside, for a second I could only stop and stare at the surroundings. We were in the sky. It looked like it was begining to get dark, but it was still bright enough to see the big white clouds.

"Good heavens!" Shep said. "We're on an aircraft carrier! I would never have guessed."

Clint was standing next to a Helicopter, along with a pilot. I walked over to him. He opened the door, letting me inside first, followed by shep, and then he jumped in, shutting the door. The pilot got in, doing a quick check of things and then starting the copter. It took off into the air, flying away from the air-craft carrier and then starting to desend back down to the ground.

"Alright." Clint said. "Listen close." I looked at him, prepared to listen intentelly. Even Shep paid attention to him. Clint took the arrows I had and pulled one with a white stripe on it out of the quiver. "The arrow colors are easy to learn. The ones with a white stripe are your basic arrow. They are for general needs." He put that arrow back, now taking out one with a red stripe. "A red striped arrow is for close range shots, for when you need to shoot a short distance. Finally, the blue striped ones are for extreamly long ranged shots, but I doubt you'll have to use those... not yet at least."

"What about the orange ones?" I asked.

"Those are... experimental arrows. When shot, they ignite into flames. I would advise avoiding use of those for now."

I nodded, letting him know that I understood and will be sure to remember everything he told me. White stripe: Normal arrow. Red stripe: close range. Blue: long range. Easy. Clint put the quiver strap over my head, and onto my shoulder.

Before I knew it the helicopter landed a block or so away from city hall. When we all got our the helicopter pilot took off again.

We quickly approched the destination, seeing police cars surrounding the building. There was much panic going on outside the building with people running out of it, trying to escape whatever or whoever was causing trouble. A few police men were running up the stairs, armed with their guns.

"You ready?" I heard Clint say.

"... As ready as I'll ever be."

"Let's go!" Shep shouted.

We entered the building now seeing what the source of this attack was. Shep and I both had to stop and stare for a few moments, trying to see if what we were seeing was real or just our imaginations. If the culprets of this chaos were truly what they looked to be, or if our minds were just hallucinating. If all the damage inside here was caused by the same creatures which I had encountered in that warehouse. Mutant Canines.

When I heard them snarl, growl, and bark I knew that this was not some illusion. The mutated dogs were the ones running amuck in city hall. Clint wasted no time, moving in and quickly pulled out an arrow, shooting it at one of the canines. The arrow hit in the canines chest, causing a loud yelp of pain, before it fell to the floor.

"Alice... aren't these the canines from the warehouse?" Shep asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Coming out of my slight daze I looked ahead of me. "And that one's headed straight for us!"

"Shoot it!"

I grabbed a white striped arrow, quickly pulling it back in the bow, and releasing it. The creature got hit in it's throut, preventing it from making any sound.

"Nice shot!" Shep said.

This continued on. Clint and I worked together taking out the canines. Shep even got into the fight. He had the creatures chase him, as he was more the fast enough to out-run them, and led the mutants into an easy position for Clint and I to shoot them. But, even though we kept taking them out, it seemed like more and more of them started coming. I shot one, and two more ran in to take it's place.

"If this is what Shield calls a small attack, I'd really hate to see what they consider a large scale assult!" I called to Clint.

"Just hang in there." He responded. "These mutants can't go on forever."

We continued shooting. Looking around I saw a bunch of people crowded together by one of the walls. Two of the mutants caught sight of them, and slowly started walking, taking large strides, towards them. The innocents expressions began more frightened.

I ran over then shooting one of the canines as I moved. I stood in front of the group of people, and aimed at the other canine. I had pulled out a red striped arrow so I waited until the dog got closer. When it was within a reasonable range I let go of the arrow, hitting the dog, and knocking it out. I looked behind me at the people on who were now crouch down on the floor.

"The path to the exit is clear!" I said to them. "Now run!" They didn't hesitate before they all got up and bolted out of the building. I couldn't be distracted for long because another mutant was running my way. I grabbed another arrow, pulling it back and waiting for the mutant to get closer. I was about to let go of the arrow, but I froze, just standing there in shooting stance. All I could do was gasp in realization. This mutant canine had short black fur, with gray on it's feet and tail. More noticeablly to me though was the very destictive light grey dots under it's eyes. Those dots were on of a kind and I recognized them immidiatly. "...Shadow." I said in a wisper. That was Shadow. I know that dog. I know him because... That's Nikki's dog! I watched as the mutated version of Shadow got closer and closer. Half my mind was telling me to let go of the arrow, and shoot, yet the other half was screaming at me not to.

"Alice!!"

The yell of Shep knocked me back to reality, but I feared it was too late. Shadow jumped right at me, his large jaws opened wide, his sharp claws out with paws streched out and his red eyes seeming to pulse with a bright red glow. I heard but one loud growl... before things went black.

Black, silent, nothingness.

I felt nothing.

I heard nothing.

I saw nothing.

"Oh God, i'm dead." I said to myself.

'heh'

Was that a laugh I heard?

'heh, heh.'

Yes, that was a laugh.

"Let me give you a peice of advice." I heard a voice say from within the darkness. I could not pin-point which direction it was coming from or who was speaking. This voice sounded very familiar... "Each day is a gift... and not a given right. You need to leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind, and always take the path less traveled by." The voice continued. I know who this is... I know it I just can't place a name... "The first step you take is always the longest stride."

Suddenly the blackness was gone, replaced by brightness. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light, revealing the identify to whom of which the voice belonged.

"... Loki?"