As a consult from Stark Industries certain things were expected of me pertaining to respecting world security, which unfortunately meant I couldn’t use the Deputy of SHIELD’S password to gain access to classified information. Even though she was my Godmother for all intents and purposes.

            I sat at my own small station, watching the whirl of scientists and lab technicians rush about the cold sterile ‘vacuum’ wondering, what the fuck I was doing here.

            I was a glorified receptionist and personal assistant for the leading name in tech so when the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury called and asked me to be on the PEAGASUS project, I was more than a little surprised.

            Although, it wasn’t like he didn’t owe me.

            I wondered if this position was given to me as pay back for using me as an agent to spy on Stark, I wondered if he’d given me this just to keep an eye on me, I wondered if he was hoping I’d still spy on him for Stark if he gave me insight into SHIELD.

            My dad of course wasn’t in the know, as far as he was concerned I was on a Stark Industries retreat working on my communication and team building skills. He’d go mental if he found out I was here and he had high enough blood pressure as it was, which thankfully he has medication for now (which I know nothing about and totally didn’t re-order his prescription under his name so he’d have some spare while I was gone).

            As I write this I realise that you probably have an inkling I’m not from your regular American family, my mum was a SHIELD agent and from that sentence alone, you’ve probably guessed she isn’t above ground so the idea of me being anywhere near the field or a lab breaks my dad out in hives. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him and it wasn’t exactly like I was a child, I was twenty-two soon to be twenty-three so I knew what I was doing. (Of course that statement was made regarding my ability to make decisions about my own life, not that I in fact knew what I was doing, cause let’s be honest I had no fucking clue what do to when it came to being an adult).

            The PEAGASUS project was one that I was intrigued with the moment I stepped through the compound gates, since apparently they were trying to harness energy from the other side of space to use for Earth. Why one would want or need to do that I don’t know, I feel like we should explore more of our own planet before we start poking our noses into other ones.

            RJ wasn’t the biggest fan of me doing this either, he’d told me over dinner the other night that going to New Mexico was a bad idea. Whether that was because he was worried about the project or because I’d never been involved with SHIELD before I didn’t know. He told me that he was concerned that if something were to go wrong he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself since he’d let me go. I told him there was no ‘letting’ me go having anything to do with it, I was going whether he liked it or not. The only reason I was telling him about it was because he didn’t have the power to tell me no and I’d listen. Only my dad had that power and one day I wish to have the same cause fuck me it was powerful.

            I’d only been picked up yesterday, flown here in the dark hours of the morning with a promise to be careful and one of RJ’s hoodies. He didn’t wear them to work so there was no way anyone would know it was his. That was yet another secret I was keeping, RJ the brave and daring SHIELD specialist, from the operations branch with telekinetic tendencies had asked me to go out with him six months ago and it has been the most insane adventure of my life. However, SHIELD had a strict no personal relations rule (that I doubt anyone actually follows) but since I didn’t want RJ to lose his job or my dad to get into trouble, we’ve been keeping everything under the table. Even at my own work I made sure to get Happy to drop me off at my house and then get a separate taxi to RJ’s restaurant.

            You know what scrap all the SHIELD stuff, he’s an amazing chef.

            Seriously, comfort food? Five star food? Oriental food? He’s a master at it all – although in saying that he does need to work on his cupcakes, they all had soggy bottoms the last time he made them. The saddest part about it all though, was that he has refused to cook with his shirt off, something about hot oil—

            ‘Anything new?’ Grant asked, cutting my from my thoughts.

            I quickly minimized my journal and got back to the analytics one of Selvig’s technicians had sent over.

            Agent Grant Ward had been assigned to be my bodyguard from the moment I accepted the job here, why he was though was still a mystery to me since this wasn’t meant to be dangerous. Nevertheless, he stood beside me dressed all in black, ready to play the role of the dashing hero should the need arise. The thing I was finding the hardest though was that RJ and Grant were friends, some would even say close despite Grant’s complete lack of social skills. RJ was finding it hard keeping our relationship from him and I could see why, since over the last two days I was scraping conversation from him and nearly blurted it out to fill the stone cold silence.

            ‘No, not since the last ten minutes you asked.’ I muttered.

            Yes, I was here in a consult capacity which meant I compared Stark tech to this spacey wacey thingy, which was pointless because space had a lot more on the arc reactor than Tony would ever publicly admit. My job was to compare the readings from the two and converse with the engineers onsite, showing them plans of upcoming Stark tech and then seeing if it could be implemented to harness the energy from space. Honestly, I was more than sure I’d have more fun at my own job, at least I’d have Anne there, Pepper’s assistant, she was my best friend and I missed here. At least if she were here things would be more fun.

            Sure, the cube was peaking but what did the scientists expect when there was literally a guy poking it with a stick?

            From what I’ve read and heard the cube is its own independent power source, which meant when they tried to pull the plug earlier it so to speak, turned itself back on. I’d made a little doodle of the cube in my notebook, colouring it in when I had a spare moment, which was every fucking moment around here. I was not needed in the slightest so what the hell was I doing here?

            ‘No news is good news.’ Grant told me, in his very best I’ve been here before and I know what I’m talking about voice.

            ‘Okay, I wanna know why you’re here.’ I demanded.

            ‘I was assigned-’

            ‘Yes I know that bit Mr Action Man, I want to know why since all I’ve been doing is comparing data that any analyst could of done and furthermore, would of enjoyed because clearly—’

            BANG.

            A thunderous quake shook the ground, nearly sending me tumbling from my chair. I had to grab my desk to keep myself upright, the shaking tremoring through my bones, everyone in the room looking at one thing; the cube, waves of blue energy spiking and spitting out of it at a rapid rate firing off in all directions.

            The hair on my arms stood on edge as coffee mugs and pens all clattered to the ground, my own laptop nearly cracking under the pressure as live readings landed on my desktop. I wasn’t an engineer or scientist of any kind but going by the spiking graph jutting up in real time, the words shakily passed my lips.

            ‘Oh that’s not good.’

            ‘Someone get Director Fury and Agent Hill on the line!’ Grant ordered, but he didn’t move from my side. ‘They need to see this.’

            Even though the readings were landing on my laptop, the subtle blinking of the memory stick that was plugged into it brought me comfort, as well as the silver locket around my neck. 

Tony didn’t exactly send me here unarmed.

            This was his great plan after all, after he’d found out SHIELD had used me to spy on him, he told me to spy on them. The memory stick would send anything on my desktop back to Stark Industries whilst the necklace acted as a microphone, the small encrusted gem in the centre acting as a cover for the camera hidden underneath. I hoped Tony wasn’t at another one of his lavish parties again since he ought to see this.

            Oh who am I kidding, when wasn’t he at one of those?

            ‘Grant, please tell me that earthquakes around here are normal?’ I asked, even though I knew they weren’t in the slightest, worry ringing through my voice.

            ‘Stay calm,’ He told me. ‘We don’t know if it’ll escalate.’

            ‘But just in case I should take my heels off?’

            ‘I’d suggest that, yes.’

            I threw my heels into my go bag that I took everywhere with me, since I was paranoid as hell something might go horribly wrong, (But hey who was laughing now!). I slipped into my converse which did not go with my professional attire at all but needs must, it was only when I was tying to laces together, that the familiar gentle voice sounded in my head.

            What’s wrong? RJ asked.

            Oh yeah, having a telekinetic for a boyfriend was one thing but a mind reader who could see what was happening through your eyes was another thing, never mind communicating through thoughts.

            Just a small earthquake don’t panic, I thought, You also said you weren’t going to do this.

            I sensed you panicking

            I wasn’t panicking, I was concerned since the ground was shaking.

            Having conversations in my head wasn’t exactly a new thing but I’d become better at multitasking outside of it, which meant I could still tie my shoe laces as smaller tremors bounced me in my seat. 

            Come on RJ, no matter what you sense you don’t need to be in my head I’ll phone you when I get out of here tonight, I thought.

            Erin I—

            Nope, come on we talked about this, I’ll be fine now out of my head please.

            Okay…love you

            Love you too

            I turned back to Grant, taking a moment to try and remember what we’d been talking about mere moments ago.

            ‘I was told this wasn’t dangerous.’ I said, finally remembering – right yeah – I was an analyst and consult so why did I need a bodyguard?

            ‘It isn’t.’ Grant said, his own face betraying him as he looked around the skittish lab techs.

            ‘Then why is the ground shaking and why do I have a bodyguard?’ I asked, clinging to the desk again as the ground nearly sent my wheely chair flying backwards. ‘Unless I haven’t been given the whole story in the first place, which it is clear that I haven’t – since they’re trying to harness energy from outer space when I’m from the leading tech company that could give them clean sustainable energy if they asked.’

            Grant looked at me, his face as firm as concrete.

            ‘I was given my orders which were to protect you, that’s all I know.’

            I grumbled trying to imagine the ground shaking was just like one of those massage chairs in the shopping centres but I was from Scotland, we didn’t get Earthquakes and I’d only ever experienced one in the states, which is one of the reasons I regretted moving here.

            ‘You never question them?’ I asked him, throwing my laptop in my rucksack, now making my tablet the primary source for intel.

            ‘No.’ He said plainly.

            ‘Well that’s just depressing.’ I told him, taking out my phone and quickly sending a text to Maria.

 

To: The Godfather
From: Erin
Maria you better be in New Mexico in the next hour, the cube is causing earthquakes and all the readings are basically off the scale. THINGS ARE SHATTERING. Whatever it is you guys want to do here is best left along. Selvig hasn’t finished any calculations yet so please get here.

 

A message came back not even ten seconds later.

 

            From: The Godfather
            We’re on our way, sit tight.

 

Well at least that was something.

            I presumed ‘we’ meant her and Nick Fury, which meant this really was as serious as I thought it might be.

            Suddenly, another jut of energy spiked from the cube and Grant’s arm wrapped around my waist, yanking me to the ground as the blue beam burned through the back wall of my station. My shoulder thudded against the ground with a smack but Grant held me tight against his own body, the heat practically radiating off of him.

            ‘Well that was fun.’ I muttered, trying to shimmy out from his grip but he wouldn’t let up his iron grip. ‘Grant?’

            ‘Wait.’ He demanded, his eyes flitting from me to the cube that was still spitting out flares.

            I could only watch as some of the scientists took cover, others fearfully watching the readings on their own monitors.

            Then, a blaring droning voice echoed through the vacuum’s speakers.

            ‘All non-essential personnel report to your designated emergency areas for immediate evacuation. All non-essential personnel please report to your designated emergency area for immediate evacuation.’

            ‘Okay, time to go.’ Grant said, hauling me up from the floor, strapping my rucksack onto me.

            ‘I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible.’ The calm voice of Agent Phil Coulson said, as he stiffly walked towards us. ‘Director Fury has requested you stay Miss Swann, he wants your opinion on the cube.’

            ‘My opinion?’ I asked, utterly dumfounded. ‘I’m not a scientist I can’t help with this.’

            ‘Sorry, I don’t know anything more I just know he’s requested you move to essential personnel – do you have a problem with that Agent Ward?’

            ‘No Sir.’ Grant replied.

            ‘Good, I’m working at the other side of the building to get as many people and crates of equipment out as possible, meet me in the front courtyard in twenty-minutes, we’ll meet with the Director and Agent Hill then.’

            Just as he turned to dart away, I asked.

            ‘My dad’s still not getting involved or told, right?’

            Phil smiled.

            ‘No, he doesn’t need to know.’

            The just like that he was off like a shot through the vacuum, disappearing into the darkening corridors. Even though I’d seen Phil Coulson many times in my life, I could never tell when he was panicking. He was good at that, the world could be ending but he could make me feel like it was all going to be okay. Maybe that was on his powers as my Godfather.

            ‘I’m essential personnel.’ I gawked, looking up to Grant who mirrored my expression. ‘Me who graduated with a film degree, taught kids how to swim and then became a receptionist is now essential when it comes to dealing with a cube from outer space.’

            Yeah this day was just getting crazier by the minute.

            Out of all the places a receptionist for Stark Industries should be (being under Tony not being an option here), a chamber trying to harness space energy was not one of them. I grabbed for my chair and sat down, compiling everything I could from my laptop that was thoroughly yanked from my rucksack. I recorded the numbers of the first spike as well as the corresponding and continuing tremors, then everything I had on the cube, including my own notes. SHIELD had decided to poke the bear of space and it apparently, it wasn’t just going to roll over and take it.

            ‘Why don’t you want your dad to know?’ Grant asked curiously, his eyes analysing what I was doing.

            ‘You know who he is?’ I asked in return.

            ‘Yes.’

            ‘Then you know my families history when it come to SHIELD?’

            ‘Yeah, so?’

            ‘So the only child of a widowed father decides to get involved with the very thing that killed his wife in the first place, on the promise that it wouldn’t be dangerous and that he wouldn’t find out.’ I told him, still tapping awa at my screen. ‘And you’re telling me I should give him a call, tell him I lied about being in California and that the building I’m currently in might collapse from the tremors of the cube from outer space?’

            ‘Point taken.’

            ‘Thank you.’ I nodded, going back to my work.

            If the Director was arriving in twenty minutes I better have all the facts I could or Maria would have my head or worse, she’d call my dad.