03 | IS YOUR FIRST NAME AGENT?

THE CITY OF New York was enjoying one of the first spring days of the season and Morana, along with Marque, found herself leaning against a tree in Central Park with her go-bag and the tablet resting at her feet. Behind her sunglasses, Morana took the time to observe the park around her.

    There was rarely any laughter in the park. Everyone had their noses stuck in a phone, not paying attention to the world around them. The only people that seemed to be enjoying themselves were the children; running around with kites or bubble-blowers in their hands, tumbling over their feet as they went. Morana began to wonder what it was like to be that innocent—to be so carefree. Her entire life, things had always been against her and those things had never been easy to move past. She couldn't remember a time in her life in which she just lived and enjoyed what life had to other because all she'd known was fear and confusion. Everyone in her family was dead—except for Marque—although it saddened her a lot, it also drove her forward, made her push through each and every day, hoping that there was something out there that she could find and be a part of.

    Nothing in their lives had ever been easy. Marque—being six years older than Morana—got to enjoy more things than her; mundane things like high school and teenage relationships. When Morana was in her own teenage years, she found herself being jealous of the things that Marque got to experience. She never got to learn how to play the piano, or write crappy poetry. She didn't have to find anything that she was good at, not until Marque began her training. It was then that she found she was exceptionally good at everything when it came to training. Marque had told Morana that "people enjoy what they're good at, just like how I enjoy thieving", but she did not take joy in her skills.

    Their world was an ever changing one. Every day, every week, every month, new threats would arise and others would fall. It was fragile but it was strong for it never stopped it's torturous cycle. They tried their best to fill the emptiness with simple pleasures. For Marque, it was procuring something valuable—like the sapphire he'd acquired the night before. For Morana, it was sitting in a park without fear of being seen. It proved to her that she could go out in public and not have to look over her shoulder, but there were still people out there that were hindering that fantasy from coming to life and making the world a better place.

    She knew this, and she wanted to stop it.

    That was what convinced her to come to New York.

    "We should have stopped at Starbucks before we came here." Marque sighed irritably, glancing down at his watch. "How much longer are we going to have to wait." It was more of a statement than a question. "It's already fifteen past twelve. I thought these S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were supposed to be punctual."

    "We are," a male voice suddenly sounded behind them, causing the sibling to whirl around.

    The man was adorning a nicely tailored suit and a pair of sunglasses were shielding his eyes from the blazing sun. He approached them from the edge of the tree line, a small grin on his face, his polished black business shoes pressing into the soft grass with each step.

    "Well, you're late," Marque replied matter-of-factly, bulky arms crossed over his chest as he sized up the agent.

    "I've been here since nine o'clock," the man said. "The two of you got here at ten and took the next thirty minutes to scope out the place."

    Morana's shoulders stiffened. "You've been here since nine and you were still late in meeting us. I wouldn't exactly call that being punctual," said Morana, earning a look from Marque and a surprising chuckle from the unnamed man.

    "They said you had wit," he said and she grinned. "We're glad you took our invitation and decided to come to New York. I'm Agent Coulson." He introduced himself proudly, sticking his hand out to Morana, but it was intercepted by Marque.

    Marque gave Coulson's hand a firm shake before releasing it. "So, why did you invite us to New York, exactly? The fancy tablet you sent us didn't give us a clear picture on what we're dealing with."

    "The information we gave you last night was just a bit of background information on what's coming," said Coulson before handing them a file he had been holding in his hands which Morana hadn't noticed at first.

    "What's this?" asked Morana, watching as Marque took the file from him.

    "Your first mission," replied Coulson, offering a warm smile to Morana as Marque opened the file, watching at their eyes scanned everything inside it.

    "Tesseract...Captain America...Thor..." Marque read off the list of people and things involved in the mission. "So, it's true. The explosion that happened was caused by the Tesseract."

    "Yes, it's true. The Tesseract was stolen by Loki—"

    Morana found herself interrupting. "Wait. Isn't he from Asgard or something? How did he end up on Earth? Einstein Rosen Bridge?"

    "Not quite," Coulson said, pointing to another page in the file. "Loki used the Tesseract to open a portal—a sort of doorway through space—and used it to come to Earth."

    "How are you going with tracking him?" Marque asked.

    Coulson pushed his sunglasses up a bit more on his nose. "Not too well. We have all of our systems running, but it appears that we won't find him until he wants to be found."

    Morana sighed, pushing her hands into her pockets. "Unfortunately for us."

    "What exactly were you doing with the Tesseract in the first place?" Marque pushed, eyebrows furrowed. He knew that HYDRA had used the Tesseract to create weapons during World War II. What makes S.H.I.E.L.D. so different from HYDRA; what's stopping them from creating weapons of their own design?

    Coulson noticed the hostile tone in the older Hightower's voice, the rigidness that his body took. "We had our best agents guarding it while highly-capable scientists studied it. We were trying to understand it's function and how to control it."

    "What happened when Loki came through the portal?"

    "He used his scepter to take control of some of our agents' minds."

    Coulson's words made her heart race.

    Morana leaned back against the tree once more as she continued to stare at the picture of the blue cube—the same feeling from last night returned. This thing had been the source of so much evil and they were allowed to be part of something this big? Did they not know of their past? Well, Marque said that they probably knew everything about them already. With that in mind, she was completely baffled over the fact that they actually trusted her and her brother...

    "And you think that we'll be able to stop him?" asked Morana softly. "Why us, out of everyone else? We're not superheroes. Sure, we have our skills, but we've never been up against anything like this before. We're nothing compared to guys like Captain America."

    "Yes," Coulson said, simply shrugging. "You don't have to be an advanced super-soldier to be a superhero and do something in this world. All you need, is heart and the will."

    "Don't you know of our past?" asked Morana in a whisper.

    "We do. But we don't care. The past is the past. Even the item you procured last night, is in the past. Even the darkest of hearts can find the light. The two of you can turn your lives around, all you have to do is come with me."

    "I just have one question." Morana announced. "Is your first name Agent?"

    Coulson allowed himself a chuckle. "No, Ms. Hightower, it is not. It's Phil."

    "Well, Phil, when do we leave?"

    "Right now, but we have to make a stop first."

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not edited

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

this chapter is very, very, very, very short, coming in at with a whopping 1,380 words. i didn't want to overload this chapter with a bunch of content, instead i decided just to do a small transition chapter connecting the previous chapter to the next one where the official beginning of the movie starts.