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IRON AND FIRE: PART I

00. prologue

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Her confident step made heads turn as she passed. With her head held high and her heels ticking against the pavement, Abigail Stark made her way through the marble halls of SHIELD's headquarters. The black coat that was wrapped around her shoulders matched with her dark hair and made her red painted lips stand out even more. At first glance she seemed calm and collected but if one were to look just a little bit closer, you could see her hands were holding on so tightly to her purse her knuckles had turned white. You'd see the small frown between her eyebrows, only visible when directly looking her in the eye.

Abigail Stark knew how to mask her emotions, she'd done it most of her life. The person she was about to visit, however, would be able to see right through her. And it was because of that very fact she felt nervous. She had wondered why the worlds most famous spy wanted to speak to her. The only information she had on the matter was written in the short message she'd gotten. Her immediate presence was required at the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or SHIELD for short.

She figured her work at NASA could have something to do with it but she wasn't completely sure. It didn't happen often that she wasn't one hundred percent sure of something, which only made her more nervous. She took a deep breath, avoiding eye contact as she marched straight towards the elevators.

The roof of the main hall was made of glass, bathing the space in bright sunlight. The floor was made of marble, giving the place a much more posh appearance than it probably needed. The hall was crawling with people, either heading to work or heading outside on their next assignment. The entire place reminded her of a beehive and she was about to meet the queen. It was hard to keep a straight face at the thought of Nick Fury being a bee queen.

She managed to get an elevator all to herself and pressed the button for the floor the message had told her to go. As she went up, she let herself enjoy the view, seeing as the elevator was also made of glass and showed a view of the busy streets surrounding the Triskelion Once on the right floor she stepped outside and made her way to the Director's Office. Her heart was hammering against her ribs but she forced a smile on her face and walked towards the counter.

'Excuse me?' She questioned, making the elder lady sitting behind the desk look up from the files she'd been reading through. 'I have an appointment with Director Fury.'

The elderly woman nodded at her before pressing a button. She waited a second until the light next to the button turned green and then gestured towards the door. 'He's expecting you.'

Abby nodded, straightened her shoulders and pushed the doors open. She walked inside and the doors closed with a soft click. With a sharp gaze she measured the room. Being on a high floor the view from the windows was stunning. The wall on the left, however, didn't have any windows and was completely covered in computer screens. His desk was standing against the far end wall and the Director himself was seated in a leather chair, his hands folded on the desk before him as he stared at her with his one good eye.

'Abigail Stark.' It wasn't a question, he knew very well who she was. He gestured for her to take a seat in the chair standing before his desk.

She simply nodded a silent greeting and took a seat, trying to shake the sick feeling in her stomach. Putting her bag next to the chair on the ground, she crossed her legs, waiting for him to tell her why exactly he had asked her to come here.

'I called you here, Miss Stark, because I have a business proposal for you.'

'I'm listening,' she replied.

He leaned forward, as if he were about to tell her a secret. 'I want to buy Project Pollux.'

She narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly alarmed. Her work at NASA was a well kept secret. Not even her staff knew all of the details of the work they were doing. How this man came to know about it was startling to say the least. At the same time, she hated the fact that she felt surprised. After all, she knew perfectly well what the man seated in front of her was capable of.

'How do you know about my research?' she asked him sharply.

But Nick Fury ignored her question. Instead, he took a briefcase out of a drawer. 'Would this be enough?' He unlocked the case and turned it around so she could see the money inside.

She didn't even glance in the direction of the money. 'You must have confused me with my brother. I don't sell my inventions to the highest bidder.' She crossed her arms over her chest. This was her life's work and she refused to sell it. Especially to someone who probably wouldn't even tell her what it was going to be used for.

Nick Fury closed the case and put it back in the drawer. 'No, you're not your brother. You simply let your work waste away in an old lab with people who don't have the slightest clue as to what they're doing.'

Her smile was venomous. 'Well, if that's all I wish you a good day.' She took her purse and got to her feet, turning to walk away.

Halfway across the room, Nick Fury called her back. 'Miss Stark, I have one other proposal for you.'

She sighed and turned around with a raised brow. Surprise rattled her when she realized the Director was smiling. Then the pieces fell into place. 'You were testing me,' she said. 'To see if I valued my work more than I value money.'

He nodded, no longer making an effort to hide it. 'Yes I was and I'm pleased to report you passed.'

'Was any of this really necessary?' she scoffed, though she couldn't help but feel some slight satisfaction from the fact that she passed. Even if the test was stupid.

'Why else would I have put you to the test?' Fury countered.

With a shake of her head she sat back into the chair. 'Alright, tell me about this other proposal of yours.'

This time, Nick Fury wasted no time to get to the point. 'I want to offer you a job at the Special Threat Assessment for Known Extranormalities department, better known as STAKE.'

The name didn't sound familiar but that only intrigued her more. 'And what does STAKE do exactly?'

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He knew he had finally managed to capture her attention. 'They analyze potential supernatural threats and help us prevent them from happening.'

She blinked. 'I'm sorry, supernatural threats?'

Nick Fury nodded as he got to his feet, With his hands folded on his back, he walked towards the window and looked outside, as if all the answers were written down on the streets below. 'That's right, Miss Stark. Working at this department will grant you answers to many questions.'

'I-I...' she bit her tongue, hating herself for the little tremble her voice held. But the revelation of the supernatural existing had her more than a little shaken. 'What exactly would my role be in this department?' she asked instead, trying to distract herself from overthinking his casual reveal of worldchanging knowledge.

The answer didn't come right away and instead silence filled the room as the Director of SHIELD seemed to consider his words very carefully. Finally he turned around to look at her and somehow she could tell by the look on his face, she wasn't going to like the answer.

'You will help set up the department of course.'

She scoffed, believing him to be joking but his expression didn't change. 'Wait, you mean to tell me STAKE doesn't exist yet?'

'Glad to see you're catching on,' Fury said as he walked away from the window.

'So, basically you're hiring me for a job that doesn't even exist yet?' she concluded with a raised brow. 'Why?'

Fury leaned against his desk, watching her closely. 'Because you've been searching for a possible sign of life out in the universe all your life. Isn't that why you joined NASA and started Project Pollux? You've been collecting data about rocks, stars and black holes to prove there is life out there. Your entire life has been in search of the supernatural.'

'I started Project Pollux to help find a solution to the problem of world pollution, to maybe find possible cures for diseases in elements we don't have here on earth. Not to chase the dream of possible alien life,' she replied sharply, unable to contain her sudden rage. He made her work sound like some sort of joke. As if all her research had been to prove conspiracy theories.

'Did you?' Nick Fury simply said.

She looked away from him, her gaze drifting to the window. She couldn't deny she'd dreamed of alien life ever since she was a kid. But that wasn't the reason she started Project Pollux...was it? Her eyes found him again and she felt herself at loss for words, something she was unfamiliar with and she didn't quite like how it made her feel. In less than thirty minutes he had turned her entire life upside down.

She inhaled deeply, finally finding her words. 'So, you want me to prove that aliens exist?'

'We want you to analyze any sort of unknown element we encounter, here on earth and above in space,' he corrected her. 'We want you to help us keep the world safe from possible threats. You can find them and destroy them before they could ever do any harm. And we will provide you with any resources you might need.'

Abby tried her hardest to swallow all the remaining questions she still had and tried to clear her head. Was this really what she wanted? To be responsible for protecting the earth from threats that weren't even proven to exist yet?

'I don't know,' she mumbled.

'It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, Miss Stark. The opportunity to save the world.'

Biting her tongue she let those words sink in. She knew he was saying it on purpose, to draw her out and the frustrating thing was that it was working. She had always wanted to help people, save the world instead of destroying it like most of her family had. Ever since she could remember she had desperately been trying to get rid of the horrible legacy that followed her family name. Her work at NASA had given her many wonderful opportunities to do things that helped save people but what if she could do more...

And suddenly she wondered why she was even thinking about this, why she was even considering saying no to this. Because this right here was what she had been waiting for her entire life. The chance to leave her family's legacy behind and make a name for herself. To save the world instead of destroying it further.

She looked back up at Nick Fury and something in her eyes must have given away what she'd been thinking because the Director smiled. And she felt his smile reflected on her own face.

'When can I start?'

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Hi guys!

So here's the rewritten prologue. I wanted to explain a bit more about STAKE. I haven't made it up myself, it's a real thing in the comics but I did change it up a little so it suits this story better. I'm so excited for you guys to read more about this!

I'm actually very excited to be rewriting this story and I hope you guys will love the little things that I changed. Please leave a comment or a vote, it would mean a lot to me!

xx nelly