Darling

(19) A Newer Member

Chapter 19

-Kimi-

"You're dyslexic and you didn't feel the need to tell me this before we sent you on missions and into briefings?" Ria said. She wasn't shouting but it's just her tone that bothered me. I looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully and then lowered my gaze back to her brown eyes.

"Nope, never came up." I shrugged. Ria pinched the bridge of her nose. Something she often does when she's alone with only me.

"We'll deal with this later. You and the others have another briefing in ten minutes." She said getting up from her seat and locking up her paperwork.

"Anything I need to be worried about?"

"Not at the moment."

|*|

Ria let me walk with her to the next briefing. She was stopped about three times being notified of some type of problem. But since she is clearly a badass, she got shit done and moved on.

Example 1.

"Deputy Hill! The coffee machine won't turn on!"

"Is it plugged in?"

Example 2.

"Deputy Hill! The printer is broken!"

"What would you suggest I do about that? Call maintenance."

Example 3.

"Deputy Hill! Director Fury won't allow me to process his paperwork..."

"I'll handle it."

I honestly thought SHIELD agents were supposed to be the smart ones. Guess it only applies to certain people. We arrived at the door to the briefing room.

"We'll talk later. You better have a better explanation as to why you didn't tell me before. Your excuse isn't going to cut it." I cringed at the tone in her voice. It's just the tone that gets me. I hate that tone.

I walked in and everyone glanced up before returning to what they were doing before. I glanced around the room. There were more empty seats beside and I frowned. There were ten seats when there are normally eight. I sat in a seat closest to the front of the room and away from everyone else. Or as far away as I could get.

Ria and Fury stood at the front of the room getting ready to conduct the briefing. Files were handed out and I felt Ria's eyes on me as I pretended to skim. I sat down the file and paid more attention to Ria and Fury.

"As you know the vigilante Spider-Man has been doing what every wanna-be superhero wants to do. Save people and get recognition for it. The only thing about him in particular is that he's kept his identity secret. Even from us." I shook my head in confusion.

"So this guy is roaming the streets looking for trouble, and seems to have abilities that can be of use to SHIELD. You want to recruit him to make sure he's on your side? Is he that good?" I assumed and questioned. It was clear that SHIELDs intentions for this guy was to either make him a hero or depending on how deep it goes, possibly experiments.

"To put it bluntly yes. The only problem is that we have no idea who he is, what his exact intentions are, or if he is suited for the job. There was once a fight between Spider-Man and some other supervillian at Midtown High. As far as our Intel goes that may be where he goes. Right now we need to have a sit down with him" Ria explained.

"So why don't you just flush him out? It can't be that hard. The guy is a rookie, he doesn't know exactly what's out there yet." Stark said with his own special attitude.

"It's not that simple-" Fury said. I cut him off.

"It is actually. Stage a mugging in some random alley in Manhattan, he'll come." I said, but realization dawned on me and I sat back in my seat. "How many crimes has he stopped since the Avengers Initiative?" I asked.

"About a few major crimes every month." I rolled my eyes and sighed before rubbing my temple.

"Spider-Man isn't going to want to join the initiative then." I said bluntly.

"And why is that?" The Captain asked.

"We're practically slackers compared to him. If you guys have only been taking care of the bigger things and not even worrying about the crimes going on in your own neighborhood- which I'm pretty sure happens a lot more than big missions- then doesn't it seem like Spider-Man is doing most of the work? There could be some old lady getting mugged as we speak and Spider-Man is probably already there."

"Are you saying we should get involved with petty crimes now?"

"I'm saying we should at least acknowledge these crimes before it gets too out of hand for even Spider-Man. If he really is just a kid that goes to high school then he must have one hell of a schedule."

"Which also makes it easier for him. If he were to join SHIELD he'd have certain-" I cut Fury off.

"You guys aren't getting this." I said chuckling dryly. "The only reason he may join SHIELD is because someone has something on him. That or he may think that joining SHIELD will make what he's doing more worth it."

"Then we just have to assume that that's what he's thinking." I stopped listening for the rest of the meeting.

|*|

"So how bad is it?" Ria asked as she sat at her desk. Assuming she was talking about the Reading Disease I answered without hesitation.

"Not too bad. I can read sometimes but it just takes a while to comprehend."

"Have you read any of the rules or regulations? Any of your mission files? How do you even write your-"

"I manage." I answered cutting her off. I seem to be doing that a lot today.

"There's going to be a time where reading and writing is important. You can't ignore something like this." She scolded.

"Then I won't anymore, but it's not like I have the time to fix it." I said. It was an excuse but I'd have to try anything to get out of this one.

"I'll make time for it then. I'm sure we can figure something out."

"Ria-" She cut me off.

"You take care of me, I take care of you are we clear?" I grinned remembering the conversation we had similar to this one.

"Crystal."

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