Agent Coulson brought me to a simple room and called it mine. He left right after saying he had tasks to finish and to get accustomed to the place. Coulson said I couldn't leave my room without authorization however. The room was small. When you would enter you'd see a bed a meter in front of you, a shower a meter to the left of it, a desk installed into the wall on the left of the door, and on the right a metal closet with empty weapon racks. Practical and cold.
I checked the closet hoping to find spare uniforms but found nothing; I wanted to get a shirt since the agents forgot to give me one after my health inspection. There was nothing else to do but wait. Making a move for the bed I felt it's hard single mattress obligating me to maintain a straight posture for sleep. Laying down I stared at the ceiling, an hour went by and I couldn't fall asleep. Feeling uncomfortable I sat on the cold metal floor like I would in the HYDRA base humming my same old tune. I pulled my imaginary string hoping to get an answer, silence. This sometimes happened, I chalked it up to them being asleep despite how insane it sounded.
A couple more hours went by until a man opened my door. He weared a different uniform than the ones I'd seen on the Helicarrier and came in with a friendly attitude. The man knocked on the door despite having opened it, "hey you awake?" I stared at him not understanding his logic after seeing me on the floor. "Names Clint Barton, alias Hawkeye for when I'm on duty. Call me Clint otherwise. You have a shirt or is this a fashion choice?"
"I burnt mine." I answered.
"Well, that can happen on a mission. Come, I'll lend you mine." Clint said.
I remained sitting, "agent Coulson ordered me to remain here." I said bluntly.
"Guess what? I'm your new babysitter, thank Fury for paying the tab. Get up, that's an order." he said sarcastically and I followed without question.
We walked outside into the hallway only for him to go inside the room right next to mine, "I'm also your neighbour." he chuckled at his own joke.
He went into his room and with a simple glance I noticed packed bags around the room. They must have moved him here to keep an eye on me, a guard I noted. Clint tossed me a wrinkled shirt from one of his bags, "put it on kid."
I put it on only to notice the design on it after, a weird looking frog with the name 'rainforest cafe' across it. "Ever been?" asked Clint.
"To a rainforest?" I asked innocently.
"The restaurant I meant. Right you've been hiding under a rock…Hey maybe after our first mission I can convince Fury to let me take you to one of them." he said.
My ears perked up and I straightened my posture, "when's our mission."
He gave me an odd look, one filled with pity. "First Fury wants to test your abilities. Make sure you're ready, then he has an experiment he wants to try. Nothing too bad I assure you."
I nodded and he led me to the training area that the agents used. A small group of about five waited for us, "alright these are some of our best hand to hand fighters. It's simple, kick their ass and I get fifty bucks for a bet I made with all five of them."
"Yes sir." I said.
"Oh and don't kill them or burn them to a crisp. We're only here to test the waters." Clint said.
I got in position to fight, they surrounded me. "Rahhh!" I heard the one from behind yell, at first I thought it was stupid to declare his attack until my ears picked up the movement of the agents in front of me using it as a distraction. Their movements however were slow and to my eyes lacking. In a matter of seconds I brought them all down while fulfilling my task, I kicked each of their 'ass' as ordered by agent Hawkeye.
By the end the groaning of defeated foes surrounded me, "I don't think they taught you 'phrases' in that hell hole. It doesn't matter, I'll just add it to the 'to do list'. I read your report so I won't bother making you shoot a gun after seeing this and I'll just take you to the main objective of today."
Clint guided me through the corridors of the Helicarrier until we reached the upper level. We wore the masks to facilitate breathing in the air at such high altitude as we went outside onto the deck. He guided me onto an empty quinjet motioning for me to sit with him in the cockpit.
"Have you ever piloted one before?" He asked.
"No, but I did simulators." I replied.
"I'll teach you later. Right now we have a date with Coulson." Clint said as he began to prepare the quinjet for lift off.
While we navigated to our objective Clint would crack jokes I couldn't understand and reference movies or places saying he'd show me them sometime. It was hard to grow accustomed to his personality in such a short time and I often prayed for us to touch down feeling unprepared to handle 'small talk'.
We landed in a desert next to a tent a couple of operatives erected. Getting off the quinjet I looked around to see that they were setting up for an experiment with computers and devices to monitor the area, being placed around the site.
Agent Coulson came out from the tent seeing our arrival, "gentleman, please come in we're losing daylight."
Inside the tent a group of scientists were working nervously behind a blurred cover. Coulson stopped us first before going further in, "have you explained to him what we're doing?"
Clint spoke, "nah, I felt it would be better explained if it came out from your voice."
Coulson nodded, "right. I suppose there wasn't a special someone who might've hindered your work, correct?"
"Oh absolutely, the only soul in my heart of hearts is my saviour director Fury." Clint replied.
Coulson sighed and looked at me, "alright kid we have two experiments we want to do at the same time before we give the green to your mission. We want to know how much your heat levels can rise. And the scientists behind these covers have a suit for you to try. Originally it was a failed project but with your coming it might work. There's a material they created that when heated to unnatural levels of heat hardens to be durable enough to take on gunfire without so much as a dent, to being able to take on explosives."
Clint, who didn't read that part of today's mission spoke, "has it been tested before?"
Coulson gave him a tired look, "on animals. Either they died from heat or blunt force from explosives. You up for it kid?"
Seeing it as the last obstacle to start my revenge on HYDRA I nodded, "okay then go in and suit up. Me and Barton will wait outside."
I watched as they left and entered the blurred cover where the scientists worked. They didn't notice me as they worked on the final details of their hard work. Said work was laid out on a table. It was divided into parts or rather clothes that were all in the same colour of grey. I inspected their craftsmanship, a plain vest, a jacket next to it with a couple of tubes under the area where ones arms would slip in probably to connect it to the vest, a pair of gloves that resembled the skeletal structure of the human hand with the tubes to connect to the jacket, and a pair of pants or armour that was fused with its own boots likewise with tubes. The material these scientists created looked more like fabric to the naked eye with a light grey shade being its only colour.
"I'm here for the test." I said seeing as they failed to see that they shared the room with me.
They nodded aggressively with nervous eyes, "we'll have to remove your clothes as we surmise they will be burnt if they follow you into the experiment site."
I started to remove my shirt as they professionally began to lift their work pieces to help me put them on. Watching them handle each part I thought they would be heavy but were light as a normal bullet proof vest would be. First they helped me put on the pants followed by the vest then jacket ending with the gloves. The armor or clothing felt normal, just a bit bulky in some areas but good enough for mobility while in action. The glow in my chest couldn't be seen underneath the vest, I wanted to try level 1 of my power to see if it would appear but resisted the urge.
They connected the tubes before one of them brought a large metal box. Another opened it revealing a slick helmet covered in a more refined version of the material they created. They connected it with the rest of the outfit, placing it on me. All I could see was pitch black.
"Ok then, first test–", the scientist was cut off by another, "can you hear us?"
"Yes." I said.
"Ok, the subject can hear. Thats good…good…" the original scientist breathed out air to relax themselves. "Please work. Ok, can you turn on your thermal power to the minimum."
I used level 1 of my power. Slowly my vision returned but in a shade of a red through the helmet. I checked the rest of my suit seeing a small glow appear in my chest.
"Can you see?" they asked together in anticipation.
"Yes but everything is red."
"Perfect!" they yelled together giving each other high fives, "alright we can go outside now."
Outside a vehicle appeared with Hawkeye in the driver's seat. He whistled seeing me, giving a thumbs up. Coulson came up to me, "can you hear me in your helmet." An echo of his voice appeared in my helmet, "yes sir." he guided me to the vehicle hopping in as well.
Clint started to drive us further into the desert, "there's supposed to be a button or some kind of bump on the right of your helmet, press it and talk."
Indeed there was and upon a light tap I heard a small buzz with my superhuman hearing, "is it working?"
"All good on my side. Tap again to turn off the signal. Can you give us a rundown of what level of heat your power reaches so we know what to expect?" he said.
"HYD–" he cut me off, "Skryker." he motioned with his finger to look around us. Someone might be listening, I guessed.
"Stryker...trained me by using levels." I lied, "Level 1 is what I'm using right now, my fists radiate heat capable of burning people. At level 2 it reaches my forearms and my lower legs enabling me to melt metal and breathe fire. Level 3 my entire body glows, emitting heat and breathing fire can now melt through metal. Level 4 was the furthest I was allowed to reach, everything around me would slowly melt over time but they could still freeze me in my chamber." I explained.
"Understood. Then Clint, drop him off here. We'll go back to monitor everything at a safe distance. Hopefully that mic still works by the time this is over." Coulson said.
"And he's not naked, would hate for S.H.I.E.L.D to catch a court case." Clint said driving off.
Shield? I pondered.
After a couple of minutes I heard Coulson in my helmet speak, "alright level 2 kid."
I raised my level however only my chest glowed due to the material, "level 3 now." he said.
This time my suit glowed in a light shade of red. "Brace for impact," he said.
???
Something hit my chest in an instant. I looked down to see a large piece of metal on the floor crumpled up by hitting the vest. A voice filled with amusement filled the connected line, "sorry about this kid but I'll make it up to you when I introduce you to hot pockets."
The next second an arrow hit the ground in front of me. It beeped with a red light and boom. I went flying onto my back but got up without much hassle checking the suit's integrity, all good.
The mic turned on, "okay kid level 4." said Coulson.
Upon activating level 4 the suit turned into a much brighter shade of red and the rocks around me started to boil. An egg could be cooked on them. Once again a bullet hit me with the same result. However this time the explosion of Clint's arrow only pushed me back on my feet.
"Good stuff kid. The scientists want to know if you can go to–hold on, speak english please," I heard voices echoing in the mic, "he won't understand if even I can't...can you go to level 5?"
"I'll try." I replied pressing the button on my helmet.
I focused on adding more 'fuel' to the fire in my heart. The suit started to glow brighter until it turned into a dark red. Through the vest I could now see my ribs and my heart beating into the dark glow of a red hue. Around me the rocks now started to melt, what should have happened at level 4 now did at 5. Must be the suit's doing I theorised.
"I think I did it." I said
"No kidding." Coulson chuckled.
The next second a bullet came but melted against the suit falling to the ground in a puddle of liquid metal. The explosion of the arrow didn't move me at all. However I felt the suit starting to melt, "Coulson, I think the suit can't handle prolonged exposure to this level."
"Standby." Coulson said. A couple of minutes went by, "Fury wants to know if a level 6 exists. Think you can reach that?"
"I'll try." I said once more.
This time however I felt a wall preventing me from reaching it. Yet I believe I could breach it. I focused a ball of energy in my heart thinking of replicating an explosion to breach it. I breathed out and let the ball take its course feeling a pop similar to popping a balloon. In an instant the entire area exploded in a thermal heat wave of dark red. The ground cracked open with lava forming. I looked at my arms and saw my veins and skeletal structure glowing a bright dark red. In my chest I could see my heart burning red giving off visible waves of red heat waves.
The mic installed started to fail and a voice tried to speak but came in static. I made out the words… "turn…off!"
I began lowering the level back to level 5 but when I did a sharp ache came to my chest and I knelt due to the pain returning to level 0 without control. The area around me remained burning and my suit glowed red. The sound of a quinjet flying towards me prompted me to look at the skies above.
It hovered over me, "hold on kid. Once the heat has cooled off I'll come pick you up. Stay put, I need to leave." Clint's voice sounded in a microphone from the quinjet and he left in a hurry once the plane started to melt from being in the area.
With that piece of news I sat down to recover and it wasn't until long into the long desert night did they pick me up.
—
Right After the explosion.
Agent Coulson looked around the testing site. The tent had started to melt and everyone had the start of a suntan. Coulson checked the sight in front of him, bewildered of what had occurred. That was nearly 40km, that range could destory a city in an hour or less he thought.
"Fury–Fury, this is Coulson. I believe we've just seen something that not even the enemy's experiments showed. What–what are your orders sir." Asked Coulson.
Fury spoke, "Bring him home Coulson, I just got the biggest green flag to put him on my roster."
Coulson checked the equipment that monitored 626's vitals throughout the testing, "sir his heart. I think he just lost a year of life due to that stunt. I still suggest we should take our time training him. Once he reaches the correct age to work we–"
Fury cut him off with a stern voice, "I did not just spend a fortune to get him that suit, that if I recall correctly you 'suggested' to keep him safe. If you want him to survive then we need to prove to the board that he's worth curing. I believe we still have two decades, more than enough to keep this between us. Did you keep this from Hawkeye?"
"Yes director," said Coulson and his connection with Fury was ended.
Clint ran to the quinjet while yelling at Coulson, "I'm gonna make sure the kid is safe. Tell Fury that I'm glad with who he got as my partner."
Coulson waved at him with a makeshift smile. Inside he knew that his silence was needed for the safety of the citizens of the world and future operations of S.H.I.E.L.D.