Ava Starr

Ava Starr/Ghost

The woman known as Ghost was being hugged tightly to her adoptive father as they waited in a room together. She hadn't truly felt the need to hug or be hugged by him on most days, but this... felt necessary.

They'd been taken to a helicarrier, a massive flying ship, that was currently floating above the Avengers Tower. Apparently, it was called the Enterprise, something that her father had found funny.

Ava sighed, looking at him. "How long do we have to wait?" she asked, indicating the white room they were waiting in, two chairs and a simple table being the only things inside. She winced as the constant pain that always filled her flared for a moment. She was still wearing her Ghost suit, though she'd removed her helmet. But the Ghost suit really didn't help as much anymore to prevent the pain.

"I don't know, Ava," Bill said, giving her a soft look. "But Fury promised to try and help us. To help you."

"Was that before or after SHIELD turned out to be HYDRA?" Ava asked, her voice becoming vicious.

Bill winced, his arms tightening around his daughter. "After, technically... They offered me my old job. I think, with their resources-"

"Who's to say they won't just keep doing what they were before!?" Ava went intangible, moving away from her father to stand in the center of the room. "Just turning me into a weapon, feeding me lines about they'll help me!"

"Ava..." Bill said, standing up as well.

"You know it's true!" Ava shouted, spinning to glare at him. "Why did you call them!? Why didn't we just escape? What if they just keep using us!?"

Before he could respond, the door to the room opened. A woman, tall and fit, wearing a blue jumpsuit with her black hair done up, strode inside. Behind her was a young man. He was slightly shorter than the woman was, with dark skin calling to an Arabian or possibly Indian heritage, long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and short scruffy beard, his large bare arms revealed by the Iron Man t-shirt he was wearing. The woman smiled at the pair.

"I'm not planning on doing any such thing," she said simply.

Ava and Bill shared a look.

"Who are you?" Ava asked coldly.

"I'm Maria Hill, Director of BRIDGE," Maria said, crossing her arms behind her back and gesturing to the man behind her. "And this is Mahmoud Schahed, Dial of the Reserve Avengers."

"Reserve?" Bill asked, curiosity in his voice.

"We're thinking about a name change," the young man said, smiling. He had a dimple in his right cheek when he smiled, something that made him look even younger.

"I thought we were meeting Nick Fury," Ava said.

"He's in the midst of picking up someone we are considering under threat," Maria said. "That said, I can help you with any concerns you have."

"And if we just leave?" Ava asked.

"Ava..." Bill said softly.

"No, I want to know!" Ava felt her body twist through existence, unable to stay together through her agitation. "What if I don't want your help!?"

"..." Maria looked over at Mahmoud. He looked out of his depth. After a moment, he shrugged. Maria turned around frowning before speaking. "We'd want to at least some way to contact you. And you would have to sign a contract promising not to use your powers to hurt others or for ill-gain, with the understanding that such actions will result in BRIDGE coming after you."

"BRIDGE?" Bill asked.

"Bureau of Reconnaissance, Intelligence, Development, and General Enhancement," Mahmoud explained. "We really wanted to spell 'bridge'," he finished sheepishly.

Ava ignored that. "You'd just let us go?"

"No," Maria said with a frown. "The fact is, your powers are unique. Others might try to find you the way HYDRA did, try to kill or use you. But you would be allowed to refuse any help we might offer. All we'd do is keep in eye on you, to keep you safe and keep you from causing harm with your powers."

Ava scowled, stepping forward. Mahmoud, to her surprise, stepped forward as well.

For a moment, Ava met eyes with the brown-skinned man across from her, noting his nerdy shirt, ridiculous backpack, and bright green watch. He looked like a geek. A muscular geek, but a geek. But he was simply meeting her eyes, not flinching as she felt her body tear itself over and over, shifting her around into flickering images.

"How about you see what we want to do to help you?" Maria offered.

Ava looked over at her, which Maria seemed to take as acceptance. "We're pulling experts on Quantum mechanics in, and have some of our people studying your machine," Maria said, looking at Dr. Foster. "We've actually made some headway into that."

"Using quantum batteries," Mahmoud said. "It's something we made for our equipment. We'll be able to plug you into the Quantum realm. We're just dealing with something... unexpected, but Tony, uh, Tony Stark that is, says he's confident we can help you."

"And what do you want in return?" Dr. Foster asked, the older man crossing his arms. "I won't do anything that hurts Ava, especially if you keep forcing her to kill."

Maria crossed her arms, sighing. "Well, I'd hoped to possibly invite her to join the Avengers-"

"Not happening," Ava spat out, shifting briefly around the room. "I'm done."

"Then I suppose we'll simply do our best to cure you," Maria looked at Dr. Foster. "Will you be accepting our offer of employment, Doctor?"

Bill seemed surprised. "Um... what would that entail?"

"Working with our research and development team to help us with some of our projects," Maria said. "We are interested in your knowledge on Pym Particles of course, especially since we've had no luck contacting Hank Pym," Maria raised an eyebrow when Dr. Foster's fist clenched. Ava scowled at the name of the man who had ruined her biological fathers' life. "Well, more that he refuses to talk to us. For now, your insight could be invaluable."

The older man rubbed his chin, sighing slightly. "...Ava?"

She looked around. The man, Mahmoud, was eyeing her calmly. Seriously, this guy was an Avenger? Maria was just as relaxed, while her adoptive father was simply waiting for her response.

In truth, she had no idea what to think. SHIELD, HYDRA, BRIDGE. What was the difference? She'd spent years, being led by false promises, killing people, giving up pieces of her soul for the mere chance to get rid of the pain that had plagued her since childhood... But some part of her wanted to reach out and take another chance. Just once more.

"Only if Dr. Foster is there," Ava said, still glaring at Mahmoud as she spoke to Maria.

Bill looked between Ava and Mahmoud before sighing. "Okay. Then we're in."

"Great," Mahmoud said with a smile.

"Excellent," Ava replied more coldly.

They kept eyeing each other, Mahmoud apparently confused. Ava wasn't sure what she disliked about him. Maybe it was the careless way he carried himself, as though he'd never faced real issues. Maybe it was the way he was clearly challenging her. But he rubbed her the wrong way.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

"What the hell was her problem?" I grumbled after meeting Ava Starr and Bill Foster. What should have been a cool moment, meeting Goliath as played by Morpheus, had been ruined by Ava's hostility.

And the thing is, I wasn't sure what I'd done wrong. At one point, she'd stepped forward as though about to attack and I'd stepped forward to intercept. And it was as though she'd never been so insulted. It wasn't like she hated me I guess, more that I was the sort of person who she couldn't get along with. I just didn't get it. And I tend to be the sort of person who obsesses when people dislike me. I can't help it. It's a flaw that doesn't come up often, but if someone ends up disliking me, I tend to obsess about it for years after, resenting them. Imply I'm stupid, unfunny, annoying, whatever it is, I'll think about it for the rest of my life. It ain't attractive, and I try to do better. But right then, trying wasn't helping.

I was musing on this in my room, during my downtime. Trying to push the thought away, I looked around for something to get my mind off it.

My eyes panned to the video game system and TV, and I thought about seeing what video games were like in a Stark-designed world. Then I dismissed it. After the Omnitrix, I just couldn't see much interesting about video games, at least not right then. I turned on the TV anyway, switching it to the news, then grabbed my BRIDGE issue tablet and powered it up as I paced.

I had some messages waiting already. Skye reminding me of my appointment to make her armor and hang out. The contract from Stark Industries merchandising department I had to sign. Mostly to use my image, aliens, and property in their products, which I read slowly before signing. Fitz-Simmons had finished their new machine, and the Claytronic maker was officially in working order.

After a frustrated moment, I tossed aside the tablet and laid back against the couch. It was supposed to be my downtime. But I couldn't think of anything to do and everyone else was busy...

Fuck it.

I got up and went to the window, reaching for the Omnitrix when there was a knock on the door.

"..." I stared at the door for a moment, then back outside the window, where New York awaited. Another knock at the door came. I sighed and turned away from the window, walking towards the door and opening it.

Clint, Creel, Bucky, Sam, Steve, and Tony were standing there, all of them holding paper bags. I blinked. "Uh... hey guys. What's up?"

"Sup!" Clint pushed his way inside, the others following. "I heard you were moping in your room."

"I wasn't moping," I grumbled, watching as the superheroes and former supervillains strode into my room. "What's going on?"

"Movie night," Tony said cheerily, the billionaire holding bags full of junk food. "Well, day I guess. Hill gave us a few hours to relax, so we came down here."

"You don't mind, do you?" Steve asked, concerned. "I didn't know they were springing this on you," Steve gave Tony and Clint a glare. Both men grinned at him as they put down the food they'd brought.

"No, I don't mind," I said, deciding to go with the flow.

"Good, because I'm getting drunk," Creel said, heading towards my kitchen.

"Can't," Sam called out to him. "We've still got to get back to work after this!"

"Plus, I don't have alcohol," I said, grinning at the disappointed look on Creel's face. I walked to my couch and sat on the floor, leaning back against it. "What are we watching?"

"Frankenstein, Alien, and The Thing," Bucky answered with a grin. The former Winter Soldier seemed to be almost trying a bit awkwardly to have fun, sitting down on the couch with more energy than required, but none of us commented on it.

"Jarvis?" Tony said, grabbing a bag of barbeque chips.

"Already playing sir," the AI said.

Soon, we were watching classic horror movies together. I looked around and found myself grinning. It's good to have friends.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Author's Note: People seemed to think Ava would have a crush on Dial or something, but they're two people who just wouldn't get along. One is kind of a jerk, the other is a bit naive. There are more differences, but Ava and Dial are not going to get along easily.