Chapter Text
Each morning followed one after the other with hardly a change. Every day, you’d pull yourself out of bed, run a brush through your hair, and dress yourself in whatever decent clothes you were able to find quickly in your closet that morning, and then you’d make your way to the kitchen.
The streets were always packed at that time of day, with hundreds of cars milling to and from various places of work. You hated the traffic, but ever since your career moved from the middle of New York City to a bit further upstate, you found your drive to work had become rather taxing… at least before your company had moved, you could at least walk to work.
You’d moved, of course--a two hour drive was hardly worth the amount of money you were making, but morning rush hour is a universal language. You grabbed a bagel and cup of coffee on the way out of your still relatively unboxed apartment and headed to your car.The drive was as unpleasant as always, but before long you had arrived at your place of work--and fifteen minutes early. Your eyes darted across the facade of the building, taking in the familiar yet still awe-inspiring look of it. The large dark-colored “A” printed against the main entryway stood out against the otherwise white structure and a small smile crept across your face.
Even to this day, you felt a surge of pride that you’d managed to land a job at the Avengers’ facility of all places. Sure, it was a secretary job, but who else in your friend group could brag that they saw Thor walk past their desk every morning?
You pulled up to the security kiosk and showed the guard your badge. After taking a quick look over it, he nodded and raised the gate. You guided your car through the gate and into the nearby employee parking garage. You chose a spot as close to the elevator as possible and hopped out of the car, taking your bagel and coffee with you.
You pressed the button signalling “2” on the elevator and waited as the doors shut and the lift took you upward. Before long, it came to a halt and opened back up, allowing you into the central hub of the facility. Contrary to what the media said, the upstate compound wasn’t Avengers-exclusive. There were plenty of other employees brought on to help with more mundane tasks such as janitorial positions and groundskeepers.
You made your way to the large circular bar in the middle of the room and joined a few of your fellow secretaries behind it. Joanne and Lee were both filing through separate piles of paperwork, chattering to each other before you’d joined them. Immediately after hearing the faint squeak of your chair as you took a seat, Lee turned to look at you.
“Morning, (y/n),” he said cheerfully, leaning against the table, “How was the drive this morning?”
“Shitty as always,” you commented, but flashed him a smile nonetheless, “But I’ve gotten used to it. Anything new?”
Lee followed your gaze to the stack of paperwork on his desk and he offered a halfhearted shrug. “Not really. The Widow busted a trafficking circle late last night, so now I’ve just got to fill out each arrestee’s paperwork and send it over.”
Joanne peeked around the portion of wall obscuring her from view, “You get to fill out Black Widow’s report? Lucky.”
“What are you working on, Jo?” you inquired.
“I get to play cleanup crew this morning. Jolly Green Giant decimated an office building during last week’s bomb threat in Baltimore.”
“Baltimore?” said Lee, “Bomb threats? That’s a bit of a nontraditional Avengers-related issue.”
“Right place, right time, I guess.”
“Right.”
“Clear the way!” shouted a voice toward the front of the building, catching you and your coworkers’ attention immediately. As you watched, a half-dozen or so security men filled in through the main entry, all surrounding one man and a large metal box carried by a handful of other officers.
Across the hub, activity stopped as people stared wide-eyed and exchanged nervous glances. The head security officer stopped in front of your desk and narrowed his attention on you. Over his shoulder, the other officers came to a halt, and between them you could just faintly make out the face of the man they were trying so hard to conceal.
The man looked exhausted, and perhaps a bit malnourished. He was tall, with handsome features and prominent cheekbones, a jawline that could cut steel, and windswept dark hair--his forehead was covered in sweat, causing the small strands that lay against his forehead to curl. His eyes, however, are what caught your attention. They were a deep brown and burned with an intensity unlike anything you’d ever seen before. You made eye contact for a split second, and immediately you had to focus your attention elsewhere, sure that if you maintained eye contact for even a moment longer, you’d burn up.
“Did you hear me?” the officer said, immediately snapping you from your thoughts.
“Um.. no sir, I’m sorry. What can I--”
“I need the key for surveillance room five.”
“Right away, sir,” you reached into a nearby drawer and fished around until you found the proper keycard. You passed it to the man and he took it without a word. He gestured to the rest of security to follow him, and the group headed down the hallway to your left. You watched them go, overtaken with curiosity… your eyes followed the top of the strange man’s head until he was no longer visible.
Beside you, Lee let out an incredibly slow breath. “No way…”
“So they finally caught him,” Joanne said, equally as awestruck.
“Who? Who was that?” you found yourself asking, glancing between the two of them curiously.
“That?” Lee started, “That was Ultron.”