Lydia watched Summer's hand carefully with wide, amazed eyes. A smile broke across her face. "That's beautiful!" she said, shaking her head. "I've only seen fire elementals before," she then said, her eyes moving back to Summer's. This one girl who was in training with me when I was around sixteen could do the same with fire, but it was hard for her control. You must be really talented with your control."

"My x-gene activated early," Summer admitted, cutting off the flow of electricity and absorbing it again. She shook the remaining sparks off of her hand and they dissipated. "I was five. Just starting kindergarten. I got pushed off the monkey bars and shocked the boy who did it hard enough that he was unconscious for a week, and knocked myself out for two days in the process." She flushed a bit, embarrassed. "I've been working on it ever since."

Lydia smiled, stopping before the doors to where she knew Banner went to. "Well if I'd known better, I'd say you've mastered." All thoughts of her actions earlier were flushed out now by the excitement of how cool it felt to be partnered up with this woman. She wanted to giggle at the idea of a little girl being crossed by a boy and shocking him. It was a fun thing to imagine, but she kept that to herself.

"I had myself under control by the time I was ten," Summer said. "I've worked on it a lot, if I try I can generate quite a bit of electricity. I managed to run almost half my house last time there was a blackout." She walked with Lydia to the lab doors. "Enough about be for now, though, we're on the clock."

"Yes," Lydia agreed as she sucked in a breath and opened the doors, seeing Dr. Banner inside. For a moment, she found herself happy to look at him. He looked so at home, so peaceful with his work for someone with a dark background. It was actually quite beautiful.

Bruce looked up when they came in.

"Is everything alright?" he asked. Summer nodded.

"We just had to straighten some things out," she said. "It's all taken care of." Bruce nodded a bit in understanding.

"Alright," he said. "Well, make yourselves comfortable. I looked through the information you gave me, I should be able to create an antigen to the bio-gamma toxin. It may take a little while, though."

"As long as it works, that's fine," Summer said. She hesitated a moment. "And in accordance with SHIELD protocol, I'm obligated to inform you that I have an active x-gene and that you would be within your rights to request a different agent for the assignment."

Bruce studied her for a moment.

"As long as you have control over it, I don't see a problem," he said at last. Summer slowly released the breath she hadn't been aware of holding.

"Alright," she said. "Thank you, Dr. Banner."

"Bruce is fine."

She nodded at Bruce at his question and looked to Summer for a second. Lydia watched the two speak. "Bruce" seemed to be far more friendlier than Lydia had thought, with someone with such a short temper to have the Hulk waiting to claw free for a while. Lydia walked around the lab, careful not to get too close or touch anything. She hadn't really ever been in an official lab before. There had been times when she was younger when she considered science over her job as a SHIELD agent. She had always kept to herself about it though, afraid that if she even attempted at it, it wouldn't work out. She had passed all of her school courses just fine, stronger in her science and math courses than the rest. But SHIELD was her home...

Bruce looked at them both.

"Well," he said, "may as well make yourselves comfortable. This may take a while."

Summer nodded and settled onto a stool, letting Lydia look around as she liked. Now it was just a waiting game.

Lydia heard Banner speak but just kept looking, itching to touch, but she kept her hands to herself like any adult should. She huffed a small sight to herself, a small, satisfied smile on her lips as she took the stool next to Summer. She looked over at the girl and gave a small smile before looking around before she rested her eyes on what Banner was doing, suddenly intrigued and mesmerized. She had never been this interested in a person's work before.

The rest of the day was rather bland for Summer, and she was grateful to head back to her little apartment at the end of the day. Working with the Avengers was great, but sitting around a science lab for six or more hours could try her patience. But a job was a job, and she showed up the next morning just as professional as the day before.

Back in her little apartment after a long day, Lydia curled up in her bed, sighing as she looked around, listening closely to the silence. She hated it. She wish she was like the other girls her age who had boyfriend or even better-- husbands. She hadn't anyone like that. Deciding she wasn't tired yet, considering the late hour, she crawled across her bed, reaching for her bookshelf and pulling out a book she had been reading. The next day she made sure she showed up in her suit, having talked with Coulson about the briefing and finding she can't trust him to trust her to be an adult anymore and finally getting the full packet. She walked up beside Summer, her SHIELD mug filled with black coffee.

"Good morning, Agent Morrisey," she greeted normally. She didn't want to be too bright or seemingly too tired.

"Morning, Agent Jankinz," Summer replied, her own coffee in its to-go cup in her hands. She had a tablet tucked under one arm. "I made sure to come prepared today," she said, holding up the tablet a bit. "Just in case I end up just sitting around for a while, I can keep up with my paperwork."

Lydia gave a curt nod and waved her packet. "Had a talk with Coulson. He gave me the proper packet finally," she said happily. She yawned, but shook it off. "Do you think we're going to head out to the gamma area today?" Lydia wondered aloud. She looked down at herself, seeing her buckle crooked. She straightened it and patted her gloved hands down to her sides.

"I doubt it," Summer replied. "First day? No, probably not. Besides, as soon as he starts working with radiation, we need to scram. Radiation's not safe for us." It was common knowledge that Dr. Banner would be alright around radiation, but normal people weren't so resilient.

"Good morning," Bruce greeted when he saw the two. "I, uh, guess we're going to be starting, then. Come on in, make yourselves at home. Try not to touch anything, okay? It's safer in here than in Tony's lab, but still."

Lydia frowned to herself, but didn't show any signs of disappointment as she entered the lab. She heard Bruce speak and generally found herself rather happy to see him. She sipped at her coffee, finding a stool to sit at. She crossed her legs and kept her back straight, watching Bruce and moving her eyes to Summer every now and then.

She noticed features she hadn't the day before or in any on-tv reports. The aged lines on his skin, how his hair cut suited him almost too perfectly, how focused and careful his eyes seemed...

The days took on that sort of routine for them. Summer would show up every morning, and Bruce would invite them in to watch and assist if he needed it. He very rarely needed the assistance, however, and so the two agents typically ended up just observing. It took almost a week before Bruce had any sort of concrete information to send to SHIELD, but once he did, the agents were given a day off while the data was being analyzed. So Summer found herself in Times Square, sitting at a coffee shop and watching the crowds for a while.

Lydia fell into the simple SHIELD routine faster than she thought she could. She even felt herself begin to understand how exactly she was supposed to speak and act, as an agent. But when her one day off came around, she didn't know what to do with herself. She had money to go somewhere. She had places she wanted to be. But she had no motivation. But trying to fall asleep the night before her day off, she finally decided what she wanted to do. She wanted to pick up a book she hadn't gotten to read much (with her schedule with SHIELD and all) and spend the day at Central Park, buying stuff from the food and drink stands.

Out of her SHIELD suit, she sat under a tree in one of the quiet areas in Central Park and a book opened in her lap. Straight-legged dark jeans, quarter-length shirt, gladiator sandals, and her hair down and left naturally tossed. This was the kind of day she knew she needed after so long of the same old routine.

Summer was enjoying just sitting in Times Square when it happened. It was sudden, but still somehow sluggish, as if the world had briefly slowed down. One moment, everything was fine, and the next there was a patrol of Doombots bashing through the area. Summer barely had time to swear before she was being swept up in the torrent of terrified civilians as they tried to get away.

It was barely a few minutes after the initial attack that the Avengers showed up, and Summer would honestly say she was glad to see them. Even though she was off the clock and not in a suit, she ended up helping with crowd control, trying to get civilians out from the immediate danger zone while the fighting was happening.

She hadn't intended to get cornered by a Doombot. She'd been covering the escape of an older man, and the robot had cut off her own escape route. Pulling out her gun (because she did always keep it with her, even on her days off), she shot several rounds into the robot. None of them worked, and she backed up until she was against the broken wall of a building, trapped.

Steve was just pulling off the tape from his sore hand when he got the distress signal. In no time, he had changed, grabbed his shield, and was on his way to New York City where he eyed the Doombots. For a quick moment, he looked around, seeing which part should get taken care of first. He eyed the other Avengers and then his eyes caught on a woman with a gun who seemed familiar. Summer, if he remembered correctly.

A Doombot was about to jump on her when he jumped over to them and slammed the bot away with his shield. He looked at the two and nodded his head. "Doing okay, Agent?" He eyed the civilian she was protecting, glad she was here when it happened. Somehow, he guessed that man would be dead if it weren't for the agent.

Meanwhile, Lydia's phone went off. She sighed at the fact that the caller I.D. read that it was Coulson. She answered, understanding that she had to be in Time's Square asap to assist Summer and the Avengers. On just some off chance, she had just-so-happened to have a gun in her bag that she had forgotten about. She put all of her stuff into her bag and ran out to the street, hailing a cab. When the cab driver took her as far as he dared, which was far enough, she rushed out, her eyes immediately finding Rogers and seeing Summer. She ran over to her, attempting to shoot a few rounds at a Doombot that had gotten in her way but she had to end up avoiding. The hell?

Summer was sure the Doombot was going to get her, and then it was gone with the ring of metal on metal and her field of vision was suddenly filled with red, white, and blue. She breathed a short sigh of relief when she realized what had happened.

"Doing fine, Captain," she replied. "Thanks for the save."

Elsewhere in the fight, the Hulk had finally arrived. With a loud roar, he launched himself into the fray, taking down Doombots right and left.

"Any time," Steve said as he twisted his torso so he could slam the middle of his shield into a Doombot that had leaped itself at him. He shook his head as he looked around. They were swarming into the area left and right. "Does anyone know what's going on here?" he asked, his eyes looking to Summer and the other girl. Lydia, he was sure her name was Lydia.

Lydia shook her head. "Coulson said it looks to be random. But Doombots aren't random..." Lydia trailed off, her eyes fell on Hulk. For a moment she was surprised by the anger she felt radiating off of him and how terrifying he looked, but she soon felt relief in reminding herself that it was just Hulk. He wasn't against them.

"I need to find more ammo fast, and possibly something that'll actually do damage," Lydia said, checking the rounds she had left. Being that it was her emergency gun, she didn't really have many rounds to begin with. She wracked her brain from the file reports she had read in the past. "Where's Doctor Doom?" she questioned allowed. Suddenly she had an idea. "Where's Stark!"

"Doombots are never random," Summer replied, quickly checking her weapon. "Agent Coulson will probably have more information in a few minutes. She's right, though, Captain, we're not going to be much help with standard rounds."

Stark took that moment to fly past, the bright colors of his latest Iron Man suit briefly flashing in the sun. He took several shots with his repulsors, taking out a few Doombots as he went by. The Doombots were tough, though, and many of them managed to withstand his attacks.

Lydia watched Stark carefully and looked around. "I'm going to search for Doom's location. In the mean time, you guys should find better weaponry, or even better coverage. I have my cell on my, so call me if you find out anything new and I'll do the same for you if Coulson calls me or, hopefully, I find Doom."

"Should we come with you?" Steve asked. "You can't just go alone without a proper weapon."

Lydia looked around and at the proper time, she jumped out from their little corner. "Don't worry about me. Focus on weaponry." And with that, she was gone.

Steve turned to Summer, breathing terribly as he got to his feet, shrugging. "Want to work together? Two minds would be faster than one."

Summer wrung her hands briefly when Lydia flitted away. No, they weren't supposed to split up like that if they had other options, that was practically the first rule of being a partnered agent! Always have someone to watch your back!

"I swear to any gods listening that I'm going to have a talk with Agent Coulson about this," she muttered as she quickly checked how many rounds she had left in her gun. She looked at Steve. "I'll give you as good a cover as I can, but my ammunition is limited. I wasn't exactly on-duty when this all started."

Chaos was flying around Lydia and though she realized her mistakes and mentally kicked herself in the ass, she decided that there was no time for regret. Focus. Where was the "chaos" coming from?

And then she spotted it. A ship hovering near the Manhattan river, unloading more Doombots. She avoided any attacks, flitting by as she watched Doombots make way for their destruction. This is crazy, she decided, but she didn't care.

Meanwhile, Steven nodded his head at Summer. Looking at her for a moment. He hadn't come across someone as professional as her since Natasha. And he had to admit, he was impressed. "Whatever you say, Agent." He smiled at her, feeling as if this would be a piece of cake. He suddenly raised his shield high enough and promptly heard the impact of a Doombot that had jumped directly at Summer. "We should move."