Circuit Breaker

"And, Agent Hill." Nick Fury said, turning to his agent. She stood at attention, awaiting his orders.

"Yes, sir?" she inquired following Fury's hesitation.

"I need you to go after the last one. Originally, Agent Barton was assigned to her case, when he was still in his right mind. But since he is currently hypnotized, or whatever the hell that lunatic did to him, the responsibility is left to you." Fury continued, checking his watch. "Agent Romanoff is in India, I am going to be busy with Rogers, and Coulson is with Stark... and God knows how long that is going to take. You're the last one I trust enough."

"Of course, sir." she agreed immediately. "And, if I may speak freely... who is the 'last one'? Surely not another Avenger. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't assign anymore."

"We did." Fury snapped. "After the events in New Mexico... and with the new development plans in process, we added a last subject to the list. Somebody to help us with development and to either assist or fill in for Banner if he decided to refuse us."

"She lives in southern Germany, working as an engineer designated to furthering technology and finding clean power sources." he continued, holding out a jump drive with the woman in question's file stored on it. "Read over her file, then take a few men and have them drop you off. A vehicle will be waiting for you in Stuttgart. She's no Captain America, but I'm sure she'll prove to be a formidable foe. Granted that she has... resources.. handy." With that, Fury strode off to find his own hero.

...

Tony Stark grumbled to himself as he opened the file that Phil Coulson had dropped off for him. Holograms appeared around him, and he cocked his head in curiosity as he sifted through the files and profiles. He rested his chin in his hand as he turned, picking up the 'Tesseract' hologram and studying it.

"I'm already bored. Bring up the files that Coulson dropped off on the Avengers Initiative, Jarvis. I need to read over the file on one big, angry, green machine once more." he said, reading over Dr. Selvig's research on how the Tesseract emits low levels of gamma radiation.

The file was brought up, with pictures of Captain America and Bruce Banner coming up.

His interest was piqued when the photo of a woman popped up. She had dark, serious eyes, deep black hair, and a cold expression. Her name was written in white across the top of her photograph; Georgia McGuiness. He touched the file and opened it.

Inside there were two short paragraphs on the woman, basically explaining her abilities and brief background. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Wow. Her parents must have not liked her much." He said out loud to himself, finding it humorous that her parents would have named her after her own home state. He continued reading, learning that she achieved a Masters' Degrees in Engineering, and Science of Engineering. Tony cocked his head. There were so many types of engineering. It was strange that they didn't include what specifically she had studied.

The second, and last, paragraph consisted of a breakdown of her abilities. The article called her a 'technopath', having the ability to control, manipulate, and build with technology using only her mind. A few stipulations were included, such as the technology needed to at least have the ability to conduct an electrical current for her to be able to use it. Her name was added to the Avengers Initiative last.

That was it. The whole two paragraphs. Tony frowned as he searched through the rest of her file, but was only able to come up with the same picture of her looking coldly into the camera.

"Jarvis?" he said out loud as he continued to sift. "Find me more information on one 'Georgia McGuiness', would you?"

"Of course, sir." the Artificial Intelligence answered, and then after a brief pause said; "This would not have anything to do with making Ms. Potts jealous, now would it?" The AI sounded amused at the thought.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course not, Jarvis. I'm a curious man. And curious men find out things about possible 'Avengers' that S.H.I.E.L.D likes to hide from curious men." he answered.

"Very well, sir. I have compiled all available data into a file." Jarvis said, pulling it up as a hologram for Tony.

"Thanks, Jarvis." he murmured, and scanned the file, looking for any and all interesting tidbits about the woman.

When Tony came to information on McGuiness' education, his eyebrows shot up.

"Degrees in geotechnical engineering, computer engineering, control systems engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, engineering physics, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and systems engineering." he read aloud. "That S.H.I.E.L.D article sure didn't do her any justice, eh, Jarvis? She's almost as impressive as... well, me."

"But of course, she's not me. Does she have a multi-billion dollar company? Nooo. Does she have a cool supersuit? Noooo." Tony said sourly. "Unfair. Any history in heroics, Jarvis?" Tony asked when he got to the bottom of the article.

"None, sir. Ms. McGuiness studied at a college whose name I cannot find in any records, and is now working in southern Germany as an engineer, utilizing all of her talents into creating new, cleaner sources of energy and furthering studies in technology. This is as specific as any information on her is." Jarvis answered. "She has never created an alias with which to perform heroics."

Tony mused for a moment. "It seems strange that you can't find any school records regarding where she attended, hm? It seems as though S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to hide something about her. And when S.H.I.E.L.D wants to hide something... well it must be important to them. I don't like it, though."

"Well, sir, a 'technopath', as they are called, could be used for many things. Including, heaven forbid if she got into the wrong hands, aiding any enemy that S.H.I.E.L.D has. I imagine that she could possibly completely destroy any S.H.I.E.L.D technology. Including your suit, sir. Or your arc reactor."

Tony nodded. "Yes. I had thought of that. With this lunatic running around, S.H.I.E.L.D's gonna be frantic to keep her away from that Loki or any possible threat for that matter. That's possibly why information on her is so vague, S.H.I.E.L.D wants to keep everyone off of her trail except them." he said, shaking his head. "Can't wait to meet her."

...

In Southern Germany...

Georgia McGuiness was peeling off her labcoat as she entered her apartment. Her dark eyes scanned the room as she tossed the coat onto the chair and walked further into the living room.

She smelled the air suspiciously, the smell of burning was in the air. She followed the scent into the kitchen, and found the oatmeal from her breakfast on her stove, burning and smoking. She had forgot to turn off her stove in the rush to get into work this morning.

"Um Gottes willen!" she said in German angrily as she turned off the stove with an outstretched hand from the doorway. Her hand shot small, hot blue streaks of what could be classified as electricity at the stove. It powered down instantly. She took a few long strides to the stove and grasped the burning handle of the pot, throwing it into the sink and turning on the cold water. Steam poured off the pot and burned food as she inspected her hands.

"Verdammt." she muttered, but left the slight burns alone and stalked back into her living room.

"Sorry about that." a voice said from the window on the other side of her kitchen as Georgia reached the door. "I had to verify the claims."

Georgia turned swiftly, and her eyes settled on a uniformed woman leaning against the wall next to her. The light clicked on.

"A S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Wonderful." Georgia muttered, regarding the uniform with disdain before leaving the room. "I thought I made it quite clear to Nick Fury that I had no interest in helping you people."

"You have met him?" the agent said, and Georgia laughed without humor.

"Of course. I suppose he didn't supply you with that little detail." she said scornfully. "But as I've noticed, Nick Fury doesn't tell you people things very often. I've met the charming man twice. Both times, he's asked me to come and help S.H.I.E.L.D with either improving their technology or to research a new type of apparently 'limitless' energy that they've found. I must say, the second offer was quite intriguing. But because I don't fancy being in leagues with assassins and scientists, I once again refused. As I will today."

"Are you not a scientist as well?" the agent asked, following Georgia into the living room.

"No. I am an engineer. There's a difference, darling. They research. I create. Simple enough?" she said, mocking the younger girl a bit with her tone.

"Yes, ma'am." the agent said respectfully. She was required to recruit this woman, whatever it took. She was determined. She had gotten word that Natasha Romanoff was able to bring in Bruce Banner. She could clear her mission as well.

"My name is Maria Hill, and I am an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D as you already know." she said formally. "This has to do with the 'limitless' supply of energy that S.H.I.E.L.D has found and once had in their possession, named the Tesseract. A hostile by the name of Loki has captured it along with a few of our key members, including a very prestigious scientist who was doing extensive amounts of research on the Tesseract."

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Georgia demanded, interrupting the girl.

"S.H.I.E.L.D needs you, ma'am. We need you to help Dr. Bruce Banner track the Tesseract by means of gamma radiation and bring the power source back into S.H.I.E.L.D's possession before Loki uses it to take over the world." Maria continued.

"Gamma radiation? My knowledge on gamma rays is limited at best. I work with technology. Electricity, that I can help with. Computers, software, mechanics, those are what I know. Radiology is not of my practice. And as much as I'd simply love to help, I can't." Georgia snapped, crossing her bare arms with a frown.

"True, but nobody knows technology as well as you do." Agent Hill said, hoping to appeal to this woman's pride. "With your help, the process would be much quicker and more efficient. You would be back to your regular life in a more short amount of time. Without your help, the process could be must more difficult, or even prove to be impossible. The Avengers Initiative needs you."

Georgia eyed the girl suspiciously. "And I would never have to leave my 'regular life' if I refuse this, would I?" she said. "I could sit back and watch you guys do all the work. I don't do 'heroics'. I never have, and never will. I use my powers for recreational uses, only. I've never even thrown a punch. How could I be of use to you when it comes to 'avenging' and so forth?"

"We are prepared to help you train in basic levels of combat, in case you have any need of them. But as we said, your job would be to help us locate the Tesseract before any fighting has to come to pass." Maria explained.

Georgia thought for a moment. "I must refuse, Agent Hill. I honestly have no interest in helping you in any way. I would have to leave my very prestigious job. And for what? To create an alias as a 'super hero' and fight crime all day long? Durchaus nicht. Let this guy take over the world, see if I care. It won't effect me. He might be the best leader yet." she said, expression cold as ice.

Maria frowned. "It most certainly will effect you. Loki will be a tyrant. And you know what happens when a tyrant takes over? The end of science. The end of progress. He won't allow us to create new ideas or technology in fear of uprising. You'll be forbidden to be an engineer. You'll be forced into submission, as far as we know." she said. "As a woman of science, you can't possibly like the sound of that."

Georgia scowled, finally seeming to consider. "If I agree, if. I want Nick Fury's personal word that he will not make me into one of his... lap dogs, I don't know. When and if I help you all get back this thing, and if I join S.H.I.E.L.D for a short period of time to 'save the world' and all that, I want a guarantee that I can come back to my old life and never be bothered with this again unless maybe the world's going to end. Clear?" she snapped.

Maria smiled softly. "Yes. I am sure Director Fury will agree to that." she said quickly, willing to promise anything.

Georgia rolled her eyes. "Was zum teufel. I'll help you out. But I want you to know that I'm not doing this from the 'goodness of my heart'. I feel no loyalty towards S.H.I.E.L.D. The only thing I want to do is get this over and done with." she said, moving closer and staring Maria right in the eye. She paused for a moment. "Well, if we're going, let's go!"

Maria Hill nodded, and led the way out the door. Georgia scowled as she followed behind.

Translations:

Um Gottes willen - For God's sake

Verdammt - Damn

Durchaus nicht - Absolutely not

Was zum teufel - What the hell

Yeeeep. New story. Centered around my second favorite movie of all time, The Avengers, and my loves Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner. Thanks for checking out my story, and for all of you Invisibility Has Its Perks fans out there, it's far from on hiatus or forgotten about. I'm working on it, this, and A Murder of Crows as much as possible.

So please, please, please review! I check story traffic every day, and I love when I see a lot of visitors, but I'm so sad when the review:vistitors ratio is low.:(

Love it? Hate it? Wanna punch me in the face? Let me know! I do wanna know!

Okay, love you all!

Jess