Siren

Left to right: The Hulk, Hawkeye, Maria, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Captain America, Natasha Romanoff and Thor.

The Siren:

Sarah Liam always loved hero stories. Her mother, Rosa De Crocetti, used to read them to her when she was little. Every single night, no disruptions, not even if she was ill or if her father had lost his temper, again. Their favourites were the Greek and Norse myths, so full of fantasy, chivalry, story and mystery, they were a world away from their reality.
 Born to a powerful French drug businessman idealist and his Italian lover who he "rescued" from a small village, Sarita De Crocetti, as she was born, always seemed to have a calming influence on all who went near her. It was a mediocre power that nobody even considered to be one, it was just a natural aura the charming little girl had. And boy did she need it in that chaotic home. They lived in a large French villa and never lacked for anything, Jean Liam's career certainly made sure of that. He was... cocky and short-tempered to say the least but Rosa doted on her daughter, and that was all little Sarita needed.
 However Jean had an obsession with the drugs industry he worked for, he was sure that drugs were all the power anyone needed to rule the world, if you just enhanced the right qualities instead of wasting it on euphoric pleasures. He was also sure that his ideals and opinions were the right ones, he encouraged the strife other nations caused by making a bid for power but always snorted and despairingly pointed out the flaws and weaknesses in them when they stopped, either having been defeated or got what they wanted. As for the Nazis, he admired their sudden domination but disparaged/disregarded their loss of it and "irrational" ideals, he's sure he could have done it much better, and made the world more efficient for it.
 Though he intended to only use it for profit, Jean's obsession with this idea grew over the years, his love of Rosa often held him in check but then one day with his scientist business partner, Michael Verone, he actually found a way to do it. To pick out a certain attribute in a human, and enhance it. They'd found the remnants of notes on the enhancement serum used on Captain America in WW2 and they kept it as a secret project between them. At first Jean simply intended to sell it to the highest bidder and make his family rich and revered for years to come, but as time went by the experiments were still unsuccessful and his obsession with it grew and grew. They couldn't understand it, the serum was theoretically perfect but it still failed to work on the volunteer experimentees, or resulted in making the targeted attribute weaker. They needed to test it someone with a stronger attribute, something rare and extraordinary that they could actually enhance. Then one day Jean heard someone commenting on the unusual calming aura of his 4 year old daughter, and it clicked. He was obsessed beyond rational thought for a result, and besides he reasoned that the serum would not harm her, he would only be giving her a gift, even if it did work. So, without telling Rosa, Jean gave Sarita an injection one day on the staircase, claiming it was just a vaccination and that it'd be ok, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead as the needle went in and giving her a plaster to cover the pin-prick. Sarita was unharmed by it, and her "power" was indeed enhanced, she could influence the mood of anyone around her. Jean saw it as nothing but a little party trick of no significant power, Sarita was only 4 anyway, but it was finally a success! He and Michael celebrated over it that night and parted ways, both agreeing to wait until the world was at it's most dire until they came forward with the serum, so that they might get the biggest possible offer and recognition.


 However Sarita wasn't as clueless as Jean imagined. She was young but the mind of a child is a rapid one, and Sarita was a quick learner, she even grew up speaking Italian, French and British. She never knew how but she found she could affect the emotions of those around her. At first she used it just as she unknowingly had as a baby, simply calming people, perhaps making them more inclined to give her a biscuit. This went on for a few months and Rosa finally noticed it on Sarita's 5th birthday, she'd managed to "persuade" 3 bullies to play nice with her and even give her all their pocket money. Rosa'd also noticed Jean's increased pleasant mood over the past few months and immediately confronted him over it. This was the start of the arguments, the terror that a worried young Sarah tried so hard to sooth her mother from with her power when they hid under the covers and lost themselves in the worlds of Thor, Poseidon, Captain America, Hercules, Luke Skywalker, Robin Hood - anything where the hero saved the day and everything was ok.
 But it wasn't ok, it never was. The arguments were happening almost every other night when a business plan of Jean's failed and they had to sell the villa just to get some money. The night before they moved it was an argument worse than any other, Rosa and Jean went yelling into the lab while Sarita watched in fear from the stairs, she was too scared to even try to calm them. Rosa blamed Jean for everything that had happened, that he had turned their daughter into an experiment who could and would extort anyone, she'd never know any different. Jean raged back at her just as harshly and they were almost at a screaming point when Jean slapped her. Rosa fell back onto the counter amongst the vials and a deathly silence fell. Jean hissed at her never to dare cross him again and went to march back up the stairs, but Rosa didn't move. He went over to her cautiously and fearfully said her name, then he turned her over and saw she'd fallen on a needle holding the enhancement serum and it had gone straight into her heart. The serum doesn't work on normal people, instead of enhancing what it goes into, it stops it. Rosa was dead. Jean rocked her in his arms and sobbed on the floor of the lab, he couldn't admit that he'd killed her, then he saw Sarita at the top of the stairs. "You! You could have stopped her! You could have calmed her!" He yelled and from that day he always blamed Sarita. Sarita ran to her room and hid under her covers, she didn't see her father again until he came into her room one night.
 "We're moving to England." He whispered to her. "You're going to make people make me rich little Sarita, my little princess." He smiled and left. Her mother used to say that, "My little Sarita", it meant princess. When her mother said it it was a name full of love and safety.
 Sarita always kept up the routine of reading hero stories in honour of her mother, but she never let anyone call her Sarita, "my little princess", she grew to hate that name and the man that said it, she always insisted people call her Sarah, though to eradicate all traces of her mother Jean insisted she took on his surname instead of her mother's.
 When they moved to England, Jean kept true to his word, he made his daughter "persuade" people into feeling that they wanted to help or make deals with him, and Sarah became known as his lucky charm, nobody ever realised how literal that was though. She grew up with coercing people into doing what she wanted as second nature, she felt invincible. However when she grew older (13 to be specific) she began to rebel against Jean, she understood what he was making her do and she didn't want to force people into their ruin, or even death, anymore. And always there was that underlying fear and hatred of the truth, that he'd killed her mother. But Jean had discovered a way to block her ability with a special, rare alloy. He inserted a piece of it into his skull so she could never affect or harm him, but he could harm her. If she ever tried to tell anyone the truth or disobeyed him, she felt the full force of his rage. And there was always Michael Verone by his side, doing business, knowing everything and always turning a blind eye when Sarah "misbehaved".
 It was only when she was 16 that Sarah managed to run away and took her life into her own hands. She used her ability to coerce people and she lived the high life of freedom. It wasn't enough though, she wanted to do exactly the opposite of what her father made her do, and use her ability to become a hero. Just like those stories she used to read with her mother.
 So she helped out the police, found master criminals and forced them to spill their secrets and plans, and turned them in. Then she even got involved with the army, listening to the news she located the leaders of their enemies and forced them to surrender or even ruin their own plans, once she made them go up to the American military base with bunches of flowers and ribbons. She expected to be thanked and revered as she duly deserved, immortalised forever in stories, but she really was brought back down to earth when the guns were aimed on her. She'd helped them sure, but with that power she could do anything to anyone, from an innocent family to the President, she needed to be stopped. So the people she wanted to idolise her chased her down as a criminal, and she began to realise that her power was as much a curse as it was a gift, and whenever she used it people around her noticed her more and reported her to the authorities, and she couldn't affect everyone with her power.
 She was on the run for about a year before she was found, and the authorities gave up trying to find her when she seemingly vanished. She'd certainly gotten attention with her antics but nobody knew quite what to make of her, even her false "friends" who kept coming back to her just for the calming, feel good factor she gave them, didn't trust her and backed away as soon as they could. Reality had begun to sink in and after 5 months of trying to get by without using her power, she began to think she could actually fit into the "real" world and even got herself a boyfriend who had no idea of her power. Then someone she thought was her friend sold her out to the authorities and she was hunted again. There was nowhere to run and then, 5 minutes ahead of the authorities, her father came calling.
 "You can't trust them princess, the only place you can survive is with me." He said with a sly smile and as it was the only way to escape the authorities and being locked in a cell and experimented on for the rest of her life, she went with him. He'd moved to America and as she looked out of the barred window in her room (locked from the outside) she realised how alone she really was.
 Meanwhile Jean had teamed back up with Michael Verone and he was now truly insane, he'd abandoned all plans of business and profit, he truly believed that the only way forward for the world was if he ruled it, and he could only do that with his daughter's power. So with Sarah always under lock and key he begun his planning to take over the world, with Michael Verone silently watching Sarah and collaborating as usual.
 Jean became known as The Businessman, a suited master criminal who was always slinging off business-related puns as he infiltrated army bases, stole weaponry and so on. And always there was his daughter in the shadows, unseen, shackled and under the firm watch of Michael Verone, who made sure everything went to plan and nobody interfered. Nobody could stop them, then suddenly in 2010 he suddenly disappeared with no trace whatsoever. The Hulk appeared for the first time later that year and everyone suddenly had a bigger problem on their hands, The Businessman was a thing of the past and he was forgotten.
 But they never should have stopped, because Jean had finally acquired his army, and now all they needed was to train Sarah to expand her power over hundreds of thousands of american soldiers. For two years they trained and pushed her relentlessly, advancing her power in any way they could, selling the serum was no longer an option, Jean wanted world domination.
 However Michael Verone had other ideas, he didn't want something as complicated as world domination but he wanted money, and he wanted revenge on the people who'd cheated him out of it in the past, and Sarah was the way to oh so many possibilities, Jean was too clouded by insanity and obsession to realise just how much of a goldmine his daughter was.
 For three years Sarah was imprisoned by her father, alone, pushed to the limits of her power and helplessly helping him gain world domination. She followed the stories and news coverage of the emergence of the Avengers devotedly. They were the only light in her dark imprisonment, somewhere out there people were using their abnormal powers and resources for good, they were real-life heroes, they might be able to stop her from taking over the world.
 When these 5 superheroes banded together under SHIELD as The Avengers and together they stopped an alien invasion from Thor's adopted brother, Loki, and his Frost Giant race she couldn't help but feel raw envy. As much as she admired them, they were accepted and revered by the public, they even had toys made of them! And no matter what happened, if someone did turn around and pick on them, they had eachother to rely on and the government backing them up. Or rather, SHIELD, and had a home in that top-secret helicarrier that can stay both in the sky and in the sea.

SHIELD, an acronym of the mouthful that is Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. S-H-I-E-L-D. The espionage and law enforcement agency that's home to the Avengers. 5 superheroes made out of the suave, witty and utterly self-assured billionaire genius Tony Stark a.k.a Iron Man; Asgardian thunder god Thor with his almighty, powerful hammer that can only be used by him; Chivalrous and polite World War II hero Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America who was enhanced to the peak of human ability by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort, his signature weapon is a shield made of a very rare, almost indestructible metal; the genius scientist Dr Bruce Banner who was exposed to Gamma Radiation when he was young, and after a lab experiment went wrong is forced to turn into a huge, green monster that he can barely control when angered or irritated; SHIELD agent Natasha Romanoff who, despite having no "powers", was trained since she was a child and is fluent in several languages, extreme martial arts, has a talent for spying and "blending in" and is highly acrobatic; Clint Barton a.k.a Hawkeye also has no special powers, but instead is an extremely talented marksman and has a highly technological bow + arrows, as well as having a lot of experience with SHIELD and the army. Their leader is Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD that nobody knows much about, except for the fact that he is the wrong person to pick a fight with, and has a very quick, war-wisened mind.

 However Jean isn't so enthusiastic about the formation of The Avengers as his daughter. With the sudden appearance of these superheroes his plans are less likely to be a success. He needs to act quickly, while they are still recovering from stopping the alien invasion, and he needs a stronger army force. now.

 Using his many contacts, and Sarah's "persuasion", he is able to acquire the remnants of the drone army that was modelled after Iron Man's suit by the genius, rebuked son of a scientist who'd worked with Tony Stark's father. They are something that will continue to fight for him even if Sarah's taken out and he orders for them to be secretly put into mass production, but it still isn't enough, he needs forces
 With Sarah firmly in tow he begins to take over every army base in America that he can, and through Sarah makes them inclined to make their forces his own. The Avengers are quickly on the case but they just can't catch up with them, not with Sarah making everyone feel that staying away is definitely the best thing, and she cannot disobey her father while he'll have a gun firmly trained on her if she does. Instead, she bides her time, and tries not to let too many people get hurt in the process.
 When Michael Verone, having seen it through to the end without being implicated, suddenly disappears one day Jean is enraged at his betrayal and takes it out on Sarah for not persuading him to stay (not believing that he's done the same trick as him and put some of the power-blocking alloy on his skull) and throws her into a barred cell in the basement, leaving her sobbing in despair with an open cut running down the side of her face.
 "It's time princess." Jean's purring voice, tinged with lunacy, comes to her the next day as he takes her hands and shackles them together. "It's time to make the world right again, my little Sarita." And he leads her to the airfield where his colossal army is amassed and brought out of their hangars, just outside the city he plans to attack. On an elevated platform, ready to be pushed by five strong drone soldiers, is a black, metal throne with shackles on the armrests, waiting for her.
 "No! No!" Sarah cries as Jean commands two drone soldiers to take her up. She writhes in their arms but nothing she does can affect them, drones don't have emotions to manipulate.
 "We can't have you running away again now can we?" Jean reasons to her as he fastens her in. "Nobody but me can unlock this. So don't go getting any bright ideas about making the soldiers set you free, hmm?" He laughs softly and catches her face firmly in his hand. "Heyy don't cry. We're going to take over the world, you and I. You won't leave me like Michael will you? Nooo you're a good girl. Father and daughter, business partners. The king and his princess!" He cries and laughs, spreading his arms out wide on the platform in front of her and looks down on the army, the soldiers, not yet being controlled, are penned in by the drone soldiers but are still getting rowdy and restless. "Now take control of my army!" He bellows dramatically and turns around in confusion when nothing happens. "Don't betray me now, little princess, it won't work out well for you." He hisses to Sarah who is stubbornly looking away from him. He takes a button out from his coat and presses it, sending volts of electricity through Sarah's chair.
 She screams in pain and when it stops he slaps her. "Now control. My. Army!" He shouts through gritted teeth and she sighs and closes her eyes in defeat. There is nothing more she can do. Her look of resignation turns into one of fierce concentration as she extends her power over the thousands of soldiers before them, and Jean smiles in relief as the shouting and panic suddenly stops.
 "Now that's more like it!" He grins and orders one of the Captains to come up to him and they discuss orders, while Sarah keeps the flow of calm and obedience.