The chirping of the door woke me up from the deepest sleep I'd gotten in some time. It took 3 sets of rings before I managed to roll out of bed, throw on my old clothes, and press buttons on the door panel until it swished open. A tall man in green and black robes stood there. He looked confused.
"Is my brother there?" He inquired. I blinked at him. He looked around awkwardly, then back at me.
"Is this not my brother's quarters?" He asked. I struggled to formulate a reply, the words getting stuck in my throat.
"I can see I've made a mistake." He said, color tinging his pale cheekbones. "I'm forever mixing up all these doors."
"Brother." A familiar voice came from down the hall. Thor strode into view. "I see you've met the newest member of The Avengers."
I looked between them very quickly, trying to connect the dots.
"Forgive me, Tardy. This is my brother, Loki." Thor said, noticing my confusion even with only one eye.
"Loki of Asgard, at your service." His brother said, inclining his head. Then he turned to Thor. "I was searching for your quarters and found the wrong door."
"It is fitting, as I am tasked with bringing Tardy to train this morning." He offered his hand. "If you will, Tardy?"
"Tandy." I said, looking down at my feet. "My name is... Tandy."
Thor flushed bright red.
"A thousand pardons, Milady."
"My brother can be quite the buffoon, you'll find." Loki offered his hand, but I didn't know what to do with it. I stared at him, wide-eyed. My fingers shook and I pressed them against my leg to hide them. Loki retracted his hand, but didn't say anything. We three were left in awkward silence, thankfully broken by Tony Stark suddenly walking around the corner.
"Good morning, Asgard." He said mildly to the two Asgardians and took off his sunglasses, fixing me in his gaze. His expression turned to mock horror.
"Dear Lord, woman. You are wearing rags. That will not do." He said, looking me up and down. "Typical Fury, not giving you anything to wear. Come with me." He turned on his heel and left us three to follow along. Thor and Loki overtook me immediately, having much longer legs, leaving me to power walk behind them so as not to get left behind in the twists and turns of SHIELD headquarters.
We went through a maze of hallways, into a lift that took us down three floors, and then through a set of double doors into what looked like a laundry room. There were workers milling around everywhere, sorting and washing linens. Tony breezed in like he owned the place, opened a huge cabinet of what looked like standard-issue black pants and grey sweatshirts, pulling out two and tossing them to me.
"Well?" He asked. I held them up. They looked okay. I looked back at him, wide-eyed. He stared back. Did he expect me to strip down in the middle of the laundry room...?
"Right. Rightrightright." Tony said, turning me around and pushing me back out the doors, Thor and Loki following behind. We got back in the lift, went up four floors, and poured out into a hallway with another enormous bay window set into it. Below was an empty hangar with what looked like green carpet turf in it. Various objects were scattered around, making it look like an obstacle course. A training room, I realized. Thor and Loki broke off and went down the hallway to the right. I made to follow, but Tony hooked me by the shoulder and sent me in the opposite direction.
"Ladies room, sweetie." He said, giving me a push. I stumbled down the hallway until I reached a door. I looked back at Tony, who made shooing motions before fishing his cell phone out of his pocket and turning his attention towards making a call.
I turned away and proceeded through the door, which turned out to be the entrance to the girl's locker room. I dressed down quickly and tossed my old clothes into a locker. I shut the door and was about to walk away, then I thought better of it and re-opened the locker so I could fold my clothes. I refolded my blouse at least four times because it made me feel better to smooth the wrinkles out. I shut the locked feeling slightly less shaky, but anxiety still clawed at my stomach.
Or maybe it was hunger. I had no idea what time it was. Those cornflakes seemed a long way off.
I made my way through the locker room, running into nobody else. I knew there were other women on The Avengers, but maybe they weren't around at the moment. I did a quick bathroom routine, washing my face and running my fingers through my long blonde hair, grimacing as I met with mats and tangles that marred my natural curls. It had been too long since I'd seen the kind end of a brush. Maybe I could request one later. I piled my hair on top of my head and then realized I had nothing to secure it with. I let the mess fall down around my face. It would have to do. I doubted any of the men had anything to help with the situation.
I exited the locker room through a door just past the toilets, stepping down a staircase and exiting into the large room I'd seen from above. Out in the center were Thor, Loki, Fury, and Steve Rogers. I noticed they were all dressed similarly to me, grey t-shirts and black pants. I looked up and saw Tony with his back to the window, talking on his phone. I put my head down and hurried to the center with the others. I had no idea what to expect.
"Welcome, Bowen." Nick said, barely glancing up from his holopad. "Today we are assessing your powers so we can see where to start with your training. The Avengers are expected to stay in peak performance. Your training will be accelerated because of the short time frame of the situation. As the other female Avengers are out on assignment training with the other agents of SHIELD, Thor, Loki, and Steve will be in charge of preparing you. Tony and I will observe.
With a pointed look at the other Avengers, Fury strode away to join Tony at the observation window. I looked at the three men in front of me.
"So, do you have any sort of combat training?" Thor asked.
"I-I murdered the guy who turned me into a human flashlight." I replied. Loki, unfamiliar with the story, looked confused.
"We'll start out with some basic attacks. Steve will come at you, you defend how you think is necessary." Thor said. I nodded. Steve approached me, holding out his hand.
"Steve Rogers, pleased to meet ya." He said, flashing me a pearly white smile. I nodded and shook his hand. He turned away and paced back a few feet, then took a ready stance. I didn't really know what me ready stance was, so I held up my hands and bent my knees.
Steve came at me a little quicker than I expected, with a right hook aimed at my face. I ducked and gave him a solid push in the solar plexus. He stumbled back a little but didn't seem very moved. He was heavier than I thought he'd be.
He came at me again, this time low line. I kneed his arm up to my level, and pulled hard. Steve stumbled forwards. Again, not as much as I hoped. I probably looked pretty lame.
"Okay, that's all right." Thor held up a hand to Steve, who relaxed. "Let's go again. This time with multiple opponents. If it becomes to much, tell us to stop. You can attack first."
I stopped, not quite sure what to do. Anxiety crept in. When I'd worked with Ty, he'd been the one calling the shots, guiding my movements. My light had fed him the power he'd needed to overcome any enemy we faced. I'd barely done anything...
That realization set off the shaking in my hands for real and escalated my breathing. I wasn't in the right place. I wasn't doing things right, I-
"Tandy? Are you all right?" Thor's voice came as he paused mid-prep. I realized my hands had started glowing. I stared at them, trying to will them to stop, to get myself to calm down.
Steve and Loki continued closing in, coming in to provoke an attack. I saw Steve's fist swing towards my head and the rushing noise in my ears became a dead roar. What happened next was completely out of my control.