Protection
"You have problems."
That sentence had been echoing in my head for the past couple days. I didn't know what to make of it, so I tried to ignore it, but it just kept bouncing around my mind, not leaving me alone.
It wasn't like I had never heard those words before, they just hadn't been spoken by someone who didn't hate me. That was what confused me.
"Miss Tillman, there is a group of girls in the lounge that say they want to see you." Jarvis informed me. I stood up and walked over to the door, taking a deep breath before leaving my room and facing the world for the first time in two days.
The first thing I noticed when I got closer to the lounge was that the group of girls was muttering amongst themselves almost as if plotting something. Instinctively, I pressed my back to the wall next to the doorway, peeking around the woodwork and into the lounge, instantly recognizing every single girl in the group. I withdrew my head and walked away, taking an alternate route to the kitchen on that floor. Once I was there, I pulled out my phone and sent out a group text to the Avengers, minus Thor since he was back in Asgard with his evil brother.
Assemble. Stark's kitchen, lounge floor. Urgently!
Twenty minutes later, everyone was in the kitchen with me, wondering why I had called them there.
"Remember the death threat ordeal a couple days ago? Well, they're really going through with it. They're in the lounge right now, conspiring." I said quietly, but still loud enough to be heard by everyone in the kitchen.
"How many are there?" Natasha asked, and I looked into the lounge, quickly counting the group and ducking my head back into the kitchen.
"Six." I replied, slightly worried.
"That's one for each of us, including you, Ryan. We can handle half a dozen teenage girls, right?" Stark said, and everyone nodded.
"I'm gonna go out there and talk to them. The signal for you to come out will be... three coughs." I said, squaring my shoulders and walking out into the lounge, sneaking around the group until I was right behind Ashley, who was obviously acting as leader.
"We should push her out the window!" Rachel suggested, and I rolled my eyes at her stupidity.
"You seriously don't remember how Iron Man got thrown out one of these windows but his suit came flying down to save him? She could easily do the same thing he did!" Ashley snapped, and I smiled, waiting for an opportunity to speak up.
"But couldn't she kill us with the suit? It has weapons, you know!" Mackenzie worried, and Ashley smacked her upside the head.
"No, you idiot, she wouldn't have the guts to! Our main concern is the other Avengers. If they come to help her, we're gonna be outnumbered." Ashley said, and I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"I thought that Thor guy went back to space with the guy who started the battle?" I said, mimicking Alexa's annoyingly nasal voice.
"Oh, you're right, Alexa, he did," Chris said, confusing her.
"Alexa didn't say anything." Abby said, and the six girls turned to look at me, glaring murderously. Ashley started walking toward me, and I stood my ground, crossing my arms and smirking.
"You're all alone, then. Good," Ashley said, giving an evil smile and pulling out a knife. The other five took out other items, one revealing a chair and another holding a rope. The remaining two just held knives.
"Tie her up, girls," Ashley commanded, and I allowed them to tie me to the chair, waiting until I actually needed help to call the others. The final touch was a cloth in my mouth, which I could still cough around, luckily.
"Now nobody will hear you scream." Ashley's evil smile only got more evil.
As she approached me with the knife, I coughed three times, loudly.
"What do you think you're doing?" Bruce snapped, and I could see his skin taking on a slight green tinge in his rage.
"Uh, guys, I think that's the Hulk..." Mackenzie worried, attempting to flee when Bruce turned a glare on her. Natasha grabbed her before she could escape, though, and took out a rope of her own, holding it menacingly as she kept a firm grip on Mackenzie.
"Killing the bitch that shattered my nose," Ashley said in an offhanded tone, not even turning around to see five angry Avengers tying up her friends.
"That's all you have against her?" Clint asked from behind Ashley. She turned around to reply and I felt my restraints come loose. I pulled the cloth from my mouth and stood up, picking up the chair and holding it up beside Ashley's head as if to club her with it. She noticed the chair and turned around just as I swung, hitting her nose, which shattered.
"Dot agaid!" she wailed, holding her nose. When she held up the knife, murder in her eyes, I swung the chair again. The chair broke against her head, and she fell to the ground with a sickening crack from her skull.
"So the ultimate weapon against a teenage girl with intent to kill is... a chair?" Fury asked, looking down at the unconscious Ashley in front of him. She was surrounded by bits of chair and some blood from her nose.
"Yep. Especially when her friends recently tied you to said chair." I replied, smirking at the group of tied-up girls.
"I'll add her to the bunch once she's conscious." Clint said casually, gesturing first to Ashley, then to the group.
"So, what do you suggest we do with them?" Fury asked me, as I knew the girls better than anyone in the room except themselves, but they weren't about to start suggesting punishments.
"Somehow, with your secret governmenty influence, cancel all their credit cards, give 'em horrible credit, and revoke their drivers' licences?" I suggested, and Fury rolled his eyes.
"No."
"Ugh, fine! Slap an attempted homicide onto her," I pointed at Ashley there, "criminal record, and some accomplice shit onto theirs. That's law-enforcement enough for you, right?" I said, and Fury glared at me. "Okay, I don't know what you should do, and quite frankly, I don't care what you do- as long as they don't end up dead!"
"But they tried to kill you!" Clint protested, and I gave him a death-glare, effectively shutting him up.
"I know that, but that doesn't mean I want them dead."
"Is this good?" Fury asked me, showing me the cell that my attempted killers were in. They were currently arguing, as apparently they might be great friends, but they didn't make good cellmates for each other.
"Great. Keep 'em here for a couple more days, then dump them back in Illinois." I replied, laughing as Alexa poked Ashley in the nose, causing the latter to scream in rage and pain.
"I should inform you that Thor has returned with Loki. Apparently, as Loki tried to take over Earth, not Asgard, we get to choose what happens to him." Fury told me as we walked to the high-security detention center, where Loki sat in the newly-installed replacement cell, since he had dropped Thor in the first one.
"Good day," Loki greeted me politely, and I gave him an odd look.
"Hello."
