Tremors knocked on Tasha's door fiercely, as if she was trying to bruise the wood. In the other hand, she held a hairbrush.
"Can you help me?" she asked as soon as Natasha opened the door.
"Come in, myshka," Tasha says, letting Tremors in.
"Thanks." Tremors takes a small, odd-shaped packet out of her pocket. "Hair gel. It's a dye," she explains.
Natasha reads the instructions carefully, letting Tremors sit down in one of her kitchen chairs. "So that's how you do it," Tasha mutters. "It's not real dye."
"It is, sometimes," Tremors says. "These are just cheaper."
Natasha shakes her head, starting to apply the gel to the purple-colored sections of Tremors's hair. "This can't be good for your hair. And you have such nice hair." Natasha sighs.
"Yours is really nice though. It's different."
That just makes it easier to see me, Natasha thinks. "So many compliments, myshka. First you let me fix your hair, then you say you like mine. Next you're going to tell me your name."
"Skye," Tremors—Skye—says out of the blue.
"Skye. That's a beautiful name. For a beautiful girl." She pauses. "Okay, I'm done."
Tremors shakes her head. "Jemma's the pretty one. Everyone says so. Anyway, thanks, Tasha. We should get going. Remember, we're not giving up our clues, even if everyone else does."
Natasha sighs sadly and touches the place where her arrow necklace should be. Oh, Clint. I bet you would know how to help her.
Then she shakes her head and locks the door behind them.
The bakery smelt nice in the morning. Bruce had forgotten that smell. It was really good. Even though he was still in the bakery, Banner already missed the sent.
Bruce was by far the most relaxed of the heirs. Everyone else was wound up tight, clutching scraps of paper in their pockets or recalling the spellings of words in their heads.
Only Fury, Wanda, and Fitz where absent (although Cal maintained that he was only there to get coffee).
While the heirs where busy assembling themselves, Lance and Bobbi handed out coffee, tea, and breakfast pastries. Only Mack, who was angrily boycotting the bakery's goods and had come only for the potential clues, refused to buy anything.
The storm had returned to do yet more damage, it seemed. Raina and Cal were worrying about getting back into town when the meeting was over, because what they could see of the roads already looked flooded.
When the pastries were eaten and their drinks where growing cold, the heirs looked at each other, wondering who would be the first to speak.
Lincoln took this as his moment, and stood up carefully. "Thanks for coming, everyone. When we finish the meeting, everyone can stay for a tic-tac-toe tournament. Anyway, Trip and I called this meeting because— well, our clues make literally no sense."
No one breathed for a second.
"So, um, we thought, maybe they were part of a bigger message. So, you know, the more clues we put together, the better chances we have. And the fortune would be split evenly among those who choose to pool their clues." Linc adds the last part to make sure no one gets any ideas about the money. Jiaying and Mack were looking a bit too interested in his opinion.
Darcy clears her throat. Loudly.
"Darcy?" Linc asks out of courtesy.
"Yeah?"
There's a silence. "Well, where you going to—"
"Give you my recording? Possibly. I'll have to think about it." The former paid intern now upcoming movie star says with a smirk.
A lot can be said about Phil Coulson. One could say that he wears an identical suit every day. They would be correct. One could also say that he had a distinctively 'accountant' vibe. They would also be correct. And if one where to say that he knew when to draw his hand, they would be spot on.
"How would you accomplish that without this?" he snarks, holding up Darcy's baby.
Three seconds is all it takes. "You STOLE my IPOD! Prepare to DIEEE!" Darcy shrieks, throwing herself at the man.
Mack is the first one to react. He smiles a little at first, amused. Then he gets up and starts to pry the woman off of the doorman, because she was actually pretty strong for a sick person. "Whoa, careful now," he says when Darcy tries to turn on him. "Take a minute. Calm down."
"Yeah, I think one murder is enough," Tremors laughs. Natasha elbows her lightly, trying not to laugh herself. "What? We're all thinking it."
Darcy glares at them all, cradling her iPod like it was…
"Sweet Baby Jesus!" Coulson curses. Well, comes close to cursing. Kind of.
"Your nose is bleeding," Jemma mutters, getting a tissue out of her bag and hurrying over to him. Coulson tries to tilt his head back but Jemma stops him. "Forward's better," she informs him. "Your nose looks like it's okay, did she punch it?"
Coulson shakes his head.
"Probably not broken then. If it starts to swell up or you have trouble breathing, go see a doctor."
Coulson nods and Jemma returns to her seat, happy that her patient received proper care and good advice.
"Can we deal with the matter at hand?" Linc asks, quieting the whispers of conversation that had broken out. "Did Mr. Coulson listen to the recording of the will?" he asks intensely.
"No," Darcy and Coulson say at the same time.
Coulson checks his nose has stopped bleeding then explains. "It's got a password. An actual letters and numbers password."
Darcy nods proudly. "And if you enter the wrong one ten times in a row it wipes clean."
Coulson nods. "I only tried once. And I would also like to say that I didn't mean to take it; you left your phone at the Waters House."
Darcy, blushing a bit, sits down.
"Okay," Linc nods, happy that no one was going to attempt another murder in the next few minutes—although you never really knew with Darcy. "So can we use your copy of the will if we give you a… five percent higher share of the inheritance?"
Darcy nods quickly. It was better than she had expected.
"Great. So will anyone pool their clues?"
Everyone looks at everyone else. No one says anything.
Eventually, Linc sighs. "Okay, then. How about this: we all have questions, right?"
Some of the heirs nod. Some of them do nothing.
"So how about we write them down—anonymously—and we make a deal to answer them all truthfully."
Everyone nods.
"Great."
Pieces of paper are passed around, as well as pencils.
Linc is the one to read them, as he has been made unofficially in charge. "Has anyone here recorded a song?" That was his question, pertaining to One Hit Wonders.
No one answers.
"What's Tremors's name?" Trip was planning another text.
"Skye," says Tasha definitively.
"Daisy," Jiaying says at the same time. She turns to Natasha. "I'm her mother, I would know."
Trip changes his mind. 'Daisy' and 'Skye' where too pretty for the kind of sign he was planning.
"Has anyone here actually met Steve Waters?"
Jiaying half-raises a hand, while Mack raises his and keeps it there. Raina doesn't respond, as it is her own question.
"Who hurt their arm last month?"
Bruce's question does not get answered, because that is when Lance screams.
A/N: Hope you like! Am I the only one who imagines Darcy getting even with Coulson for stealing her iPod?