"Agent Romanoff, please lower your weapon." Fury groaned, looking at Natasha like she was a slightly annoying mosquito. Natasha clicked her 9 mm and her eye narrowed.

"Not until you tell me where we're going."

"We're going to get Agent Barton and Stark. Satisfied?" He muttered. Natasha slowly lowered and holstered her weapon.

"No." She put her hands on her hips and Fury raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's injured, but we'll be there within the hour. They're in Brazil and we were already flying over Mexico, so we should be able to treat him in time."

Natasha didn't say anything.

"Now are you satisfied?"

"Yes." Romanoff turned on her heals and stormed out of the room. She stepped into the elevator and turned back to him. "I want to be on the recovery team." she said sharply as the door closed. She wasn't asking.

Fury let out a long sigh and waved over an officer as he passed by, scribbling on a clipboard.

"You there, Anderson."

"Yes sir?" The man asked, standing at attention.

"Get me a freaking aspirin."

Kyla returned to Tony and Clint and sat back in her place on the ground. Tony threw her a questioning look but didn't ask where she had gone…or why she had come back. Clint was awake again and she smiled at him. He didn't smile back. He coughed hoarsely and she winced as blood continued to seep through the bandages. She held one hand to the knife wound on his side and with the other gently gripped his hand. Tony raised an eyebrow at her.

"Shut up." She said before he could comment. Stark shrugged and leaned against the wall beside Clint. He looked back at the pair of them and was about to say something along the lines of "well this sucks" but at that moment his phone rang from inside his pocket. Kyla watched him as he pulled the device out and examined the screen. He put it to his ear and gave Kyla a thumbs up.

"Hey Fury. What's shakin'?"

"Stark, where are you? I've got a medical team and Natasha down there looking for you."

"Really? That was quick."

"Stark, where are you?"

"Uh…" He looked around, searching for a landmark. "Okay, ask them if they can see a building with a sign that says "Restaurante" in blue block letters." There was a pause before Fury's voice returned.

"Yes, they're on that street."

"Okay, tell them to keep going south until they get to the dumpster with "Free the Doves" written on it."

"Alright..."

"Tell them to figure the rest out for themselves." Stark said. He hung up. "Hello Natasha." He said with a grin as a red haired head peered around a corner. Natasha frowned, examined the alley, and ran to Barton's side. She didn't even appear to notice Kyla's presence, or the fact that she was holding Clint's hand.

"Jesus, what did you do?" She had turned on Tony with anger and he put up his hands and backed away down the alley. Four men in SHIELD uniforms tore around the corner and entered at the alley. They stood at a distance, obviously waiting for orders. Kyla looked at them distrustfully and scooted a little closer to Barton.

"I didn't do anything!" Tony said defensively. "I found him like this! Even ask her!" He added, pointing at Kyla. For the first time Natasha and Kyla's gaze met. Natasha's eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" She asked. Kyla saw two hip holsters and several knives strapped to her belt.

"Kyla." She said, refusing to be intimidated. Stark groaned.

"Dear God, there's two of them."

Kyla and Natasha both looked at him in confusion for an instant before they understood. Kyla suddenly remembered Clint mentioning a "friend" of his that Kyla had reminded him of.

Evidently Natasha was too concerned with Barton to fight it out with Kyla or Tony at this point and waved over the medics. The four men descended on Barton with such speed that Kyla was thrown out of the way as they rushed to unpack their medical supplies. She immediately struggled to get back to him but Tony grabbed her arm. She looked back at him helplessly and he shook his head slowly.

"You'll just get in the way. Let these guys do their job, they're good. Trust me."

Kyla wanted to argue, but couldn't seem to find the words. She found herself unable to watch the doctors working on Barton and instead wandered a little further down the alley and sat on the ground in the shade of a dumpster. She took out her knife and sharpened the blade on a chunk of sandstone she kept in her pocket, listlessly moving the knife back and forth over the rough surface. When she was sure the blade could cut through a tree trunk she put it away and started to draw in the dirt with her finger. She drew complicated swirls and patterns, but still couldn't take her mind off of the situation…or the pained breathing of Clint across the alley. Couldn't they give him something for the pain? Had they? Kyla kept herself from crying only by drawing the outline of a person on the ground and putting x's over all of the major pressure points.

She heard footsteps and someone sat down beside her. She didn't look up. She thought that looking at anyone right now would probably make her cry, and while she had let her earlier tears slide she couldn't show weakness in front of Tony or Romanoff.

"The doc says he should be fine. You did a good job slowing the bleeding." Said Tony. He put an arm around her shoulders and this time she didn't push him away.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She asked, more to herself than to Tony. There was a pause.

"Acho que você deveria se tornar um Vingador. Poderíamos usá-lo." ("I think you should become an Avenger. We could use you.")

Kyla nearly laughed in surprise. She looked up at Stark and met his smug gaze.

"Você fala Português?" ("You speak Portuguese?")

"A bit." He chuckled at her shocked expression, almost forgetting the gravity of their situation. He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder and stood up, dusting himself off. He held out a hand to her. "Come on. They're going to take us to the Helicarrier." He helped Kyla to her feet and together they walked to where the medics were carefully lifting Clint onto a stretcher. Natasha was "overseeing" their actions, as she put it. Tony described it as "guarding"…but not to her face.

"Hey Stark?" Kyla said. Tony looked over at her.

"What?"

"How are we going to get there?"

Tony shrugged. "The usual way you get into a giant flying aircraft carrier I'd expect."

"Which is…?"

The pair of them walked past the group of doctors and turned out of the alley and into the street. Parked right in the middle of the street was an official looking black helicopter, its tail inscribed with the image of an eagle circled by a ring and the words "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistic Division."

"That's innocent sounding…" Kyla muttered under her breath as she and Stark made their way down the street.

"Yeah, I know. They prefer to be called…" Started Tony, but another voice finished for him.

"SHIELD."

They had reached the helicopter and stopped as someone stepped out. He was a tall man and was dressed in a long black trench coat. He was dark skinned and had a black eye patch over one eye. The man stepped over to the pair of them. He gave Stark a quick nod and offered a hand to Kyla. She took it and gave it a strong-handed shake, the same one she gave to the people who hired her. This man looked in charge.

"Kyla Amano, I presume?" He asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, and you are…?" She said with a small smile.

"Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD."

Yep, he was definitely in charge, and if she was going to be working with SHIELD Kyla was pretty sure that made him her boss.

"Pleasure to meet you Sir." She said as respectfully as she could.

"The pleasure is mine." He returned. He looked past her and she followed his gaze. Coming down the street toward them were the four medics, each holding a corner of the stretcher Clint lay on, and Natasha running along beside them.

"How's he looking Greg?" Fury asked one of the medics as they passed and entered the helicopter.

"Not good, but he'll make it Sir, no doubt about that." Said the man. He disappeared into the helicopter with the stretcher and Kyla watched them, wishing that she could run in after them but knowing that she had to look tougher than she actually was in front of her new boss.

"I want to thank you, Kyla Amano. From what I've gathered you saved our archer's backside more than once these last few days." Fury said to her. She smiled and gave a quick shake of her head.

"I'm just looking for a way out of here Sir. I did what anyone else would have done." She said, trying her best to deny any emotion driving her actions. Even with one eye, she could tell Fury saw straight through her.

"Right, 'cus anyone else would have spent three days giving all of their food and water to a dying man they didn't know."

How the hell did he know that?

Kyla shrugged and shook her head innocently. Fury gave her a lingering look before turning and walking toward the chopper. Kyla and Tony exchanged glances and followed.

Kyla had never been in a helicopter before. She had been offered a ride in one once, but had politely refused with the knowledge that the man offering her the ride would likely push her out the door once they were at altitude.

This chopper was a military one. There were places on the walls for medical kits and weapons to be stored as well as two rows of seats running along each of the walls, facing each other across the small aisle between them. Kyla was directed to a seat at the far end of the chopper across from Fury. Tony took the seat closest to the door and Natasha crouched on the floor amongst the doctors as they continued to tend to Clint.

Kyla watched the doctors as they wrapped Clint's stomach and chest in gauze, adding white strips over the black ones that had once been her sweatshirt. They knew better than to remove any of the bandages, even after they bled through. Clint looked semi-conscious, and now that they were in the chopper the doctors were hooking up an oxygen mask to an air tank fixed to the floor. Natasha was holding his hand and none of the doctors were brave enough to send her away.

"Kak vy sebya chuvstvuete?" She asked him in a language Kyla didn't understand. Clint's eyes opened a sliver and he gave a small laugh.

"Kak avtokatastrofe." He answered, also in the strange language. It didn't sound anything like Portuguese. Kyla wanted to ask someone what they were saying, but Tony, Fury, and the doctors looked equally baffled.

A man with a pilot's helmet looked over his shoulder from the cockpit and yelled to Fury.

"Are we takin' off sir?"

Fury gave the doctors a quick nod before giving the signal to take off. The pilot turned around in his seat and started to fidget with the controls. Immediately the chopper's rotors began to turn and dust on the road outside was flung into the air. Tony slammed the door closed and cold air came out of an overhead ac unit. Kyla was made uncomfortably cold by this and she didn't much care for the small space she found herself in. Even so, she felt a sudden thrill as the chopper left the ground. It swayed slightly, making her heart leap. Fury looked over at her across the aisle.

"You alright Ms. Amano?"

"Yeah, I've just never flown before." She said hurriedly, trying not to look like a kid with a new toy. Fury nodded with a smile.

"Got it. I hear you're in need of a job?"

Kyla was aware of a number of eyes watching her at that moment. Tony and Natasha were both watching out of the corners of their eyes and the doctors had lowered their medical-chatter to a whisper. Was being an Avenger really that big a deal?

"Um, yes. Sort of. I understand that you were already going to ask, you were simply…set back."

Fury examined her face and she tried to keep all emotion aside. She didn't like thinking about that part of her life and would avoid it as long as she could. It was likely enough that Fury already knew all about what had happened between her and Coulson, but did he know what had happened to her after? Did he even know that she had saved the agent's life?

"That's very true, Kyla Amano. It was our mistake to have caught you at such an inconvenient time."

There was a rattling cough from Barton and the doctors readjusted the mask over his mouth and nose, but his hand reached up and pulled it away. They tried to hold his hand back, but he started talking, cutting them off.

"Fury…Kyla's g-good. We…need h-her…" His head sank back to the stretcher and the doctors went back to work. Fury and Kyla looked back at each other and Kyla shrugged with an innocent smile.

"Well, as long as we were going to hire you anyway…" Fury said quietly. Kyla's smile went up a couple notches. Suddenly Fury's expression darkened and she knew something serious was about to be said. Fury frowned intently at her before he spoke. "Do you realize that to be an Avenger you will have to work with a team of individuals with equal or superior skillsets to your own?"

"Yes Sir, I do." She said calmly, but Fury wasn't done.

"…as well as risk your life for people that you do not know and may not support you and what you do?"

"I do Sir."

"You know that you may suffer serious injury of both your physical and mental state?"

Kyla cast Clint a glance. "Yes Sir."

"You understand that people you know may be in danger because of what you do…?"

"I have no surviving family or friends Sir."

"…and that you cannot back out. The fate of the planet we live on may rest on your shoulders at some point in the near or distant future?"

Kyla locked eyes with Fury. She didn't answer immediately. The planet. The whole planet.

"I understand fully and completely, Director Fury." She said evenly. There was a long silence. The helicopter rocked and the blades made a loud swooshing sound through the roof above them. Fury put out a hand.

"Then welcome to the Avengers Initiative Kyla Amano."

They shook hands and out of the corner of her eye Kyla could see Tony and Natasha exchange looks that she couldn't read. Were they upset or indifferent to her becoming an Avenger?

"Oh, and before I forget…" Fury said suddenly. "Do you have a codename that you would like us to use?"

"What, like 'Hawkeye'?" She asked.

"Taken…" Groaned Clint from the floor. She frowned at him despite herself and shook her head at Fury.

"No, not right now. I'll think about it though."

"Thank you. We try not to use real names on missions."

Kyla looked over at the rest of the occupants of the helicopter. Natasha was watching her with distrust…at least that's what Kyla could make of her expression. Without warning she stuck out a hand.

"Natasha Romanoff. You can call me Black Widow."

Kyla gave a lopsided smile and shook her hand. It was cold as ice.

"Kyla Amano. I don't have a fancy nickname."

"How a-about…D-Dart?" Suggested Clint. Kyla actually laughed at that.

"What? No…that's corny."

"Why not? I like it." Commented Tony. Natasha shrugged.

"Descriptive but vague. I like it too."

Kyla shook her head reluctantly. "Fine, I'm 'Dart' now."

Fury nodded and smiled.

"I like that."