Flasback/Dreams

'Thoughts'

"Speaking over the phone"

"Speaking"

Chapter 24: Shot To Pieces

Though Joey wanted to jerk his hand away as the fireball went out midair, he couldn't move it as he was no longer in full control of his body anymore, and he felt himself glance up at the person who stopped him. "Why are you stopping me, he deserves everything he gets for making us suffer all those years!" he heard himself shout and Joey was sure that 'we' meant Joey and this other part of him.

"He does, but you shouldn't be the one giving it." Loki replied as his eyes flashed and Joey started to feel the haze recede.

"What?" he asked and blinked, only to blink again when he found himself back in his room in the Avenger's Mansion. "Uh, how did I…" he trailed off and shook his head, as he was sure that if he tried to understand what had just happened he'd end up with barf staining the carpet.

The blond looked over at the corner as he heard a sudden bark and barely had time to catch Cheshire in his arms before the dog jumped into them and started licking his face. "Hey, what did I saw the first time?"

The dog flattened his ears against his head and Joey relented. "I'm glad to be back too-even if it is to this place." He muttered looking scornfully around at the room. He paused and noticed something was off. "Wait, why isn't JARVIS speaking?" he was sure the AI would have made some type of noise at his sudden appearance before closing his eyes and wondered how much control he had.

Nothing happened, so he must not have been at the 'things will happen if I concentrate hard enough' stage of his technopathy yet. He once again tried to connect with Clint's mind, but that was still being blocked. He did though wonder where Clint was and the answer he received was 'in the hangar' and so he set Cheshire down and after telling the dog to stay put, went to the hangar.

The blond furrowed his brow at the sounds he started hearing coming from the hangar he looked inside and flinched back from the arrow pointed in his face, freezing as Clint froze in place as well. "What?"

Clint glanced up suddenly and dropped his bow as he pushed Joey out of the hangar, a large charge of yellow energy shooting down from the ceiling and hitting Clint, right in the spot where Joey had been minutes before.

"Clint!" Joey yelled and for a horrible moment he thought he was dead before his eyes picked up the slight movements in his limbs. Joey looked up as a redheaded woman landed on the floor gracefully behind Clint. "You? Why would you attack him! I thought he was your friend!" he shouted.

Joey realized that it wasn't Clint Natasha had been aiming for as she trained one of her stingers on his chest. "I missed." She said coldly and fired.

Joey ducked as his eyes widened in surprise, the stinger hitting the wall behind him and Natasha's gauntlets suddenly started to spark, the lights overhead flaring widely in accordance to his mood. He saw the woman kick her leg out and slammed him in the chest and the force of the kick knocked him down, groaning in painful realization that while Natasha used weapons, she was just as deadly without them as well.

The blond rolled on his side and saw Natasha move back into the hangar and to the computer. 'What is she doing?' he didn't mean for it to be a question to answer so much as just a thought, but he got one anyway. 'She'd sending the Avengers identities to the press.' 'WHAT?' he thought loudly and the lights in the hall and hangar all shattered, raining the glass shards around him and Clint.

With the main source of light gone, the computer served as the only light and Joey saw Natasha look over at him, a small smirk crossing her face. "Try as you might, you've failed to stop me."

Joey blinked as she must have thought that him making the lights explode was him trying to destroy the computer so she couldn't send the email. And from what she said it was already gone. "You're gonna ruin their lives for what?" he spat and while he didn't particularly like any of the Avengers, other than Clint, this really shouldn't be happening.

"It's nothing personal, just all part of the plan." The woman replied and started to walk back over. "Though I can't very well leave either of you alive now, can I?" she had glanced down at Clint with a strange sort of regret and Joey suddenly knew.

He'd been only half wrong about Clint and Natasha liking each other.

"How's it going to feel knowing that never once did Clint ever give you what you wanted?" The blond questioned and the woman paused.

Her features tightened. "He couldn't because you were in the way, just like they were." She hissed and Joey felt his chest constrict when he silently questioned about who 'they' were. "And just like them, you have to go too."

Joey felt a different sort of constriction in his chest. This woman had just admitted that she was the reason Clint didn't have his family anymore. Anger clouded his vision and despite the pain, adrenaline began pumping in his veins as he sprung up, ignoring the pain and lunged at the woman. "You murderer!" he snarled and the only reason he was able to get a hit was because Natasha seemed surprised to see him get up.

Joey felt a punch hit him in the gut and he dropped to his knees and Natasha smashed one of her knees into his face, and he heard a crack as he landed on his back. Joey felt the tangy taste of his blood seep into his mouth from his nose and knew that it was broken. He spit the blood out and rolled onto his side, only to get kicked in the ribs again and heard more cracking and felt blood seep out of the corner of his mouth, letting him know that he once again had some internal bleeding.

The blond wanted to curl up, but another part of him told him to suck it up and if he beat Sofen, then he could beat this bitch too! Joey opened one eye as he felt his hand curl around something and he saw that it was Clint's discarded bow.

Joey felt a smirk form on his lips and he held the bow in one hand and grabbed the arrow in the other. He honestly didn't care what this trick arrow would do, so long as it did something. The teen felt his ribs ache painfully, but he didn't falter as he rolled over onto his back, the bow notched, and fired.

The arrow hit Natasha right in the chest, and as she reached for it, the arrow let out a burst of electricity and she collapsed to the floor.

Joey let his hands rest on the floor as the adrenaline wore off and he really started to feel the full effects of his injuries. His breathing felt shallower and it was like he was breathing through a straw. His eyes slowly started closing, and he thought he deserved a few minutes to rest.

Just a few…minutes…then he'd be…alright….

Joey's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lost consciousness.

"Hey, have any of you gone to see Joey?"

Yugi looked up at the redheaded girl and shook his head. "Sorry, but we haven't, why?"

Andrea wrinkled her hands together. "Because I went to see him again and he wasn't there."

"You went to see him before? When did you have the time, during lunch?" Tristan questioned, though he'd meant it as a joke, Andrea nodded.

"Well, that's not creepy in the least." Téa muttered, but Andrea still picked it up.

"It's not creepy!" she shouted and her skin started to take on a distinctly reddish tone before she settled back down. "At least I went to see him! And you call yourselves his friends?"

Yugi flinched at her tone. "It's not like we don't care, but…Joey just doesn't seem to be the same person when he's in the hospital."

"Of course he wouldn't be the same!" Andrea snapped as her suddenly vicious outburst a stark contrast to her normally quiet and shy demeanour. It was actually quite scary. "He's in a hospital, do you really think he'd be right as rain?"

"Calm down, Andrea." Yugi said calmly. "Of course no one thinks that."

Andrea glared at him, a reddish tint appearing in her eyes before she stormed off, her face twisting up as she gradually started to feel even angrier. Why couldn't they see that something was wrong? Andrea had felt a connection with Joey and despite the unnerved expression he'd given her, she was sure he felt the same.

He just didn't want to show it because of the other girl in the room with him.

Yes! That must be it, Joey was simply too nervous to admit his feelings! Andrea glanced over at Alexis, who was laughing with Jasmine and Mindy, and thought about the how she could be a problem, Téa too as Joey hung around her.

She'd finally found someone she could touch without burning, and she wasn't going to let some competition get in her way.

Andrea looked down at her hand as it started to take on an angry red glow, like embers on a fire, before clenching her fist. The change was rapidly speeding up and she wouldn't have much time before she was permanently a giant red glow, so she had to act very soon.

Once Alexis and Téa were gone, no one would be in her way.