Hey ya'll! Here's chapter 25! Alright, we've got the return of HAMMER and HYDRA, as well as some stuff at Minnie's family's house. I hope you enjoy it! On a personal note, I went to a cupcake class and I learned how to make pretty roses today! Yaay! My first ones sucked pretty badly, but we had a few free minutes at the end of the class and I finally got it! I was so happy. I also learned how to make edible paint. It was a great class. I hope all of you watched the Mars Rover Curiosity land, it was so awesome! I'm thrilled. And if you don't know anything about the project, look it up, it's so cool.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize except for my characters. Marvel characters belong to Marvel.
Annnyways, here's the chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it.
"This is what it was like for you growing up huh?" she asked and I nodded.
"This is it." I said as I looked at the crowd of people.
"What are they doing over there?" she asked nodding to where the older kids had set up the barrel racing.
"They're barrel racing." I said and she looked at me curiously. "You've never heard of barrel racing? All those jobs you've done and none of them were ever near a rodeo?" I asked and she frowned lightly. "Well, you are standing with one of the FMBRA's record holders." I said. "Stands for Female Malibu Barrel Racer Association." I explained. "Come on." I nodded to the arena and we walked over there, where Sonny was trying to explain something to one of his girls.
"Ginny, you want to come in a little tighter, the point of it is to do the run in as little time as possible."
"It's stupid!" she protested. "No one can do it in that amount of time!"
"Ginny I've done it in less time." I said and she scowled at me.
"That's right." Sonny called and looked at me with an exasperated sigh.
"What horse is she riding?" I asked as I looked at the brown Arab horse.
"That's Isis." he replied. "I bought her about ten months ago. You want a go?"
"Uh, no." I shook my head with a laugh.
"Go for it!" he said elbowing me slightly.
"I haven't been on a horse in years." I laughed and he gestured Ginny over.
"Ginny, off the horse. My little sister is going to show you guys how it's done."
"I'm not getting on the horse." I said as I crossed my arms.
"I'm actually a little curious now." Natasha admitted and I rolled my eyes with a smile.
"Oh fine, I'll get on the horse." I sighed and Ginny got down. I took the reins and held onto the hammer before mounting the horse. "What is she fifteen hands?" I asked Sonny.
"Fifteen one." he said and I nodded as I kicked her sides, getting used to her for a moment.
"Where's the starting line?" I asked. He pointed to it and I walked Isis over to it. "Okay Isis," I said as I leaned down and lightly patted her neck. "Let's show these guys what we're made of." I knew Isis knew the track better than Ginny was giving her credit for, and as I leaned forward in the saddle I could remember the first time I did that, the first time I rode the way I would at a rodeo, Isis flew through the track, my jean clad leg lightly brushing the three barrels as we flew by, before turning and running back to the starting line.
"Time!" Sonny shouted as we ran past it. "See that! That is how it's done!" he laughed. "Woo!" he clapped and I shook my head with a small laugh as Isis stopped and stood still while I dismounted.
"My knee hurts." I said simply and he slapped me on the back.
"That was impressive." Natasha said and I rolled my eyes.
"I only did it to get Sonny off my back." I said with a small shrug. "You want to try?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Oh no." she said as she eyed Isis.
"Hey if I could get Isis to do that the first time I rode her, I think she's a good horse." I said and Natasha sighed before she smiled gently. "That's what I thought." I said as I walked over to the horse. Ginny had run off and her sister was dismounting Washington, her Camarillo White horse and I walked over to him and took his reins from her. He tugged away from me and I grabbed him again quickly before leading him over to Isis.
Sonny was explaining to Natasha how to get on the horse, and then bent down, interlacing his fingers so she could step into his hand, and use the momentum to throw her other leg over the horse. She settled on the horse and Sonny told her where to put her feet as she clung to the reins with one hand and the horn with the other.
"Lookin good Nat!" I heard Tony call and I looked over and grinned seeing him, Clint Pepper and Bruce standing there.
"That was a nice run Minnie." Clint said and I laughed lightly.
"Thanks Clint." I smiled at him. I mounted the white horse and cracked my neck. The horse stepped to the side slightly, he seemed a bit shifty.
"He got spooked a few hours ago, and he's kind of sensitive." Sonny was saying to me and I nodded. "He'll get over it once you really ride him, the girls are always afraid of the horses, which they pick up on."
"It's like they aren't even related to you at all." I sighed and he rolled his eyes. "Okay Nat, when you want the horse to move forward, give her a kick, like this." I said before kicking Washington softly. He snorted and started to walk forward, a moment later Natasha and Isis were right next to me. "To turn to the right, pull the reigns to the right. Left, pull left." I said as I showed her. "And to stop, pull back." I said and she nodded. After a few minutes of riding I could see her getting more and more comfortable.
"This isn't that bad." she said and I nodded.
"Nah, we'll make a cowgirl out of you yet." I said and she grinned. "You want to have some fun?" I asked and she looked at me curiously. "We used to do this when I was a kid. There's an oak tree out there a ways." I said as I pointed to it. She nodded and I leaned forward slightly, gripping the horn of the saddle in my right hand, she did the same and I looked at her. "Give her a kick; she'll understand what you want when she sees us go." I explained. "Hold on, don't panic, and whatever you do, don't scream." I said before kicking Washington.
He started walking and I gave him another kick, making him move into a jog. I smiled feeling the wind rushing through my hair, I looked back at Natasha who looked startled at first, but was grinning the biggest grin I had ever seen her grin. I looked back at where we were going, before Washington suddenly turned, cutting off Isis and running back to the house.
I tried to correct him, but he had it in his mind to go home, he was running at a gallop now, I tried to get him to stop, pulling back tightly on the reins, he jumped over a tree stump, and landed it easily before he started to buck. I tried to hold on, but when a horse wants you off his back, he wants you off. And off I went. I hit the ground on my right side, my shoulder and ribs taking most of the impact, Washington must have clipped me with his hoof before he went running back to the house; I could see someone stop him before my vision went hazy.
When I opened my eyes Natasha was kneeling in front of me, lightly slapping the side of my face. Isis was standing there obediently waiting next to the tree stump. I tried to move my arm, and hissed in pain. "You dislocated your shoulder." she informed me. "Can you hear okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can hear fine." I groaned. The sound of thundering hoof beats approaching caught me off guard, but I smiled when I saw Bruce, Clint, Tony and Pepper tearing through the pasture behind Sonny who was riding his horse, Archie. He dismounted quickly and knelt down in front of me.
"That doesn't look good." Sonny muttered as he moved my shirt away to the side. "Can you breathe?"
"Everything but my shoulder is fine, what happened?" I asked and allowed Sonny to pull me up by my left arm.
"Washington flipped. You yanked a little hard on the reins too." he shrugged and I nodded as I held my head.
"Did I black out for a second?" I asked and Natasha nodded.
"Just a second." she said and I sighed as I shook my head.
"Christ." I muttered. "Nat, go tell them not to come out here." I said shaking my head. She nodded and got back onto Isis and jogged the horse over to them, she told them to walk back to the party, and Sonny was removing his leather belt, and handed it to me. I nodded and held onto it before I lay down on the ground. A moment later Bruce was over next to us, he knelt down and I looked at him.
"Thought Nat told you to leave it." I said and he shook his head with a small smile.
"It's going to take a lot more to get me to go." he said as he started to unbutton my shirt.
"Dislocated shoulder Bruce." Sonny said as he moved my semi unbuttoned shirt to the side.
"Yeah I see that." he muttered as he put his glasses on. "This ever happen before?" he asked me and I nodded. "So you know what we have to do to fix it?"
"I'm prepared." I said as I held the leather belt up. Sonny moved over to my side, letting Bruce take control of the situation while he held my hand for support.
"Okay, I'm going to start, you ready?" he asked and I nodded as I put the side of the belt into my mouth and bit down. He straightened my arm making me wince in pain, but bite down on the belt.
"Careful not to bite a hole in my belt like last time huh?" Sonny asked and I snorted, making the shooting pain run up my shoulder again.
"Don't make me laugh you asshole." I said, though it came out really muffled because of the belt in my mouth.
"What?" Sonny scoffed as Bruce bent my arm at the elbow into a 90 degree angle.
"She said don't make her laugh."
"Is that all she said?"
"No, she called you an asshole too." Bruce said simply as he turned my arm so my forearm was lying along my stomach. I smirked as Sonny narrowed his eyes at me, and then reached out to poke my shoulder. I punched him with my left hand and he laughed as Bruce stared at the both of us. "At least wait until I set her shoulder." Bruce said and Sonny smiled at him. "This isn't going to feel great." Bruce warned me, before he took my arm and tilted it out, still at the angle.
I whimpered, feeling my shoulder start to slide back into its socket. Tears welled up in my eyes and he offered me a sympathetic smile before he took the belt from my mouth and leaned down, and kissed me gently. I smiled at him, and hissed in pain as I put the belt back into my mouth, he moved my arm so my forearm was laying across my stomach again, before he carefully moved it back out, my shoulder sliding in a bit further. Tears fell from the corners of my eyes and he looked pained, doing this.
"You know while you were gone, anytime we couldn't find something we'd always say "I guess it's with Auntie Sammy now"." Sonny said trying to distract me. I rolled my eyes, and let out a groan as my shoulder finished popping into place.
"Fuck fuck fuck-" Sonny pushed the belt back into my mouth and I glared at him.
"If I take the belt out will you stop swearing?" he asked and I nodded.
"Ass." I said as I hit him. He made a face as Bruce helped me up.
"She's alright guys!" Sonny shouted as he stood up. The tall grass had prohibited anyone from seeing what was happening.
"Okay, I need you to rotate your shoulder." Bruce said and I did, he nodded as he watched and then felt my shoulder. "How does it feel?" he asked and I nodded.
"Much better." I said as I smiled at him. He nodded and Sonny got back onto Archie.
"Find your own ride suckas." he said before he turned and rode away. I rolled my eyes before Bruce pulled me into a tight hug.
"You scared the crap out of me." he said softly in my ear. I hugged him back, running my fingers through his hair.
"Well, once again, you saved me." I said and turned my face so I could lightly kiss his neck. I could feel him smile lightly, before I stood up. "Careful baby, there's a dip there." I said as we walked back to the party.
"I want you to refrain from using your arm as much as possible." Bruce was telling me as we walked.
"I'm okay!" I threw my arms into the air (Mostly just to annoy him) and was met with a sharp pain in my shoulder. "Ah." I held it and he rolled his eyes.
"Leave it Bruce, she never learns." I heard dad say.
"And what, oh wise deity was the lesson I missed on that little lesson?" I asked sarcastically.
"Sometime your husband knows what he's talking about." Bruce said from behind me, making me smile, turn around and gently kiss him.
"Does that happen?" I asked and he smiled.
"Sometimes." he said with a small chuckle.
"Thank you." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him.
"For what?" he asked.
"Saving me… And not letting the other guy take control of the situation." I added before I kissed his cheek.
"He knew you were in good hands." He said and I smiled.
Hours later it was dark, and there was a bonfire lit. Some people were playing guitar, some people were helping mom clean up, until she finished and came to veg around the fire.
"So Sam, how long are you back for?" Chaz asked and I sighed as I lowered the beer bottle I had been holding to my lips.
"A few days. Technically we're wanted." I said softly and they stared at us, stunned.
"What for Sammy?" my mom finally asked.
"It's my fault Mrs. Strong." Tony said suddenly and everyone looked at him. "I worked on a program designed to help those who opposed the registration act, in doing so, I discovered the locations of every mutant in America. They want that information from me." he said and Tabby frowned.
"So what's that got to do with Sam?"
"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us." Natasha said with a frown.
"No, I agree with Tabby. Minnie doesn't have anything to do with this." Bruce said and Clint scoffed lightly.
"Man you don't get it do you, there is no way you could make that girl leave you side, short of shipping her off to a different planet."
"Asgard would give her sanctuary." Thor spoke up and I rolled my eyes.
"Don't give him any ideas Thor." I said and he looked at me.
"I have often thought of moving Jane and Darcy there. Keeping them away from this nonsense." he said and I frowned lightly.
"What happened to them?" I asked and he looked up to the sky.
"They are in Iceland." he said, his gaze settled on where I believed his world might be. "When I was summoned, they were relocated under the Son of Coul's authority." he said and I nodded as I rested back into Bruce's embrace.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand any of this." Sonny said with a small laugh.
"No surprise there." Tony muttered and Pepper hit his shoulder.
"Be nice." she said.
"Sonny, it's time you learn, there is so much more going on in this world then what you get to see." MeeMaw said simply as she sipped her beer.
"Where are you guys going next?" Abby asked and I shrugged as I looked up at Bruce.
"We think they'll be sending us out of the country." he admitted. "Somewhere they won't be able to find us."
"Well shit." Tabby scoffed lightly. "Just when we thought we had you back." she shrugged.
"At least you know I'm alive this time." I said and Mom rolled her eyes.
"Well what have you done since getting back?" dad asked and I shrugged.
"Bruce took it upon himself to teach me how to punch." I said as I looked up at him. He smiled lightly at the memory before leaning down to lightly kiss me.
"Teach you to punch? That's like teaching hipsters to be ironic." Sonny scoffed with a laugh.
"Obviously you didn't tell him about your father." Mom laughed and I smiled.
"Daddy doesn't like talking about his boxing days." I said. "Besides, Bruce wanted to show me how to do something, who was I to say no just because I already knew it?" I asked and looked up at him with a small smile.
"You two are making me sick with all that PDA over there." Sonny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"I think it's sweet!" Pepper defended us and I smiled.
"Thank you Pepper." I said and she smiled at me.
"Hey, Bruce, did Sammy ever tell you about the time in high school when she decided that she didn't agree with dissecting animals, and she stole about five hundred live frogs?" Tabby asked with a laugh. Bruce looked down at me and I shrugged my uninjured shoulder.
"It was wrong for them to be raised with the sole purpose of killing them." I shrugged.
"So, this is what happened," Tabby said as I stood up. "Where are you going?"
"To check on the kids." I said as I walked back to the house. "Go ahead and tell the story, but let me first say, the ends totally justified the means." with that I turned around and walked back to the house.
"How is the testing going?" Dr. Fleischer looked up at Norman who was currently pacing in the lab.
"Fine." Fleischer said hesitantly. He looked back at his work, before sighing and looking back at Norman. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Norman snapped at Fleischer rolled his eyes, and moved to pick up his work again, before Norman spoke. "Just the witness story, the thug types at the gravesite, doesn't that seem a little... I don't know, convenient."
"I suppose." Fleischer shrugged. "I thought you already decided it wasn't a coincidence."
"Are you done yet?" Norman snapped and Fleischer rolled his eyes before he picked up the slide and slipped it under the microscope. He looked into the microscope, and then moved away, turning his attention to his notebook. He started writing in it as Norman strode over to him, "What are you writing?" he demanded and Fleischer paused in his writing before he sighed.
"It's finished." he said and started writing again. He finished his notes and looked at Norman. "We will need to test it, but I believe it's finished."
"You're sure?"
"I am."
"You need a test subject?"
"Yes." Norman pulled his phone out and dialed a number.
"Whatever, get down here, and bring an intern. Bring Agent Hand as well." he added almost as an afterthought. He hung up and a few minutes later Victoria Hand, Agent Whatever, and a young Asian man with longish brown hair and the average HAMMER uniform came downstairs.
"This is John Liu." Agent Whatever said gesturing to the young intern.
"Mister Liu, how do you like working at HAMMER?" Norman asked.
"It's been an interesting experience sir."
"Do you like having interesting experiences, Mister Liu?"
"Well I haven't quit yet sir." he said with a shrug.
"Yes... Well, Mister Liu, how would you like the opportunity to move ahead in your position here?"
"Well, I've been offered a position in the HR department..." he said hesitantly.
"I'm talking about becoming an Agent, Agent Liu..." Norman said with a sly smile and Mr. Liu smiled softly.
"I'd appreciate any opportunity offered, Sir." he said with a nod.
"Good man." Norman said as he led Agent Liu to Dr. Fleischer and sat him down.
"You'll feel a slight pinch." Dr. Fleischer said as he wiped an alcohol swab over the unsuspecting Agent Liu's wrist. Agent Liu frowned slightly.
"What are you doing to me?" he asked just before the needle was slid into his wrist.
"Don't move." Norman practically growled and Agent Liu stayed still out of fear from his superior.
"It should take about an hour to kick in." Fleischer said as he pulled the needle out and taped a cotton swab to the injection site.
"What did you do to me?" Agent Liu asked in a scared voice and Norman smirked as he looked at his watch.
"We've improved you. Someone call Leona, she'll want to see this."
Hey ya'll, just because I love you, here's a teaser for the next chapter. Nick Fury makes an appearance and Minnie is brought up to speed on HYDRA and HAMMER's ongoing search for the Avengers and the Banners, and the gang gets into a little trouble getting through the Canadian border. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please don't forget to review!