Turns out that girl, Fisher, was flying the jet. It was her first time flying, and she was very… enthusiastic!

"WHOO HOO!" She screamed, going even faster if that was possible. "I'VE NEVER FELT MORE ALIVE!"

"I've never felt more dead." I mumbled, trying not to throw up.

Clyde was looking extremely green, and he was curled around a paper bag, shaking violently. "I… want… to be on the ground."

"THIS MAKES FORGET ALL ABOUT DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE!"

"If I get my hands on you, it'll look like a suicide." I bit out, tying not to scream out in fear. This girl could go fast, but it was hell in the backseat, being jostled around, bumped and rattled. My stomach was killing me, and I was actually considering pulling Fisher into a sleeper hold, and just… squeezing, until I felt better.

Finally, she landed on the helicarrier, and me and Clyde stumbled out, so glad to be out of that plane. I had to force myself to not collapse on the ground, hugging and kissing the floor, screaming how much I loved it.

Thain immediately ran up to us, "Brantley, are you okay?"

"We're both fine." I managed to mumble, though we were far from it. Clyde shakily stood, and I put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. He had just found out his father was Loki… that was a bit rough. "Hey, Clyde? Why don't you hit the showers, alright? I'll take care of-"

"I'm fine!" He snapped. "I can stand on my own two feet, alright?"

I pulled my hand away, raising an eyebrow, "Alright, I was just trying to offer you a breather-"

"No one else get's one, why should I?" He mumbled, walking ahead, "I'm going to see if anyone needs healing."

I sighed, calling after him, "Clyde, I didn't mean that you couldn't help, I just-"

"I get it Brantley." He said, looking over his shoulder at me, "You're trying to be my friend, but I don't want you to be my friend right now. I want you to be my leader."

He left, and Thain put an arm around me shoulders, "Moya lyubovʹ," My love, "Is everything okay?"

I took s deep breath, before wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug, "Thain I… I can't do this anymore. I can't be responsible for all these lives, I'm not strong enough. I might act tough Thain, but I'm so scared."

He hugged me tighter, "Uh- calm down. I promise, everything's going to be okay-"

"I'm not a child Thain!" I snapped. "You can't make me feel better by saying everything is going to be okay."

He laughed a little, "You don't understand, everything is going to be okay. The teams you dispatched? Their missions were a success. Communications is up and running again, we've got a plan full of field agents coming in as we speak. And Tyson used Bruce's equipment and was able to find a high concentration of tesseract energy in New York. Everyone is waiting for you to dispatch another team for an attack."

Jackson burst into the room, "Hey Long Shot, hate to break up you and your boyfriend's cuddle moment, but… I've got a problem."

I groaned, pulling away from Thain, "What now?"

"My armor is malfunctioning." He said, holding up a chunk of black and blue metal, "I can't get to Stark Towers to fix it."

"Take it down to the squint's, Jason should have enough engineering knowledge to help you out."

Jackson rolled his eyes, "Wow, seems like Jason can do whatever the plot calls for."

"What?"

"Nothing he's just surprisingly talented… in many things." Jackson mumbled, walking away.

Thain gently turned me back towards him, "Brantley, something Lester said… it worries me."

I bit my lip, not liking where this conversation was heading.

"Vhen you lived on ze streets, uh, did anybody… ya know… um, maybe-"

"I know what you're trying to say." I snapped, "And… yeah, guys tried. They got really close a few times, but I always managed to get away before they did. Most of it was luck, Tripp was around to bust a cap in their ass."

Thain laughed, "It's cute vhen you speak like you are from ze ghetto."

I laughed, hugging him, "Thanks for listening, I needed it."

He nodded, "You are my girlfriend, it's my job to listen to your problems."

I snorted, "Wow, love you too Thain."

He laughed, "Yeah, any ting else you would like to speak of?"

I spared a quick look around the carrier, "Just… come to the debriefing in five minutes. I'll explain everything."

AFTER THE MEETING:

Tyson stared at Clyde, "So… your dad is Loki?"

Clyde crossed his arms, glaring at the table. "Yes."

"The guy we have to top, and possibly kill?"

"Yes!" Clyde snapped.

Tyson didn't back off, "Clyde… if you wanna sit out of this one man, we'd understand. I mean, that's your dad-'

"No! He's my father, there's a big difference between being a father, and being a dad. I didn't see my father there when I wa kidnapped by terrorist. I didn't see him come to my rescue, Steve did. The only reason he's here now is because he needs me to help him take over Earth. So suddenly, I'm some all important son to him that he loves. I don't care about Loki, and I'll kill him myself when I get the chance."

Tyson looked to me, "Brantley, come on, this could be emotionally scaring for him later. I mean, he's angry now, and that's driving him, but what's gonna happen when he really comes to grips with the fact that he has to fight his dad?"

"Father!" Clyde snapped.

I bit down on my tongue gently, Tyson was right, this could be really damaging to Clyde later on. Maybe I should keep him out of it, just for the sake of his mental health. "Clyde-"

"No!" He cut me off, jumping up out of his chair. "You can't do this to me Brantley, I'm part of this team! I have to help you guys fight. God damn it, stop treating me like a kid!"

"Clyde!" I snapped, silencing him, "… All I was going to say was that you need to suit up if you're coming with us."

Clyde stared at me for a minute, and then grinned, "Go it."

He left to go suit up, as did the others, but Jade stayed. She walked next to me as I stood up from my chair, "Ah've gotta say Shugah, yer takin' the whole Clint being your uncle thing really well. Ah figured you'd be freakin' out, throwin' up, maybe even smashing things left and right, but you're holding yourself together pretty well."

"Are you kidding me!?" I snapped, grabbing my hair and yanking it repeatedly, "I'm ready to nuke Afghanistan just to relieve some stress! Don't be so naïve Jade, I might look calm, but in the past hour, I've thought of fifteen very detailed ways to kill Clinton Francis Barton!"

Jade paused, "Wait a minute, you said yer last name was Evans, why is yer dad's last name Barton?"

I sighed, "When my parent married, my mom kept her last name, Evans. They took turns giving their kids last names. Andy's last name is Barton, Will's is Evans, Jason's is Barton, mine is Evans."

She nodded, "Oh, got it. And, why do you wanna kill him? Ah mean, sure he kept the secret he was yer uncle, but he took care of ya."

I swallowed the lump in my throat as we entered into the locker rooms. My outfit was all torn up, so I swapped it for a spare. "Jade, when I got here Clint told me that if I wanted to be his protégé, then the first lesson I had to learn was to look at everything from a distance. When you're not in the mix, and your just observing, you make connections no one else does."

"Is there a point to this ramble?" She asked impatiently.

"Jade, you know me well enough by now, I don't talk often, so when I do I make up for it with a long ass explanation."

"Yeah Shugah, but fate of the world at stake, gotta stop Loki, speed it up and rant mah ear off about it later." She said, making a speed it up motion with her hand.

"Look, using that method he taught me, I made a connection with that memory. He showed up for the first time in my life, on the same night my father died." I said, holding up on finger, "Then he gives me a knife, and asks me to use it in my act. Here's the connection, that knife was the last one I through, and it… well, Jade I've never told you this, but I-"

"Ah know you killed your father."

My eyes widened, "W-what?"

She shrugged, "Ah overheard Clint talking about it, so skip the drama, tell me what's what."

I blinked a few times, "Okay, well, that knife was the one that I threw… wrong." I finished, holding up my second finger, "One and one make two, and it means something. I don't know what, but it's no coincidence."

She nodded, "Alright, Ah understand. And as your friend, Ah'm gonna tell ya this: grow up and get over it."

"… Eh?"

"Yer General Brantley not, not Agent Evans, so pack yer emotional baggage, and ship it off to Bangkok for the time being. We need a leader right now Brantley, not a friend." She said sternly. "Ah love ya, yer like mah sister, but this is tough love. Now get it in gear, and you and me cant cry over ice cream later."

"… This is why you're my friend." I said, grinning, "And as General Brantley, I'm gonna tell you this, your flying that jet, and afterwards, you're never letting Fisher near one again."

She laughed, "You got it Shugah. And after the fight, you and yer man can snuggle over battle scars."

WITH CLYDE:

I pulled my belt on, going through the pockets. I need something to distract me from the pain. Every time I take a wound away, it hurts. God, it just, it hurts. And depending on how bad the wound is, the pain could stay for minutes, or even hours. But with all the wounds I've healed, and the absolute gore I've shifted away from human anatomy today, I'm in excruciating pain from my head to my feet. I'll be feeling this level for days. If I don't kill myself first. Yeah, it hurts that much.

Smoke bombs, check. Tracers, check. Tazer, check. Emergency candy bar, close to expiration, but check.

"My son."

I whirled around, seeing Loki… my father, standing at the door. Oh boy. I swallowed the fear trying to creep it's way up my throat. I said I wanted to stop being treated like a kid, so I better stop acting like one. I plastered a glare onto my face, and tried to sound like Tama when she went into warrior mode. "What do you want!?"

He smiled stepping forward, "I want my son at my side."

"Not going to happen." I snapped, "I'm not your dog, you can't order me around."

He looked insulted, "My dog- you're my son! I love you."

"Yeah, loved me enough to make me a puzzle piece in your plot against the Avengers."

"I sent you to Earth with the main purpose being to keep you away from radicals who despised me. You assisting with my plans was merely a bonus."

"So you let me live with terrorists!? Do you have any idea what they did to me!? They stuck wire into my head! They sliced me open, then sliced themselves open and made me heal it! I was a human punching bag when they had a bad day! You didn't protect me, you condemned me to a life of horror, you bastard."

Before I could react, he reached out and struck me across the face. "You will not speak to me that way."

He grabbed my chin, making me look at him, "I did not intend for your life to be that way, but when it happened, I realized they could prepare you for pain and make you strong in ways I could not. You never showed any signs of your mother's, or my power. Your imperfections made you weak, and vulnerable. I wanted you to be strong, and now you are. Your little magic trick, taking away wounds and gaining the pain yourself, it's very entertaining, but has no real power. And even more, it's wasted on such pathetic creatures. Now, come with me, and I'll try and see if perhaps I might be able to find a way to trigger some abilities that may lie dormant inside of you."

I slapped his hand away, and shoved him backwards. Imperfection!? Weak!? Vulnerable!? This isn't what a dad says to his son, and I'm tired of being the weakest link in the chain. Brantley, Jade, Tyson, Tama, even Jackson, they've all been sheltering me, teaching me things along the way. They've been giving me examples, and it's about time I learned the lesson.

"Don't you dare call my gift a 'magic trick', I have saved countless lives with this, and I'm proud of it. I've taken people on the brink of death, and brought them back to perfect health, in seconds, and at my own expense. Don't call my imperfect either! It's being imperfect that makes me perfect, it's human. And in that way, I am human. I'm not a Frost Giant, I'm not a Norse God, I'm human, and that's how I'm going to stay."

I clenched my hands into fists, "And FYI, leaving me with terrorists didn't make me strong, it broke me. Nothing ever fixed me until the Avengers came along. So you, the man who condemned me to that life, coming here, and making the people that saved me and put me back together his personal whipping boys? And now you expect me to fall in line and treat my friends like animals? Let me make this absolutely clear. I don't love you. I hate you. And I'm going to let you leave now, to slither back to your pit and wait for me to come after you, because I will love seeing you wither in fear. But next time I see you, I'm going to take you out."

I stepped around him going for the door as he stood speechless, "Oh, one more thing-"

I whirled around, and punched him as hard as I could across the jaw, "That's for calling my friends and mentor pathetic creatures."

Thank you Jade and Brantley for showing me how to act like a bad to the bone mercenary.

SAM! (at least you didn't use the guest title)

Alright, look, I know that it seems like my characters Mio, Justin, and Brantely are a lot alike, but there's some differances you may have missed. And instead of ranting like an emotionally insecure teenage girl, I'm just going to kick it like a lawyer, and show you the FACTS.

Mio act's like a little punk, and it shows in her attitude, however, Justin does not act like a punk, she is a punk. Not a big differance, but when you get down to it, Mio just acts like that to keep up a wall. She's hurting, and she's craving for fatherly affection, not from Logan, but from Daken. She'll probably never admit it, but she REALLY wants her father to be proud of her, and is often wondering what's so wrong with her that her own father doesn't care. She knows it's because well, he's Daken, but it's an irrations fear of hers. Another difference between her and Justin, in the Howlet/Creed family reunion arc I wrote, Mio showed an edge of sarcastic a immature humor edge that Justin doesn't have. What is Jusitn's version of humor? humiliating an opponent.

Now Justin? That's just who she is. Side affect of being raised by the league of assassins and Jason Todd. now let me make this CLEAR... Justin will not CHANGE, in ANY way, ANY time soon. Why? because I LOVE writing for her character. It's fun, and I will ride that trian until I get bored. now, if you're still reading Revenge of the Desperate, you'll know around chapter twelve Justin went through some major character development. Is that going to change the way she acts/is? No. What's really happened with Justin? Before she thought she just acted like a punk to have fun toying with people, but now she knows that's just who she is, and she's learning to accept the fact she's a total jerk and live with it, but not change. After being knocked down a few pegs by Jay, she'll probably lighten up A LITTLE, but here's her current mind set. "Now, I know that all I am underneath a totally awesome assassin killing machine bent on saving the innoscent, all I am is a big ball of crazy and outright ass." She's a jerk, but amazingly self aware.

Now, let me make another point clear. Justin WILL eventually change compeltely and become a discaplined, cool headed, generally reasonable person. She will still talk a little smack every now and then because, come on, it's JUSTIN. But over all her character will be much better. HOWEVER, not for a long time. Why? because I'm writing these fan fictions for FUN. That's why ANYBODY comes onto a fanfcition website, for FUN. we write all this for FUN. Yes it's also a good way to imporve on our writing, but the main point? FUN.

Now, as for Brantley. Yes, for awhile I made her act a lot like Jusitn, almost just like her. But that was NEVER intended to last. In this chapter, you SEE her break down, twice. And THAT is the end of Brantley's Justin streak. I had PLANNED for this the MINUTE I brought Loki into the mix. If you had just waited like, ONE more chapter you would have seen that and been all "Oh thank God! She's not a talentless writer! My faith is restored!"

Here is why a lot of my female OC's are alike, I am a FIRM believer in the idea, no, the FACT that girls can be jut as good, maybe even better than guys, given proper training and will power. It's an insecurity of mine that people take ONE look at me and write me off as inferior just becasue I wasns't born with one extra inch of meat on my body as a baby. That makes me EXTREMELY good at writing female heroes who are just plain AWESOME at their chosen skill. however, a flaw... I kind of... NEED to PROVE that, in EVERY story I have. It's a bad habit of mine, and I'm WORKING on it.

I'm not holding any hard feelings towards you over you... well, somewhat INSULTING reveiw last chapter. I'm GLAD I have fans and friends that want to help me out a bit when they think I might not be doing as good as I am able. At the same time, it was a BIT uncalled for. I mean... you've told me before that you've been reading me since I was on Quizilla, so you've been a fan longer than ANY of my other ones. You couldn't have just... I don't know, talked to me privately about it?

Make an account, PM me, instead of leaving that reveiw for EVERYONE to see? Seriousley?

Once again, happy to have a little tough love every now and then, but dude, if you've been a fan for THAT long, you should KNOW me well enough by now to realise "Hey wait, maybe she's NOT slipping, maybe there are tiny differenaces that add up here. Maybe I should just wait a little, and see where she takes this?"

And about them being PREACHY. EVERY SINGLE MARVEL/DC CHARACTER, in a battle revolving around anger, hatred, and deep loss, has given some highly emotion and impacting speeches in their time. And I like to think that some of my characters 'preachy rants' were entirely called for, creative, and emotionally charging to read.

To my other readers who actually finished reading this, I'm sorry to put this on my story and maybe confuse you people, but I had to explain this to Sam, because well... I really don't want to lose even ONE veiwer.