Sleeping for all those kids was a joke. They had all stayed at SHIELD that night, even Jackson and Tama. They all gave sleeping a valiant effort, but their experiences varied greatly.

Jackson tossed and turned all night, any sleep he managed to get was filled with nightmares of the robot in the underground prison, stalking him, shouting at him.

Tama crawled under her bed, clutching onto her axe with a death grip, mumbling prayers in Norse.

Jade stopped trying to sleep around three in the morning, and just started wandering through the halls.

Clyde tried sleeping, but the adrenaline was still fresh, so he ended up wailing on a punching bag. For the first time, since the first cut he healed, he felt no pain. He had shoved it all into Loki. Finally, he had energy, and he had backbone.

Tyson gave up sleeping at about four, and headed to Bruce's lab. He tinkered in there, with pretty much nothing. Until he heard the door open, and Jade walk in. "Ya couldn't sleep either shugah?"

Tyson blushed a little at the nickname, Fumbling with the little toy in his hands. "Err, no. I just keep… seeing that satellite. I mean, I dismantled it with time to spare in real life, but I keep having these nightmares about not getting there in time. About everyone getting enslaved and-"

Jade put a finger to his lips, "Shh."

Tyson felt his face heating up dramatically.

Jade smiled, "Ah walked in and saw Thain dead, and Ah know it's 'ittin' Brantley more then she lets on. Ah can't shake the thought… what would Ah 'ave done if you got killed. Killed before Ah could say that… Ah like ya. A lot."

She pulled her finger away, blushing herself, "And Ah've tried to hide it, Ah didn't wanna date in the team. Figured if somethin' went sour between us, it could tear us apart, but-"

Tyson suddenly lurched forward, lips pressing against Jade's. His hand slowly cupped the back of her head, trying to keep her close.

Jade's eyes slipped shut, kissing him back.

They both slowly pulled away for air, with Tyson grinning like a fool. "I've wanted to do that for months."

This time, Jade started the kiss. And oh did they kiss. Not just twice, but several more times. Month's worth of attraction finally let loose until both their lips was bright red from use.

Jade panted, "Brantley… she never knew what Thain was saying."

And she took off, leaving a very happy Tyson.

Brantley had never even bothered trying to sleep. The minute she showered and changed, she headed to the lab, where Cam was still sleeping. Jason smiled up at her, "Well, look at our little war hero."

Brantley groaned, sitting down and resting her head on the edge of Cam's mattress. "Don't call me that."

"Why not Brant? You did it, you lead us into war, and we survived. I've gotta say, blowing the floor up beneath the satellite was quite the idea. Now that I think about it, we probably should have done that the first time Loki attacked."

Brantley shrugged, "It was a technique I learned on the streets. You wanna break into a museum, you get into the basement first, then blow up the flooring."

"Sounds risky."

"You have no idea." Brantley groaned. "How's Cam doing?"

Cam's eyelids fluttered open, "Better. It doesn't hurt to move anymore."

Cam leaned closer to Brantley, running a hand through her ragged hair. "You look like Hell."

Brantley laughed, "Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better."

Jason raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you be trying to sleep?"

"I don't wanna risk nightmares, so I chugged down three cokes, and finished it off with some pop rocks." Brantley finished her sentence with a light burp. "Excuse me."

Jason laughed, "Kid, you're something else."

Cam raised an eyebrow in concern, "Have you thought about what you're going to tell the Council?"

"We fought, we won, leave me alone cause I did me goddamn job." Brantley mumbled. "I don't feel like taking any of their shit in the morning."

Jason paused, "Before you go in, you should know something."

Brantley gave him a pointed look, one eyebrow raised.

"Uh, I found something odd after examining the scene of the battle, and a few injuries." Jason pushed his rolling chair over to his desk, picking up an arrow, "You said after Clint killed Thain, that you stabbed Clint with this arrow?"

Brantley nodded, "Yes."

Jason looked concerned. "This arrow isn't identical to yours. Your's are black with an iron base, the 'feathers' on the end of your arrows are fiberglass. I know because I designed them. This arrow isn't painted, with a steel base, and it's 'feathers' are rubber."

Brantley tried not to look fazed, but Jason could see through it, because he had the facts. "Must have been Clint's arrow I picked up."

Jason shook his head, "Clint's arrows are identical to yours."

Brantley was silent.

Someone else spoke for her. "It's simple, I was with Loki for awhile, I had a shortage of arrows and had to pick up some cheap ones."

The three of them turned to see Clint standing there, more guilt in his eyes than Brantley could read into.

Clint shrugged, "They'll buy it."

Jason looked back and forth from me to Clint several times. "Uh, you guys need to talk about something?"

Brantley stood up quickly, walking past Clint, "No."

Clint sighed once Brantley was gone, sinking down into a vacant chair. Jason raised an eyebrow, "Dude, what did you do to the kid? Tell her to get a haircut?"

"I'm her father. And she found out in the worst way ever." Clint groaned, covering his face with his hands.

Jason and Cam shared looks, "Oh, really?"

Clint looked up at them both, "… You knew?"

Cam shrugged, "I noticed you and her have similar bone structure. Her jaw line isn't as pronounced as yours, but the basic shape is there. The ratios of the bridge of your nose and your nostrils is the same, at 4:5."

Clint stared at her a minute, "So…"

Jason rolled his eyes, "She looks like you dummy."

Clint leaned back in his chair, "Oh."

Cam nodded, "Gave Brantley some time, if there's one thing she's good at, it's adapting."

Clint sighed, "I never thought I could be this proud of her. She was General of S.H.I.E.L.D. for over twenty-four hours. She lead kids into war against the Avengers… and she freakin' won. Damn…"

Jason smirked, "Hey, she's your kid. I've got a question though."

"I most likely won't answer it."

"Why didn't you raise her?"

Clint rubbed his forehead, "That's a long story."

"Give me the summary." Jason suggested.

"Okay. Stupid soldier falls in love with a beautiful girl he used to be best friends with. Problem is, she's already with the stupid soldier's brother, and-"

"Whoa!" Jason interrupted, "You did your brothers girlfriend!?"

Clint stared at the ground, "Wife."

Jason stared at Clint, "You… are a home wrecker."

Clint just glared at him.

Jade found Brantley out on deck, staring up at the night sky. She never took Brantley as the star gazer type. She approached her silently, whispering, "Hey."

Brantley's gaze dropped down to the ocean below, "Jade, if you're here to consol me about Thain, say that I did all I-"

"Ah'm not here ta tell you anythin' like that." Jade said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Ah just want ya to know, all those times Thain talked in Russian-"

Brantley held up a hand, silencing her, "Я говорю чистейшем русском языке." I speak perfect Russian.

Jade's eyes widened, "Wait… since when!?"

"Clint heard Thain talking to me in Russian one day, back when I couldn't understand, and then spent three days teaching me nothing but Russian. I picked it up quickly, it's a simple language."

"So you've known what he's been saying-"

"For two months now." Brantley chuckled, "I just figured when he was ready to tell me without thinking I couldn't understand, then it would be better for him, instead of suddenly figuring out that I could speak Russian."

Jade paused, "Do you still-"

"No, I wish, that at least at that last moment… I could have had the courage to tell him I understood him."