That suit did nothing for Steve's ass.

Of all the things that had my attention right now, It was zeroed in on Steve in his full Captain America uniform. I have no idea who and how it got dragged out and modified, but it was here. I'm sure it was Coulson's doing.

And someone really needed to be shot for not making his pants that fraction tighter. The man had the shoulder to waist ratio of a Dorito. It really needed to be shown off.

"What?" Steve asked me as he turned back around.

"Nothing." I cleared my throat and went back to loading my P30. "Nothing at all."

Across the Quinjet from me, Steve stared at me with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't argued when I'd shown up in full gear in the Quinjet. But he was looking like he was ready to. I'd been ready for it the entire flight. So far he'd managed to refrain from whatever it was he wanted to say.

"5 minutes out."

"Thanks, Stubbs," I acknowledged the pilot up the front with Natasha.

I'd been touched when I found out my fighter pilot buddy from my last F-35 training session on the Helicarrier had volunteered to fly to Germany. It made sense. He was flying as fast as I would have and with the exact same expertise. Natasha was staying in the Quinjet unless she was absolutely needed. Evans was sitting next to me, stoic and silent as always.

Loki was milling at some high end gala in a museum in Stuttgart, Germany. He hadn't made a move just yet and everyone was on edge. Steve was going to confront Loki and I was going to sneak around seeing if I could find Clint or Jared. This had to be the distraction I'd seen when I'd been in Jared's head. I really hoped I wouldn't be the one finding out about the eyeball part.

"You good with the plan?" Evans asked me lowly.

I nodded, fiddling with the magazine on my P30. Whatever Clint was after, it would be located in the lower bowels of the building with all the secure artifacts for the museum. While Steve was doing his thing with Loki, I was going out to try and stop Clint with Evans as my backup. That was about the extent of the plan for me.

Sam and Andy were sitting on the other side of me. Sam was bouncing his leg impatiently and Andy was loading and reloading his Glock. They were both staying here to keep an eye on Natasha. No one trusted Jared right now. If he made a play and grabbed Natasha while the rest of us were distracted, the world would probably be on fire in the next 24 hours if Loki managed to do some of his mind control over her. Hill had been the one to point that out. Unluckily for Coulson, he was the one who had to tell her.

When Coulson had told Natasha she'd be staying on the Quinjet with Sam and Andy, I thought he was going to be dead man. The glare Natasha had given him was deadly. Even I hadn't been stupid enough to try and talk to her on the flight here. Right now she was sitting in the co-pilot seat silent and sullen. I wouldn't be happy if I was her either.

Exhaling loudly, I rolled my neck trying to relieve some of the pressure building. My short nap had done nothing to ease my headache. Along with my pounding head, my back was sore as well. Every little bump and scrape I'd picked up along the way since PEGASUS was sore. I was tired and felt at the end of my tether. I really hoped this plan worked.

The Quinjet ramp suddenly landed with a thump, breaking into my speeding thoughts. That was my cue it was time to work for a living.

Stubbs had to job of precariously hovering above the closed off street behind the museum. There was mere inches on either side so there was no room for error. He was far enough off the ground that the open Quinjet ramp barely touched the surface. Even though we were cloaked, everything felt far too exposed and loud. I was on my feet and jogging down the ramp before I knew it. Steve was right beside me and Evans only a pace behind.

As our feet touched the street, I half expected Steve to turn around and try and talk me out of this. I was mildly surprised when all he gave me was a nod.

"Good luck."

"You too."

Inwardly I felt a tug of relief. Then again, Steve would have known if I was half the woman Grams was, arguing would be completely pointless.

As Steve jogged off, me and Evans turned to do our part. Hugging the shadows of the building, we crept along until we found the back entrance of the museum. I found my first body as we rounded the corner. It had a distinct black arrow sticking from the guy's neck.

"Fuck it all to hell." Evans grumbled next to me.

I could feel fear creeping in. It was rare I could best Clint. I really didn't want to have to fight him. A noise made my attention turn to something ahead. It sounded like hushed voices. I couldn't make out the words but they were trying very hard to be quiet.

"Cover me?" I asked Evans.

We didn't really have a plan at all. I was winging this and hoping not to die. Thankfully, Evans nodded and motioned for me to go forward.

I went invisible so I could move quicker. I heard Evans mutter something under his breath that sounded like surprise. Ignoring it, I jogged forward as silently as I could.

There were only two other men waiting outside. One was crouched down with a computer tablet in his hand. The other had Clint's retractable bow in his hand and an AR-15 hanging loosely by his side.

Seeing the other two men made me pause. Where these men taken and put under mind control, just like Clint? If they were, I couldn't kill them. There was every chance both of them had no control over what was happening now.

The one holding the computer tablet glanced up. His eyes were the same shade of blue that Clint and Jared's had been.

Part of me was aggravated. It would have been easier to shoot these two men in the head if they weren't being mind controlled. Now I was going to have to get my hands dirty.

I looked at the pair, quickly made up my mind on how I was going to do this. I sent a silent apology to both of them as I shifted my weight, ready to pounce.

I went for the one crouching down first. I covered the few steps between us in a fast sprint. It gave me enough momentum to drive a raised knee into the side of his head. The force sent his head rebounding against the brick wall with a resounding crack. The guy was out like a light before he hit the ground.

Mentally apologizing for the headache I'd just give him, I rushed over to where the second guy was. He'd dropped Clint's bow and had his rifle raised. There was part of me that wanted to wait until Clint came out and see what this guy had done to his bow. Clint would probably strangle him for dropping his bow. It wasn't a luxury I had. It did give me an idea though.

I scooped up the bow as I ran at the guy. He shouted something which might have been German, but it was too rushed and garbled for me to make out. I sent another mental apology as I swung the bow at the guy's head as hard as I could. I'd been on the receiving end of this before and it was half hearted on Clint's behalf. It still hurt like a motherfucker.

Clint's bows were insanely strong. They also hurt like hell when Clint used them as a beating stick. I swung it at the guy's temple, stepping around his raised rifle. It landed with a resounded crack and the guy dropped like a rock.

"Very clever, Kari."

Clint's voice made me nearly drop his bow in surprise. I lost my invisibly and whirled around in fright.

Clint was obscured in the shadows. In front of him was Evans, hands raised and looking the most pissed off I'd ever seen him.

I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me. I couldn't breathe as I stared at Evans pale face.

"Slide it over to me." Clint's command left no room for arguments. As he did, he pressed his sidearm into the back of Evans head.

Evans visibly flinched and raised his hands a little higher.

"Don't listen to him…" Evans started saying through gritted teeth. He was swiftly cut off, dropping to the ground with a muffled groan.

I fought every instinct in me to rush forward to help Evans. I hadn't seen it but for him to drop that quickly, Clint would have pistol whipped him in the back of the head. At least Clint hadn't shot him.

'I'm not going to ask again." I'd never heard Clint's voice like this before. It was hard and unforgiving. Even on mission mode, he was never like this. "Give me my bow."

"Come and get it, Barton." I tightened my grip on the well worn handle of one of his favorite bows.

The sound of a silenced gunshot was still far too loud in the small space. I felt debris from the wall behind me hit the back of my body armor. Clint had just shot over my shoulder.

"Last chance."

I didn't doubt Clint. The warning shot had made his intentions very clear. I threw the bow over to him without another second of hesitation. While I was wearing my body armor, I really didn't want to get shot again. Especially not by Clint.

Clint caught his bow easily. In a movement too quickly for me to follow, he had an arrow notched.

I was going to punch him in the head when this was all done. Twice in two days I had his weapon pointed at my face.

This time, he let the arrow loose.

It skimmed over my right shoulder, catching the edge of my body armor. I was close enough to the wall behind me that I found myself firmly stuck. Blood dripped on the inside of my shirt from the shallow cut of the arrowhead. It didn't hurt. I was more angry than anything else right now. Clint's impeccable aim never failed to impress me. Right now, I wanted to punch him.

Clint stalked over to me until we were barely an inch apart. He had me pinned before I could move an inch. His grip was so strong on my wrists pinned above my head, I was losing feeling in them rapidly. His legs had mine held down, clasped down by his strong thighs. Before I could open my mouth to snarl at him, he closed the gap between us and kissed me fiercely.

It was the type of kiss that shut down every sensible part of my brain. A kiss that would have made both of us lose our clothes in less than a minute after it starting. Even now, my body reacted before my brain had a chance to shut anything down.

Clint broke it off as quickly as it started.

"You are mine. And I'll be back for what's mine soon."

It was like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head. My temper flared and I struck at him with the only thing I had handy. My head.

Unluckily for me, Clint saw it coming. He managed to raise his chin just in time as I head butted him. My nose connected with his chin and pain flared over my face.

"God fucking dammit, Barton." My eyes were watering so bad from the pain I couldn't see. I could feel blood trickling down from my nose. "I'm going to get you for that.

Clint made a sound between a scoff and a small chuckle. The pressure from my hands were released and I felt Clint step back. An all too familiar buzz in the air made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Through my watering eyes, I saw Jared appear over Clint's shoulder. He bent down to pick up something before reappearing at Clint's side.

"I'll see you soon." Clint's voice sounded more like it was a bedroom promise than a threat.

Jared didn't say a word. One second they were there and the next they were gone.

I couldn't stop my scream of frustration. They had both been right there and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop them. I twisted against the arrow stuck through my body armor, only to find I was firmly stuck to the wall behind me. I was really lucky Clint knew what he was doing. I'd be a lot more pissed off if he'd gotten me through the shoulder. I wanted to punch something right now.

Taking in a deep breath, I reached up and grasped the shaft of the arrow. There was no way I'd be able to pull it out. It was one thing Clint had drilled into me a million times. Never try and pull an arrow out, even if it doesn't seem too bad.

Having to concentrate on using my power to shatter the arrow was good to distract me. As I was shaking the ice shards off my shoulder, something bright red blasted down in front of me. With a whir of gears, a gold faceplate raised up.

"Ice Queen, did you miss me?"

I was never so relieved to see Tony Stark. Then again, right now I'd be relieved to see anyone would didn't have creepy blue eyes.

"I need medical support," I said briskly, brushing past him. "Barton got the iridium and he's gone."

"On it."

Tony didn't argue. It was an enormous relief to him to be actually helpful for once in his life. While he got on whatever comms link he had, I rushed over to Evans.

Evans was still out cold. I knelt down next to him, feeling for a pulse. It only took a second for the strong and even pulse to jump out underneath my fingers. I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed next to him. I could feel my own pulse hammering against my neck from the adrenaline dump I was currently having. I wiped a shaking hand over my face trying to pull myself together. I felt like I was a second away from crying or punching someone in the face. Preferably Clint or Jared. Pinching my nose, I closed my eyes trying to keep my emotions in check. I was doing so well without losing my shit. I couldn't do it now.

After a few ragged breaths, I didn't feel any better but I felt more in control. It was good timing as Tony came back over to me. The whir of gears and stomping of his heavy feet were a dead giveaway. At least he couldn't sneak up on anyone.

"Agent Romanoff is on her way," Tony said as he came over towards me. "At least that what she said, along with someone arguing with her in the background. The Captain has Loki."

That managed to put a tiny smile on my face. I had no doubt Sam would be running behind Natasha while she completely ignored him. I was right. Half a second later, Natasha skidded around the corner with Sam on her heels.

"He's alive," I said before anyone could ask. "Barton knocked him out cold."

Natasha looked furious as she knelt down beside me. Cool fingers gripped my chin as Natasha tilted my face up for a better look.

"I tried to headbutt Barton and missed," I said dryly, reaching up to wipe the blood from underneath my nose. "Asshole."

Natasha's lips quirked up as she turned my head to inspect me for damage.

"If you don't need me here, I'll go deal with Reindeer Games."

Tony and his fucking nicknames. Natasha gave him a curt nod and he took the hint to he wasn't needed here. His faceplate closed and he lifted off and was gone in a streak of red and gold.

Sam was on the other side of Evans, trying to get a response out of him. It wasn't until he did a sternal rub, that Evans let out a pained groan.

"Come on." Natasha got to her feet after she let my face go. "We have to get back to the Helicarrier."

Andy came jogging around the corner as I stood up. He gave me a quick glance over before going to Evans. Natasha's offered hand came into my line of vision. I took it without hesitation and got to my feet. I wasn't allowed the luxury of emotions right now. I had a job to do.

Natasha's hand lingered for a moment. A small gesture that would go unnoticed by everyone else. It was all we had time for. Sam called for both of our attention.

"Can you give us a hand?"

Andy was rolling out a stretcher. It was a basic field one so it was going to take all four of us to carry it. Where was the fucking super soldier when you needed him? I rolled my stiff neck before going to help. As luck would have it, Evans rolled over by himself with a strangled groan of pain before we could get him onto the stretcher.

"Fucking hell," Evans said, gasping in pain as he clutched the back of his head. "I'm too fucking old for this fucking shit."

"Don't move," Sam started to say, moving in closer.

Evans ignored him, pushing him aside as he sat up, still clutching his head.

"Troy." Andy tried, reaching for Evans to steady him.

"Fuck off," Evans said grumpily, shaking off Andy's supporting hand. "I can get up myself. Where's that little asshole Barton? I'm going to repay the headache he gave me."

Next to me, Natasha was biting her lip to contain her amusement. Sam and Andy looked more aggravated that amused. I stood back and let Evans climb to his own shaky feet.

"We have Loki," Natasha filled in as Evans started to storm off. "Base wants him back ASAP."

"Then why are we fucking standing here?" Evans snapped. "Let's go. Andy, you wait here for clean up."

Evans really had his cranky pants on right now. I couldn't blame him though. I was shitty enough about the crack over the head I'd gotten.

Andy and Sam were both smart enough to keep their mouths shut. Natasha stepped back as Evans stomped past her. He still didn't look too steady on his feet so I quickly caught up. I didn't need his ire turned to me or him falling over.

It was a silent walk back to the Quinjet for all of us. Steve was standing on the ramp, helmet off and rigid with tension. Tony was off to the side, helmet off and looking away from us,

Catching a glimpse of Loki behind Steve sent my rage into overdrive. Loki was sitting back on one of the chairs staring straight ahead. He didn't acknowledge our presence at all, which only fuelled my anger. I needed to punch something and Loki's face was looking like a marvelous target right now.

I took three angry steps to Loki before Sam grabbed me from behind. Evans had me by the arm and his grip was like iron.

"No." Evans tone left no room for argument. "Go fly us back to base."

I was clenching my jaw so hard it was hurting. I could feel ice crystals forming on my hands in my growing fury. No one's grip loosened on me. Out of the corner of my eye, Natasha looked ready to intervene in a painful way.

"Kari."

My name from Evans came out as a warning.

Sometimes I really fucking hated being the well behaved one. I wanted nothing more than to punch Loki until my knuckles bleed. Instead, I shrugged Evans grip off.

"I'm going to fly," I said through my gritted teeth. "Buckle in."

Steve opened his mouth to say something. I didn't give him a chance. I stormed past, narrowly missing running into Tony. At least Tony had the good sense to get out of my way.

Stubbs must have heard the entire exchange. He'd already had everything powered up by the time I walked to the cockpit. He wordlessly switched the controls over to me.

We were lifting off before the last ass hit the seat. I'm sure Andy swore at me but I was too busy on taking off as fast as possible. It was a crazy fast ascent. Even Stubbs looked a little green next to me. The entire plane was silent until we became level.

"You're bleeding," Stubbs said under his breath.

I glanced down to the shoulder where the arrow had glanced me. It wasn't much of a cut but it was still sluggishly bleeding.

"Fuck sake," I cursed as I reached up to probe it. The gentle poke only made it bleed more. I really hoped Barton hadn't been a complete asshole and used one of his poisoned arrow tips. He had a few nasty ones. One was coated in an anticoagulant agent. Even a small cut from it could cause you a lot of problems. If it embedded in you, even in an unimportant place it could make you bleed to death. I doubted Clint would do that to me but this sucker was bleeding a lot for something that felt insignificant.

"Giving the controls to you," I said to Stubbs, hitting the switches to do so.

Climbing out of my seat, Natasha was instantly at my side, peering at my shoulder.

"It's not deep," I explained, leaning to the side so she could get a better look. "It's still bleeding though."

Natasha wrinkled her nose as she gave it a poke. I flinched at the pain flaring at her much harder poke than mine.

"Agent Romanoff," Stubbs interrupted her prodding. "Director Fury wants to speak to you."

Natasha looked ready to go tell Stubbs that Fury could shove it up his ass. Hearing the conversation, Evans was on his feet and making his way over to me.

"Go, I'll deal with this," Evans said gruffly.

Poor Evans. If we didn't have so many people in here, I'd give him a big hug. I knew he liked Clint a lot. I wasn't the only one this was affecting deeply. I was terrified when Clint had a weapon pointed at my face. Evans would have felt the same with a gun pressed into his head.

I didn't argue. I dropped down into the communications seat so Evans could get a better look at everything. Undoing the velcro on my body armor, I caught Tony looking at me.

"Body armor works a treat." I hadn't spoken to him since our last meeting where he'd dumped this in my lap. I'm sure Pepper had kept him updated with my injuries though.

"It looks like we need to put wider shoulders on it," Tony said with a small quirk of his lips.

Next to me, Evans made a noise between a laugh and a scoff as he helped get my body armor off. I was purposely keeping my back to Loki.

"You two know each other?" Steve was out of my line of vision. His tone wasn't very happy right now.

"It's a long story," I said with a wince as Evans pulled my body armor over my head.

Natasha said something from the cockpit. A second later, Fury's voice filled the Quinjet.

"Has he said anything?"

I fought the urge to look back at Loki. He'd been silent the entire ride.

"Not a word." Natasha sounded suspicious.

"Just get him here, we're low on time."

No shit Fury. Like we didn't know that already.

I caught Natasha's reflection as she was rolling her eye. At least I wasn't the only one who wasn't impressed by Fury right now.

"I don't like it."

This time I craned my head so I could see Steve. His jaw was set and he looked very pissed off right now.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

I snorted at Tony's humor. It seems I wasn't the only one he gave nicknames too. It was a good distraction for the moment listening to the two. Evans had moved away and come back with the first aid kit. No doubt I was about to get something that stung like a motherfucker to irrigate the wound.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

Coming from Steve, that was a big thing. This was a guy who could punch through walls like they were made of tissue paper.

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony couldn't go a minute without cracking a joke.

I shook my head at his bad joke. Technically Steve was in his 90's so I could see where Tony got his ammunition for jokes from.

"What's your thing? Pilates?" Tony continued.

The only reason I didn't laugh was Evans decided to dump as much chlorhexidine into my shoulder. I was too busy writhing at the burning liquid

"What?" Steve's confusion was genuine. He was also starting to sound annoyed.

I caught Natasha glancing at the back, frowning at the conversation. She gave me a questioning look. I could only return it with a one shouldered shrug. She'd be much better in the back right now to defuse the potential blow up that could occur between Tony and Steve.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things," Tony's tone was still casual and light. "Y'know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Both me and Evans shot Tony an exasperated look. If Steve punched him, I wasn't going to rescue him and his smart mouth.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve was sounding more pissed off with every word coming out of his gritted teeth.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

The joking tone was gone from Tony's voice. I wouldn't argue with his statement though. Fury was the spy of all spies. Fury did what he thought was right. That didn't always work out for the people underneath him.

I squirmed as Evans put down a dressing on my wound. He was quick about it and had it taped down before a crack of thunder shook the entire Quinjet.

Outside, lightning was all around us. It lit the inside of the Quinjet up. The following thunder made everyone jumped.

The storm had come from nowhere. How the hell did Stubbs not see this and fly around it?

"Where's this come from?" Natasha echoed my own thoughts. She was looking out the windscreen of the Quinjet. I could see her own confusion, along with looking on edge. If Natasha hadn't seen it. It really had come from nowhere.

"What's the matter?" Steve's mildly taunting tone made me look over my shoulder. He was facing Loki. "Scared of a little lightning?"

Loki was looking up at the ceiling with a pained expression on his face. He didn't look scared, more annoyed and apprehensive right now.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki's dry tone had us all looking at him in surprise.

I was about to open my mouth with a smart ass answer when a sudden thud sent the Quinjet lurching. Whatever it was sounded like it came from the roof at a high velocity. The sudden turbulence nearly put Evans on his ass. I grabbed onto him before he could fall over.

Stubbs sped the Quinjet up. The sudden movement nearly toppled me out of my seat. I could hear alarms going off in the cockpit. On unsteady feet, I clambered back to the cockpit. Natasha was more than happy to change places with me.

A blast of freezing air from the back distracted me. I looked back to see Tony opening the ramp.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I yelled over the noise.

Steve asked the exact same question, minus the fuck.

As usual, Tony sauntered off doing his own thing. He got three steps from the back of the ramp before another thud sent the Quinjet lurching once again. Tony went flying backward, straight in Steve sending the pair sprawling into the seats.

I caught sight of a mess of blonde hair and a red cape as he stormed over and grabbed Loki by the throat. Neither Sam or Evans made it to them before they were gone as quickly as they came.

"Was that?" I didn't get a chance to finish asking the question. Natasha wasn't with me in New Mexico and that guy looked a hell of a lot like Thor. The Quinjet was really unhappy about the sudden appearance and departure of our guests. I turned all my concentration back to the controls. A whir of mechanics and Tony was gone off the ramp as well.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha called out.

I was still struggling with the controls so I couldn't look back to see what was going on. Whatever storm Thor had summoned had a hell of a lot of electrical activity and the Quinjet was not happy about it. I was actively trying to ignore the nagging fear creeping back into my mind. I didn't another crash or to even think about that right now.

Steve was saying something else to Natasha. It was mostly drowned out by the wind whipping around.

"These guys come from legends, they're basically gods," Natasha sounded extremely exasperated.

"There's only one god, Ma'am." I could barely hear Steve. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

I looked back to see Steve jumping off the ramp of the Quinjet.

"Did he just jump out without a parachute?" Stubbs asked as he caught my eye.

"Quite possibly," I said with a heavy sigh. "Now we're going to have to go find them. Get on the horn and let someone know."

So much for our getting back to base quickly. We were somewhere in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, still in German airspace. We were still hours away from the Helicarrier.

Stubbs did as he was told. I circled the Quinjet back, putting up the ramp as I went. Sam and Evans were both clinging onto the harness in their respective seats looking green.

"Sorry. Strap in harder," I apologized before I making the stomach churning turn I was going to have to do. For extra precaution, I pulled my harness a little tighter. Next to me, Stubbs looked like he was really regretting his decision to volunteer for this.

Natasha dove for the communications chair at my warning. I gave her exactly 30 seconds before hitting the brakes and making a near 90 degree turn.

Even I felt sick at the sharp and abrupt turn. We were still doing speed, despite me hitting the brakes making it even worse. I was very grateful for the inertia negation in the Quinjet. We were pulling some serious G force right now. I gritted my teeth as I felt the control stick shake under my hand.

"Do not fuck with me I am not in the mood for you to break down," I muttered through my gritted teeth. This day was not going to plan at all.

The Quinjet stopped shaking a second later. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I started the rapid descent. We were going to have to scan a very large area and didn't have any time for this bullshit.

Our navigation said we were somewhere in the Bavarian Forest, not far from the Czech Border. Luck was on our side, as I made a sweeping turn over a mountain area. Something light up a huge area. The resounding shockwave from it hit the Quinjet, even 100 feet up. At least it didn't send us careening around. It did give my arm a workout keeping us level.

"I think we found them," Natasha said dryly.

I had a look at one of the external cameras. I could clearly see Steve and Tony standing with the character who I was sure was Thor. They'd levelled the forest around them for at least a mile.

"They even gave us a landing pad. How generous of them," I said sarcastically. I was so done with this shit already. I couldn't see Loki anywhere.

I'd kill all three of them if they let Loki get away.

The landing was easy at least. Once the Quinjet landed, I ripped my own harness off and stormed out the back. Natasha was hot on my heels looking ready to strange someone. As we got closer, my earlier suspicion was confirmed. It was Thor in his glorious red cape and armor. He was absently twirling his massive hammer in his hand. Tony had his face plate up and Steve was looking sheepish.

Much to my relief, Loki was sitting behind Thor.

"Are we done measuring dicks?" I called out across the ravaged landscape. "Because we really don't have time for this shit."

Authors Note

Sorry for the delay everyone. Life, work and Uni are leaving me tired, stressed and with little time or desire to write. The only reason I got this chapter out today is that it's a billion degrees too hot to ride and I had the day off work in some sad circumstances. I came home to find one of the older broodmares dead in her paddock yesterday, leaving behind her 3 month old foal. I've stayed at home to keep an eye on little Jolene making sure she's eating and drinking. She's my inlaw's horse and they're away on a cruise in New Zealand, so it was just me to deal with it all.

I also decided to split this up from the much longer chapter I first wanted. It will probably flow a bit better with the break to be honest. For some reason, I feel like I struggle writing in the movie plots. I don't like repeating a lot of dialogue and action from the movies. If you guys are anything like me, you've seen the Avengers so many times you can recite it off by heart.

I'm hoping the next chapter will be out in a month or so. No promises though. I promise I'll never abandon this story though. I even joked to my husband after a difficult ride on one of my horses that I'm leaving the entire plot outlined on what the final outcome is in the story in my will, so people would know how it ends. But hopefully Fuzzy starts behaving a little more so that doesn't happen.

Until next time. Hopefully a little quicker than before.