Summary: After surviving a hit and run that should have killed her, Riley McLawson now has unusual powers from her near death experience. S.H.I.E.L.D sends the team to recruit her against a new enemy. Only along the way they learn that Riley isn't the enemy but someone else in the group is. Eventual Clint/OC, Steve/Darcy.
From The Shadows
Chapter 5
Song – Lacrymosa – By Evanescence
Out on your own,
Cold and alone again.
Can this be what you really wanted, baby?
Blame it on me,
Set your guilt free.
Nothing can hold you back now.
Now that you're gone,
I feel like myself again.
Grieving the things I can't repair and willing...
"So Loki... gave it to us, so nobody tries to attack us from another world. Is that it?" Clint asked not believing it.
"Quite, a big probability. I am surprised by my brother has appeared. How was he? Did he look hurt? Healthy?"
"He looked the same as when he tried to take over the world, big guy." Clint clapped Thor on the back. He felt it was taught.
Thor looked at Riley then, her face was blank as she spoke to them in a hard voice.
"I'm going to question Lily more about Viktor". She said flatly and walked off leaving them in the hallway.
Thor looked at Clint with worried eyes, "How is my niece?"
"Strong, very strong." Was all he said and followed after his friend?
"You may not be able to talk to her!" Clint called after her, running to keep up with Riley's brusque steps. "She's pretty banged up, likely unconscious and could die."
"I'm going to fucking make he talk." A black cloud seemed to float over top of her. Anger was radiating out of her pores.
Riley strode towards the room where Lily was being held, her face was bruised and cut littered her neck along with a burn on her right wrist. Her right eye was black while her nose looked bloody.
"What does Viktor want with the nuclear weapons?" She asked harshly.
Lily laughed "As if I'm going to fucking tell yo-" She was cut off by Riley's right fist punching her in the face.
"DON'T FUCKING PISS ME OFF!"
Lily's face was turned away from her, a rivulet of blood flowed from her slack mouth. She coughed and returned her head to its previous placement, shooting her daughter a venomous glare.
"You'll have to kill me, because I'm not telling you anything." She rasped.
Riley smiled a slow stretch of lips that caused a flicker of caution in Lily's bloodshot eyes. "Don't say so that quickly mother. I've got quite a bit of... persuasion."
Lily stilled "What do you mean, by saying you have persuasion?" She asked feeling weary.
Riley smiled then, a dark, spine chilling smile which made Lily cringe.
"That I will make you're life a living hell, if you don't tell me where Viktor is along with the weapons." She said coldly.
Lily sneered "Yeah, like fucking what?"
"I'm not afraid of death or torture." Riley leaned in close to the other woman, so she could be the only one who heard what she whispered in her ear. From the corner of her eye, she saw Clint lean in curiously, but she lowered her voice to the barest minimum.
"You may not be afraid of those, but what will you do without your drugs? Alcohol? Sex? Could you stay sane without them? Would you lose your mind and tell me everything that I want? That's what they do to you, you know? They're going to come and bite you in the ass dearest mother."
Lily blanched, her face turning ghostly white while her icy blue eyes looked at Riley with defiance.
"I'd like to see you try, whore". She spat.
Riley closed her eyes briefly before opening them and Lily let out a terrifying scream of horror.
"Scared now?"
Riley's eyes were entirely purple, no pupil. That wouldn't be scary on its own; however, the dark veins trailing from the corner of her eyes said another thing. The expression didn't help either. It showed pure hatred to the one lying, almost dead, on the hospital bed. She couldn't escape, hands and feet tied to the headboards, so she thrashed and screamed, also crying out in pain from jolting her life threatening wounds.
"JESUS MOTHERFUCKING GOD, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!" Lily screamed terror in her voice as she tried to block the images that Riley was showing her.
Riley looked at her coldly "Had enough, yet mother?" She asked sarcastically.
She trembled "Please don't kill me, please, god have mercy" She begged.
Riley laughed then "Is that what Senator Franklin De Roy begged? Linda Evans? Carter Johnson? You don't the meaning of mercy". She spat disgusted.
"You don't know a thing about me!" The wrecked woman screamed. "I threw you out; you can't tell me what I think!" She was panting, and beginning to become delirious.
"Tell me what I want to know mother." Her voice had gone calm, cold, but it was almost, actually more, frightening as it had been before.
Riley stormed to where Lily lay cowering on her bed and grabbed her by the shoulders roughly.
"Tell me where they are and why you hated me so much. Why did you hate me?
"Because you ruined my life!" Lily screeched, arching against the bonds. "I was young; my life was one of the parties. Then you came along and ruined it! I had to take care of some drooling, ugly, unintelligent thing, instead of living my life how I wanted. The doctors told me I couldn't drink, smoke. I had people watch me. If I only got rid of you, but that damn father of yours was persuasive."
Riley felt surprise come over her. Loki had wanted her? But why?
"What do you mean by persuasive, Lily?" She asked carefully.
Lily scoffed "The bastard convinced me to keep you, but then I got fed up of being treated like a child and tried to get rid of you. That was when he got pissed off".
"Like how?"
"He left, but promised to be back for you. Must, have had to figure out some stuff." She began to laugh. "So I fucked you up. He wouldn't want a broken child like you right? Well that plan had fucking failed since supposedly he's back."
Something in Riley snapped right then, she wasn't a violent person but Lily had really pissed her off.
"Yeah he's back and he's pissed off as hell at you." She said with a dark grin.
Riley looked at her then "Let me know if you change your mind" and walked out of the room and past Clint, she dreaded seeing what he thought of her interrogation techniques.
"Riley wait!"
She listened and halted at her next step, taking a deep breath and waited for Clint to turn her around.
"Yes?" She asked, cocking her head to the side as if she were curious of why he would call her.
"You were amazing in there!" He exclaimed to Riley's great surprise. "Man and I thought I was good at interrogation." He laughed, but soon stopped after noticing Riley had not joined in. he opened his eyes to find her staring at him, open mouthed and shocked.
"You... you don't believe it was cruel? Disgusting?"
"Cruel, hell ya! But that's the good thing about it. You don't want to know half the things some people do to get information. I'll let it go since you've only been around for a few days." He grinned at her.
Riley smiled "Thanks". She said quietly.
"Riley?" Natasha's voice called out, making the smile slide off her face "Time for team training."
"Hey, last thing I knew. Riley wasn't the only one on the team." Clint called back, responding for the other. The least interaction between the two the better.
Riley followed after Natasha, her black converse lightly hitting the floor as they entered a gym where the others were.
"Ok what the hell is going on?" Tony asked no one in particular.
"What are you going on about Tony?" Clint said, walking in behind the two redheads.
"Nobody's telling me anything! And I can't find out by hacking either because it's not in the files."
Natasha glared at him as she stood in front of them "The council has asked Fury to see if we work together as a team, in pairs and individually." She said as Fury entered along with Agent Hill.
"Alright people, first you'll be all go through an obstacle course."
The course was dreadful. Riley felt like she was going to die, then come back to life to die again. Her heart was going to beat out of her chest.
Next was flexibility. Here, she did quite a bit better, being naturally able to bend in any way. They quickly dismissed her after noticing how well she was in that certain category.
Then came the final test for all of them team work. They were led into a pitch, black room armed with only their trademark weapons.
"Remember work as a team". Fury's voice called over the com.
"Ok". Riley said to herself and lit up a dark, purple and black fireball just as gun shots ran out.
Nobody knew where it came from, so Riley walked around cautiously shining her natural light around the room, another shot came out, and they all ducked, a pang coming from the bullet hitting the Captains shield, where he protected it from hitting Bruce.
"We need to group up." Tony said through the speakers of his suit.
"Stark with me, Natasha you're with Clint, Riley with Thor and Bruce." Steve shouted out.
They all nodded and Tony took out one of the shooters as Natasha shot at one.
"Riley, shoot a fireball that way, I hear the air shift in that direction." Thor called with his super hearing, pointing to his right. Riley did as he said and fired, lighting up one of the guns. With another, more powerful blast, fit for destruction, she put it aflame.
Arrows, bullets, lightning and fireballs hit the targets with perfect movements as they worked together.
"That's enough". Fury called out.
They all put now their weapons, and turned to the direction Fury's voice appeared. "Very good teamwork. I expect you all to work that well in the middle of battle." Everyone nodded.
"You're all dismissed." Sighs of relief filled the room and they all shuffled to the locker rooms.
"Man, I don't know about you but that was weird". Steve said as they all got ready to go to the showers.
Tony rolled his eyes "No, you don't say". He said sarcastically.
Natasha grabbed her bag "Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm going to shower" and stalked off.
"Man, who pissed her off?"
"Isn't she always pissed off?" Tony wondered sarcastically aloud. Everyone chuckled softly.
"Well I'm not dealing with that problem." Tony continued after he caught his breath.
Clint shook his head in amusement as Steve spoke "Rest for a while guys, then we'll search for Viktor." He said with a grimace.
Everyone nodded and Riley headed towards her room when she heard a voice calling to her.
"Riley".
The tone in Fury's voice didn't sound promising, and Riley had to hold back yelling in rage.
She merely raised an eyebrow.
The director sighed audibly. "Your mother had escaped... with Loki."
Riley blinked not quite she'd heard right, her mother had gotten away with...
Loki…. that bastard.
"How? Did they hurt anyone?" She asked worried.
"They killed seven agents"
"Oh fuck..." She muttered, shaking her head. Nothing shocked her anymore.
"We think they're heading to meet Viktor." Fury explained, scratching his brow. "Assemble the Avengers; we put a tracking chip in your mother. Tell Tony to figure it out."
Clint nodded and he and Riley went to find Tony with Pepper in the lab.
"Lily escaped but we got a tracking chip on her". Clint told him.
Tony nodded "I'm on it, now Robin Hood." And got up the satellite signals so they could see where Loki and Lily were heading.
"They're in an abandoned town in the south of Italy, called St Mary's town" He called out to Fury.
Fury looked at them all and nodded.
"Suit up".
Riley put on the suit that Tony had made her and was seriously impressed, the suit was fireproof, black leather with dark purple flames on the arms and thighs, which glowed. She had put her two knifes in two holsters on her upper thighs while she had slipped another knife in her right boot. The boots were black leather with low wedges meaning that could walk without tripping over.
She looked at herself in the mirror and felt strange, the woman looking back at her, looked dangerous, lethal with dark red hair and grey eyes.
Riley knew that she might have to kill Lily; she hated her for what she had put her through and killed innocent people along with Loki… Her father.
She shook her head and walked out of her room, not before giving Tom a cuddle though.
The walk to the aircraft was brutal, she had no desire to go, but knew she couldn't put her team down. After a deep breath, she stepped onto the plane, finding everybody already there and ready. Sooner, rather than later, they were in the air, following the tracking signal Tony had brought up.
"She's in Russia right now." Tony spoke up, a dot flashing on the screen before him. "Probably up there to meet Viktor."
"Where exactly in Russia, are they Stark?" Natasha asked coolly.
Tony glanced at the signal and went pale "Fucking, Chernobyl that's where."
"What's so bad about that place?" Riley asked puzzled. "Is it dangerous?"
Bruce glanced at her then "It where that nuclear power plant had a meltdown in Ukraine". He said worry on his face.
The blood drained from her face "Oh shit".
"So if we go there it's likely we'll get cancer?" Steve asked.
Tony looked down again "They're in an abandoned town in the south of Italy, called St Mary's town" He called out to Steve.
"So they're not in Chernobyl then?" Clint asked.
"I don't know this is weird." Tony began to quickly tap on the laptop keys. "Loki must be teleporting them at all kinds of places to get us off their trail."
Riley sighed as Tony began trying to get through all the false trails.
"Riley".
"Oh fuck off". She hissed.
"RILEY!"
"WHAT?" Riley screamed.
Clint jumped back at the frustrated scream, a look of surprise coming over his face, before smoothing it over to his impassive facade."
"We've got the right trail. We're getting ready for action." A guilty feeling spread through Riley, and she sighed and pressed her shaking hand to Clint's shoulder.
"I'm sorry; I'm just a bit on edge."
The archer nodded in understanding. "It's okay, I was nervous my first day on the field too."
Riley looked at him, then with curiosity. "How long have you been doing this for then?" She asked stunned.
Clint shrugged "Five years". He said quietly.
She nodded thinking of all the people Clint had likely killed.
"Welcome to Italy".
The plane had landed in a rural area, away from curious eyes. They all jumped out of the aircraft and huddled together.
"They're just a couple kilometres from here. Clint, Natasha since you're the best runners, you'll be going by foot with me. Riley on Tony's back, and Bruce with Thor." They all nodded at Steve's orders and began complying.
Riley got on Tony's back, hoping to god she didn't fall off, Thor had gone with Bruce.
"I see them" Natasha said on the com.
"What are they doing?" Tony asked.
"Looking at a book"
"This is either going to be easy as pie, or something is fucked up about that book." Tony commented snidely.
"I want to get there and talk to them before doing anything." Riley told Tony, pleadingly.
Tony's armoured head turned towards her and a chuckle came through the speaker. "Whatever you say sweet cheeks, I can get us there in the speed of light. Hold tight." Thank god she'd listened because the brunette was not kidding.
They went over to where Loki, Lily and a tall, dark haired man with cold blue eyes were looking at a book.
"WAIT!" Riley called out to them, her movements confident.
The man who she assumed to be Viktor laughed "So this is the infamous daughter of The Outsider and Lily, how unfortunate we have to meet under these... circumstances". He said looking at her.
Riley arched an eyebrow at him "I'm not"
"Ah, now what do you mean little girl." The big man said teasingly, causing Riley's vision to narrow.
"Me, and my teammates, are going to fuck you up." The blue eyes, which were mocking before, now glared at her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Loki shift nervously, and put that in the back of her mind to analyse later.
Viktor sighed "I was afraid you'd say that, no matter".
He threw a fireball at her.
Riley dodged the fireball by doing a cartwheel over it; the fireball hit a wooden crate instead.
"I'm not like my charming parents if you've noticed".
The man growled and flung another ball of fire, missing once again.
It was now her turn.
Multiple purple spheres flew through the air, and Viktor dodges every one, to Riley's annoyance; however seemed to have a lot of trouble.
A cry came from behind her and she quickly ducked. Her mothers face was inches away from hitting her face, and an arrow came out of nowhere to lodge itself into her arm. Blood spurted out from the wound and Lily shouted in outrage.
"You fucking son of a bitch, you permanently-" She couldn't finish the sentence since Riley returned the punch she was almost given. She turned around and saw Viktor now shooting at Tony, who was immune to the fire and simply blasted him with his reactor, which slowed him down immensely.
Bruce had gone hulk and was now tossing Viktor's men aside like dolls, while Natasha was using her guns, Thor was using his hammer and Steve was using his fists.
Riley avoided Lily's punch and kicked her around the face; Lily smiled at her then and took out a vial with a black liquid.
Lily smiled at her evilly and drunk it.
Nothing happened at first, and Riley thought she may have imagined it. But moments later, her body began to change. Black spots started forming near her forehead, then travelled downwards, over her face, down her arm, into the neck of her shirt and finally to her feet, that were noticeable through the shoes she wore.
She didn't have any idea what this substance did to her mother, but she was rightfully afraid to find out.
Clint shot an arrow through one of the men and made his way to Riley as Lily started to choke and blood spurted out of her mouth, nose and eyes.
"EVERYONE DUCK!" Steve yelled getting behind his shield.
Clint grabbed Riley as she started towards Lily.
"Help"
"The team turned to find Natasha caught in Viktor's grip, arms trapped behind her back and knife held threateningly to her throat. Viktor was yelling something at Tony, who had dropped his arm, at loss of what to do.
Only Clint, Riley, and Fury knew about Natasha's betrayal. Immediately, Riley knew this was trap, and screamed as loud as she could, for everyone to halt.
"Nobody move! This is staged! Nobody fucking shoot!" Clint, who'd been ready to fire another arrow, realized the situation and joined in on Riley's warning.
"She's right, nobody do anything!"
"WHAT, CLINT FOR FUCK'S SAKE HELP ME!" Natasha begged her lover to help her out of the mess she'd gotten herself into.
Clint looked at her with unemotional eyes, he'd saved her life, been her partner, had deluded himself into thinking that she had may have loved him.
Only to have it blow up in his face.
Before Clint could speak, Viktor shoved a vial filled with a strange looking green liquid into her mouth.
It had the same effect as the one Lily drank; the only difference was her skin turning green rather than black. The others stared in horror as Natasha shape shifted in front of them; he scared expression turning into one of cruelty. Blood trickled from her grinning mouth, staining her outfit, streams also coming from her mouth and nose, exactly like Lily.
Her blue eyes turned demonic, red as the blood leaking from them and shaped into slits.
During this time, nobody paid attention to the demi-god in the back, who hadn't thought nor caused trouble since the team got there.
"Oh shit, this can't be good". Tony said looking at their former comrade.
Riley lit up a fireball just as Lily appeared.
"Now I will summon the almighty god of the dead, Zanos" Viktor exclaimed glee in his voice.
"Hey, guys any idea on what to do?" Clint said.
Loki turned to look at them then and his eyes rested on Clint.
"Run"
As Riley, Clint, and Steve ran; Thor and Tony flew; and the hulk stayed back to hold the enemies at bay, Clint couldn't help but exclaim.
"What is with the fucking gods and demons? Like our day could get any fucking worse. These things shouldn't even exist!" He was panting at every word, quickly becoming out of breath while he ran. Tony and Thor swooped down to give the humans a hand, while Steve continued running with the stamina of a super soldier.
Clint posed a little bit of a fuss on Thor's back, but complied nonetheless. "I mean a potion to turn them into Demons, what's up with that?"
"What I'm wondering is, why was Natasha with them in the first place?" The question came as a punch to the head. Clint dreaded explaining to the other's Natasha's betrayal. However, he thinks they'd likely be angrier by them lying.
Riley looked at her adoptive uncle "I promise Thor, we'll explain everything when we get away from here". She promised.
At that minute, the sky darkened to a deep, blood like red with the floor suddenly heaving.
"GET IN THE FUCKING JET, NOW!" Steve yelled and they ran in, Bruce right behind them.
Clint collapsed onto the bench next to Riley, both breathing heavily.
"Well, explain?" Tony asked.
Riley took a deep breath, and then let it out shakily, composing herself to be able to tell the story without getting teary eyes.
"When I was- I was interviewing my mother she -huh- said something strange. About a ginger lady in S.H.I.E.L.D telling her secrets. As soon as she said "ginger", I knew it was Natasha, since you, Tony, always call her that." She paused to gather her bearing while the others kept silent, no change except a widening of their eyes. She felt warmth envelop her hand, and looked up to find Clint reassuring her with a soft smile.
"I went to see Fury right away, and he said to keep it a secret, that's why we couldn't tell you. Since then, we've tried to look like we didn't know anything. Now it's all gone to ruins, we didn't stop her in time."
There was a stunned silence before Tony spoke "At least Shadow girl here isn't as naive as some of us are. Hey Fury?" He growled.
Steve sighed "Stark..." He started.
"I fucking knew she couldn't be trusted after that stunt in New Orleans, I fucking knew it and trying to steal my projects. Then this". He spat.
Bruce started to speak "It's no one's fault Tony".
"So what do we do now?"
"We defeat them, that's the only way." Tony told them, standing up. "We're the Avengers. We beat Loki and his army of aliens. We can beat him again, with Viktor and his army of Demons."
To let you blame it on me,
And set your guilt free.
I don't want to hold you back now love.
I can't change who I am.
Not this time, I won't lie to keep you near me.
And in this short life, there's no time to waste on giving up.
My love wasn't enough.
And you can blame it on me,
Just set your guilt free, honey.
I don't want to hold you back now love.