Sorry for being slow on this one, Kyla and I are hard at work starting to put together our web show be plan to start filming hopefully today. I'll try to be quicker putting out chapters, I just got super distracted the past couple days.
For those who are interested in following me on twitter I have an account called JoyPearson and you'll find Kyla at MissKylaKy
Dedicated to Kyla, who has been waiting for a while for this chapter and I chose to be a troll and take the time to eat my chicken and watch and episode of Downton Abbey instead of post, MWAHAHAHAHAHA
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Sharon lurched over the toilet once more the wretch the last of the contents of her stomach into the bowl. She'd spent the better part of an hour vomiting since exiting the meeting. Angel held back her hair and stroked her back as Sharon continued to vomit.
It was just the two of them in the bathroom, Angel didn't say anything as Sharon continued to be sick, knowing there was nothing she could say to make it better for her friend. Sharon didn't say a word either, instead she crouched above the toilet as she waited for the last wave of nausea to abate; there was nothing left in her stomach to come back up.
"Let me help you to bed," Angel said, assisting Sharon to stand and move back into the room. She situated Sharon on the bed and went to fetch a bowl to keep nearby incase Sharon grew nauseous again.
While Angel busied herself with that, Sharon closed her eyes and shut out the outside world and start to fix her internal defenses and walls from the invading memories and images that flowed.
Another wave a nausea hit her as she felt the jabs of needles in her knuckles from the tests Stryker had done to measure the nerve pulses that were triggered when she absorbed a persons talent.
Her eyes flew open and she grabbed the bowl beside her and dry heaved into it, tears streaming from her eyes as he body worked to expel vomit that wasn't in her stomach.
There was a knock at the door, "Just a moment," Angel called as she waited for Sharon to quit dry heaving, "Want me to tell them to go away? Say the word and I'll tell them to go."
"See who it is," Sharon said hoarsely, turning so she sat at the edge of the bed and breathed deeply to try and maintain some composure for whoever was at the door. While she wished she was back at her cabin, she had no wish for anyone but Angel to see her in this weak state.
Angel opened the door and found Nick standing there. Her eyes widened, "Director."
"May I come in Ms. Stark?" Nick asked. Angel looked to Sharon who nodded; Nick came in and surveyed the scene and locked his eye on Sharon, "You're looking a little green around the gills Ms. Carver?"
"Is that so shocking?" Sharon asked, glaring at Fury who remained unaffected.
"Ms. Stark, I need a moment of privacy with Ms. Carver."
"I'm not going-"
"that was an order," Nick said, staring at Angel, who looked ready to manipulate him to allow her to stay.
"Do as he says Ang," Sharon said, Angel turned to look at her friend with concern, "I'll be alright, go."
Angel sighed and left the room, turning at the door and giving Nick a look, "Do anything to traumatize her more and you'll answer to me."
"Do anything to get out of leaving this room, Ms. Stark, and you'll answer to me." Nick said, unaffected by Angel's threat.
Once the door was closed, Nick walked over to Angel's bed and sat on the edge, opposite of Sharon, "I don't normally come to the quarters of others on the ship, I apologize if this seems intrusive."
"I know why you're here, and the answer is no."
"You know why I'm here but you don't know the question I'm about to ask," Nick said, pinning Sharon with a look, "You're the most powerful mutant to escape from Stryker. You are also the one he is most scared of and has tortured the most. Don't think we don't have a good idea of what happened to you."
"You might have a good idea of what happened to me, but I know exactly what happened in there, and you'll never understand it entirely unless you were in my place," Sharon said, her tone was deadpan but there was fire in her eyes, "The only way you'll get me on board is if you can guarantee Stryker's head on a silver platter. Because I can't promise you I won't try to kill him myself when I see him."
"Nearly seven years with him as a child would leave a person with a lot of vengeful thoughts," Fury said, "What if I can guarantee that if something were the Stryker at your hand that I and SHIELD could potentially turn a blind eye to it?"
"I don't want potential, I want definitive," Sharon said, refusing to budge.
"You know most people would run away if they were in your situation right now," Nick said, "And yet you're here negotiating the terms, I admire that."
"Well some people don't want to see the man who ruined their lives dead, they'd rather cower and hide. I won't lie and say I'm not fighting the urge to get as far away from here as possible. But the potential fact that I could see Stryker dead and save the lives of thousands of my kind is keeping me here."
Sharon stood, "I have information you want and the drive to see this mission through, will you agree to my terms Director?"
Nick stood and looked Sharon in the eye, "Do you have what it takes to kill a man?"
"He put me through hell for seven years and tried to have me killed. He's affectively ruined my life. Do what I have what it takes to kill a man? No. Do I have what it takes to kill William Stryker? He practically carved it into my human nature to do so. So yes, I have what it takes to kill Stryker."
*.*.*.*.*.*.
Angel paced outside the door anxiously, she wanted to know what was happening and was itching to charge in and demand she be let in to stay by Sharon's side. Sharon had never talked about her time with Stryker, and Angel never pushed. All she knew was that there was torture involved and it scarred Sharon greatly.
She was fighting the urge to attempt to listen at the door again when a hand reached out to grab her forarm and turn her around, "You'll run a hole in the ground if you keep pacing like that," Steve said, pulling Angel into a hug.
"Fury is in there talking to Sharon, I don't know what it's about but I'm dying to go in and find out."
"I imagine he's trying to get Sharon on board with this, she is our best bet of getting close to Stryker and taking him down."
"I suppose so, but it's already taking a tax on her body and I'm afraid of what this is doing to her mental health. I just spent the better part of the hour holding her hair back while she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet."
Steve nodded sympathetically, "I can only imagine what she's going through right now… Do you think she'll run away again?"
"If she does I'm going with her, there's now way I'm leaving her alone now. If there is a threat on mutants then I want to be with her when war breaks out."
"I hope the world has changed since World War II, this Stryker is reminding me of Hitler a little too much."
"Yes well at least with Hitler the jews were killed fast. Sharon was put through seven years of torture," Angel said, shaking her head, "God I hope she gets through this."
"I think she's stronger than you give her credit for,"
"Would you be strong having something so painful from your past shoved down your throat? Having to face your worst nightmare head on?"
"I would like to think I would," Steve said, "But I think Sharon needs friends more than she needs caretakers right now."
Angel was stubbornly quiet, not wanting to admit that Steve was probably right. It was hard not to be a mamma bear, it was practically written in her genetic code. She was getting ready to say something else when the door opened and Nick stepped out.
"Is she okay?" Angel asked, moving away from Steve so she could go back into the room to see Sharon, but Fury stopped her.
"Ms. Carver is resting now. Ms. Stark I would like for you go see Agent Barton and see that he doesn't break orders and try to do research on Stryker."
Angel was ready to argue, but from the look on Nick's face she knew she wouldn't get far. She sighed and left, leaving Steve and Nick waiting until she was out of hearing range before Nick turned to Steve.
"I will be putting Ms. Carver under your protection. She is planning to be the one to take down and kill Stryker."
"She's going to kill him?" Steve asked, feeling flabbergasted and shocked at the announcement.
"Can't necessarily blame her, but I'll need you to keep a close eye on her so no one hurts her and she doesn't hurt anyone else unless it's self-defense."
"But you're going to let her kill him?"
"It's her decision Captain, SHIELD wants Stryker brought in, either dead or alive. I've given Ms. Carver permission to deal with Stryker as she sees fit if she were to come face to face with him. But she is under your protection and I believe that means you should see to it that she doesn't get the opportunity to be confronted by Stryker face to face."
With that parting statement Nick left Steve, who took a moment to process the information and the subtleties that came with it.
*.*.*.*.*.*.
"You're not seriously going to stay down there and watch me!" Clint yelled down at Angel, who was sitting at her former desk in the newly renovated Tesseract lab.
"Well you won't let me up there and I have no way of getting up since you took down the rope I used the last time, so I'll stay down here."
"Oh for god sake, I'm not going to do anything! I don't need a babysitter!"
"Yeah well that's not what Fury thinks," Angel called out, resting her feet up on her desk as she continued to watch Clint up in the nest, "You should just let me up there, it's not like I haven't been there before."
"It's my nest, no girls allowed."
"You let Sharon in there!"
"Well unless Steve is okay with letting you get naked with me then by all means, come on up."
"Tempting as that sounds, I think Sharon might kill the both of us," Angel said with a chuckle, leaning back in her chair and getting comfortable.
He rolled his eyes and sat on his cot, "I have better eyes than you, I know you can hardly see me from down there."
"That's what you think." Angel said, opening a drawer and pulling out a pair of binoculars.
"Where the hell did those come from!"
"Did you really think you were the only one doing the watching in here?" Angel said, grinning cheekily as she watched Clint scowl at her through the binoculars.
"You both watched me too?"
"Like a hawk!" Angel said, giggling as Clint's scowl grew deeper.
"That's my job!" He yelled, feeling frustrated enough to start chucking books at the cheeky girl but chose instead to lie on his cot and ignore Angel as she cackled from below.
"Hey Barton!" She called.
Clint sighed and rolled his eyes, "Will you not let me have some peace at least?"
"But this is important!" Angel called, "It's I have an important message for you!"
"You haven't moved or answered any calls, how important could this message possibly be?"
"Incredibly important!" Angel called.
"Well what is it?"
Angel waited a few beats to try and keep her face straight, "You need to zip your pants!"
Clint sat up and glared at Angel, who fell off her chair laughing as he looked down at his pants and saw his zipper was, in fact, open, "The hell!" He cursed as he quickly zipped his pants and continued to glare at Angel, who was still on the floor laughing.
"The hell are you looking at my crotch for!"
"Just wanted to see what all the fuzz was about!" Angel said, pulling herself up and sitting in her chair again, "Oh man I wish I had a pic of your expression."
"How can you find so much amusement in badgering me right now? Shouldn't you be with Sharon?"
Angel sighed and shook her head, "The following days are going to be tough for everyone all around, I need to get my laughs in where I can so I don't lose it. I need to be strong for Sharon, it would do you a lot of good to do the same rather than sulk around."
Clint stayed still and quiet as he let that sink in. Then he started going into planning mode, going through his mental log in order to make some plans for the future.
I really should write more Clint and Angel scenes, I had so much fun writing them interacting, they bicker like brother and sister and it has me giggling as I write it out.
Feedback is always appreciated!
Alasiel