10 bucks on the girl
A/N sorry this has been a bit late :-( exams and all that!
Tony stares at his phone, for once lost for words. It certainly explained why Clint hadn't turned up for work his morning, which he was very mad about, but this made him even more mad.. He was going to give the Avengers their new kit that he had spend FOUR whole months designing and making, and keeping a secret. He was excited about this he almost spilled the beans several times, only just keeping a lid on it.
He pouts to himself. And now Clint had to go and get himself arrested! For blowing up a train station, no less! He knew Clint hated train stations, and trains, but he didn't know he hated them that much.
Tony puts his phone back in his pocket, and walks back through the double doors to where the rest of the team wait, scattered around the large, expansive room.
Bruce looks up when he walks back in, but Natasha is the first to speak.
"Did Fury know what has happened to Clint?" She looks expectantly at Tony.
"Yes,actually, and I'm not too pleased about it." Tony jogs leisurely down the steps into the middle of the room.
"What happened then?" Steve asks, turning from where he is standing by the window. Tony sighs.
"He got himself arrested." The reactions to this are mixed. Natasha sits back and rolls her eyes, as though she would expect nothing less from him. Bruce chuckles, Thor shrugs and Steve frowns.
"What did he do?"
"He blew up a train station." Steve's eyes widen.
"Do we know why?"
"Well, apparently it wasn't him who pushed the button on the bow, but definitely him who shot the arrow in the first place. He obviously has a licence for the bow, so that shouldn't get him in trouble, but frankly I think the police will be so baffled by the fact that he used a bow, rather than, you know, a gun, they will probably just listen to whatever crazy explanation Fury has to offer and let him off. No big deal."
"But it is a big deal!" Steve says, walking over the middle of the room. "What if the press get hold of this, and work out he is an Avenger? Surely then every bad story that has ever been about any of us will be brought into the limelight again?"
Natasha just smiles.
"I don't think you know Nick Fury as well as you think you do." She tells him.
"What does that mean?" Steve creases his forehead up with confusion.
"I means, dear Cap, that Fury has complete control over the press if he wants, and basically means we have nothing to worry about apart from what I am going to say to Clint when he finally gets his sorry behind here."
Bruce laughs again.
When the double doors open, Fury comes in, followed by Clint.
"Sorry guys." Clint says, looking at his scuffed leather shoes.
"Would you like to offer any explanation for blowing up a train station? Not the story you told the police, but the real one?" Tony raises his eyebrows at Clint. "We're not impressed, Barton."
"What he means by that, Clint, is that he is not impressed because you mucked up his carefully timetabled day." Bruce reassures him. Clint laughs slightly.
"Well, I was helping a friend. She was being mugged, and I helped her. I slipped on some water, and the bow slid to the feet of somebody who I certainly would never trust with explosives again. He pressed the button, and blew up a wall of the station. The only thing hurt was a backpack. End of." He shrugs slightly.
"I was managing fine on my own!" A protest comes from a space all of them had previously thought empty. They blink, and suddenly a small girl is standing there, arms folded, frowning at Clint. None of them recognise her.
Clint just rolls his eyes.
"Right, because lying face down on wet tiles watching your backpack being stolen was managing fine?"
She glares at him, then vanishes. A collective shock goes around the room. Steve taps his forehead, and pinches himself to check he's not dreaming. Thor laughs, and nods, impressed.
"Um.. Clint.. Your friend just vanished.." Tony trails off, a bit too shocked to speak.
Clint doesn't look too worried though.
"Yeah. She does that. Lena, it's rude." He stares at the space.
The girl appears again, smiling sheepishly. She lifts her hand slightly.
"Hi. I'm Eleanor."
"Clint believes she would be a suitable Avenger." Fury tells them. Eleanor opens her mouth, then glowers at Clint.
"That's why you helped me? To get me on the team?" Clint rolls his eyes at her words.
"I thought you would have picked the thoughts out of my head already."
"Come on, you know I don't like to read your mind. Their minds though..." She turns her head towards the other Avengers. "Banner, you are wondering if I'm actually a telepath. Yes, yes I am. Rogers is wondering how such a small girl could be an Avenger( Steve goes red), Tony is sulking because he was going to show you guys something, Romanov is wondering why Clint didn't tell her about me, don't worry ,I swore him to secrecy. I don't party surly want to be a super hero. And Thor, well I think you need to find Jane and tell her how you feel."
There's a stunned silence. "Correct me if I'm wrong." Eleanor says slowly. But Tony smiles. He points his finger at her.
"I like you. You, my tiny friend, could be an Avenger." He gestures for her to follow him, and Steve splutters.
"She just read our minds. Is anybody the least bit worried about this?" But his words are ignored. The rest of the avengers, although still reeling from shock, follow Tony and Eleanor out the door towards the training room.
"So, Eleanor, what can you do?"
"Please, call me Lena. Telepath, fire hands, super super flexible, invisibility, force fields." She counts them off on her fingers. Tony nods enthusiastically, grinning as though Christmas has come early.
Thor speaks.
"I would like to fight you, girl of Midgard."
"Then go find Jane?" Lena smiles mischievously.
"Yes, then I will go find Jane." He laughs. Ah, Jane, wonderful Jane.
"Hey, lover boy. Snap out of out."
"No mortal can resist the might of Mjolnir!"
She raises her eyebrows.
"Let's see about that."
Off to the side, Tony speaks in an undertone to Bruce.
"Ten bucks on the girl."
"Deal."