Chapter 3: The Hawk and the Widow
Tyler glared out of the window of her father's sleek, mahogany Audi R8 e-tron, an expensive sports convertible. The trees and bushes were whizzing by as Tony drove her to this "S.H.I.E.L.D." headquarters he told her about. Her arms were folded and her jaw was clenched as the minutes continued ticking toward the time she would have to say goodbye to him. Instead of, as she had hoped, him being with her at least some of the time while she trained, he told her to pack her bags because she was staying at the HQ for the duration of her training. After eight years of barely being able to talk to him he just decided to drop her off with people she didn't even know.
As the silence persisted, Tony's index fingers began tapping anxiously on the wheel. He glanced at his daughter and finally spoke. "C'mon, Ty, don't be like that," he pleaded.
Tyler's gaze remained fixated on the blur of foliage outside her window as she replied with anger, "Well, what do you want me to be like, huh?"
"I don't know," Tony replied sarcastically, "maybe a little more ecstatic that I got you an opportunity most people can only dream of their whole life, or something to that effect. At the very least grateful, it wasn't easy getting what you asked for at two o'clock in the morning."
"Oh, is that so?" Tyler growled and made eye contact with him for the first time since she found out where they were going. "You basically got me a daycare that you can just throw me in until you think I've been there long enough."
Tony returned his daughter's glare tenfold and said, with as much control as he could muster, "I don't appreciate you talking to me with that tone, Tyler. I did exactly what you asked, you will now have highly trained people that can help you learn to protect yourself, and when you're ready you can use the suit."
"Tony, I could care less if you told me that you were taking me to Japan to train with a whole entire school of ninja! I thought that I was going to be doing this with you. This was supposed to be something that you did with me, for at least a few hours a week. But, no, you're dropping me off with complete strangers."
Tony shrugged. "They're not strangers to me."
"But they are for me, Tony," Tyler snapped. "I'm going to be left alone with an organization of assassins. Of all things, I thought you said you didn't want me to put a target on my back!"
"They're not all assassins," Tony offered, but didn't try further as he looked over to see one of Tyler's infamous "looks." Many of these looks had different meanings that were generally hard to make out, but not this one. This one she learned from him and its meaning was absolutely clear: Are you really saying that right now? Could you be any more dimwitted? Strangely, since he was on the receiving end of this look, he didn't find it as amusing as when he gave it to others. Her looks always worked to some extent, and he hated it, probably just as much as everyone he'd ever looked at in the same manner.
"Tell me something, Tony," Tyler hissed, "when was the last time you spent some quality time with me apart from occasionally saying good night?"
Tony's answer came easily, "For your birthday we went snowboarding. And then zip lining. And then you got to try to fly my helicopter. Completely terrifying, by the way, you're never going to do that again."
"My birthday," Tyler responded through gritted teeth, "was nine months ago. Are you saying that I can only hang out with you like family once a year?"
"Listen, Tyler," he began again, but was cut off by his daughter leaning toward him with fire in her eyes.
"No, you listen," she interrupted, "I understand it was hard for you to get me this opportunity so I'll take it. I'm not a fool. But, that doesn't mean that I'm going to like it, nor does it give you the merit to just forget about me. If you decide to neglect the fact that you adopted me then the next time you see me will be when I come to pack my things and move to a place you can't reach me. I am old enough; it's not an empty threat. Understand, Daddy?"
Tony glanced at her with his jaw set; where had this come from? She had been perfectly fine last night and even before that. She had never once made it clear to him that she felt so neglected… had she? Frankly, he couldn't remember anything about it, but if she actually did… He didn't even want to think about it. He took a deep breath as the forested area broke away to reveal a large, suspicious-looking warehouse that was speckled with guards, guns, and spotlights for catching sight of any trespassers.
"Oh, look," Tony smoothly changed the subject, "we're already here. Remember what I told you; their threats are empty. Ignore them and do whatever you want. Secretively, of course. It's rather annoying when they're angry, and they'll probably yell at me if they yell at you."
Tyler rolled her eyes as they pulled up to the large metal gates that surrounded the bulky white building. She in no way was going to be able to get through that thick skull of Tony's. As the car slowed to a stop, one of the guards walked up to the driver's side of the car and Tony rolled down his window so he could speak.
"ID," the guard demanded. Tony smiled at him like he did to most people who he didn't think were worth his time.
"Tony Stark," he informed haughtily, "you should now my face. Plastered up on billboards everywhere and stuff."
The guard just continued to look at him blankly. Tony rolled his eyes.
"Alright, fine. Just a sec," he mumbled as he began to search through the compartments in his car. "Where did I put it?" he breathed under his breath as he patted his pockets. Tyler couldn't believe him; he forgot the ID he needed to get into the place on top of everything else.
"Really?" she asked with indignation. Tony glanced up at her as he was bending down to check the floor.
"What?" he inquired innocently. She just shook her head and went back to glaring out of the window. He really was an idiot.
"Ah, here it is," Tony said as he pulled a card with his photo out from underneath the carpet of his car. Above his picture the words S.H.I.E.L.D. Agencywere printed in big, bold letters. "Not sure how it got there…" Tony mumbled as he held it out to the guard who looked at him like he was an incompetent fool. Suddenly Tyler felt like shrinking until she was too small to be seen. It was official; she did not like to go out in public with him. The guard need only glance at the ID before he nodded to another guy who seemed to be controlling the gate.
"Welcome to the runway, Mr. Stark," he greeted as he handed the card back to Tony who took it back with a fake smile. Tyler watched with curiosity as the large gates started to slide in either direction to let them through. Sure, she wasn't entirely happy with Tony for this decision, but she could still be a little excited, right?
As soon as the gates had opened enough for the car to fit through, Tony hit the gas and swung into the large parking lot that was before the warehouse. It was then that what the guard said had registered in Tyler's mind. Runway? Did that mean that she was taken here to be put on a plane, and then flown elsewhere? S.H.I.E.L.D was certainly not forthcoming about where their actual headquarters were. She wouldn't be surprised if they gagged her and put a bag over her head while they were in the air.
Tony pulled the car into the closest open spot he could get and switched off the engine. He turned to Tyler and was about to say something, but she interrupted as she opened her door.
"Pop the trunk," she ordered, and slammed the door shut. Tony sat there and stared where she had been sitting only a few moments earlier before he nodded and mouthed the word "okay" with irritation as he turned to open the trunk. Once the trunk had lifted with a pop, Tyler raised the lid up the rest of the way and grabbed her bag swiftly before slamming it closed. Tony hadn't even fully exited the car yet by the time she began walking to the large entrance of the warehouse that had only been opened a couple seconds ago. She was able to make out several large jets that looked more like fighters than something you would ride in.
"Tyler!" Tony called as he jogged to catch up to her. She ignored him and continued to walk at her brisk pace. When Tony caught up he made sure to stick by her shoulder, no matter how much she pushed her speed. "Seriously, Ty," he said with exasperation, "why are you lashing out all of a sudden?"
"Gee, I wonder," Tyler responded sarcastically. They were near the entrance now, and two people clad in black that Tyler hadn't noticed before stepped forward. One was a woman with bright red hair that fell to her shoulders. Tyler couldn't help but notice that while she looked very attractive in both figure and facial features, she carried herself in a way that would probably ward off any man who thought of trying to flirt with her. The blood red lipstick didn't help. The other was a man with sandy brown hair that was slightly spiked up in the front, and black sunglasses. He obviously didn't like to show his entire face, and it was probably a good thing. Due to his rather large muscles he made Tyler nervous enough when she couldn't see his eyes; she didn't want to know what it felt like to have his stare pierce her.
"Tony," the woman greeted cordially as he and Tyler stopped in front of them.
"Natasha, Clint," Tony smiled and offered a hug with his arms wide. Neither of them moved so he just clapped his hands together in front of him. "Right, well, this is my daughter Tyler," he introduced as he pointed his two index fingers towards her, his hands intertwined.
"Hello," the woman began, "I am agent Natasha Romanoff and this is my partner, Clint Barton. We're the ones who will be supervising your training."
"Nice to meet you," Tyler said with a smile, trying to keep her voice light and happy. Clint merely nodded to her and it became clear that of the two agents it was going to be Natasha that she would hear the most.
Or maybe not, she decided as Clint began to address Tony.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" he asked with a deep, penetrating voice.
"Well, you know," Tony responded with a wink, "being a billionaire and all."
This only caused him to receive what would have been a sharp glare if Clint wasn't wearing his glasses. Disheveled, Tony turned to Tyler.
"Well, I'll see you later then," he said with a hidden meaning behind his eyes that neither of the agents caught, and Tyler ignored. She didn't respond as he pulled her into a hug and planted a light kiss on her cheek. He pulled back to look at her with some concern.
"Hey," he said quietly as he noticed her anger still sparking, "I will come to see you, alright?"
Tyler simply stared at the ground as though it was interesting. Tony stood there a moment with his hands on her shoulders before letting go and smiling widely to the two agents.
"Gotta run," he said before turning around and going back to his car. Now that he was gone, Tyler felt that she might be able to lift her spirits so that she didn't seem like a nuisance to the agents in front of her.
"So, what's the plan?" she inquired with excitement. She had to admit, it was pretty cool to be in the presence of secret agents, assassins, whatever they were.
"Follow us," Natasha replied bluntly as she and Clint turned around toward the closest of the jets. Tyler's excitement rose; she was going to be flying on a jet that looked like it could blow a whole country up, or withstand nuclear attacks. It was amazing how dangerous the aircrafts looked.
It was then she realized how crazy this was: her, flying off in some jet with people that could probably end her life in a heartbeat. It was weird enough to be adopted by a famous billionaire, but this? Putting aside her father's attitude, how lucky could a girl get?
Needless to say, stepping onto the jet made her excitement soar. What was it that she was mad about, again? Oh, yeah, something to do with Tony. But right then, who cared?
The interior of the jet was just about as futuristic as all of the trinkets Tony had. It was metal and spacious with a large design in the middle of the floor of something that looked like an eagle. There were eight seats in total, two being the pilot's seats and the rest being for any passengers. Clint and Natasha were busy strapping themselves into the pilot seats so Tyler quickly went to the closest seat up front on the right and sat down with her bag on the floor next to her. She pulled the restraints over her head, strapped them, and began fidgeting with the anticipation of the flight to come.
"Don't touch anything if you get out of your seat," Natasha cautioned as the jet started up. Tyler pulled her bag under her feet to keep it in place and looked quizzically at the agent though all she could see was the back of her head. Get out of her seat? She was allowed to do that? She supposed it made sense; once you were high in the air on a regular airplane you were allowed to get up if you needed.
Slowly the jet began to move forward and Tyler found herself straining to see through the windows up front since there weren't any others around her. Clint seemed to be the main pilot, being that he was the one who expertly maneuvered the jet out of the warehouse to the right and onto the long runway. Tyler's stomach was fluttering now; she was flying on a jet with two secret agents. If she was the fangirling type she would probably be squealing by now. Thankfully, she wasn't, and she remained silent as they got the OK to take off and the jet began picking up speed.
The take off was smooth, a lot smoother than a normal plane, and Tyler couldn't help but wonder just what made this jet tick. It was a habit that she got from Tony, though she was no where near as good as him in figuring it out. In fact, she was a newborn compared to him when it came to these things. Suddenly a scowl formed on her lips without her notice. She might not be book smart like him but at least she wasn't a dimwit when it came to other peoples feelings. She realized all too late that she looked grumpy, and Natasha, who had turned around to say something, caught her.
"You alright, Tyler?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Tyler looked up at the agent with surprise. After a moment she blinked and shook the scowl off of her face.
"Yeah, sorry," she smiled apologetically. Natasha seemed to know Tyler was agitated and despite the reassurance she stared holes into the college student.
"If something's bothering you that will affect your training then we have to know," Natasha said firmly. Tyler fervently shook her head.
"No, no, it's nothing that I can't handle," she reassured, "its just Tony."
This seemed only to catch the assassin's attention even more.
"What about him?" she inquired. Tyler snorted and looked away.
"He's just a thick headed idiot sometimes," she admitted. Surprisingly, Natasha smiled a little.
"He bothers me even when I don't have to live with him," she agreed.
Tyler looked at her and smiled with a new sense of connection. At the very least Natasha wasn't one of those cold shoulder types; she would have fun getting to know her.
"Well," Natasha continued, "why don't you tell me about yourself? Since we'll be together from here on out it would probably be best to get to know each other."
"Oh, um," Tyler stuttered, caught a little off-guard. "Well, I, uh… I'm not sure where to start." She snorted and shook her head. "Sorry," she apologized.
"No worries," Natasha leaned back in her chair with a smile, "Take your time."
Tyler smiled as she, too, leaned back and relaxed. For some reason, even though she had the knowledge that Natasha was an assassin, she felt at ease talking to her. She didn't know if she was just trying to work her to get information, but at the moment she didn't care.
"There's not really much to know," Tyler said bashfully. No matter how at ease she felt, she was still shy when it came to talking about herself due to how small she felt next to Tony.
"Alright, how about I just ask you questions?" Natasha asked with a hint of understanding in her voice. Tyler flushed a little and nodded with agreement. Natasha looked at her for a few moments, causing her to be a little fidgety, before she decided on a question. "How did you meet Tony? I still can't grasp the fact that he adopted someone."
Tyler smiled. "Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself. Especially the way we met; if I were him I would have hated me. I was a pretty troubled kid, being in the foster system since the day I was born, and I let it all out by acting like a boy. I wore boy clothes, cut my hair short, participated in any violent sports that I could think of, and my favorite thing to do was skateboarding.
"That's actually how I met him. I was angry about something, not quite sure what, but when I was angry I always boarded as fast as I physically could without any thought to other people's health. I myself didn't wear pads or a helmet. That day I was particularly angry and I didn't bother myself with watching where I was going. I noticed that I was about to run into someone too late for me to do anything, and he himself wasn't paying attention to the road he was walking on.
"Within a split second both Tony and I were sprawled on the floor, much to his displeasure. I was actually kind of glad, because I landed on top of him instead of on the hard floor. Before I had the chance to say anything to him, I was wrenched off of Tony by Happy who was fussing as normal. I tried to shake myself free but he had an iron grip and I had no hope of escape. Tony waved off the people who were trying to help him up and pushed himself to his feet.
"To this day I don't really know what he saw in me that made him do it, but as he looked at me he asked, 'What's your name, kid?'
"At first I didn't say anything, and I continued to try to shake Happy off. He only let go when Tony told him to. Of all the things he could have done after that, he asked me where I was going in such a hurry.
"I replied something to the effect of, 'None of your business.' That only egged him on. Before I knew it I was sitting in some overly expensive restaurant with the famous billionaire Tony Stark. However, I had no idea of his true identity until after he adopted me. During the meal Tony was able to coax things out of me that I had never told anyone, and apparently I did the same thing to him. He supposedly hated it, but I don't believe that. There was something about us that just… clicked.
"I didn't want to leave when the meal was over, but I tried not to let him see it. Turns out I wasn't a very good actor, so he came to the decision to find me again, and he did. He found me while I wasn't at home again and again and again, each time bringing with him a smile that I would cling on to even after he left. It wasn't long before he took me to his tower and gave me a tour. Strangely, my mind couldn't grasp the fact that this was his tower; I just couldn't connect the dots. About a year later I had to move homes, but I was going to move to a different state. I had to leave, not only all of my friends, but Tony who was the only person I saw in my life as a father figure.
"Without much time to waste I grabbed my skateboard and did what I always did, but this time I had a place lodged in my subconscious that I knew I had to go. I skated across nearly half the city until I found myself in front of Tony's tower. It was a lot smaller than it is now, but breathtaking nonetheless. It took me a moment to realize I wasn't there for gawking before I threw my skateboard down outside and ran through the doors.
"I asked for Tony at the front counter but I was continuously denied access to his quarters. Soon I began to make trouble, demanding that I see him. By some off-chance, Tony came down the precise moment before I was thrown out by security. He took me up to the top floor and asked me what was wrong and everything just spilled out of my mouth. Eventually I had my face buried in his chest and my arms wrapped around his torso. From what I remember he kept a straight face as he told me that it would be alright and that he was going to have someone take me back home.
"I didn't understand, I thought surely he could do something. Then I thought he just didn't want to, that he didn't like me. I spent the last week I had in New York moping, even though I knew that I should make the most of it. On the day that I had to leave I started dragging my feet and my foster parents wondered why I was so disappointed when someone was going to adopt me. Apparently I ignored them earlier when they were talking to me about it because I was hating on Tony so much. I couldn't believe it, but sure enough, a little while later Tony was there on my front door step. He had gone out of his way to make sure no one knew it was him who was adopting me, and he told my foster parents to keep their lips sealed." Tyler paused and shrugged, "He's been my dad ever since."
It was then Tyler noticed Natasha's smug look.
She blinked with surprise and asked incredulously, "What?"
"Nothing, nothing at all," Natasha shook her head, "It's just that it's rare I hear anything so sweet happening with Tony. Aside from Pepper, of course."
Tyler sniffed and looked away. "Yeah, well, it isn't all sugar and candy," she practically growled. There her anger was again, making her seem like some spoiled brat. Natasha didn't seem to see it that way, though. She was about to begin speaking when the sound of Clint clearing his throat caught her attention. She swiveled around in her chair to see what was up and the two began talking in hushed voices.
Tyler didn't mind it; as long as she wasn't spilling out her life story anymore then she was good. The two agents' talking seemed to continue on for hours, though Tyler knew it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. When she was tired time moved slowly, and she was exhausted. Like Tony she rarely had a decent night's sleep and it often caught up to her when she least expected it- like now.
The low hum of the jet only seemed to encourage her drowsiness and it wasn't long before her eyes closed and she began sinking into her subconscious. She seemed to recall a few times where she had tried to wake herself up so that she didn't embarrass herself, but neither her mind nor body listened. So, she faded out of the conscious realm and slept. For a long time.
O.M.G. I have been writing like a monster, literally. I have two more chapters that are finished, aside from a couple edits that I need to do. Weird! I never write this fast. I hope you like this story as much as I like to write it. If you do, tell me! It takes only a minute to review. :) Thanks, all! 3
-KC