Chapter 7: What Am I?

Week five, day thirty-six of training, exactly the same as all the rest: get up, eat, train with Clint then Steve then Natasha, eat, watch a movie, and go to bed. It didn't bother Tyler at all, doing the same routine over and over, but what really made it hard for her was the fact that Tony, who had previously promised to be constantly in contact with her, hadn't even sent her a text in the past two weeks. She was never around her phone so she wouldn't get it until late anyway, but the least he could do was say hi. Call once, send her an e-mail. Heck, she would be fine if he called Fury and told him to tell her that he said hi. Something.

But, no. She trained tirelessly everyday without a break and never once did her father let her know he was there to encourage her to keep going. She could, of course, contact him herself, but that would completely defeat the purpose. He was the one who was supposed to be making an effort, not her. Currently it seemed to her that Tony was just tired of taking care of her after all these years and decided that she would be better off in an aircraft carrier, that she found out could somehow fly, with a bunch of highly trained assassins. What a wonderful influence they all were.

She hated Fury and Fury completely ignored her; that made her real comfortable being there on his ship. She was impassive to Maria, but the agent always made it a point to make sure she wasn't getting into anything she wasn't supposed to. Not that she could anyway, the security there was impossible to breach. Steve and Bruce were both nice, which was a good thing, but they seemed incredibly out of place and Tyler had begun to wonder just what Fury threatened them with or offered them to keep them there. It was obvious neither of them truly wanted to be onboard. Natasha was like the older sister she never had, but she intimidated her to no end. Honestly Tyler sometimes had to take a couple steps away from the assassin in fear that she might be killed just standing in her presence. Jackie was Jackie, always kind and bubbly and equally as out of place as Steve and Bruce, but she still had her fair share of misjudgments as well. Like when she tried to get Tyler to break into a classified room with her to see what was being kept in it. Thankfully Tyler wasn't that stupid. Then there was Clint who was currently in the middle of teaching her how to snap someone's neck. He was the best influence by far and Tyler was fairly certain that if Tony really knew what she was learning he'd threaten to destroy the aircraft carrier with nukes that he didn't have, but could probably make.

Even with all of those incredibly dangerous people, and there were plenty more to be sure, Tony didn't seem to care at all how she was doing. Not one little teensy bit. Nope. Why should he? He was a famous billionaire with too much to do and not enough time to do it, after all. Why should he bother spending five seconds out of his day to tell his daughter hi? Then again, she wasn't really his daughter. Maybe that was it.

This topic was what made Tyler late that morning for breakfast. She dragged her feet and had a scowl throughout her whole morning routine. The only reason her foul attitude disappeared from her features when she exited her room was because she didn't want people to ask unnecessary questions.

She made it through breakfast, barely able to pass off her lateness as sleeping through her alarm, but it seemed training wouldn't quite go that way. Clint didn't even finish telling her how to snap a person's neck when he broke off mid-sentence to ask what was wrong with her. Tyler stared at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to write the question off as insignificant.

"I meant what I said," he replied bluntly. "What. Is. Wrong. With. You?"

"Nothing," Tyler scoffed. Clint didn't look at all convinced.

"Is it about the name thing from earlier?" he asked. He looked worried that this was the case.

Tyler's brow furrowed. What name thi—Oh. That. She hadn't thought about it since it happened. It was absurd that Clint would even think that Tyler was bothered by that if it happened more than a month ago.

"No," she said a little too curtly. Clint continued to stare at her. She looked at him incredulously. "What?"

Clint just shook his head and continued where he left off in his explanation of breaking someone's neck. It was a grim topic and she wondered how she could be listening to this as though it were something normal that anyone would say. Had she really been influenced that much by the assassins already? Scary thought. What would she be like in a year? Strangely she wasn't really worried about that, she figured she would be just fine. Tony apparently thought so, too. Killing was going to become a normal thing for her soon; it was a completely normal thing. Why worry?

"Alright," Clint said as he realized Tyler's mind was completely off track. "What is it?"

"What is what?" Tyler asked with as much innocence as she could. She had the feeling, though, that it sounded a little more like impatience.

"That," Clint replied pointedly and raised his eyebrows at the way she answered him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tyler huffed as she held her fists up. "Now are we going to finish sparring or what?"

Clint didn't move. After a while Tyler knew that she was in no way going to get anywhere by waiting for the agent, so she stepped forward and sent her fist straight toward his face. Clint blocked but refrained from counterattacking, at which point Tyler grabbed the back of his neck with her free hand and pulled down as she thrust her knee upward. Once her knee made contact it knocked the air out of the unsuspecting agent's lungs and he fell to his knees when Tyler let go of him and stepped back. He glared up at her and Tyler shrugged; it was his fault for not paying attention.

Suddenly, Clint was on his feet and lunging forward; there was only one way that he would be able to get through the teenager's thick skull. Despite all of her repeated denying it, she was almost exactly like her father.

Tyler was able to block Clint's blow and she snapped her free hand forward to try to hit him in the gut a second time, but he blocked as well. They both separated and again Tyler went for Clint- she was faster due to all of the agility training she had recently been put through- but Clint was still the elder agent. He sidestepped and let Tyler's momentum throw her off balance before he sent his elbow toward her head. The blow knocked her toward the ground and undoubtedly gave her a bloody lip, but Tyler refused to give in. She stood and attacked again and again, each time failing to land a hit. At one point when Clint had a hold on her fist she kicked her foot upward to hit him but he ended up grabbing hold of her leg. That was when he used her leg to flip her backwards, and that was the moment in which she was no longer Tyler Stark.

In that moment she did a full back flip and landed gracefully on her feet. As soon as her toes touched home she moved forward again, mercilessly attacking Clint who was surprised, to say the least, at her ferocity. She was a quick learner, yes, but never had she been taught the skills she was showing now. This caused him to become suspicious all over again.

He had been suspicious of her from the beginning, being that she showed up out of nowhere and was suddenly Tony Stark's adopted daughter, but this made it clear that she wasn't who she said she was. It made him both angry and sad that he had to think this, but it was always a possibility, even if he had begun to think of Tyler as a little sister. It was very possible that she was an imposter, sent to become Stark's daughter and then to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. How else would she be able to throw Clint off of his groove and even threaten to defeat him?

But, she was still young and not nearly as experienced as him. Finally, Clint showed his true skill and Tyler was on the ground with her head slammed against the floor within a mere second.

She gritted her teeth but didn't cry out as she swallowed down the pain. Her breaths were staggered; she was way over reacting. She had no idea where her outburst came from. Clint hardly seemed affected by the short little bout physically, but there was surprise and anger behind his eyes as he knelt next to Tyler and enclosed his hand around her neck.

"Alright," he said close to her ear, "game's up. Who the hell are you?"

"Clint!" Natasha yelled from the ground. It all happened so fast: one moment Clint saw Tyler as a harmless trainee and the next danger flared in his eyes as though he were up against an enemy. In the blink of an eye, Tyler was on the floor with Clint threatening to strangle the life out of her.

Tyler's eyes widened and her muscles tensed. The danger she was in suddenly became very real. She had been able to attack Clint with so much accuracy that no one in their right mind would think she had only had five weeks of training, half of that not even battle training. She knew very well what scenarios were probably running through the battle-hardened agent.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she managed. Before Clint could react, he was hoisted off the ground by a bristling Captain America and shoved to the side of the ring.

"What are you doing?" Steve demanded as Natasha rushed forward to help Tyler to her feet. Clint caught himself on the rails of the boxing ring and his eyes darted between Steve and Natasha.

"Don't tell me you didn't see that," he said with disbelief.

"See what?" Steve questioned and held his arms out to his sides. "You attacked her so she defended herself."

"Oh, come on," Clint growled and stepped up to Steve. "She attacked first. Besides, she should not have been able to defend herself so easily if she's just a beginner. You've been watching her progress these past few weeks; she's been learning fast but not that fast. She did a back flip and then countered like she'd been fighting for years! You can't tell me that isn't a little suspicious to you."

Steve's jaw set and he faltered a little; Clint was right. Though he didn't handle it how Steve would, Tyler couldn't have been able to do that unless she had more experience under her belt. He turned to Tyler who was now standing next to Natasha with wide eyes. She was terribly confused and didn't have the slightest idea what was happening, even he could see it.

"So maybe she wasn't telling the full truth about her experience," he conjectured and then turned to Clint. "That doesn't give you the right to hold her down like some prisoner of war."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Oh, so now I'm the bad guy?"

Clint had to admit that he might be overreacting a little. Tyler had been on the ship for a whole five weeks and she hadn't had one instance that should cause him to be suspicious, except for what just happened now. The way Steve looked at him made him feel guilty even though infiltration wasn't at all uncommon and he'd actually dealt with it before.

The person who infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. previously had done exactly what Tyler did. She got close to him and he let his guard down. It resulted in the death of too many people; he couldn't let it happen again. Suddenly, a voice drew everyone's attention away from each other and toward the entrance of the gym.

"I leave for one day, one day, and you guys are already at each other's throats," Director Fury growled as he walked toward the middle of the gym.

Steve straightened as he realized who had addressed them.

"Director Fury," he greeted. "We were just…" he glanced at Clint, "settling an issue."

"What kind of issue does it take to set Clint against two of his fellow agents?" Fury asked almost sarcastically. Tyler's eyes flashed as Fury said the word two. Sure, she was new compared to the others, but wasn't she considered an agent by now? She hated how he always acted as though she weren't there; it reminded her too much of how Tony was neglecting to call her. Clint was the one to answer his question.

"It's Tyler," he growled and motioned to Tyler. "The circumstances of how she got into S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place were fishy to begin with, but she attacked me just now as though she'd been trained her whole life to do so."

He took in a deep breath and sighed; he really didn't like to go around accusing anyone of something without much proof, but he couldn't be too careful. Especially with the matter of that video Tony had apparently showed Fury. After all this time, the Director still neglected to show them what it was.

"I think there is more to her than either of you are letting on," he finished. There was a long pause after this.

"Sir?" Steve asked when Fury didn't answer. Fury looked to him and then let his eyes wander over the group until they made contact with Tyler, who had to do her best not to hide behind Natasha. She finally understood why he was the leader of a group of highly trained assassins. He could probably kill someone just by looking at them.

"I do believe you're just as in the dark about this as them, correct?" he asked. Tyler wasn't sure if her voice would work in that moment so she settled with a small nod. She had no idea what the big deal was about the way she fought, it just happened. Was there something she should know?

"Wait," Clint said and turned to her. "You seriously have no idea what's going on?"

Tyler shook her head, relieved that most of the threat in the agent's voice was replaced by befuddlement. Natasha, who had been completely silent, searched Fury with sharp eyes.

"Explanation," she demanded. Fury looked to the assassin and held her gaze for a while before he sighed and let his eyes travel over the group one last time.

"Come with me," he ordered as he turned on his heel and headed out. Tyler hesitated and merely watched as the three elder agents followed the director. Was he talking to her as well? Tentatively, she followed a few feet behind everyone else and opted to continue until she was told otherwise.

The hall was busy with other personnel walking to and from their stations, but Tyler felt as though a heavy blanket was settled on top of the agents following Director Fury; not a word passed between any one of them. By the time they reached the room they had been headed to Tyler was sure that someone had pushed a mute button on the group.

The room they entered was spacious, but not overly large like many of the other rooms on the ship. It was plain and contained a desk with a large swivel chair on one side and two visitor chairs on the other. An almost invisible computer screen occupied the top of the desk and on the back wall was a larger screen that was probably for groups such as this one.

When the door was shut, Fury walked over to his desk and began fiddling with the computer. After a moment, he pulled up a video on both the monitor on his desk and the one on the wall.

"As you know," he began, "I let Tyler come aboard this ship when previously I didn't care about her existence."

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Tyler thought to herself.

"The answer to your question of why is in this one video Stark handed over," he continued without noticing the glare Tyler was trying and failing to send his way. Or maybe he just ignored it? He leaned forward and pushed the play button without a reaction.

The video began with a close-up of Tony in one of his many workshops. He looked a little tired, but his excitement seemed to wash away most of the symptoms.

"Okay," he began in a hushed voice, "it's midnight, I'm pretty sure Tyler is asleep. I am Tony Stark. This video is a log of… well, it's not really a log, but… Ah! Skip the formalities. I have discovered something new about Tyler. I'm not entirely sure what it means but, well… you'd better just watch for yourself."

Tony's face cut out and the screen switched to the kitchen where Tyler was seated at the island counter that occupied the middle of the room. Tony was standing on the opposite side of the island and was doing his best to be persuasive.

"C'mon," he said to his, at that time, twelve year old daughter. "I just want to see how good you've become."

"No," Tyler growled. "Not until you tell me why."

"Ty, I told you why," he replied with exasperation. When his daughter still didn't reply, he sighed. "How about I take you to Coney Island?"

Tyler's eyes immediately lighted up and she sat upright in the stool she was on. Before she could say anything, however, Tony pointed a finger at her.

"But first you have to do it," he negotiated. Tyler's demeanor fell at this comment and she frowned but eventually nodded.

"Only if you take me tomorrow," she said. Tony looked at her like she was crazy.

"Really? Tomorrow? I have to…" he stopped as he saw Tyler deadpanning him. "The only way I can get you to do it is if I take you tomorrow, isn't it?"

Tyler nodded and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Fine, Miss Swan, have it your way," he grumbled. All that did was cause Tyler to glare at him.

An almost inaudible mumble from Clint interrupted the video.

"Why doesn't she get mad at him when he calls her that?" he asked with what could have been a little hurt tainting his tone. Natasha elbowed him hard to shut him up and he didn't interrupt for the rest of the video.

On the screen, Tony was holding two fingers behind his back.

"Two," Tyler said with a monotone. Tony switched to be holding eight up, and Tyler said that number. This went on for a few more rounds and Tyler was able to successfully guess all of the numbers correctly.

The scene switched back to Tony's close-up in his lab.

"That, my friends, wasn't staged," he informed. "She guessed the numbers without my telling her what numbers I was going to hold up and without being able to see my fingers in any reflection. Before you ask what the significance of that is, I invite you to see this next video… filmed by Pepper."

The scene switched to Tony sitting down on the living room couch with Tyler, now somewhere around fifteen, standing right behind him.

"Is it rolling?" Tony asked the space behind the camera.

"Yes," Pepper's voice answered from off screen. Tony nodded and directed his attention to the lens.

"Okay, pay close attention to both Tyler and I," he informed the invisible audience.

After that, Tony made one of his many ridiculous faces. Tyler, after a moment of studying the back of her father's head, mirrored the face to the best of her ability. It wasn't perfect, but it was still pretty spot on. Tony did a few other faces and paused a few moments after each so it was possible to compare his and Tyler's face as Tyler changed her face to match her father's. When he was done he pointed in the direction of the camera.

"Observe," he said as the camera turned, "how there are no reflective surfaces on that wall."

Indeed, the wall opposite Tony was just a plain wall that couldn't reflect anything whatsoever. The camera turned back to Tony who used his thumbs to point behind him.

"I did not tell her what faces I would be doing," he said, "She's a pro."

The film cut and moved back to Tony in his lab.

"Alright," he began, "I know both of those scenes seemed completely irrelevant to anything of importance, but you have to admit Tyler's got some mad skills, right? If I were the type of guy to believe in psychics, I might say that she is one, but I'm not. I tried doing this same experiment when she was in another room but it failed, so she can only mirror what I'm doing when she can see me.

"I believe that she has an enhanced eye for the movements of muscles. When I took her to a place for some self-defense training she was able to perfectly mirror every move she'd been showed on her fist try. When they were separated to spar in small groups, she could anticipate every one of her opponent's moves with ease.

"This theory would make her a perfect warrior. It's sort of like… muscle memory. She sees it and she can do it. But also, she can look at the way someone's muscles tense before they move and she's able to tell exactly what they are doing before they can do it. I figure this might be an important fact for the future but," Tony abruptly stopped and looked away from the camera as though he'd heard something. "Gotta go," he said quickly and the camera was turned off.

Tyler stared at the now empty screen with two questions. The first: but what? Tony hadn't finished his statement. The second: what was the big deal with that? Couldn't everybody do it?

The way everybody in the room was now looking at her she highly doubted it. Her eyes darted from one face to another as she opened her mouth to try to say something, but nothing came out. Finally she had to look down to the floor.

All her life she thought that being able to read someone's movements was something everyone could do but now she felt as though she was some kind of freak. Tony catalogued her ability like it was some phenomenon that no one had ever experienced before. He showed it to Fury to ensure that she was let on the ship to be trained. Worse than that, he kept it a secret. If he knew about it then why didn't he tell her? Did he… did he always plan to keep this talent to himself until he needed leverage for something? How could he see her everyday and lie right to her face about who she was? Was she even human?

Hundreds more questions flowed through her mind and soon she couldn't handle them all. She took a step back and hit the wall behind her. She glanced around the room with wide eyes before she realized that Steve had stepped toward her and was asking if she was okay. She just looked at him with unseeing eyes.

"What am I?" she whispered.

Two posts in a day, WHAT is going on here? I am officially addicted to writing this fanfic. And you know what? I haven't even reached the main point of the story yet, nor do I intend to for at least another two chapters. At least. Wow, mind=blown.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you liked it. I'm always looking for tips or encouragement so please review! (And a HUGE thank you to those who have reviewed already, you guys keep me going!) ^^

-KC