Chapter 13
No Other Options
The first thing she noticed was how white everything was. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the sheets of the bed she was lying in, and even the furnishings. It was all white… but why? She had never been in a completely white room before aside from her occasional trips to hospitals after skateboarding accidents. She hadn't picked up a skateboard for at least three months.
With a groan, she tried to push herself into a sitting position, but a throbbing pain in both her arm and her skull caused her to fall back on the soft, white pillow beneath her head. She muttered a curse under her breath and with her right arm, the one that wasn't throbbing, she lifted her hand and rubbed the sleep away from her eyes. She felt overly tired, like she either slept way too long or only got one or two hours of sleep. She couldn't quite tell which it was exactly. She yawned then, and when she opened her eyes, she suddenly remembered what had happened.
She gasped and sat up quickly without thought or hesitation. She felt resistance in a few points on her arms and realized that she was hooked up to several machines that she recognized were for monitoring a person's health. Despite the probable danger in removing these wires, she carelessly ripped them out and tossed them aside along with the weightless sheet that had been covering her.
After a moment of surveying the small room, Tyler found that there were no windows. She was either underground or in the center of a maze of hospital rooms; that could prove difficult. The prospect of not being able to tell what exactly was surrounding the building she was in also made her a bit uneasy. She could be anywhere in the world and she wouldn't know.
She tried not to think much about it, though, and instead continued to search the room. There was a dresser on the opposite side of the room from her bed; that was her first target. She strode over to it and opened it to find her clothes, shoes, and of course, her gun. It was strange thinking that she had a gun, even if it wasn't really hers. She was just borrowing it from Clint for a time... and she would return it. No matter the cost, she would get Clint back. With newfound determination, as if she hadn't had any before, she grabbed all of said objects and shuffled toward a door that she assumed to be the bathroom; thankfully it was. Though her head and arm still ached, the pain seemed to dull the more she moved around. Hopefully, that was a good thing. She changed quickly out of the hospital gown she had been given and into the clothes she had previously been wearing, not caring in the slightest that they probably smelled horrible. (She didn't actually check, but she didn't really want to go get a new pair now that she was already changed.)
When she left the bathroom, there was no sign of anyone in the room she was in, so she took it upon herself to figure out where she was. The last thing she remembered was finding the SHIELD HQ Clint had told her about, but she could have been moved while she was unconscious. If that was the case, she would probably have to commandeer herself another jet. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The hall outside her temporary accommodation was very much the same; all white. The exceptions were the few nurses wearing blue scrubs that scurried about from patient to patient. Tyler did her best to remain unnoticed by them so that she could hopefully find a way out of the hospital without causing a disturbance, however that was much easier said than done. After a bit of wandering aimlessly, she rounded a corner and caught sight of two men dressed in black; the signature SHIELD getup. She stopped in her tracks and made to turn around, but she had already been spotted.
"Hey, kid!" one of the agents called. Tyler grimaced, but turned around to face him with an innocent smile.
"Yes?" she asked. The agent looked her up and down before responding.
"Are you a patient?" he asked as his eyes landed on a plastic, blue wristband on her right wrist.
Tyler followed his line of vision and, with irritation, realized she had completely missed the bracelet that was strapped around her wrist. How had she not seen that, or even thought of it? It was procedure to label patients with wristbands for identification in case they did what she was currently doing. When the agent noticed her hesitation he held his hand out and placed it on her shoulder.
"Why don't we get you back to your room?" he suggested.
That certainly wasn't what Tyler wanted to do. Should she use force or just pretend to go along with it for a few moments and then split when he wasn't paying attention? Before she made the decision, a stern voice spoke from behind her.
"That won't be necessary, agent. I'll take it from here."
Tyler's hopes of escaping crashed to the floor when she recognized who the voice belonged to. It was Natasha. Tyler turned to face her mentor with a sheepish grin on her face.
"Hey, Nat," she greeted, and was ignored. Natasha merely nodded to the agent who had stopped Tyler, and then spun her around so that she was facing the direction of her room. She gave Tyler a little nudge, and that was enough to get the teenager walking without resistance.
"What exactly were you thinking, getting out of your bed?" Natasha demanded once they were out of earshot of the other agents.
"I was going to leave to find Clint," Tyler muttered under her breath, well aware that it sounded like a preposterous idea.
"And what good would that do?" Natasha asked and glanced over at the younger agent. When Tyler didn't meet her gaze, Natasha stopped and put her hands on her shoulders. "Tyler, you spent three days in the desert without any training for it. You were bitten by a poisonous snake, shot in the same arm as the bite, and when you finally made it to the HQ you passed out from a combination of dehydration and blood loss. It has only been twelve hours since then; you still need time to recover."
"Twelve hours?" Tyler asked with wide eyes. Even though Natasha spoke of it as though it wasn't that long of a time, Tyler couldn't help but think of all the horrible things that could have happened to Clint in that amount of time. Was he being tortured? Locked away in the dark? Did he have any food or water? Perhaps keeping him alive was a ploy in case she overheard the conversation before he had been taken away, and he was really dead. Or maybe, he was going to be used as food for ravenous dogs. Or possibly tied to a post and left out in the middle of the desert so that the elements could do their worst on him!
Natasha only needed a second to know exactly what Tyler was thinking. She shook Tyler to jar the kid out of her dark thoughts before they strayed too far. When Tyler's eyes once again focused on Natasha, she motioned with her head in the direction of Tyler's room.
"Come on, the doctor needs to do a few tests to make sure you're well enough to be up."
Tyler scowled once she made sense of the words. "I'd rather not."
Natasha raised an eyebrow and gave Tyler a look that clearly said, 'Do you want me to make you?'
Tyler sighed and said reluctantly, "Fine."
Natasha squeezed Tyler's shoulders comfortingly before turning around and leading the way back to the room where the doctor was supposedly waiting. On the way there, Tyler began forming a plan of escape. Perhaps if she thought hard enough on it, she would be able to come up with something that she could do to help Clint. She knew one thing for certain; she wasn't going to have the permission of anyone to leave the hospital for anything of the sort. If she wanted to, she'd have to do it of her own accord. Hopefully it wouldn't end up like the last time she decided to do something on her own, which had been the cause of this whole ordeal in the first place.
When they reached the room, Natasha motioned for Tyler to sit on the bed she had been previously occupying.
"The doctor should be here shortly," she said as she sat down on one of the guest chairs located on the side of the room. Tyler flopped down on her bed with a huff. She stared at the ceiling for about a full two seconds before she decided that it was too quiet for her liking.
"You know, I never understood why hospitals had to be so blindingly white," she said, trying to pull up some sort of conversation to keep her mind off of exactly what sharp thing Clint was probably being stabbed with at the current moment.
"Something about emotional security," Natasha replied. Tyler scrunched up her nose.
"How exactly am I supposed to be emotionally secure when I feel like I'm either trapped in a mental institute or alive in the afterlife?"
A small smile tugged at Natasha's lips, but she didn't reply.
"Actually," a new voice said from the entrance to the room, "it's for sanitary purposes. It's a lot easier to see dirt and germs on white than any other color."
Tyler sat up with surprise at the sound of the voice. She knew the man who belonged to it. Her jaw dropped open when her suspicions were confirmed. "Bruce?" she asked with disbelief.
The doctor smiled. "Hey, Tyler," he said. "You've been causing quite a lot of trouble, you know. I left for a mere five minutes to grab a snack and you were gone."
Tyler shrugged. "What can I say? Life is boring without a few little surprises."
"Mhmm..." Bruce cocked an eyebrow before he walked over to Tyler to begin his diagnostics. Tyler was surprisingly cooperative. She wouldn't have been if it was any other person acting as her doctor; she never liked it when strangers went around poking and prodding. Even if they claimed it was to help her. She supposed that was the result of watching too many TV series that had corrupt doctors who purposefully gave their patients diseases for their twisted research.
"Blood pressure is good," Bruce mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. He proceeded to shine a light in Tyler's eyes to check their dilation, and various things of the sort. When he was done with a basic check, he moved to Tyler's injured arm and carefully peeled back the bandages. The wounds were a bit raw, as they should be, and it didn't seem as though any poison was spreading through Tyler's arm. When he was satisfied that he had nothing to worry about the injuries, he bandaged up her wound again and looked at her seriously.
"You're lucky you got here when you did; the doctors that worked on you before me were able to draw out the poison before it did any serious damage. The bullet wound above the bite also helped to keep a good portion of the poison from traveling too far."
Tyler furrowed her brow at this. She remembered Natasha had mentioned a bullet wound, but she didn't recall ever receiving one. "Bullet wound?" she asked.
Bruce nodded slowly. "It was just a graze above the bite; same caliber as the gun you have."
Tyler paused a moment before realization showed through her eyes. "I shot the snake once it bit me; I think the bullet hit me without my notice."
Bruce looked at her for a moment. "You shot the snake that was attached to your arm?" he asked with a smile. "Yeah, that sounds like something you would do."
Tyler frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Bruce waved her comment away dismissively as he began to pack up his supplies. "Nothing, just don't mention getting shot to your father; he wouldn't like it."
Tyler huffed. "I doubt Tony will even realize I left the HQ," she growled under her breath. She really didn't expect much from him nowadays.
Bruce paused in what he was doing and looked from Tyler to Natasha. "You haven't told her?" he asked.
Natasha shrugged. "I figured she would know when she saw him."
Tyler's stomach tightened into a knot at the two adults' words. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously. She may have been angry at Tony, but their way of talking about him put worry into her heart. Was he hurt?
Natasha gave her a reassuring, yet alarming smirk. "Tony's here, Tyler. In fact, he's been hanging around you ever since we arrived. I had to threaten to have you moved to a restricted area just to give Banner room to work. Your friend was no better, either."
Tyler's worry went from being concern for Tony to concern for her own well-being. What would he say to her about what she did? Suddenly, running away to find Clint felt a lot more welcoming than remaining in the safety of the headquarters.
"Wait," Tyler said with her voice full of suspicion. "Which friend?"
"Jackie is here, too," Bruce explained, "and Steve."
That, at least, made the situation a little more bearable. Jackie could save Tyler from Tony's… well, just Tony in general. It made sense that her best friend and Tony had come, if only to make sure she was alright, but it didn't exactly add up.
"Why are you two and the Captain here?" Tyler asked. "I mean, I'm sure you have more important things to occupy yourselves than to be checking up on me. This base has enough doctors, doesn't it?"
Bruce nodded. "Yes, but they are short on agents, so Steve and Natasha are going to go with the team to find Clint. As for me: Jackie can be a very persuasive person."
Tyler smiled. "Don't I know it." Her expression became sober and she looked at Natasha. "I want to go with you."
Natasha shook her head. "Out of the question. You're still hurt, and Tony will have a fit."
"But you don't even know where Clint is," Tyler pointed out.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"
"Well, I know the general direction…"
Natasha nodded with a pointed look. "My point exactly; you're sitting this one out."
Tyler scowled. "If it was your intention that I stay here then why haven't you left to find Clint yet?"
Natasha hesitated only for a split second before she replied with, "We just arrived an hour ago."
Tyler narrowed her eyes. "You're lying," she stated. Among the many things she could do with her ability, it was easy for her to tell when people were lying. Ironically, she hadn't realized it until she saw Tony's video.
Before Natasha could make a response, a commotion began outside of the room. Several raised voices and hurried footsteps could be heard, but it was impossible to make anything out. That is, nothing could be discerned until suddenly one of the voices was right outside of the room.
"You can't go in there, Sir-"
Whoever it was spoke in vain, and the door to the room flew open to reveal a rather out of breath billionaire.
"Tyler," he said.
Tyler prepared herself for harsh words, or some sarcastic remark, but instead Tony rushed forward and pulled her off the bed and into his arms. Tyler was astonished for a moment. She wasn't used to the contact, considering she was training in a facility filled with seemingly heartless secret agents. She did hug him back, eventually, however it was half-hearted.
"You are by far the most awful brat ever to be born in history," Tony remarked. He pulled back so he could give her a stern stare. "Even I wasn't so devilishly brilliant at your age. You stole a SHIELD jet, and crashed it in the middle of the desert. You're also alive to tell about it. I mean, seriously, how awesome is that?"
A small smile spread across Tyler's face at Tony's immature praise. Of course he would say that. He was never one to be serious at times when he probably should.
"Awesome?" another voice asked from the doorway. "It's no wonder she thought being so rash was a good idea."
Tyler leaned to the side so she could peer around Tony and at the newcomer. Tony just rolled his eyes at Steve.
"I still think it was extremely dimwitted; I never said that it wasn't," he said. "And you're not going to be doing it again," he continued, this time directing Tyler.
Tyler looked up at Tony with an annoyed expression. In her joy of embracing her father for the first time in months she momentarily forgot about her anger at him, but it was right there at the fore of her mind now that she focused a bit more. Before she could say anything, she heard another shout from the doorway.
"Oh my gosh, Tyler!"
Tony was roughly shoved aside as Jackie pushed forward to sit on the bed next to her friend. They embraced for a few moments before Jackie pulled back and stared at Tyler.
"Are you okay? Has the poison affected you at all? Do you have a headache or anything? Your wounds aren't bothering you too much, are they?"
Tyler couldn't help but smile at her friend's worry. "Yes to the first, and no to the rest. I'm fine, Jackie."
Jackie stared at Tyler a moment longer before she sighed relief and hugged her again. "You are even worse than your father," she said, being entirely truthful. Tyler doubted she could be worse than the man who raised her.
A quiet cough came from the doorway where Steve was still standing and everyone turned their attention to him.
"The Director wishes to speak with us," he informed to no one in particular.
Tony, Natasha, and Bruce were immediately on alert. They moved to leave the room and Jackie and Tyler got up, but Steve motioned for them to stay.
"Sorry, just us. You two keep each other out of trouble, alright?"
Tyler looked like she wasn't inclined to obey, but nodded and slowly sank back down to sit on the bed with Jackie. Before he left, Tony offered his daughter a smile. She tried to return it, but wasn't sure if it really worked. Tony made no other reaction so she assumed he either didn't notice or wasn't really paying attention. Once everyone was gone and the door was closed behind them, Jackie turned to Tyler with a smile.
"By the way; that was, historically, the most awesome thing I've seen a new SHIELD recruit do."
Tyler just laughed. "I highly doubt that. Clint probably did some crazy things in his younger years."
Jackie thought about it for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah, that's probably true. But I wasn't alive to see it, was I?"
She smirked at her triumph and Tyler just rolled her eyes.
"That aside," Jackie continued, "what exactly happened during your escapade?"
Tyler's smile melted away immediately and she turned her eyes to her hands as she began to play with the sheet on the bed. If it were anyone else in front of her she would have kept silent no matter how many questions were asked. Jackie was another matter entirely, and Tyler answered straight away.
"One thing is for certain; I'm never doing it again." She shook her head and looked up at Jackie. "I was so stupid and naive."
Jackie's eyes softened and she took Tyler's hands in her own to give her comfort. "That's not true, Ty."
"But it is," Tyler replied quickly. She searched her friend's eyes for a few moments before she couldn't bear to hold her gaze any longer. She looked away as she said, "Jackie, I haven't been a recruit for even three months. Still, I decided to take on the world in a jet I didn't even know how to fly. Because of me, Clint could be-"
"No," Jackie interrupted. "Don't think like that. Clint has been in a lot worse situations. He'll get out of it."
"But will he get out of it without scars?" Tyler asked and looked up at Jackie with tears in her eyes. She hated to cry. She had only cried once in front of Jackie, and that was a great many years ago. When she had been talking to Clint in the desert she forced herself not to let tears fall, even though she probably needed them to. Now, in Jackie's presence and with the thoughts of everything that happened over the past few days because of her, she knew she couldn't hold it any longer. Why was it so easy to become overwhelmed with emotions? It always made her feel so frail.
Before the first tear fell, Tyler was again pulled into Jackie's arms. She didn't sob and she didn't push her friend away. She just sat there, feeling numb as her tears fell without a sound.
Everything she had ever done in her life had either amounted to nothing or caused someone else to get hurt. This time was no different, and she despised herself for it. For acting without thinking. For being so stubborn. For everything.
As she thought about this, she realized that if she went with the others to save Clint she would only make things worse due to her lack of experience. For once, she was glad that someone else was there to stop her from carrying out yet another stupid impulse. She hoped the others would find Clint unharmed.
Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Bruce all walked silently to a room in a separate building from the hospital wing of the base. The room was small with only a few chairs and a monitor that was strictly used for contact between the different SHIELD bases located around the world. The monitor flickered to life as soon as the door to the room was securely shut. On the monitor was Director Fury, looking as cold and authoritative as ever.
"Avengers," he greeted with a small nod.
Everyone, except Tony, nodded back their greeting. Tony merely took it upon himself to sit in one of the luxurious leather armchairs and recline comfortably.
"So what's this about?" he asked casually, though there was a measure of suspicion hidden in his voice.
"Your daughter, Stark," Fury replied bluntly. "And Clint. A bit of a situation has developed."
As the Avengers waited for clarification, Fury debated on how to break the news with Tony present. It was a hard decision for him to make with the circumstances, and he had no doubt Tony would be furious.
"We have made contact with Clint's captors," he said finally. At his words, he had everyone's full attention. He failed to make things any clearer, however, and remained silent.
"What did they want?" Steve asked when the Director offered up no further explanation.
"A bargain," Fury replied slowly. When all he got were expectant looks, he continued, "They want to trade for Clint. Specifically, they want to trade a Stark for Clint, as long as that Stark isn't Tony. That leaves only one other."
"HELL no," Tony said immediately. "Tyler is staying right where she is in the hospital."
Fury looked at him pointedly. "I am not suggesting that we make the bargain, Stark."
"Then what were you suggesting?" Tony challenged.
Fury paused and then turned his gaze to the rest of the Avengers. "The people who have Clint are not a part of a small organization. In fact, they have enough might to entangle us in a long and drawn-out war if we try to take Clint by force. The organization is called Cerberus, and it's disguised as a pharmaceutical company."
"Why haven't they been dealt with?" Natasha interrupted. Generally if an organization arose that would cause trouble, SHIELD was there to put a stop to it.
"There was no reason to, until recently. There are agents working on it, but we have only just begun to suppress their aggressions. As such, we need to be as quiet as possible in this mission. We'll need a very small extraction unit. You will have to get in and out as quickly as possible, with no mistakes."
"Sounds simple," Natasha said. She'd been doing that for years; but she had a feeling Fury wasn't finished. "What's the catch?"
"I have a hunch they will be expecting it," Fury continued, "So we'll need a fail-safe. Tyler is going to have to go with you."
Tony just looked at Fury. "Do I have to repeat myself?"
"I am aware of how you feel, Tony, but Tyler has to go. Not only is it her fault for this mess in the first place; there is only one way to get into the base and learn of where exactly Clint is being kept. That is to be invited in."
"Then send someone in who looks like Tyler," Tony suggested. "I don't care how you do it, but I'm not letting my daughter go in there when she's had so little training. Besides, from what you said it doesn't even sound like these Cerberus guys know who Tyler is. They said they wanted a Stark that isn't me, right? Well, no one knows about Tyler except for you people, Pepper, and Jackie."
Fury remained silent long enough for Banner to say, "He has a point."
Fury glanced at the doctor, then to Steve and Natasha. "And where do her trainers stand on this?"
Steve and Natasha shared a glance.
"Well, Sir," Steve began honestly, "She has come a lot farther these past few months than expected…"
"And she already said she wanted to go," Natasha continued. "What if they do know who she is? We can't rule out that possibility. If they know who she is and we arrive with someone else, Clint won't be the only one in danger."
To this, Tony was unable to make a reasonable excuse, and so glared at Natasha like she was a traitor.
"I have an idea," he said instead of consenting. "I'll go get my suit, and I'll blast my way through the base until I find him." After this, he stood and made to leave the room.
"And if they kill Clint once they figure out what you're there for?"
Tony stopped in his tracks and turned around to give Natasha a cold, hard stare. "My daughter is not leaving until she is fully healed, and you're going to have to get through me if you disagree. There is bound to be another way to go about this, so find it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to my daughter."
With that, he turned on his heel and left Bruce, Steve, and Natasha alone with the Director.
"That could have gone better," Steve sighed. He turned to look at Bruce and Natasha. "We were given four hours to have Tyler there before they start removing Clint's unnecessary body parts. That was an hour ago."
Natasha raised an eyebrow and turned to once again face the Director. "You knew for that long and didn't think to inform one of us?"
"I told Steve," Fury said, "and Steve brought you back here as soon as he could."
A silence fell upon the group in which each member considered the options they had. Natasha was the first to voice her thoughts.
"Perhaps there is another way in," she said. "If I can get close enough for surveillance…"
She stopped in this musing as soon as she remembered that they were only given three hours. No matter how much training she went through, she highly doubted it would be possible to develop an infiltration plan in such a short amount of time.
"If we had a few days to respond then I would say yes, but we don't." Fury looked hard at each member in turn. "There is no other option."
Natasha folded her arms over her chest. "I think that's the idea," she said with distaste.
Slowly, Steve let out a breath. He didn't like how this was turning out, but it was hardly in their power to do anything about it. In as small of a time window as they had, they'd be lucky to even prepare the equipment that would be needed for infiltration. The only way to work was from the inside.
"Then she's going to have to come, whether Tony likes it or not," Steve finally said.
"Unfortunately for all of us, yes," Fury agreed. He did not want to be the brunt of the billionaire's anger, but under the circumstances there really was no other way.
"Who do you want on the team?" Natasha asked.
"As I said the team needs to be small," Fury replied without hesitation; he'd already thought about who he was going to send. "It will be you, Steve, and Tyler. You can bring two other agents; one to fly and one to help with extraction. You can have no more than that."
"We'll get right on it," Natasha said.
Fury nodded and dismissed them. Bruce exited with Natasha right behind, and Steve came last. Before he made it out the door, however, Fury's voice stopped him.
"Captain," he said. Steve stopped and turned to face him with a questioning look. "I want you to keep a close eye on her. With her talents, she is an asset that we cannot lose."
Though Steve didn't like Tyler being referred to as some token, he nodded to the Director once more before he left. He didn't have to be told – he would watch over the kid of his own accord. He had a feeling that it wouldn't matter to Tony in the least, though. It was certainly going to be difficult to try and bypass Tony's fatherly instincts. They were there, surprisingly, and would make this mission extremely difficult before it officially began. Hopefully someone would be able to convince him, whether it was Natasha, Bruce, or even Tyler herself. One thing was for sure: it wasn't going to be easy. In fact, it could take up two of the three remaining hours they had. Steve hoped to God that wasn't the case.
By the time Steve made it to Tyler's room, Natasha and Bruce had already returned and explained the situation to the young agent. Tony was bristling, and no doubt had something to say about Natasha's interference with him and his daughter, yet he remained silent. Tyler just looked lost altogether. Her gaze never remained on a single person for too long until Steve walked through the door. She looked at him with complete hopelessness. Even Jackie seemed shocked at whatever Natasha had said.
"Is there no other way?" Tyler finally asked. Steve just shook his head.
"Not in the small gap of time we've been given."
Tyler let out a breath and closed her eyes as though her deepest fear just came true. Steve was a bit confused at her reaction. Natasha had said Tyler wanted to go, didn't she? What was the difference now?
With the way Jackie placed a comforting hand on her friend's knee, he guessed that something had been shared between them while the others were talking to Fury. Tyler looked at Jackie and gave her a small smile before she stood and lifted her chin with confidence.
"Then we'd better get moving," she said.
Tony took a step toward his daughter. "Tyler," he began, but was cut off.
"If there is no other way then I need to do this," Tyler said as she turned to look at her father with stern eyes. "I'll be fine."
Tony didn't look happy at all. He held his daughter's gaze for what might have been a full minute before he finally agreed with a small nod.
With that, Tyler turned to Natasha and Steve and asked, "When do we start?"
"We have twenty minutes before it's too late for us to get there in a reasonable amount of time," Natasha said.
"I'll be ready in two," Tyler said and strode over to where her bag had been kept. She opened it and pulled out the uniform she was given on her first day to wear. Without pause she turned to the bathroom and changed into the uniform in just a few quick seconds. When she was changed she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. It was obvious that her curly hair hadn't been brushed for quite a long while, but it wasn't the way she looked that bothered her. She came out of the bathroom just long enough to ask Jackie for a brush and hair tie.
Never failing to bring the necessities, Jackie handed her friend the items without a moment's thought. Tyler quickly tugged the brush through her hair and, when she could separate her hair into three chunks, she deftly braided it so that it wasn't in her way. With a nod of approval to herself in the mirror, she stepped out of the bathroom fully equipped and ready for battle.
"Two minutes and thirty-two seconds," Jackie informed her with a very small smirk. Tyler just gave her a sarcastic smile.
"So sue me," she said. "Where did the other two go?"
"To suit up," Tony responded before Jackie could. He looked at his daughter's friend and said, "If you'd allow me a few moments with my daughter."
Jackie nodded and stepped out of the room with an encouraging smile toward Tyler. Tyler wished she could return it. Once the door closed behind Jackie, Tyler turned to Tony with a raised eyebrow.
Tony paused before he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "You'd better come back in one piece or I'll have to kill you myself," he said. When his gaze once again met Tyler's he couldn't help but smile at the irritation written on her face. "Figuratively, of course."
Tyler just sighed. "I have to go, Tony..."
"Dad," Tony said suddenly. "When did you stop calling me Dad?"
Tyler didn't have time to deal with this. The whole reason for her wanting to fly to India in the first place was to get away from this exact situation.
Tony took his daughter's silence as an answer in itself. He nodded with a sad smile. The silence persisted a few moments more before he said, "Just don't hurt yourself, alright, kid?"
Tyler nodded once and left the room quickly. She had thought she had built her emotional wall up at least a little bit since her conversation with Jackie, but after that she wanted to crawl into a corner and hide for the rest of the day. The only thing preventing her from doing that was Clint; she wasn't going to let him down because of a petty grudge. She would get him back, or at least help Natasha and Steve get him back.
Outside, Natasha and Steve were waiting patiently with Jackie next to them. The teenage girl was looking worried enough for the whole of the agency.
"You ready?" Steve asked Tyler, who simply nodded.
"Then let's go," Natasha said. She hadn't even finished the statement before she began to walk quickly toward the car they were going to take to the Cerberus headquarters. Steve followed right behind and Tyler, after a quick goodbye to Jackie, jogged to catch up.
"We're going to go in by car," Natasha explained as they sped through the many corridors of the headquarters. "There are two other agents who will be ready with a jet when we need extraction. I figured it would be best if it was only us three on the inside; we might need more than one person looking at things on the outside."
Tyler nodded her understanding and the rest of the walk to the car was silent. She did her best not to let her unease show on her face as she got into the backseat, but figured that it probably wasn't working very well. This would be her first assigned mission, and she wasn't even supposed to be getting one for at least a year. She had certainly pushed her luck when she hijacked the jet with Clint, but she never expected the outcome would be this drastic. She was now being targeted by some secret organization named Cerberus whose members were skilled enough to capture Clint, of all people. What did they even want with her? As far as they knew she was just some rookie agent. There was no way they could know about her ability, much less want to use her for anything… Could they? She found herself dreading the next few hours. What if the mission failed and she was captured? What would they do to her? She didn't want to know. She really didn't want to know. She'd rather picture Fury's reaction to what she did. Yes, that was a much safer train of thought.
She hadn't seen Fury yet, but she could only imagine what his reaction would be when she did. If her life were a cartoon, she guessed Fury would be steaming out of his ears and yelling at the top of his lungs, with more than just words coming out of his mouth. The scene in her mind was actually quite comical, and Tyler couldn't help but smile as Natasha pulled the car out of the garage and into the desert.
"What's so funny?" Steve asked from the front seat with a glance back in her direction. Tyler's smile immediately faded and she shook her head.
"Nothing," she lied. Steve seemed to buy it, because he didn't mention it. Perhaps he was just being polite. In any case, he changed the subject.
"Tyler, do you have any idea what to expect when we get there?" he asked instead.
A flashback of the dead man falling in front of her hiding spot appeared in Tyler's mind. She had done her very best not to think about it, but now that she had no other distractions, the horror of it struck her hard. She looked out the window at the passing sand dunes as she replied quietly, "Yes."
Steve looked at her for a moment and said, "Then you know that it's different than training."
Tyler nodded. Much different. She might have to kill someone. This realization scared her senseless, but if it would help Clint… She wouldn't forsake him out of a bit of fear.
"You'll do alright, rookie," he said and gave Tyler a warm and joking smile.
Tyler looked at him with surprise; she'd never thought she'd ever hear Steve tease her or anyone about anything. It comforted her, though, and she glared at him.
"That's Miss Rookie to you," she said haughtily. Steve just huffed.
"Yes, of course, Miss Rookie."
After that, the ride was silent. Tyler's smile was quick to fade and she once again stared out of her window with anxiety. What exactly would it be like to walk into the enemy's headquarters? She wasn't sure she was ready to know. In fact, she probably wasn't. But, it was too late to do anything about. She did her best not to think up too many possibilities, and instead tried to focus her mind on anything else. If she didn't, she wasn't sure what her reaction would be when she stepped out of safe territory and into danger. The only thing she was certain of was that she would have to maintain a perfect mask of indifference. What else could she possibly do?
(A/N): My longest chapter yet, to say sorry for the late update. I was going to post last week sometime, but then life happened. :-/ Lol, anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Also, the moment we have all been waiting for has nearly arrived... Next chapter, Tyler will finally interact with Loki. *GASP* That being said, I am personally excited to write the next chapter, so I'm hoping I will be a bit quicker in posting it than I have been. Do please leave a review because I love hearing what people have to say about my stories! Thanks! :D
-Koury