Chapter 18:Safety
Tyler stared ahead at her target, eyes dark with the thoughts rolling around in her head. She didn't know what happened over the past few hours – there was a blank space between escaping Cerberus and waking up back at base – but she knew that it was mostly Loki's fault. Although, the fact that the information was apparently classified didn't really help either. Thank you Director Fury.
She imagined Loki was standing in front of her, that sickening smirk on his face. That should have made her angry. Or perhaps it should have made her scared, because she knew now that she was no match for him. He had been toying with her. Yet, she felt nothing thinking of him. No anger. No hate. No fear, really. That made her mad. That she didn't feel anything. It was infuriating.
So she grabbed her gun, aimed, and continuously pulled the trigger until the cartridge was empty of bullets. There was a silence afterward that seemed somewhat rewarding, but it lasted only a few moments. The other agents in the shooting range continued firing at their targets. Tyler sighed, and hit the button that would bring the paper target forward so she could see where she hit. Like back on the helicarrier, she expected a few shots on the white, and a few close to fatal areas. But the problem was that an image of Natasha firing her gun came into Tyler's mind just before she pulled the trigger.
When the paper got close enough, she saw a cluster of bullet holes directly in the center of the target, which would be a person's heart. She couldn't do that before she knew of this ability she'd apparently been born with. That wasn't really her firing those bullets, it was Natasha. That made her mood even worse.
She slammed the gun down on the open wall in front of her and ripped down the target. She replaced it with a new one and sent it back out so she could try again. She refilled her gun with bullets the HQ thankfully provided, and then cleared her mind of everything but the black silhouette in front of her. There was nothing else in the world except the tip of her gun and that target, aside from her own ability. She would fire at that target with nothing but her talent. It was just her. Nothing else.
As soon as the target was where it needed to be, she aimed her gun. She took a deep breath and focused on the black. She saw Clint firing at the Cerberus agents, and again emptied the cartridge without pause. She hit the button to bring the target back over, waiting in dreadful anticipation. She had seen Clint before she pulled the trigger; she knew what the result would be.
Indeed, when the target was close enough, she saw that there was a group of clean shots focused on the head. She slammed her gun into its holster and again ripped down the poster, trying her best not to make too much of a scene. She crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trashcan beside her stall.
When she turned around, she stopped short as she saw a man standing behind her, watching with curious eyes. Curious green eyes, though not quite as vibrant as Loki's… And why the hell did she have to compare him to Loki? She'd only been in contact with the god for a few irritating and life-threatening moments – she should not be using him for any standards whatsoever. She took mental note to never do that again.
The man spoke almost as soon as she turned around.
"I think that's about the most annoyed I've seen anyone get because of perfect aim."
When Tyler didn't answer, he continued with a small shrug.
"Unless of course they were jealous of another person's perfect aim. That I do see fairly often."
Tyler eyed him, surprised that he was both white and didn't speak with an accent. She thought all the agents there aside from the Avengers and herself were from the Middle East. The man seemed to easily notice her apprehension, for he held his hand out with a smile.
"Chris," he said. "I was the pilot that flew you out of Cerberus."
Tyler slowly reached out and gave him a handshake; his grip was firm. He seemed familiar somehow, and not because he looked fairly similar to Steve with his short blond hair and admittedly impressive build. Of course, he was shorter than and not quite as large as Steve, but still the similarity was almost uncanny.
Then, suddenly, she remembered.
"You spar with Natasha sometimes," she said.
Chris nodded, not surprised in the least that she would know that. "Indeed I do. And you train with her, Clint and Steve. I'd heard rumors about Tony Stark's daughter, but I didn't think they were actually true until I was sent on this mission."
Tyler folded her arms across her chest, her small amount of good humor gone. "For all intents and purposes, they're not."
"Fair enough," Chris seemed to notice the bitterness in her voice, because he changed subjects entirely. "Aren't you supposed to be resting in a hospital room or something? Last time I saw you, you weren't exactly in good shape."
Last time he saw her? He was the pilot. He must have known what happened after she left Cerberus. Did he know that the information was classified?
Tyler shrugged. "I heal quickly, and sitting still for too long just irritates me."
"And do your handlers know you're out?"
"Of course they do," Tyler scoffed. "That's Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America you're talking about."
She was a little surprised at how easily the deception came out of her mouth, but even more so when Chris seemed to believe her. He just nodded and continued on to another subject.
"Out of pure curiosity, and since you've only been training a couple months, where'd you learn to shoot like that?"
Tyler almost wanted to say something rash about her ability. Whatever she said, though, would probably make her sound crazy.
"I've always done my best to know how to protect myself," she lied again.
"By shooting people in the head? When you're just a civilian?" Chris asked, a small smirk on his lips. Tyler didn't find his humor amusing, so she just stared at him. His smirk didn't fade when he said, "I was under the impression we were leaving as soon as you were well. Has that changed?"
Back on this subject again? Tyler shook her head. "I woke up sooner than expected, so the flight's been delayed for a few hours. I think Banner wants to make sure I'm fine before we do anything."
Chris nodded. "Makes sense, considering what happened to you. Although, doesn't make sense that they would allow you to wander around alone…"
Tyler paused before she asked, "What exactly did happen to me?"
"You don't know?" Chris eyed her suspiciously. "No one told you?"
Tyler knew she had to come up with something believable if she was going to get anything out of Chris. He wasn't much older than her, but probably had plenty of experience anyway. This lie had to be good.
"More like no one had the chance to tell me," she said. "I ate food right away and then Doctor Banner examined me. He didn't let anyone visit me afterward because he said I needed rest."
Chris smirked. "I can see you take orders well."
Tyler just huffed and began to walk out of the shooting range. "I know my limits, and right now my physical health isn't one of them."
Chris followed her, easily keeping up.
"I'll admit you do seem as though you've recovered quite well," Chris said once they were in the hallway. "I assume that the fact you're breathing means your heart is beating again?"
Tyler stopped short and Chris nearly ran into her. She turned around and scrutinized him closely.
"When I woke up the first thing Clint did was check for a pulse. Why?"
Chris seemed to consider her for a moment before he asked, "Are you sure they didn't tell you because they can't?"
Tyler frowned in feigned confusion. "Why wouldn't they be able to? I'm fairly certain none of them have a speech impediment… Unless they've been hiding that, which I must say is impressive."
That actually elicited a small chuckle from Chris.
"No, I doubt they have anything like that."
Tyler just raised an inquisitive eyebrow and waited. Chris appeared to debate for a few moments before he consented to tell Tyler what had happened.
"You fell unconscious in the middle of escaping, and apparently you were freezing to the touch. I assume you were shivering or something, but I couldn't actually see you. At some point, Clint checked your pulse. You were still breathing, but by all accounts your heart wasn't working. I wasn't in the hospital room after that, but I'm fairly certain you caused a bit of an uproar. The others were pretty worried about whatever happened, and they had to sedate you at some point."
Tyler frowned, considering all the possibilities of what that was supposed to mean. Chris's answer was pretty vague, but he probably hadn't been able to pay much attention. She could get more out of Clint or Banner later. For now, she just tried to wrap her mind around the fact that her heart hadn't been beating and yet she was still alive to tell about it. How long had that been going on? Unless, of course, Clint just couldn't feel her pulse.
Without saying anything else to Chris, she turned around and started walking through the halls back to her hospital room. She had even more questions now, and wasn't that just wonderful? She didn't think her trying to fly off to India would cause so many problems. She knew there would be trouble, but not this much. She almost wished that she'd just stayed back at the helicarrier. Tony would probably remain holed up in his workshop, she'd be much farther with her training, she wouldn't have run into the green-eyed bastard, and things would just be roses and daisies. At least as much as a spy's life could be.
"Brooding never does anyone any good," Chris interrupted her irritated train of thought. Apparently, he had continued to follow her. She glanced up at him but kept walking.
"I wasn't brooding. Just contemplating."
"Contemplating?" Chris half-smiled. "That's even worse."
Tyler eyed him. "There a reason you're following me?"
"You're supposed to be in bed. I figure I can't force you to do that, so the next best thing is to make sure you don't get into any trouble."
You mean make sure I don't do anything stupid like Tony would.
Tyler kept that thought to herself and simply gave him a curt nod. Unfortunately for him though, stupidity was really in her family upbringing. She doubted she'd be able to avoid it, which meant her life expectancy went from ten years with this job to about five. But that was five years without Tony's interference, because she knew that SHIELD had secrets even he hadn't found out. Perhaps there was a secret base somewhere in the Himalayas he didn't know about…
And, speaking of the devil, as Tyler and Chris passed by a small laboratory, they jumped to arms as they heard a loud gunshot echo throughout the building. The agents around them had similar reactions, all pulling out their guns and looking for whoever fired the first bullet. They radioed other agents about the shot and began to move toward the lab, but Tyler and Chris had already entered into the room.
"Tony!" Tyler yelled as soon as she saw him.
He was currently holding a handgun, looking mildly surprised at the fact that it had fired. He stopped turning it around in his hands when he heard Tyler.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.
"Guns like these are pitiful," Tony said matter-of-factly, turning his attention back to the firearm. He had a tool in his hand that he began to use to tinker with the gun. "And the safety wasn't on, guess I should have-"
He was interrupted as the gun again discharged a bullet that ricocheted off of the lab equipment. Tony looked from where the bullet hit and then back to the gun.
"That was unexpected."
"Tony!"
Tony looked at Tyler and smiled. "Safety," he said again, flipping the switch to put it on, and Tyler rolled her eyes. She marched forward and ripped the gun out of his hands. She tossed it to Chris who was both confused and rather amused at the situation. He caught the gun with ease, and Tony just turned to some other supplies and started fiddling around again.
"Why is it that you always have to cause trouble wherever you go?" Tyler snapped. "Can't you ever just sit quietly and think before you go and play with things that have the potential to explode?"
Tony looked up at her and pouted. "But that's so boring."
"Isn't everything to you?" Tyler asked, holding her arms out to her sides, her own gun still in hand. She pointed at him accusingly with her free hand. "I'll bet you can't go even one day without messing something up."
Tony paused whatever he was doing and nodded. "You would probably win that bet."
Tyler let out a frustrated growl and pressed her fingers to her forehead, trying to calm herself down. "I can't believe SHIELD lets you do anything without a hundred agents watching your every move. You should be locked up until you learn not to act like a child."
Tony huffed as he pulled out a bigger gun from absolutely nowhere. "I do believe that's rich coming from you," he commented casually.
Tyler glanced at the gun with exasperation, then narrowed her eyes at him. "Coming from me? I haven't done anything! You, you cause problems no matter where you go!"
"At least I didn't steal a top-secret fighter jet from the world's biggest secret agency and crash it in the Algerian desert, shoot myself in the arm, and get my handler captured by hostiles, one of whom was from another planet," Tony responded tauntingly. Tyler clenched her fists and took a step forward, about to do something completely and totally irrational, but a voice at the entrance to the room interrupted her.
"Excuse me," it said. Tyler could tell it was an agent from Algeria because of his thick accent. She stopped in her tracks and glared at him, only because of her anger at her father.
"What?" she snapped unintentionally.
The agent raised his brows, apparently astonished at the way she treated a senior in the field, but he didn't say anything on the matter.
"I was merely wondering what all the commotion was about."
"Nothing," Tyler hissed and turned back to her father. "Mr. Stark here was just about to leave."
Tony glanced up from where he now held a third even bigger gun in his hands. Tyler looked around the room, wondering how many damn guns were hidden in that place. She hadn't seen the flash of pain that went through his eyes at her formal use of his last name.
"Actually," Tony corrected pragmatically, "I was just getting started. The aim on these things is rough to say the least, and the kickback..." He tilted his head disdainfully as he continued to adjust a few things on the gun. "Let's just say there can be a lot of remodeling."
Tyler ran her hand through her hair and prayed to whatever deity that cared to listen. Please send something to push him off a bridge!
"Tony, please put the gun away," she tried in a reasonably-toned voice. Tony paused for two seconds, then shook his head.
"No, I think I'm good."
"Damn it, Tony!"
Tyler shoved her gun in her holster, stormed forward and tore the gun from his hands. Then, she dropped the gun on the floor and shoved him against the nearest wall, eyes blazing with fury.
"Why don't you just grow up?!"
Tony looked at her with surprise for a moment, seeing as his feet were hardly touching the ground, and furrowed his brow.
"I don't think that's supposed to happen," he commented.
Tyler growled dangerously and contemplated throwing him out a window, but a hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her anger just enough for her to realize what exactly was going on. Chris was standing next to her, trying to calm her down, while a bunch of SHIELD agents were in the room with their weapons in hand, trying to discern whether or not this quarrel would move on to a hazardous level.
Tyler returned her glare to Tony and waited a long moment before she let go of him. She waited another moment, about to say something, but thought better of it. She turned around and pushed her way through the crowd of agents that had gathered in the lab. As she exited into the hallway, a group of unwelcome Avengers hurried towards her, probably to see what all the commotion was about. As it happened, she didn't want to deal with them at that particular moment, so she turned and started walking in the opposite direction they were coming from.
"Tyler," Clint called when he noticed her turning away.
Tyler sped up. She didn't want to talk to them. She really didn't want to talk to them. Or anyone. She had no idea what was going on; why had she gotten so mad? Tony was being Tony. She could deal with Tony. He was childish sometimes, but that was one of the things so amazing about him. He could look at a situation and make light of it no matter how dark it seemed; she had always admired him for that. But now? No, not now.
Now, no matter what he did, she hated it. Hated him. Hated herself, why so much hate? She had been angered earlier, but this? This wasn't her. It was… it was confusing. She needed some time to clear her mind, preferably away from everybody else.
It occurred to her that her name was still being called, probably by Clint. She could hear footsteps and knew that once they got hold of her she wouldn't have any privacy no matter what she did to get it. So without warning, she ran.
Perhaps that was a childish thing to do, perhaps she was just trying to escape her problems. But how could she deal with the problems around her when she had so much confliction inside her? She knew there were probably better options than avoiding the people there to help her, but in the heat of the moment she couldn't think of anything else to do. After all, it didn't feel at that moment that she was even herself anymore.
So, she just kept running. No one stopped her for some reason, so it was fairly easy to get through the base. She looked for places of solitude as well, but in the confining halls she really couldn't see any place deserted enough to get the peace she needed. And she doubted anyone would let her wander off base to find enlightenment in the middle of the damn desert. Why couldn't she have crashed in some peaceful meadow with nothing to worry about but a possible bear?
The thought was tempting, but it was a bit too late for that. So, she just kept running until somehow she ended up in the flight hangar. She hadn't known where it was before, so it wasn't like she did it on purpose.
The hangar was fairly busy, but also quite large. There definitely had to be more space here than in the tiny, winding halls of the actual base. But the problem was finding it without the other agents seeing her and questioning her. While the agents in the halls pretty much ignored her, she could tell that these were on much higher alert. Perhaps because if someone stole one of their fighters and started shooting up the base then there wouldn't really be anything they could do about it.
She had an idea, though, and looked up.
As she thought, just like the flight hangar back in New York, this one had catwalks running around the room up above. There were a few people walking back and forth across them, but not nearly as many as on the floor or in the confined halls of the base.
So, she looked around for the closest staircase up and climbed the metal steps quickly. Once she was on the catwalks, she moved to the back of the room where she could look down and see everything that was happening. It was so easy to watch people; she could spot the few slacking agents as they paused to talk to one another or pull a snack out of their pockets. She could see when an agent went inside the cockpit of a plane and when they came out again; it was just so much simpler to survey things from up above than to walk around on the ground below.
And then she realized why Clint spent all of his time up here when he wasn't training her or otherwise occupied. Not only was it rather entertaining to watch everyone, it would probably be so much easier to spot something that was wrong. Aside from that, he loved his arrows. It would just be stupid to use arrows so much if all he did was wander along the ground.
You're avoiding the subject at hand, Tyler scolded herself internally. And that was true; she didn't particularly feel like puzzling her weird emotions out. Unfortunately it was necessary if she was to continue her training without interruption.
With a sigh, she sat down and let her feet hang over the edge of the metal platform as she leaned her elbows on the safety bars. She rested her chin on her arms and tried to remember what had gotten her so worked up about Tony.
Of course he was being an idiot and definitely knew better than to play with guns… but suddenly she realized that wasn't it at all. She didn't know what it was, but she wasn't angry at Tony. Not like she had been. She was still annoyed with him, but it wasn't nearly enough to elicit the reaction she had minutes earlier. She had no idea where that outburst came from, and it sort of happened without her thinking about it. Suddenly she was just pinning her father against the wall, eyes blazing with some foreign hate and anger.
Tyler subconsciously reached under her sleeve to scratch the mark he had placed on her skin.
Ever since Loki gave her that mark, it was as though she wasn't herself anymore. She didn't know if it was some strange form of trauma or if Loki had done something to her to cause her to act out so much. Either way, it was more than just annoying; it was interfering with both her personal life and her life as an agent. And it hadn't yet been a full twenty-four hours since she fought him. How could something like that take affect so suddenly?
She only vaguely remembered her horror that second night in the desert: when Clint started taking out the Cerberus agents to protect her. He had killed someone right next to her, and she had to try very hard not to scream or run away or something. Yet, after the Loki thing, when she needed to help the others escape the base… she hadn't been disturbed by the deaths around her. Not even a little bit, and thinking back now she still wasn't. She even thought her initial horror was sort of foolish. It was natural to build up a tolerance for something like that, right? Maybe that's all it was: she'd seen death before and was no longer bothered by it.
Something didn't seem right about that explanation.
Still, she couldn't really think of anything else, not without all the facts. All she knew was that Loki did something to her that messed her up more than she already was, and now she had to deal with it. She'd rather do it without him coming back for her, but for some reason she knew that she was going to be seeing him again sometime soon. Hopefully by then she'd have a little more experience under her belt with this whole special ability thing. If she was able to effectively use it in a battle against him, she might stand some sort of chance.
Before she could logically tell herself that idea was indeed very foolish, someone sat down next to her. She sighed softly, not wanting anyone to be there. She guessed it was Clint, and so she didn't say anything, just kept staring at the ground below. However, when "Clint" leaned forward and assumed the same position as her, she saw from the corner of her eye that it wasn't her trainer. It was Chris.
She still didn't look at him, and did her best to get her mind back on track. She needed a way to defend herself against Loki should he confront her when she was on her own. Even with her ability, she knew raw skill wasn't going to be enough to defeat him or even tire him out much. He was a god; she was a human. How was she supposed to compete against that?
But, she was also a human with a hell of a lot of technology at her fingertips. She could see what kind of weapons SHIELD had that she could use, or even better she could see if Fury would be willing to let her make her own. Of course she couldn't engineer it like Tony, but if she had an idea then someone might be able to make it for her. It would have to be something that would give her an advantage over Loki, but she knew that if it was something like a gun then a) Loki wouldn't be affected and b) he could easily knock it out of her hands. If she was to make a weapon, it had to be one that was secured onto her.
Like Natasha's Tasers? She wore those attached to her arms so they were always right there for her to use. Did they work against someone like Loki?
Tyler just didn't know. There were so many things she didn't know about Loki, and it wasn't like Thor was around to ask. If she questioned any of the SHIELD agents about it they'd probably just tell her that the information was classified and she should get lost. Then again, if Loki was targeting her, wouldn't Natasha and Clint and Steve want her to be able to protect herself?
She scoffed: no, they would rather shove her into an untraceable jail cell until they found and killed him themselves. Unless Thor reappeared from the clouds she would have to either ask Tony, which her pride wouldn't allow her to do, or find out the information herself. She might not be a genius, but she did know how to use Jarvis to hack into the SHIELD database. (Yes, she borrowed a couple of Tony's little hack-y things… and no, he still hadn't found out.)
"You know," Chris said next to her. She almost jumped: she had forgotten he was there. "It might not be any of my business… but don't daughters usually refer to their fathers as, well… 'Father?'"
If he was trying to get her to feel better, that really didn't work. She glared at him.
"You're right. It's not any of your business," she said bluntly before she started to get up.
"My Dad was a pretty big dick, too," Chris said casually. Tyler stopped and eyed him, mostly out of confusion. He seemed fairly comfortable with the subject, so she doubted his father could have been that bad.
"Not like Tony," she snorted, once again about to get up to leave.
"I don't think I can remember what he was like when he was sober," Chris continued. "He always had a bottle in his hand."
Well, okay, Tyler could admit that was pretty bad. She knew exactly what alcohol did to people. The man who raised her those first ten years…
"Why are you telling me this?" Tyler asked suspiciously. Secret agents, especially agents of SHIELD, did not talk about their personal lives. It just wasn't a thing.
Chris shrugged and looked at her for the first time as he said, "Just thought it might make it easier if you knew that you're not the only one with a bad family life. In fact I'm pretty sure just about everyone in the agency has some sort of bad history."
Tyler scowled. "You don't think I know that? I'm not some naive child."
Chris smiled. "I know, but I bet that no one's actually told you about it, have they?"
Tyler remained silent and turned her eyes back out to the floor below. Not really, no. The only thing SHIELD had going for it was secrets. Lots and lots of really big secrets that were too important for little Tony Stark's daughter.
"And I can also bet that people have been prying into your past without your consent."
Tyler immediately thought about the video; the one Tony had sent Fury. The Director showed only a few people, but still it was something she would have liked to show to others herself. He went ahead and told Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Bruce without her prior knowledge of the video. That was what had prompted her to steal the jet in the first place, now that she thought of it. That seemed so long ago.
But it was before that, even. Probably because of her last name. Everyone knew who she was and one thing or another about her past that she hadn't told anyone aside from Jackie. Yet she wasn't even sure if she knew the people who were training her; who she'd come to call friends. Clint knew about that man before Tony was her dad… but was Clint even his real name? Did he have a family or was he an orphan like she had been? Was Natasha truly Russian or was she just raised in Russia? Where exactly had she received her training? Tyler knew she hadn't been a part of SHIELD until somewhat recently. And what about Steve? He had been in ice for seventy years: did he have a life now outside of SHIELD? And Bruce. She knew virtually nothing about him either; all she knew was that he was nearly as smart as Tony and he could turn into a "big, green rage monster."
It wasn't that she wanted anyone to tell her all their big secrets, but she really didn't know anything about anyone. Even though they definitely had enough on her by then to write a biography, she couldn't even write a single-page short story on them. Were the people she knew the real them or just masks they put on at work every day?
To the side of her, Chris suddenly started laughing. Tyler blinked and looked at him with irritation.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
Chris shook his head as he calmed. "All I have to do is say one little thing like that and suddenly you go on writing a novel in your head, don't you?"
Tyler frowned, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You like to think about things a lot," he said seriously. "Keep doing that and you might just bury yourself under all the baggage you're making."
Tyler was about to deny his words, but what exactly had she been doing not moments before? She looked away.
"Thinking is essential for understanding things," she mumbled. "There are a lot of things I'd like to understand."
"Yeah me too," Chris nodded. "But sometimes no matter how much you turn it over inside that head of yours, it doesn't get any better. Actually, most of the time it just becomes more confusing."
That Tyler could agree with to some degree, but still if she didn't figure things out then she would just be walking in circles. Unless that was what she was already doing? There seemed to be a rather consistent cycle of her needing to sort things out and then not being able to and only making things worse for herself.
Chris stood up next to her. She glanced at him but did not follow, even though he stood waiting for her.
"Come on," he prompted. "The others are still looking for you; we need to leave soon."
"I'm already at the flight hangar," Tyler grumbled. "They can come over here, I'm not leaving just to come right back."
"Actually, you're at the wrong hangar. My jet is parked on the other side of the base."
Tyler sighed after a slight pause. "Of course it is."
Then, she stood. Chris gave her one last smile before he led the way back to the others. They were no longer outside the small laboratory Tony had been messing around in, but rather they were back at the room Tyler had been staying in. Clint and Tony were conversing outside the room; the rest were probably inside.
"I'm telling you: my feet were practically lifted off the ground," Tony was saying. Except… Tyler shouldn't have heard him. She and Chris were still a ways away and she wasn't sure the others even noticed them yet. She concentrated hard on what they were saying but for whatever reason she couldn't hear anything else. Perhaps Tony was just speaking too loud as was usual; Clint probably hushed him.
The conversation had stopped by the time she and Chris reached them anyway.
"Tyler," Clint said when she was close, and promptly pulled her into a headlock. "Stop disappearing like that!"
Tyler struggled in his grip and growled, "Wouldn't have to if you guys stopped bugging me."
"It's our job to bug you," Clint said and let go of her. She just rolled her eyes. She didn't know what Tony was thinking, mostly because she avoided looking at him altogether. "So I hear we're leaving soon?" Tyler asked.
Clint nodded. "Bruce just wants to look over the results of your blood test and then we'll probably leave after that."
"Blood test?"
"Yeah, he took some of your blood when you were passed out."
Tyler narrowed her eyes at him. "And why the hell would he need a blood test? The poison's gone, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Clint hesitated. "And you know I can't tell you anything else."
Before Tyler could respond, Chris pointed accusingly at her. "I knew it! They didn't tell you because they aren't allowed to!"
"Never said they could tell me," Tyler replied with a sweet smile.
"You're just as manipulative as the Demon Witch," he grumbled.
"He means Natasha," Clint explained before Tyler could ask. "Now am I to assume you got some information out of him?"
Tyler held a finger to her lips, smiled, then turned around and opened the door to the hospital room. She heard Clint say something probably insulting to Chris before the door closed behind her.
"Honey, I'm home," she said brightly, trying her best to throw away her earlier negative thoughts. The result was that everyone looked at her like she was high, except for Jackie who practically jumped on top of her with a squeal.
"Darling, where have you been? I've missed you so much!"
Tyler shrugged and patted her friend's head. "Took the dog for a walk."
Chris apparently chose that time to walk in, or perhaps he had come in a few moments earlier with Clint… no Tony.
"I'm a dog?" he demanded, and Tyler just looked at him and pointed to the ground.
"Sit, boy. What are you doing in the house?"
Jackie wasn't the only one who found that amusing, because Tyler swore she heard Clint and Bruce hold back their laughter.
"Well before any of that continues," Natasha interrupted, apparently weirded out, "How about we all leave so Bruce can conduct his final check on Tyler and we can get out of here?"
"Again?" Tyler asked, frowning. "He just did that less than an hour ago, and I didn't do anything stupid so why does he need to do it again?"
Natasha seemed to pause at her question and then she looked at Bruce who shrugged.
"She does have a point."
"Good," Tyler said with a smile. "So how about them results from the blood test?"
Bruce and Natasha didn't say anything, so Steve just declared, "Time to go back to New York," and before Tyler could argue all four of the senior agents were out the door. Chris and Jackie were still there with Tyler.
"I hate people," Tyler grumbled. "Classified my ass; I can't be classified from myself! It's not possible."
Jackie laughed and walked over to where two backpacks were sitting next to each other on the ground. She held them up.
"Apparently it is possible. Good thing, too, because I brought lots of food for that angry appetite of yours, Honey."
Chris looked mildly disturbed when he said, "You two aren't a couple, are you?"
Tyler looked at him and smirked. "Yes, and you're our dog. Do you have to take care of any business before the long trip, Fluffy?"
"Why Fluffy? And – no! Geez, women are so weird."
With that, he turned and left. Tyler and Jackie started cracking up together. It took quite a bit of effort for them to calm down and when they did, Tyler went over to her bag and strapped it over her shoulder. She then went and grabbed one of the backpacks from Jackie despite her protests.
"Tyler," Jackie said before her friend left. Tyler stopped and turned around with a questioning glance.
"Yes?"
Jackie paused and then smiled warmly. "Nothing. Just don't stop laughing, alright?"
Tyler huffed. "How am I supposed to do that when I'm surrounded by so many fools?"
Jackie giggled, then lightly slapped Tyler on the arm. "I take offense to that!" she declared, then left the hospital room. Tyler didn't let her see as her smile faded for a moment. Then, she forced it back onto her face and followed her friend. They left the base and went to the flight hangar right after that; the jet had already been prepped.
Tyler really wasn't prepared for a fifteen hour flight with everyone, especially Tony, so she decided that she would only eat and sleep so that no one had the chance to bother her. She hoped she could pull it off, because she was actually fairly tired though she didn't show it.
Well, she had fifteen hours to sleep. Fifteen hours of Steve and Natasha and Bruce and Clint and Chris and Jackie and Tony and the Chinese co-pilot that appeared out of nowhere.
"There are too many people on this damn thing!" Tony complained before they even took off, quite effectively taking the words out of Tyler's mouth. She did her best to ignore him, as did everyone else, and went back to the sandwich she had started on. Fifteen hours. Only Fifteen hours to go; that wasn't even enough time for a Lord of the Rings marathon. She could do this.
Just focus on the food.
"Clint," Tony said holding out the "I" sound for an unnecessary amount of time. "I'm bored!"
Tyler threw the remainder of her sandwich at him without thinking.
"Shut up!" almost everybody yelled at once.
Fifteen hours was a long time.
A/N: Well, I updated *almost* within the same month of the last update. Progress, am I right? Anywho, there was no Loki this chapter. I am just as disappointed as you are. FEAR NOT. The story is finally moving. I still can't believe it took me fourteen chapters to introduce Tyler to Loki and vice versa. I'm a terrible person, but it shan't happen again! That's about as much as I can say for upcoming chapters because I'm secretive. :P As always, I thank you very much for reading, and reviews are even more appreciated! Tell me anything you want; I don't even care if it has to do with the actual story. (Although I would quite enjoy something useful). And I really don't have much else to say, so...
-KC