I'll MEET YOU AT THE END OF THE LINE • MARVEL AVENGERS

1:2

B O O K O N E
C H A P T E R T W O
A TROPHY FATHER'S TROPHY SON by Sleeping With Sirens

ADRIENNE BARTON

One thing Adrienne hated more than flying, was boats. Big or small. It didn't matter. More or so; a gigantic floating ship that carried more than its intended purpose. How in the hell do things that big even float? Of course, she didn't ask her question out loud because she knew someone on board who was way smarter than she was, would answer. And she didn't want it answered. It was so unnatural to her, and she didn't want to be a part of its weird existence. Adrienne preferred to swallow a tall glass of nails before she would ever agree to voluntarily stay on one of them.
That had to explain the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Adrienne kept her eyes closed the entire time, obviously. She was terrified beyond words. She was sure Steve didn't mean to, but he laughed at how she was acting, trying to find a place to steady herself. He was used to this; Adrienne could have gone her entire life without getting on anything remotely related to travel through the air and not remain on the ground for its entire purpose.
She gripped onto her seat up until they landed and even then, Sam tried his hardest to help her plant her feet on what she would have assumed was land. As soon as her feet did, she could somehow get the sense that it wasn't anywhere familiar because the air alone smelled salty and more importantly, fishy. Opening her eyes, all Adrienne noticed was how people shuffled around trying to get their assignments done, right before it was time to sail away. There were planes and vehicles, and what else? Ocean, lots and lots of ocean. The ocean Adrienne felt she didn't need to be near, and she could have gone her entire life without seeing. So much of it was undiscovered, and that scared her more than being up in the air. She wasn't the adventurous type, no matter if she thought she could be open-minded, and she thought she was. Adrienne didn't want to sink to the bottom and join the unknown. Nope, she needed to go back to Stark Industries and put meeting anyone else behind her for the remainder of the day because she was seconds away from passing out, barfing, and screaming. Possibly all three at the same time. Or not even close to being in that order. Adrienne was a cool person all in all, but there were some things she just did not like, and she had her reasons for it. The ocean and being airborne would always be her two biggest fears and maybe she was being irrational too, but Adrienne also felt it had everything to do with the secret. She felt she was being a tad bit obvious at this point because why couldn't she face her fears head-on like an adult? She knew that was what everyone else was thinking. It was deeper than that, and she wasn't ready to quite explain it. Right now she wasn't trying to dry heave in front of a group of strangers she just met.
She was trying to find ways to get off the ship, a plan that didn't involve her getting killed. Once Adrienne realized she was stuck where she was because they weren't currently docked, which explained why they had to get there by helicopter, for that reason alone; she planned to plant herself next to either Sam or Steve for the remainder of the trip because if she was going down, someone was going down with her.
    "Who is this?" His name was Phillip Coulson. He was one of the many agents for an organization commonly known as S.H.I.E.L.D., and according to his demeanor and posture, he seemed like he was important. Adrienne could hear others calling out to him while she was mentally breaking down over her fears-which may or may not have been irrational. They were real to Adrienne. He asked it as a general question, meaning anyone was able to answer it and he looked Adrienne up and down while he waited. It gave her a minute of clarity where she pulled her head back and glared at him. She might have been disheveled from her trying to survive the day with many new events but Coulson wasn't much to look at either. He could have known her if he wanted to but clearly, she served no real purpose to him except she was a distraction and nothing more, so that was why she was to remain a stranger until further notice.
Adrienne was still taking small glances around when Steve and Sam stopped at a respectful distance, which made her stop as well. Nausea was beginning to creep up her throat and she didn't want to vomit in front of freaking Captain America, and whatever Sam happened to be. Something in the back of her mind told her to make a good first impression. The look on her face told them what was about to happen though. That would not have made her look too cool in their eyes if Steve's Converses and Sam's Nike's were covered in the chocolate cream doughnut she had for breakfast.
"This is Adrienne Barton, Clint's niece." Natasha introduced Adrienne to Coulson, and he only nodded his head once. It was evident that Adrienne could unload the contents of her stomach at any moment. So, he watched carefully by pulling his head back before taking a voluntary step back, in case what he was seeing was true. He might have to, Adrienne was still feeling queasy, and the turning of her stomach also made a sound everyone around her heard. He definitely took that step back.
"I don't see any relevance to her presence being here, but the more the merrier. Welcome aboard Miss Barton." He nodded his head once more before excusing himself. It wasn't even like he was waiting for her to speak. It was like he didn't like her either. To each their own. If Adrienne could take a wild guess, thinking back on it, it was because she was fun to be around when she wasn't about to be sick to her stomach. Too bad no one would know that about her though. Such a shame Coulson had to be introduced to her at that moment. Then again, she was lying, which also explained why she didn't have friends. For other reasons, she didn't dare explain it to a group of strangers. Even then, Coulson would never like Adrienne, there was much to dislike, which he could go over in his mind when he found time.
Besides, Adrienne had a tendency of pushing everyone who wanted to get close to her, away. For good reason, if it hadn't already been obvious. That part was entirely her fault. Some people preferred tea, while others preferred any sort of fruity alcoholic beverage. Adrienne happened to be a tall glass of antifreeze. Anyone in their right mind would have said Tequila. And now it was evident Adrienne was in the right, anywhere. She wasn't just saying that to be considered edgy or eccentric. Adrienne truly wasn't a joy to be around, and if anyone were to consider themselves to be her friend, and was able to tolerate her enough, they couldn't be weak-minded, for she was not for the weak. Outside of her professional persona, she liked to think it was a defense mechanism to make herself unapproachable at all costs. For a perfectly good reason, not to just be an ass. Which still didn't explain why Adrienne didn't have a single friend, not even an associate. So, technically it was for a good reason. It was a good excuse to her, but to anyone else, it wouldn't have made sense to anyone else. It was just an excuse and a bullshit one at that. Her uncle would have been glad to remind her of that if he was around to see her often. But he hadn't.
Everyone would see why, eventually. Adrienne didn't like to show all of her personality cards so soon. It defeated the purpose of trying to remain mysterious.
"I'll pretend like that wasn't an insult." Adrienne didn't work for Coulson, so there was no reason to show him any type of respect. It was why she spoke in an annoyed tone. He turned on the balls of his feet and went to go do something else. It took so much to not find something close by and chuck it at the back of his head. She had to remember to remain professional, to remain calm. Adrienne didn't want to sound like the sort of character who seemed morally relatable. After years of self-isolation, she'd learned since no one stayed for long, she was able to be herself instead of trying to be someone she wasn't. Apparently, that was incredibly hard. Then realized she couldn't be that way when she had to work for a living, everyone would see right through her rouse, so she had to become someone else for those eight or nine hours. And to Adrienne, that was physically exhausting, as much as it was mentally. Being comfortable with who she was as a person- tolerable or not- she refused to even be remotely compliant with what was being said to her, especially when she felt as sick as she did. She didn't have time to pretend. Coulson was entitled to his wrong opinion, and he could choke on it while he was at it.
Natasha started to walk with Steve while Sam and Adrienne walked farther behind, it wasn't like he was in the mood to babysit her, and Adrienne wasn't offended because she didn't want anyone having any sort of responsibility over her. Sam was showing her some decency to help her out rather than leave her alone to fend for herself. They followed them, somehow hoping someone in that forsaken place had something to help with her stomach, and if no one did, then Adrienne was going to hide somewhere until her nausea subsided. She didn't think they were going to be at sea, so really, Adrienne didn't give a damn about meeting Nick Fury anymore.