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

1:5

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Wires And The Concept Of Breathing by A Skylit Drive

ADRIENNE BARTON

Walking with other agents, and none of them acknowledging her existence, Adrienne stood out. She didn't expect anyone to notice her either. She was just a speck of dust in a group of all those people and she couldn't help but let her imagination take her wherever it wanted to go. And where Adrienne's feet led her was in the direction of Loki's prison cell. Looking back, she thought about it; Adrienne thought that might have been his mind tricks playing games on her brain, but she could have also been wrong. Out of all people, Adrienne wouldn't have been chosen to do any task for him considering she wouldn't be of any use up in the sky. Before she could walk in, she already heard Natasha talking to him, all about how she owed Adrienne's uncle a debt because he spared her life once upon a time. Adrienne never thought about it like that. She didn't think about it at all actually. And Loki was talking about all the bad Natasha had ever done in her life and whether or not it was possible to wipe it all away, as if it never happened. He was taunting her with her past and it made her walk away, and it wasn't until then that Adrienne realized Natasha was making a fool out of him. She pretended to cry, made it look authentic enough, then she stopped and looked directly at him, thinking Loki was going to make Banner turn into the Hulk. Adrienne didn't know what she meant by that; as of then, Adrienne assumed Banner was as plain as she was. And that spoke volumes because Adrienne wasn't plain at all. Adrienne wasn't sure she wanted to know if he'd been much different than what he led on. Adrienne still couldn't wrap her head around it. Bruce Banner was dangerous?
Adrienne curled around the corner and tried to stay hidden while Natasha left to let everyone know what was going on through her earpiece. Adrienne didn't even know Banner was the Hulk, and suddenly it made her want to be on the ship even less. The moment she was gone was the moment Adrienne made her presence known. Loki turned around again and squinted his eyes because he had no clue who Adrienne was. How could he? Or he did, he just didn't make time to remember her, which was understandable too. Adrienne: the speck, remember? Then it clicked back to him watching her on the plane as she paced back and forth. She was the one who was able to bring the ground up with a wave of her hands. His malicious smile and devilish intent returned to his face. Surely, he believed Adrienne would be easy to manipulate.
"Hello," His voice like silk and his alluring eyes captivating, Adrienne stared too long for anyone's comfort but knew better than to fall for any man's words. Even one as simple as hello. Every single one of her exes taught her that. Loki was no different if anyone was being technical. Man, or God, they were all assholes. "And who might you be?"
"Adrienne Barton." She raised her chin and showed no fear. She tried anyway. There wasn't a call for it, and as much as Adrienne wanted to run and warn Banner about what was about to happen, she stayed. She needed to let Loki know he had taken her uncle hostage, and she wanted him back. As much as Natasha wanted Clint back, Adrienne wanted him back twice as much. She would always want him back twice as much.
"Ah, you're related to Agent Barton I presume?" He looked down and then up, smiling a devilish grin as if that would somehow make Adrienne's knees buckle. Seriously though, what was with everyone being so damn attractive!? During her entire experience of living in New York City, one would like to believe Adrienne walked into a room filled with nothing but handsome men. Nope. Before walking into Stark Industries, she didn't see a single soul as attractive as the men she witnessed in the last forty-eight hours. Precisely because half of the time she wasn't paying attention to any of them. There was always a reason for that. Adrienne didn't want anyone focusing on her, not because she didn't want the attention, but because she feared someone would notice she had abilities. It wasn't something she wanted reported back to her parents.
"His niece," Adrienne nodded her head once and stepped forward. She brought her hands up and crossed them over her chest. The only thing intimidating about Adrienne was her face, and right then, she wasn't even sporting a menacing look, she was more nonchalant than anything else. Adrienne had to show the team she was willing to keep her head. And that would have been the moment to do so, the moment to prove to Stark she was more than capable of handling anything shoved her way.
"So, what's so special about you?" He looked her up, then down trying to figure her out, but according to him at that moment Adrienne was just a normal woman. Much more normal than Natasha, much bigger than anyone on the Heli carrier. Not that her size had anything to do with anything, but she knew Loki had noticed that part about her. That was fine with Adrienne, she was going to continue to let him believe that she was normal. The less everyone knew, the better. And she could tell by the way he analyzed her that she was no agent, that she was no hero. Adrienne was just a concerned family member.
"Not a single thing, I'm just here to help find my uncle." She was smug when she tilted her head, she even added a shrug for a little effect. Natasha had ways to get information out of people, and Adrienne wasn't trying to gather information, she wasn't even trying to be like her. She just wanted to have a conversation with someone who wanted to have one with her, someone who knew where Clint was. Adrienne needed the practice, and it was a perfect way to do it. Everyone seemed so busy, and she was feeling useless, so she went to talk to the bad guy. It wasn't like Adrienne was trying to join the dark side, she just wanted to talk. Adrienne didn't think it suited her anyway. Talking could uproot some old feelings that he might have been burying deep down. Adrienne wanted to know what hurt him because it was clear on his face, he had been hurt time and time again. And he was desperately trying to make himself look like the bad guy. It rang familiarity, and in no way was she trying to relate. It was a look she sported about a million times, but he might have also been using that to get inside her head. It wasn't a good excuse to try and take over an entire planet, one as flawed as Earth, at that.
"No, no. There is something about you. I can sense it." He walked closer to the glass, eyes narrowed, watching her as she glanced up to meet his gaze. Adrienne was starstruck by their closeness, clearly. Even if there had been a glass wall between them. Adrienne was still able to answer him, while it came out as a stutter.
"I-I'm just an assistant," She casually shrugged both shoulders like it wasn't a big deal, that Adrienne wasn't special. Adrienne learned she wasn't, and it was okay. She had spent almost twenty years trying to hide what made her special. What she wanted and ached for was normality. But why would someone so destructive, want to be special anyhow? Adrienne was normal as long as she was in the air. That was probably what Fury wanted anyway. Clint being gone did stress her the hell out, though. So, if she was left unsupervised while everyone else was out looking for him, Adrienne would probably destroy something if given the chance, due to stress or fear of course. Adrienne wasn't even going to lie about that. "I just came here to talk. Being the youngest one here, people tend to push me to the back of their conversations. Like, no one really cares to talk to me because they assume I have nothing important to say."
"Is that so?" His voice was above a whisper and Adrienne couldn't help but smile. She nodded her head lightly and turned her back to the glass before leaning against it. If she kept her cool, then it was likely he would do the same. Adrienne sighed and then looked over her shoulder before narrowing her eyes to match his. He was trying to see what she was getting at. Honestly, besides the fact that Adrienne was an unofficial team member to a team that didn't want her around, she was no longer an assistant and that was all that mattered. Adrienne was looking for someone to talk to until everyone else warmed up to her. And what better person to talk to than a prisoner? Adrienne knew she was a smartass for that one. It wasn't like he could go anywhere. What could it hurt to talk his ear off while trying to get some things off her chest? The whole day wrecked Adrienne's nerves.
"Very much. Listen, this is my first day on the job and already I am tired of Tony Stark." Adrienne turned her head and looked in the direction she came in from and rolled her eyes. He started to look around to see if he was being pranked, he even looked at the camera to let anyone know Adrienne was back there with him. Little did he and Adrienne know; that everyone else was arguing about the stupidest, littlest things. All in all, they weren't paying him any mind. They assumed he couldn't move. In reality, he didn't need to. "And then this thing happened where I killed a dozen people, but Fury said there was nothing to worry about. They were bad guys who decided to side with you. What do you think about that?"
He turned his head when Adrienne purposely skipped over the half-day, she experienced like she wasn't expecting him to pay attention. "I know who you are."
"You do?" She straightened her posture and stopped leaning against the glass. Adrienne turned and dropped her arms, waiting for him to tell her exactly who she was. Adrienne thought that was the point she was trying to make, she wanted him to know it was she who basically foiled his plan, even though Adrienne wasn't really good at it, at all. All things considered, whatever was taken, was gone.
"You're that blasted Earth Bender." He was surprised he didn't recognize her sooner. He would have been sure to remember who Adrienne was. She was half of the reason why he was captured, but now, she thought there were other reasons he was standing here was because he wanted to be.
"That is not a good hero name." The exasperated sigh exiting her mouth was noticed by Loki. It kind of stuck though, and it made sense. It just reminded Adrienne of a show she watched when she was a kid, which was an honor until she actually discovered she had powers. "So, what? Is your main goal world domination or something?"
"How'd you guess?" He was sarcastic with his response, but Adrienne smiled. With complete honesty, Adrienne was taking everything as a joke. It was just something to do to pass the time, and with that being said, Loki really wished she would jump off the side of the ship. He caught on to her own sarcastic grin, and sadly it wasn't one of those days to do that, otherwise, Adrienne would have thrown herself without hesitation.
"I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but I am great at reading people." She took a slow turn around the room they were in and then smiled at him quickly before he could detach himself completely from their conversation. And no, Adrienne didn't care whether he was a good guy or a bad guy, she cared if he could hold a conversation, which was important to her later for the idea she didn't really converse much due to her own self-isolation. People could be so boring, including herself. And so far, Adrienne was intrigued with the man. Or God, whatever he thought he was.
"Oh, and what have you read about me?" His voice became sinister. He thought someone like Adrienne wouldn't dare to possibly understand someone like him, he was thousands of years old, and Adrienne was just a stupid child to him. She got that, but she also knew someone who had been hurt time and time again when she saw it, and she knew because she made the same expressions. She didn't seem sinister when she made those faces though, and she could tell he had been through the wringer. In the back of his mind, he just wanted someone to listen to him, too. Way in the back of his mind.
"For once you would like to be chosen first, and not your brother. It's the ultimate power struggle. It's the typical storyline for every superhero and supervillain tale, ever. And I got that from both Thor and you." Adrienne knew she was right. She heard what Thor had to say, she heard what Loki said to Natasha. He wanted to rule over something that his brother had no desire to take over. He wanted something for himself, he wanted to be in the first place and never wanted to come second like he always had. And Adrienne understood that. Personally, she didn't feel that way because she was an only child so she wouldn't feel like she could relate to that. But Adrienne was meant to understand, she would want someone to listen to her and what she went through her whole life. Adrienne did in a way understand where this Loki person was coming from. That and because she read enough comic books in her time to know exactly what was going on. He wanted someone to side with him, and thinking Adrienne was stupid enough, he thought he could bait her. She wasn't dense. And she knew better than to fall into anything he may have planned.
He narrowed his eyes and attempted to read her face again. He was probably expecting what Natasha had done to him, to come from her, but Adrienne didn't even know how to begin to do that. Natasha was flawless, and Adrienne was awkward. She wasn't good with the interrogating, not that she ever tried. Adrienne could already tell it wouldn't be her thing. He let it drop shortly after and began walking in circles to throw her off. Adrienne wasn't really bothered by it. She wasn't as jumpy as she believed herself to be, she was cool or tolerable, but once she was freaked out, it took a while before she simmered down. She was human too; sure, it took a while to control her big emotions. And though not perfected, she was still able to lead a somewhat normal routine into an extremely normal and boring life.
"So, are you single?" Her curiosity got the better of her and she turned back to the glass, only to see if he would actually answer it. And he looked like he would have if Maria Hill hadn't found Adrienne in the room with him, pulling her back as if he had some sort of disease. Or worse, the ability to turn Adrienne into a mindless drone. Like her uncle. Hill seemed extra protective for an unknown reason, and when he smiled devilishly at her, she turned back to Adrienne to see if she had been affected by something that wasn't there. Adrienne had no idea what was going on, but she didn't get to say goodbye because Hill was directing her out of the room and into the hallway, roughly waiting until the two were away from him to ask her what she and Loki were talking about.
"What happened in there?" Hill did a once over on Adrienne and then stared for ten seconds above her head to see if someone was coming in their direction because it would have been weird considering everyone was running around and she had to be in charge of retrieving. If someone was coming toward them that meant they were there because of Loki. No one else seemed to have the clearance.
"He was about to tell me if he was single or not, no thanks to you." Adrienne fixed her jacket and pulled her arm out of Hill's grip before taking a glance over herself just to make sure certain parts weren't hanging out. She was clearly peeved over the idea she would pull Adrienne out just as he was about to answer her.
"He was- wait what?" She closed her eyes for a second and shook her head. Then she inhaled deeply. She was confused and assumed Adrienne was gathering information from him to report back to Fury, and technically Adrienne was, but not the information Fury would have wanted. He would have been more concerned as to why Adrienne would want to know that in the first place.
"I asked him if he was single, and he was about to answer me before you rudely interrupted." Adrienne thought Hill would understand what she was getting at just by the expression on her face but she just continued to stare at Adrienne with confusion. Adrienne inhaled deeply and sighed loudly. She was an agent who didn't ask the silly questions that were roaming about in her head and that was sad. S.H.I.E.L.D agents were probably trained to be dead inside and that made Adrienne feel bad even more. Her expression proved it. Adrienne couldn't imagine wanting to be like that. Seriously, Adrienne couldn't do it. Just looking at Hill made Adrienne sad for her.