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

1:6

BOOK ONE 
C H A P T E R   S I X
Drown The City by A Skylit Drive

ADRIENNE BARTON

Steve and Adrienne rode back in the helicopter with Coulson as they made sure to get him to his family or whoever he was being delivered to. After the two handed him off, Adrienne was going to go home and take a shower. After that, she was going to ball up on the couch and eat a pint of ice cream. Adrienne was not in the mood to continue crying over a lost S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. An agent who couldn't even be nice to her for three seconds.
After Coulson was being carted off to a vehicle separated by two other black vehicles, Steve came around Adrienne's left side and started walking backward while Adrienne tried avoiding his eyes.
"Is there anything I could say to make you stay?" He looked above her head before trying to get her attention again. He didn't think she was necessarily needed to be a part of the team; Adrienne could tell just by the look on his face, but it would still have been nice to keep her around. Adrienne was nice enough to at least be considered an acquaintance. She could tell he agreed with her, she wasn't meant to be a part of the team, everything Adrienne had said about herself was correct and she wasn't going to take it back. He was just trying to help her feel better and she appreciated that. It was the least she could do for one such as Steve Rogers.
"Why? All I'm going to do is slow everyone down." Adrienne liked to think she couldn't be persuaded, nor did she want to be. Adrienne wished everyone would have respected her enough to just open their ears and listen. She stopped walking and just stood there for a second. It felt great to feel the earth under her feet after being up in the sky for what felt like forever, and she inhaled deeply and then took a moment to feel the fresh air hit her lungs. Adrienne didn't have any urge to destroy anything and that was great, but Steve watched her hands as they balled into fists, stretched out, then balled them up again.
"Look, it's not fair how Fury threw you into this knowing you had no training. But that doesn't mean you quit. Take a step back and find out what you want. And if you want to join us, we'll get you the proper training you need. If you don't, then it's no hard feelings." He watched her head drop. Adrienne thought about it, and the way he explained it made sense and she liked how he gave her a choice, something Fury should have done from the very beginning. But something was there that allowed doubt to cross her mind. "Either way, it'll be awesome to have you a part of this team. Your gift is really something."
"Thanks, and I'll think about it." She forced herself to smile. Adrienne was only trying to be polite. He pulled his lips in a tight line and smiled lightly before patting her shoulder, then left to go into his separate vehicle. Sam finally followed behind him, making Adrienne realize he was there with them the whole time and she hadn't seen him anywhere until that moment. What the hell? It would have been nice to receive his help though she didn't say anything to him. Adrienne swallowed the dry lump in her throat and proceeded to make her way to the vehicle waiting for her as well. With her luck it would be someone being controlled by Loki, sending her on her way to her death. If that was the case, it was reason number one for why she got in at all.
On her way back to her tiny apartment, Adrienne glanced up and around to see if something was happening, and so far, it was just another day. The air was a little crisp due to it being early in the morning, but it didn't bother Adrienne as much as she thought it would. She was just ready to crawl under her blanket and sleep for the next two days. Adrienne deserved it after falling out of the ship. That event alone was traumatizing enough.

It was exactly what she did when the truck pulled to a stop and waited for her to get out. Once in front of her door, Adrienne twisted the doorknob after inserting her key into the lock and walked right in. She didn't even bother placing her phone on the charger, she casually threw it on her thrift store end table right next to the door and slipped her shoes off. Adrienne walked past the small kitchen, then the even smaller sitting area before going over to the corner and throwing herself face-first into her bed. She stayed like that for exactly three minutes before feeling a set of eyes on her. And she knew no one was able to get into her apartment and take anything because why would they want to? Adrienne barely owned anything, so not a single thing in her apartment was worth stealing, the most expensive thing there was her phone, and even that could only get twenty bucks out of it. She made a face when she thought about it. Honestly, not even that. The screen was scratched and cracked, and the back of the phone had the color fading away. Five bucks would have been too generous.
Adrienne gave in to her own curiosity and turned her head up to the right and low and behold, Natasha was sitting in the old recliner in the corner of the room. It made her look ominous as she sat forward and leaned on her elbows, which were coincidentally propped up on her knees. Adrienne jumped up quickly before Natasha could say anything and Adrienne ran to the opposite side of the room while the entire building shook violently. Natasha only realized then, that scaring Adrienne wasn't a great idea, but Natasha also didn't expect so much to come from Adrienne like that either. She assumed Adrienne had better control than that. Once the shaking stopped, Adrienne grabbed both sides of her head and closed her eyes tightly. When things shook as the building did, it rattled her brain and started to make her head pound, especially when Adrienne hadn't used her powers in so many years. It sort of came with the territory. Natasha settled her balance and then dropped her hands as she waited for Adrienne to open her eyes. Natasha wasn't going to be dramatic because she already saw what Adrienne could do, so now it was just a waiting game, waiting for Adrienne to calm down. It would happen eventually, the two were alone so that meant they could have a conversation without lingering ears. 
"Did Fury ever bother to warn you to not scare me? He seems to know everything else." Adrienne rolled her eyes and dropped her arms before walking over to the little area Adrienne would never consider a kitchen.
"He told me, I just didn't think he was serious." Natasha raised and lowered her eyebrows while taking a look through Adrienne's apartment, she noticed why Adrienne wanted to have the things she required if she joined the team. The apartment she lived in for the last five years was absolutely horrendous, and horrendous as it was, it was cheap. Adrienne couldn't afford to live anywhere in the city that never slept. Adrienne still couldn't afford the place, barely. That was why she searched for another job with a higher pay rate. Adrienne could barely live in the city, but she hadn't really been anywhere else, to consider moving out of state either.
"Would you like a bottle of water?" Adrienne offered Natasha before rummaging through her refrigerator and noticed the only thing she had to eat was her leftover Chinese food from three days ago. It was something, but not much since Adrienne ate the majority of it then. Anything other than that was that single bottle of water she already offered to her guest.
"No, thank you. I'm here to talk about training." Natasha took a couple of steps forward and watched to see if anyone else was lurking in the shadows, which might have been a sort of flattery because the place wasn't big, at all.
"I told Steve I would think about being a part of the team." Adrienne turned around and frowned at her knowing that Adrienne said the complete opposite of what Steve told Natasha.
"Really, 'cause he told me that you already agreed to join us." Adrienne could already tell that Natasha took his word over Adrienne's. That was understandable.
"Is he normally this persistent?" Adrienne tilted her head and narrowed her eyes as his face was so quickly imagined in her head. Adrienne knew she wasn't the first person to do it so she was in no way ashamed, he should have been honored because he was pretty much perfect, unlike Adrienne who wasn't thought of at all. Thinking like that, she quickly laughed at herself.
"Yes, and no. Only when he knows a good thing when he sees it." Natasha took another step in her direction and stared at the side of her face. How could Natasha possibly know that though? Adrienne slowly turned her head and widened her eyes just a little but then narrowed them again because she had no idea why Natasha was staring, nor did Adrienne know what Natasha meant by that. Adrienne didn't read people like she thought she did. Adrienne was just great at judging others. So that technically meant Adrienne was no better than Stark.
"So, you're here to do what exactly? I hope you don't think I would start training right this very second, knowing I hadn't even thought about it." Adrienne took a step back and tried to find something to clean. Something she also did when she was stressed out about something. There was plenty of time to get to know every one of her quirks and Natasha noticed it right away. Adrienne's dad was the man to thank for that because his obsessive-compulsive disorder made it impossible to ever leave something out of place. Hence the fact why Adrienne stress-cleaned because she used to be terrified to leave something out, or not pick something up and have him find it. Those days were not good ones growing up. So now, Adrienne did a thing, that no matter what, if she felt even the tiniest bit of stress, she cleaned up like her dad was about to walk through her front door.
"But you have thought about it, and you already decided." Natasha's head fell to the side, not even a centimeter as she stared at Adrienne before smirking. Adrienne glanced elsewhere because she didn't know the meaning behind what she was doing.
"I don't need you to do whatever you did to get information out of Loki. If you already know my answer, then accept that I at least want to take a nap." Adrienne closed her eyes and directed Natasha in the direction of the door. Natasha actually smiled because Adrienne was actually thinking about not joining the team. Adrienne was thinking about going to look for another job first thing tomorrow morning, but Natasha was making her uncomfortable with her presence and silence, so Adrienne told her what she wanted to hear just to get her to leave. Adrienne didn't know what else to do!
"I'll pick you up tonight, then." Natasha nodded her head once and started walking to the door and when Adrienne let it set in about Natasha coming back to get her. Adrienne wasn't supposed to be going anywhere.
"Wait what? Tonight, really? I only said that so you would leave me alone." Adrienne complained as she shouted after her while she walked to the door. It was only just in case Natasha didn't hear her.
"And I am leaving you alone, for right now. See you later." Natasha shrugged both of her shoulders and swayed her hips as she left. It might have had something to do with what she was wearing. It did look a little tight, but it hugged her well, even Adrienne watched her walk away.
"Great." Adrienne bit her top lip and began to look around to see if anyone else was going to jump out and cause her to have a heart attack. Adrienne didn't see anyone, but the morning was still very early. Adrienne at least wanted to be asleep for six hours before something bad happened. One could only hope she would get that much rest.
 She locked the door a couple of minutes after Natasha left as a precaution because she just didn't want anyone else coming in. Adrienne went through so much crap in the last forty-eight hours, so naturally, she should have been set for the rest of her life.