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

1:9

BOOK   ONE
C H A P T E R N I N E
The King Of Silence by We Came As Romans

ADRIENNE BARTON

After all was said and done, the team- Adrienne included- were all getting out of the city. Cleanup was already taking place as everyone started to talk about the Avengers and what they did, either praising or complaining about the job or mess. Adrienne couldn't help but find herself in front of a TV as the news anchors talked about the team.
Reel clips of Thor and Steve fighting. Natasha and Clint as they blew up things and fought the Chitauri. Stark was an entire topic in itself. Hulk caused mass destruction, and then there was Adrienne. Bringing up the world and bringing it down in hopes of killing the enemy. And as the Avengers were being praised, they were also being ridiculed, like Adrienne knew they would. Children and some adults were talking about how great the team was and how they were real-life superheroes, and others were talking about how the team had to take responsibility for destroying the entire city, which Adrienne would admit was mostly her fault.
But at the end of the day, Adrienne did something great. And even though she didn't want to be a part of the team at first, Adrienne was glad she was there to help. It made her feel good about herself. For a little bit anyway.
So, they did what Tony Stark said, and they all took a day.
The team all had their wounds tended to, and even though Loki was having a close eye being kept on him, Thor still managed to watch him as he made his way over to Adrienne while she was finished being checked over. He knelt down and looked at her while she was pulling down the sleeve of her t-shirt. When Adrienne gave him her attention, that was when he started speaking. Steve noticed but didn't say a word and for good reason. Thinking back on it, he was probably glad he wasn't the one talking to her about the topic Thor was about to bring up.
"What's up?" Adrienne leaned forward and placed her arms on her knees, thinking of what could have been so important that he came over to speak only to her. Her ribs were only slightly bruised and would be fine in a few days, the pain she felt meant otherwise. But she was no doctor, so she had no choice but to take their word for it.
"I wanted to tell you that you did a great job, we wouldn't have gotten much done if you weren't there." He took his balled-up fist and touched her knee lightly.
"Why do I feel like a 'but' is about to be inserted in there somewhere?" Adrienne pulled her head back and arched her eyebrow. She feared he was going to say something she didn't like, just as she was starting to see him as a potential friend. They still had a date to schedule, and Adrienne was hoping he wasn't canceling that either.
"...But, you have no special training, and I know the rest of the team thinks the same thing I do when I say I fear that you are more of a threat than an ally right now." He was sincere with the words he chose. And Adrienne knew he meant well when he told her that, but she still felt like she'd just been insulted.
"And what is it, exactly, you're trying to say? None of you want me on the team?" Adrienne took a quick glance around the room, and no one could meet her eyes. Even if Steve thought he was going to have the perfect opportunity in training her, and molding Adrienne into the perfect team member, he was wrong once he saw how strong she actually was. Adrienne was confused by how everyone was avoiding her as she looked around the room again before giving Thor her attention again. She got her answer right away.
"I'm saying that we don't think it's the right time for you to join." Thor didn't know that the way he said it, hurt her feelings, but it wasn't his fault, it was the fact that everyone else had him tell her instead of coming to her straightforward about what was going on. They treated Adrienne to food and didn't say a damn thing, and that made her feel even worse and stupid for thinking her position was going to last long. Like she was finally going to have a chance to be somewhere she felt she belonged, and it only blew up in her face. She would be sure to never get her hopes up like that ever again.
"I didn't join the team; I was only trying to help." Adrienne lied as she pretended like she wasn't hurt. Adrienne lowered her head, shook it lightly before lifting it again, bit her lower lip to distract her from the tears wanting to water in her eyes, and stared him square in his eyes. She had a good poker face when she did, and it was to show him that she wasn't going to take it personally. Adrienne's heart broke and she was obviously devastated behind her dark brown eyes, and it was because she thought they thought of her as their equal, she didn't see it as a mistake helping any of them before. But clearly, she thought she was being used and discarded. Adrienne pulled down the sleeve of her t-shirt, looked around, then got up from her seat and tried to leave, not that she had anything to go back to since her apartment was currently spread all over the streets of Manhattan. Adrienne was still sure she could find somewhere to go; she would just have to look. "Now that my work here is done, I'll get out of everyone's way."
"That is not what I am saying. We all want you to be a part of this team. That is why I am proposing a deal." He stopped her by taking her hand, and she pulled her hand away, clearly not wanting to be touched.
"Speak for yourself," Stark added as he was still being monitored, and when Thor glared back over his shoulder, Adrienne looked over Thor's shoulder too, and she rolled her eyes. Of course, Stark would have an opinion.
"And what is that?" She gave her attention back to the God of Thunder, waiting for him to turn back around and face her. The tears in her eyes proved she was hurt but she wasn't going to let them fall on her cheeks. Adrienne scrunched up her nose and waited for him to tell her and she could see he was nervous to tell her something wrong. Maybe because Adrienne would blow her top and bring the building down like she did everything else. It wouldn't surprise her if that was how everyone else viewed her. Adrienne wasn't scared though, she was hurt. She wasn't going to destroy anything because of that. She was just tired. Tired of bad things happening to her, and opportunities slipping through her fingers so easily. Adrienne was out of a job, she was out of a place to live, and she had been kicked off a team she didn't even want to join at first. If anyone had a direct line to hell, it was Adrienne.
"Come back with me to Asgard. I'll give you the proper training you need, and you can destroy anything you want." He explained swiftly, hoping that would change her mind. The way Adrienne stared at him, caught him off guard. Adrienne's eyebrows went down, and her eyes were hard, ice cold even. Like all emotions ejected from her body; she couldn't feel anything. But it was impossible, she felt so deeply, even then.
"You want me to go with you to another dimension? That is literally insane!" Adrienne exclaimed, and it wasn't in a good way. Going to another state was one thing, going to a different dimension, or whatever anyone wanted to call it, was another. The idea of sending her away and pretending she no longer existed didn't freaking sit right with her. "You are the third person to offer to train me, so maybe I'm just not worth the goddamn trouble."
"Different realm, give or take. But I can't tell if that's a yes or no." He searched around for confirmation, and no one was willing to give it to him. When he turned around to face her again, he was hoping Adrienne would clarify. She was baffled.
"In my defense, this wasn't my idea." Steve made sure to stand next to Thor to plead his case. He actually looked sorry, and Adrienne almost wanted to believe him. But he wasn't standing up for her either, telling everyone in the room she was fine the way she was, and how she didn't need to go to Asgard, that Adrienne was fine where she was. He didn't fight for her the way she knew he would fight for literally anyone else on the team.
"Then why am I being asked to leave to another realm, Steve? If this wasn't your idea, then why is the God of Thunder talking to me instead of you!" She raised her voice, and she didn't mean it. Adrienne pulled her head back once she recognized she was shouting and regretted it by stopping and biting her lip again. Adrienne turned to Thor and chose her next words carefully, making sure that she lowered her voice. God forbid if she wasn't allowed to emote properly. "How long do I have to think about this?"
"We leave tomorrow." Thor crossed his arms over his chest, mentioning his and Loki's departure, and he didn't think she would need time to think about it since Adrienne was going to need somewhere to lay low for a while anyway. There wasn't a doubt in her mind people were going to blame her once they recognized it was Adrienne who destroyed the lower part of the city. Every person she went to school with, her parents, and every person she ever worked with was going to pick her out, and it was all going to go downhill from there. Adrienne didn't need any of that, mainly because she wasn't going to find another job in New York City, just to be a liability. She ruined her chances there. So, since she was out of the job, and the whole state- if not the world- was going to know who she was, for sure her life was going to go to shit. So why wouldn't she take Thor's offer and train with him? 
It was because she was hurt, and a hurt woman would never see the light at the end of the tunnel when she felt the train was stopped directly in the center of the track. Complete darkness enveloped her in its cold embrace.
On top of that, Thor was a stranger, offering to take her to a place far away from her uncle, completely isolating her in the process. Stark must have been enjoying that thought.
"I'll get back to you before you leave, I got to go." Adrienne bit the inside of her cheek, then walked out of the room. It took Adrienne a total of six minutes to get out of the building altogether, and the first place she thought of going, was home. Somehow believing her mom and dad hadn't seen the news, so for the time being she remained optimistic and was ready to head there, but Clint stopped her outside the main doors, pulling on her arm to stop her just before she could reach the end of the sidewalk and hail a cab. Ideally, he swore he would be able to change her mind, that going home wasn't going to solve anything, but Adrienne had no other choice. In the back of her mind, she had to hold on to the possibility that her mom and dad would still love her no matter what. She was their child- their only child, and parents would always be there for their children, even Adrienne.
"Where are you going, Adrienne?" He felt sorry for his niece but honestly, he didn't think Adrienne needed to be placed in his line of work anyway. No man who wanted to protect his family would want to have his niece fighting with a team that wasn't even really like a team. He was also a little peeved at everyone, who waited until the day was over, to tell her what was going to happen, but he actually sided with Thor while he was against everyone else. If he wanted Adrienne to be trained by someone, he would actually agree with the decision being Thor. Not that he wanted her in a different realm where he couldn't contact her, but there was no other safe place for her. If she decided to stay, no telling what would happen to her. It was best for her to go and let everyone forget what happened, then she would come back, and she could rebrand herself into who she actually wanted to be. It sounded good on paper, but no one wanted to deal with Adrienne, and it would have been better for everyone if they owned up to believing that.
"I'm going to Mom and Dad's, where does it look like I'm going?" Adrienne rolled her eyes and tried to walk away again. She wasn't trying to brush Clint off; she knew all he was trying to do was help. But she was annoyed because she felt like she was being let down time and time again, and she was finally fed up with fighting for a spot in the universe. She would have said world but apparently, that would have been her thinking too small. If being her was so hard then she shouldn't have existed to begin with. It wasn't fair.
He stopped her again and stared at her, hurt at the fact that she was hurting. There wasn't anything he could do to fix it, there was nothing to fix. She wasn't prepared to be on a team that knew she wasn't ready, and that was everyone's fault, not hers. It didn't matter because Adrienne wasn't on the team, his worries for her were no more. But he felt sorry for her, as an uncle who cared about their niece would, he just wished there was something he could do to help her. And having to think on the spot, Asgard was her best choice, leaving with Thor was an opportunity she shouldn't have to think about.
Adrienne knew it wasn't true; Clint worried for Adrienne for the last twenty years, maybe even beyond that. And Adrienne knew he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. But she couldn't help that he was trying to get rid of her before his brother and sister-in-law caught wind of what happened that day.
"The world saw what happened here today, what makes you think they didn't see it?" He wanted her to be reasonable because knowing her parents, the moment they found out what she'd done, would be the moment they disowned her. It was only a matter of when they decided to watch TV and see her plastered all over it. Why did she think it was a good idea to go home knowing the outcome, was stupid on her part. She couldn't help but remain hopeful. Any child in her position would.
"Maybe they didn't see me. It doesn't matter, they can't just stop loving me because of how I chose to hide this part of me!" Adrienne cried. And that time there was no stopping the tears. Of course, she looked to the sky to calm herself down, and that was probably why she hadn't seen Clint's expression drop as he watched her parent's-his brother and sister-in-law- walking up behind her.
"But we did see you." Adrienne heard her mom's voice first which made her spin around and face both her and Adrienne's dad staring at her like she was the only one responsible for the day's events. Clint didn't know what to do in that situation because he stared at his brother. Jonathon appeared way more than just upset. He looked like he'd just been punched in the face and was blaming Adrienne for what happened.
"How long did you know about this?" Jonathon asked Clint and Clint seemed speechless. He didn't know he would ever have the conversation, especially in the tone Jonathon was giving him. Adrienne knew how they felt about people like her and that was why she kept her mouth shut. Surely, they had to understand that. Her only question spewing about in her mind at that time, was why her dad was like that, but Clint wasn't. There had to be something behind that. Not that she ever thought she'd get an answer.
"He found out today, just like the rest of the world. I'm the one who kept all of this a secret." Adrienne lied. She lied so hard, but she didn't want her uncle to suffer the same way she was about to. Adrienne was sure Jonathon didn't even know what Clint did for a living and that was how Adrienne was going to keep it. No point in outing the only family who ever cared about her because she ruined her life all by herself.
"Adrienne," Clint tried to stop her but Adrienne reached back and raised her finger to stop him. It was her way of telling him it was okay. She knew what she was doing, and she didn't want him involved. And Adrienne knew what was about to happen by the look on their faces, so she just waited for the impact. It was something Adrienne anticipated on the edge of her metaphorical seat for the last twenty years, and now that it had risen to the occasion, she was going to do everything she possibly could to protect the most important person in her life.
"How long has this been going on?" Adrienne's mother asked, anger growing in her voice and when Adrienne could positively say it was rare when she got like that, Adrienne meant it. She was the sweetest lady besides when she talked about people who were like Adrienne. Which only made the twenty-six-year-old realize she was ugly no matter which way she planned to sugar coat it, Adrienne's mom was just as bad as her dad. Hatred in her heart was all that was, not wanting to understand what was going on with people like Adrienne, and instead, her mom and dad just wanted to alienate the group altogether. She wasn't the woman who raised Adrienne at that moment, she was just a complete stranger.
"Since I was eight?" She bit the inside of her cheek and looked down for a second before watching their faces basically transform as they heard the news. Adrienne didn't mean for it to come out like a question. She wanted to be bold whenever it came to the day she told them. And now that it was out in the open, their expressions were worse than before.
"And we had to find out this way, with you displayed all over the tv, destroying the city like some-some monster!" Jonathon was truly disgusted. Adrienne expected more from their arguments but what she was going through was still pretty bad. On many occasions, she played it out to them being completely welcoming and understanding, but that was just her wishing for the better, Adrienne knew there was no changing their opinions of humans with powers. Adrienne didn't know why she thought there was even a glimmer of hope that it could ever be different. Her hope only made her naïve.
"I helped fight against those monsters, dad! I made a real difference today and all you seem to care about is me destroying this city. If it wasn't for any of us, especially Tony Stark, we would have all been dead!" She defended herself while Clint stood there watching her handle herself for the first time in her life, he wanted to be proud of Adrienne, but she also didn't want him to out himself. He didn't deserve it. Adrienne was the one who kept the secret, she was the one who needed to face her parents and their consequences because she knew there were going to be some.