Spyen sat on the Quinjet inside of her own mind as she tried to uncover exactly what she was feeling when she had encountered the woman. Spyen observed that they both had similar, if not the exact same, powers. Spyen had expected for the woman to attack her, but it had never gotten violent. Spyen looked down at her hands and saw a small whirl of red intertwine with her fingers. Spyen shifted her eyes up as she heard Natasha's voice.
"Thor report on the Hulk."
Thor hand his hands on his hips, "the gates of Hell are filled with the scream of his victims."
Both Spyen and Nat looked up at the God with shocked expressions as Banner let out a groan and put his head into his hands.
Thor tried to remedy the situation, "but not the screams of the dead, of course. No, no, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and gout."
Spyen shook her head and Thor gave a shoulder shrug.
"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" Stark shouted from the cockpit.
"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around." Spyen could hear a slight waver of his voice.
Spyen stayed in her spot on the floor of the jet as Thor, Cap and Stark looked down at the scepter with a mixture of emotions. Spyen caught onto the waver of emotions. Excited, scared, wary. It was hard to pin point a single felling.
"Feels good, doesn't it? I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."
Thor let out a single nod, "No, but this...this brings it to a close."
Cap let out a sigh, "As soon as we find out what else this has been used for. I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"
Spyen looked up at the men and Roger's caught her eyes.
"Banner and I will give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard." Tony looked up to Thor, "Is that cool with you? Just a few days 'till the farewell party. You're staying, right?"
Thor clicked his tongue, "Yes, yes of course. A victory should be honored with revels."
Stark leaned against the table, "Yeah, who doesn't love revels? Captain?"
Rogers was still looking at the scepter, "Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA. So, yes, revels."
Stark was pleased with the answers he received and let out a nod. Spyen stopped listening to their mundane conversation at that point and drew into herself again. She glanced down at her fingers but the red mist wasn't visible. She could still feel the pressure of her power build up inside of her, but it wasn't as painful as when she first woke up in Afterlife. The thought of Afterlife brought up her other agenda. She was supposed to call Skye and she hadn't had the chance to. Spyen looked up as she felt the jet stutter to a land on the Avengers tower. The moment that the hanger was open, Clint was hurried inside with Nat and Banner.
Thor casually strolled off of the jet with the scepter in a box under his arm as Spyen pushed to her feet. She went to brush past Maria Hill, only to catch a glimpse of what was on her tablet.
Spyen furrowed her brows, "The two Enhanced?" Spyen backtracked her steps and came up to Cap and Maria to look at the tablet.
Maria held out the tablet, "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins. Orphaned at then when a shell collapsed their apartment building." Rogers and Spyen followed Maria into the building, "Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special."
Spyen looked up at Maria, "Their abilities?"
Maria kept up her stride, "He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation—"
Spyen looked up at the agent, "Mental manipulation?"
Maria gave a nod and took in Cap's confused expression, "He's fast and she's weird."
Cap looked down at the tablet in his hands, "Well, they're gonna show up again."
The elevator opened as Cap handed the tablet back, "Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts."
Spyen followed Cap into the elevator and pressed her back against the wall as Cap tapped the keypad, "Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?"
Spyen bit her lip at Roger's commentary as it had a double meaning.
Maria tilted her head, "We're not at war, Captain."
"They are." The elevator doors slicked shut and it was a quiet ride down to the main level of the building. The moment the doors opened Spyen hurried out and down the hall with a slightly racing heart. She peeled off her jacket and tried to get away from the sudden heat that engulfed her body.
The young agent let out a breath as she leaned against the cool wall. She pulled her phone from her back pocket of her spandex pants and unlocked it. She had the intension to call Skye, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure. But she also didn't know when she would have another moment to call her. Spyen let out a breath and quickly found Skye's name. She tapped on the number and put the phone to her hear. The ring was strident in her ear but she didn't have to wait long until Skye's voice popped up.
"Spy. Oh my god. I thought you said you were going to call me when you had a chance."
Spyen let a shrug grace her shoulders, "I haven't until now." Spyen let out a breath, "How's Lincoln?"
Skye let out a sigh, "He's good. He's awake now. HYDRA didn't do much, but he's still shaken."
Spyen nodded her head, "That's good to hear. So, uh, listen. I'm going to be saying here for a few more days. Stark is having this party and I wanted to stay."
"An Avengers party. What a treat." Spyen could detect the hint of anger in Skye's voice.
Spyen sighed, "You don't' want me to stay." It wasn't a question.
"Of course I don't. I—We need you here. Coulson wants to put a unit in Afterlife."
Spyen furrowed her brows, "Seriously? Did you tell him that is a crap plan?"
"Yeah. He want's to know every detail. He doesn't like being kept in the dark."
Spyen shook her head. "Well it's his turn now."
There was another sigh on Skye's end, "Is there a time line when you will be back?"
Spyen pushed off of the wall, "I don't know. The party is on Saturday. So I might be back on Monday. Just a guess."
"Yeah, all right."
Spyen heard Skye's down tone, "What are you thinking?"
Skye let out a scoff, "What you can't hear?"
"Skye. I'm thousands of miles away."
There was a moment of silence before Skye spit out the truth, "I didn't want you to go with the Avengers because I thought that maybe you would remember how it was with them and not want to come back to SHIELD."
Spyen licked her lips, "Don't talk like that. Of course I am coming back. But I just, I haven't seen them in almost a year."
"Yeah, and you hadn't seen me in almost seven."
Spyen shook her head, "Skye, please. I know that you are jealous and—"
"Jealous? Of the Avengers?"
"No, I didn't mean it that way. I was just—"
"Just what? Trying to blame me?
Spyen furrowed her brows, "What? No. Why would I blame you? Skye where is this anger coming from?"
There was a sigh, "I'm sorry. Okay? I have just been stressing about Lincoln and Afterlife and my powers. The past few days have been hard and I guess I took it out on you."
Spyen sat down on the couch in the living room, "No, it's okay. I get it. I miss you too."
"I didn't—"
Spyen shrugged, "I figured that's what you really wanted to say. Look, I know that your stressed, I'm stressed too, but we are SHIELD agents with supernatural powers. Our job is stressful and we are doing a hell of a good job keeping our heads."
There was a scoff on the other end, "I guess being an agent has always had this baggage attached."
"It isn't easy, but we are more than capable of doing it."
"Hey, Spy. Can I get a hand with this?" Spyen looked up when her heard her name and saw Clint was up on his feet with a large box in his hand.
Spyen's eyes went wide as she stood from the couch, "Skye, I've gotta go. I'll call you when I can."
"All right. Talk to you later."
Spyen hung up the call and pocked her phone as she came up to Clint and took the box out of his hands.
"What the hell are you doing? You should be resting." Spyen set the box on the bar counter as Clint sat on a bar stool, "I'm fine. I did rest."
Spyen narrowed her eyes, "Yeah for a full forty minutes."
Clint waved his hand and shook his head as Spyen rounded the counter and opened the box. Inside were various glasses for the fabulous party.
Clint held up is hands, "Don't give me that look. When you do, it's a bit more unnerving than before."
Spyen bit her lip and quickly looked away from Clint with her red eyes, "Sorry."
Clint noticed the rapid change in her behaviour and leaned forward on the bar, "Too soon?"
Spyen quickly shook her head, "No, it's fine. I just forget that you guys have only seen them change a few times. My sister and the other agents are used to it by now."
Spyen gave Clint an obviously fake smile and he let out a sigh.
"Come on. You can talk to me. You used to talk to me all the time, about the most random and emotional things. What makes this time different?"
Spyen looked up from her organization, "I'm different this time." Spyen let out a breath before she ceased her activity and looked up at Barton, "When I changed, I didn't feel anything. I felt normal." She leaned onto the counter and looked down at her hands, "When we first woke up after the transformation, Skye had the most difficult time. One of our friends died in the transition and she kept thinking it was her fault. That's probably why she had such a hard time."
Spyen shook her head as she remembered, "When I first woke up, I thought I was just going slightly mental from the trauma. I could hear voices and I thought I was being paranoid. I didn't actually realize what had happened to me until a few days later. After we got out of isolation Skye was okay, but it just got worse for me." Spyen bit her lip and tried not to show so much emotion, "The team didn't know about her powers yet, we wanted to keep them secret until the tension died down. Skye was free to join them because she didn't have anything physical happen to her, but for me..."
Spyen paused as she reflected on how she felt when she couldn't come out of her room for three days. "I had to stay in my room, away from everybody for another three days. It was so difficult to gather the fact that I had physically changed. Whenever I would get sad or angry the red would glow in my eyes and fingers. I thought I would have to say in the room for another few months." Spyen closed her eyes to contain her and Barton's emotions. When she opened her eyes she could see the pain in Clint's.
"I never felt like I belonged with the other agents. When Fury reassigned me, Skye had already been with them for almost two years. She had formed a bond with each of them. When I joined, I tried to fit in, but it was surprisingly difficult. When we were in quarantine one of the scientists went into Skye's unit and had her in an embrace and I remember thinking that I would never have that connection with any of them like Skye did. They almost felt like strangers to me." Spyen could feel tears threaten to escape her eyes, "I remember thinking about how much I miss all of you. You were my family for almost five years and in that moment, I just wanted all of you back."
A tear finally felt as Spyen closed her eyes. She quickly pulled her palm up to her cheek when she saw Nat walk down the staircase. Spyen quickly wiped the tear away and clumsily went back to organizing the glasses. As she pulled the glass from the box, she could see her reflection. The scarlet of her irises flashed back at her and in that moment she realized that she couldn't change who she was. She could only embrace what she had become.