"What do you mean, it's gone?" Clint was the first to speak.
"Just that!" Eloyse was quickly declining into panic mode. "Shyden gave it to me, and now I lost it!" she practically wailed, still looking around her area. Wanda slipped from her chair to sit beside Eloyse.
"We'll find it." she assured the younger girl. Eloyse looked up with hopeful eyes. Wanda nodded reassuringly.
"I had it when I came in from keeping watch." she offered. Steve thoughtfully gazed around as if the ring would be hanging in the air.
"Alright, scatter out and search." He gave the order. Eloyse had helped them, and she looked absolutely broken over the loss. Besides, the team had nothing to lose. They weren't going to leave with evening quickly coming. The next couple hours found Earth's mightiest heroes scouring a base abandoned by deadly enemies, on a different planet, searching for a ring that connected a Hopian to her brother.
And they found it.
It was Natasha's private hunch, which she didn't hesitate to carry out, even drafting Clint to help. Foot by foot, she painstakingly criss-crossed the training room where they'd sparred. She had seen the ring before, but not taken much notice of it. Bruce remembered examining it, and with Eloyse's help, created a picture that was shown to each Avenger. So that was why, when Clint lifted the small round object from the floor, he confidentially let loose a yell that echoed off the training room walls and made each teammate who wore a earpiece to cringe. Steve, with his sensitive super-soldier hearing, ripped the com out with a feverant curse.
"Language, goody-boy!" Tony chirped.
Natasha hurried over to Clint. "Oh good." she dexterously swiped the object off Clint's jealously guarded hand, racing away to find Eloyse. Clint was frozen for a moment, gawking at the nerve of the Russian assassin, then he was on her heels. Eloyse's ring was delivered in a dramatic fashion, and it was Pietro who actually ended up handing her the lost treasure. Natasha came tearing in a few moments later, her temper red as her hair.
"Oh, you already have it..." She glared daggers at Pietro, who quickly backed off. Eloyse hugged the ring to herself, softly repeating a Kaheric prayer of thanks under her breath. Natasha eyed her strangely.
Gradually, the rest of the Avengers returned. That is, all except Bucky and Clint. Bucky, it was made known, was taking his shift guarding. Clint had just vanished. For a while it was a mystery, and source of worry, for everyone. Until Bruce recalled seeing Natasha running with the archer in hot pursuit. The team looked at Natasha, just realizing she had put no input on the whereabouts of her friend.
"Where is he?" Steve crossed his arms, scowling at Nat. She returned the look with a glare that would have shaken anyone but a super-soldier or other master assassin.
"He's fine.." She sulked.
"Where is he?"
"He'll be along soon." she refused to give out the information. Steve gave up.
"Alright, but if he's dead, I'll bring him back to life to help me plague you with guilt."
Nat shrugged as if the prospect of being haunted by the ghost of her best friend she'd murdered didn't gaze her. She rummaged around in the messy room, finally coming up with her book. The Avengers all settled into comfortable places again. They were waiting on an order from Steve to move out, and Steve didn't know where their next target was. Besides, as Thor pointed out, it was "darker than a blind man's view". Eloyse curled up, content to just look at her beautiful ring. She could almost see Shyden's brilliant blue eyes gazing back at her. Man. She missed him!
"So, Eloyse."
She looked up, quickly and discreetly wiping a few tears away from her eyes. Steve paused, then pretending not to have seen, went on. "You want to go after your brother again?" She nodded firmly. Steve hesitated again, not sure how she'd react to his request. "Would you mind sticking around a bit longer? I mean, you can heal, and that's a tremendous power. We're gonna be fighting HYDRA soon, and we could use someone like you."
Eloyse stiffened. "I am not an object to be used." she coldly turned him down. Steve realized his mistake too late. He buried his head in his hands, mumbling to himself. He looked up at Eloyse again.
"You're right, I'm sorry. But you could sure help."
She tipped her head to one side, considering, then nodded. "Just for a little while." She slipped the ring on her finger and rose to her feet. She wasn't very tall, Steve noted. Even standing, she was just even with Steve's head while he was sitting. "I'm going to find Clint." she left the room, her footsteps silent.
Tony pounced on Steve the instant he figured her to be out of hearing range. "Why'd you get her to join?" he growled. "She'll be nothing but trouble!"
"She can heal." Steve replied, unfazed by the billionaire's rant.
Tony facepalmed. "So what! She's only fifteen, for crying out loud! Just a kid!"
"Like Parker?" Steve snapped. Tony raised his head, an angry look on his face.
"He had a power. This girl is...is just a girl!"
Wanda broke into the fight just then, her usually soft eyes sharp and commanding. "Tony! Quiet! Steve!" Both fell silent, surprised. She glared at them both, then wheeled on Tony. "You don't remember, she asked me to not let you. You were hurt in that last fight we had. Hurt real bad. She helped, healed you all. That's why she was sick when you all came back."
Tony's mouth dropped open. Steve couldn't resist putting in his word, "I told you she'd be good. Already a life saved."
******************************************************
Eloyse slipped down the hallways. Even though her steps were barely audible, the white walls picked up every little sound and threw it back in an echo. Eloyse hated it. She halted and listened for any noise that said Clint was near. She heard nothing. Yet she *felt* him. He was angry and grouchy. Perhaps it wouldn't be the best to find him. She started walking again, picking a random direction when the hallway split. She suddenly stopped dead.
How did she know how he felt? Sure, she had always been sensitive to people's emotions, but never know the extract emotion, especially when she couldn't see who it was! Puzzled, she continued on in deep thought. She felt his emotions shift, from angry and grumpy to happy, then mischievous and childish. Then she picked up more emotions, and her eyes widened. Doubt, happiness and impatient eagerness. She frowned to herself. All one person? Very, very odd.
Suddenly a cold hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her backwards. She fought, lashing out behind her. In another instant, her arms were pinned by a strong arm. She shuddered, letting her power rise to her hands. Whoever it was touched her hands with a small part, and she directed her full power into that. There was a cry, and she was released. She stumbled forward, but was pulled backward and spun around.
"Eloyse! It's me! Calm down!" Clint whisper-yelled, putting a finger to his lips to hush her. She glared viciously at him, hands out in front of her protectively.
"What are you doing!?" For some reason, she answered in the same low tone.
"Nat's following you, looking for me! What'd you do to Bucky?"
"Nothing!"
"Nothing?" the soldier echoed from a few feet away where he was clutching his arm. He gazed at her in shock. "You call taking away the feeling from my only arm with feeling 'nothing'?" He snorted. Eloyse was still mad. She scowled at him.
"You shouldn't have grabbed me."
Both men surprisingly agreed, although they looked a little amused by her nerve. Back talk to a super-soldier and master assassin didn't usually go off well. Eloyse suddenly seemed to realize that, and at the same time she felt their nervous, doubtful feelings wash over her.
"If you keep doubting, you'll never get anything done." Eloyse sighed. This time they appeared shocked. Bucky's mouth dropped open, and Clint eyes nearly popped out. It was the archer who first regained his tongue,
"How do you know we're doubtful?" He gaped, "I mean, we don't exactly wear our feelings on our sleeve. I was specifically hiding that."
Eloyse ducked her head. "I don't know. I just felt it."
Bucky was interested even more now. "What else can you feel?"
She pointed at Clint. "You're surprised, confused, and in general not happy anymore." She focused on Bucky, "You're wary, suspicious, and surprised. And a little scared." She paused, adding, "Elated and curious."
A few minutes of silence passed in the small area, before a new, female voice chimed in. "Close your mouth, Barton, you're catching flies." All three turned to see Natasha leaning on the doorframe, smirking. "Hey, Buck, Eloyse."
"How long you been there?" Clint managed. Bucky was still massaging his arm. Natasha grinned slyly.
"Long enough to know we got an Empath on our hands."