As soon as the Avengers reached their "borrowed" jet and left the battlefield, Tony pounced on Eloyse. "Do you know how you did it?"
Eloyse put her head in her hands, "No." she mumbled. She spied Clint. Nat and Steve had him laid out on the floor of the jet, while Thor attempted to fly the jet. He was loudly complaining that it was harder than the Migardian jets. Eloyse rose and nudged past the curious Tony to the injured man. She dropped to her knees, letting her blue magic play around her fingers. She touched him, gently, and her fingers worked swiftly. Steve already had his shirt off, and Clint was grumbling about that. He was feeling rather chipper, since while Eloyse working on him she was letting her power course through him, taking the pain.
"Hold still." she commanded softly. She barely had any energy, but it would be easier to heal a fresh wound than an old one. She hovered her hand several inches away, letting her healing power flow into the bullet wounds. Natasha and Steve watched, mezmorized. Bruce leaned over his Captain to see. Pietro suddenly went speeding toward the pilot seat, and Tony quickly turned and followed. Probably due to the drastic tilt the plane had just acquired.
A couple moments later, Thor joined the group by Clint. The archer sarcastically groaned. "Yea, yea. Come watch a man get operated on. It won't make him uncomfortable to have five people standing over him gawking. Why do I even talk? Nobody's listening..." he sighed heavily. Eloyse lowered her hand to touch the wound, and she held it there, cupped. After a few seconds, she raised her hand and flipped a spent bullet to Natasha. Of course, being the master assassin she was, she caught it.
Clint's eyes widened as Natasha dropped the bullet by his face. She grinned at his shocked expression. Eloyse finished, drawing back from Clint. "How's your wrist?"
"Fine!" he grimaced. The pain had returned when Eloyse withdrew. She noticed, flicking some magic back in. His face softened with gratitude. Eloyse smiled faintly, nudging past the people to reach the edge. She sat down and put her head in her hands, exhausted. A concerned Wanda came over. She crossed her legs, sitting down on the floor in front of Eloyse.
"Are you ok?"
Eloyse raised her head, managing a tired smile. "Yea, I'm fine. I just never been this drained before."
Wanda looked sympathetic. She reached out, hesitated, then touched Eloyse's hand when the girl didn't drawn back. "Do you want me to help?" Eloyse tipped her head to one side, considering, then shook no.
"I'll be fine. Thank you."
Wanda nodded, giving Eloyse's hand a small squeeze. "You know we're only two years apart." she grinned at Eloyse's surprised expression. "I'm seventeen."
"So am I!" Pietro announced, smirking. He'd just come up behind his twin. He tugged gently at her hair gently, laughing at her put out expression. She took the hand he offered, pulling her to her feet. They wandered off, together.
Eloyse watched them, something like wistfulness in her eyes. She had always wanted a twin. Somebody to be closer than Shyden. She loved him to bits, but she didn't tell even him certain things. She'd always felt something was missing from her life. Perhaps she actually had a twin out there....
She sighed, putting her chin in her hands. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of just relaxing. Since they'd left the deserted HYDRA base two days ago, they'd fought two battles and unintentionally engaged in an air battle. Eloyse let herself fall over, curling up in a little ball to keep warm. She had her back to the rest of the jet as she drifted off to sleep.
*********************************
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Steve asked with worry lacing his voice. Eloyse gave him a confident look. She could feel the worry radiating from him.
"I want to see if I can do it again." she firmly said. Tony was on the edge of the clearing, looking excited. The rest of the team was also around the edges of the clearing. Their emotions were confusing Eloyse, a jumbled mixture of nervousness, excitement, encouragement, and fear. She closed her eyes a took a deep breath, trying to shut them out. Halfway succeeding, she accepted it and prepared to fight Steve.
She had been unable to make the shield come back since the battle yesterday. Now fully rested and energized, she agreed with Tony to see if adrenaline could help. Steve launched himself at her with no warning. Eloyse nimbly ducked aside, letting him barrel past. That was probably the worst move he'd ever made; she snickered as the usually agile Captain sprawled full-length on the grass.
"You can move fast!" he grumbled, getting to his feet. He brushed off, grinning. He felt.... mischievous. Eloyse dropped and rolled just as he threw his shield. It barely cleared where she'd been standing. Of course, they weren't trying to hurt each other, but just get Eloyse's power activated. Eloyse used her momentum to roll back to her feet. She flashed a quick grin at Steve before giving a startled gasp and ducking again as the shield returned to his hand.
"That's like a metal boomerang..." she complained, crossing her arms like a petulant child. She tipped her head to one side, thinking. Suddenly she nodded to herself. "Steve, throw the shield at me. Right at me."
"No." Steve instantly dismissed her idea. Eloyse sighed. She could feel his strong dislike for that idea.
"Just do it!" she commanded. Steve groaned, but tossed the shield in a half-hearted manner. Eloyse glared at him as it landed by her feet. She kicked it back.
"Throw it. Hard."
Steve argued, but Eloyse was adamant. Finally Steve gave in, warning Eloyse that if she died it "won't be my fault." He held it, glancing at her. Her hands were by her sides, the blue glow gathering, a concentrated look on her face. She nodded, and he threw it.
Clint saw Eloyse's hands go up, and the blue light flash out followed by a loud crash. For a moment everyone was blinded, then the light softened. Eloyse was on one knee, slowly getting up. Her hands were in front of her, holding the force field. An excited look crossed her face.
"I got it!"
There was a moment of shocked quiet, then somebody started clapping. A second later, the whole team was in full cheering mode. They clapped, and Tony whistled between his teeth. Steve's shield lay in front of the blue halo. Eloyse grinned, dropping her hands. "That wasn't so hard." she mused under her breath. She raised her hands, putting the protection back up. "Once you know how."
"Nice." Steve was the first to speak when the congratulations died down. Wanda was sitting with her back leaning against Pietro, looking proud. Steve suddenly jumped toward Eloyse, scooping up his shield. She responded by throwing up the barrier again. Steve smacked into it, and staggered backwards.
"Man! Ok! Great! It works..." he rubbed his shoulder. Eloyse let the barrier down with a happy smile.
"I'm hungry!"
Clint laughed. "Me too! Let's go find something to eat!"
******************************************
Later that found all the Avengers sprawled around a shady clearing, trying to escape the sun. Eloyse had gone on a walk. Clint, Steve, and Natasha were trying to plan the next war. Thor and Tony were trying to create rain with Wanda's magic. Tony was pretty sure she could do it, but Wanda was positive she couldn't. When Eloyse arrived back, she found them loudly arguing while the rest of the Avengers just rested under the trees, too hot and miserable to do anything. It was Clint who noticed the horse first.
"What's that?" he pointed. Eloyse looked at the horse as if she'd never seen it.
"It's a horse." she stated in surprise, glancing curiously at Clint. He groaned.
"I know that, genius! Where'd you get it?"
She looked at the horse again. "Over there." she vaguely motioned. "He's a homer."
"Homer? Like the poet?"
Eloyse shook her head, hobbling the sorrel horse before going over to stand beside Clint. "Homer, like if he's released, he'll go home. I didn't have to leave a horse in his place, but luckily they had a him."
"Oh..." Clint figured there must be a stable nearby.
Eloyse eyed him. "You look hot." He nodded. She reached over, pushing the sunshine away from him. The rest of the team hungrily watched. Eloyse examined them all. "If you are all so extremely hot, why don't you get in the jet and turn on the air conditioner?" she questioned. Tony coughed gently.
"Just didn't wanna waste gas..." he mumbled, skulking into the jet. The others quickly followed, a grinning Eloyse included. They hadn't known the jets had air conditioning! In a few minutes, the team found themselves much happier. Wanda found the energy to smash Tony against the wall using telekinesis when he teased Thor for not being able to make rain.
Eloyse found a spot near Clint. "You feelin' good?"
"Yep!" he grinned, holding out his arms to show her. "No pain, nothing. You did a good job."
Eloyse smiled, satisfied. They sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the coolness of the jet. The quiet hum of engines was the only sound besides Bruce's pencil scratching on paper. He was still trying to track the faint signal that the TT let off.
"Hey, Tony? C'm here."
The rich playboy scrambled to his feet and hurried over to his science partner. He bent over the computer with Bruce, and their excited murmurs filled the jet. Tony stole the pencil and hurriedly scribbled some more. An interested Thor wandered over, peering over their shoulder. Eloyse could feel an underlying sense of excitement and eagerness. Although they didn't physically show it, everyone was ready for the TT to be found so they could go get it and keep it from HYDRA. Eloyse wasn't as interested. She yawned. She scooted over so she was in the sun coming through the window. Putting her hand in the light, she stared at the ring.
Its golden, delicately carved circle was worn, but not faded. The green gems on the edges were slightly tarnished from age, while the ocean blue center shone softly in the sunlight.
**picture at top**
Eloyse remembered Shyden handing it to her reluctantly, even though he'd just found it. She closed her hand tightly, pushing back her fear. Oh, where was he? She made up her mind abruptly. "Clint, I'm leaving."
"W-what?" Clint gaped at her. "Why?"
"Because I have got to go find Shyden! I had him and lost him. I'm leaving." she glanced out the window at the sun. "There's still enough time today for me to make it a distance."
"Why don't you stay with us? We can fly you places." Steve offered, joining the conversation.
Eloyse shook her head no. "You can't cover ground in the jet like I want to. Besides," she grimaced, remembering she'd contacted the Avengers before she'd met them. "You guys fly too low for stealth. Last time you tried to sneak somewhere you ended up scaring me and my horses halfway to Alkotratz and back, as well as crash your jet!" She smirked when Clint's face turned red and Steve's mouth opened but no sound came out. "I'm truly sorry, but I have to go."
Tony came over. Evidently he'd been eavesdropping because before Eloyse could react, he grabbed her wrist and clapped a wristband around it. Eloyse jerked away, surprised.
"What's-"
"That's a tracker." Tony calmly explained. "There's a button on the top that you press your finger on. It'll take your fingerprint and activate, sending out a signal that we can pick up. If you get in trouble, use it!" He took Eloyse's hand and got her fingerprints on his phone. She let him, her eyes wide and curious like a newborn fawn. He did both hands. By now, the whole team had gathered around, and Eloyse was forced to repeat her reasons for leaving them. Tony went back to Bruce, uploading Eloyse's fingerprints.
"Alright, it's ready." he informed her. "Just gotta activate it and we'll come a-runnin'!"
"Thank you." Eloyse examined it, then stood up. She gave Clint a hug. He was surprised for a moment, then hugged her back. Natasha and Wanda also received hugs, the rest got a grateful smile and wave. Only Wanda and Clint followed her out to the sorrel. He was still saddled as she'd left him. She had basically nothing besides the clothes she wore, and swung into the saddle.
"Thank you so much for everything." she said truthfully. "You guys have helped me so much."
"And you've helped us." Wanda smiled. "Clint and Tony."
Eloyse smiled. She turned the sorrel gelding and after taking her bearings from the sun, sent him in her desired direction: Shyden.
Clint watched her go, a wistful expression. "I'm gonna miss her. She was really starting to grow on me."
"On all of us." Wanda somberly corrected him.
"If she dies, I'm gonna resurrect her so I can kill her for dying."