The good, the bad, and the high heels

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I did not sign up for this!"

I glance at Darcy for her to elaborate.

"I signed up for a girl's night in a bar in Australia. I did not, however, sign up for me and my girlfriends to be walking through the streets, armed and in a dead zone with no way to get help or home!"

I sigh as I turn around and step backwards, Natasha stepping in to the lead position as I fall into stride with Darcy. "Darcy, you really should have known your life was in a downwards spiral of abnormal-ness the moment you pulled your tazer on Thor. Your boss is dating a god. A god whose brother tried to take over the world. Your best friend graduated college at sixteen and she is the daughter of a world renowned genius. You have daily, friendly interactions with the world's top crime-fighting team. Who used to belong to a government organization nobody was supposed to know about. And you knew about that."

Darcy blinks at me, her hazel eyes owlish behind her thick-framed glasses. "How is this my life?"

I just laugh and pat her on the shoulder. "Just wait till Jane takes that job at the Tower."

I laugh again at Darcy's horrified, gaping face as I jog forward to retake my position at the front.

"Where is everyone?"

"Same place they were last time you asked that, Jane."

"Yeah, and where is that?"

"I...don't know."

Jane was right. We had been walking for some time now (no real estimate of time, all our watches and phones were fried) and not once had we seen any more than a tumbleweed.

I didn't know where all the living creatures had gone, but the night chill left an ominous feeling on my shoulders.

"Let's just keep moving. We'll be out of this dead zone and home before you can say 'ominous'. Darcy," I beckon the intern forward, "Keep an eye on this. Tell me as soon as it gets signal." I place the phone I had given Natasha to hold. Darcy nods and takes the phone.

"So, what is the plan now?" Betty speaks up from behind.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "The plan now is to walk until we get a signal and call back to New York. Shoot or stab anything malicious looking."

Betty nods as we round the corner of a dark shop.

And stop in our tracks.

Because before us is an army of kangaroos and koalas, looking very mad, held back by some mysterious wall.

We all raise our weapons cautiously as we creep towards the army of snarling marsupials.

I reach out the hand not holing a gun towards a koala. My hand immediately hits something. Something invisible but still there. I push on whatever it is, and sure enough the air around my hand shimmers and then my hand is on the other side.

"Must be a force field of some sort." Betty mutters as I pull my hand back through.

I let that sink in for a moment before turning to Darcy. "And it might be the cause of our dead zone."

I take the offered phone and warily push it through the force field.

I smile as it lights up, but I quickly backpedal as a kangaroo snarls at my hand.

"So it is our dead zone. In order to get help, we need to be outside of it."

"But outside of it has rabid marsupials." Jane points out.

"Right." I nod in agreement. "But maybe we don't need to be outside of it, necessarily."

Betty smiles as she picks up my train of thought.  "Maybe we just need a hole."

I let my 'mad genius' side show as I turn to Jane and Betty. "Are you two thinking-"

"-what you're thinking?" Betty grins.

"Most likely." Jane agrees.

All three of our eyes twinkle with genius as we start in the other direction.

"Time to blow a hole in this thing."

A~A~A

"Clint, give me that - to your left, right there!"

I pass the weird looking gadget to Tony as he fiddles with a computer.

"What are you doing again?"

"I," Tony looks up from his work, "am making a honing beacon that finds the signal of a tracker I put in Taylor's shoe."

"Is that not just a little stalker-like?"

Tony shrugs as he bends back over the device. "She's my daughter, I'm allowed to track her."

I just sigh and lean back onto a work table littered with blueprints and metal.

"But won't the tracker be blocked?" Steve asks from his place by the door.

Tony sighs as he looks up again. "I sure hope not. This is a last ditch effort. If it fails, we have to rely on the girls to fight their way home."

An uneasy silence settles over the lab, only punctured by the occasional clink of metal on metal and a few muttered swears.

"I'm going to go get something to eat. Be right back."

I walk out of the lab, not waiting for anyone to hear what I said, and slowly make my way towards the kitchen.

I grab some cold takeout from the fridge and slump onto a barstool once it's reheated.

What would Taylor do? If it was me stranded out there? Would she keep a cools head or freak and run around like a headless chicken?

I slurp the last of my noodles and throw the empty carton into the trash.

I highly doubt Taylor would be acting like a headless chicken. She would more than likely be down there with her dad, putting her all towards achieving the goal at hand.

I've never seen her do less.

Please don't break that pattern now, Taylor.

A/N

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