Living far away

Chapter 4

Rylie's parents were brought to the high tech SHIELD jails with a heavily armed car, while Rylie herself went with the team in the Quinjet to New York.

Clint is steering the jet, while Nat and Steve are going over the intel with Bucky. Tony is checking for possible modifications to his suit. Rylie is in the back, looking at the screen of her phone, contemplating if she should tell Emily the truth anyway. She's her best friend, she'd find out some way. She types the words, but then deletes them, deciding she'd leave it the way it is. She walks to the front, to Clint.

"Is it hard to fly this thing?" she asks when her eyes move over the control panel.

Clint chuckles. "Not really, it mostly flies on autopilot, so I don't have to do much. It's harder when there's an attack. You can try it if you want."

"No, thanks, I wouldn't want to be the reason we're all at the bottom of the ocean."

"Oh, c'mon, you can't be that bad!"

"I am, trust me. The only talent I have is martial arts."

"You should spar with Nat sometime. No one's able to defeat her."

"I'll try. I can't promise anything though."

She stays with Clint up front until they arrive. Clint lands on the platform of the tower, where agent Hill is already waiting for them.

"The HYDRA agents are safely imprisoned", she says when everybody gets off. She squints when she sees Rylie. "Who's that?"

"The daughter. We'll explain later", Nat says dismissively.

Then Pepper walks outside. Tony walks to her.

"Will you take the girl to one of the guest rooms, honey? She's staying here for a while", he says to her.

Pepper smiles and nods. "Come on, follow me."

Rylie follows Pepper through the halls of the tower.

"So, you actually live here? Do the others too?" Rylie asks.

"Some do. Steve rather lives in his apartment and Clint lives with his family", Pepper explains.

"Family? He has kids?" Rylie asks, surprised.

Pepper chuckles. "Yes, we were just as surprised as you when we found out."

After a few minutes of walking they reach the room.

"Here's your room. Tony texted me while you were on the way here, so I know the whole story. This'll be your room until... Well, as long as you want. You can hang posters, add furniture, whatever you want. Tony'll pay in case you need money", Pepper says as she opens the door, revealing the big room.

"Thanks", Rylie says as her eyes go over the room. In her head she can already imagine how she's going to decorate it.

"You'll also have access to FRIDAY to guide you around. It also includes Tony being able to contact you whenever you're in the building, though", Pepper says with a chuckle.

"It's a sacrifice I'm prepared to make", Rylie says.

"Settle in. FRIDAY'll warn you in case there's something important going on."

Rylie nods and Pepper leaves. She lays down on her bed, trying to make herself believe it's true and she's actually in the Avengers' tower. She sighs and decides it'd go better if she had her punching bag to train a bit. "Hey, FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Miss Thompson?" a voice that seems to come from nowhere asks.

"Does the tower have a room to train martial arts?"

"Yes, it does. It was installed after the attacks of 2012 when Miss Romanoff wanted to train after she moved in. Would you like me to lead you?"

"I'd like that."

A map appears on one of Rylie's walls.

"Is that whole wall a screen?"

"It is. I can project anything for you. Movies, series..."

"Surveillance cameras?"

"If you have the password I can provide you with records of the cameras."

"I don't", Rylie says, sighing. "Is there any way I can take that map with me? I'm terrible at remembering stuff."

"The map is now provided on your phone."

"You're connected to my phone?"

"I am connected to every digital object in the building."

"That's... Kinda creepy", Rylie says, glancing at the map on her phone. "Thanks, though."

"You are welcome."

After almost half an hour, from which 15 minutes were just searching, Rylie reaches the training room. She puts on a pair of boxing gloves and walks to a punching bag.

"FRIDAY, play Highway to hell by AC/DC", she says, before letting all her stress flow out by attacking the bag. After an hour she takes a break to drink, then she sees Natasha looking at her. "How long have you been watching?"

"About half an hour. You really are good. I didn't even notice you were getting tired", Natasha says.

"I didn't, it's a thing I learned from my mom, to take breaks even if you still can go on, so I don't overdo myself. I once trained for 5 hours, only taking a 5 minute break after 3 hours."

"Wow... That's very impressive."

Rylie shrugs. "I bet you can go longer."

"The longest I did was 4 hours, with two breaks."

"Really?"

"You're strong, Rylie, we could really use that with the Avengers."