Unexpected

Joining the Team

The shock having worn off, I found myself experiencing a completely different emotion, one that I rarely felt as I soared up towards the roof Barton was on.

I. Was. Mad.

"Clint!" I shouted, "You idiot! You shot me out of the sky! Barton!"

At first I was too far below for him to hear my furious words, but as I approached him, his head whipped around to face me and an arrow was pointed in my direction, then he paused. Frozen in place, his eyes followed me as I flew my craft up level with him, still screaming at him.

"You could have killed me, Barton! I could have gone splat on the pavement because you weren't looking where you were shooting! You shot me out of the freaking sky!"

"Penny?" he mouthed, his eyes that were no longer turquoise were wide with surprise.

"Yeah it's me Mr. I'm Gonna Shoot Willy-Nilly and Get Penny Killed!" I drove the craft over the roof and set it to hover there.

I stepped off my alien craft and my feet had barely hit the rocks on the roof when Barton grabbed my face and stared into my eyes a moment before he encased me in a hug. "Penny! You're alive!"

"No thanks to you." I mumbled surprised at the sudden act of unexpected affection coming from the bowman and feeling my anger slip away as I hugged him back. "It's so good to see you again, Barton, or should I say Hawkeye?"

He pulled back and looked at me again, "You're real!"

"Of course I'm real." I responded, confused at the strange sentence.

"When I was under Loki's control, very little made sense. It was like I was there, but not, like someone had pulled me out and stuck something else in. I'm not a hundred percent sure what was real during that time and I don't remember much." Barton explained. "It was like a dream."

"I get it." I said, "I'm just glad your fine and in your right mind again."

"And you're in your right mind, too." he said looking into my eyes again, "Your eyes are clear."

"They always were."

"Why are you here? How are you here? How did you escape?"

These were difficult questions for me. I didn't want to lie, but on the other hand if I tried to explain all that had happened, what my relationship was to Loki, I'd either be treated as a crazy or as an enemy. I was neither. So I compromised. "I'm here to help, Clint. You know of my... ability, so I'm not just some helpless bystander, and I have one of these crafts," I waved to my alien craft that was hovering just a few feet away, then put my hand up to stop Clint from interrupting,, "As for my escape, well, after Loki left the bunker with all the rest of his goons, there were only some scientists left really, no one wanted to stop me, they were too busy being brainwashed and going about their work, so I stole a car that I'm pretty sure is nothing but smoke and scraps now, and drove here."

He nodded and thought a moment, before saying in his usual dry voice, "Penny, I'm glad you're okay and all, but this is extremely dangerous. I know you mean well, but I can't have you here. You need to leave the city before it gets any uglier."

I'm not sure what I was expecting Clint to say, but that wasn't it. Of course I knew he wouldn't just let me on the team and send me off to battle some of the hideous extraterrestrial baddies, but at the same time... I don't know.

"Barton." I said with a pleading tone.

"Don't fight me on this, Penny, I-" He stopped midsentence and put his hand to his ear for a second. He had an ear wig! One of those walkie-talkie things that fit like an earbud so that the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, what did Loki call them? The Avengers? Could talk to each other even though they were spread throughout the city fighting off the invasion. I leaned in close to Barton to see if I could hear what was being said into his earwig.