Baby Barton

Chapter 14 Chloe

You follow Steve out of the church hall, thankful that you haven't eaten anything, your guts are churning though you are trying to put on a brave front.  This is a huge deal, your first mission, and Steve said its a big one, what could it possibly be?  He leads you outside to where his motorcycle is parked,
"What's going on Cap?" You are trying to be professional, putting last night to the back of your mind, he points upwards to the sky, faintly in the distance you see what could only be described as a portal, blue and sinister as it swirls, getting bigger by the minute.
Steve looks at you sternly "The public hasn't been alerted yet, we need to try and contain it before it gets out of hand."
Your heart is pounding, nothing good can come from that portal.
"How did you find out about it?" You sense that he's keeping something from you, and that isn't fair because you are colleagues now.  He purses his lips, "we've been on this for a couple of days now, Thor warned us about a week ago, and some S.H.I.E.L.D agents were murdered by Loki when he entered through the portal created by the tesseract, we had Loki, imprisoned but he escaped and well... you know the rest." He points upwards towards the sky again.  You take a nervous gulp, "I'am going to level with you here Cap, I didn't understand a fucking word of what you just said.  That could have been Swahili for all I know. What the fuck is a Loki, and who the hell is tesseract?" He places his hands on either side of your face, "it'll all be okay," you can't help making a face of disgust at his patronising action.
Why the hell was he treating you like a child? You didn't ask if everything would be okay, you told him you didn't understand what he was rabbiting on about.  Pissed off about being kept in the dark, you reluctantly sit on the back of his bike, he takes his place at the front and you speed off. Keeping you out of important information like this could seriously jeopardise the mission.  If you  are good enough to join the fight then you are good enough to know whats been going on from the beginning.
The atmosphere on the streets becomes tense and thick as Steves bike cuts through it, eery and unsettling. Like someone sucked all the air out of the world.

***
Steve leads you through the corridors of the helicarrier, S.H.I.E.L.D's naval air base, taking it all in, everything is chrome, silver and blue, littered with technology you'd never be able to comprehend.  "Tony must be in his element here." You say out loud, but to yourself.  Steve halts at a glass door, scans his hand and retina, "Steve Rogers access confirmed.  Agent Chloe Elouise Barton, access denied." The synthesised female voice booms sending shivers down your spine. "Over ride, allow access Agent Chloe Barton, authorised Nicholas Fury." Fury grabs your hand and places it on the first scanner, then a bit more forceful than was nessecary he grabs your head and points it towards the retina scanner, "next time you wont have a problem," he says bluntly.
"Yeah thanks for that Dick...I mean Nick."
He steps back into the room, yourself and Steve follow. Its the first time you have seen all the Avengers together since you arrived back from prison. 
You really could use a shower. 
The room goes awkwardly silent as you step into the circle,
"I trust you all know Agent Barton, she will be covering for her brother, also Agent Barton." All flashing looks your way Tony gives you a little wave and you smile at him, he makes the seriousness of the situation a little lighter for you, and you both continue to look at each other like school children biting your cheeks, trying not to laugh in a classroom.
Natasha, who looks totally badass in her getup that clings to every curve and contour on her body, is standing next to a guy dressed like he should be at a renaissance fair, why on gods earth is he swinging a fucking novelty hammer? That being said he is absolutely the most handsome man you have ever seen in your life, shoulder length blonde hair, tanned muscular arms, his chiselled facial bone structure is straight out of a greek book of gods, somebody sculpted him, he cannot be real. He is slightly taller than Steve, the both of them standing on either side of Natasha almost makes her disappear.
There's another man that you do not recognise, maybe in his late 30's standing next to Tony, he is quiet and looks just about as nervous as you feel.  His light purple shirt damp with sweat, he somehow still manages to be endearing. He flashes you a half smile,
"I'm Bruce, Dr Banner, hi." Jesus, he really is nervous, thank christ he isn't part of the team. 
"Chloe." You nod at him politely, he smiles at you again, you can't help noticing how kind his eyes are, and for some reason, despite his nervous disposition, they are able to put you at ease, but only slightly.
Fury clears his throat, irritated by you as per usual, "Now where were we?" He looks around hands out inviting everyone to resume the conversation.
Its not long before you realise that it wasn't a discussion at all, it was an argument, about you.
"If we don't allow Barton to participate on missions she will never gain experience." Ah, so the newbie is a liability, thats what they are worried about.
You take a deep breath, ready to state your case, you are one hundred percent committed to the team, you want everyone to have confidence in you, and trust that you can do this, because you know in your heart of hearts that you could be an asset to the team, you just need someone to believe in you. You look to Steve convincing yourself that he will have your back,
"This mission is far too dangerous for an amateur, not to mention Agent Barton is still young. She could compromise the whole mission." Well that was like being stabbed in the back, what a fucking dirty Judas! Agent Barton is it now? Still young? He wasn't concerned about how young you were last night when he was balls deep. Shaking with anger "Does anyone want my opinion?" You glare at Steve, mentally stabbing him in the neck with your knife.
Completely ignoring you, the renaissance guy whose name you still don't know steps forward "what does she bring to this team?" Prick. He sounds like fucking Shakespeare.
"Excuse me, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have something to bring to the team, and I can guarantee its more impressive than a cape and a foam hammer." You look up at him, he is about a head and shoulders bigger than you, he did not expect you to rebuttal him, he bows his head and takes a step back, you turn to look at Natasha who is smiling at Tony, he nods at you reassuringly miming "good job".
You thought you had won the Shakespeare dude over but it wasn't to be "Loki will eat her alive," you throw your hands up in protest, you are getting really sick of this shit.
"First of all, what is a Loki? Second of all, what did you come dressed as? Does your mother know you are wearing her drapes?" He growls at you as you stand before him once again, this time challenging him. Fury stands between you separating you, "behave Barton."
Frustrated, you let out a sigh and step back again, trying to control your anger, why can't they just trust you.
"Well I say put her to work, see what she can do." You knew it! Tony has your back, he winks at you, and you flash him a grin before turning to the rest of the guys, to see what they have to say. Natasha has been pretty quiet, and the Dr hasn't said anything at all. If Steve doesn't speak for the rest of the day, that would be okay too.
Fury takes a commanding presence in the middle of the room, all eyes on him, "I brought Agent Barton here to work, not to neutralise the testosterone ratio of the team."
"We will spend precious time babysitting her, I vote no." Steve again, what a fucking asshole, without realising you lunge forward fist clenched ready to land a punch right on his jaw, Natasha pulls you back, chuckling she whispers "calm down, he's just looking out for you." You look at her dead in the eyes "he better stop or I'm going to break his neck," you whisper back through gritted teeth.
Steve looks at you apologetically, "fuck you Steve." You walk over to Tony who sympathetically puts his arm around you, "you know I think you've got a thing for her Cap." You elbow Tony in the ribs and give him the death stare, obviously thinking himself hilarious because he is bent double with laughter.
You step into the middle, enough is enough...
"Guys! Lets just shut the fuck up," you stare down Steve and Tony, "Can we please just deal with this impending doom?" Gesturing towards the window.
They ignore you, again and start shouting incoherently above one another.
Taking your index and middle finger you whistle, louder than you've ever been able to before. The room goes silent, all eyes on you,
"Please, just shut the fuck up," your crude language offending them "it looks like you guys could use all the help you can get," you do a half wave "and I'm it."
The room stays silent for a minute while you put on your tactical vest, and adjust your wrist strap.
Beginning to talk behind you while you continue to get yourself ready for battle,
renaissance guy pipes up "We are wasting valuable time." That sounded like it was almost in your defence.
Glancing at him, he bows his head, a truce.
"This is ridiculous," Natasha walks over to you lifts your bow and hands it to you, flashing you a coy smile. You now know she was letting you prove yourself to the rest of the team by leaving you to speak for yourself, you didn't need anyone to fight your battles and Natasha knows this.
Dr Banner steps forward pointing to the window, "we are out of time," he cracks his neck "look!".

The six of you and Fury step up to the panoramic window, the first wave of an alien army swarm through the portal, which is now about the size of a football stadium, ravaging the streets of New York.

"Its go time." Steve fastens his shield tight onto his strong arm, prepared for battle. "On me Barton," he commands, you take your place next to him, he fixes a twist on the strap of your vest whispering in your ear "I'm sorry."