Outlaw

Chapter 9: Rising Inaction

(Shortly after...)

The four men all on the ground were picked up soon after the end of their scrap in the woods, making sure to bring their prisoner back on board as well, of course.

Circling back around after them, Natasha had landed the Quinjet and allowed the five inside, looking over her shoulder to see how they'd each come out of the brief fight. She was a bit put off by the detail that everyone seemed fine for the most part, except for Red Hood, looking visibly winded and shaken up compared to the others, as she'd watched him helped inside with an arm slung over Steve's shoulder.

He'd been sat at the farthest up seat, closest to the cockpit, and across the cabin from the redhead, in case she'd chosen to exchange words with him. At her quiet asking if he was alright however, he politely waved her off, insisting he'd had worse. She figured she'd check back once they were back on the carrier.

On the return flight to the carrier, the passengers were all quiet, with Steve glancing over at Darren every so often, internally still dwelling on how he'd dropped in on the younger hero about to execute Loki. Clearly he was a bit more aggressive and violent than the rest of SHIELD's assembled team. How far those tendencies went, however, was another question...

Meanwhile, Red Hood himself was mentally reeling from the secret details from his past the Asgardian brought up. Somehow, he'd uncovered trauma from years ago in Darren's life, before he died. Things that he hadn't even told Natasha yet...

The smug threats leveled at him over the agency's potential response to him going postal stuck with him as well. Specifically, he wondered whether or not Natasha would side with him, as well...

The rest of the ride was spent in relative silence, until they got back to the Helicarrier once more, landing on the top deck, where a group of agents were waiting to escort Loki to a holding cell. Following them, Thor and Tony with his helmet off. After them was Red Hood, kept standing by Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff.

The pain from the impact of Thor's hammer in the middle of his chest had since intensified, and the center of wound felt like his chest was imploding, and it kinda hurt to breathe.

The pair brought Darren down to the living quarters he'd claimed before, sitting him on the bed. Steve walked out right after, leaving Natasha and Darren sat together on the bed.

"I'll be fine, really, Nat...", he insisted, before immediately groaning as he slipped out of his jacket. The redhead just stood there, staring at him, eyebrow raised in doubt. "I can see that.", she said flatly. "Thanks for understanding...", Darren replied half-jokingly as he then went to try taking off his upper body armor, once again groaning in agony from trying to get it off.

"You done?", she asked, still not very amused. Struggling for a few more seconds, Darren finally sighed in defeat and held still to let her come and help him out of the garment, grabbing the edges and carefully sliding it over his shoulders, and down his arms.

"Now... I seem to recall suggesting against jumping into that pissing match down on the ground, if I'm not mistaken.", she said, in a mock thoughtful tone. The younger man just sighed again, essentially non-verbally saying, 'Here we go...'.

"I had it under control, Natasha. Believe me, coming back from the dead really helps your survival instincts...", he replied, trying to wave off the lecture, but was taken out of it by her finally pulling the armored shirt free, exposing his discolored chest, back, and shoulders. The motion was a bit sharper than a moment before, though he couldn't figure out whether or not that was on purpose.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I called you into this because I think you'd be a good addition to this unit Fury's bringing together.", Natasha continued, her tone a bit softer this time around, "Loki meant to enslave the entire earth, and we still need to find that Cube  before we can be sure we've succeeded. You're no good to me or anyone else here dead."