Corrupted - The Tigris Series Book 1

Chapter Twenty Three

July 23, 2012

I had successfully pinpointed Loki's location. His army will come today, so action needed to be taken now.

It was time to prepare for war.

With one swift motion, I gripped the front of my cloak and pulled it over my head, draping it over the end of the railing as I walked up the steps to leave the main room. My long black hair swept back and forth along my lower back, secured in the low ponytail that I had put it in earlier. My brows were tightly knit together, and my blue eyes were sharp. I pushed away the last bit of distress in my mind, focusing on nothing but the coming battle. I continued past Fury and Agent Hill without even glancing at their confused expressions, and left the room without a word. Fury called out to me to question what I was doing, but I ignored him.

It was time to fulfill my mission.

I jogged towards a staircase that I knew lead to the top of the helicarrier, but was stopped by Steve's voice. "Hey, we found him. Time to go."

I turned to look at him with a raised brow. We? "I was just on my way to borrow a jet and go after him."

He seemed to be taken by surprise with my response. "So you found him too?"

I nodded.

"Well, then I can't let you go by yourself. Let's round up the others and suit up." Steve replied, then turned to walk down the direction of Natasha's room.

"I'm already suited up," I stated, following him.

"Actually, Ty, I have a couple things in the armory for you. Thought you needed a little bit more than a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's suit." Tony's voice sounded in my earpiece.

I furrowed my brows. "You what?"

"It's just a little something I decided to work on on the side. Nothing big, but will probably be useful." he replied.

Shocked was an understatement to how I felt about this "gift" of Tony's.

Before I could think much about it, Steve pushed a button and slid Natasha's door open. There, Natasha stood at the center of the room next to an empty bed. I could smell Barton's scent in the room, though he was nowhere in sight.

"Time to go." Steve stated, standing in the doorway.

I eyed Natasha from behind Steve, watching her brows slightly furrow in confusion. "Go where?"

"I'll tell ya on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Steve asked.

"I can." my voice blended with Barton's as he stepped out of what I assumed to be a bathroom.

Steve looked at him with caution, not sure if he could trust him, then looked at Natasha for confirmation. She nodded at him, indicating that he could now be trusted. A part of me was curious as to how she managed to recover his mind, and another was jealous of how quickly it was done. Barton seemed to catch on to my thoughts, and gave the smallest smirk as he locked eye contact with me, wiping his hands dry with a small hand towel.

"You got a suit?" Steve asked, trusting Natasha's word.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Then suit up." Steve ordered, then turned to lead us to the armory.

I locked eyes with Natasha for only a moment, feeling our history suddenly hit me like a truck. Before anything could be said, I quickly turned to follow Steve. I wasn't ready for that kind of a confrontation. Besides, I had a couple questions to ask Steve.

"How did you find out where Loki is?" I asked as I caught up with him.

"Tony figured it out." he replied, simply.