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Chapter Thirty: Duplicity, Aster, and Chains

~Thea's POV~

When I walk downstairs the next morning, I find Max leaning against the far cabinets, talking on the phone. He raises his eyebrows at me before tossing me a granola bar and a banana and walking out of the room.

Curious, I bite into the banana just for kicks and then tiptoe to the edge of the living room, leaning against the wall.

"-doing fine. Doesn't even know, which if you ask me, is the best thing."

Don't even know what?

"Yeah, taking her out today. Yep, four. And-"

The bang of pots on each other makes me jump and turn around. Kyle is looking at me through squinted eyes, two frying pans in his hand. I open my mouth to say something, but he interrupts, "Morning," he says pleasantly.

"Yeah..." I say, glancing longingly towards the direction of the living room and then abandoning my post and walking back into the kitchen. "Morning."

I feel Kyle's eyes on me, following me as I throw the banana peel in the trashcan. Knowing I need to divert this conversation before he starts questioning me about why I am spying on his brother, I say hastily, "So. Horses. That's today?"

"I thought that's what I told you yesterday."

As in, Thea, that's the stupidest diversion ever.

I swallow hard, and that's when Max comes in the room. He looks mildly interested in the interrogation scene, and says, "What'd I miss?"

Before Kyle can give his version of the story, I step in. "What don't I know?"

Max glances past me at Kyle, who shrugs, his eyes still on the back of my head. "What are you talking about?"

I cross my arms. "You know what I'm talking about. So let's start clean. Who were you talking to on the phone?"

Max hesitates, and Kyle takes this opportunity to walk forward so he is directly behind me, so that I can feel his breath on my arm. I begin to get a little frightened.

Apparently, Max notices, because he gives his brother a hard look and then beckons me forward. I don't move. Looking like he is fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Max says, "It was Steve."

"Steve." I state.

"Yes. He was checking in on you."

"How does Steve even know I'm here?"

"Oh, c'mon Thea," says Kyle. "Do you really think we don't have our ways of communicating?"

I pause to think about that, then ask "What don't I know?"

Max looks like he's considering something. I have the urge to look back at Kyle to take in his expression, but I decide to stay focused on Max. Finally, he replies, "They're being followed, and Steve didn't want you to worry."

"Followed by who?"

Max looks relieved, which strikes me as a little weird. "The Imeldi. Government agents. The same goons who were after you guys last time and still are."

"How do we know they're not at our back porch?" I say, trying not to appear frightened.

Max considers me for a couple minutes, then beckons me to him again. "C'mon. I want to show you something."

Reluctantly, and from a little prod in the back by Kyle, I follow Max upstairs and down the long hallway where my room is, with Kyle behind me. Our footsteps creak on the wood.

Taking a long pole from a corner, Max reaches up and hooks it on what appears to be an iron loophole in the ceiling. When he pulls, that's when I realize it's actually the entrance to a room above us; Max pulls down the stairs and walks up them.

It's hot up here; stuffy and the air is thick. Inside, though, there are dozens of computers, cameras, and wires, all humming madly. "What the heck is this?"

"It's called security," says Kyle.

I punch him in the arm.

"What my brother is trying to say," says Max patiently, as Kyle grabs his elbow and glares at me patronizingly, "Is that this is how we keep this place secure. There are booby traps, wires, traps, cameras, dogs, live feeds, you name it, it's here. Nothing can get in here without our consent."

"Or," says Kyle in a strangely serious tone, his brown eyes on me "Nobody can get out."

Now both guys are looking at me seriously. I do my best to bat my eyelashes and look innocent. "What?"

"Point being," says Max hastily, "You're safe. We're safe."

I take a deep breath. "I don't think you know what you're dealing with. These monsters tracked my family from space. They killed my parents," I do my best to keep my composure, "Almost killed Leah and me, and then tracked us again through the air. They compromised part of the government. Do you really think a couple of booby traps and dogs are going to stop them? They could bomb us for crying out loud!" 

At this point, I have begun to panic. Kyle crosses his toned arms and leans against the wall next to a computer, for once not having anything halfway sarcastic to say.

Max, who is very tall, leans down so that he is the same height as me, and puts his hands on my shoulders. "Thea, listen. I know you're scared. You're only...thirteen, right? And you've have had to deal with things that most adults wouldn't have to in their wildest nightmares." His deep baritone is strangely comforting. "But that's what Kyle and I are here for. We're going to protect you. That's what we do. Nobody is going to touch you." He wipes the single, traitorous tear from my cheek with his thumb. "Now let's go outside and ride some horses. How about that?"

I take another deep breath as Kyle hands me some tissues and pulls my ponytail affectionately. "Deal."

~Nobody's POV~

Location: SHIELD Headquarters

"And you sure these guys are... competent?" asks Natasha, leaning against the high-back chair in the director's office. She is looking very concerned.

She isn't the only one. Nick Fury's office is currently playing headquarters for ten people, including him. Bruce is looking out the high-rise building, clutching a pen too tightly for normality.

 Steve is sitting next to Natasha, looking down at the glass table.

Tony is absentmindedly eating a bunch of grapes, but not really tasting them.

Nick is solemnly sitting at his desk, his head in his hand.

Loki stands a little apart from Tony, his green eyes drawn.

Clint is standing near the door, poised, his muscles taught as he holds his bow.

Agent Hill stands next to Clint, her arms crossed with her usual expression of stoicism.

 Thor is pacing the far side of the room, clenching and unclenching his fists, his face bloody and his hair mussed.

Finally, Darcy is sitting on the other side of Natasha, looking vacant and tear-stained. Her lips are rid of their usual redness as she grips the chair rail.

In general, the mood is not good.

"They are more than competent enough," says Nick with a sigh. "They are not who I'm worried about."

"I'm worried about her sister," says Steve, "And Jane. As more time goes on, the worse the situation gets for them. We need to immediately find a way to attack."

"I am aware of that," replies Nick. "And we will. Immediately. But we also must think about the blue moon that is approaching. The Imeldi, more likely than not, now have the information they seek, provided it cooperates, which I'm pretty sure it will."

"Director, there's one thing I'm confused about," says Agent Hill, "Why send Thea away, and also without telling her? She's only going get furious, and I don't see how that's helping."

Nick stands up slowly and walks past Tony, who is still eating (but running out of grapes), and past Thor (who is still pacing). "It was not my idea." Ever so quickly, he glances at Loki.

Everyone stares at him.

Loki holds up his hands innocently. "My hands are clean."

"Regardless," says Nick, "We know we need to hide Thea somewhere unexpected. True, we could've hidden her here, but chances are, we are going to be attacked soon by the Imeldi and why put her here for that to just get herself killed like she did on the helicarrier? Plus, let's face it. Thea needs a break. If she knew about her sister, she would lose it. We need her to be as sane as possible, because God knows we will need her before this is all over."

"So what you're telling us," says Agent Hill, "Is that you sent her on vacation?"

Nick sighs. "If you want to label vacation as 'temporary living area for rehabilitation and also so that she doesn't get her nose into business she doesn't need to know' then yes, that's where I sent her."

"Nick, let's face it," says Tony. "She's going to find out about Leah and about Jane. I'd hate to be the people who have to deal with that."

"Good thing you won't be then, Stark," says Nick. "Now moving on, we have two priorities. Rescue and defense. Now Dr. Selvig is currently working on the two other possible places of convergence. It won't take long for us to put up a stronghold to protect the Mantra."

"When does the rescue mission start?" ask Steve, clutching his shield tighter.

"In thirty minutes. The flight for Caracaras leaves then."

~Thea's POV~

It's chilly outside as I follow Kyle out to the barn, but not too cold. The light jacket Max had pulled out of a closet shields the breeze well enough.

The barn is small and dark until Kyle turns on some overhead lights. Sure enough, there are three horses with their heads hanging over their stall doors curiously- the last stall is empty. "Let's see," Kyle says, looking me up and down. "You're short and skinny. That means you can ride Aster."

"I am not short," I pronounce as Kyle enters a small room off the side from the aisle.

"If you're not short, then I don't have black hair," he says, coming out of the room with a bridle. "C'mon."

"For the record," I say. "There is no such thing as actual black hair."

"Oh yeah?" he says, walking down the aisle, stopping to pet one of the horses, "Well at least I'm not a blondie like you."

"I am not blonde. I have dirty blonde hair." I say, irritated that I'm having this conversation with a twenty-something year old, half-blind guy.

"Dirty blonde, blonde, black, dark brown, what's the difference?" he says wisely, stopping in front of the far left stall. "Now c'mon and meet Aster."

I almost decide to be stubborn, but instead, I walk down the aisle. Inside the stall, there's a relatively large black horse, with a white strip on his forehead. When Aster sees me, he snorts gently, blowing his breath into my face.

"Um, hi," I say as Kyle opens the stall door with a clank.

"Don't be shy, you can pet him," says Kyle, slipping off Aster's halter and putting on the bridle in its place.

Hesitantly, I pet Aster's white stripe. He snorts again contentedly and nods his head up and down.

"He likes you," observes Kyle. "That's weird, considering he usually bites and throws every person who goes near him, 'cept me."

I snatch my hand from Aster. "Wha-"

Kyle chuckles, "Hey Thea, there's gullible written on the ceiling."

"Shut up."

"No." says Kyle. "Now step back. I doubt Max would like it if I let him step on your puny self."

"Would you like it?" I ask coolly, electing to ignore the puny comment.

He gives me a steely look. "Don't move, and let's find out."

I give in, moving so that Kyle can lead Aster out of the stall. In about ten minutes, he has him saddled and brushed so that the black coat looks a faintly velvet-purple. "Let's go."

"You're bossy," I say, walking on Aster's right side as Kyle leads him out of the barn.
"And you're stubborn. No wonder they wanted to dump you out here with us."

I'm about to snap at him, and then realize that Kyle is smiling inwardly, so I let it go.

Outside, Max is waiting with a huge brown horse tied to the paddock post. He takes Aster's reins from Kyle, who playfully tips my chin up (I try to hit him, but he dodges my attempt) and walks back to the barn. "Hey Thea," Max says, "You ready to ride a horse?"

"Um yeah," I say.

"Alright. Now you're pretty short so-"

"Would the two of you stop with the height thing?"

Max looks at me mildly. "Just an observation that you're probably not going to be able to mount Aster by yourself."

I'm about to insist that I try, but I glance at Aster and judging by the horse's huge stature, that's not going to happen. "Fine. So now what?"

Max ties Aster next to the brown horse. "Here." He cups his hands on Aster's left side. "Grab the saddle horn and mount up."

I frown at him. "What happens if you let go?"

"I'm not letting you fall, Thea."

Ignoring the double meaning in his tone, I put my foot in his hands and let him boost me up. Let me just say that the view from a horse is much higher than normal. "Wow," I say, because that's all I can say.

Max grins. "Hold on." He flips the reins over Aster's head, which I grab. Aster shifts, and I yelp, causing Max to chuckle, "Calm down, he's not going anywhere."

Kyle reappears from the barn with a grey horse with dark flecks of black all over it. He mounts the horse and rides up to me, his horse bobbing its neck up and down. "Hey, Thea, you look taller."

"I swear, if you say one more thing about my height..."

*

Riding, once you get used to it, is wonderful.

I fall off twice, once when Aster went a little too fast and too sudden for my riding experience, and once when he shied from a rabbit running across from the dirt path. I do get used to it, though, and it's exhilarating.

The best part is when we reach a relatively large open field, after we eat a brief lunch from the saddles, and the three of us lope the horses across it. The wind on my face is beautiful and refreshing, since I've been cooped up for so long, I don't really remember what fresh air feels like. It bites my skin and threatens to swoop me off my feet. I find myself laughing gleefully as the horses thunder on, Max and Kyle on either side of me.

When we get back, it's almost dark. Kyle helps me off of Aster, and the three of us lead the horses back to the barn. We're all pretty tired, and don't talk as Max shows me how to lather down Aster and put him back in his stall for the night.

Max makes some fajitas, which are incredibly, irrevocably spicy. I end up just eating a sandwich, while Kyle pokes fun at me and I ignore him.

While Kyle watches television and Max cleans up the kitchen, I walk upstairs and take a shower. Changing into some shorts and a t-shirt, I turn down the blankets of the bed before settling down on the extremely soft and cushy mattress. Reaching across the bed, I grab my backpack, which has the picture of my family on it.

I am just tracing the outlines of my mother and father when the door opens, and Max walks in. Seeing the frame in my hand, he nods to it, "Your family?"

I nod.

He exhales loudly and sits at the foot of the bed. "Hey, I'm really sorry for what you have to go through."

"So am I."

Max doesn't seem to know what to say to this. "Yeah."

We sit in silence for a couple minutes, and Max finally says, "Kyle's and my mom and dad died too when I was twelve. I know how that feels. But I guess that doesn't help, does it?"

"Not really." I say, in a nastier tone than I had wanted.

Max sighs, his eyes concerned as he looks at me gently, "Look, Thea, I don't know how much longer this is going to last."

"You mean how much longer I have to stay here?"

"Well, yes. But Kyle and I are gonna be there until the end."

"So you're also saying that when I leave, you guys are probably gonna come. If I ever get out of here."

He chuckles. "Tony was right. You are clever."

I shrug, and at that moment, Kyle walks in, carrying something that smells wonderful. "I got you some hot chocolate. It's gonna get cold tonight."

"Thanks," I say, taking the scorching hot cup from his hands and promptly burning my tongue on the hot liquid. "Ouch!"

"Sorry, it's like me," he grins. "Hot."

"Ew gross," I say, sitting the cup down on the squat night stand to let it cool down. "You keep telling yourself that. Besides, you're ancient, like thirty-five right?"

Max chuckles.

"I'm actually twenty eight." He says, looking slightly hurt. "How about you? Ten?"

I glare at him. "I'm thirteen."

He waves his hand in the air dismissively. "Same thing." He lifts my chin up again, and I lunge for him, but miss. "Sorry," he grins.

"You don't have bad reflexes for a half-blind guy." I say.

"Well thanks." He stretches his arms up.  "So I hear you got some moves. Not bad for a ten year old."

"You're awful," I pronounce. "But yes, I could totally knock your socks off."

He snorts. "Not likely. Fighting doesn't always require both eyes."

"I could still kick your as-"

"Language," he chides.

"I still could." I say stubbornly.

"Done deal. Tomorrow after breakfast."

"Whoa, wait," says Max. "I don't think-"

"Done." I smirk.

"Kyle." Says Max firmly.

"Aw c'mon," says Kyle. "Even though she's puny and she's ten, I can still kick her butt pretty good."

"You wish." I say.

"Kyle."

Kyle ignores his brother. "We'll see." He reaches forward and tweaks my nose. "Get some sleep. See ya tomorrow."

"Don't make me punch you." I threaten, wrinkling my nose.

He smirks. "You'll get your chance tomorrow."

Kyle closes the door softly behind him. As soon as he does, Max glares at me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Didn't Tony tell you that I'm good at fighting?"

"He also said not to get you riled up or you'll hurt someone."

I wave my hand dismissively, even though deep inside, I'm thinking about someone else who continuously told me that, which makes me miserable. "I won't hurt him too much."

"I'm not worried about him."

I give him my best "I'm not a child look". Max sighs, rolls his eyes and rises from the bed. "Well when either one of you are bruised and groaning, then don't blame me."

"We won't." I say, mustering a smile.

Max squeezes my shoulder, bids me good-night, and flicks off the light, bathing the room in a soft shade of moonlight. I settle myself down in the feathery cushioning of the bed.

I end up crying myself to sleep, because I miss my family, miss my own bed (which is currently probably a pile of splinters), miss the feeling of safety, and miss my temporary family made up of spies, superheroes, and gods.

~Nobody's POV~

Location: Unknown

Lugar de muerte. The place of death. That's what the creaky, iron gate spells out in barely discernible letters. Down below the old path is an even older building, crumbling in places and barely standing in others.

Thirty feet below the ground, three huge, slobbering dogs growl at the three government agents-with vacant expressions-who walk down the corridor. They are carrying something, which they toss in an empty cell. Empty except for the chains they wrestle onto her wrists, the dirt, and the scrabbling insects. She cries out, but otherwise makes no sound as the agent slams the door shut with a clang.

As soon as they leave, the woman gasps and clutches her side, where the sharp things and wires had forced her to tell all she knew. Her body is bruised and dirty and screams in protest as she crawls forward to grasp the dirty bars of the adjacent cell. "Leah?" she croaks.

There is movement from the cell. A small figure, lying helpless on the ground, suspended by the chains manages to push herself towards her.

"No, it's okay," whispers Jane as Leah begins crying, her tears running over her dirty and sallow face. "We're going to be fine."

Leah's sobs turn to hoarse coughs, and Jane closes her eyes, tears of her own spilling over her lids. "Shh," she murmurs.

"It...hurts..." wails the girl.

"What hurts?" asks Jane, trying to keep the fear from her voice. "What-"

"Everything!" Leah screams.

"Shh, shh," says Jane frantically, "Don't yell, honey, please don't."

Leah's cries turn quieter as she looks up at Jane with the expression of innocence lost and pain looks from the two pairs of broken, pained eyes.