Chapter Text
Natasha taped up her hands and took up a position between two guys three times her size. They both looked at her, not with disdain or surprise, but with approving smiles. She squared her shoulders and let loose all of her frustrations. The bag proved a sturdier opponent than she initially anticipated, but that only made her strike it harder. It barely gave under her onslaught, too massive for her small frame to budge it, but she imagined it was a tumor. She wished beating the living shit out of cancer was as easy as going at it on this hunk of leather and sand.
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The news anchor recited with practiced detachment, "Mr. Westcott was arrested on multiple counts of child molestation. The children currently in his care are being relocated by social services. At this moment, the date of the trial remains unknown. New York social services says their first priority is physical and psychological evaluation and treatment of the victims."
~0~
The door to the staircase was at the end of the hallway, and the instant Tony reached out to push it open, someone on the other side pulled it away from him. Tony stumbled forward a step and almost ran headfirst into a brawny man in sunglasses and a baseball cap with a large suitcase slung over his shoulder.
"Sorry, sir." he blurted out.
"Sir? Tony, I thought we knew each other better than that," the man replied.
~0~
"No. All you accomplished is giving me a whole other reason to wish we were never friends."
~0~
"I think you're missing the key point here. We're stranded."
"So what? It's a new ex-per…ear…pear." Thor paused and grunted in frustration. "A new thing. That's good."
"I would've been perfectly happy to live my entire life without the novel experience of being stranded on a deserted island."
"It's not deserted! We're here." He gestured between the two of them. The dog barked sharply. "And she's here too."