[ She knows she has a reputation as being hard to crack, among certain circles from her past. Not impossible, because there are very few or no people who are truly impossible, but she's had experience and they know she doesn't break easily. The smart ones know the easiest way to get to her is through the people she cares about. The not quite as clever ones just go for brute force, and the ones who are intelligent but not enough to know how to manipulate her emotions well enough go for some mixture that she really despises but won't make her crack.
The thing is, the body may become unaccustomed to pain quickly but hers is used to it enough to readjust quickly. She's quite good at removing herself from a situation until something brings her back, and anything to do with Tony - he's impossible to ignore. Him in pain is even more impossible. All they've succeeded in doing is making her angry and force her to remain in the state in which she's angry, while not approaching anywhere near the level of pain and isolation and despair that would eventually snap her. And now they're suffering the consequences.
She's spent thirteen years of her life training in every spare moment, learning any style she could get people to teach her, memorizing every method of killing people she could lay her hands on, and right now she's willing to utilize every one of them because of the way Tony looks and sounds when people hit him, because they dared touch her Sentinel and not only did they hurt him but they did it in her presence, they made her watch and every second was another bit of fuel to the fire. Because he is hers in every way that matters and she doesn't care whether they're bonded or not, that doesn't matter. Because there is nothing in this moment that matters more than that they stop hurting Tony - not her own safety, not her life, not anything. She's moving for efficiency and evasion, a long learned and practiced grace in her motions, flowing from one to another without hesitation or consideration. It's all automatic and practiced at once, the chair discarded as she uses the momentum of vaulting over one guard to snap his neck and land into a snap kick to another's chest, followed by shots to the heart and head. There weren't too many of their opponents - certainly not enough in this particular instance, and she clears the room quickly except for the one trying to hold Tony hostage. Him she only becomes fully aware of as she shoots the last of the other guards, and when she sees him she goes very still. For a long moment they stand off, her expression still totally blank, and then she bends and places her gun down, raises her hands up.
She won't need it for this plan, and she needs him away from Tony, needs him to be aiming at her instead. She's not going to risk anything until then. ] Worth a try. [ Deadpan, and she reaches into the man's mind and goes looking for what she needs. He really shouldn't have tried holding Tony hostage. There's a quick and a merciful death, and there's the things a furious empath can do to your head. The only thing saving him is the gun aimed at Tony, and that can only last so long. ]
the best sort
The thing is, the body may become unaccustomed to pain quickly but hers is used to it enough to readjust quickly. She's quite good at removing herself from a situation until something brings her back, and anything to do with Tony - he's impossible to ignore. Him in pain is even more impossible. All they've succeeded in doing is making her angry and force her to remain in the state in which she's angry, while not approaching anywhere near the level of pain and isolation and despair that would eventually snap her. And now they're suffering the consequences.
She's spent thirteen years of her life training in every spare moment, learning any style she could get people to teach her, memorizing every method of killing people she could lay her hands on, and right now she's willing to utilize every one of them because of the way Tony looks and sounds when people hit him, because they dared touch her Sentinel and not only did they hurt him but they did it in her presence, they made her watch and every second was another bit of fuel to the fire. Because he is hers in every way that matters and she doesn't care whether they're bonded or not, that doesn't matter. Because there is nothing in this moment that matters more than that they stop hurting Tony - not her own safety, not her life, not anything. She's moving for efficiency and evasion, a long learned and practiced grace in her motions, flowing from one to another without hesitation or consideration. It's all automatic and practiced at once, the chair discarded as she uses the momentum of vaulting over one guard to snap his neck and land into a snap kick to another's chest, followed by shots to the heart and head. There weren't too many of their opponents - certainly not enough in this particular instance, and she clears the room quickly except for the one trying to hold Tony hostage. Him she only becomes fully aware of as she shoots the last of the other guards, and when she sees him she goes very still. For a long moment they stand off, her expression still totally blank, and then she bends and places her gun down, raises her hands up.
She won't need it for this plan, and she needs him away from Tony, needs him to be aiming at her instead. She's not going to risk anything until then. ] Worth a try. [ Deadpan, and she reaches into the man's mind and goes looking for what she needs. He really shouldn't have tried holding Tony hostage. There's a quick and a merciful death, and there's the things a furious empath can do to your head. The only thing saving him is the gun aimed at Tony, and that can only last so long. ]