This is Home

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Chapter 1: The Twins

The cold gray walls of the HYDRA base never changed as Clint Barton crept through its halls, his loaded bow in his hand, a loud firefight echoing behind him. He huffed. How exactly did I get the job of clearing this place of civilians again? I haven't even seen- Of course, just as that thought darted into his head, two loud screams-of mingled fear and anger, he thought-echoed throughout the corridors. He broke into a run, kicking open the door the sound had been behind. A man stood over two cowering children, trying to get them up. Some strange red mist was surrounding the girl's hands, and the boy was almost vibrating in place. Clint didn't take any more time for observation before his arrow was buried in the scum's back (anyone who would frighten a child that much on purpose was scum, in Clint's opinion, the HYDRA minion part only reinforcing the label).

He looked back at the kids, who stared up at him with wide, even more frightened eyes. He slowly and carefully put his bow back in his quiver, raised his hands to show them that he wasn't going to hurt them, and knelt down to be on their level. "Hi. I'm Clint."

They continued to eye him warily. He sighed. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise." When they still didn't speak, he added, "Do you speak English?"

*T*I*H*

Wanda eyed the American (Clint, he had called himself) as she tried to subtly probe his mind with her powers. The red mist snaking toward him probably didn't help the subtlety much, though. What do you think we should do? her brother's voice asked in her head.

I don't know, Pietro. He doesn't feel scary; he feels kind and... protective, I think, she replied.

So we should go with him?

Do we have a choice?

He conceded that point and turned to Clint. "Yes, we speak English. My name is Pietro, and my sister is Wanda."

He nodded. "Well, Pietro and Wanda, at some point I'm going to have to ask how you got here and what the red stuff coming out of Wanda's hands is, but, for right now, I've got friends who are ready and waiting to blow this place sky-high as soon as I tell them that I've gotten everyone who isn't HYDRA out."

"We're not HYDRA! Well, not by choice, anyway," Wanda quickly said.

"Didn't think you were. You'd have gone with Mr. Scary HYDRA Minion if you had been." He winked, stood, and held a hand out toward each of them. "Now, come on. We need to go."

With a cautious glace at each other, the twins grabbed his hands, and the three hurried out. "Do you know of anyone else I need to get out?" Clint asked.

They both shook their heads.

He nodded. "Good."

Wanda looked up at him. He still seemed to have only kind intentions toward them, but she was going to remain on her guard and keep feeling him out as best she could. I won't let my brother be hurt again. She had an inkling that Pietro was thinking the same thing.

*T*I*H*

Clint could tell that the twins didn't actually trust him, but that didn't matter for the moment. He just needed to get them out. Finally, they reached the end of the hall, and he saw the quinjet outside. "Come on; into the quinjet," he urged the hesitant children. Thankfully, they obeyed. He showed them how to strap themselves in before taking the pilot seat and preparing for takeoff. The rest of the team loaded up soon after, giving the kids strange looks, but none of them said anything. Natasha broke the silence as she slid into the seat next to him. "Where did they come from?"

"Found them. I think HYDRA experimented on them."

Once they were all there, Clint lifted off, and the HYDRA base billowed in a pillar of fire and smoke. "Fury's gonna love this," Nat muttered as they turned toward base.

Clint winced. "He sure is."

*T*I*H*

"Would you mind telling me just what you were thinking, Barton?" Fury demanded, very much living up to his name.

"Sir, I was thinking that these kids didn't seem any more enthralled with HYDRA than I am and that they didn't deserve to be killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"He has a point, sir," Coulson said.

"I know he has a point, but the fact remains that we can't deal with this!" Fury's single eye fastened on Clint. "Tell me, Barton, do you have any idea how SHIELD can deal with two kids given superpowers by our worst enemy?"

Clint planned to say, "No, sir, I don't," but what came out was, "I'll take them home." He blinked in astonishment at himself, as did the other two in the room.

"Oh, you will?" Fury asked.

It was actually a good idea, Clint realized. "Yes, sir. They shouldn't be able to cause many trouble out there, and they might actually have a decent family life; they probably haven't had that in a while, if they ever did." He bit his lip. "Also, Laura will love them."

Fury sighed, and Coulson chuckled. "That's certainly true," the director muttered. "Very well, Barton. I'll release these kids into your custody on one condition."

"What might that be, sir?"

"If they prove to threaten national security (in more ways than just existing), you will take care of it."

Clint gulped. "Understood, sir." He saluted and excited the room, a slight smile spreading across his face in spite of himself. Pietro and Wanda were sitting on a bench nearby, waiting for him, with Nat between them. All three of them looked up when Clint came out. "So," he said, "are you three getting along?"

The girls shrugged, and Pietro muttered, "I suppose so."

"That's good, because I have to go somewhere today, and Nat will bring you later to join me."

"I will?" she asked.

"Yes, if you don't mind." He motioned for her to follow him a short distance away.

"Where are we taking them, Clint? What did Fury say?"

"Since my mouth works faster than my brain, we're taking them to my house."

Natasha blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. I've got to go ahead so I can tell Laura."

"She's going to kill you."

"I don't know...she might just fall in love with them."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. They're sweet kids, and she'll love them. But she won't be happy you said they'd come without asking her first."

He sighed (again. He had a feeling he'd be doing a lot of that in the near future.) "Believe me, I know. So will you bring them tomorrow?"

"Of course. You know I'm always up for a visit with Laura. Not to mention baby Cooper."

He grinned. "I wonder how much he's grown."

She gave him a light shove. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll find out."

Ten minutes later, he was on the road.

A/N: Title from "This Is Home" by Switchfoot (from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian).

Young!Wanda is played by either Mary Kate Olsen or Ashley Olsen (Elizabeth Olsen's older sisters). I have no clue which one, but they look enough like Elizabeth now that I figured they would have looked similar as kids, too. Young!Pietro is a young Aaron Taylor-Johnson, so...yeah.