Title: Expected
Author: slacker_d
Crossover: Hunger Games (movie verse)/Avengers (movie verse)
Pairing/Characters: Katniss, Natasha Romanoff, Phil Coulson
Summary: As the daughter of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, Katniss has no choice but to avenge their murders. Now it's just a matter of figuring out who she can trust.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Word Count: ~1,485
Spoilers: both movies.
Warnings: Character death.
A/N: This is my roommate's fault for suggesting we watch The Avengers during Thanksgiving dinner. Well that and Tumblr for even suggesting the connection in the first place. Also, I have no freaking idea where this story is going. So updates will be sporadic at best.
Part One
She'd never been wanted. Her father always corrected her and said she hadn't been planned, but the fact that her mother never chimed in as well always makes Katniss question why she's here. Considering their jobs, no one would have looked down on Natasha for not having the baby, or at the very least, for not raising the baby. Her mother loves her, but Katniss has never been quite sure if she ever liked her. Her father on the other hand, well, she's always been daddy's little girl. She supposes that's the main reason why she took so well to her father's chosen weapon.
"That's just because your mother is more adaptable than I am," he'd always tell her. "She uses everything in her environment." Even though Katniss knows that's true of both of them, she's heard the stories.
He's always trying to make Natasha seem softer than she appears. Katniss has never understood why. With their jobs, it's completely understandable that her mother has a lot of emotional walls. And even if she's never had a close mother/daughter relationship, that doesn't mean she ever wanted anything bad to happen to her mother. As long as she comes home, that's what matters.
She knows this because the day that Natasha doesn't come home is one of the worst days of her young life. She's fourteen and her father is sitting in his bedroom, staring at the wall. She's tried to get his attention several times, but to no avail. So she calls Uncle Phil.
He appears less than a half hour later, carrying a teddy bear, which he immediately thrusts at her when she answers the door.
"Uh, thanks," she says, letting him in the house. The cold fear that has been running through her as she waited iss only growing; the only reason Uncle Phil ever shows up with an impromptu gift is when there's bad news.
They sit at the kitchen table. Katniss watches as Uncle Phil stares at his hands and she knows that whatever he's going to tell her is the last thing she wants to hear.
"Your mother is dead."
It's said so quietly that Katniss isn't even sure that she heard correctly.
"What?" Her voice is just as quiet.
Uncle Phil looks up from his hands and directly into her eyes. "Natasha is dead. I'm sorry."
"What? How? What?"
"The mission just went horribly wrong."
"Was dad there? Is that why he's so… catatonic?"
Uncle Phil shakes his head. "No, Clint wasn't with her. Which is why I think he's… like that. Wondering if he could have made a difference."
Katniss can't help but ask. "Would he?"
Uncle Phil's eyes return to his fidgeting hands. "I don't know."
…
It's Tony who tells her everything. Of course. The funeral is horrible. She stays by her father's side and neither of them say anything for the entire day. They simply accept everyone's condolences with nods. Thankfully, no one is idiotic enough to ask either of them to speak.
The next day Tony shows up with a bottle of bourbon. Katniss has never felt the need to drink before then, but she isn't going to turn down liquor from Tony Stark.
They sit at the table, the same table that Katniss had sat with Uncle Phil at when he told her that her mother was dead. It seems appropriate.
"Barton still not talking?"
Katniss doesn't answer right away. She tries a sip of the bourbon and barely manages to not spit it back out. After watching Tony take a long pull from his drink, she nods.
"I really am sorry, kiddo."
"Do you know what happened?"
"Kid, you don't want to go there." Tony pours himself more liquor. "Trust me. You don't want to know."
"Maybe not. But I need to."
Despite their rocky relationship, she is her mother's daughter and so Tony caves pretty quickly under Katniss's hard glare.
"Fine." He pours them both some more bourbon, despite the fact that she hasn't finished the little bit he gave her. "But don't tell your dad I told you."
…
Her father dies when she is eighteen. She'ss told over the phone this time. She's just started her second semester of college, way on the other side of the country. Katniss supposes she should have known something was up when Uncle Phil called her, seemingly, out of the blue.
It's like a bucket of cold water has been thrown over her. She actually makes Uncle Phil repeat himself. Once it has sunk in, she tells him thanks and hangs up.
Years later, she still has no idea how she made it back. She has no real memory of being driven to the airport or the flight or the cab ride to the house. In fact, her memory jumps from hanging up on Uncle Phil to her standing in front of her father's coffin the day of the funeral; everything else between is a blur.
…
This time she seeks Tony out right after the funeral. She can't bear to go back to the house. It hasn't been home since her mother died, anyway. And she has to know.
Thankfully, he doesn't protest. He just whispers something in Ms. Potts' ear and then excuses himself. Katniss follows him outside and into a bar on the corner. When they enter, Tony heads straight to the bar and speaks to the bartender. A moment later, he has a bottle and two plastic cups which he carries over to Katniss.
"Follow me." He hands her the cups.
They walk back to the funeral home, but instead of going inside, Tony heads to his roadster. Katniss climbs into the passenger seat, feeling lost. Inside the car, Tony pours some liquor into the top plastic cup. He pulls out of the other one and hands it to Katniss. He then fills the other plastic cup to the brim before closing the bottle.
"To your dad." Tony raises his cup.
Katniss nods, clicks her cup against his and takes a hesitant sip, not sure what Tony chose to drink. It's whiskey and she savors the burn as it slides down her throat. The cup is empty in two swallows.
Tony raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything as he pours more.
She takes one more drink, waiting. When the silence in the roadster continues for over another minute, Katniss wonders if she'ss going to have to ask again.
"I have to ask, even if I already know the answer."
Katniss turns to look at Tony, who's staring straight ahead, looking tense.
"Are you sure you want to know this? Knowing doesn't make it better. Or easier."
"I know."
"And I know that you know that, but this? It might be too much."
"Why? Because my relationship with my father was so different then my relationship with my mother? Or because now I've lost them both?"
Katniss sees Tony's jaw twitch slightly at her questions, but she has no idea if it's to hide a wince or a smile. Maybe both.
"I know you probably don't want to hear this at the moment. But more and more, I see the most interesting parts of her emerging in you."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Tony smirks. "Which is how it was meant."
Katniss allows herself to enjoy the feeling of pride that being compared to her mother causes before returning to the topic at hand. "So. You gonna tell me what happened?"
Tony sighs and pours himself more bourbon.
…
Tony had been right of course, though she'd never admit it, it is almost too much. As he walks her back into the funeral home, Katniss thinks Tony might have known anyway. It is the only reason she could come up with for the delicate manner that he treats her after relaying the detailed account of how her father died. Externally she bristles at it, even if internally she tries to appreciate the last little bit of coddling she'll most likely ever receive.
She only lasts another few minutes before she has to leave. She bids good-bye to Tony, Ms. Potts, who insists that Katniss call her Pepper now, and Dr. Banner. She knows she should let more people know she's leaving, but she finds she really doesn't care.
Her parents' house is now hers. She sits at the same table that she learned about her mother's death at and drinks the Jack Daniels she found in the freezer. The burn down her throat is icy cold and seems to keep her from becoming too wasted.
Instead, she ruminates over what to do next.
She's always planned on avenging her mother's death. She's always known that she needed to do a bit more growing up before that could happen though and so she's been biding her time. Her father's death simply has sped up Katniss's timeline.