Summary: After surviving a hit and run that should have killed her, Riley McLawson now has unusual powers from her near death experience. S.H.I.E.L.D sends the team to recruit her against a new enemy. Only along the way they learn that Riley isn't the enemy but someone else in the group is and nothing will be the same again. Clint/OC. Co – Written with xxintensexx. First Avenger story.

From The Shadows

Chapter 1

Song - Swimming Home – By Evanescence

Way down
I've been way down
Underneath this skin
Waiting to hear my name again

I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me
I adore you still
If I hear them calling
And nothing can hold me

Way down
(Do you really want me?)
All the way down
(Do you really want me?)
I will hear your voice
(Do you really want me?)
But I'll no longer understand

(No one's really loved me)

Riley Isobel McLawson was doing her usual jog around the park, when that day changed her life for ever.

She was listening to music when it happened.

Riley looked across the road carefully, before crossing it and was just about to reach the pavement when a car crashed into her.

She slumped to the floor, her legs numb along with her body

Then she died.

And nothing would be the same.

Clint Barton tapped a finger on the steel table before him, Fury's words barely registering. The meeting was a drag, like all others that transpired. They were always, alien invasion this, and robot invasion that. Really, couldn't the villains become any more original?

He wished for his bow and arrows, to do something much more productive than sitting in a room, listening to a voice droning on and on and on…

"This is not your regular mission."

That caught his attention, finally, something different for him and his team to do. He could tell the rest were getting bored as all hell also. If Tony's loud complaints weren't tale telling enough, even Steve began to raise eyebrows and sigh, crestfallen.

He looked up at Fury after glancing around the room. Everyone, who were most likely not paying attention like he was, were now staring upfront, interest clouding their faces.

"S.H.I.E.L.D has decided to add a new member to your team." He regarded them all critically. "Her name is Riley McLawson-"

"Yes!" Was cried from the back. Clint turned around to see Tony with his arms raised over his head. It was silent, which the brunette then realized he should explain himself. "What? Another chick! All we have is Natasha, she's a babe ya, but-"

"That's enough!" Fury cut in, and Clint internally chuckled while agreeing whole heartedly with the billionaire, before turning back to the matters at hand. Fury now had a small tick to his features, and the archer wondered vaguely, that the man should really have better control on his anger, certainly with them.

"As I was saying," he grounded out. "You will be going to get this young woman in Ireland, her home place. We have found out, from sources, that she has some form of 'special powers' that cannot be explained, she doesn't even know she has them herself. However, we think this woman could be valuable to the team, and help with the dynamics and what we're missing." He paused in his explanation to let them absorb the information.

Clint didn't very much care about a new teammate. It was all the same to him, another person to work with and another person to abjure. The only person he really got along with was Natasha, and that was only because they have been working together for years, and he's been the one to help her in her time of need. They had things in common, and she understood his boundaries. It never went any further than that.

The rest of the team was more a mystery. He didn't particularly want to get to know them, they were just other people to defend the world with, who he subsequently now lived with. They were like… university room mates. Seeing each other more often than needed; desired, but pushed together nonetheless.

Now there was going to be another roomie, and he couldn't help but think it was going to get a little oppressing.

Fury decided then it was a good time to continue. "We will send all of you, with a couple agents because I'm sure you all with mess up somehow, to get her. Make up the plan however you want; I don't care. Just get her back here without mishap and I'll be happy for once in my life." He sighed at that, and wiped a hand over his brow, and Clint had to hold back an amused smile at the man's exasperation. The things they made this, supposedly unbreakable, guy feel.

"I'm leaving all you fuck up's alone now, no goofing off." He glared, and the archer tried not to notice it was shot particularly at himself, Thor and Stark.

He was out of the room, with agent Hill trailing behind him. Everyone was still for a moment, until Steve clapped his hands together getting all their attention.

"As leader, I think the best case scenario would be to send one to two people to this Riley's home. We don't want to scare her off." He stopped, and pressed a hand to his chin, likely thinking on whom to bring.

"I'll go!" Tony smirked, but got rejected with a look from Steve and explanations of you're only wanting to going to see if she's 'hot', which the blonde blushed at. His virtuousness would never cease to amuse him.

"I nominate Barton." Natasha said quietly from her corner. Clint whipped his head around at her recommendation and stared bewildered at her aloof expression. He frowned at her, and quickly mouthed what are you doing? She didn't respond to the question, just continued to stare at the super soldier.

He seemed to be thinking about the idea. "That could work." He finally said, and Clint could only widen his eyes at that and try to keep his mouth from dropping into a surprised "O".

"Me?!" He exclaimed. "I'm one of the worse-"

"No, no, you're perfect." Steve cut in, Bruce and Natasha nodding in agreement. He lingered with his surprised gaze, then shook himself out of it, and folded his arms haughtily.

"I assure you, I am not impressed." He growled, conceding to his fate. Steve grinned in spite of his tone, and came over to pat him on the back; however it ended up with him being lurched into the table. The man could never control his strength, and they had become wary of his innocent friendly slaps. Tony started laughing hysterically, and the blonde soldier stuttered out an apology, which Clint only waved off, disgruntled.

"I'll do it, who's coming with me?" he asked.

"I will." Steve responded once more. "I'm the leader and the only one who actually does the debriefing." He sent a pointed look to all of them. They all pretended to not have heard him, their shoes suddenly becoming very interesting. He heard Steve let out an exasperated, but amused breath.

"We'll be leaving in the afternoon. Back clothes in case we stay longer than expected. Natasha, your duty is to get the plane ready. Tony, stay out of trouble; Thor, just, don't touch anything you weren't enlightened on; Bruce, you're okay to do whatever you want; Clint, come with me, we'll think up strategies." Everyone stood up from their uncomfortable metal chairs and scattered, off to do whatever they were going to do, he didn't really care.

Clint let out an annoyed breath, and stood up himself. The super soldier was waiting by the door, and passed through it once he noticed Clint was up and going. The archer followed suit, wondering what was in store for him.

They got on a private jet and Clint read Riley's file, she had moved to America to study astrology, archaeology, English literature and creative writing, French, Medieval History and a PhD in chemistry.

"Smart girl" he muttered under his breath and Steve nodded in agreement.

"Says here that she graduated from Yale University with honours" Steve said impressed looking at Makayla's file.

Clint looked through Riley's file and noticed something "She was in a hit and run, five years ago that should have killed her, the truck practically crushed her. She flat lined at the ER but five minutes later came back." He read out.

"That could be what triggered the manifestation of her powers." Fury said from the radio.

"Fun way to find out." Clint mumbled sarcastically, eyes still tracing over the information laid out before him. He flipped the page, and his gaze was captures by some pictures. A before and after, some family members, and a couple childhood one's were printed off. He kept his attention mostly on the less blurry, larger detailed images of her.

"Man, you can see a huge difference." Steve said, looking over his shoulder. Fury made a noise of agreement from the com.

The brown hair from her earlier picture had become a dark black, and her eyes were two bright purple globes, instead of her previous green ones. She was a good looking girl, bright smile lighting up her face in both of the pictures, her teeth well-kept and an intelligent air he could see, even through the photograph.

He turned another page, and what he read made him freeze in horror.

"Fucking raped." He said quietly. Steve looked at him curiously, wondering what he had said. The archer felt his throat chock up, memories resurfacing; one's he had pushed away desperately.

He'd never dealt well with that form of suffering, having had to watch and endure it himself more than once. He felt for the girl he only knew by words on paper, his own emotions coming into play.

He heard Steve make a noise of displeasure after; he too, read the paragraph with the sordid details. A Russian gang of some form had captured her, and had cruelly kept her locked up for days. She'd been half dead when they decided to abuse her furthermore by raping her brutally. That's when her powers had manifested to her will, lighting them up in flames with what must have been her powers. Black and purple fire.

The others, not taking part in the rape, had to have been brought down physically, so by deduction, she also had skill in hand to hand combat. Clint couldn't help but be impressed. She had fought people twice her size, mentally unstable and in a state of agony

"Jesus, fucking Christ". Tony said disgusted at the horror.

"Man, I so do not wanna piss off this chick." Bruce commented.

"Her mother died in a plane crash while she was a kid, her dad's still alive". Clint read.

"Who is he?" Natasha wondered aloud, hands around her own file.

"That's one thing I haven't mentioned." Fury spoke up. It was the first time Clint heard slight hesitation in the man's voice. "She's Loki's daughter."

"WHAT, THE FUCK?!" He yelled shock in his voice.

Tony turned to look at Thor "Did you know?" he asked the demigod.

What!" Clint exclaimed, horrified. He'd never been the same since the God of Mischief had invaded his mind, setting him up to kill his, now, teammates, and made him murder innocent bystanders and S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Nausea assaulted his senses, and everything before his eyes split in two. That bastard, the only man he wanted to kill more than ever was the father of his going-to-be teammate.

"I'm not dealing with this shit." He seethed, glaring at anyone who looked at him worried.

"My brother likes to keep to himself." The Thunder God, said, heartbroken. "I do not know why he had never told me."

Steve tried to calm down everyone "Maybe, Loki was worried about putting his daughter in danger". He offered.

Natasha scoffed, "So what? Are we going to kill her?". She asked.

Thor narrowed his eyes at Natasha "I will not allow you to harm my niece".

"She's a danger man." Tony pointed out to Thor, lazily reclined in his seat, eyes on his tablet. The god sent him a terrifying glare, which Tony was able to ignore.

"You. Will. Not. Harm. Her." He said darkly, and Tony only shrugged in a "what can you do" manner.

"Shut up, all of you!" Fury cut in, voice laced in anger. "Don't you all remember, she's your new teammate. There will not be any killing."

Clint had been keeping silent, until Fury had spoken up. "You expect me to lie back and let that asshole's daughter in my line of sight." His tone was furious.

"For all we know Clint, she could be completely unaware of her true parentage". Steve said fairly.

Natasha looked at Fury then, her dark blue eyes hard and unforgiving "What if she's like him and enjoys psychologically torturing people?" She snarled.

"Do you believe S.H.I.E.L.D to be stupid?" Fury questioned. Everyone ignored Tony comment of, Yes! In the back. "We did a full background check on her. She's a nice girl, completely lovable and never gets in trouble without being provoked. She's a perfect team player and will not be a problem."

Everyone still had a suspicious air to them, and half of them seemed to accept the fact. Thor, happy from the beginning; Tony, who didn't give a shit; and Steve and Bruce who where nice guys by nature and wouldn't judge somebody before meeting them.

Clint and Natasha weren't deterred. They'd been spies longer than they were able to count, and didn't trust easily. Clint was absolutely affronted.

Riley was in the local coffee shop having a cup of coffee when she saw a black SUV pull up.

Her experience with suspicious looking cars immediately put her on edge. Two normal looking blonde's got out, one tall and muscular, the other shorter but burly. They didn't seem dangerous, but her shoulders were still tense around her ears. The scowl on the shorter man's face didn't help with her unease. They appeared to be arguing, the larger one scolding the other, who snapped back defensively.

"Shit, after Riley got raped she got pregnant and had a son called Caleb Jamie McDawson." Steve said stunned.

Clint despite being weary of the young woman looked at the file.

"Jeez, her bad luck just keeps on adding up." Clint muttered, pushing away the small twinge of compassion threatening to disperse itself.

Tony read the file and felt a sudden rush of sadness, "He died when he was seven years old from a heart condition".

Everyone was silent for a moment, taking in that information. They didn't know how one woman could deal with so much heartbreak, and still smile like she had in the photographs.

"Probably, a facade." Clint said to himself.

"No parent should have to lose a child like that." Steve said quietly and the others agreed.

"There she is". Natasha nodded towards a dark, red haired woman walking down the street.

Clint glanced at Steve, who nodded, and they both left, Clint with his hands in his pockets and Steve standing tall. They leaned against the brick wall, waiting for Riley to walk by, before bypassing her path, and cutting her next step.

"Hello Miss McLawson." Steve said politely. "We would like to have a word with you." The woman stared suspiciously, eyes taking in every detail of the two men blocking her path. Her hand trailed from its place in her coat pocket, to behind her back. Clint, noticing this, took hold of her arm and held it with a strong grip.

"We aren't here to hurt you." He told her, trying to allow warmth in his voice as to not scare the woman off.

Her eyes had gone frantic when he had grabbed her, and she wrenched her arm from his grip. "What do you want?" She snapped, taking a defensive step back.

Riley tried to keep calm, tried not to show her fear.

"We just want to talk to you." Tony told her.

Riley wrenched herself from the man's grip, her hair blowing in the wind.

"You guys better back off." She snarled, hands beginning to shake. Clint shook his head at the stupidity of everything, and cut in front of the rest of the group, so he was standing right before the angry young, arms raised to show no malicious intent.

"Believe us; we don't want to hurt you. We're just here to ask you questions. We're the good guys." He said as quietly as he could manage, keeping his contempt of the fact that this woman was the daughter of fucking Loki out of his voice.

Riley looked at them all with narrow, violet eyes "Questions like what?".

Clint took a deep breath, hoping to all good and bad that she wouldn't freak out. "We're an agency called Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, in short S.H.I.E.L.D. We know about your powers, if you haven't already noticed, I'm Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye, this is Steve Rogers, Captain America," He waved to the man standing beside him. "Tony Stark, Iron man; Bruce Banner, The Hulk; Natasha Romanoff, and Thor Odinson." She regarded them all slowly, then her eyes widened in recognition, she glanced swiftly at the Thunder God, fear written in her face.

"Father's brother." She whispered shocked.

Riley knew that she was in trouble and did the only thing she could.

Fight.

She flipped a kick towards Clint's head, who ducked right before it could connect. The Avengers all got in order, crunching into defensive poses. Riley regarded them sceptically, then did a run and jump, planning to jump overhead, and run off.

Riley gracefully jumped over the red headed woman's head, like a cat and started to run. She lit up her hands.

Clint stared at the bright purple, flaming hands, not ready to see such a sight. He'd paused, and then realized she was running away. Steve shouted orders, and Tony left to go put on his Iron man suit, left in the aircraft. He was ordered to trail the woman, try to keep her in his line of sight, while the others devised a plan to capture her. He would keep them updated on where she was through the coms.

He left at a print, following the quickly disappearing back. She turned a corner, and while Clint did so, she was gone. Huffing and puffing, Clint stopped to gather his breath, and brusquely got pulled into an alley.

"What do you want with me?" She demanded

He looked at her then, she had dark, red purple curly hair and her eyes were narrowed.

He was about to speak into the com when she halted him with a cold glare. He sighed and relaxed his stance, hoping she would also.

"Riley..." She started when he said her name, and he quickly continued what he was going to say. "We want to help you. We're not here to lock you up or whatever you think we want to do. We want you on our team." No matter how hard it was to keep the scowl off his face, he tried to be as soothing and nice as possible.

"Why, why would you after what my father did to you?" She asked suspicious.

Clint paused in his explanation in surprise. She knew about what Loki did to him.

He found that slightly bizarre, why would Loki tell his own daughter about something so... evil?

"It wasn't my decision to make." He responded, folding his arms over his chest. Riley looked at him, face still stormy. He kept on going. "Look, you're not so bad. I'll be honest, when I first found out, I freaked out, wanted to kill you blah, blah, blah. However..." He stopped to find the words. "I like your moves, okay. And I don't think it'll be so bad working with you."

Riley smiled then and held out her hand.

"Riley Isobel McLawson". She said introducing herself.

Clint returned the smiled, his first happy expression all day. "Clint Barton, Hawkeye."

"I would say nice to meet you, but we met in not so great circumstances." Riley said, leaning calmly against the brick alley wall. "But you seem pretty cool. Now, tell me about this little "Gang" of yours."

"We just save people; we fight a lot of aliens and the like." Clint responded, shrugging carelessly. Riley, however, looked interested.

"Me, saving people. Never thought of that." She mused aloud.

"You seem nice even though after what happened to you" Tony offered.

They turned around to notice the rest of the team standing behind them. Clint shot a small wave and Riley stared at all of them, one at a time, and took a step forward, putting her hand out.

"Riley." She said. Thor was the first to grab the offered hand.

"Thor Odinson, and you, young Riley, are my niece!" He said happily.

Riley smiled warmly, "Nice to meet you all".

"Not me" Natasha muttered.

Everyone tensed, and glanced from the corner of their eyes to Natasha, who stood, arms crossed, at the back of the group.

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You attacked us; your father mind controlled Clint. No she's not coming with us". Natasha snarled.

Steve sighed. "Natasha, there's no point in arguing. Fury ordered this. Riley is nothing like Loki, give the girl a chance." Natasha didn't respond and merely turned on her heels, stalking away.

An awkward silence settled over the group.

"I'll talk to her." Steve said looking after her and finally following in long, quick strides.

Clint turned back to Riley, who was glaring after the redhead. "Don't worry about her. She'll warm up, she did to me!" He grinned at the young woman, who smiled nervously.

"Thanks." She muttered, staring through her lashes up at the archer.

"What about my family?" She asked wearily.

"Uh, I wouldn't imagine Loki would be allowed at base." Clint responded.

"My sister, niece?"

"You can go visit them when you want. You can even meet up with Loki if you so desire. We're not going to keep you prisoner. Actually, most of the Avengers have normal lives out of their "Job"."

Riley smiled dryly "The only time, I saw my father was when I died".

Nobody said anything."What do you mean?" Clint asked, not wanting to intrude, but curious nonetheless.

"When I crashed my car, I died and went to the other world where I met my father, the Outsider as he called himself. He thought I was special and gifted me with powers that were supernatural". She said, her mind drifting back to the day her life was changed...

"And you didn't... stay with him." Tony asked, joining in on the conversation.

"I couldn't leave my sister; she was devastated from the crash and just had a baby, so I made the decision to come back." Riley told them, wringing her hands nervously.

"That's enough with the sad stories." Clint cut in, seeing the anxiousness clouding Riley 's features. He laid his hand against the woman's lower back, guiding her out of the alleyway and showed her the way back to their car. The others followed silently behind.

Riley was silent as they drove to the plane. "What is this S.H.I.E.L.D, Anyway?"

"Sort of like a protective base. We help being in need of it and all that fun stuff." Clint responded. The girl seemed to be more comfortable with him than any of the other members of the team. He found he strangely enjoyed it.

"And you said... you wanted me on your superhero team?" She said, tone still disbelieving.

"That's what our mission was to do. Bring you back with us and convince you to be one of us." He supplied. Riley seemed to be contemplating.

"I'll think about it." She declared, shooting a quick grin at the brown haired archer, who held back the flush ready to steal his cheeks.

Riley smiled at Clint before thinking of her home and...

Oh fuck her cat.

"What about my things? My clothes and my cat?" She asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D will have that taken care of. We're agents remember. We have master hackers for that kind of thing." Tony smirked at her. "But I have to add, I am the genius."

Riley stared at him amused. "Full of yourself aren't you." Tony put a hand to his chest, pretending to be affronted.

"Me?! I have no idea what you're talking about." The young woman giggled and shook her head at the billionaire.

"Well, that answered my questions. Make sure my cat gets here safe and sound. If not, I'll have bodies to burn." She flickered her purple flames and the rest of the Avengers laughed.

Bruce looked at her, intrigued he asked "How did you activate your powers?" He asked her.

Riley played with her necklace as she spoke "It was a couple of days after... My near death experience and I got upset and there it was. My hands were lit with purple flames."

Nobody tried to pry anymore; they could tell it was making her uncomfortable. Conversation had stopped for a while after that, and they all looked out the window silently.

Riley was excited, as well as confused and cautious. She didn't know these people; however it was amazing they wanted her as a teammate.

Riley kept her face calm as Natasha glanced at her.

"What about you're son, Caleb?" She asked.

"Died, from a heart complication." Was all she said, expression shuttering. "I still love him deeply, even if he came to be in horrible circumstances."

Thor shifted in his seat, "No parent should have to lose a child in any circumstances". He said kindly.

"That's life." She said sadly, twirling a nervous finger through her long locks of hair.

"He was my, everything, and when I lost him, I wasn't exactly the same."

Clint could only look at her when she explained times of her past, numbness in his veins.

"I'm sorry". He said, wishing that he could kill the men responsible for her pain.

Riley smiled faintly, "I got my revenge". She said darkly.

Clint laughed, despite trying to hold it back. "Good for you," He said honestly.

Riley returned the laugh, though it was quieter. "It definitely felt good." She whispered back.

Natasha sneered then and looked at Steve "And Fury's sure that she isn't a threat?"

"I'm a good person Natasha." Riley butt in, returning the glare that shot her way. "Why do you hate me so much? I'm nothing like my father, so get over your dislike of me and let's move on, shall we?"

"Hmm why do I hate so much? Let's see your father killed innocent people, killed countless agents, mind controlled Clint and threatened to kill all of us. Including me in which he told me that he would take pleasure in seeing Clint killing me in my worst fears. Then you killed those Russian gang members and don't show any emotion. You're just like him." Natasha spat at her.

"Don't you kill the entire time miss innocent?" Riley shot back, hands beginning to quiver. Before Natasha could respond, eyes black with rage, Clint cut in.

"Natasha, stop it. She's a part of the group whether you like it or not." He told his friend.

"How can you agree with this?" She shrieked. "After everything Loki did to you, you're just going to accept this? You didn't look so accepting before you met her!"

That was before I met her. Clint thought suddenly angry.

"I didn't choose to be the fucking Outsider's daughter for god's sake! Just like you didn't choose to be fucking Rakov's daughter". She spat her eyes turning dark purple.

"Don't talk about my father!" Natasha retorted, beginning the motion to stand up menacingly.

"You sit down." Steve snapped, and Natasha grudgingly followed her leaders order. "Everybody, just calm down!"

"We should have just killed you; I knew this was a bad idea recruiting the daughter of a demigod who killed fucking Phil!" Natasha screamed.

Riley looked at her with dark eyes "Before I was attacked, I acted like my life was normal, that everything was fine until that happened. So don't act like you know me". She spat.

Natasha was caught by surprise at that comment, and struggled for a response, but before she could, the car stopped, and Clint took Riley's arm, dragging her out of the car.

He brought her to the helicarrier, saying on the way. "Let's get you away from her for a while; she needs to get her bearing. I'll show you to your room."

Riley controlled her breathing, when she got angry she usually set things on fire which was why it was best that she had her own space.

She could see rooms with the latest technology as they headed to her room.

Clint opened a door at the far end of the corridor. "Here's your place." He explained, showing her the interior. Her clothes were already folded on top of her bedspread. Her cat in its kennel.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, running to the animal, quickly flicking the lock open and hugging the cat to her chest.

The cat was black and white and had white socks, also it was very fluffy, the cat purred as Riley stroked him fondly.

"Hello, Tom". She said warmly.

Clint stared at the image they made with a soft smile. "Want me to leave you alone for a while?" He asked.

Riley looked up at him. "No, don't leave yet, you have to show me around." She stood up, her cat still in hand, and travelled over to Clint, nudging him towards the door. "Come on, I'm sure there's plenty of awesome things in here."

"That, you're right." Clint chuckled, beginning his tour with the girl and her cat.

Clint showed her around the helicarrier as Riley stared in wonder at the place.

"This place is amazing". She said.

"Yeah, Stark invented it. Can't say he isn't smart."

"Look at all these machines." The girl gushed, eyes wide with wonder.

At that minute, Tome began to purr and Riley put him down as he walked towards Clint.

Clint laughed "Hey, big fella".

The cat, rubbed his head against his leg, purring all the while. He must have liked him well enough, since when Clint reached down to pet his head, he stayed put and let the man pet him.

"He's usually mean to everyone but me." She observed aloud.

Stark chuckled "Well seeing as he knows that Robin Hood, isn't gonna murder him like some people. Eh ginger?"

She didn't respond, just continued to curiously stare at the cat and Clint together before picking Tom back up and they continued their trek around the helicarrier.

The tour went on for another little while.

Riley could tell instantly that the public sure as hell, didn't know about this place.

"Miss McLawson?" a voice said jerking her out of her thoughts.

I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me
I adore you still
But I hear them calling

I was looking to the sky
When I knew I'd be swimming home
And I cannot betray my kind
They are here, it's my time

I'm sorry
Nothing can hold me
(Do you really want me?)
I adore you still
But I hear them calling (calling)
And nothing can hold me