Chloe Barton had been brought into one of the most dangerous lives anyone could ever imagine, but she'd been trained to survive any situation, no matter the danger. Her mother was Natasha Romanoff, better known as Black Widow, and her father was Clint Barton, Hawkeye. Under the parenthood of two master assassins, some might say she turned out better than both of them. Of course, Chloe took after her mother much more than her father. She wasn't quite as interested in archery as she was with stealth and firearms. Not only had Chloe taken after her mother mentally, but she also had the master assassin's flaming locks, practically a signature of the family.
She had been on assignment in the Middle East, trying to recover intel for the government, but after receiving an urgent call from Natasha, Chloe immediately came home. Everything had changed, and though her mother wasn't a very emotional person, the girl could see the pain in her mother's eyes the day she arrived back in their house. Clint was dead. He'd died out on assignment for SHIELD, but Chloe didn't want the rest of the details.
There was something ironic about being brought to work with SHIELD after the recent death of her father, but Chloe didn't want to dwell on it. Like her mother, Chloe had learned to push her emotions to the bottom of her personality. She didn't bother with personal space. The best way to learn about other people was to invade their privacy, in certain situations at least. The assassin rolled her eyes, looking at the buildings in front of her.
"Barden University?" she looked over to her mother, who instead of the usual uniform she wore, was wearing black jeans with a button up shirt. "It's just a cover." Chloe scoffed, looking at the crude brick buildings with contempt. "Do people actually learn here?"
"Unfortunately," Chloe knew her mother wasn't enthusiastic about working her working with SHIELD, but they'd already had the conversation days before. After what happened to Clint Natasha felt Chloe would be safer working in a team with the children of the other Avengers, and luckily, everyone else had agreed. Well, almost everyone. Tony Stark wasn't quite as compliant about the idea, but after a month of negotiation the billionaire finally said yes.
"So this is actually a college?" Chloe had to admit the idea was clever. Having a group of super heroes right under the public's nose. It was the best way to keep a secret. "It is, and the SHIELD base is underground. I'm sure Nick Fury's kid will explain it to you."
"I thought he would've retired sooner," she smiled, and heard her mother laugh. It wasn't something Chloe heard often, but it was definitely great when it happened. "Now we're all retired."
"You're not retired mom, you're just going to go work independently, aren't you?" Chloe had always been worried about her mother. Since the woman was getting older, not that the master assassin would admit, it meant her physical abilities would be lessened.
That was the exact reason the children had been called in the first place. Chloe wasn't fooled by the act of needing more recruits. Their parents were all going off the grid and being people for once, and SHIELD just needed replacements. The girl was neither stupid nor naive, and hoped the other members of her team wouldn't be either.
"Remember what I taught you," Natasha looked into her daughter's blue eyes, and Chloe nodded. "I won't. I'll keep myself safe." Her mother sighed, and the girl raised her eyebrow. "Now it's not just about you, Chloe. You have a team, and you'll need to keep them safe too."
"If they're as strong as everyone says shouldn't they be able to take care of themselves?" Chloe didn't mind having to drag some extra weight, as long as it didn't completely stop the mission in its tracks. Natasha could only laugh at her daughter's philosophy, and how much they were alike. "You'll get used to it. I did."
"Chloe Barton?" A voice came from in front of them, and the two assassins turned to see a very tall brunette in a suit, a very revealing suit. "I'm Stacie Hill, Fury's second in command. You can follow me down to the base. Natasha, since you're retired I can't let you down into the base with us."
"It's not a problem," her mother was very professional, but Chloe could see the discomfort in her eyes. She knew of her mother's overprotective side, and of course it wasn't a big deal for her, but if anyone tried to hurt her while Natasha was around they'd be dead before they could realize what was going on. Her mother turned and pulled her into a hug, not something they commonly shared. "Stay safe, Chloe. I'll keep in touch with you."
"How often?" Every time the master assassin promised to stay in touch it never happened. They would maybe exchange a phone call every six months, but that was it. Chloe often thought it was the cause of her need for attention, but whenever she was on assignment that need for affection disolved into a need to finish the job. "Often enough. Call me later today to give me an update."
As her mother walked away, Chloe couldn't help but feel a longing. They'd barely seen each other for several days, and already the master assassin was leaving her side. She followed Stacie until they heard a voice. "Hey! Wait!" The red head turned, seeing a dark haired man running up to them, hardly out of breath when he reached them. He was incredibly muscular, almost impossibly so.
"Jesse Rogers," Stacie said, and Chloe watched as she eyed the man up and down, obviously sizing him up. "Glad to see you made it on time." She looked over at him, and he smiled. "Nice to meet you... I actually don't know your name."
She smiled. Jesse seemed nice. From what Natasha had told her, the guy was a lot like his father. He was supposedly very chivalrous and loyal, but Chloe had yet to decide that for herself. "Chloe Barton," Jesse's smile only seemed to widen. "Wow, well, your hair's certainly as red as I've been told."
"We'll have time for greetings later, you two," Stacie reminded them, and the red head swore she could see a hint of jealousy in her eyes. "Right now we have to get down to base, Fury's already ticked off that Tony Stark's kid is probably going to be late."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Chloe smiled, not expecting the son of Steve Rogers to be so funny. "Well, he is a sociopath." Jesse shrugged, looking over at her. "We can only hope his kid isn't quite as bad as he is." The red head couldn't help but shake her head. "Let's not assume anything before we meet them. I know your dad and Stark didn't get along, but we're not them."
After Jesse agreed not to be completely judgmental of the billionaire they entered an elevator, Stacie sliding a card into a slot and waiting as the elevator went down. "What, no elevator music?" She smiled at Jesse's remark, watching as the doors opened.
They practically walked into a base more powerful than the pentagon, and all underneath a college campus. The red head looked around, smiling at all the technology around her. It was an assassin's paradise. She could get information on anyone from anywhere, but of course, that wasn't the point of being there. She looked over to Jesse, and could see how impressed he was. "Just follow me to the conference room, I think almost everyone is there waiting for you."
The conference room was almost as impressive as the main building. It wasn't quite as filled with computers and SHIELD members, but it has a screen on the wall that would display what they needed. A skinny man sat next to a blonde woman, and another African American woman sat at the head of the table.
"Chloe Barton and Jesse Rogers, it's about time," the African American woman stood, moving to stand in front of them and shake their hands. "Cynthia Rose Fury, but just call me Fury." Chloe nodded, not bothering to ask how Fury knew their names. SHIELD could have a file on anyone ready within seconds. "Now it seems that all we're waiting for is... Stark. I'm not surprised."
"I don't think any of us were," the blonde said, looking at the two who entered the room. She walked to the red head, and Chloe watched as the other woman looked her over. It was a greeting she was used to receiving and giving, so it didn't bother her. "Aubrey Odinson. You can guess my heritage from that much." They shook hands, and Chloe was very impressed by how strong the blonde's handshake was.
If Chloe had said she hadn't heard of Aubrey it would be a lie, frankly she'd heard of almost everyone she'd be sitting in the room with, everyone except for Tony Stark's kid. No one really knew much about them, and that's the way the Starks wanted it. When the skinny man came over and shook her hand, she smiled at him.
"I'm Benji Banner," he introduced himself, and Chloe smiled. Jesse just laughed, "Remind me not to make you angry, okay?" They had a good laugh about it, and things seemed to be going well. The two women sat next to each other on one side of the table and the men sat on the other. The red head watched Fury look over them, it was like she was trying to assess them just on their appearance and actions in the conference room.
"She's an hour late! How long are we going to keep waiting?" Stacie yelled after twenty minutes, but another voice answered. "Actually, I'm not late, I'm just really early for tomorrow's meeting." Chloe looked up, smiling slightly at the sight in front of her.
A brunette wearing a black leather jacket with jeans and a navy blue shirt underneath stood at the door, black combat boots on her feet. She wore earrings and ear spikes, and those were made even more noticeable by the fact that her hair was pushed behind her ears. Headphones hung from her neck, and her arms were crossed over her chest. The thing Chloe noticed the most was how beautifully dark blue her eyes were. It was like an opposite of her own eyes, which were a very light blue hue.
Before Stacie had a chance to react, the brunette spoke again. "I actually wasn't late. I spent the last two hours in the lab you set up for me. The schematics were awful; I already installed Jarvis and redid the entire thing. Where'd you get you plans for that place, anyway?"
"Your father," Stacie said, trying to at least get several words into the conversation. The girl only rolled her eyes and plopped into the seat next to Chloe. To the red head's amusement the brunette put her feet on the table. "That explains why the place was so terrible."
Fury sighed loudly, silencing the table. "May I introduce you to Rebeca Stark-" "Just Beca. I hate the name Rebeca." Beca was already proving herself to be as sardonic and rude as her father, but Chloe only thought it was very hot. "Can we please just get through this meeting?" It wasn't Jesse who said it, but Aubrey. Looking between the brunette and the blonde, Chloe knew the two weren't going to get along well as the days went on. Frankly, the red head had a feeling Beca wasn't going to get along with much of anyone.
"Thank you Aubrey, but I can handle it from here," Fury nodded, looking across the table. "Now that you're all here we can actually start the meeting." The African American woman sent a glare Beca's way, but it was only met with a smirk from the brunette. "We've brought you here for a reason, and that reason isn't just because your parents retired."
"Really? I thought there was going to be a party for their retirement. This means there's no cake... crap." The entire table could see Beca's sarcasm, and it only responded in smiles from two people: Chloe and Benji. The others were glaring along with Fury at the small brunette, but she didn't seem to care. How much hotter could this girl get?
"You're here to investigate a particular case SHIELD doesn't believe we can handle on our own-" "Is this the part where you get on your knees and beg? Because that's pretty much the only reason I'm here." All eyes were on Beca, and almost everyone had their mouth agape, but Chloe's was tugged into a smile. Somehow Beca made the rude act seem very sexy.
Chloe would see how annoyed Fury was getting with the small brunette, and she had half a mind to tell Beca to shut up, but it would ruin the fun. "An artifact that recently came to Earth."
"It's not Asgardian," Aubrey said, shrugging at the stares she received from everyone. "My father would know if an Asgardian artifact was on earth." Fury nodded respectfully. "We know it's not from Asgard, Aubrey, but that begs the question where is it from."
"You brought us all the way down here just to go look at some rock from another planet and tell you what it is?" Again, and it was not surprising to hear, the comment came from Beca. "That's it?"
"If you'd let me finished maybe you could stop being so disappointed," Chloe could see the pride in Fury's eyes, but it was quickly diminished. "Then by all means, get to the good part already, I'm bored."
"The artifact was stolen before SHIELD could acquire it." Chloe looked over to Beca, knowing she was about to do something drastic, and her instincts were right. The brunette stood, slowly and sarcastically clapping. "This is the brilliance of SHIELD ladies and gentleman. Ever heard the term 'you snooze you lose'?"
As Beca sat down, Chloe moved to whisper in her ear. "You should probably stop." A smirk came in response, and the brunette moved directly next to Chloe's ear, her warm breath spilling out as she spoke. "You won't be saying that in bed tonight."
The assassin's cheeks immediately turned red and she sat back to listen to the rest of the meeting, trying not to let images run through her mind. "We need you to recover the artifact and fight out who took it, and if possible find out what they plan to use it for.
"It will take us some time to actually find the artifact, so in the meantime since none of you will really be taking classes here it would be in the best interest of our cover if you joined a club or-"
"Not going to happen," Beca immediately said, not caring that she had interrupted Fury yet again. "Well, it had better happen, we've pulled a lot of strings to get you women into the Barden Bellas and the men in the Treblemakers."
"The a capella groups?" Chloe asked, receiving a nod from Fury. Frankly, Chloe didn't think it would be that bad. Her mother complimented her singing when she performed as a child, and one thing she had learned from her mother was that the truth was painful. If her mother complimented her it was because she was good. "I hope you're all good singers, but before you leave there is one last thing I need to discuss with you."
Chloe looked over at Beca, who was still annoyed by the fact she was still in the meeting. Taking a risk, the red head put a hand on her knee, and met her dark blue eyes. The brunette sighed, understanding the gesture and remained silent.
"You're all going to be roommates, since we can't risk any of you living with anyone outside SHIELD," Fury said with a pointed glare at Beca. The brunette simply shrugged off the comment. "Aubrey and Stacie will be living together, Benji and Jesse will be living together, and... I'm sorry to do this but Chloe and Beca will be living together."
"I don't think she'll mind," the brunette looked over at her and gave a small wink, only making Chloe smile. "It's fine, Fury, I'll keep her in check." Beca's face only turned into a smirk at the comment as she chuckled under her breath. "Then it's settled, I expect all of you to go to the practices you're assigned to go for the Bellas and the Trebles. Dismissed."
They stood, and almost everyone left the conference room, but Chloe stayed and looked over at the brunette. She stayed sitting in her chair, looking at her black painted nails. "You know, for someone who's not very interested in SHIELD I thought you would've been the first to leave."
"I could say the same about you," Beca stood, though she was shorter than Chloe she could easily make eye contact with her. "Clint died for SHIELD and you suddenly jump in to take his place. That's all we are: replacements."
"We may be replacements but we could very well save the world someday, just like our parents did," Beca scoffed, shaking her head at the comment. "You're doing what everyone's going to do. They're going to compare us to what our parents did, and we're going to be stuck under their shadow unless we do something great enough to finally get out of it, and then they're just going to keep expecting that kind of greatness."
"I see why you're so cynical," Chloe said, smiling slightly and shrugging her shoulders, "but you're not going to make me see things the way you do. I know it's a little hard to believe, considering how much like Tony you are, but I don't have your mind."
"You're right, you don't have my mind, and I don't have yours. Let's keep it that way, I doubt you could build the stuff I do anyway." She knew she should've taken offense at the comment, but the mystery surrounding the brunette only drew her further and further in. "I'm just gonna go finish my lab and I'll be at our dorm to set up the rest of my stuff. Nice meeting you Chloe."
The brunette was about to walk by, but before she completely moved past Chloe she stopped to whisper in her ear. "We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, let's make it as... pleasurable as possible."
A/N: So, I got the idea for this story from amazing graphics by Dubcliq on tumblr, yes I realize I changed things a little bit, but I needed to do it for plot. Also, I'll be updating this story three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Rather than being highly unpredictable like my other stories, now you'll know when I'm going to update. This is going to be a long story, so I'm putting all my others on hiatus as of now. I've got a lot planned for this story and I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think, and happy reading!