Prelude: Three years earlier

(circa just after the events of the first Avengers film)

When Alessia was seventeen it happened again. She hadn't meant to do it. It hadn't happened in years, but it happened, and she ran.

Terrified, she ran through the night, hardly stopping to catch her breath. She ran until dawn broke, and then she fell asleep.

It must have been about seven in the morning when she woke up to the chirping of birds in the bluish morning light. Her clothes were ragged and she was sweaty, and when she sat up in the trees and twigs she realized she wasn't alone.

A man was sitting on a fallen tree only a short distance from her. When she sat up he turned and smiled at her.

"Rough night?" Was all he asked. Alessia was shocked. She should have been scared, but she wasn't. He stood up and made his way over to her. He offered her a hand.

"What are you running from?" He asked. It wasn't so much an accusation, as it was a question of concern. Maybe that was why Alessia said honestly:

"Myself."

She allowed herself to be helped up by him, and he said: "Why don't you come have some breakfast and a shower. My wife can lend you some clothes."

Alessia was trembling as she followed him through the woods.

"Whats your name?" She asked him nervously.

"Clint," He said "What's yours?"

"Wait, Clint? Clint Barton? Laura's husband?" Alessia asked, stunned.

"You know Laura?" Clint asked, surprised, turning to face Alessia. He seemed to tense at this, and Alessia felt suddenly intimidated.

"Yes, she's had dinner with us." Alessia said. "I'm Alessia Haddock, I-I think we're neighbors." Laura had come over a few times with their two kids to have dinner with them. She always apologized that Clint couldn't make it, but his job took him out of town often.

Clint laughed. He seemed more relaxed now.

"Alessia," He said, resuming his pace. "Yes, my wife has mentioned you. But what's the matter, did something happen?" He asked, now eyeing her clothes with somewhat more interest. They were dirty and torn and burnt.

"Well, um, yes." Alessia said. She didn't know exactly what she was supposed to do now. Her parents had always told her not to tell anyone about her 'little problem' as they always called it. But Clint was going to want to know. He seemed nice, but she was going to have a hard time coming up with an excuse for showing up like she had.

The forest had begun to thin out, and Alessia could see Clint's farm now. Meanwhile cogs were turning in Alessia's head. How was she supposed to explain herself?

But Clint didn't ask her about it again. When they got to his house his wife was busy in the kitchen.

"Have a nice walk, honey?" She asked, busy stirring what looked like pancake batter in a bowl. When she glanced up and saw Alessia, bedraggled and dirty, she stopped dead.

"Alessia! what on-" She began, and Clint cut her off saying.

"I think she's had a bit of a night. I told her she could stay for breakfast. Is that alright?"

"Well, yes," Laura said, her expression softening. But Alessia didn't want to look her in the eyes. These people were being way too nice to her. If they knew what she'd done only hours before...

"Here, Clint why don't you take over in here, and I'll show Alessia the bathroom so she can freshen up."

Laura set the bowl down on the counter and, putting a comforting arm over Alessia's shoulders guided her through the house, up the stairs and to the guest bedroom and bathroom. "I'll get you some clothes to change into, and you can take a shower," Laura said kindly, trying to smile at Alessia. Alessia still couldn't meet her eyes.

"Thank you." Was all she said.

Alessia got out of the shower and found that Laura had left her some cotton workout pants and a tee shirt. she changed into the clean clothes and patted her hair dry as best as she could. Everything about this situation was wrong. Any minute they were going to turn on the local news channel and see the repercussions of last's night's failure. What was she going to do?

She came down stairs a bit nervously. The kitchen smelled like pancakes. When she came in the kids were up and bombarding Clint in their pajamas. It sounded like he had been away for a while again, because they were recounting at least a week's worth of school to him. When Cooper and Lila caught sight of her in the doorway, they dashed over to her.

"Alessia, what are you doing here?" Lila asked, excitedly.

"She's just coming to visit for the morning" Laura said sweetly, guiding her children to the table and into their seats.

"Sit down Alessia, breakfast is almost ready." Laura said, moving back to the stove. Moments later Alessia was presented with a steaming pile of pancakes. Laura passed a bottle of maple syrup and a can of whipped cream around.

It was too surreal, sitting there with them. Listening to Lila and Cooper laugh and beg Clint for more whipped cream on their pancakes. He obliged, completely obscuring both their plates in the white fluff. Alessia couldn't help but smile at this.

That moment the phone rang. Laura stood up and quickly checked the caller ID. She glanced at Clint, who gave her a meaningful look, and she turned to Alessia.

"Would you come here for a moment dear?" She asked.

Alessia felt her stomach drop. What is this? She thought, immediately thinking of every worst possibility. The police found out, they're coming for me, they'll take me away, experiment on me, oh HOW could I be so STUPID.

She followed Laura into the hallway outside of their kitchen, the phone still ringing in her hand.

"I called your parents earlier, while you were in the shower, but they didn't answer. I didn't tell them anything. If you want to tell them where you are, you can, but if you don't, they don't have to know. We can keep you safe here, Alessia." She said.

Alessia was stunned. But as soon as she processed all of that relief washed through her. "I-I think it's fine if they know where I am.." Alessia said nervously, wondering if this was the right answer. Laura smiled kindly, and answered the phone.

"Yes Hello?... Yes I'm sure, well you'll be happy to know that Clint found her this morning...Yes, she's fine, looks a bit tired though...No, no trouble at all. Would you like to talk to her?" Alessia glanced up and shook her head profusely. She was sure she'd get an earful from her parents later anyways. "Oh, sorry she's still in the shower," Laura said. "Yes, do you still have the directions from when you got those tomato plants? Great, just come on over, no rush, she's fine here... Alright I'll see you in a bit then." Laura hung up the phone. She smiled at Alessia and rubbed her shoulder.

"Clint said we couldn't be sure you didn't run away from home. I told him I know your parents, but, well, I guess Clint has a harder time trusting people."

"You mean, if I was running away, you wouldn't have told them?" Alessia asked, incredulously.

Laura smiled again. "Not if you had a good reason to be running away."

Alessia wanted to smile. But she was starting to wonder if maybe she shouldn't have let Laura tell her parents where she was. She could have gone out on her own. Let them live their lives without worrying about her. But even as she thought that, she knew her parents would always worry about her. Her parents were too nice. Like the Barton's. Nobody treated her like she deserved to be treated. Like the monster that she was.

"Alessia honey, are you alright?" Laura asked. Alessia realized that she had started crying. Alessia nodded, trying her best to keep her sobs inward. Last night... things were only going to get worse for her here on out. Would she have to move? Worse, would her parents have her move out on her own now? If the family couldn't afford to move...

"Alessia, is everything okay?" Laura asked. "Your parents are going to be here soon. I'm sure you've had quite a night. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I can't tell anyone.." Alessia said, perhaps louder than she meant to. "I can't tell anyone anything or everything's ruined.." She said, softer. She wiped her eyes and looked at Laura for the first time since she'd gotten there. "I'm sorry, god, I'm sorry, I must seem like a total wreck." She took a deep breath. "Maybe I should just wait outside for my mom..."

"Don't be silly." Laura said. Her hand was still on Alessia's arm comfortingly. "Come on, you'll probably feel better after you eat something. Let's get in there while the food's still warm."

"Yeah," Alessia said weakly. "Just gimme a sec." Laura smiled, and went back into the kitchen. Alessia turned to the downstairs bathroom, and, after blowing her nose and rinsing her face off, returned to the kitchen.

The kids had finished eating and Alessia heard Clint telling them they should go get dressed. Probably because he could tell she had been crying in the hallway. Alessia appreciated that she wouldn't have to worry about the kids seeing her tear stained face.

Clint and Laura made light conversation with Alessia while she finished eating. It took a few bites before she realized how hungry she was. After finishing a plate of pancakes, Laura refused to let her help clean, and instead Alessia found herself sitting on the couch with Clint. The kids had come out and put cartoons on. In spite of herself, Alessia found herself laughing along with them. It was just at such a moment that she was laughing, having forgotten the situation, that there was a knock on the door.

Alessia stood up at once. But Clint was up and at the door before she could cross the room. He opened the door, revealing Alessia's tear stained mother and father on the porch. As soon as the door was open, Alessia's mother rushed to her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh my goodness, Alessia, don't ever do that to me again, I was worried sick."

As soon as she was done, Alessia's father hugged her as well. "Why didn't you come home last night? we were so worried about you."

Amidst her parent's chirps and worries, Alessia heard Clint turn off the T.V and ask the kids to go upstairs.

Finally Alessia's parents were done hugging her and turned to Clint, who was leaning against the kitchen door frame with Laura.

"We can't thank you enough for finding her," Alessia's mother said. She was still holding Alessia to her chest, which was a bit uncomfortable since Alessia was about four inches taller than her mother.

"You must be Clint," Alessia's father said "I'm Allen, and this is my wife Jess."

"Nice to meet you." Clint said, with a smile. "Stay for a while, won't you?"

"Oh, I think Alessia has had a rough couple of hours, and it's best to get her home," Alessia's mother said. She had relaxed her grip on Alessia enough so that her daughter could stand up straight, but was still holding her closely.

"I think I can help you." Clint said, abruptly. Alessia's parent's exchanged glances.

"What do you mean?" Alessia's mother asked. But Clint wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Alessia.

"I found you in the woods this morning with burnt clothes, and then there's a story on the news about a car up in flames. You can't tell me you didn't have something to do with it."

Alessia felt her eyes start to water. "There was a story? Was- was anybody hurt?" She asked, voice trembling.

Clint looked at her very hard for a second. He glanced at her mother, then to her father, then said: "Yes. A boy died."

Alessia sat down on the couch. She didn't remember it happening, but suddenly she became aware that she was hyperventilating, and rocking back and forth slightly and saying through her sobs, "I really didn't mean to do it. I promise I didn't mean to do it. He just.. He just wouldn't stop touching me, not even when I said no. I didn't mean to do it..."

Nobody was touching her now, nobody was comforting her. She glanced up and saw her mother was white with shock, her face slack. Her father had his back to her. Only Clint met her eyes, a knowing look on his face. It was he that made his way over to her on the couch, took her shoulders and said to her:

"I can help you."

Alessia's breathing started to normalize. "I can help you," He repeated. "But you have to tell me what's going on."

Alessia wiped her eyes and glanced to her mother. Her mother was still staring off into space.

"Mom," She said weakly, "Mom, is it okay? Can I tell him?"

Her mother cocked her head a bit and then said softly "It's your decision Alessia, do what you think is right."

Alessia looked back at Clint, who was still kneeling in front of her on the couch, hands on her shoulders.

"Okay. I'll tell you, but it's kind of a lot to explain.

After Laura had placated Alessia's parents in the kitchen with some tea, Clint asked Alessia if she'd rather talk elsewhere, to which she eagerly said yes. Her parents didn't seem like they could take a lot of this talk anymore. When Alessia and Clint left they were still sitting silently while Laura tried to fill the silence with chatter.

Clint took her up to the guest bedroom and opened the curtains. Alessia sat down on the bed and Clint took an armchair.

"Okay well, I guess I kinda have to start from the beginning, which is that my parents had a really hard time trying to have a baby. Apparently they tried everything, like even super sketchy pills from the internet and stuff, but nothing worked. So they started thinking about adoption. But adoption is really complicated and a couple of agencies shut them down for stupid things like where our house is and stuff like that. They had been looking for months, and then one day my grandmother's barn caught on fire.

"I mean, at the time she was a lot younger I guess, and she rushed out there trying to save her goats, but the thing was burning to the ground. It's just lucky it didn't spread over the rest of her yard. But anyway, she let it burn through the night, and the next day she went looking around through the remains and she found me."

Clint sat up straighter. Alessia sighed.

"Yeah, I know, its weird, but it's true. I was just laying there in the ashes. My grandmother said I looked about three months old. I wasn't wearing anything but this necklace," Alessia plucked at the gold chain, from which dangled the delicate red jewel. "This is the only clue I have from my birth parents. Or whoever left me there. I could have been a lab rat for all I know. We took it to a jeweler when I was about two: they couldn't figure out the stone or the metal. All I know is that I've melted hinges off of barn doors, but this chain somehow holds up.

"There weren't any reports of a missing baby girl that were the right age to be me. If someone lost me they never told anyone. My grandmother thinks I was abandoned, but I think I was some kind of science experiment, and someone took pity on me and broke me out and left me there. I don't know though, I guess it could be anything.

"I used to light stuff on fire a lot when I was a baby. My parents actually made my bed for me in the fireplace after a while because it was just too dangerous elsewhere. They did all the research you could do about spontaneous human combustion, because that was the only thing that remotely resembled my symptoms. But they looked and looked, but never had anybody heard of a fireproof baby.

"I guess they thought if they told the doctors I'd be taken away, so instead they told everyone I was found on their doorstep in a little pink blanket like some kind of fairy tale orphan. I've never told anyone about it before now..

"When I got older, I learned that fire was bad, that it could hurt people. My parents thought my fire bursts were random until I started talking, and they realized I would start fires when I was angry or happy or excited. They started teaching me not to let my emotions get the better of me and by the time I went into kindergarten, it seemed like maybe it was just a phase I had gone through.

"Except the last time it happened I was eight. Our cat had gotten run over by one of my dad's friends. I remember looking down and seeing my body on fire, but I couldn't feel it. I think I had sort of forgotten that I used to do it when I was little. I ran down to the river and got into the water, and all around me it turned to steam. I stayed in there until the steam went away and my body was normal temperature. My parents were really scared. They lectured me about how I couldn't let it happen again because I'd hurt myself. I think they thought that somehow fire could hurt me, but it can't. I've stuck my hand in bonfires, and it feels like warm air is blowing over it."

Alessia looked down at her hands, then back up at Clint. He didn't look scared, he was just looking at her, listening to her story.

"I don't understand any of it. Do.. do you? Do you know why I can do this stuff?" Alessia asked.

"Honestly?" Clint said "No, I've never heard of someone who can do the things you can do."

Alessia looked away, tears forming in her eyes. She should have known.

"Hey, its okay," Clint said gently "I've seen way weirder things than you before."

Alessia looked up. He looked serious. "Are you for real?" She asked, doubtful.

Clint laughed. "Yes, I'm 'for real.' I have a pretty unique job. Besides, don't you watch the news? The big green guy in new york last week? I mean, I think he'd qualify. C'mon now, don't cry." Clint sat beside Alessia on the bed, and put an arm over her shoulder.

"Alessia, I'd like to offer you a job." He said.

"What?" Alessia asked, confused. This was not the turn she had expected this to take.

"Around the farm. I'm away so much with work, Laura could use the extra help. Could you do that? A sort of ranch hand, mother's assistant type deal?"

"Well, Well yes." Alessia said, still confused. "But I don't-"

"Look, I said I had never heard of anybody who can do what you can, but I'll look into it. I have some friends who might know more about this type of thing than me. I think I can help you learn to control your powers, maybe even use them for good." Clint said. Alessia just looked at him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What do you think, are you up for it?" Clint asked.