Recalescence
"Excuse me, have you seen my papa?" I looked down at the dirty little girl. Her father? "What's he look like?" She blinked a little confused I would be betting. "He's got hair like mine, but darker kind of...um. He was wearing a suit..." She pronounced suit like suet. I'd seen the man, he'd rushed pass me at least two, three minutes. Had he lost her, I bet her mother would be furious with him for that. "Yeah, he went that way." She smiled and thanked me before running off.
"Hey, there you are." I turned and smiled at Clint, "Yep here I am." He led me to the safe house that we were going to use for the night. I couldn't get the little girl out of my head, where had I seen her before? Because, I was good at remembering faces-I had to be so that people couldn't follow me around. I knew her face, maybe it was because most kids still had their cute chubby cheeks that they were just growing out of at that age. "You look serious, are you aright?" I nodded to Clint's question.
"Thought I saw someone I knew-nothing to do with what we're doing. It was a kid." Clint frowned; "The kids are the ones you've got to watch out for though." There was a story behind that. Natasha had mentioned that she had been pretty young when she started being a spy…A flash of a memory slipping past my minds eye, a little girl climbing out a window and Natasha coming towards me.
"What is it with kids and spies?" Clint grinned; "I was thinking more along the lines of kids and assassins. I met one not that long ago, sprightly thing. Blond curls and a cute smile-right before she shoots you." Blond curls? Oh crap; "Blond and blue eyed?" Clint's eyes widened at my comment. "Yeah, oh god-tell me you didn't see a kid round eight or nine years old with that coloring?" I nodded and he cursed.
She was after a man and hadn't really spared me much of a look, but if she was an assassin she would have been paying more attention. "Crap, Bruce where did you see Sophia?" I frowned; "Right before you found me." He took a deep breath, before letting it out. "Did she talk to you?" I nodded, "Yes, she asked me about a man that ran pass me." Clint looked relieved. "That's good, we weren't her mark. I hated the time I was-her and her partner are a bitch to deal with."
"Hey, I resent that comment, we are not a 'bitch'." A youthful voice called out. The young girl! Clint pulled up his gun and aimed at Sophia. "What the hell are you?" Clint managed to half shout before he was slumping forward. I stood, there wasn't much I could do for him with the threat of this little girl looming. "Aw, I thought he knew better…" She pouted and climbed the rest of the way into the room from the window she'd been hanging in.
"I'm Maria Cooper, at your service." She even curtsied, the gleam in her eyes looked a little artificial though, why was that? She glanced at Clint and then back at me. "Have you got a sharpie? I want to draw on his face." Alright, I was dealing with a direct little imp here. "Sure, but you have to answer a question first." She nodded and waited patiently while I thought out how to ask her. Well, if she was going to be direct I might as well be too.
"Why are you here?" She grinned at me; "I saw you earlier and I know you're an Avenger-know you hang with this one. So, I followed. I figured I'd be able to pay him back for the bullet he gave me." Had Clint actually shot a child? Even as apparently messed up as this one was? I didn't know what happened so maybe I should just stay out of that one. "Alright here." I tossed her the sharpie from the nightstand, she in good faith set her gun and a knife down on the bed before setting off on marking Clint's face with a rather adorable bunny.
"How old are you Maria?" She chuckled; "Oh, I'm ten. I know I look younger, but in my line of work that's a good thing." So, ten years old and an assassin. Why was our world so messed up? "He called you Sophia?" She nodded; "Yeah, my code name. Can't go around telling people my real name." I suppose that was true enough even though she had decided to tell me and maybe not Clint, I wondered where her partner was though. Were they watching all of this?
"Will you tell Miss Romanoff I say hello? I met her and stole from her, but I thought she was almost as cool as my partner." It was a small world after all? "Sure." Maria pulled away from Clint, her bunny had flowers around it-the bunny and its flowers were on Clint's cheek. He was going to be really angry at himself-If Maria had malicious intent he could have been dead, if she attacked either of us he could have died honestly.
"Alrighty, I'm all done. Have a good day Mister Banner, oh-and expect to see me again in the near future!" She picked up her weapons and jumped out the window, I could hear the thump, thump, thump of her little feet on the tin roof next to the safe house. Great, that really was the last thing I wanted-to be attacked by a child who had no chance against the other guy. Clint groaned and lifted his head; "What happened?"
Clint looked so dazed that I genuinely worried about what the heck Maria had used on him. "Your little girl assassin decided to say hello." Clint looked around, and of course Maria was long gone now. "She say anything?" I nodded with a grin. "You might want to look at your face." He rushed towards the bathroom as well as he could on wobbly feet and nearly screeched at the sight of a bunny on his face.
"God damn kid! She tell you anything while she was doodling on my face?" I nodded; "She said that we would see each other again soon, I hope she really rethinks that one." Clint nodded; "I doubt she would attack you, she's smarter than that." I hoped he was right, because otherwise the world would be safer without one more assassin and I might lose it.
