"Daddy, where are you going?" asked a young blonde girl to her tall and muscular blonde father. The two stood in front of a door in a small, quiet house. The man sighed and knelt down to the eight-year-old's height.

"Mission. Urgent call in Latveria. It shouldn't take long." the man replied. The girl crossed her arms.

"Why right away? Doesn't Hill know that you're on leave? You should stay here." she said.

The man smirked. "You know I'd like to, Ro. But you know Maria. She always needs me. I'll be back before you can say 'Bullseye'."

The girl cocked her head and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't know, Dad. I can say that pretty fast. Can't you at least wait for back up?"

"You questioning my skills, little lady?" the man smiled a crooked smile, but his daughter just frowned more.

"No, dad. But it's an urgent call in Latveria? That's enemy territory. You should at least take Aunty Nat." she said.

The man shook his head. "She's on another mission in Russia. Hill said they need her native expertise there. Why are you getting all worried on me now? You know I'll be fine."

The girl sighed. "I'm just saying. Can't Aunty Maria at least let you take one week off? You're never home, Dad."

"I promise, Ro. As soon as I get back, I'll take a whole month off. Good riddance to anything else Hill wants me on. We'll just take some time alone, you and me, okay?" the man said.

The girl thought about it. "Triple promise with extra trick arrows on top?"

"Quadruple."

"Deal."

The man smiled again. "Good. Now, remember, when I'm gone, don't use the phone unless the-"

"-line is secure."

"Don't go out of the house unless there's a fire-"

"-or some kind of emergency."

"And don't open the door for anyone unless it's-"

"-unless it's Mr. Stark, in which case, punch him in the face for you. There's a way out of every rule. I know, Dad."

The man gave his daughter a hug. "That's my girl. Now be good. Take care, and be careful. I'll be back soon." The girl looked up as the man stood.

"You'd better. I don't have any money, and I can't work legally 'till I'm fifteen." The man ruffled her wild blonde hair.

"I love you, Ro."

"I love you too, Daddy."

And the man walked out the door. The eight-year-old locked the door behind the man and watched out the window as he slung his bag over his shoulder, pushed on his purple sunglasses, hopped on his motorcycle, and drove away. She then turned and grabbed her bow and a quiver of arrows, making her way to the back door. There's a way and a time out of every rule. I love you, Dad.

A nine-year-old girl pointed an arrow at the front door. Behind it waited several agents in black uniforms, and a tall brunette woman was at the head. She knocked on the door again.

"Miss Barton, open up, please. We need to talk to you." The woman called again. The girl scowled, and drew back the bowstring. "Miss Barton, we're coming in."

Two agents kicked the door down and marched in, only to be quickly knocked out by teargas and snared in ropes. The other agents and the woman pulled on gas masks and walked in. Several more arrows flew past the woman, and suddenly all of the black-attired agents were on the ground and covered in a net, twitching with electricity. The woman looked down at her agents and stepped further inside.

"Rowan, you've already taken out my agents. I just want to talk." the woman said, taking off her mask. There was silence in the exposed rafters. "Rowan, it's about your father. There's something I need to tell you."

The young blonde girl flipped down from the rafters, bow and arrow still in hand. "Maybe you should've said something sooner, Hill. Drop all of your weapons. I should press charges for breaking and entering."

Director Hill rolled her eyes, but she started pulling out all of her guns and knives and dropping them on the floor. "We are a government agency, Rowan. Its legal to break in, and arrest you because you just assaulted government agents."

Rowan scowled. "Don't tempt me to assault one more." she growled. When Hill finally brought her hands up in surrender, she added, "Now, what about my father?"

Hill sighed. "Ro, I think it would be easier for both of us if we sat down. Please, I dropped my weapons, you do the same."

The girl narrowed her shockingly blue eyes. She searched Hill's grim expression. She dropped her bow and the arrow knocked on it. Then she slung off her quiver and pulled out a knife from her sock. "Come in the kitchen. I made cake." Rowan walked off, stepping over the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gingerly. Director Hill followed.

The kitchen was a small area with a table pushed against one wall below a window. Rowan pulled a large plate with a cake on it from the counter and set it on the table. She gave Hill a plate, a knife, and a fork, and pulled out utensils for herself.

"Rowan, this may be hard on you-"

"Oh, I bet. I'm such a fragile person."

Hill sighed. "Look, Rowan. Your father...He's been captured."

Rowan looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Big shocker since you refused to let him have any backup." she growled. "How long? Who has him?"

"Same night he arrived," Hill murmured. "It was an ambush. It was a simple recon mission, but soon there was one, then five, then-"

"Who has him." Rowan interrupted sharply.

Hill looked down at her cake. "All of them." she muttered.

Rowan stared at her, her hand griping her fork tightly. "What do you mean."

Hill looked up. "First, it was just Hydra. Then suddenly, there were A.I.M. agents. Then Doctor Doom came and...We lost communication after that."

Rowan paled. Her blue eyes widened. Then she scowled, tears eating at her eyes. She threw her fork right past Hill's head, and it flew into the wall behind her, embedding into the plaster. "I suppose now I come quietly," she said, her voice strained for control. "Then you take pity on me and ask me to join you only to help your own cause."

"Rowan, I know what you're feeling. Clint was a very good friend to me. I-"

"You have no clue what I feel!" Rowan shouted. Her freckled face reddened. "Dad was all I had. It was just me and him. I said he should've brought help. I said he should've stayed home. It's because he was friends with you that he left! And now because of you, he's gone." The girl's shoulders slumped, and she put her arms and head on the table. And then she cried.

Hill watched sadly. And then tears came to her eyes too. She walked around the table and took the girl in her arms, and they both cried for lost loved ones.

"Rowan, I know you're in here. We need to talk." called a lean brunette woman from the middle of an empty warehouse.

A fourteen-year-old blonde sat perched on the railing of the catwalk, hidden in the shadows. She had an arrow drawn and pointed at the woman down below. "Why? When has anything you've ever told be been good?" her voice echoed around the building.

The woman sighed. She already had a major headache without this agitating teenager prodding at it from all angles. "Rowan, you already know what I'm going to ask."

"Then you already know the answer."

"Just come down already."

"What if I don't feel like it?"

"Quit acting like such a child!"

"Quit treating me like I am!"

"Rowan, just come down so we can talk. You owe me that much from our last encounter." the woman said.

From somewhere above there was the sound of metal hitting metal, and then a rope popped down, and Rowan rode down on it. She stomped over to the woman. "I owe you nothing." she growled. Hill held the girl's scowl.

"You know what I came to say."

"My answer is no. I'm done playing in your battlefield. I'm on my own now." she said, blue eyes flaring.

Hill sighed again. "These kids need you. None of them are experienced enough. And, they can help you find your dad."

Rowan's eyes narrowed farther. "There won't be anything to find. It's been five years, Hill. He's gone." she muttered. "What you're promising these kids is a lost cause." she added louder. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and fitted it on the bowstring. "Now leave my warehouse before I take you out the hard way."

Hill studied the girl's face. "You know, you've taken on his uniform. I know you, Ro. You're a good person who's just fueled on the wrong ideas. So don't come join us again? Fine. Keep your nose where it shouldn't be? Great. But leave others in the same pit you've been forced to grow up in? You used to say you never wanted anyone else to hurt the way you do. I think you should at least consider helping them."

Rowan's scowl disappeared. She sighed, and looked down. "Consider it being considered." she said. Then she pulled up her arrow again. "But leave now. This is one of those pointy ones. No special tricks."

Hill nodded. "The plane leaves at 6." she said as she turned to leave.

"I get my own transportation."

"Evan will be there."

"Get out, Aunty."