It was their daughter's fourteenth birthday.
As the Barton household woke up, they had no idea, that in thirteen hours one of them would be taken.
It was the normal routine: Natasha kicking Clint out of bed to cook, Iolani going to archery, Stark coming in for the joke of the day, Steve coming to steal breakfast, Iolani comes back…
"Have a good day at school, дорогой*. Happy birthday." her mother smiled, landing a kiss on her daughter's forehead.
"Thanks, Mama."
"Don't go near those damned boys!" her father called, testing and retesting his bow string on the kitchen table.
"Papa!"
"Right. You better get going."
When Iolani came back from school, her mother and father were nowhere to be seen. This was normal, however, because most of the time they were on missions, or the like. The Romanoff-Barton spawn shrugged it off and looked at the fridge, expecting there to be a note or some sort of apology.
Her blood ran cold.
Pinned to the fridge with one of her father's arrows was her mother's pet spider, Araña,in a gooey mess among all others.
Next to it was a note, but it wasn't in her mother's neat, loopy handwriting or her father's untidy scrawl.
'You'll never see Natasha again.'
Iolani knew her father hadn't been here. If he had, he would have sent Agent Hill or someone to pick her up from school. Which meant…
"UNCLE STARK!" she screamed moments later, regretting her hasty decision to burst into her inventor godfather's living quarters as she saw him and his wife of eight years, the one and only Pepper Potts, practically eating each other's faces off.
"Oh, uh…"
"Io, honey," Pepper interjected hurriedly, smoothing out her business suit. "Sorry about that. Was there something you needed?"
"Arrows."
"Arrows? Kid, go ask your dad-"
"No, Uncle Stark. I need special arrows." she replied firmly.
Pepper observed the backpack on her shoulders, but didn't say anything.
"Why? Look, kiddo, if this concerns me in anyway, I'll have you know that I-"
"Stark, you don't want me to tell Aunt Pepper about your video stash do ya?"
"NO, I-"
"Great! I need the paralysing, spiderweb, explosion- basically the entire kit!"
"Wait!" Pepper leaned down to meet her goddaughter's eyes and took her hands. "Io, what's happened? Slow down, honey, and tell us why you want the arrows."
"There's no time! Mom's-"
"Honey, are you gonna delay whatever it is you're doing? Speak."
And she showed them the note.
Pepper went into business mode, calling on JARVIS and making a phone call to Clint, who was on a one-day mission in the Bahamas.
Stark made note of everyone who has entered the building.
His face went slack with shock.
"Honey, JARVIS isn't responding."
"Oh my iron." he muttered, picking up the note. He traced a finger over the barely intelligible red hourglass in the bottom of the note.
"Pepper, round up the Avengers- the rest of us."
The red-headed girl that stood behind them, forgotten, pursed her lips.
"Uncle Stark, where are the arrows?"
"Weaponry, Hawkeye section. The punch line is 'Because it was tweeting in class.'" he muttered in his distracted state.
Iolani made for the door.
"You need the keycard!"
Swish.
"Why did the little bird get detention?"
Holy assassins. Was that the best bird joke her 'genius' uncle could think off? Seriously?
Her dad's section of the weaponry was her version of paradise. Arrows- everywhere.
Blunt tips, grapple hooks, exploding, stunning…
And guns and daggers.
But what was most noticeable was the black, obviously meant for females, suit next to her dad's.
The girl's heart skipped a beat. Could it be?
It was her size too, and from the looks of it- befitting for her archery. The material allowed for plenty movement, at the same time blending easily into the shadows.
The plaque read: Iolani, size 34, only to be worn starting at age fifteen or Redhead Momma will kill me.
"I love it!" Accidentally-on-purpose forgetting the 'age fifteen' part.
Thirty minutes later, she came out all geared up in not only her suit, but two quivers, a dagger and two guns strapped to each thigh, with a bullet canister belt encircling her waist.
"Spankin' hot." she praised as she drank in her form in a mirror conveniently placed near the changing room.
With hesitation, she stepped out of the Weaponry, only to be yanked back by a strong fist.
"Iolani Arachne Alionova Francis Barton." her father gritted, dangerously cold, holding her at arm's length. "Do you mind telling me why you dressed up in that blasted monkey suit Iron Ass made for you a decade ago?"
"Dad, its Mom-"
"Your mother's been taken by that effing Black Widow Program."
Turmoil rolled in the young girl. "No. No. No. No." she gasped, clutching at her father. "You HAVE to take me with you! Dad!"
Clint Barton matched her desperate gaze with his determination. "No, Io. You are staying here."
"What if they come back for me?" she tried as a last resort, putting in that casual ring to her tone like her mother taught her to. It worked. Her father loosened his grip on her, allowing her to slide to the floor, eyes streaming.
"You are wasting time you can use to get Nat." Stark chimed in, from where he was eavesdropping near the stair well.
"Stark, you son of a- Ahem. Avengers report?"
"On their way. Won't make it fast enough."
"Dad. Please."
He looked into her eyes, and though they were his, they were Natasha's too. Vulnerable, loyal, loving..
The archer sighed and turned to his comrade.
"Stark, on favour of not killing you, what's the fastest ride you got?"
*darling in Russian
Author's Note:
Hey guys! I love the positive feedbacks this is getting!
Shoutout to smilychick89 for the follows and favorites to both the story and me.
Also to Draca Upon The Wings for the follow.
Now… if we could just get some reviews…
For all you people who love ( or is at least interested) my fashion collages, yes, Iolani's suit WILL be appearing on Deviantart soon!
Oh, and I forgot! Iolani means 'exalted hawk' in Hawaiian. Hope that clears up some confusion :)
Also, I'm going camping soon, so the next chapter is going to be next week or so.