Hey! I still exist. I'm really sorry I haven't updated this earlier but I've been super busy lately and just hadn't had time to finish this chapter so I hope you'll forgive me. Also the endgame trailer killed me, literally killed me. Honestly I don't even know which the worst part was. Anyways I could rant on about the trailer for years but that's a bit boring and you didn't come here for that so...thank you to everyone who followed/favourited last time and onwards...

"Hey princess!"

"Daddy!"

A five year old Helena ran out of the kitchen into her father's outstretched arms. He grabbed her and threw her in the air, Helena let out a squeal of joy as her long dark hair whipped around her, enjoying the thrill of the flight.

"How was school today? Was my little tiger well behaved?"

She grinned happily back at him from where she now lay nestled in his cradled arms.

"I always am," she remarked mischievously.

He didn't need to know that she had discovered where the coveted break time biscuits were stored, and that a large packet of stolen bourbons was now hidden under her bed.

"Is mama back from work yet?" He asked, gently putting her down and crouching to her eye level.

The little girl shook her head.

She suddenly bounded upwards, "Please can we play 'hide and seek'?"

She gazed desperately at him, brown eyes pleading.

He feigned thoughtfulness as she rocked back and forth on her toes.

"Well..." he grinned at her before continuing "I suppose while we're waiting for mum to get back we can have a quick game."

After all both he and Lucia worked long hours and Helena was more often than not left to find some means to entertain herself.

"I'll hide first," she remarked, running out of the hallway and up the rickety stairs, calling over her shoulder, " count to thirty!"

An old wicker basket full of dirty laundry stood on the landing. Opening the top, Helena dived inside, flattening out the clothing until she was comfortable, and pressed an eye to the smallish hole in the framework. She could distantly hear her father counting downstairs.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

She stifled a giggle as she shifted in her makeshift den, she loved this game.

A scraping of chairs told her that he was looking under the kitchen table.

Beginning to feel impatient, she considered making a sound to let him know she was upstairs but her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden shout.

"Hey!"

She recognised her father's angry shout but couldn't figure out at who or why he would be shouting.

A deafening bang suddenly rocked the tiny flat.

She let out a scream that was lost as the sound reverberated round the house.

Someone was moving downstairs, she heard the front door creak open, then close.

Helena scrambled out of her basket fortress and stumbled down the stairs, tripping on the last two and grazing her knee on the hard floor, but she ignored it.

The little girl rounded the corner and dashed into the kitchen, coming to an abrupt holt at the sight that met her.

Her stomach did a backflip. Her father was lying on his back, face turned towards her, clearly displaying the bullet hole in his head.

Crouching down next to him she shook his shoulders slightly.

"Dad," she whimpered "Dad - please, wake up!"

It was useless.

She collapsed on his chest, eyes brimming with tears, clutching at his jacket as though it were a life line. His eyes, the exact same shade as Helena's, were still open, staring blankly at the ceiling above him.

She had no idea how long she lay there, sobbing onto her father's still chest, time didn't matter anymore.

A second loud crash sounded, this time outside, and she lifted her tear stained face to gaze in trepidation at the door.

Without warning, the front door banged open and a man clothed head to toe in black marched in. In his grasp he thrust in front of him her mum, fingers clutched around her neck. It looked like they had already been fighting, Lucia's hair was messed up and several bruises were already forming on her arms and legs, as well as from the tight grip the man had on her neck.

"Mum!" Helena cried out desperately, trying to drag herself towards the struggling woman.

She watched as her mother painstakingly tried to break free before whispering in a strangled voice "I love you."

The man suddenly brought both his hands to her head and twisted, producing a loud cracking noise.

Lucia fell to the ground like a rag doll, her eyes glazed and forever staring.

Helena couldn't even bring it upon herself to scream, or wail, or breathe,

She just sat there dumbfounded, realising too late that the man had approached her until he was right up against her face.

"Hello little girl,"

She scooted away from him but he grabbed the front of her top and pulled her closer.

"we're going to have lots of fun,"

The last thing she registered was the sight of her dead mother over his shoulder, before a fist suddenly swung into view and the world went black.

Helena gasped, feeling like she had just broken the surface of water she had been submerged under for too long.

The sight of her parent's dead bodies was still lingering in the forefront of her mind.

Sitting up she looked wildly around, taking in the polished white surfaces, the many tubes and wires and the door opposite. Where the fuck was she?

No HYDRA facility she had ever been in looked like this, though there was a distinct smell she associated with the experiment room that seemed to linger in the air.

She had to get out of here.

Swinging her legs off the bed, a sharp shoot of pain suddenly coursed through her small frame from various places on her body, most namely her right shoulder. It was then that she noticed she wasn't in her normal uniform, but instead a sort of gown.

This was change and change was bad.

Looking down, she realised that most of the wires she had noted earlier were connected to her, numerous ones on her chest and another in her right arm. Helena followed the path of a clear plastic tube to the left of her where it popped around her ears and under her nose.

She ripped the wire and tubing out frantically, desperate to escape.

A loud, never ending beep was coming from a monitor on the other side of the bed, probably some kind of alarm, she scrambled away from it, tripping over something that was encased around her ankle. She slammed into a trolley full of what must have been medical equipment, sending it's contents crashing to the floor.

A sudden grunt alerted her to someone else's presence and she looked up just in time to see a man fall out of the ceiling.

Clint managed to turn himself in midair, slamming into the hard floor and come into a rather undignified roll. He cursed himself for having fallen asleep in the vent and scanned the room for the source of the crash. The girl he was supposed to have been keeping an eye on was cowering in the corner of room amidst a large quantity of plastic tubes and syringes.

Cursing again, Clint noticed the many wires now left abandoned and the annoying beeping sound coming from the flatlining heart monitor.

The girl in question looked like a wounded animal desperate for escape, her eyes were continuously flicking from the door to the window to the vent shaft Clint had just tumbled out of.

Crouching low, he edged towards her, displaying his empty hands and making every move obvious and predictable. She withdrew herself as far as possible against the wall, whilst still looking ready to pounce at any given moment.

"Hey," he coaxed "I'm not going to hurt you, we're here to help."

She remained where she was, huddled in the corner.

"I promise we won't harm you, we're not HYDRA,"

Her brown eyes suddenly locked onto his. Raw fear shone like a beacon from her frantic eyes but as Clint stared at the terrified girl he noticed the desperation in her face, desperation for help.

"You're...not...HYDRA?"

Clint had just enough time to register the distinct British accent before quick footsteps and a loud bang cut through the air.

Dr Helen Cho came skidding into the room, snapping the door against the wall. She was closely followed by Natasha and Bucky bringing up the rear.

The girl burst into flames.

Clint was thrown backwards by a wave of heat and slammed into the opposite wall. He felt something hard jam into his right leg. Dazed, Clint tenderly reached behind his head, barely noting the blood on his fingers when he retrieved his hand.

Muffled yells rang through the air. The archer desperately shook his head in an effort to clear it and the world tipped sideways, spinning dangerously.

A pulsing bright light seemed to be coming from his left hand side. He turned his head too quickly to see the girl, still cowering in the corner, absorbed by a swirling ball of fire.

Clint's brain was running overtime as he tried to process the situation and right himself against the wall.

"EVERYONE GET OUT!" He managed to bellow over the increasing levels of noise which were now being added to by the fire alarms

Natasha, who had been making her way towards him, halted abruptly. Clint's hazy vision and the roaring fire gave the archer the momentary impression that her hair was in turn, burning merrily. He smirked, in spite of the situation.

She gave him a calculating look, which he returned, silently communicating to her that he could manage the situation.

The Russian gave him a minute nod before grabbing the speechless Dr Cho and frozen Bucky and dragging them out the room, just as the sprinklers went off.

Clint rolled into a crouch, ignoring the pain in his leg, and shuffled closer to the girl.

The heat from the flames was almost unbearable, but Clint continued to edge steadily closer until he was about a metre away from the swirling tongues

"Hey!" He called desperately, hoping against hope that the girl could hear him over the fire alarm and pouring water , "Look at me!"

For a second, he concluded his attempt useless. The girl, however, ever so slowly turned her head. One of her eyes fell in shadow of the curtain of hair that covered most of her face, but one, glowing, deep brown eye focused resolutely on Clint, reflecting the swirling flames surrounding her.

Clint mopped his sodden hair out of his eyes, not breaking eye contact with the girl. The flames in front of him shrunk ever so slightly.

"That's it," he coached gently, refusing to take his eyes off her. Meanwhile she continued to stare at Clint, searching his dripping wet face and reassuring eyes for any form of a lie. The flames continued to ebb away until only the scorch marks surrounding the girl were any evidence of the spectacle.

The girl remained bundled up in the corner the best she could but Clint could tell that the short outburst of power had cost her most of her regained energy.

She blinked sluggishly at him, eyes drifting out of focus. She slid slowly down the wall, coming to rest admits a large quantity of singed gauze.

Clint leapt forward, careful not to slip of the drenched floor, and heard the door open behind him.

He wheeled around to find Natasha, Bucky and Helen carefully treading their way towards him, behind them indistinguishable faces had appeared at the small window on the door.

The archer squinted, trying to make them out whilst noting the sensation of adrenaline leaving him and instead being replaced by a steady ache, pulsing through his body.

He felt a warm hand grip his bicep and turned his bleary grey eyes to meet Natasha's fiery green. She was staring at him with a mixture of worry and exasperation.

"...had to get stabbed, didn't you?"

He was stabbed? Looking down, his eyebrows rose as he noticed the metal instrument protruding out of his right thigh.

Clint returned his heavily lidded gaze to Natasha. She was kneeling in front of him, one hand still on his bicep, the other framing his face.

Grey crept into the corners of his vision, his mind now solely focused on the soft thumb caressing his jaw.

He heard a distant shout as someone switched off the lights and his world went black.

"CLINT!"

Well that was a bit traumatic. Hopefully I can get the next chapter soon but honestly I can't promise anything. Please review/favourite/follow because it really helps motivate me to get the chapter out sooner!

C ya

-R