AHHH THIS CHAPTER IS SO LONG! I have literally never written a chapter this long! 10,000 words! Now you all know why it took me so long to update! So I thought we'd have some more memories from each other the team members before we start to wrap things up :) So here's six more memories for all of you, all ridiculously long and not many of them sticking to the original story in the comics, mainly because they seemed a bit over complicated and basically ridiculous, so I did my own versions :)

Please review! I love you all lots and lots like jelly tots!

IRON MAN 3 TRAILER TOMORROW. Who's excited? ME! :D :D :D

And to Fighter1357 who didn't sign in but asked for a cupcake, yes you can have one! :D


There had been about ten other girls in her group, ten other girls that sat in their room together and never talked, because they knew there was a chance that they would be forced to kill any of the others at any given moment. Bonding wouldn't help with that. Best to leave each other well alone than become friends.

Natalia Romanova was young when she was forced into the Red Room, too young. She'd never been a child, she'd never known innocence or happiness, only loneliness and hate. She was young, and she was beautiful, and she was the perfect candidate. No-one to miss her if she died, no-one to seek revenge on her behalf, no-one to rescue her from the cruel harshness of the world.

Once, when Natalia was young and was just starting out, a man was brought in, bound and gagged and beaten black and blue, and Natalia was ordered to finish him off. She was young and she was scared and she couldn't do it. So her trainer took the knife he'd given her to kill him and stabbed her in the arm. Natalia screamed as the blood ran down her skin but she learnt her lesson that day, you do not question orders, you follow them.

That same night, Natalia curled up in a ball on her bunk with a bandage pressed tightly against her wounded arm and cried, allowing the tears to fall silently down her cheeks, faced away from the other girls so they couldn't see her moment of weakness. The next day, however, when Natalia was handed the knife again, she slit the man's throat in one sweep, face unmoving, heart cold. Her trainer nodded at her approvingly as the dead man's body was removed from the room and his blood was washed away from the tiled floor.

From that moment on, Natalia was the perfect spy. She did what she was told without question, without thought, she was a soulless automaton, not thinking, not feeling, just doing.

Then she met Clint.

It had been years since the Red Room, years since the pain and the torment and the orders. She'd been tipped off by a… friend isn't the right word… colleague wasn't either… a person had informed her that she'd raised too much attention and SHIELD was after her. They told her they'd sent an agent to kill her. She retaliated by stealing the diamonds of a countess when she overheard her comment about how her hair was obviously dyed and made her look trashy. Her hair was naturally red thankyouverymuch and compared to the aging countess with her barely disguised grey hairs and large belly, she was Aphrodite. So she took the diamonds, broke out the dress she wore for special nights, styled her hair so it fell softly down her back in rich red waves, took a glass of champagne off the tray when it was offered to her by the waiter, and watched the room as the people danced and drank and laughed. Several men approached her, she turned them all down with a flick of her wrist, only interested in one person. When he spotted her, when their eyes locked across the room and she smirked at him, she felt in her heart that spread of coldness the first time she'd killed someone, the first time she'd slashed that man's throat. This SHIELD agent needed to die, in this world, it was kill or be killed.

He looked dashingly handsome in his tux, a napkin folded over his arm, a tray of glasses in one hand, mingling amongst the guests with the practised ease of one who'd been doing this for years. Unless she hadn't known, it was unlikely that Natalia would ever have guessed that this man was an assassin sent to kill her. Or maybe she would have, she was the best at what she did. The infamous Black Widow, known throughout Russia and Europe, and now America too it seemed.

Good.

The agent spotted her, and she could tell he knew immediately she'd sussed him, she saw the quick flash of alarm in his eyes. Tut tut, a good spy knew better than to emotionally leak. Their eyes never broke their gaze as she made her way around the room, occasionally stopping to compliment a guest's hair or appearance, not that she thought it was actually a nice look. That colour hair with that dress? Amateur hour.

Such a shame he has to die, Natalia thought to herself. There are so few attractive men in this world.

She lost sight of him once, and that was all it took to lose him completely. Natalia frowned and ran her gaze once more over the guests' heads, trying to spot him. She could hear her trainer's voice in her head berating her for letting a mark out of her sight but she ignored it. She was the best, she knew that.

When she felt the cold blade of a knife press up against her back, and the words 'I've been looking forward to meeting you,' whispered in her ear, she was expecting it.

It took a while for the Agent to notice the knife she had positioned at his crotch and she heard him curse softly. 'Wow,' he said breathlessly. 'You are good.'

Natalia smirked and moved the knife up to the Agent's stomach, all it would take was one push in and…

'I'd rather you didn't, I have a proposition for you.'

Natalia frowned but her curiosity was peaked, plus in a packed room with loads of witnesses she wasn't in much danger so she tucked the knife away in her dress and felt the Agent do the same, safely stowing his blade up his sleeve.

She turned to face him and he grinned at her. 'So you're the famous Black Widow,' he said softly. 'I've heard a lot about you.'

She smiled sweetly at him. 'I'd expect nothing else from the man here to kill me.'

The Agent raised an eyebrow at her. 'Funny, from what I hear you don't seem to care about who you kill nowadays.'

Natalia glared at him and her hand went to her knife, but the Agent stopped her with a gently grip on her wrist.

'I'm sorry,' he said, bowing his head to her. 'That was rude. Now can we have a conversation like civilised people?'

Natalia gave him a look. 'Civilised?' she asked, not in a mocking tone, that was for children.

The Agent smiled at her and Natalia was surprised to see that it was a warm, gentle smile, not the cold condescension she was expecting. 'We're both adults,' he said. 'And I don't want to kill you, I want to give you an offer. Fancy some air?'

Natalia was surprised to feel her head nodding in agreement, and the Agent took her hand and led her outside to the cool air of the Moscow night, lights twinkling away in the distance, away from the heavy reek of alcohol and perfume and the obvious hatred that all the people in the room held for each other. If he noticed that Natalia's hand didn't leave the knife strapped to her thigh, he didn't say anything.

'So,' the Agent said, turning to face her once they were both stood alone on the balcony under the glittering stars of the Moscow night. 'My proposition then…'

'Barton, quit stalling and do it already, we're running out of time to get you to the extraction point,' the voice in his ear was loud enough for Natalia to pick up on in the quiet night, and the Agent winched and held a finger up to her. 'Half a mo,' he said, tapping the comm unit and speaking into a microphone hidden in his cufflink while Natalia leant back against the balcony, arms folded, eyebrow raised.

'Coulson, gotta situation, give me a five.'

'For god's sake, Agent, shoot her already! We're running out of time.' That was a different voice, it didn't sound as friendly either.

Natalia's eyes flicked up to the Agent's face and it took me about half a second to see her train of thought.

'Shit, no..!' but he didn't get to finish that sentence as Natalia shoved her fingers into his windpipe, cutting off his air and leaving him gasping for breath. She was so stupid to be tricked by the sympathetic-I-don't-want-to-hurt-you routine, and they were always attractive men that did it too.

BASTARD!

Natalia felt her body reacting out of habit after years of training. Her foot came up and made contact with his legs to trip him up as her arm flung itself out to knock the gun he'd pulled from his hand.

He brought me out here, no witnesses, easier to kill, no-one would hear the gunshot over the sound of the music and chatting from inside. Stupid stupid STUPID!

Natalia's rage made her strong, and she lashed out at him with her nails and heels, but he was fast too, and managed to knock her feet out from underneath her and land a boot in her stomach, leaving her sprawled on the ground. The next thing she knew, there was a gun pressed her head and the Agent's arm was around her neck, keeping her still and breathing heavily.

'Are we done?' he asked. Then the gun vanished from her head, his arm disappeared from around her neck, and his hand was being held out in front of him to help her up.

Natalia stared at him, confused, but cautiously accepted his hand, winching slightly as it put pressure on her bruised stomach.

'How about we start again?' the Agent said. 'Hi, I'm Clint Barton of SHIELD, nice to meet you.' He held his hand out in front of him and Natalia gave him a funny look. He gave her one in return, and shoved his hand towards her, daring her to take it.

Natalia flicked back her hair, drew herself up to her full height, and shook it.

'Nice to meet you, Clint Barton of SHIELD. I'm Natalia Romanova, why am I still alive?'

'I told you,' Clint said. 'I have a proposition for you.'

Natalia folded her arms in front of her and raised an eyebrow at him. 'I think we've been over this,' she confirmed. 'You never did tell me what it was.'

'Simple,' Clint told her. 'I want you to come work for SHIELD. Either that, or I shoot you, which I believe I've already told you I don't want to do.'

Natalia's eyebrows shot up and disappeared into her hairline. 'I see,' she said after a moment's pause. 'I don't believe the voices in your ear would approve.'

'They can suck it up,' Clint said, loud enough to let her know that they were obviously yelling at him and he wasn't agreeing. 'So, what do you say?' he asked. 'Work for SHIELD, or I shoot you.'

'I'd like to see you try,' Natalia shot back.

Clint grinned but said nothing.

It took Natalia a few moments to consider her options, but she easily arrived at her decision. She was tired of being chased around Russia, tired of being followed by her past, of worrying that someone from the Red Room would recognise her, would come after her, that there would be an occasion where she wouldn't be able to protect herself from harm. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Clint seemed kind enough, a few seconds ago he'd had a gun pressed against her skull but that was just business, happened to everyone.

'Alright,' Natalia said. 'I accept your offer.'

Clint's face broke out into a grin. 'Good,' he said. 'Now shall we make our exit? The voices in my ear are telling me I have two minutes to "get my fucking ass to the fucking extraction point or I'm fucked".'

Natalia laughed, then caught herself. She didn't remember the last time she'd laughed because she honestly thought something was funny. Clint obviously realised this because he gave her a half-hearted shrug and held a hand out to her, attaching a rope securely around the balcony with the other.

'May I have this dance?' he asked her.

Natalia took his hand, and together they leapt over the side of the building and slid down to the ground below. Together they knocked out a couple of guards and together they stole their car keys and made their escape.

'This is the start of a beautiful friendship,' Clint said, only half serious.

Natalia thumped him in the arm.

Needless to say, Director Fury was not happy that Agent Barton had deviated from their carefully set out plan and had actually brought the Russian in but, annoying though he was, Fury trusted his judgement, and after sizing the famous Black Widow up, in which she glared at him and flicked her hair, he nodded at her. 'Fine,' he said. 'Barton, show her to her quarters, and you'll need to change your name.'

Natalia frowned and opened her mouth to protest, but Clint already had a hand on her elbow and was taking her away down the corridor.

'Why do I have to change my name?' Natalia hissed at him.

Clint shrugged. 'Russians are probably after you along with every defensive organisation in the United States, especially when they hear you're actually in their country. Plus, you're scaring the younger personal.'

Natalia smirked.

That evening, Agent Barton came to her room with a selection of DVDs, and a large bowl of sweets.

'We're probably gonna be assigned as partners,' he said with a shrug. 'We may as well get to know each other. Gummy bear?'

Natalia took the offered gummy bear and selected Men In Black to watch, curious as to the DVD's cover, she hadn't had the opportunity to watch that many films in Russia, in fact, she couldn't recall the last time she'd ever seen a movie.

When the film was over, Natalia played absently with a strand of her hair while Clint regaled her of all the different times he'd make the new recruits wet themselves with terror when he'd jumped out of the air vent and appeared suddenly in front of them. Natalia was surprised to find she was actually enjoying the agent's company, he wasn't at all dull, and gave her enough time to intervene and say something herself. Not that she did, she was very quiet and preferred to listen.

'You don't say much,' Clint informed her, eating a jelly snake.

Natalia shrugged. 'Don't have much to say,' she said.

'We'll have to work on that,' Clint said absently as he polished off the jelly hearts and offered Natalia a caramel, which she took and sucked thoughtfully.

'Penny for them?' Clint asked, noticing her expression.

'Natasha Romanoff,' Natalia said. 'For my new name. Close enough that it still feels like me, but not so close that people would recognise it immediately.'

'Sounds perfect,' Clint said, grinning. He glanced at his watch and hopped to his feet. 'I better go, mission debrief with Coulson in the morning. It's gonna be dull and I'm gonna get yelled at.' He gave a mock bow to his companion. 'I will see you tomorrow, Natasha.'

Natasha Natalia inclined her head at him, and he closed the door firmly behind him, leaving SHIELD's newest agent to her thoughts.

XxXxXxX

Tony Stark thumbed through the pages of that week's budget report, not really paying that much attention to it. Obadiah was till trying to get him to double check his math but Tony honestly didn't see the point. He'd graduated MIT summa cum laude aged seventeen, he was a boy genius, his math was never wrong. Plus, it was a Friday. No-one works on a Friday. Apart from Obie, and the majority of his staff, but there was obviously something wrong with all of them.

Satisfied, he threw the report down on the desk and glanced at the pile of folders Obie had given him to look over. Apparently he was completely unable to take care of himself and needed a personal assistant. He'd had several, but for some reason none of them tended to last very long and he needed a new one. He flicked absently through the folders, not reading the qualifications or the grades, but looking at the pictures. Most of them were old and male, and the female applicants were all married with kids.

Boring.

Someone came in at some point in the afternoon to retrieve the budget report he'd finished proof-reading, but Tony didn't notice, too busy playing Galaga on his computer, old, but still a classic. What he did notice, was a tall red-head in heels come storming into his office screaming blue murder at his security and waving the budget report in her hand.

'Don't you dare touch me! I have pepper spray!' she screamed at them as they tried to drag her outside.

Tony eyebrows shot straight up as he tried to work out where in her tight business suit she was hiding said pepper spray, unless it was tucked into the front of her cleavage, it obviously didn't exist.

'It's okay, let her through before she kills someone,' Tony said, waving off the security guard, who gave him a look like he'd clearly gone insane but backed off all the same, keeping an eye on this murderous red-head out of the corner of one eye, obviously expecting her to stab their boss with her wickedly sharp heels.

'What can I do for you, Miss…?' Tony asked, knowing better than to try and flirt with her in the mood she was in. She was very pretty, quite tall with that strawberry-blond hair, model figure and pale skin. Dressed in a smart business suit with those evil heels on her feet, she cut a very impressive figure.

'Potts, Virginia Potts,' she informed him. Tony decided not to make any 'James Bond' jokes and offered her a seat, which she refused and instead held out that morning's budget report to him. 'I believe you've made an error in the last column, section 17,' she told him.

Tony gave her a look, his don't question me I'm a maths genius look and she actually glared at him. Tony found himself liking her more and more by the second, she hadn't tried to kill him yet either, which was definitely a plus.

'If you don't mind, Mr Stark, I'm very busy, I need to go and clear my desk out,' she said, glaring at him with stunning stormy blue eyes.

Tony took the papers off her and skipped to the section she'd mentioned. 'Why?' he asked as he tried to find the error.

'Why what?' she asked irritably.

'Why do you need to go and clear your desk out?' he asked, frowning at the numbers and doing some mental maths in his head.

'Because I've just been fired by my manager for even daring to suggest that the great Tony Stark made a maths error,' she said sarcastically, glaring at him again, clearly not in the mood for chit chat.

'Well, Miss Potts,' Tony said, picking up a pen and making some changes to the numbers. 'You can tell your former boss that he's the one that can pack up his desk. I don't appreciate my managers telling my employees they're idiots, as it is, you were right, I did make a mistake.'

'An expensive one too,' she said, taking the papers off him and glancing down at the correct calculations he'd scrawled down the side in almost unreadable handwriting.

'Over $300,000 more expensive, yes I know,' Tony said.

The red-head adjusted her suit and nodded politely at him. 'Thank you, Mr Stark, will that be all?'

Tony gave her a once over. Pretty, fiery, not afraid to tell him he was wrong, the more he saw the more he liked.

'No, that won't be all, Pepper,' he informed her. 'Working in accounting must be more than thrilling for you, career satisfaction and all that, but I would like you to work for me.'

She frowned. 'I already do work for you,' she clarified. 'Last time I checked it was your name on the side of the building and on my pay checks. And my name is Virginia not Pepper.'

Tony waved her complaint off with one hand. 'Virginia sounds too much like a state.'

'It is a state.'

'There you go. It's boring, not very you, Pepper on the other hand is much better. Coincidently, where are you hiding this "pepper spray" of yours?'

"Pepper" glared at him and he smirked. 'Just as I thought,' he said. 'So, I have an opening for a personal assistant, and I would like you to take it.'

She gave him a cautious look, she was well aware of his reputation with women and he knew it, the other PA's he'd had hadn't worked out mainly because he'd slept with them, the last one had only lasted two weeks.

'No funny business,' he promised her. 'It takes a lot of balls to march in here and tell me I'm wrong. Not that I'm saying you have balls mind, quite the opposite in fact…'

'Stop talking,' she said, cutting off his rambling midstream.

Tony shut up and clasped his hands behind his back, raising an eyebrow at her expectantly.

She seemed to be taking his offer quite seriously, especially considering he'd just offered it to her out of the blue.

'If I say no?' she asked.

Tony shrugged. 'You can stay in accounting, but it would be a waste of talent.'

Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. 'Talent?'

'You just marched in here, gave me a piece of your mind, and actually got me to do some work,' Tony said, hand over his heart like the very word was too much for him. 'Do you know how difficult that is for me to do?'

'I do actually,' she said dryly, remembering the stories about how annoying and difficult he was to work with from other employees.

'Exactly,' Tony said. 'Like I said, you've got balls and I like that in a woman. So, yay or nay?'

'If you promise me to never say "yay or nay" ever again, then yes, I will take the position,' she said.

'Awesome,' Tony said grinning. 'That's two things accomplished today. See? We make a great team, Pepper. See you bright and early Monday morning.'

'Don't call me "Pepper",' she said, turning on her heel and marching from the room, budget report clasped tightly in one hand.

'You'll get used to it!' Tony called after her.

She did actually.

XxXxXxX

Barney Barton had gotten his younger brother out of the children's home as fast as he could. A travelling fair had come through town and the home had arrange for them to go and see them. Clint had spent hours and hours watching the archery, and the archer had offered to give him a quick lesson. He'd had such a natural aptitude for it that when Barney mentioned wanting to leave the town the archer had volunteered to take care of the pair of them, provided he could continue to teach Clint archery, saying that a talent like his shouldn't go to waste.

That was how they found themselves eleven years later, crouching low underneath the circus stadium, watching the acrobats and the fire jugglers perform. Clint was so good at archery now he could hit the target blindfolded after being spun in a circle and was now performing himself in the show under the name 'Hawkeye! The World's Greatest Marksman!' His archer mentor had told him he had a special gift, and after being forced into early retirement due to joint pain, Clint was now a solo act. Considering nobody had ever told him he was good at anything and he'd never viewed himself as having a particular talent, Clint's life in the circus were the best years of his life.

The same couldn't be said for Barney, unfortunately.

He loved his brother, of course he did, he'd risked life and limb to get him out of the children's home and there was probably a warrant for kidnapping on his head out there somewhere, but he didn't fit in with the circus. Clint was so young when they'd joined he'd had time to learn new things, people came from miles around to see the famous 'Hawkeye' perform, but Barney was too old and didn't have any talents he could put to use, so he mainly helped out the lion tamer by cleaning out the cages. Not a great job, but someone had to do it and these people were taking good care of both of them.

Barney watched his sixteen year old brother peeling an apple with a knife out the corner of his eye. He'd just finished his shoot and was now relaxing with his brother, enjoying the other performances even though he'd seen them thousands of times. He didn't want to leave Clint, but he still had years of his life left, he was only twenty-five, there were loads of things he could do. Recently, he'd been thinking of enlisting in the army, there had been posters up all around the town when he'd nipped into town earlier in the week, and the uniform was so smart and respectable. Living in the circus made him an outcast, Clint didn't seem bothered by this label, but Barney wanted to live.

Barney cleared his throat nervously and watching his little brother's eyes watching the acrobats on the trapeze, swinging effortlessly through the air, even after all these years he still had the same childlike wonder he'd had the first time he'd seen them perform, even though he could do most of their tricks now.

'So, Clint,' Barney began, watching his brother's face until he was sure his attention was on him. 'I was thinking, maybe it's time for me to leave.'

Clint frowned. 'Leave? Where would we go?' Even as a young adult, Clint couldn't imagine his life without his big brother.

'Not we,' Barney said. 'Me.'

A series of emotions flashed across his brother's face. Confusion, anger, betrayal, and then, finally, understanding.

'Why?' he asked, popping some of the apple pieces into his mouth.

Barney shrugged. 'I want to do other things,' he said.

'Like what?'

'I thought maybe join the army.'

Clint watched his face carefully, looking for marks of deception in his features. 'You have never shown any interest in joining the army,' he said, accusingly.

'They're enlisting in town,' Barney said. 'I want to have a job, a proper, respectful job.'

Clint gave him a look and Barney quickly reworded his sentence. 'Not that being in the circus isn't a proper, respectful job,' he said. 'But it's not for me. You're amazing, Clinton, you're so good at archery, you can hit the bullseye without even looking. But me, I have no place here, I help out now and then but they only tolerate me because you're so good. I have a chance to do something different, to serve my country.' Barney sighed. 'Maybe I'll even get married and have kids, who knows?'

Clint smiled softly. 'I won't stop you from doing what you want,' he said. 'I can't depend on you all my life, and I like to think I have a few more years here. If you want to join the army, go ahead, I won't stop you, in fact I'll be proud of you. My big brother Barney in the army. It rhymes, and it's alliterative.'

Barney ruffled Clint's hair playfully. 'You're hilarious,' he told him.

Clint shrugged modestly. 'It's a gift,' he said. Then his face turned serious. 'When were you going to leave?' he asked.

'The army's here until Friday,' Barney said. 'Which gives me three days to pack my things and say goodbye and thank you to everybody.'

Suddenly, Clint jumped up and wrapped his arms around his brother. 'Don't be a stranger,' he mumbled into his collarbone. 'You're still the only family I have.'

Barney rubbed his back. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'I'll write all the time.'

'Make sure you do,' Clint said, poking him in the shoulder.

Barney chuckled and together they watched the rest of the show.

Two nights before Barney's departure, Clint couldn't sleep, his body was racked with worry for his brother. What if he was killed out there? What if they lost contact? He didn't want to be alone.

Clint rearranged the blankets in the little nest above the trapeze wire where he slept on the wooden pole keeping the big top up. He found he preferred to be high up, he liked to be able to watch everything from a distance. Beside him, his bow and quiver of arrows were in their usual position. Outside, the sky had gone dark and the performers had gone to sleep, preserving their energy for the show the next day, Barney's 'Good-Bye' show, he'd be gone the next day. Maybe for good…

Clint squeezed his eyes tightly shut, not wanting to have to think about that. Barney wouldn't leave him, he loved him, he'd promised.

He smelt the smoke before he saw the fire, but then isn't that always the case? Usually it's as a warning, but that counts for nothing when his home was made almost entirely of fabric and highly flammable liquids.

Clint jumped up, sniffing the air. Outside, he heard someone scream: 'FIRE!' and then all hell broke lose as performers raced from their tents, tripping over themselves to get water to put the flames out. Through a gap in the fabric, Clint could see it was one of the tents that was on fire, and the flames were licking around the tent next to it, and soon the whole row of them were on fire.

Clint grabbed his bow and slung his quiver over his back. He used his bow to get himself to the ground, creating a zip line by holding his bow above the wire above his head and hanging on tightly to both sides, kicking off firmly from his pole-nest and giving himself enough momentum to slide down the line to the ground below, where he forward rolled into a standing position and raced outside to help.

Everywhere was fire and smoke. The chemicals in the fire eater's tent had ignited, and if had been alive in there before the fire started he certainly wasn't now.

'Clint!'

Clint turned round to see his brother racing towards him in his pyjamas, he grabbed his arm roughly. 'Are you okay?' he asked.

'I'm fine, Barney,' Clint said. 'You?'

Barney nodded, and Clint heard the ringmaster's panicked yells. 'My daughter's in there! GET OFF ME MY DAUGHTER IS STILL IN THERE!'

The two Barton's turned their attention to the noise. The ringmaster's daughter was caught in one of the flaming tents, two men were trying to get to her while the others were holding her panicking father back and away from the flames.

'Stay here!' Barney said, pushing his little brother back and racing towards the tent where she was stuck.

'No! Come back!' Clint yelled, about to run after him before the older archer wrapped his arm around the boy's chest, stopping him from running after his brother.

'You'll only get in the way,' Clint's mentor told him softly.

Clint could nothing but watch as Barney pushed past the two men into the tent. A few seconds later, the ringmaster's daughter came flying out of the tent, landing on her knees, just as the tent collapsed to the ground, a flaming ball of fire, trapping Barney inside.

'NO!' Clint screamed, pushing himself free of the older archer and racing towards the tent. 'BARNEY!'

Several performers tried to stop him, reaching out their hands to grab him but Clint forced his way past them to get to his brother.

Then the tent exploded, sending fiery tendrils into the sky as the ringmaster's daughter's wide selection of beauty products, including large amounts of hairspray ignited.

'BARNEY!' Clint screamed himself hoarse, trying desperately to get to the flaming tent, knowing there was nothing he could do for his brother now.

'Let's get out of here before the whole place goes up!' the ringmaster yelled, clutching his daughter to him and racing for the caravan.

'Come along, Clint,' one of the acrobats said to him, tugging on his arm, but Clint pulled himself away from there and collapsed into a ball on the burning ground, sobs wracking his body.

He was alone.

Alone alone alone.

Then something hit him hard of the back of the head and that was the last thing he knew.

When Clint came to the next morning, he was lying on his front alone on the ground in front of what used to be the ringmaster's daughter's tent. Around him, the circus lay in ashes, his home destroyed and not a soul in sight. The grass was black and the tents were smoking still.

Clint pulled himself up onto his knees and promptly threw up all the smoke and ash from that night onto the black ground, clutching a hand to his head and feeling the dried blood there and the egg-shaped lump on his head, surprised to find it was neatly bandaged.

'You were kicked by one of the horses,' a voice from behind him said. 'It must have been spooked by the fire.'

Clint whipped round, notching an arrow to his bow instinctively, regretting it as his head ached and throbbed.

The man stood in front of him was in a black suit and was balding slightly, he was watching Clint with a concerned gaze, watching his face rather than the arrow aimed at his heart. Clint had never killed a person, but right at that moment he was so angry he honestly thought he could do anything.

'I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division,' the balding man said.

The corner of Clint's mouth pulled upwards into a cruel smirk. 'You need a new name for that,' he said, the hand keeping the arrow taut not wavering.

'Yeah,' Coulson said. 'I hear that a lot. Anyway, I have a proposition for you.'

'What kind of proposition?' Clint asked.

'The kind where you put the arrow down and we get you some food and clean clothes, Hawkeye,' Coulson said.

Years later, Agent Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton was called into Fury's office where he was handed a thick file containing pages of information and a picture.

'She's been wrecking more havoc than usual,' Fury said. 'We can't ignore her any more, she'd become a viable threat to the safety of this country. I trust you recognise the picture?'

Clint nodded. 'Yes, sir,' he said. 'Natalia Romanova, what do you want me to do?'

'I want you to kill her.'

XxXxXxX

Bruce Banner was smart, he knew that, in Science class he excelled in every topic, getting consistently high grades and school awards. Yet for all his brains and genius, he never had any friends, in fact people seemed to avoid him like the plague, unless they wanted him to do their science homework for them. And he always said yes, he was so desperate for friends he'd do anything.

All through high school, until the day he graduated college, Bruce was widely left alone. He was that freaky kid, the kid with the alcoholic father who'd been sectioned, the same father who'd murdered his mother when she tried to get him out of the house, to take him somewhere safe. His life had been tragedy after tragedy, so he was glad when he got into university and finally began to make a new name for himself. He wasn't the freaky kid anymore, he was clever, smart, funny Bruce Banner, who didn't mind helping you out now and then and made a mean vegetable lasagne. He was good, he was kind, people respected him, and Bruce managed to put his past behind him and become a new man.

In his final year of university, Bruce met Betty Ross, a brilliant student studying cellular biology and the only daughter of General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross, who clapped Bruce on the back and announced loudly that 'he will go far.'

Betty and Bruce date for a while, and it's amazing and wonderful, but it has to end when General Ross demands that Betty return to Virginia with him once she's completed her degree. He reads about her in the paper a few years later, Dr Betty Ross, graduated with honours from Culver University. He's a doctor by then as well, with his own honours, but he can't stop his heart swell up with pride when he sees her name in the paper. Beautiful, brilliant, incredibly Dr Elizabeth Ross.

When the job advertisement comes up at the university Bruce has to take it, and when he sees her again and she gives him that award winning smile, he doesn't think his life as ever been this good. Finally, after his awful rocky start in life, things are perfect.

Then he starts experimenting in gamma radiation.

It's partly General Ross' fault, he wants to be the one that gets the fame and glory for unlocking Erskine's original super-soldier formula that brought the likes of Captain America to life, but it's also Bruce's fault, because he's a scientist and this is science at its best, unlocking the genetic code, rewriting DNA, and yeah he's curious and wants to know if he can actually do the impossible, recreate the super-soldier formula. Plus he's also curious as to why Stark Industries flat out refused to provide the funding for Ross' project, especially considering SI is already the primary weapons contractor to the USA. Maybe Tony Stark thinks it's a waste of time, Bruce thinks. So he conducts his own experiments and writes his own equations with the help of Betty, and he's so sure of his research, so certain that everything is perfect, that he decides to test it on himself, they won't get any human volunteers anyway.

Well, that didn't really go his way so much did it?

When he meets Tony Stark, when he struts onto the bridge and immediately gets into everyone's space and starts showing off his brilliance he wants to ask him why he didn't fund Ross' project, why he immediately knew it was a lost cause. But he doesn't, he keeps quiet and he just enjoys being in the same room as a genius who appreciates him and isn't trying to get him locked up so he never sees the light of day again. And when he casually refers to him as his 'Science Bro' (mainly to make Pepper laugh), Bruce just smiles, a smile which breaks out into a full blown grin. He's friends with Tony Stark, the freaky kid from high school is friends with the coolest superhero on the planet. The guy who leant him a suit to wear after his outfit got torn to shreds by the Hulk.

And life gets back on track. After returning from India to sort out some of his possessions, Tony immediately invites him to stay at Stark Tower with him and his beautiful wonderful girlfriend who somehow (god/Thor only knows how) manages to put up with him and actually loves him.

Then, one by one, the Avengers pile into the tower with them and they become a sort of family. Tony isn't always there of course, occasionally he has to go home to California or needs to fly out somewhere to meet with important business people, and occasionally Natasha and Clint fly out on missions and aren't heard from for weeks, and Thor tends to be in Asgard most of the time ('Or Ass-guard, I mean seriously look at how tight his trousers are!' Tony whispers to him one evening when he's feeling a bit down, and he bursts straight out laughing, which means Thor wants to know what's so funny, so he only laughs harder and Tony is stood there with a shit-eating grin on his face) so they don't see much of him either, but when they're all together, when they can actually tolerate being in the same room as each other without fights breaking out, it's fun and great and Bruce has a home and a family again.

Then Betty reappears.

He doesn't get a warning either, he hears the penthouse doorbell ring (why Tony has a doorbell in a tower is beyond him) and Pepper isn't there so Tony gets up to go answer it, and he takes such a long time that Bruce worries so he follows him up to make sure everything's okay, and he finds him in the kitchen with Betty Ross, making her a cup of coffee while she tries to find the confidence to speak to him again. And he's so happy to see her, it feels like all the jigsaw pieces of his life are fitting themselves together and he can't help but smile and run over to her and slip his arms around her. He vaguely sees Tony place the cup of coffee at her elbow then sneak out the room, but he's just so happy to be breathing in her soft safe scent he barely notices.

When Jane appears, Pepper taps her foot angrily on the ground and he hears her complain to Tony about how unfair it is that Thor's girlfriend has a doctorate and all she has is a degree in accounting. Then Tony laughs and kisses her and tells her that putting up with him for all these years is the equivalent of at least ten doctorates and he'd like to see Jane or Betty do her job, and she relaxes and kisses him back and greets Jane warmly, and after that the three girls become best of friends.

And Bruce's life is perfect.

XxXxXxX

When Thor returns to Asgard, he's met with adoring crowds cheering and screaming his name. What must I look like to them? he thought bitterly. The hero that that stopped the war criminal Loki. Their Prince of Thunder. Thor didn't feel like any of the above as he escorted his brother to his father's palace. Have they forgotten that Loki is a son of Odin as well? No matter what he thinks. Thor blocked out the crowd's screaming and cheers, his heart ripped in half, how could they forget all that Loki had done for them, he had been good, kind, wonderful, a good prince. Thor glanced at his brother, but Loki's head was down and he stared only at the ground, his face partly obscured by his black hair.

The walk to the palace took longer then it usually did, and Thor's heart grew heavier with each step he took, knowing that whatever punishment Odin chose for Loki, it would be cruel.

'I'm sorry, brother,' Thor said softly to Loki, but if he did hear him, he didn't acknowledge it.

Once they were safely inside the golden throne room, Frigga stood up immediately, racing down the steps towards her son, ignoring her husband's glares.

'Loki,' she said softly, cupping her son's face in his hands.

Loki looked at her through his green eyes, and for a second, a flicker of regret flickered there, but then it was gone and he looked back down at the floor.

'Loki Laufeyson,' Odin said, standing up and gazing down at the prisoner. Loki winched when he heard his real last name and Frigga's glare would have made mortals cower in fear and run.

'Odin,' she hissed at him. 'Loki is our son.'

'No true son of mine would behave as he did,' Odin said, still looking at Loki.

Loki glared at him, and Thor could practically feel the hatred radiating out from under his skin.

'We've been over this,' Frigga said, fire blazing in her eyes. 'Loki is our son, whether you like it or not.'

Thor saw something akin to shame flicker in Loki's eyes. The thought of letting his mother down, when she still stood up for him after all he'd done, was tearing his heart in half, not that he wanted Thor to notice that. But Frigga had loved him, wholeheartedly, unconditionally, even when he'd confronted her when he found out about his true parentage the first thing she'd said to him was: 'You are our son, Loki. And we your family.'

'Regardless,' Odin said, walking down the steps to stand in front of Loki. 'You must be punished for your crimes against the Midgardians. Therefore I have decided, in accordance with our laws, your mouth will be sewn shut with golden thread and you will be cast into prison until I believe you have redeemed yourself.'

Loki's eyes opened wide and Frigga gasped. Thor flung himself in front of his brother. 'That is cruel and unnecessary!' he bellowed.

'Stand aside, Thor,' Odin said, calmly.

'Never,' Thor spat at his father. 'That punishment is unnecessary.'

Odin observed his son through narrowed lids. 'This is most unlike you, Thor,' he said after a moment's pause. 'You have looked to serve justice throughout the realms for years, why speak up now? You never did before, in fact you often took action yourself whether or not I had given you my approval.'

'I was young and naïve,' Thor said. 'And never before was my brother the victim or your "justice".'

'Victim?' Odin glared at Thor. 'The victims are the mortals that had to suffer because of Loki's childishness. The victims are the humans that lost their lives, and these Avengers nearly went the same way.'

'Father, I beg you,' Thor said. 'Reconsider, please. Loki is family.'

'Loki forfeited the right to be part of our family when he let the Jotuns into Asgard,' Odin said quietly, dangerously.

'You don't forfeit the right to belong to a family!' Thor bellowed. 'People make mistakes, I have made more mistakes then I can recall yet you have never made me an outcast, I was banished but I was still your son! Loki deserves the same treatment, Asgard is his home!'

Caught behind Thor, Loki was watching the scene play out, guilt seeping up into his soul. As much as he hated Thor standing up for him when he was perfectly capable of doing it himself (if this infernal muzzle could be removed) he also did not like the idea of having his mouth sewn shut. Next to him, watching him cautiously, Frigga held one of his hands in a silent pledge to keep him safe, to do something to help him.

'ENOUGH!' Odin bellowed. 'Thor, get out.'

Thor held Mjolnir aloft and stood his ground. 'No,' he said, gritting his teeth together.

Things happened very quickly after that. Odin grabbed his sceptre and sent a burst of light at Thor's chest, sending him flying to the ground unconscious, Mjolnir flying out of his hand. He grabbed Loki by his neck and vanished, taking him down to the cells where no-one would hear from him for a very long time.

Frigga dropped to her knees beside Thor and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, there would be time for tears later. Right now, she needed to save her children from her husband's rage.

When Thor came to, he was in his room, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three gazing down at him with concerned looks.

Thor grunted and heaved himself up, glaring at Volstagg when he made to offer a hand.

'Where is my brother,' he spat out between his teeth.

'In the cells,' Sif said quietly, knowing better than to try and argue with Thor when he was in a foul mood such as this, he wasn't called the Thunderer for nothing after all.

'Thor…' Hogan said.

'Don't,' Thor warned him. 'Loki is my brother, he deserves a fair trial, not the torture he is suffering at my father's hand.'

'He is viewed to the whole of Asgard as a traitor, Thor,' Sif said. 'If you are seen protecting him, you too will be viewed as a traitor.'

'I will take my chances,' Thor said, standing up and holding out his hand for Mjolnir to return to it.

'Thor, please, think about what you're doing,' Fandral said, trying to get his friend to see sense. 'The whole of Asgard will turn against you.'

'Loki is my brother,' Thor repeated, staring his friends down. 'I do not believe that he was completely in control of his actions.'

'You think the Chitauri were controlling him?' Volstagg asked, frowning.

'I do not know,' Thor said. 'But I intend to find out. Now if you don't mind, I must visit my brother.'

Thor managed to sneak past the guards unnoticed, considering he'd been doing it for years, it was no longer a challenge. The corridor leading down to the cells was dark and musty, and Thor tried to ignore the other prisoners in the cages, he was only here for one, but when he reached Loki's cage, somebody else had beaten him to it.

'Hela,' Thor said, watching the dark haired girl as she carefully unpicked the thread from Loki's bloody, swollen lips, while her father tipped his head back, eyes screwed tightly shut, sweat standing out on his forehead as he screamed in silent agony.

'Thor,' Hela said, not turning round to look at her uncle as she pulled the last of the thread from Loki's mouth.

Loki let out a gasp when his mouth was free and he threaded his fingers through his daughter's thick black hair. 'Thank you, Hela,' he choked out.

Hela turned to look at her uncle, the dead side of her face screwed up in a frown, her clear green eyes glaring at him in contempt. 'You have some nerve showing your face here, Odinson,' she spat at him in disgust.

'How did you get in?' Thor asked.

Hela said nothing, she looked at her father and kissed his forehead. 'I will see you soon, father,' she said softly.

'Thank you, Hela,' Loki said, running a hand gently across the dead side of her face.

Hela stood up and glared at Thor one last time, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke, leaving the scent of ozone and decomposing flesh behind her.

Thor watched Loki carefully, his pale skin was tinged slightly green and his lips were swollen and black, strands of golden thread had fallen onto his clothes, and his hands were trembling slightly, but despite all that, his green eyes were focused and were glaring at him coldly.

'I came to remove the thread,' Thor said. 'But Hela obviously beat me to it. How did she get into Asgard?'

'Our mother let her in,' Loki said, and Thor didn't miss the pride in his voice or the way he said our mother.

'She shouldn't have done that,' Thor said.

'She's a good girl,' Loki snapped at him. 'She has a kind heart, even after your father cursed her to Helheim for the rest of eternity.'

Your father.

Thor swallowed thickly and sat on the ground in front of Loki. 'I came to ask you,' he said. 'What did the Chitauri say to you? What did they promise you?'

Loki glared at him, but said nothing.

'Loki, please,' Thor said. 'Father would see you rot in here, I am trying to help you, I want you to have a fair trial.'

Loki laughed bitterly. 'Like Odin would grant me a fair trial,' he said. 'He wants only to see me dead, his bastard son.'

'That's not true!' Thor said.

'You heard what the Alfather said to me,' Loki said. 'I forfeited the right to be a part of your family. I am a Frost Giant, children are scared of me, and they have every right to be.'

'They never used to be,' Thor said, quietly. 'They used to run up to you to see your tricks, to see you conjure flames out of thing air, they adored you, Loki.'

'Emphasis on the past tense,' Loki said, with a tone that sounded a little like sadness.

Thor grabbed his brother's hand, and was surprised when Loki didn't pull away. 'We can fix this,' he said. 'I know you were being manipulated by the Chitauri, and I'm not denying that the way Odin treated you was wrong, it was, he had no right saying those things. But we were raised together, we shared our childhood, where there was me, there was always you, we are brothers, Loki, that bond is still there whether you like it or not. And I will not sit idly by and watch you waste away inside a cell.'

Loki narrowed his eyes at him in confusion. 'Even after all this time,' he said. 'The way I treated you, you still love me?'

'Always,' Thor said, his face softening. 'We are brothers, there is no bond stronger then ours, but it has been twisted and broken and needs repairing. I need you, Loki, by my side, just like the old days.'

Thor wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but it looked like the corners of Loki's mouth quirked upwards in a half-smile.

'What do you want me to do?' Loki asked, finally accepting that his fate rested in Thor's hands.

'Tell me everything,' Thor said. 'Right from the beginning, miss out nothing.'

So Loki did.

XxXxXxX

When he was asked, Steve could never give a reason as to why he refused to stand down when he was beaten up in alleyways, he suspected it was because he simply hated bullies, and every time he gave up and surrendered, it was a victory for them.

Then the super soldier program came along and suddenly, he was a massive muscle mountain and didn't need to hide from bullies anymore, he could stand up for himself and protect America and his friends at the same time, it was a simple solution. And if anyone ever questioned him or doubted him, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark were there to back him up and encourage him.

The first time Steve was introduced to Tony Stark, it was in the form of a interview. Tony was sat next to an anchorman in a newsroom, dressed sharply in a simple brown suit, giving the camera an award-winning smile and clear, understandable answers. He was so damn charming, and Steve hated him immediately. He didn't know who it was to start with, it wasn't until the program resumed after an ad break and Steve saw the caption: 'Tony Stark: Co-CEO of Stark Industries talking about the new Arc Reactor Technology' when he put two and two together and recognised the dark hair and the dark eyes and the cocky grin and arrogant confidence as belonging to Howard. And he still hated him, hated that Tony was alive and Howard wasn't. He read all the old newspaper reports from when Tony was a child, saw all the pictures of the small dark haired boy proudly holding up a machine part or an intricate design drawn on paper. He read the interviews in Forbes and Vanity Fair, and the more he saw the more he disliked Howard's son. He didn't realise of course that Tony felt exactly the same way about him, he didn't realise that as a child Tony had idolised Captain America, hadn't realised that Howard had talked about him all the time, so much in fact that eventually Tony began to resent his childhood hero, because the more his father talked about him, the more Tony realised that actually, he was nothing like Steve Rogers, he never could be and he obviously wasn't worth his father's attention.

Steve honestly couldn't believe that Tony had a girlfriend. An actual, living, breathing, wonderful girlfriend who was kind and charming and lovely. And suddenly, the arrogant Tony he'd come to know vanished and was replaced with this calm, sweet, loving Tony who doted on Pepper and loved her completely. It was amazing how different he was when he was around her, and how different the Pepper on the newsreels was when she was around Tony. There was such a stark, if you'll pardon the pun, contrast that Steve wondered if she was actually the same woman, and when he found the two of them curled up on the sofa together after falling asleep during a movie, Pepper resting her head on Tony's bicep and Tony wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him so she could sleep safe in his arms, his hatred for Tony vanished immediately. He was just so caring when it came to Pepper, and was loathe to let her out of his sight. On one particular occasion, Pepper had been on a business trip for a week and Tony had been wandering around the tower like a lost child, unsure as to what to do now his other half wasn't there. And when she came back… he'd run across the room, picked her up and spun her round until they collapsed in a giggling tangle of limbs on the floor. Steve hadn't meant to watch this, but he'd spotted the pair through the window lying on the floor, Pepper curled up against Tony's chest, the adoration clear in his eyes.

And you just couldn't hate someone like that. So Steve played nice with Tony, and soon their little bunch of misfits could almost be seen as an actual team, with a touch of a family element underneath it, especially when Betty and Jane came into the picture as well. That was all nearly blown to pieces when Steve got irritable with Tony and had yelled 'for God's SAKE, Howard!' at him, and Tony had just stood there like a deer in the headlights, frozen and staring at him. Eventually he'd spun on his heel and marched out of the room and a few minutes later they all heard the sounds of things blowing up coming from his lab. He'd turned round and the entire team had been stood there, arms crossed, glaring at him. No matter how hard he tried Steve couldn't coax Tony out of his lab, and had to resort to a Peppervention to get him out. She'd surprised him when she'd pointed a finger at him, tapped her pointy heel on the floor and glared at him, saying: 'don't you dare ever call him "Howard" ever again,' after she'd managed to get him into the shower, and then bed for some much needed rest. Steve had just said 'yes, ma'am' and had gone out for a run to clear his head, a slightly larger grasp on why Tony had hated him so much when they'd first met.

Steve finally managed to get the courage to call Peggy about a week after the Chitauri had invaded, and they'd met up at in a little café and had just held each other for most of the day, silent tears cascading down each other's cheeks for the life they could have had together, for the friends they'd lost. For Howard, for Erskine, for Bucky. After that, they'd spent as much time together as they could, Peggy was the last thing that Steve had left in the world and he was loathe to lose her, especially when he'd found her again after all this time. He'd taken her back to the tower once or twice to introduce her to his team, Pepper had got on with her really well, and Tony had given her a big hug, he knew Peggy very well, it turns out she was over at the Stark's a lot when he was a child. But Steve knew it was over between them, there could never be a 'them', and that broke his heart, but she was there, she was alive, and that was all that mattered.


Please review! Next chapter will be featuring Pepper and the SHIELD team again :)