Author's Note: This chapter was like pulling teeth. I had a dreaded bout of writer's block but I'm hoping to get things rolling again in the next few chapters.

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Like a small boat on the ocean, sending big waves into motion.

Fight Song- Rachel Platten

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Wanda Maximoff had made a general rule of not trusting others unless they had proven trustworthy. With that being said, she trusted Pietro, and she trusted the archer, Clint Barton.

Those were the only two that she'd truly seen vulnerable and honest with her in her life.

The other members of the Avengers, they were simply companions. Yes, she had grown close with Vision over the years, and Steve Rogers had shown his own type of ingenuity and honesty in the field; but everyone locked up their pain and vulnerability. Clint knew he was human and embraced the very meaning of it.

That's why she took a special interest when his daughter was found in the mountains of Alaska.

She'd visited the young woman while she slept in the hospital wing and sensed the same honesty in her soul that she found in the archer. She saw frustration and she saw fear.

Fear, in Wanda's opinion, truly made someone honest. You could try to hide it behind capes and metal suits, but embracing it made someone more powerful than any of the Asgardian warriors.

She was convinced this was how Clint was able to survive so effectively against aliens, monsters and gods.

But one day he needed a break. From everything. Ultron had shown him the vulnerability of his humanity and he sought his family. So he hid. Wanda, however, saw him on two other occasions after that day.

The first was a visit to his farm to thank him for helping her discover her own strength and helping her to cope with the loss of Pietro. They'd chatted and watched his wife, Laura, try to wrangle the children for dinner. It'd been laughter and peace.

The second was at the funeral of his family, a small affair with only those closest to Clint in attendance. Three tiny coffins lined next to a full sized one. Clint sat stone faced and empty as the priest spoke.

Wanda had been fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to receive an invitation to the devastating and solemn event. She exchanged a brief glance and nod from a broken Clint Barton and watched him disappear into the fog of the graveyard.

She hadn't seen him since that day. She'd heard stories that he had sacrificed himself in the investigation of a HYDRA warehouse, that he sought revenge for him family and found it. At the same time, he was able to be reunited.

Like the others, she kept busy training and kept her attention focused on other things. Everyone handled the loss in his or her own ways. Tony had begun a fallen Avengers memorial, erecting a statue of Pietro and Clint next to one another. It seemed like no time had passed before a statue of Natasha Romanoff was set next to Clint.

That's were Wanda found the girl; 21 years later.

Dana Barton was sitting on the floor in front of the memorial. A few members had popped up in it over the years, Steve after a botched assassination attempt, Thor once or twice, even Maria Hill and Fury had taken a spot in the memorial for a brief period of time.

Wanda tried to get a read on the girl before approaching her, but all of her emotions jumped from place to place. Confusion, anger, sadness, hopelessness, pride…

"They had all fought so bravely," Wanda commented taking a seat next to Dana. The girl didn't move aside from a glance in Wanda's direction, acknowledging her presence. "My brother, though, it doesn't say how he died. Pity."

"How long was he an Avenger?" Dana asked quietly, gazing up at the statue of Pietro.

"A day and a half maybe," Wanda chuckled. Tony had been adamant on not putting dates of service in the memorial. He didn't want to invalidate someone's sacrifice over another's because of seniority.

"He must have been amazing," Dana sent a small smile toward Wanda.

"He was," Wanda agreed. "We were so close, and yet I could never figure out what his next thought or action would be. He was a good judge of character though."

"How did he die?"

"Clint Barton," she nodded to the statue near Pietro. "When Ultron attacked, he was saving a child and trying to get him on the escape craft. One of Ultron's robots had begun to attack and Pietro intervened…"

"He saved him," Dana whispered. "He died protecting… wow…"

"Like I said," Wanda shrugged. "A good judge of character."

"I'm so sorry," Dana muttered.

"It's not your fault," Wanda replied. "He made his own decision, I realized that over the years. He would have been so angry after Clint supposedly died. I always imagined the two of them meeting in the next life and Pietro teasing him relentlessly."

A silence fell between the pair before Dana finally spoke again.

"Natasha," she finally said the name out loud. Wanda noted how strange it sounded coming from the girl. "I knew her as Natalie, a school teacher."

Wanda nodded as Dana spoke. So she knew about her parentage.

"Natasha was a special kind of broken," Wanda explained. "She had a loyalty to very few people, but constantly sought redemption for the incidents of her past."

"She and my dad were close," Dana nodded. "That makes sense. They hid with each other didn't they? After Laura died."

Wanda had been briefed on the updated situation after intelligence from the HYDRA base had come to light. It seemed Dana had caught up as well. It was only a matter of time, Wanda had warned Steve that this would happen.

"Maybe for a time," Wanda said with a frown. "But I don't think it was a very long."

"Guess that's how babies are born," Dana snorted. "The rest of the story is straight forward enough."

"How so?"

"Well, I show up, he's all freaked out from losing his entire family, runs to rural Alaska and tries to live a normal life. He forged documents and managed it for a few years," Dana explained. "Though keeping his last name was probably not the best decision, in my opinion…"

Wanda scanned Dana once again and saw no resentment was present in her emotions. Just confusion and frustration. Dana Barton wanted to do something.

"Now we just wait," Wanda adjusted her tone and waited for a response from Dana. "He will turn up, I'm sure."

Dana kept her attention fixed on the statues in front of her and shook her head.

"No," she finally stated firmly. "I'm going to find some answers and find my dad."

"Where would you like to begin?" Steve joined the pair and stood behind Wanda. He'd been there a while, but Wanda knew he didn't want to be detected. Steve knew the importance of pulling information from a person and felt the interaction didn't need his intrusion.

Dana whirled around and smiled at the Captain.

"That's a fairly ambiguous question sir," she replied before fishing around in her pant pocket for a piece of paper. She held it up to Wanda and Steve before crossing her arms. "I'd like to go there."

"The farmhouse it is," Steve nodded at the address scribbled on a piece of napkin. "I'll get the plane ready."

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It was late when Chris Stark received a notification that one of the jets was being used by Captain Rogers for confidential reasons.

He frowned and studied the manifest request carefully. It wasn't like Steve to go on a mission alone, but the manifest specifically noted that there was only one passenger onboard.

When Chris tried to pull up the internal camera on the jet, he was met with static. What was Captain Rogers up to?

While he searched, another ping alerted Chris to an incoming audio transmission to the jet. While he wasn't able to listen to the conversation itself, he traced the source to a SHIELD safe house in the Midwest. After a few moments of investigation, he found the source to be specifically outside of Wyoming.

Chris wasn't familiar with any SHIELD operations in the Midwest, at least to his personal knowledge. With a quick skim of the SHIELD database he found a few notes involving the movement of Maria Hill and Nick Fury throughout the country.

One path had them going north, another west, and a third sent them into South America, but Chris followed each lead and found everything connected in Wyoming.

The jet, however, was headed for Iowa. A smirk crossed Chris' features as he realized what was located in the state. Perfect. Everything was going according to plan.

Chris slammed his laptop shut and hurried out of his room toward the lobby of the tower. He needed to make a few phone calls before proceeding.

In his hand, he toyed with a pair of USBs while he waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the bottom floor of the tower. Things were about to get very fun.

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"What do you mean Iowa?" Clint gaped at Fury as the group made their way into the parking lot of the Super 8.

"Captain America, The Scarlet Witch, Falcon and your daughter are on their way to Iowa," Fury repeated slowly.

"Why?" Clint stopped outside of the jeep and frowned.

"Because I'm sure they'd love some corn and pig wrestling, why do you think?" Fury snorted. "Rogers told me that she knows a little more than we're willing to give credit for."

"She doesn't know…" Clint began and Fury shook his head.

"She doesn't know she's going to destroy everything good and just in the world," Fury corrected. "She does know who her biological mother is, however."

Eyes turned to Natasha who shrugged.

"Good for her, maybe she'll stop acting as impulsively as her father," she chuckled and crawled into the passenger seat of the jeep. Barnes jumped into the back while Fury signaled a nearby SUV to pull up. Maria Hill rolled down the driver's window and gave Clint a small salute.

"So Iowa?" She called to the group.

"Iowa it is," Clint nodded and allowed her to lead the way to the airport. His stomach felt uneasy as they pulled onto the highway. Natasha and James exchanged a few words so he was able to keep his attention on the road.

He hadn't been back since Laura and the kids were taken from him. He sought his revenge but it still didn't heal the broken wounds inside. No matter how much he tried to hide, no matter how many years had passed, the attack was still fresh in his mind. HYDRA would never back down. No matter what they did, they couldn't be defeated.

Even more so, HYDRA managed to become even more personal. They managed to hurt him even more, to damage the small family he'd managed to create around him.

"Clint," Natasha's voice brought him back to reality. "It's going to be ok."

He hadn't realized that he was gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He pulled a hand into his lap and nodded.

They wouldn't get to Dana. They couldn't get to her. Out of every member of the team he knew Steve would do his best to protect Dana against HYDRA. There was no way that the man who'd dedicated his life to fighting the organization would be a mole for them.

Though he had trusted people recklessly in the past.

Clint just hoped he'd learned from his mistakes.

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Author's Note: Short! I knowwww! I promise I'll make it up next time. Thank you for reading! There are probably a million different errors I overlooked because I wanted to get this up before the end of the night, I'm sorry!