Disclaimer: Avengers and Hunger Games belong to their relevant owners; I merely borrow them to write this story

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A Man Like No Other

As I ducked under Clint's latest attack and brought up my bow to compensate, I was amazed at just how quickly I was moving now. The training I'd undergone for the Hunger Games had been intense, but then they'd been trying to diversify to teach me a vast multitude of skills that could be used for survival in the arena; with Clint focusing on teaching me how to fight, the training session had been far more intense.

Hand-to-hand combat wasn't the only thing that Clint was teaching me, but the revelation that I'd practically need to re-learn how to use a bow and arrow had been a bit of a shock. Having seen what Clint was capable of, I was almost ashamed that anyone might compare the two of us; Clint was so much better than me I was almost embarrassed to think that I'd ever considered myself an archer. I could hit moving targets well enough, but deprive me of a bow and I was almost ridiculously outmatched if I got into a fight; Clint's bow might be his primary weapon, but he made it clear more than once that he was far from a slouch without it, and the rate at which he could aim, fire, and then have a new arrow set up was so quick it was almost unbelievable…

"You OK?" Clint asked, looking curiously at me; I blushed slightly as I realised that I'd been staring at him while I thought.

"Just… wondering…" I said, waving an uncertain hand in the air as I tried to think of a better way to describe my feelings.

"Wondering what you're doing in the Avengers, huh?" Clint asked, smiling at me in understanding. "Your skills were raw, Katniss, but you still had a natural talent for this kind of thing before I even got here; you just needed to apply yourself-"

"But what if I can't?" I said, finally allowing myself to voice the fear that had been growing in me the more I saw what the other Avengers were capable of. "What I did when I was out there with Natasha and Bruce was more of a fluke than anything else; I don't… I'm not as skilled as you-"

"I'm a guy with a bow and arrows on a team with a man armed with the most advanced weapon of our world; you think I don't feel that way myself sometimes?" Clint said, looking at me with a particularly serious expression. "Hell, I wasn't even meant to be part of the team at first; Steve, Stark, Banner and Thor were all definite candidates, and Natasha's got a broad range of skills that make her a great choice for any missions that might need stealth, but all I can really do is shoot arrows really really well, and we weren't exactly short of people with a diverse range of skills in long-range combat."

"Then… how did you…?" I began uncertainly, only to trail off when I found myself unsure how to finish that sentence without appearing too rude.

"Personally, I think part of the reason I got on the team because I'd been brainwashed into serving our enemy for a time and everyone else thought that they owed me the chance to get back at him," Clint replied, pausing for a moment as he looked upwards, apparently lost in a particularly grim train of thought, before he looked back at me, the abruptness of his manner giving me no opportunity to ask him to clarify what he meant by 'brainwashing'. "I made a difference in the final fight, of course, but I think there are still a few people back home who'd have tried to keep me out of Avengers business in future if it wasn't for the rest of the team stating that they considered me an Avenger and making it clear that they'd accept no arguments."

"That's… good?" I said, stuck for anything better to say as I smiled hesitantly at him. "And… well, Steve must think a lot of you, right?"

"To go to the trouble of bringing me here after so long?" Clint asked, smiling at me even as he nodded in contemplation of my suggestion. "Yeah, having Captain America go to those lengths for you does make you feel better about yourself…"

"Can I just ask… why do you all have so much faith in him?" I asked, looking curiously at the archer.

"What?" Clint said, looking at me in surprise.

"I mean, I respect him, of course, but when you've got people who can do… well, when you have Tony's technology and Bruce's raw power, what does Steve have that makes him particularly respected?" I explained; I'd only known Steve a short time, but even if I respected his authority, I couldn't help but wonder what the other four Avengers I'd met so far saw in him back in their time that made them respect him so much. "I don't mean to sound like I'm disrespecting him or anything…"

"No, that's a good question, and one you should know the answer to," Clint said, smiling at me before he sat down on the floor, leaving me to sit down opposite him. "You see, Katniss, in a sense, Steve is the first of all of the Avengers; Thor might have been around before him, but he was considered to be a myth before he appeared on Earth in our time, but Steve was the first person to be gifted with more-than-human strength, speed and stamina and use them to defend rather than conquer."

"How did that… happen?" I asked curiously.

"Well," Clint began, "around seventy years before the time we come from, our country, America, was waging a war against another country who sought to establish their vision of a perfect world while exterminating anyone who didn't fit that vision. One of our chief scientists devised a process that would turn augment soldier treated with it to the peak of human capabilities, and Steve was selected as the first subject of this process."

"Is that what he meant when he talked about a… serum… when you all first arrived here?" I asked, suddenly remembering comments Steve and Tony had made when the Avengers had first arrived here.

"Exactly," Clint said, smiling at me in approval before continuing his story. "The scientist who created the serum was killed by a spy after Steve was successfully subjected to the process, with all samples of the serum lost and written copies of its formula incomplete, but Steve went on to become a major figure in the war right up until he was lost in the last year of the conflict; he led so many missions and saved so many lives that he was regarded as a national treasure and the symbol of our country for years even before he was rediscovered."

"After… seventy… years?" I said, suddenly wondering if I'd missed something. "What… happened to him?"

"He was forced to crash-land an enemy plane into the Arctic to stop it destroying a major city," Clint explained. "Nobody's entirely sure how, but some scientists back home speculated that the serum that enhanced his strength also altered his physiology so that he was put into some kind of stasis by the ice rather than just being outright killed by it."

"Stasis… like what Steve said Tony did- will do- whatever- for him after Maestro's assault?" I asked.

"Like that, but probably more scientific; there's been some speculation back in our time about using stasis as a means of preserving life for future treatment, but it hasn't really gotten off the ground completely yet," Clint replied, before he resumed his story. "The point is, we respect Steve because Captain America served as a symbol of what America was fighting for in the darkest war we've experienced in our history, and ever since he's returned… he's reminded us of how important it is to protect what we believe in, rather than just fighting to kill our enemies."

It was hard to know what to say to a declaration like that at first, so I simply sat in silence, taking a moment to process everything that Clint had told me before I spoke again.

"Well," I said at last, "I can see why you respect him, then."

"And that respect is one of the reasons I consider myself an Avenger no matter what anyone else back home might try to say," Clint said. "Some of my superiors might have doubts, but when Captain America declares you an Avenger, it's hard to tell him he's wrong."

"Even when you don't feel like you are?" I asked, even as I smiled in understanding.

"The thing about being an Avenger, Katniss, is that, once you're on the team, sooner or later, a moment will come when there's something only you can do for the rest," Clint explained. "In our first battle as a team, I scouted out potential targets, Steve coordinated our attack, Stark established a perimeter, Natasha tackled the equipment that was the source of Loki's power, Thor dealt with long-range assaults, and Bruce… well, that goes without saying."

"You all had something only you could do," I said, smiling slightly at the brief description Clint had given me; it might have been amazing to be part of this team at their peak…

"And that's what you're here for," Clint said, looking resolutely at me. "You're not just here because you have some skill with a bow; you're here because you represent what this world is fighting to reclaim, and the spirit to stand up for what you want."

"Even if I'm not entirely sure what that is?" I asked, suddenly embarrassed once again. "I mean, I'm still not even sure why I chose to offer Peeta the nightlock…"

"You didn't want to obey the rules that would have made you kill your friend," Clint said firmly. "It doesn't matter if you were in love with him or just wanted to defy the Capitol's rules; you took a stand against a rule that you didn't agree with, despite having lived all your life in a society that encouraged conformity or death. Being an Avenger doesn't have to be anything more complicated than fighting for your freedom, Katniss; our first major foe sought to conquer the world just because he felt like nobody respected him, but none of us were going to just sit back and let him take over even before he pissed us all off."

I didn't know what it was about these people, but ever since I'd met the Avengers, every moment I spent with them left me feeling like I was home for the first time in… I wanted to say since before I was Reaped, but I almost felt like it was longer than that, dating all the way back to when I'd lost my father and had to grow up faster than I should have.

I'd spent so long trying to be the head of my household, and now, here I was, just as part of a strange, unconventional team that was already starting to feel like family…

"Katniss?" a familiar voice said from the door. Turning around, I smiled at the sight of Prim, awkwardly standing in the doorway, looking at us in surprise.

"Prim?" I said, walking over to her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that you and Gale had an argument earlier," Prim explained as she walked into the room. "I wanted to see how you were."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling reassuringly at her. "I'm just… I'm training with some people, and Gale doesn't exactly like them; it's… complicated."

"It's always been complicated…" Prim said, shaking her head in frustration even as she smiled at me, before she looked curiously at Clint. "Is he one of the people you're training with?"

"That's correct," Clint said, nodding at Prim. "And you are?"

"Primrose Everdeen," Prim interjected, walking forward to smile at Clint as she held out her hand. "I'm Katniss's sister."

"Clint Barton," Clint replied, smiling at the little girl as he crouched down in front of her, the better to address her directly, before shaking her offered hand. "But a few people call me 'Hawkeye'."

"Like people call Katniss 'Mockingjay'?" Prim asked, looking curiously at the older man.

"Bingo," Clint said, smiling at Prim in confirmation. "I came here with a few friends to help Katniss out in her role as the Mockingjay; she's… joining our team."

"You have a team?" Prim asked, looking between Clint and me in surprise.

"Oh yeah," I said, smiling at the curious smile on Prim's face. "Clint's an incredible archer, and he has a partner who's the most incredible hand-to-hand fighter I've ever seen, but his other two friends…"

As my words unintentionally brought Bruce's captivity to the front of my mind again, I tried not to think about what the rest of the Avengers might be going through right now, choosing to focus instead on the positives of this situation. "Well, you wouldn't believe me until you see them."

"When's that?" Prim asked.

"Soon," Clint said, smiling at my sister with the warmest expression I'd seen him display since his arrival. "They're on a mission at the moment, but they should be back soon."

His calm confidence in the other Avengers should have reassured me, but I couldn't help but remember that, regardless of their skills, Tony and Natasha didn't really know this world.

I'd been completely lost in the Capitol when I was only there for a visit, and I lived in the same time period as the people there; how were the Avengers going to cope?

As our training resumed, however, I soon found myself with other things to occupy my thoughts than the question of how Tony and Natasha were coping; if I was going to do any good in our planned assault on the Maestro, I had to push myself harder…

AN: Another focus on personal development, but we get back into the action next chapter, I assure you (Along with Natasha learning something very unexpected…)