Chapter Eleven:
Barton's POV:
When we got back to the Avengers' facility, Sophie looked at me expectantly. Her power restraints were in a back in the back seat behind her. I shook my head.
"I'm telling them the truth about you, and I'm not letting them make you wear those things anymore. I saw how badly they affected you."
"Thanks, Clint. I wouldn't say anything, but they left me feeling fuzzy in the head and really weak all the time. So when I stopped eating it got a million times worse."
"No more of that, though, okay? The eating? If you have an issue, talk to me, don't just stop eating. I want to help you."
"I already promised Bucky and you know it, so I guess it won't hurt if I promise you, too."
We got out of the car, I grabbed the bag with her restraints and turned her to look at me.
"Whatever happens, stay either at my side or right behind me. And don't say anything. This might get ugly. Let me handle this."
Sophie nodded and we made our way to the control room, where all of the Avengers plus Fury, Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team were waiting for us. I stayed on the opposite side of the room from them, and pushed Sophie behind me. She offered no resistance to it.
"What in the world did you think you were doing, Barton?" Steve demanded.
"Better yet, who in the hell did you think you were to take this enhanced out of here without authorization?" Fury demanded.
"First, her name is Sophie Francis Holden. And I took her because I needed to talk to her where we wouldn't be listened to non-stop. Second, who am I to do this?" I paused at this point, gathering my strength to continue. Sophie squeezed my hand and I said what I needed to. "I am her father so things around here are going to change with how she's been treated. She will no longer be wearing these restraints or living in the cell. She stays with me and any testing gets my approval."
"She made a deal," Steve said.
"She's a minor who made the deal without the consent of a parent or guardian. Technically, that deal means nothing."
"You knew when she made the deal, didn't you, Legolas?"
"Yes. I've known since we brought her back here, and I've kept it from all of you to be kept on the case and protect her."
"How do we know you're not lying?" asked May. "It's what you were trained to do, and she wouldn't be the first that you broke protocol to protect."
"Helen Cho ran a paternity test the day we brought her and Barnes in. The sample she tested it was simply labeled 'Y'. Go ahead and check that sample versus one of my DNA samples. Or you could just ask Helen who the sample was from."
"You played us, Barton," Fury said.
"I had to. If you knew she was my daughter you would have kicked me off the case and sent me home. She needs me. I did it for her and for her mother."
By this point, Natasha, who had slipped away from all of this, returned with Helen Cho. Steve turned his attention to her.
"Doctor Cho, did you run a paternity test on Agent Barton against the DNA of the enhanced when we brought her in on his request?"
"Yes, Captain."
"And the results?" Steve asked.
"Positive. Agent Barton is Ms. Holden's biological father."
"And you withheld this information on what grounds?"
"Agent Barton's request, Sir. Am I in trouble?"
"No," he said, defeated. "You were following orders. You're not in trouble. You can go back to what you were doing. Thank you, Doctor Cho."
Helen hurried from the room.
"Any other questions?"
"What did you take her off the grounds to discuss?" Stark asked.
"Exactly what I just told you. That I was her father and that I was going to make things around here change for her. It wasn't something I felt should be done with a building full of spies to listen in. We went out for dinner, discussed it, took the time to get to know each other a bit, set our boundaries, and then came back here. As I told Natasha, I would bring her back."
"Barton, you know you can't take her back home with you yet, don't you?" asked Coulson.
"I'm not planning on leaving here with her yet. You wanted to question her, and I'll allow it. You can debrief her, but testing needs to be approved by me," I replied, before softening to Coulson. "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, Coulson. You know me. But Sophie is seventeen and my daughter. I don't want her treated like a science project and I don't want it forgotten that she is a teenager who did what she did while in extreme emotional distress after losing her mother. She's not some hardened lifelong criminal."
"Alright, Clint," Coulson said. "Why don't you and her go pack your things and we'll move the two of you into bigger quarters? Call me and I'll come show you where you're moving when you're ready to go."
"Thanks, Phil," I said, walking away with Sophie at my side.
On my way out of the room, I dropped the bag with the power restraints in them. Then we walked back to her cell. Taking the few things she had there, I took her to storage where we had the rest of the things we had collected that belonged to her from the safehouse. Reaching into one of the boxes, I pulled out a framed picture of her and her mother from when she was a little girl.
"I thought you'd want this one taken extra care of," I said, handing the frame to her.
She looked at the frame and a few tears silently slipped from her eyes. I pulled her closer to me. She let me hold her as she looked at the picture, and I looked at it with her. Her mother looked so much different from when I had seen her, but her eyes were lit up with happiness with Sophie in her arms.
"Thanks, Clint."
"For what?"
"Standing up for me. Other than Mom and Bucky, nobody has ever done that for me in my life."
"Get used to it, Sophie."
We grabbed the last of her things from storage and went to my quarters. I didn't have a ton of stuff so it didn't take long to pack.
Sophie's POV:
Clint's quarters were meticulous. There weren't a lot of things in there, but there were pictures. I started looking at them.
"Are these my siblings and your wife?" I asked him.
He stopped packing.
"Yeah, Sophie, they are. Laura is my wife, Cooper is your brother, Lila is your little sister, and Nathaniel Pietro is your baby brother," he said sadly.
"What's wrong, Clint?"
"Laura is trying to make me choose between you and all of them."
"Then go home," I said, feeling bad for him.
"No. It's wrong of her to make me choose. Yes, you've made mistakes, but you're not a bad kid, Sophie. I'm not going to turn my back on you. They're safe. Almost nobody knows where my farmhouse is. You need me. I'll work things out with Laura one way or the other."
"I don't want to break up your family, Clint."
"You are my family, Sophie."
"You've known me for like ten minutes. I know what it's like not to have a father and I don't want to do that to Cooper, Lila, or Nathaniel. It wouldn't be right."
"I'll work something out. I promise. I'll be in their lives as much as I can, but I'm not abandoning you, either."
He was serious about helping take care of me.
"Fine. I won't push it. Just don't abandon those three kids who call you Dad because of me. Promise?"
"Sophie, I'm not that guy. Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel will always have me, especially when they need me. So I promise," he said as he hugged me.
I felt a little better, but I wouldn't feel completely better about it until he kept the promise.
"So, what kinds of tests are you gonna let them do on me?"
"They can test to see how your genetics have been changed because of your situation and see what your enhancements are. Other than that, I need to know where you should be in school."
"Clint, my IQ is over 180. I don't need to be in school. I can tell you that. But I'll take any academic test you want, but don't be surprised if I outwit Stark," I told him. "Will you let them test my powers to see how they work?"
"No. You can show them you can control them, but I will not let them test to see how they work."
"Will you train with me on the range while I'm here?"
"You want to?"
"Why not? Apparently I'm the daughter of the top Archer in the world. It would be interesting to see how I measure up to the legacy, don't you think?"
He smiled at me. We finished packing and he called Coulson. A few minutes later, Coulson showed up to meet us.
"Phil, this is Sophie," Clint said.
"Hi, Sophie. Nice to meet the legacy of Hawkeye," Coulson said to me.
"Hi Phil, it's nice to meet you, too. And I'm sorry about the incident with your team. I was just trying to get out of there. I didn't want to hurt any of them and if I did, I'm sorry," I replied, shaking his hand.
"Well, your shot is as good as your father's. Those warning shots didn't hit any of them. And the other injuries were easily dealt with. I appreciate that you're sorry that you did it. How long have you been shooting?"
"For as long as I can remember. My mom always told me I'd be a natural. When I was able to, I got my hand on a bow and arrow and she was right. It was how I escaped when I was ten. I've been on my own since. As I got older I found that my aim was just as good with guns. I guess it's genetic."
"Interesting. And your combat skills?" Coulson asked.
"Being a ten year old on your own, you need to know how to defend yourself. I found ways of learning, training. Sometimes, by tutoring or exchanging archery lessons in exchange for different types of martial arts training. I picked it up very quickly. I was very agile and quick on my feet."
Coulson looked at Clint and I saw a slight shake of his head. Clint was getting upset.
"What is it?" I asked.
"That's enough, Coulson."
"Fine. Here are your new quarters. I hope all of this works out for both of you. Nice meeting you under better circumstances, Sophie," Phil said and left.
Barton's POV:
I couldn't believe Coulson. He was trying to gauge whether or not Sophie was a candidate for recruitment. They all knew I wouldn't leave her alone, but they knew I was planning on going back into retirement when this mission was done, so was this their new plan? Wait until she was eighteen and recruit her to take over, my "legacy"?
"What's wrong, Clint? You're worrying me," Sophie said, bringing me out of my head.
"Coulson's questions. They had a secondary motive, not just getting to know you, Sophie."
"What do you think he was doing?"
"I think he was trying to see if you could be recruited when you turn eighteen."
"What's wrong with that?"
"You'll never have a normal life. You'll spend your life looking over your shoulder to make sure nobody finds out who you really are or comes to kill you. My life isn't a safe one. That's why my farmhouse isn't even on S.H.I.E.L.D. files. It was the only way to keep Laura and the kids safe."
"I've never had a normal life anyway, Clint. Maybe me joining this team is a way to make up for the bad things I've done. I'll be with the people you trust and you'd be able to go home to Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel."
"And worry non-stop the daughter I just found will be killed in action? It's not that easy for me, Sophie."
"Well, we have a few months before I turn eighteen to work things out. Let's not fight about this now. We were getting along so well," she said, but I could tell this was far from over, which worried me more. "Do you want to head to the archery range?"
We put our duffle bags down and I nodded.
"Let's go. I'll show you how it's done," I grinned at her, trying not to let my anxiety show.