Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, I've been really busy. I have a friend from Spain here and I have been busy with horse stuff to try out for equestrian team next year. Anyway, the updates mighty be a little slow for a while, but it'll get better soon, I promise! So there was a tie for the second part of this chapter, so I just added what was going on with Atticus instead,, but next chapter it will be better and hopefully longer!

Enjoy!

pls note that I don't own any character you recognize

Clint pulled himself up into the air vent, making a lot of noise as he struggled to fit through the small space. He wasn't as small as Archer and Atticus.

Archer looked up and raised his eyebrows. 'Wow, he's persistent. Better not get himself stuck though, I'm not helping.' He thought. As soon as Clint had managed to get himself into the vent and looked up, Archer looked back down. He was going to start fiddling with the bow strings (as he always did when he was nervous) but couldn't because they were broken, so he just started trying to tie them together, even though he knew it wouldn't work.

Clint crawled over and sat across from him. Archer didn't look up and instead curled himself even closer to the opposite wall and looked down more, if that was possible. Clint had to hold back a sigh. This was how it had been for the past two days, except this time Archer couldn't run away.

Archer tried to tie the two ends of the string together (no way was he asking Clint for new ones) and silently cursed Atticus as they snapped apart again.

Clint cleared his throat, Archer didn't look up. He pulled the new package of strings out of his pocket and awkwardly tossed them towards the boy. Archer flinched as the package hitting the floor next to him made a noise. He gingerly picked up the package and slowly turned to Clint with a questioning look.

"Your friend said you needed those." Clint explained.

Archer nodded, finally seeing Atticus's horrible (at least in Archer's opinion) plan. "Thanks."

Archer pulled the string out of the package and pulled the old one off his bow. He glanced at Clint, who pretended to be intrigued by the ceiling, before continuing to fix the bow.

Clint watched him for a minute as he positioned the string, being very precise. Just as he was about to finish fixing it, the string slid off of the top of the weapon and flew off, hitting Archer in the hand. He muttered a string of curses in some foreign language and picked up the string to try again, still not looking at Clint.

After trying again and muttering some more curses, Clint guessed it was Russian this time, Archer glanced up at Clint.

For a second, Clint thought Archer was going to ask him for help, but he didn't.

They sat for a minute, Archer struggling with the bow and Clint watching, until finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Want some help?" He asked.

Archer looked up and jerked his head slightly to the left, causing the bangs that fell over his eyes to move, so Clint could actually see his bewildered expression.

"You want to help, me?"

Clint nodded awkwardly and stuck out his hand. "Uhh yeah, I won't break it."

The boy subconsciously pulled the bow away from the man, before looking up again.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Archer nodded and slowly handed the bow over. Clint quickly and easily placed the string correctly.

He looked over the bow, it was a simple composite bow, smaller than the average one, so it could fit Archer. He assumed it was custom made for him, as most children's bows have strings that are relatively easy to pull, but this one didn't. There were lots of scratches in the black paint, probably from dropping it, but some stood out. They were on the inside near the handle and looked like they had been carved out with a knife. There were twenty six of them in a row.

Clint wanted to ask about it, but decided not to. He didn't want to ruin the conversation they were almost having.

After a minute he handed the re-strung bow back to Archer.

"Thanks." The boy muttered and looked back down.

It was quiet for a while until Clint spoke up.

"Hey, uh, on the training floor there's an archery area. I could take you down their if you wanted?" Clint offered.

Archer didn't even look up. "You don't have to try to be friends with me, you know. I'm fine on my own."

"I'm not trying to be friends with you, kid." Clint snapped. "I'm trying to do what I'm supposed to do."

"And what exactly is that?"

"To be your dad. Now, I will probably be a real shitty parent, but you've got to give me a chance at least."

Archer stared at Clint in response.

"So, want to go practice, or not?"

Archer shrugged. "Sure."

Clint grabbed his bow off the rack and walked over to the corner of the room, Archer following close behind him.

He tapped the screen on the pedestal to select a setting. Tony had been "inspired" after seeing the second hunger games movie and had decided to redo Clint's training room to resemble the one Katniss had used in the Capitol. Even though it annoyed Clint when Tony teased him ("Now you actually are Katniss!") he enjoyed the system. He scrolled through settings on the tablet, picking how many people were training and which holographic images they were aiming at. It was already preset as humans, so when he clicked enter, outlines of people flicked to life in front of them.

Clint turned to Archer as the images appeared. Immediately Archer look changed from surprised to deadly. His grip tightened on the bow. Clint quickly turned back to the pedestal and changed the setting, pressing the closest option. The people changed to dogs that started running around in front of them.

Archer expression immediately changed back to normal before he shot Clint a look.

"Dogs?"

Clint turned back to the screen and scrolled through the options, the system was fairly new and Tony hadn't installed many options yet.

"That's all I have." He explained.

Archer looked at the screen.

"There's birds."

"Those are really hard, they're tiny." Clint explained.

"Try me." The boy challenged.

Clint pressed a button and the dogs changed to small birds, fluttering around the room, quickly jetting back and forth.

Clint aimed then drew his bow and hit one, the pixels fell to the ground and disappeared. He turned to Archer who was standing, not aiming, just watching. Clint saw his mouth moving, though the words were barely audible, it sounded like he was counting. A second later he pulled back his bow and shot, without wasting any time aiming (at least it looked like he didn't). Clint couldn't help but let his mouth drop open as the arrow shot through one bird, and then another one behind it, and another behind that, before neatly bouncing off the wall.

Archer turned around and smirked.

"I thought you said this was difficult."

'Just like his mom.' Clint thought, Bobbi had always wanted to be the best at everything. If she set her mind to do something, she would do it, and rub it in when she did.

Clint laughed and continued shooting. So did Archer. They continued for ten minutes until all the birds are gone, with Archer stopping occasionally and looking at Clint. He would open his mouth to say something, but would change his mind and continue practicing.

Finally, he spoke up.

"What was my mom like?" He blurted out. Archer bit his lip and looked down, like he was embarrassed.

Clint lowered his bow. "What?"

"My mom, mi madre, моя мать. I mean, you knew her, right? She wasn't just a prostitute or something."

"No, of course not." Clint said. "She was smart, funny, sarcastic, daring..." He trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts.

"So why did you leave her?" Archer asked.

"I didn't, she left me. Said it just wasn't working out, with us working for the same company and all. Then she moved to some middle eastern country and totally disappeared."

"And then went a had a kid that you didn't know about." Archer added.

"Yeah." Clint thought for a minute. "So if you were with her, how did you end up where you were?"

Archer looked down and took a deep breath. "They came to our house. Said they needed me, were going to pay a lot of money too. Of course she said no. So they... they got rid of her. That was six years ago, I've been in Russia with everyone else ever since then."

Clint was shocked. He hadn't heard from Bobbi in ten years, but he didn't think she was dead. If he would've just known about Archer he could've done something, gone and lived with them and help protect them. He shouldn't have let her go, he could've stopped her, but he didn't. The only woman he ever loved was dea-.

"Hello? Dude. Just forget I asked ok?" Archer interrupted his thoughts. "It's like twelve, maybe I should go to bed."

"Right." Clint cleared his throat.

They stepped out of the elevator and back into the apartment.

"So, uh, thanks I guess." Archer said.

Clint looked down at him. For the first time, he really looked at him.

Archer was slightly tall for his age. His hair was a very light brown and was very thick, like his mothers. All of the kids were pale, causing the freckles on Archers face to stand out. The most interesting part was his eyes. One was a bright green, and the other was a darker green with streaks of blue, giving it a almost dark cyan color. Atticus had said it was from an eye surgery, but he didn't say if the surgery was successful or not.

Finally Archer gave Clint a strange look and turned to walk down the hallway to his room. Clint hadn't realized he had been staring at him, still amazed that there was actually a real, living person that was half him.

As Clint watched him walk down the hall he came to a decision. Even if he thought he was going to be a shitty dad, he had to try. He owed it to Bobbi to take care of him.

Archer walked into his room and locked the door. He ran over to the bed and pulled out the blue duffle bag packed for when he was going to run away from underneath it. The boy unzipped it to start unpacking before closing it again.

'One good day doesn't mean you're staying, you know that.' He convinced himself as he tucked the bag underneath his bed. He would wait, but as soon as he messed something up and they realized he was just a burden, he would be ready to go. He didn't belong here.

Atticus ran down the alley.

"Shit, shit, shit." He swore and he knocked over a garbage can. He kept running as he heard the police sirens approaching behind him. The sirens got closer as he quickly climbed over a fence.

At the top of the fence his ankle got caught. He winced as he felt it twist backwards at an awkward and painful angle. A surge of pain shot through his leg as he heard a crack.

Finally his foot came loose and he kept running. The pain was excruciating, but he was used to it.

Suddenly a police car swerved towards him from in front, forcing him to run back towards the fence. He knew he couldn't climb it again, not with his ankle like this. The only option was to go with them, he could easily break out later.

Three officers jumped out of the car and pulled out their guns. Atticus put his hands behind his head in surrender.

Atticus waited in the room for three hours as officers came in and out. First to confiscate the things he had stolen (he figured he could make a living off of selling stolen stuff) and to take off his handcuffs. Then to take his weapons, which he had protested against, so the handcuffs went back on. Finally they asked him questions, and he answered everyone with a perfect lie, something even more believable than the real story. And after the three long hours were over, they took off the handcuffs again and loaded him into a car. The car stopped in front of a small, messy, falling apart apartment on the edge of the city.

"Where are we?" Atticus asked.

"This is your new home." The man driving said.

"What do you mean?"

"Welcome to the America Foster Care System, Jeremiah."

Poor Atticus, stuck in a foster home! Haha anyway, next chapter I will be putting two stories in. Last time I asked it was a tie between these ones

Alexei and/or Aria and Bruce

Aurora and Thor

So the question now is, do you want it to be Alexei and Aria together, or separate? And if separate, which one do you want to see in the next chapter? Let me know! Like I've said before I love hearing your opinions. I don't really have this story even plotted out of anything, so if you have an idea let me know because I can probably put it in this story! Thanks for everything guys!