Chapter 5

[Emily's POV]

Bucky and I exited the elevator, just to run into Professor Cho.

"Professor," I growled, nodding my head in respect. The doctor just ignored me and stepped past us into the elevator. As soon as the door shut, I muttered, "I hate that woman." Bucky snickered beside me and we entered this lab area where Tony and Steve learned about my powers. Tony was jammed up in some robot's guts, and Steve was talking urgently with some tall man. Steve spotted us and waved us other. We approached carefully and I glanced at the new arrival.

"Emily, I want you to meet Clint Barton," said Steve, gesturing to the man. "Besides your fitness trainers, he'll help you get acquainted with the group." I shifted uncomfortably and Steve asked, "Are you ok?"

"She kind-of destroyed Wanda's room," said Bucky slowly. Clint and Steve's eyes widen with disbelief.

"What?" Steve demanded. I then launched into a full story of what happened between Wanda and me. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Emily…I don't know what we're going to do with you."

"Deep breaths," said Clint, waving his hand in front of Steve's face. "I'm going to take Emily to get Chinese takeout." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from the other two men and I stumbled after him as we headed towards the elevator.

"Um…" I began, unable to process what he just did.

"You were in distress, I helped," Clint put in. "Don't worry. We can get Mexican if that works better." I rolled my eyes and my chest tightened up as we began to descend. I gripped the handles tightly. "Not again." Clint walked over to me and caught me as I slipped. Just standing still. "It's ok." He helped me sit down with my back to the gray wall. "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts," I whispered, trying to take deep breaths but moaning. "My lungs…it's always happened when we descend for some reason." Clint looked at me with brown eyes and gently placed his hand on my head. I took a deep breath, and this time, it didn't hurt as much. I closed my eyes and my head leaned into his hand. I always had this thing with people's hands on my head. It made me feel relaxed. "You like that, huh?" We laughed, and this time, my lungs didn't hurt. The elevator pinged and Clint scooped me up into his arms, taking a step outside. A blond woman glanced up skeptically at us, and her warm brown eyes smiled along with the rest of her face.

"Now Clint, I thought we talked about this," she teased gently, and Clint rolled his eyes.

"She couldn't breathe, I was helping," he replied, gently setting me down. "Emily, meet Sharon Carter. Sharon, this is Emily. She's going to be one of our new recruits."

"Nice…" she began, but a loud BANG rang throughout the car lot. We all fell to the ground and Sharon slipped out a gun from the waistband of her jeans. Clint followed suit, except he yanked out a compacted bow from his jacket. He removed his jacket, to reveal a quiver full of arrows.

"Emily, stay down," he ordered, and I laid on my stomach as Sharon and Clint kept hoping up and down, glancing over the railing to see who was firing. They need my help, I thought suddenly. Professor X's powers…I closed my eyes and sat up. I reached my mind out, and everything filled my mind with a blue aura. I could see Sharon and Clint in front of me. I pushed past them and spotted a slim figure ducking behind one of the cars. It was a red Sudan.

I smiled and reopened my eyes. I unfurled my wings and released my invisibility. Not caring that Sharon and Clint could see me, I catapulted over the railing and my wings began to flap. A sharp pain ached throughout my shoulders and I cursed, ducking behind a large white van. They were still sore from when I broke them. I unsheltered my Wolverine claws, which no one knew about, and snuck over to where the man was. A gun stuck itself out from behind the car and fired itself toward me. I used Professor X's power and flung the bullet toward a different car. I did an uppercut with my right hand, slicing the gun in half. I jumped in front of the attacker. It was a larger man (my aura got his size wrong) and he was bald, with tattoos dotting his body.

"Not today, freak," he growled, and produced another gun, firing it towards me. I slashed at it with my claws and it split in half. The man gaped at me and I thrusted my claws down. They dug into the concrete beside the man's legs and I used that as leverage as I slammed my feet into the man's jaw. An ugly cracking noise emerged and he fell down, unconscious. I quickly shielded my claws and my wings as Sharon and Clint appeared around the corner.

"How…" began Clint, his eyes wide. "That's Hobson. We've been after him for nearly two years…and you just caught him." Sharon called for an evac team and I glanced at Clint.

"Are we going to Chinese or not?"

:/:\:

[Clint's POV]

Emily and I didn't talk all the way to the Chinese restaurant, Minho Foo. As we got our orders, I glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

"How many know about your…extra appendages?" I asked hesitantly.

She bit into her eggroll and responded, "In the Avengers group…Tony, Steve, Wanda, and now you and Sharon." She rolled her shoulders. "They can get squeezed in a lot of tight places." She smiled. "I fit in a FedEx box once. Still proud about that." We drove out of the drive-through and headed back towards the tower. "Who exactly was that man who attacked us?"

"His name is Doctor Galileo Hobson. He's about thirty-five, although he refuses to tell us his real age. He had this thing with bombs and guns. He's had this grudge against us for the longest time. He is against the Winter Soldier."

"Any ideas why?" she asked, chewing on her orange chicken. I nodded as we paused at a red light.

"He worked closely with the Winter Soldier on one of his missions and wasn't pleased at all when he switched sides," I told her.

She nodded and suddenly asked, "When will I meet the Winter Soldier?" I raised an eyebrow at her like she was crazy. You've met Bucky already… "I mean, I haven't seen him, but I heard he was in the program." I smirked as we pulled into the tower. Oh you'll know eventually. As soon as we got into the common room, everyone was freaking out over Emily, trying to make sure she was alright.

"I'm fine," she tried to protest, but no one would listen to her. I glanced up and saw Steve motioning me over with his finger. I stepped past all the adoring crowds and stood by him at the couch.

"We're taking the trainees to the compound tomorrow," he explained. "I'm going to need you to take Emily, Dixon, Bucky, and Melina." I nodded and watched silently as the crowd left Emily. She was talking quietly with Bucky, glancing around the room, and he gently bumped her, and the two of them giggled. "Does she know the truth?"

"No," I replied. "She wants to meet him though." Steve rolled his eyes.

"Make sure she doesn't find out until we know she won't go ballistic," he whispered to me as Emily approached us. She stood awkwardly on her toes, grabbing her wrist.

"I want to say I'm sorry for freaking out earlier with Wanda," she told us. "And I'm going upstairs to mend things with her. Hopefully, I'll still have a room." Steve nodded and Emily smiled, before doing something that totally surprised us. She walked up and gave Steve a giant hug and gently kissing my cheek.

"You two are great," she said, smiling, before following Bucky to the elevators. Steve and I shared a surprised look.

"She's your mentee, not mine," Steve said, holding his hands up and walking away.

A/N: I just remember that I should've done this a while ago. I do NOT own any of the Avengers. The wonderful Mr. Stan Lee does. I only own my OC, Emily Salgado.