Alright. So many insane things had just happened to me.

I was screamed at by Lily

Clint Barton let me out of my cell

He led me out onto the deck of the helicarrier

He and His agent friend, Natalie, brought me onto a airplane

And they took me back to New freaking York

So here I was, sitting at a coffee shop, with Clint and Natalie. Sipping on hot cocoa, because Clint gave me the evil eye when I looked at coffee. We were quiet. I had no idea what to say. I was so damn nervous about the tests that my mind almost couldn't compute with life. I kept scolding myself.

I looked over at the other two, they were just peaceful. It unnerved me. How in the world were they so calm? Natalie swirled her cup around. Her red hair falling perfectly around her beautiful face. Why was she so pretty? She noticed me looking at her.

"Whats up?"

"Uh, nothing!" Clint smirked at me, I gave him a glare. "I was just thinking, the sky looks really pretty today."

"Yeah," She smiled, and looked up at the sky. There wasn't many clouds, and just the perfect amount of sunlight. I looked at her again, and had a feeling, I knew that her name wasn't Natalie. It just didn't seem to fit with her. I don't know why I thought that. But I did.

Something grabbed my focus away from 'Natalie'. A child, no older than seven, crying, then running into an ally. "Did you-" I started to ask, but Clint just nodded to me./

"Do what you need to."

What the heck was that supposed to mean? Do what I need to do? Ooookkaayy. I stood up, and as casually as possible, I walked over to the ally. Not bringing much attention to myself, I slipped into the ally.

The kid was curled up in a corner, I felt sympathy. They reminded me of myself. I scuffed my foot on the ground, letting them know I was there. They flinched.

"Hey," I knelled down next to them, "What's wrong?" The kid turned to look at me, she had fear in her eyes. She squeeked.

"Listen," I said, "I'm not here to hurt you, just tell me what's wrong and I can help you."

"Scary man." She told me quietly, inching a little closer to me.

"A scary man?" I asked, trying to sound as soothing as possible.

"Yeah, he hurt me." the girl told me. Okay, I know this was probably just a test, and the girl is fine. But I wanted to get my hands on that man, and, ooohh, I wanted to make him pay. 'No' I told myself 'don't be violent'

"Alright, I'm going to stay with you until you feel safe enough to come with me. I know some kind people who can help you." The girl nodded and hugged me. I wasn't expecting it, but she did. I sat on the ground, trying to calm the girl and myself. Then I heard footsteps behind me.

"AMANDA!" The girl flinched hard, immediately I launched up and went into a protective stance. With the girl behind me, I saw who yelled at her. It was a middle aged man with crazy eyes, and he looked like he hadn't shaved. "What are you doing?!" He screamed at me. I kept my eyes locked on the man.

"Scary man?" I asked the girl.

"Scary man," She confirmed. I nodded, and took one step toward the man.

"Stay away from her." I told him, my voice dangerous.

"Why? She's my daughter! Not yours!" He yelled at me. I narrowed my eyes.

"At least I know how to care for a child, you clearly do not. So let me take her, and you'll be free." I offered him.

"Free?! This kid gets me my income!" 'Amanda' was shaking. I hated it.

"Your income?" I asked, fuming. I wanted to kick his butt. But I kept myself from it, I didn't want to fail the test. Hurt no one, unless they try to hurt another person. "Don't worry, I can help you to get a better income. Just let me take her, and I'll come back to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I know someone who will be sure to hire you, it's a super easy job, and it pays well." I smiled at him.

"Okay," He said, thinking it over, "You take her, and bring this person to this address." Then, as I thought he would take out something to write it down, he pulled out a gun. And shot it.

At me.

As quickly as I could, I pulled up a sheet of rock. And stopped the bullet right before it hit me. The man's eyes widened. And I pushed forward. The sheet smashed into him, and I wrapped it around him. He struggled as I pulled down, pushing him deeper into the earth. He fell to his knees. And I wrapped rock around his legs. I walked over to him

"Whatever you did to her," I told him, my voice dangerously low, "You will pay for it. Remember that." I tightened the rock around him. And something grabbed me. I looked down to see small arms.

I turned and hugged the girl, she looked at me. "You have completed your first test. Thank you." And she ran past her 'dad'. I looked down at him.

"Do you need me to get you out?"

"No," He told me, "I'm good."

I nodded and walked triumphantly out of the ally. Back to the little coffee shop. As I sat down, the other two smiled.

"How'd you do?" Clint asked.

"Well," I started, "I think I passed!"

"Congrats!" 'Natalie' told me, "But you have a lot to go."

"I know," I sighed, "At least I passed the first one!"

"Yep!" Clint smirked, "i think we could use a trip to the Library."

"The library?" he smiled mischievously at me, and grabbed my arm.

"For a bit of light reading." That's when he almost dragged me all the way to the nearest library. It was pretty far away, he could've called a cab, but NOOOOOO, we get to walk. To distract myself I focused on the beauty of the outside world, (and 'Natalie') We chatted a bit on the way. Not about much, but it helped me calm down. I told them about how riled up I got by the first test, but I kept my cool. 'Natalie' seemed impressed.

Then we got to the library. It was quaint. And quiet. Not really what I thought we would be doing. Clint and Natalie wandered off different ways and left me alone. I didn't really know what to do. Should I look for a plausible test? Or just sit at a table and wait?

I shrugged it off and decided to go look at the comics. They were my favorite type of book, pictures, shorter storylines, multiple stories. Having one long story that progressed slowly was really hard for me to read. I had to have things catching my focus and things that they got over with quickly. If it didn't have that, I would make up my own ending. I guess that's what Fanfic is for.

There was nobody in the comic section, so I got to be front and center. I looked for my favorite comic as a kid. 'Women of Wonder' was what it was called. There was a team of super women, and they worked together to save their city of Trille. And every comic they would defend the city from some major disaster. And every time it would be a totally new and creative way.

I had always admired their leader, Ash. At first read you would think it would be the more stable Evan to be the leader. Seen as Evan is the richest and can stop time. But Ash is down to earth. She understands people, she knows how to change their minds, she can stay calm. But most important, she can manipulate death.

As a kid, I had just thought, woah! How cool would that be? To control people's deaths! And now, I know why in her backstory comic, she's so messed up. I connect with her problem, I connect with her life. I just wish I could be as good as her.

Finally I found it. 'Women of Wonder' the whole series was there, on the bottom shelf. Completely forgotten. But there was more than I remember. I was only able to read the first five comics, the rest weren't out yet. But now, there was about 20.

I was so excited that I grabbed the first three so I could start reading them again. And I flounced back to the tables. Where I saw Clint and 'Natalie' talking. I walked quickly over them. "Guuuyyyyssss! Guess what I found!"

"What is it?" Clint asked. I plopped the books on the table, with a smile.

"Women of Wonder!"

"Women of Wonder?" Natalie looked at me with growing excitement. "They still have those?"

"Yeah!" I said, "Isn't that amazing?!"

"um, " Clint said, "What's Women of Wonder?"

'Natalie' and I gave him a disappointed look. "It's the most empowering comic book series ever!"

"It also has the best set of characters!" I agreed with 'Natalie'

"Yeah!" She grabbed the first book off my stack, and held in front of him. It had the five girls standing together as a team. "This one is Ash." She pointed to the blonde one in the middle, "She's the leader. And one of the strongest on the team. And this is Robbie," She pointed to the red haired girl next to Ash, "She's the super fast billionaire. Oh! And this is Krystie!" She pointed to the girl on the other side of Ash, the one with long flowing purple hair. "She's the magic one."

"And the one next to her is Jeralyn!" I said, nodding to the brunette. "She's the sharpshooter." Clint smiled at that one, "And the one on the other side is Scarlett." 'Natalie' pointed to her, the girl with the pixie cut dyed hair. "She's the brains."

"Seems like you got one complete team." He commented.

"It's pretty awesome" I gushed, "Every comic they save their city from harm, and every time they turn the villain back!"

"Doesn't that get repetitive?"

"I don't know," I admitted, "I've only read the first five comics. Also everyone needs a good ending!" Clint and Natalie looked at each other, then Clint smiled.

"How about we get you the whole series."

"Really?"

"Yeah," He said, getting up, "you love it so much, why don't we put some love into those books."

"Yay!" I jumped up. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I've never seen you this excited," He told me.

"I've never had something to be excited about."

After that comment all of us got silent. Clint just quietly picked up the books. "I'm, I'm gonna put these back." And he left.

'Natalie' and I stood together. Kind of just waiting. I was looking down at the floor, tapping my shoes. Wondering what I would say. I looked back up at her. She was staring out the windows. Not smiling. I hadn't realized how much prettier it made people when they smile. Even more when n the person is already beautiful.

"Hey Natalie," I said timidly, "thats not your real name, is it?"

"What?" She looked at me with surprise.

"I'm guessing you are a spy," I explained, "and you think I'm dangerous, so you are hiding you name to make sure I won't try to find you after."

"Wow," She said, "you're pretty smart."

"I've had a lot of time to think."

"Yeah."

"You know," I said, "I'm now realizing that the more time I spend to myself, the crazier I think. I start to believe insane things will happen if I wait enough. Then I think about what those things might be. If you could see it, it would look kinda like this." I gestured to the library, "every book filled with a new idea. Some well defined, some short. some colorful and bright, the others dark and sad."

"Korie," She put her had on my arm.

"I'm not scared of those outcomes anymore." I told her. "Don't get me wrong, death will always scare me. But not my own. It'll come at the right time." I turned my gaze to the windows. "Even if it hurts like hell."

"You're not going to die-"

"If you are a spy how can you say that?"

"Well," she stepped in front of me so I had to look at her. "You are stronger than you know. You might not see it, but I do." Suddenly her eyes filled with fire. "Don't you dare talk about death to me."

She turned on her heal and sat down in a chair, "I'm sorry, I have just been through a lot of it."

"Do have I."

"I should've guessed." I sat next to her, "look, I don't know you, or know how much you know about me. But I feel like I should trust you."

"If you feel that," she said, "than trust me."

"I'm trying to!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air. She smiled at me.

"Alright."

"Hey guys!" Clint yelled to us, I turned to see him at the counter, "time to go!" 'Natalie' and I stood and walked quickly over to him. Where he smiled and lead us down the street. I realized that the sun was going down. We had spent a long time in that library. Even though it only felt like a thirty minutes.

Clint started talking about this amazing restaurant, he told us about the amazing food and great service. And how he had met some of his long time friends there. He launched into a story about this waitress that saved his food. I toned out a little, half listening, half thinking about food.

My family had a huge reunion when I was with them. They told me how they did it every year. And every year they had a theme to the madness. The first that I had been there was Mexico. Everyone researched traditional food, music, and clothing. And when I say everyone, I mean the whole Shine clan. Which was like, 60 people. It's insane. But it was so much fun.

I, of course, was with Callie the whole time. That's not really surprising. She and I caused the most, quiet mischief. The other kids had smashed things and screamed a lot. Callie and I had snuck around the huge house that we got, setting up pranks, and moving things to other rooms. Only for the adults to yell at the other kids for doing it, because Callie and Korie are the angels. And they would never do a thing. I sometimes wondered what they thought we did all day.

Damn, I missed Callie.

"Here we are!" Clint called out happily. He smiled as he lead us through the door. It was a loud restaurant, filled with people. With rustic furniture and wooden beams, it made me feel like I was in a forest town. With a population of 1,000, and a lot of visitors.

As soon as we walked in the hostess smiled at us, "Cline! Welcome back!"

"Jessica! How are you?" Clint smiled back.

"Great! We have a table for you and your friends," she waved us over to her, "follow me."

She weaved her way through the crowded room, is following behind. I nudged Clint with a smile."

"Cline," I snorted.

"Budge off."

I laughed. Jessica stopped at a booth, "here it is," we sat down, Clint and 'Natalie' shared one side, and I got the other. Jessica handed us menus. "The specials are on the back, and if you have any questions flag Willow, your server, down, and she'll get you covered."

Lessons waved a girl over, they girl happily waltzed over, she had a pep in her step that bounced her ringlet curls. She placed down three glasses of water from her tray. "I'm Willow, and I'll be y'alls server tonight. How are we doin'?"

"Great!" Clint told her, "any chance we could get drinks going?"

"Sure thing!" She pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Whatcha thinkn 'bout haven?"

"I'll have the seasonal beer." 'Natalie' ordered. Willow nodded and scribbled it down.

"And I'll have the Juniper." Clint told her, Willow smiled and scribbled more on her paper.

"And for you?"

"Um," I thought, then it hit me, "Do you have Root beer?"

"We sure do!"

"Then I'll have that." Root beer had always been my favorite soda, for some reason it just made my taste buds explode in a good way. I hadn't had one in so long, I wanted to see what it tased like. Willow finished her scribbling.

"Alright then," she said, "I'll get those started for you and I'll be back soon to take your order."

The three of us thanked her and she went on her way, I looked back over to Clint. "What's the Juniper?"

"It's only the best beer here," he smiled, "you should try some."

"Dude," I said, "I don't know if they'll think I'm old enough."

"True," 'Natalie' commented, "you do look 14."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically, "if I had a license I could get one. But I'm kind of a wanted criminal."

"You don't say," 'Natalie' remarked, challenging me with sarcasm.

"I do say."

"Stop it you two." Clint told us. But he was still smiling.

"Ah," I said, shifting my attention to Clint, "we most definitely need to listen to Cline."

"Hey!"

"Seriously! What kind of a name is that?" 'Natalie' said, joining in. Clint glared at her.

"It's a kind of name that's easy to adjust to!"

"Yeah!" I laughed, "and my name is Korea!" 'Natalie' laughed with me. I started laughing harder. Then I snorted. Which just made Clint start laughing, and 'Natalie' laugh harder.

We tried to compose ourselves, but every time we did, one of us would giggle and start another fit of laughter. It felt good.

I was laughing so hard that i was crying. I was having so much fun that I almost didn't notice her. Almost.

I wish I did though.

I looked across the restaurant for one split second and saw her. Her hair, her face, her body. Her style, the way she moves her hands when she talks. My heart sunk to my feet when I saw her. Panic erupted inside me.

My cousin Callie was across the restaurant from me.

And she was in grave danger.