A/N: Hello! Short chapter before getting into movie plot-ness. Some growing up to do..
There was something mysterious going on. Everybody was very solemn, and every time Allie came into a room they changed the conversation. She knew they were hiding something, a big mission or something, and it was kind of scaring her.
So, she went to Clint. "Hey daddy?"
"Yes peanut?" he asked, not pausing in his chin-ups.
"What's goin' on?"
He didn't bat an eye. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"Is there a mission thing going on? Why is everyone acting funny?"
He faltered in one of his chin-ups. "Sweetheart, I really can't tell you anything about it."
"Is it really bad?" she asked, her voice quavering.
"I'm sorry Allie, it's classified."
She huffed. "Fine."
He dropped down to the floor. "I'll take you to the park if you want," he offered.
"Nah, I'm gonna go downstairs to school and play on the Wii with Jake and Akira."
"Okay, have fun."
A~A~A~A
The situation persisted for two more days. Allie asked Steve and he told her the same thing - he couldn't tell her. So did Pietro, and even Thor.
"I am not a baby," Allie grumbled into the fur of Bucky Bear as she quietly sulked in her room. "I'm a whole seven years old."
"A human is not fully mature until they are twenty-four years old," FRIDAY informed her.
Allie scowled. "Whatever, FRIDAY."
"I'm just saying."
The next day, Allie had a date with Maria to go to a tea shop and have a proper High Tea with all the little cakes. Maria left her in the office while she went to get her coat.
Allie looked at the computer. It was still on and logged in. She could look up the latest mission details... No, she scolded herself, not good. But Maria wasn't coming back and the curiosity was killing her...
She touched the screen.
Within a minute she found the details, and they made her want to cry. Coulson's new team, the ones he'd traded for the Avengers, was having trouble with these people who were like mutants but not, and there was a whole undercover op going on - Black Widow was on the roster. Mommy was going away for three whole weeks and the whole big plan was going to take months.
Allie's eyes filled with tears. She didn't want her mom in "Intermediate Danger."
Her little brain spun its wheels frantically as she thought about it. Maybe someone from SHIELD could go instead. But the only ones who could change the orders were Steve or Coulson.
Allie glanced around nervously, and then faced the computer. She wasn't supposed to really do this, but this was an emergency. She shifted her vocal cords to match Steve's voice, and spoke. "FRIDAY, authorize a roster change from Black Widow to someone on Coulson's team."
The info on the screen changed. Allie hit save, and scooted away from the computer, her heart hammering and feeling really weird. But her mommy was going to be okay.
Suddenly the screen came on; a video chat from Coulson. "Steve?" he asked as soon as the call initialized. "Why did you change the plans?"
Allie let out a shriek of surprise and bolted away. She ran right past Maria in the hall and turned into a moth. She fluttered into one of the air vents, and made her way to a junction that she'd never been in before to hide. She turned into a hamster and huddled miserably in a corner. Now she was going to be in trouble...
A~A~A~A
"FRIDAY, where's Allie going?" Maria asked, going into her office. She noticed hte screen. "Coulson? What's up?"
"Where's Cap?" he asked, confused.
"Not here?" Maria said, equally confused. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. I got an alert that Steve changed the plan and called to ask him about it- the order came from your computer, but the only one there was Allie and she ran off."
"I passed her in the hall," Maria confirmed. She frowned. "Do you think she did something?"
"That requires voiceprint authorization," Coulson said, shaking his head. And then he sighed. "But she is a shapeshifter."
"FRIDAY, where's Allie?" Maria asked.
"Unknown," FRIDAY replied.
Maria looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I cannot track any of her known biosignatures," FRIDAY replied.
Coulson frowned. "Call me back when you figure out what's going on," he told Maria.
"Yeah." Maria pinched the bridge of her nose. "FRIDAY, get Barton down here."
She explained the situation to Clint, and he grumbled under his breath. "We should have just told her what was going on. Now who knows where she is and what she's pretending to be."
"Go find her," Maria told him, shooing him out of her office. "Recruit as many people as you need."
"Thanks."
They searched for two hours. Allie was nowhere to be found. FRIDAY swept the compound for any unauthorized life-signs, animal, plant, or otherwise, but found nothing.
"She must be pretending to be something inanimate," Clint said worriedly.
"She's probably worried she's gonna be in trouble," Bucky said matter-of-factly.
"Won't she come back when she gets hungry?" Pietro asked.
Bucky gave him an unimpressed look. "Have you seen her? She's almost as stubborn as Steve."
"Hey!"
"You know it's true," Bucky told his best friend.
"Whatever."
So Pietro was sent through the vents at middling speed, calling "Allie, Allie you're not in trouble, can you come out please?"
An hour and a half later, Allie's biosignature popped up on the scan. She was in the vents.
They all looked at Clint. "It's your kid," Steve said, shrugging.
Clint took a deep breath, and climbed into the vent. It took a few minutes to get to Allie's location, but when he did, he found her curled into a little ball, looking scared and guilty. His heart melted. "Aw, baby..."
She burst into tears. "I'm sorryyyyy," she wailed.
Clint wished he had enough room to hug her. He settled for patting her foot. "Listen to me, Allie, we're not mad. No one's angry, it's gonna be okay. Can we get out of the vents now, and talk about it?"
Reluctantly, she nodded.
He slid backwards out of the vent, and caught her as she dropped out. Thankfully, everyone had left, and they had the room to themselves. Clint carried her over to the sofa, and sat down with her in his lap. "You all right?" he asked, rubbing her back. "You're not hurt?"
She shook her head.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
Another negative headshake.
He frowned. It'd been at least five hours since she'd eaten anything. "Are you just saying that because you don't want to be a bother?" he asked.
A tiny head shake 'yes'.
He sighed. "Okay. Let's talk real quick and then have some dinner, okay?" He sat her on the sofa next to him, and faced her. "Did you go into classified files?" he asked her.
She nodded tearfully.
"And you changed the mission roster?"
Another nod.
"Allie, what you did was wrong," he said firmly. "You know you're not supposed to do either of those things."
She started crying again.
He hated this. He hated seeing her cry. But this was important. He scooped her back into his arms and held her close. "Why did you do it?" he asked, smoothing her tangled hair away from her face.
"I didn't want mommy to go away and be in danger," she mumbled sadly into his shoulder.
"Oh, sweetheart."
"I'm sorry," she sniffled.
He kissed her hair. "Thank you for apologizing," he said. "I'm sorry, too, for not telling you anything at all and making you worry." He smiled at her. "Mommy's going to be fine on this mission, munchkin. Intermediate danger is just a little bit, and your mommy's the best, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." He gave her a serious look. "But I need your absolute promise on this, Allie. You won't break into classified files to look at them or to change them. Promise?"
She nodded. "I promise. I won't do it never, ever again."
He hugged her again. "Good girl. Now how about some food?"
Her stomach growled.
He smiled, and lifted her up. "That sounded like a yes to me," he said.
She managed a small giggle.
He made her a sandwich, and they ate together at the counter. "Do you feel better?" he asked her, once they'd washed their dishes.
"Yeah, lots."
"Good." He gave her a look. "Now. No more electronics for the rest of the evening, all right? That means no robots, either."
"Okay."
"Good. And listen to me." He made sure she was looking at him. "If you break your promise, Allie, not to snoop into classified files, there will be no computers at all without absolute supervision until you earn our trust back. You understand?"
A very solemn nod. "I understand."
"Good girl." He hugged her. "I love you very much, Allie."
"I love you too," she whispered.
He kissed her forehead. "Okay. Serious talk is over, sweetheart. You can go play."
She clung to his neck. "Can you play with me?"
"I would love to."
Natasha came home later that evening. Clint told her about the incident. Natasha was both touched that Allie would do that for her, and impressed by her voice-mimicking skills. "That will definitely be useful later on," she mused.
Clint gave her a Look.
"But not appropriate at all in this circumstance," she amended. She spent the rest of the evening with Allie, reassuring her that the mission would go just fine.
The next day, Allie apologized to Steve and Maria, and they forgave her. Steve gave her one of his best hugs, and said, "We all make mistakes. The best thing to do is try to never make that mistake again, now that you know why it was wrong."
She nodded. "Never."
And that was that. Allie determined to try not to break any more rules, ever. Except the 'no cookies after nine pm' rule. That was just silly. Cookies were the best after nine pm. That was how cookies worked.
A/N 2: Next chapter in the works. In the meantime, I've finally finished and posted the Avengers/Star Trek TOS crossover with Allie. It's called When Fictional Worlds Collide, and you can find it on my profile. Thanks for reading!