Allie hadn't been at the Avengers compound for more than a few days at a time in the last five years, too busy getting her PhD. She walked into the mess and stopped. The sprawling cafeteria was full of people.
She got her food and sat down next to Sam and across from Bucky. "Who are all these people?" she stage whispered.
Both men smiled at her. "Eager SHIELD agents on exchange and seminars, Avengers support staff on lunch, and a few Avengers-in-training."
Allie nearly choked on her salad. "What?"
Sam gave her a wry smile. "We're not all super-serumed or long-lived, kiddo. Some of us are actually getting too old to get beat up every other week."
Allie stared at him, eyes wide as saucers. "I... what?"
"Technically, I'm still on the roster, but only for another full-scale invasion," Sam said. "Mostly, I train these idiots." He gestured vaguely at the agents.
"You're kidding. Why, why didn't you say anything?" Allie suddenly felt like crying into her plate. "Who else is retiring?"
"We didn't want to distract you," Bucky said, patting her hand with his warm one. "Getting a PhD in five years is no joke."
"But-" Allie thought of her dad. Her dad, who'd been with her and mom in Boston for the last five years except for the occasional return to work. "Who else?" she asked desperately.
Sam gave her a small smile. "You need to ask that question in person, kiddo."
"But finish your food first," Bucky ordered, handing her the discarded fork. "You're not turning into a workaholic like Stark."
Allie managed a tiny smirk at that and scarfed the rest of her lunch. "Okay, I'll see you later." She dodged a hair-ruffle from Bucky and went to dump her tray.
The first person she went to look for was Steve. He smiled at her. "Hey, sweetheart. How's your first day of work going? If Tony's hovering too much over your shoulder, I can distract him."
Allie laughed. "No, I'm good." She wrung her hands. "Are you, you're not gonna retire, right? You're good?"
Steve put down his tablet. "Allie?"
"There's all these new people," she said helplessly, and suddenly she was five years old again and only Steve could make it make sense.
He gave her a small smile and came around the desk to sit next to her on the edge. "Five years is a long time, isn't it, doll?"
She leaned into his shoulder. "I don't like it."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "I know. Would you like to see the roster?"
She nodded silently.
Steve handed her his tablet.
She scrolled through it. 'Sam Wilson - retired Avenger. Trainer.' 'Tony Stark - retired Avenger.' "What?! But Tony is Iron Man!"
"He says he's retired," Steve amended, "but like all of us, if he's needed, he'll put on the suit. But baby, he's pushin' sixty."
Allie shook his head. "I can't believe it." She glanced further down the list. The twins were still active. Steve was still the team leader. Thor and Loki were listed as 'reserve Avengers' since they hadn't been on-planet in ages. Vision would never age; he was still active. Rhodey - retired. Yeah, he was older than Tony, he deserved a break. Peter Parker was on the roster as an active Avenger. "I haven't seen Pete in ages," she murmured, "I need to go visit him."
"He'll be here tomorrow for training," Steve said.
"Oh, cool." Allie scrolled a bit down. And stopped.
Natasha Romanoff - retired Avenger. Trainer. Clint Barton - retired Avenger. Trainer.
"What." Allie blinked at the screen. "What. I thought, they were on sabbatical right, till I finished, right?"
Steve hugged her tighter. "They're still training people. No one's leaving, not really. There's a whole new generation of amazing people that need help. But after five years of very light duty, Allie-"
"I need to go," Allie said abruptly, dropping the tablet into his hands. "Sorry. Thanks. Uh, yeah." She left the office, practically running down the hall. "FRIDAY? Where are my parents?"
"Your parents are in the indoor range," FRIDAY replied.
Allie made a beeline for the range. She found them taking turns shooting a target six hundred yards away. "You retired!?" she asked, pausing the simulation.
They both paused, guilt lining their expressions. "Sweetheart-" Clint started, running his hand through his hair. His graying hair.
"Because of me?" Allie asked, horrified. "I, I wasted the last of your years on the team? Why didn't you say something?"
"No, baby," Clint said firmly, grabbing her in a tight hug. He pressed a kiss to Allie's hair. "This is not your fault. It's just age, sweetheart, nothing but age." He held Allie's face in his hands. "I've been in the business since before I was your age, Allie, and I wouldn't change a single thing over the last five years. You are more important to me than being a superhero, understand? And watching you grow up has been much, much better than getting shot at constantly, trust me." He kissed her forehead. "I'm not useless, yet, sweetheart. I'm just focusing my skills where they can be best used. Okay?"
Allie nodded, reaching up to wipe a couple of stray tears from her face .
"And of course, your mother is never going to stop being insanely dangerous," Clint continued, giving her a mock-terrified look.
Allie laughed in spite of herself.
Natasha wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's time for a new generation of Avengers," she agreed. "My reitrement is up for debate, anyway. Steve is still insisting I be second in command if he's not here." She kissed Allie's cheek. "And you are never a waste of time, malyshka, ever. Undrestand?"
Allie nodded slowly. "And you guys are, you're okay, right? Nothing else you haven't told me?"
Clint shrugged. "Besides intimidating one of Lila's boyfriends, I don't think so."
"What?" Allie gaped at him. "When was this!?"
A~A~A~A
The nice thing about being eighteen and having her driver's license, Allie could say things like, "I'm going to go to the Tower" and hop in a car and go to the city without having to ask someone to take her. That did not mean, of course, that someone wasn't going to come along for the ride, because all her pseudo-parents were extremely protective.
By the time she got to the car, Pietro was already there, queing up some music. "Are we in a Disney mood today or some light rock?" he asked. "Or both?"
Allie blinked at him. "What are you doing?"
"Playlist."
"What are you doing in the car?" Allie clarified.
"What are you doing?" he retorted.
"...going to meet with some of the R&D people face to face," Allie said slowly.
"Oh. I am going to the Tower to do something also."
"Pietro, it takes you like, a minute, to get there."
He smiled charmingly. "Yes, but then I don't get to sing along with you in the car."
She sighed and put it in gear. "Fine. One of these days, Pietro, I'm going to actually take a trip by myself."
He snorted. "Not with this many family members you won't. I had to fight Bucky for this spot."
Allie sighed again. "I am a grown-up, you know."
Pietro wrinkled his nose at her. "Not really." His expresoin softened. "And besides, what if I said I just miss you? Since you came home, you've been turning into Tony. Always working in the labs, eating at odd hours..."
This was all true. "Sorry. I've been working on bee wings."
"Bee wings?"
"Yeah, to lift or transport stuff without needing huge wingspan or thrust."
"All right. How about this Thursday, you and me and Wanda, Disney night?"
Allie grinned. "That sounds great."
A~A~A~A
Allie did manage to sneak out for her own lunch. There was a pho place around the corner that did the best vermicelli bowl ... she noticed a girl bump into someone ahead of her and steal the man's wallet. The girl, around her age, definitely looked like she'd seen better days.
Allie reached out and linked elbows with the girl. "Hi," she said in her best Steve-friendly voice. "You wanna go for lunch?"
The girl stiffened and started to pull away.
"No, no, we're okay," Allie continued, "we'll just give this back." She deftly snuck the wallet from the girl's grasp and snuck back to hand the guy his wallet. "Sir? You dropped this?"
"Oh, thank you."
Allie gave him a smile and kept walking the girl down the street to the restaurant. "My name's Allie. What's yours?"
"Look, just let go. I won't do it again, okay?"
Allie shook her head. "Sorry, I'm buying you lunch. Non-negotiable."
"You're really weird," the girl said in reply, but seemed mollified.
They sat down and Allie ordered for both of them, since the girl seemed obstinately silent. Finally, the girl said, "My name's Kate."
Allie smiled at her. "Hi. Are you supposed to be in school?"
"Aren't you?" Kate retorted.
"I graduated already," Allie said, keeping it vague. She had a feeling this girl was a good fighter and didn't wanna get punched for presumption. Well, maybe. If that helped... "did you?"
Kate snorted.
"Cool. Do you live around here?"
Kate shook her head. "I'm just passing through."
"What do you do?" Allie asked, hoping it wasn't something scary.
Kate grinned. "Magic tricks."
"Like sleight of hand?" Allie asked dryly.
"Well, that," Kate said, looking faintly abashed. "And trick shots, and stuff."
Allie tilted her head. "Archery?" she asked, interest piqued.
"I'm the best shot in the country," Kate boasted.
Allie wadded up a napkin and pointed to the trash basket in the far corner of the restaurant. "Prove it."
Kate raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Just do it, please?"
Kate hefted the napkin and chucked it. It flew in a long, lazy arc and sailed into the bin.
Allie grinned. "Kate, are you good at fighting?"
"Why..."
"Do you like the Avengers?" Allie continued.
Kate blushed faintly. "Yeah... why-"
"You want a job?" Allie asked.
Kate gaped at her. "Doing what?"
Allie just grinned at her. "You wanna be a superhero?"
Kate choked on her Pepsi. "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"
"An Avenger," Allie said. "My dad's retiring, I think you'd be perfect."
Kate eyed her with deep suspicion. "Are you on something? Are you only nice right now because you're high?"
Allie rolled her eyes. "I don't do drugs. My parents are superheroes."
Kate scowled. "Prove it."
Allie glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention, and then subtly shifted her hair color to a dark brown with pale purple stripes in it.
Kate's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding."
"I'm not." Allie switched her hair back and rested her hand over Kate's. "Listen, Kate. There are a lot of people out there that could offer you really, really high-paying jobs to use your sharpshooter skills for, I don't wanna sound cliche, but for evil."
Kate laughed and drew her hand away. "So you want me to join the Avengers?"
"Yup."
"You're nuts," Kate said. "There's no way the Avengers would take me, even out of charity."
"They will," Allie said confidently.
"How do you know?"
"Cuz you're like, the smaller girl version of my dad," Allie said, folding her arms. "So, you wanna come with me? We can go today. If you don't get a job, I'm sure Tony'll kick in and offer you a scholarship to anywhere you wanna go. He's nice like that."
Kate continued gaping at her.
Allie raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
"Sure," Kate said, leaning back in her seat. "Why not. I'm not busy."
"Excellent." Allie grinned. "Let me just text Pietro and tell him he's gotta find his own ride." She sent the text and called for the check. "Ready?"
"...Sure."
On the car ride, Allie discovered Kate did not like Disney music in any way, shape, or form, and she only listened to alternative rock.
They made it to the Avengers complex and Allie pulled to a stop at the checkpoint. "This is Kate," she glanced at her guest.
"Bishop," Kate supplied reluctantly.
"And she's my guest," Allie said.
The agent gave Kate a visitor's badge and waved them through.
Allie drove slowly to the garage, letting Kate take it all in. She had a good feeling about this girl. Finally, she pulled into the garage and ushered Kate out of the car. "All right. FRIDAY," she glanced up, "call my parents and Steve to, uh, training room three if it's empty."
"Copy that," FRIDAY replied.
"Who-" Kate started.
"Kate, meet FRIDAY, our AI," Allie said.
"Oh," Kate said faintly.
Her parents and Steve were waiting for her. "Who's this?" Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow at Kate.
Allie tugged her forward until Kate stood in front of Hawkeye. "I brought you a protege," she said.
Clint huffed a little laugh. "Okay...? Honey, what-"
"Test her," Allie urged.
"What do you do?" Clint asked, still not getting it.
Kate grinned. "I can do what you do," she stated boldly.
Clint grinned. "All right, we'll see. Allie, can she use your recurve?"
"Yeah." Allie went to stand next to her mom.
"Is this a good idea, sweetheart?" Steve asked, leaning over to her.
"I have a really good feeling about this," Allie confirmed.
They watched Kate take aim. Bullseye.
"Good form," Clint said approvingly. He used the remote control to move the target down.
Bullseye. And again. And again.
Clint squinted at her. "Where'd you learn?"
"I had archery classes for years before my parents died," Kate said.
Clint nodded and looked at Steve. "Your call, Cap."
Steve nodded.
Of course it wasn't that easy. Steve and Natasha tested Kate's self-defense skills and Natasha looked up her background. Once it was clear that Kate was just a kid with nowhere to go, she was accepted into the Avengers training program and welcomed with open arms.
Allie barely saw her except when their training schedules coincided. Just because Allie had an actual day job didn't mean she was going to slack on her training. It was an unspoken truth that Allie had been on the Avengers roster since she was five, but Steve wouldn't let her be on the active list until she turned twenty-one.
"What if I just kind of happen upon a situation that requires superheroing?" Allie asked.
Steve squinted at her. "Fine."
She kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Steve."