AN: Okay, so I've had quite a few people tell me that they really wanted a sequel to my Avenger story, "Rebel Beat", so here is the beginning of it. It takes place about nine months after Rebel Beat. If you haven't read Rebel Beat you will have to read that first in order to understand this one. This chapter is kind of short but I wanted to get the basis of the story in motion before writing any more of it. So, without further ado, enjoy! J

Alex walks up to her house; she had been out in the woods exploring which Vern didn't like but was never able to stop her from doing. She notices the front door open slightly and she furrows her eyebrows and looks around her. Not seeing anything else out of the ordinary, Alexandra slowly pushes the door open the rest of the way and sneaks inside the house. She looks around and sees broken objects strewn across the floor. She carefully walks around them and makes her way towards the living room where she freezes, her eyes wide open. Lying in the middle of the room in a pool of blood, was Vern. Alex shakes her head, not being able to say anything due to shock. She looks around but doesn't see anyone and, making up her mind, the ten-year old runs upstairs to her room where she shoves some clothes and items into her backpack. She runs down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and looking into the living room, her eyes welling up. Before she breaks down in grief, Alex runs out of the house and into the woods.

AVENGERS

Alex lies in her bed staring at the ceiling above her, sighing. She hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights, her sleep being interrupted numerous times by nightmares of when she was a child. She turns her head and looks at her alarm clock. It reads 5:07. Sighing once again, Alex climbs out of bed and begins to get dressed, knowing she won't be able to go back to sleep. Walking out of her room, Alex grabs her bow and arrows and makes her way to the SHIELD garage.

"Hey Don," Alex greets the middle aged man in the glass encased cubicle. The brown-haired man looks up and gives Alex a smile.

"You're up early," he replies, already moving back to grab the keys to the Camaro.

"Couldn't sleep," Alex replies with a shrug, sending Don a smile as she accepts the keys through the window.

"Going anywhere special?" Don asks with a small smile, already knowing the answer. Alex only ever really goes one place anymore.

"Just Avenger Tower," Alex replies, sending Don another smile before walking to the car. The Avengers had all moved in to the tower, excluding Thor who lived on Asgard, and had their own floors for their living spaces. The bottom floors included an archery and gun range, lab for Banner, and a lab for Tony, among other things. It was here that Alex would visit most of the time. She climbs into the Camaro and rubs her eyes, determined to get the visions from her childhood out of her mind. That's what the range is for Barton, Alex hears a voice inside her head say. Taking a deep breath Alex starts the car up and drives out of the garage.

AVENGERS

Alex pulls the arrow notched in her bow back and closes her eyes, taking a couple deep breaths, letting it go. When she hears the thud, she opens her eyes and sees she has hit the bull's-eye on the target. JARVIS had let her in and she had went directly to the archery room her dad had asked to be put in a while ago, not wanting to wake anybody up. She wasn't living with her parents but she came over a lot to visit and train with them. Unknowingly to Coulson, Natasha had been training her to use guns; she had said she'd rather Alex know how to use them in case she ever needed to. She grabs another bow and, without looking, shoots it at another target on her left. Alex looks over at it and sees she hasn't hit the bull's-eye but has hit the circle around it.

"You're getting better at that," a voice behind her says and Alex cringes inwardly for not hearing anyone walk in the room. Alex looks behind her and sees Clint Barton leaning up against the wall watching her. At least it wasn't so bad; it was a trained assassin that got the drop on her and not someone "normal". Alex shrugs.

"I still can't hit the bull's-eye unless I look at it first."

"It'll happen. Just keep working on it," Clint replies, pushing off the wall and walking over to his daughter. He looks down at her, checking her over, seeing the dark circles under her eyes and the exhausted look on her face. "It'd help if you were sleeping."

"I am sleeping," Alex argues with a scowl on her face, looking over at her dad and earning an eyebrow raise.

"That's not what Johnny says," Clint replies, resting his forearms on the half wall in front of them and looking at the targets in the room. Alex makes a face.

"Johnny's a moron. And since when has it been his job to report to you," she replies, looking away from Clint. Clint snorts and looks over at Alex.

"He's worried about you. Give him a break. Seriously, though. Nat and I have noticed too." Alex sighs and looks over at him, knowing he's not going to let it go.

"They're just nightmares. They'll go away soon," Alex says nonchalantly, shrugging it off. Clint studies her a moment and picks up on the tension in her shoulders and the clench of her jaw.

"You want to talk about it?" he asks, watching her reaction. Alex shrugs and looks out at the targets.

"Nah, I'm good," she replies, making sure not to look at her dad. Clint nods his head.

"Well, if you do, we're here," he replies as he makes sure to include Romanoff in the comment. Alex nods her head in understanding and Clint stands up straighter. "You eat?"

"No," Alex replies, shaking her head and looking over at Clint.

"Good, because I'm starving and I think Banner's making breakfast," Clint replies, sending Alex a smile and leaving the room. Alex smiles back and sets her bow down before following after her dad.

AVENGERS

"Hey, Steve?" Alex asks after swallowing her eggs and looking over at the man.

"Hm?" Steve answers as he looks up at Alexandra sitting across from him.

"Can I interview you? We have to interview a war veteran for English and write an essay. And, then, I can use it for my history class too," Alex replies and takes another bite of her breakfast.

"Sure," Steve says, nodding his head, then, he furrows his eyebrows and looks over at her. "How can you use the same essay for two different classes?"

"Well, my history essay has to be about World War II and you were in that war so…" Alex answers before finishing up the last bit of her breakfast.

"Your teachers are going to let you turn in the same essay?" Bruce asks, raising an eyebrow. Alex smiles proudly at him.

"Well, my history teacher said if I could interview a veteran who was in World War II then she didn't care. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe I'd be able to do it. I don't think she realizes my connections," Alex answers, her eyes twinkling. Tony chuckles to himself while he watches Alex.

"Anything to get out of doing more work huh?" he asks knowingly, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Just so you know, both papers only count once then," Natasha points out, looking directly at her daughter. Alex makes a face, scrunching up her nose and sending her mom a scowl. The three of them had went with Clint's strategy and for every 'A' Alex got on her papers, tests, etc. it earned her a half hour of training time. She could use that accumulated training time towards Clint training her on the bow and arrow or Natasha with shooting. The better Alexandra got with shooting her bow and arrow without looking, the more of her time she used towards shooting guns with Natasha.

"Fine," Alex says, deepening her scowl and sighing, knowing her mom had a point.

AVENGERS

Alex walks into SHIELD, having spent the better part of the morning and afternoon at the Avengers Tower. She had trained with Clint for a while and with Natasha for the other part, finishing up with interviewing Steve. She sees a wall of pictures and smiles. SHIELD had set up the wall to honor the Agents killed in the field; they must've finally finished it. She walks over to it and begins looking at all the pictures. Her eyes roam over them and a particular picture catches her eye and she quickly shifts her gaze back to it, her eyes wide and her breathing quick. Her eyes dart to the name below the picture: Vern Hessling. She feels a hand touch her shoulder and she knocks it off, quickly twisting it to a chicken wing hold.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's me," Johnny says assuringly, taken off-guard by the sudden attack from his partner. Alex instantly lets go and takes a step back. Johnny rubs his arm and looks over at her as he furrows his brow. "You all right?"

Johnny keeps his eyes on her, studying her closely. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well, and he figured it had something to do with the nightmares she'd been having. He was starting to get worried and he even went so far as to talk to Clint Barton about it.

"I'm fine," Alex says, glancing at the picture of Vern before looking back at johnny. "Sorry, I was blanking out and you took me by surprise."

"Its fine," Johnny says, looking at the wall before he looks back at Alex. "You sure you're fine? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Alex sighs and force a swallow before he looks back at the picture of Vern. Johnny looks over at the picture as well. The guy is in his mid-thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes and a strong jaw bone and what seems to be muscular arms. Johnny raises an eyebrow and looks at Alex out of the corner of his eye.

"Someone you know?" he asks, although he doubts it; the date on the wall would put his death when Alex was ten. Johnny looks over at Alex, seeing her force a swallow and take a deep breath before saying anything.

"That's the guy I was with until SHIELD took me in."

AN: Please review and let me know what you think of the start of this story! Would love to hear some feedback from you guys! Thanks for reading!

AN: If you haven't already, check out my other stories in my other fandoms: Supernatural, Leverage, and The Hobbit. J