Awkward – Clint Barton
I urged the children of the orphanage I worked at (as well as grew up in) to hide as the attack on New York had begun. All of the little ones were screaming and crying as I got the teenagers to help them along. I grabbed a slingshot one of the boys left hanging around and loaded it with a pair of scissors, aiming and shooting it at the strange soldier that came crashing into the room; piercing him right between the eyes.
I picked up one of the smallest children we had here as he fell behind and held him close to me as I ran from the destroyed room with more soldiers piling in behind me. I tightened my grip on the tiny boy and ducked through the broken doorway, realising the two of us had been left behind. I felt him crying into my neck as explosions came from all around us, scaring him as well as me. I held him securely with one arm and grabbed a jagged pole with the other hand so I had something to defend us with is the soldiers did manage to catch up to us.
I swung the pole at the offending soldiers, hitting them away as they got too close. A car came flying past me and I ran in the opposite direction while they were temporarily distracted. I hid us behind the wreck of a larger car and calmed the little boy in my arms down slightly so that he wasn't gasping for breath. I gasped as an alien-like soldier appeared in front of me, but only got a few metres away before an arrow pierced into its chest, making my head whip round to see a rather attractive looking man wielding a bow and sheath of arrows.
The man motioned for me to go over to him so I kept the small boy bundled up against my chest before running over to him. I stole one of his arrows and threw it behind him, impaling a creature in the eye; making the man watch in surprise as the creature stumbled away.
"You got some good aim on ya girl." He commented, nodding a little. "Clint Barton."
"Cat Dawson, now could we please get somewhere safe? I don't want Jaime getting hurt." I said. Clint nodded and glanced down at Jaime who was curled up in my arms before motioning me to follow him as he took off running.
I tucked Jaime's head into my chest as some glass exploded over us, scratching my cheek as I didn't hide my face as I needed to see where I was running to as well as keeping an eye on Clint who was leading. He stopped suddenly which made me bump into the back of him, squishing Jaime a little, making him release a squeak.
"Sorry kid." I muttered, looking at the man in front of me to see him scanning the area.
"Stark Tower." Clint said, pointing to it. "One of the floors is completely empty and no one should be going up there. Just don't go onto the top floor or roof." I nodded and he escorted us to the entrance of the tall building before running back the way we had come again.
/
Jaime had somehow managed to fall asleep, so he was now sprawled out across my lap as I sat on the dusty floor with his head resting on my chest while I stroked his fluffy hair gently. The sounds of the battle died down nearly two hours ago, but I was still slightly afraid to go outside. So I'd just been sitting here the past few hours, tired but not wanting to go to sleep.
A noise came from the entrance of the room I was situated in and my head snapped to look in that direction while my arms tightened protectively round Jaime. I let out a small sigh of relief when I saw it was Clint, looking a little more ruffled and dirty than when I had seen him before.
"I was hoping you'd still be here." He said, coming further into the room before sinking down the wall to sit beside me. "Is he your kid?" I shook my head.
"I work in an orphanage and he was getting left behind because he's smaller than the rest of the children. I went back and got him and found we'd both been left behind. I took him with me as I only had my parents for eight years before they died. He hasn't had anyone since he was born, he was left on the doorstep one night and I found him in the morning; taking him in and raising him like he should have been but by his own parents and not me." I said quietly, looking down at the sleeping black haired boy in my arms. There was a slightly awkward silence for a minute before he broke it again.
"After all this had been cleared up, what would you think about going somewhere with me? Maybe to the zoo where Jaime can come along too."
"You'd bring Jaime with you?" I asked, slightly surprised.
"Course, I imagine you're like a mother to him so I wouldn't want to separate him from you." Clint smiled a little as Jaime squirmed around on my lap. "He's kinda cute too, so I wouldn't mind." I smiled at the teasing tone in his voice.
"We'd love to go."