Another chapter up for everyone to read! Hope you enjoy. Would love to hear a review from all of you reading!
Chapter Nine
Uncle Clint, Aunt Nat and I had been living in Avenger's Tower for a week. My aunt and uncle had resumed back to their work at S.H.I.E.L.D., sometimes not coming back until late at night, leaving me alone with the Avengers. And as I quickly found out, they were anything but serious when they weren't out saving the world. Today, I was with Bruce in the lab studying some sort of chemical mixture. Tony had left the room for a quick break.
"Don't touch it." Bruce reminded me, my fingers closing in on the concoction. I quickly jerked my hand back.
"Sorry." I said. "It's just so...cool." He chuckled.
"You sound like Tony."
"I'm sure he wouldn't try to touch something so dangerous." I mean, really? A super-genius billionaire wouldn't do something like that...right?
"Ha! I've caught him more than one time trying to mess with something I told him not to." Apparently so.
"Hey!" Tony's voice shouted with objection. "I only do it because I'm...testing it."
"Yeah right." Bruce murmured before turning back to his microscope. Tony went back to doing whatever the heck that he did in the lab, rather than trying to obliterate himself with chemicals. I sat on a stool and watched as they worked, keeping pretty quiet. But the silence was temporary.
"FRIENDS!" Thor's voice boomed, shaking the room as the door swooshed open and hit the wall with a slam. I saw the glass bottle with the dangerous concoction start to tip over.
"NO!" Bruce shouted as it hit the floor. There was a big burst and the room was instantly covered in purple smoke. We coughed and hacked as we ran out of the room. As I looked around, I found that we were all covered in purple goop.
"Why'd you go and do that?!" Tony raised his voice at the now purple-clad Asgardian standing before him. I could tell Thor felt foolish, doing something like that.
"Hey, don't feel too bad." I said. "I've done far worse."
"Like what?" Thor asked, the group looking at me now in curiosity.
"Well, I accidentally let the second grade pet snake out into the school, making the entire student body have to evacuate the building." Now that made them laugh.
"How do you accidentally let a snake out?"
"Simple. I forgot to close the top of his cage." I explained. "And poor Ms. Withers had it slither across her leg. She got rid of it as soon as they found it in the girl's bathroom."
"That is a lot worse." Bruce said with another laugh, rubbing the purple mixture off his glasses.
"See? Don't fret." I told the big man. He smiled and clapped his large hand on my shoulder. I held back a wince.
"Thank you, small one."
"But don't do it again!" Tony ordered.
"Darn. Now we need more chemicals." Bruce said with a sigh. That's when Tony's phone rang. It was Pepper. He must have hated to get purple goo on his phone.
"Yes, dear?" He asked. "Ummm...I'm kind of in the middle of...okay, okay, I'll go. Love you. Bye." He hung up and now we all were focused on him.
"She needs me to go grocery shopping." He responded to our questioning stares.
"You? Grocery shopping? Don't you have someone for that?"
"They quit. Said I 'drove them nuts' or something like that."
"Gee, I wonder why." I said sarcastically.
"Shut up." He said. "Anyway, now I have to get cleaned up and go shopping all by myself."
"I'll go. I could use some fresh air." Bruce volunteered. "I haven't been out of here in weeks."
"What is this grocery shopping that you speak of?" Thor asked.
"Come with us and we'll show you." I said.
"Wait, now you're going?"
"Please? It gives me something to do." I begged. Besides, I secretly wondered what it would be like to go shopping with the Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. He rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to beg, you know. Get cleaned up and meet here in an hour." He said as he shook his head of hair. "Is my scalp supposed to be itching?"
In the course of an hour, however, Steve had managed to get involved in our little shopping expenditure. Claimed he was so bored of the gym that he could punch someone. Ironic, huh?
"You know, this car can only suit so many." Tony remarked as we all shuffled into the car. Thor had to have shotgun because he nearly squished me in the backseat.
"You might need to think about getting an Avenger's van." I suggested.
"Ha! Me, drive a van? No thanks."
"Ouch! Thor, can you push your seat back up? You're squishing me." Steve whined. Indeed, he had been thrust into his seat because Thor had moved the seat so far back for leg room. Bruce groaned from being squished in-between Steve and I as Tony started up the car and we zoomed off to the grocery store.
"Amazing!" Thor shouted in excitement as he gazed at the store. "I wish we had these magical doors in Asgard." He was referring to the automatic doors we just came through.
"It's not magic, it's technology." Bruce explained, but Thor, who was too amazed by his surroundings, had rushed off mid-sentence.
"Oh no." The four of us remaining said in unison as he ripped open a box and shook out its contents. Of course, the store manager just happened to be walking by and notice.
"Don't worry. He's with us." Tony assured and the manager sighed as Tony threw the box of fruit roll-ups into the cart.
"But it was just sitting there." Thor said and Tony put a hand to his face in frustration.
"Don't worry, Thor." I said. "Just don't grab anything else and open it until we get out of here, alright?"
"Agreed." The Asgardian agreed.
"Oooo, what's this?" Steve asked as he saw some Reese's.
"Oh, this is going to be a long shopping trip." Bruce muttered and I giggled as Thor and Steve wandered off, picking out anything and everything they found interesting. I could see all the stares from the other customers at Thor's Asgardian wardrobe and flowing red cape (a lot like Superman if you ask me, but way more awesome!). Whilst Bruce, Tony and I shopped for whatever was on Pepper's grocery list, Thor and Steve kept finding us again and loading more things in the cart until it was all full. Then came the checkout.
"You guys cost me a fortune." Tony muttered under his breath as he handed the lady his credit card.
"Oh, darn!" He suddenly said aloud.
"What is the matter, friend?" Thor asked at his friend's frustration.
"I forgot the peanut butter." Sure enough, it was there on display, built into a small replica of the Empire State building. Why? I have no clue. And guess where Thor went to get it? Yeah, not good.
"No, Thor!" Steve shouted, but it was too late. Thor grabbed right into the heart of the tower, causing it to shake and then it began to tumble to the ground. And right there was the store manager. Weren't we just the luckiest people on the planet?
"Here." Tony said, throwing the clerk a few hundred dollar bills. "For all the peanut butter." He then looked to us and Thor. "Run!" He commanded. And we ran like heck, groceries in tow and crammed into the car. Tony slammed on the gas pedal and made a mad dash out of the parking lot as the store manager ran after us, his face bright red.
"Really?" Bruce asked Thor. "You had to go grab that jar of peanut butter?"
"I liked it." Thor said sheepishly. That's when I started to laugh. It didn't take long before Steve, then Bruce, then even Tony started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Poor Thor. He was so confused.
"All for a jar of peanut butter." I managed to say in-between fits of laughter as we went back home.
A few hours later...
Clint's P.O.V.
It had been a rough day at work. We were no closer to finding the organization that was somehow still alive after Nat and I had crushed it months ago: the Dark Hand. It was a terrorist group. And obviously they were more bent on getting revenge for the death of their leaders than anything else. Director Fury was on edge, fearing the worst. I could remember the conversation now.
"This doesn't look promising." He told us. He was sitting in his office behind his desk, us opposite him. His face was grim, his one eye revealing his worries.
"We know." Nat said.
"As of this moment, we are unable to trace them." At that moment, we all knew what would have to happen next to find them.
"Until they strike next." Nat said.
"Yes." Director Fury confirmed. There was a moment of silence before he looked at us both. "I understand that you have your niece living with you now, Agent Barton." We looked to each other and then back at Fury. We knew what was coming.
"Yes." I said. He sighed.
"It's not safe for her." Fury said. "And I would advise you to find other living quarters for her immediately." He meant foster care. I remained silent.
"Clint?" Nat said, placing her hand on my shoulder.
I quickly turned and stormed out of there, feeling the Director's eye on me even after I shut the door.
Back to the present, Nat and I had been silent the whole ride back to the Tower. She knew I didn't want to talk about it, and neither did she for that matter. Nat may not want to admit it, but she was as much attached to Hannah as I was. The thought of sending her away was painful. And we'd had enough pain to last us a lifetime. The scene when we got back to the Tower brightened up our day a little.
There was the whole gang, sitting at the table playing Monopoly. Steve looked flustered amidst the vigorous playing of the the scientist, the billionaire, and my niece.
"Ha! You hit my Boardwalk." Hannah said triumphantly. "Pay up."
"Don't I get immunity or something?" Stark objected, begrudgingly handing her a few hundred dollar bills, which made his bank account terribly low.
"Nope." She said with satisfaction as she rolled the dice. However, Bruce was clearly the master of the game.
"Thank you for coming to the Kings Cross Station. I'll gladly take your money." Bruce held out his hand as Hannah gave him more money to stash into his large piles of cash.
"Looks like the Doctor has the master banking skills." Nat said jokingly.
"They already took me out." Steve replied sadly as he gazed at his little Scottie dog token.
"I still don't get this game." Thor said, bored out of his mind as he watched them move around the board. He was a warrior, not a businessman by any means.
The game continued on for another half hour, all of us entranced until finally, Tony and Hannah had to give up the last bit of their money.
"Yes!" The Doctor, out of nowhere, exclaimed. "I told you buying all those little places would pay off."
"Yeah, yeah." Tony said flatly as he started collecting all the game pieces. "Next time, I pick the game."
"How was work?" Hannah asked us. We were definitely not telling her about the conversation with Fury.
"It was alright. But nothing from the guy at the apartment." I answered her.
"Any idea where he came from?" Steve asked.
"It's an organization called the Dark Hand. A terrorist group that we thought we took out months ago." Nat explained. "Apparently not."
"Have they taken him in for questioning?" Bruce asked, putting the game in a closet.
"He's saying nothing. At least not yet."
"Will they come here for you?" Hannah asked us. The thought sent chills down my spine.
"No." I lied. "Don't worry about them."
"They wouldn't dare strike here. Not with us being around." Steve told her, placing a hand reassuringly on her back.
"I'll strike them down with Mjolnir if they do!" Thor bellowed, taking up his trusty, magical hammer.
Oh, I prayed they were right.
I wouldn't dare mess with Thor! But really, these Dark Hand guys? They are some serious bad news! What did you all think?