Thank you all for reviewing. Hope you like this little snippet. Have a FANTASTIC FRIDAY!

Chapter Eleven

"Uncle, uncle!" My cries echoed throughout the living room of Avenger's Tower as Thor had me pinned on the floor. The other Avengers and I had been teaching Thor how to play flag football and, obviously, by the sound of my wails, he was winning.

"Do you give up, tiny human?" He asked with a content smirk on his face.

"Thor, really, must you keep her pinned down like that?" Pepper asked as she watched us. Somehow, she approved of this game in the house. Probably because that if anything got broken, Tony could afford to pay it back. However, as of now, the Asgardian was making it really hard to breathe.

"Alright." Thor obliged as he hoisted himself up and lent me a hand.

"You're good at this game." He laughed boisterously at my praise.

"I'm good at many games. Including ones that involve tackling my opponents."

"I can tell." I looked at the others who were so worn from playing against this guy. I even think Bruce was walking with slight limp.

"Another round then?" Thor asked, barely breaking a sweat. A chorus of moans followed suit and he frowned.

"What's the matter? This is the best game we've played here!"

"Buddy," Tony clapped a hand on the man's shoulder, "let's take five, okay?"

"What's 'take five' mean?"

"It means we take a break." I explained to him.

"I think I'll go grab a water then." Thor said, trotting off to the kitchen, the others following him, drenched with sweat.

"He's a tough one." I said as I sat down beside Pepper for a few minutes.

"What can you expect? He's huge." I laughed.

"Agreed."

"You've spent a lot of time with the boys lately." Pepper mentioned in the middle of nowhere, which caught me off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think we ever get a chance to hang out, you know, just us girls." Come to think of it, I had never spend time with Pepper, mostly because she was out of town on business. And Aunt Nat, well, I hadn't spent any alone time with her since we went out shopping.

"Girls day out?" I suggested and she smiled.

"I'd like that. We can get your aunt and just have a girls day."

"That would be great." I said happily. I didn't really hang out with other girls much, especially after Mom had died. And I really wanted that interaction with Pepper and Aunt Nat.

So, the next weekend, we left the boys behind to do whatever they did when we weren't there (hopefully nothing dangerous), and spent the day doing whatever we wanted. We somehow ended up at a small ice cream parlor.

"Okay, so you're telling me you've never been on a date?" Pepper asked and I shook my head. She seemed taken aback by this.

"Why not? You're so pretty."

"Didn't really get around with the other kids much after Mom died." I explained. "Plus, it was a small town. There weren't many cute boys around anyways." My eyes shifted to the window of the parlor and I saw one of the most handsome guys I had every seen. He had beautiful golden blonde hair and some dazzling blue eyes. His tight blue shirt accentuated his muscles and well-built frame.

"But I'd gladly date that." I said and Pepper laughed.

"Really, now? Just a random guy on the street?" Aunt Nat asked skeptically. "Don't start worrying me."

"I wouldn't go date random guys." I assured her. "I don't want to find out he's a creep or anything."

"Good girl." She approved. "So it's agreed, you can't date until you're thirty."

"Hey now..." I said with a smirk.

We lollygagged around for a few hours, going into random shops that I would never dream of going into by myself. One was an old antique shop. Nothing much. It actually looked like it could be bulldozed and it would look a lot better. But that's just me.

"Are you ladies looking for anything?" The grizzled old shopkeeper asked as we entered. He had frizzled grey hair and untrimmed stubble for a beard. He couldn't be any older than...one-hundred, let's just say that. He looked friendly, but in a creepy sort of way.

"No. We're just looking." Pepper said politely.

We all started to drift off to items that interested us. I found an old bow that Uncle Clint might appreciate. It wasn't high tech or anything, but pretty neat. For Aunt Nat, I saw some old throwing knives. I'd have to get a target board and see her aim sometime. My guess was she'd be deadly accurate.

How I ever made it to a dusty, dark corner of the room, I had no clue, but I did. It had some freaky old toys in there, like some demented-looking dolls and, to my disgust, some shrunken heads. I prayed they weren't real.

"Find anything you like?" I nearly screamed as the shopkeeper poked his head out from behind me.

"Umm...no." I said, backing up a little. "Thanks though." I quickly made my way back to Aunt Nat and Pepper. They were obviously as uncomfortable as I was. "Let's get out of here." I whispered. We rushed off without question.

"Now that is one creepy place." I commented as we walked off. But I could still feel his eyes on us...or rather, on me.

The rest of the day went better though. We ended up sitting in one of the Stark Industries cars. Apparently there was a man named Happy that was their main escort. He was really nice, but quiet.

"Hannah, I never did ask you, but how did you tackle that man in the apartment?" Aunt Nat asked curiously.

"I kind of winged it." I admitted, blushing a little. "A little self defense class in high school never hurt anyone either."

"I thought it was quite impressive to hear that you took down a trained assassin." Pepper put in.

"Although I wouldn't promote you rushing in after us again." My aunt advised, but I could see the admiration in her eyes. And she was the one who didn't approve of dangerous stunts. Ha!

"If my family's in danger, I won't leave them." I told her seriously. Although a little worried, the glow of admiration lingered.

"We won't leave you either." She said, a small smile perking on her lips. That's when I knew that my family would never turn their back on me. Never.

Somewhere in New York...

They were making this easy. Too easy. Those master assassins Hawkeye and Black Widow were fools to think they were safe living with the Avengers. They had taken out the greatest leaders of the Dark Hand since its formation. And now they were going to pay.

The dim lighting of this room and its cold, blank walls were not formulated to my tastes, but that was no matter. I wouldn't be here for long. And my men were well suited for the tasks I was going to carry out against those two miserable pieces of slime.

"Sir, what are your plans?" One of my men questioned. I grinned evilly. My plans were already in the works. This was going to be big. And victory was going to be sweet.

This is not looking good. These Dark Hand guys, I wouldn't want to cross them. What did you all think? Sorry, I know it's short.