Ninety One
"Fury set this up for me when I began with SHIELD" Clint explained, walking us into a ranch style house in the middle of nowhere. A petite woman embraced him and welcomed us into the house. Natasha was immediately attacked by two small children.
"I'll be damned." I exclaimed. Steve struck me in the chest, obviously reminding me of my foul mouth.
"This is my wife, Laura, and my son, Cooper and daughter, Lila."
"And this is baby Natasha." Nat glowed, rubbing Laura's belly.
"Sorry, it's Nathaniel. He's a boy." Laura blushed.
"Traitor." Nat whispered to the baby.
I was dumbstruck. I hadn't any idea that Clint had a life outside of SHIELD. He was better at keeping secrets than I was. I suddenly had to get out of the house and work on something. Seeing a fellow Avenger with a family reminded me how lost I was without Loki. I escaped with Steve who seemed to be having a similar hard time.
Thor had departed to check on something the witch had shown him. Leaving us one person down. I needed something to do to keep my mind busy. Not focus on Loki or Ultron. I found an axe in the yard and was reminded how much chopping wood took my mind off Loki and Îrben, and set to work.
The radio played in the background. Steve found a second axe and joined in helping me.
"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" I asked, trying to make small talk.
"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." He replied, an obvious shot at me. "I was hoping Thor would be the exception."
"Give him time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him."
"I don't know what she showed you, but it made you do something stupid." He brought the axe down again, shattering the log. "Earth's mightiest heroes. She sure pulled us apart like cotton candy."
"Seems like you walked away alright."
"Is that a problem?"
"I don't trust a guy without a dark side." I slammed my axe down. "Call me old fashioned."
"It's because you haven't seen it yet."
"Banner and I were doing research."
"That would affect the team."
"That would end the team. Isn't that the mission? Isn't that why we fight? So we can end the fight? So we can go home?" I argued. Steve tore apart the log he was holding with his bear hands. It quickly crossed my mind that he could do the same to me.
"Every time someone tries to win the war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time." He reasoned. I kept my mouth shut and returned to work, listening to the radio.
"Girl I been thinkin' 'bout us.
And you know I ain't good at this stuff
But these feelings piling up
won't give me no rest
This might come out a little crazy
A little sideways, yeah maybe
I don't know how long it'll take me
But I'll do my best
If you'll be my soft and sweet
I'll be your strong and steady
You be my glass of wine
I'll be your shot of whiskey
You be my sunny day
I'll be your shade tree
You be my honeysuckle
I'll be your honey bee." The radio sang. It was a sweet and sappy country song, and it generally reminded me of Loki. We were always there for each other, and now, I felt so alone. My team was turning on me for trying to prevent a much bigger war. Pepper had abandoned me, and Loki too.
"Barton, turn that shit off." I shouted, not being able to take it any longer.
"Our old tractor quit working. Clint says you know how to talk to mechanical things. Think you could take a look at it?" Laura saw tension and offered up an escape for me. I took it.
"Don't take from my pile." I warned Steve. I wasn't done with him, but we were going to win this fight together. I would air my grievances with him after we won.
I was met in the barn by Nick Fury, who lectured me, same as everyone had. He did offer insight on how to go about winning. Informing us that Ultron had stolen a large amount of vibranium and was spotted near Seoul, South Korea. He also informed me that we could help shut him out of the Internet by using the world web base in Iceland. I knew computers, so I offered to take that on.