Dark Arrow

Chapter One

I loved my job, my life as a SHIELD agent. It was a stark contrast to the life Clint and I had growing up. My older brother was my hero, there was only eleven months between us. We were as close as you could get. He was my best friend as well as my brother. Whilst Clint had damaged his hearing on various missions for SHIELD, mine had been damaged from a young age. Courtesy of our extremely volatile mother.

So when I'm tasked with the objective of welcoming the Captain America onto the team, I all but vomit in my mouth. Nick Fury, director of SHIELD looks at me with a grin on his face. Sure the world knew of the original six avengers, that was how I liked it. I was better than my brother and everyone who knew me, knew it. I was faster, smarter and my aim more deadly. What was better for me though, was the fact that no one knew who I was. It gave me an advantage, I could hide in plain sight, get in and out of places before people even realised I was there.

Fury had taken me under his wing the second he'd offered Clint and me a job. We'd grown up on the run, our Mom was hardly a role model. She had been jailed when we were ten, the only skills she'd ever gifted us were how to get what we needed without being seen. She died a few years back, I never went to the funeral. She had been harsher on me than Clint. I reminded her more or herself. For as long as I could remember it had just been Clint and I. Now we had a whole new family, one I'd protect with my life.

As I looked at Fury's cocky grin, I knew he was up to something. He had swiftly become an almost father figure to me. He never underestimated me or my skills, so the fact he was placing me on babysitting duty had me questioning everything. "Why me? Get one of the fucking grunts to do it." I huffed out as I rested my feet on his glass desk. The windows behind him lining the walls, showed an amazing view of the New York skyline.

"Rain, stop being a pain in the ass and just do as your told." He pushed my feet off, giving me his signature glare. The one that told me it wasn't up for discussion. I knew what battles to pick with him and this wasn't one of them. "Fine," I conceded and stood up. "What time does the golden boy arrive?" Even the thought of the perfect Steve Rogers had me on edge.

He was everything I despised. One little serum and the world fell at his feet. The world knew his story, hell they taught in in schools. Not that I'd ever gone to school, that would've required being in one place for a prolonged period of time. Sure there were things about him I didn't know, but I also didn't care enough to learn them.

"Two days," he dismissed me with a wave of his hand. As I reached the door he called me back. "Try to be nice, he's an important member of this team."

"Yeah yeah I got it Nick." I stomped out, needing nothing more than some peace and quiet. Turning the hearing aids in my ears to silent I sighed in relief. I wasn't completely deaf, so taking them out only resulted in muted sounds and ringing in my ears. It was never quiet, not until Tony Stark created these new ones for me. I could finally have silence in my life and I had never been more grateful for it.

Tony had become the closest person to me on the team. He would update the training software for me, created new arrows when I needed them. He'd even learned ASL for me, knowing how much I enjoyed the quiet some days. There was something freeing about hearing nothing for a while, being lost in my thoughts.

I felt the air shift around me as people walked past, I'd learnt a long time ago to heighten my other senses when I couldn't hear. It kept my focus sharp in case something happened on a mission. I moved through the Avengers tower with ease until I made it to my room. Closing the door behind me I smiled as I saw the new arrows laid out on my queen sized bed. The red bow wrapped around them told me who they were from.

Fury told me about the assignment. I know your feelings on Capsicle, in the lab if you need me. T x

I smiled and undid the bow, inspecting the tip of the arrow. I knew better than to fiddle with them too much, the last time hadn't ended well. Instead I walked over to the weapons locker located to the left of my walk in closet. Pressing my hand to the keypad, it beeped and lit up green. Pulling on the hidden handle, I pulled the long device out of the wall. All my arrows had their place, different bows for different missions. Guns and knives as back up. I'd even gotten a set of daggers from Loki when he visited with Thor a few months back. Out of the brothers he was definitely my favourite. Not to mention he was a sweetheart beneath the sheets. Not many people tend to come near you when you're the younger sister of one of earths mightiest heroes. That didn't apply to Loki, we had fun and he knew there was no strings attached. A girl has needs and I'm one of the few he can tolerate here.

Putting the arrows in their spot, I pushed the weapons locker back into place as it blended into the wall. I loved Stark tech, it was one of the best parts about living here. Not that everyone did, Clint had his farm with Laura and the kids. That was probably the best kept secret in this place, no one but me and Natasha knew about them or where they were. Something Clint had insisted on when we were drafted in almost six years ago.

I couldn't understand why the precious Captain had decided a year after coming out of the ice to move here. I'd been lucky enough to avoid him at every opportunity, there was something about him that rubbed me up the wrong way, I wasn't even sure what I was that annoyed me so much.

Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Two days. Two days until I have to finally put up with his perfect face, his perfect hair. Hell even his ass was perfect.

Don't judge me, I have eyes.

For now I decided to delve back into a book. Tonight's one was some smut filled goodness about a mafia boss. I smiled as I climbed into the fresh sheets, clapping twice to turn the lights down, I attached my reading light to the book.