The Stark Shadow

The Familiar

- Collins -

I retracted the bow in my hand and set it down before pulling Clint in for a hug. God, it'd been years since I last saw him.

"So what brings you to our little neck of the woods?" Clint asked me. His chin rested easily on my head as he towered over me with his just over six foot frame.

I laughed into his chest before taking a step back, his hands lingered around my waist before he shoved them in his pockets and leaned against the entryway. "If I told you I'd have to kill you, Barton." I turned back to gather up all the equipment and pulled the arrows out of the targets and the wall.

"What aren't you telling me, Shadow?" He grabbed my arm as I tried to walk past him.

Clint was my best friend and there was a time when we told each other everything, but those days had long been over. I had met him years before Fury wrangled the band of misfits he called the Avengers, but life happened and we grew apart. His work took him around the world with Nat and I had Stark Industries to keep an eye on. He was one of the very few who knew that I was Tony's sister. Clint never agreed with Tony's idea of keeping me hidden to keep me safe, but he always promised to keep an eye on Tony's "shadow".

I shrugged off his grip and dropped the equipment off back in the lab before I made my way back to the main floor. The sound of Clint's combat boots thudding across the varnished floor followed me into the kitchen where I ran my fingers along a series of off colored tiles and pressed one to reveal a hidden cabinet of liquor.

"Shadow."

"You know, you don't have to call me that anymore," I told him, pouring whiskey into a glass. After taking a sip I cocked my head back and closed my eyes letting the alcohol hit me which didn't take long considering I hadn't eaten all day.

"Yeah? Well, old habits die hard." Clint walked up to me and took the glass out of my hand and setting it on the counter behind him before I could take another sip. "Spill."

"Alexander Pierce ordered a hit on me," I said blankly.

"World Security Council Secretary Alexander Pierce?"

"The very same."

"Why?"

"Because he's currently the head of a phenomenally corrupt organization that has managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. and I ditched a high security project I was heading, not knowing what the true intent was initially."

"Does Tony know about this?"

"He does now. That's why he orchestrated the big reveal last week."

"That's what that was?"

I nodded. "You're looking at the one and only publicly known sister of the infamous genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist Tony Stark," I lifted my arms up in the air and spun around.

Clint grabbed me by my waist, his eyes fixed downward and his expression hard.

"Hey, Barton. Eyes are up here."

"What is this?"

I looked down at what he was looking at and saw my scar. "Ah," I pulled the hooded sweater down, making him let me go. I reached around him and grabbed my glass off the counter and finished off the rest of the drink. "That was my parting gift from Pierce."

Clint's brow furrowed. "You could've called."

"God, you sound just like Tony," I scoffed, rinsing the glass in the sink and pressing the tile to hide the liquor stash away again. "There was no way I knew any of this was going to happen."

"Shadow–"

"Clint, stop," I cut him off, raising one hand and steadying myself against the counter with the other. After the room stopped spinning, I walked into the lobby and collapsed into the couch with my eyes closed. "The last time I checked, you were in Budapest with Nat and then in and out of the country since then doing God knows what. You'd barely had time to be home. Even if I knew what the hell was going on, I wasn't about to call you and take you away from Laura and the kids." I looked up at him pinching the bridge of his nose. "And would you stop scowling, you shit," I yawned.

Clint let out a soft laugh and draped his jacket over me as my eyes fell closed again.

"Then stop being a stubborn ass."