Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Thirty Six - The Bartons

All of our bags tumbled out as soon as the ramp opened up and onto the lush grass that the Quinjet had landed on. My eyes darted around, but all I could see was a wall of tall pine trees on the right and rolling grassy hills with the occasional oak tree standing proudly. We all stood up and began to slowly walk out of the Quinjet, gathering up the pile of bags on the grass. That's when I finally got a proper look at where we were.

About 300 metres from where we had landed, there was a rather quaint two-story house made from white timber with a pale green roof. There were oak trees surrounding it, several of them with tire swings and even a couple with archery targets on them.

"Clint, why did you bring us here?" Demanded Nat, turned around to look at him with folded arms.

"You needed a safe place." He shrugged, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "Here it is."

"Do you know how much danger you are putting them in?" She asked him. A couple of eyes immediately darted to Clint and Tony stepped forward accusingly.

"Danger?" He demanded.

"They're fine with it." Clint replied, beginning to walk towards the house.

"I don't think we are." Steve replied warily, his eyes darting around. I swallowed nervously and followed Clint and Nat towards the house, the others hesitantly following.

"Not you." Nat replied, shaking her head before looking over at all of us. "Them." She turned back around and nodded at the house. I squinted and saw three figures standing in the doorway of the house, two of them smaller than the one in the middle.

"Are they children?" Bruce asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure this is the best idea." Wanda said slowly as we drew closer to the house. That's when I could see a woman and standing next to her was what looked like an eight- or nine-year-old boy and a five- or six-year-old girl. When we came within fifty metres from the house, I saw that all of them were smiling at us, and the little girl broke away from the woman's grip, rushing towards Clint.

"Daddy!" She squealed as she ran. Clint crouched down, a big grin on his face as he opened up his arms and the girl ran into him, causing him to stumble slightly and chuckle as he hugged her back. The boy ran towards Clint as well and was taking in for a hug.

"Clint has children?" Steve said after we had all been standing there in silence, all of the Avenger's faces covered in shock. Nat nodded, tight lipped before the girl broke away from Clint and ran over to Nat, wrapping her arm's around Nat's leg. Nat broke out into a smile and bent down, picking up the girl and throwing her in the air before catching her, causing the girl to squeal happily.

"My Dad says you're Iron Man." The boy walked up to Tony, who was still not looking very pleased with the situation. "Can I see your helmet?"

"Absolutely not." Tony replied, possibly a little harshly. "That stuff is worth way more than what you can stuff in your little piggy bank."

"Stark." Clint said in a warning tone. Tony looked over at him.

"I'm not letting him get his grimy peanut butter and jelly hands all over my billion dollar creations." He replied. "Why did you even bring us here? We can't risk putting your family in danger."

"They're fine with it." Clint replied. "They know the risk." The woman began walking over to us and as she drew closer, I realized she was pregnant. Clint smiled happily at her, pulling her into a hug and kissing her quickly.

"This is my wife Laura." Clint introduced us all. "My son Cooper and my daughter Lila." The Avenger's murmured greetings, the air still very awkward.

"Are you sure okay with us intruding on you like this?" Nat asked, putting Lila down, who had begin to struggle in her arms upon spotting Thor's hammer he had put on the ground.