𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐎, p.m.

𝐒𝐢𝐱

CHAPTER SIX —— ANOTHER
BARNES, BUT BETTER

"JARVIS WAS THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense." Hazel watched Steve as his head hung low, the rest of the heroes stood in disbelief.

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage." Thor suddenly barged in, grabbing ahold of Tony by his throat, holding him up in the air. Clint and Hazel just stood to the side, not trying to get in the middle of the two men.

"Woah, woah, woah! It's going around." The girl scoffed, slapping her older brother upside the head.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony had tried to remove Thors hand, struggling to breath as he spoke.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

"Thor! The Legionnaire." Thor quickly let go of Tony, the man placing a hand over his throat as he attempted to catch his breath.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter." All of the heroes looked around at each other, sighing when they realized this was going to be difficult. "Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Out of nowhere, Tony began to laugh, Bruce subtly shaking his head at him to get him to stop.

"You think this is funny?"

"No. It's probably not, right? Is this very terrible? Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible." Hazel groaned, placing her head in her hands as Tony began to act like a child.

"This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this." The two Barton siblings whispered to each other as Bruce called out to Tony, telling him that maybe this might not have been his greatest idea. The billionaire quickly turned away from the Asgardian to speak to the scientist.

"Really?! That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

"I need popcorn." Clint chuckled quietly enough for only Hazel to hear, nodding in agreement.

"Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Bruce shrugged, nodding his head as his lips formed a tight line.

"Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Hazel scoffed, Tony turning to her as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Of course we remember because it's the only thing you seem to bring up. Now, if you guys could stop fighting like kids that would be great." Tony looked at the girl in disbelief, a devilish grin as he stepped towards her.

"Oh please, you got a lot of balls talking like that, Barton. You're still a child yourself. A liability out in the field. Almost had us killed a few times, remember that? You're only here because of your brother and your fucked up parents. Without them, you're nothing." The team looked at the man in complete shock at what had just come out of his mouth as Hazel glared at him.

"Fuck you, Stark." The younger girl quickly walked out of the room without another word. Her brother was quickly to follow after her, not even looking at the brunette.

"That was too far, Tony. You know that's not true." Tony just shrugged, placing his hands in the air in surrender.

"Yeah, well, we'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together." Tony looked at the super soldier for a moment before turning away as Steve continued. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller. But for now, make things right with Hazel. You had no right telling her that."

..........

"Haze?" The girl stood on the balcony, leaning against the railing. "Hey, kid." Hazel didn't bother turning towards her brother as he walked towards her, standing by her side. Clint placed his arm around his sister, placing his arm on her right bicep, squeezing it softly to let her know he had her. "None of what he said was true. I hope you know that." Before the older sibling could continue on, the youngest turned to him, wrapping her arms around him. She had laid her head on her brothers right shoulder, the man wrapping his arms around her upper back. "You are so much more than the people that hurt you. You are so much more than your powers. You hear me? He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's only a hero because of his money. You and I made it here on our own. Sure, he runs the Avengers, but we're Avengers because Fury picked us. We did this ourselves. Not because of each other, and definitely not because of some shitty ass parents."

"Thanks, birdie. I appreciate it." From inside, Nat and Steve stood in the now destroyed common room, talking to one another.

"Sometimes, I can't believe they're our best friends. They're so different from us." Steve nodded with a grin on his face, agreeing with Nat.

"Maybe that's why Hazel and I are such good friends. She and Buck have a lot more in common than she and I do. But she's got a lot of heart. She's a good person." Nat nodded along in agreement like Steve had a moment before.

"Yeah, and I got stuck with Clint."