blooded soul ;; the avengers (aou)

;; OO9

》 It was sunrise when we finally arrived at the 'safe house'. We left the vehicle. The archer was still holding the other agent when we went to enter the house.

"Honey!" Clint called. "I'm home,"

A brunette woman appeared. She had a smile on her face and, seemingly, a baby inside of her. I already heard a second heartbeat before I saw it.

"Company, sorry, I should've called ahead," he kissed her as she greeted him too.

"She's an agent of some kind," Stark concluded, really confusedly. I guessed they had no idea of her existence.

"Gentlemen, this is Laura," he introduced.

She smiled. "I know all of your names," she said. Her eyes fell on me. "Or, I'm supposed to."

I rose my hand. "I'm Echo, hi. Congratulations," I said, referring to the baby.

》 Footsteps in the hall now. "Oh incoming," said Clint.

"Dad!" Two kids appeared, a girl and a boy. Wow.

"Hey sweetheart," He lifted his daughter and hugged his boy with his other arm. "hey buddy, how're you guys doing?"

"... Those are smaller agents," I snorted. They were cute, really. Small Clints and Lauras.

"Did you bring anny Nat?" asked the girl to her dad.

Now Romanoff woke up. She rose to her feet. "Why don't you hug her and find out?" she asked, scooping up Bartons daughter.

》 Steve also was a little back. "Sorry for barging in on you," he apologized.

"Yeah," added Iron Man. "We would have called ahead but we were busy having no idea that you existed."

Clint turned around, arm around his wife and son. "Yeah, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. Kept it off SHIELDS files, like to keep it that way. I figured it's a good place to lay low,"

I smiled at Clint. I hadn't loved a guy since I was sixteen, but this, I felt, was terribly romantic. Really.

》 Now everyone settled inside, I decided to go out for some fresh air for a sec.

All my thoughts about my dad, friendship, love. I was becoming a softie, I noticed. In a few days, I'd leave them alone again. I'd be on my own, in the wild. I had to take care of myself. Fight my enemies merciless.

I walked off to the small woods. Out of boredom, I threw my knives into a branch above my head. They stuck well, as I expected. I didn't stand up to retrieve them. I'd do it later.

I was joined by someone. Aware of his presence, I turned. Clints son scoffed. "Thought I could creep up on you. Guess not,"

I grinned and pointed at my ears. "I can hear everything, son. What's your name?"

"Cooper. And if you can hear everything, tell me what they're saying," he challenged, pointing at Steve and Stark, chopping wood in the front garden. I looked at them, focussing.

"He asks if it's a problem. I quite missed what the it was," I pointed at Steve. "He says he doesn't trust people without a dark side and tells Steve to call him old-fashioned. That'd be ironic, since Cap is actually the one old-fashioned, seeing as he's over ninety years old." I shrugged at the boy.

His face was full of surprise and confusion. "I thought you were just saying that because you were having a victory moment or something,"

"I hear things normal people can't hear. It can be pretty disturbing," I nodded.