Protector

CHAPTER 1

Twelve Years Later

"Cooper, Lila, dinners ready!" I shout up the stairs and then retreat back to the kitchen to help Laura dish up all of the food.

Within seconds I can hear their heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs. Unlike me, Cooper and Lila had just returned home from school so that was the main topic of conversation while we ate. The two of them went to a normal school while I had to be home after Clint found me in the woods behind his house twelve years ago.

Straight after Clint found me, I had been terrified that him and Laura would be like my real parents and would hit me and shout at me every night, so I didn't say or do anything for the first two weeks of being with them. They had been really worried because I had stopped eating and leaving my bedroom and I had completely shut myself down.

Then Laura thought it was because I missed going to school and being around kids my own age but she couldn't have been more wrong. I had been so scared I would do something wrong and would be abandoned again that I cried and screamed when they told me where we were going. Since I was only six at the time and my powers were really unstable, my emotions got in the way and I ended up levitating every object in the house in front of them.

Laura was a bit freaked when she saw it but Clint didn't seem as fazed as I would have thought. I shook it off as him being in a state of shock but as I got older and more of my powers started showing up, he didn't seem surprised at all and I got more confused by this.

Nevertheless they were both really understanding when I confessed everything to them; my unstable powers, my abusive parents and all of my traveling. After I told them everything we made a unanimous decision that I should be home schooled so Laura taught me everything I needed to know while Cooper and Lila went to the school I would've gone to if I wasn't so 'different'.

I didn't mind being home schooled though, Laura was an amazing teacher and I didn't need to worry about exposing my powers in front of her while we learnt. It also meant that I could help her more during her pregnancies of Cooper and Lila and now soon-to-be baby Nathaniel.

As I thought of Clint and Laura as my parents now, I also thought of Cooper and Lila as my sibling and they thought of me as their older sister because they didn't know I was actually adopted. Funnily enough it never came up into a conversation with them that I looked completely different to both Laura and Clint.

While they both had light brown hair and brown eyes, I had dark black hair that fell down to my waist and bright blue eyes. I was also quite an average height for my age, standing at 5'4 now that I've been through my growth spurt.

As we eat our dinner I start wondering where Clint was 'working' this time. After accidently finding out what his actual job was as an Avenger when one of my newest powers made an unexpected appearance five years ago, I had been none stop worrying about him and Natasha - who was my cool aunt figure - since I knew how dangerous both of their jobs were.

Five years ago Clint was getting ready to leave on another 'work trip' for a couple of months and I had hugged him goodbye before he left through the door. Then next thing I knew was that I had a pounding headache and saw flashes of memories that weren't my own. I saw everything Clint had ever experienced, including being brain-washed by a big spear and a strange looking man.

I also saw him fighting with Aunt Natasha and some other guys dressed in cool suits. That's when I found out his actual job. Apparently as soon as I had seen everything about Clint, I fainted straight away and he ended up staying an extra two weeks to explain to me about his job and the people he worked with.

Just like he had been with me, I had been understanding and made him promise me he would be safe. He promised he would always come back in one piece and I have been making him keep that promise for five years.

After I found out about his real job, it made more sense that he wasn't too surprised at seeing me make everything in a room levitate since he was working for secret government facility known as S.H.I.E.L.D.

I was still stressing about Clint and Natasha when I was snapped back into reality by Lila kicking me underneath the table while we ate.

She was grinning from ear to ear as I look at her and she pointed to the brussel sprouts on her plate. I roll my eyes at her before focussing my attention on the green vegetables she absolutely detests and start making them rise from her plate into the air.

She began giggling like crazy as I made them fly through the air over her head while I guided them with my hands that had blue wisps flying from them. Apparently the colour of the 'magic' as Lila liked to call it that swarmed around my hands was the same colour as my eyes whenever I used my powers but I was never able to see it for myself.

Laura chuckled as I made the sprouts circle above Lila's head before I made them land on Cooper's plate who huffed in annoyance.

"Now do it for the carrots!" Lila squeals and claps her hands but I just shook my head with a chuckle and finished my own food then carry my dishes into the kitchen.

After cleaning up after myself I run up to my room and into the joined bathroom and jump into the shower. I let the hot water wash away every stress I had about Clint and Natasha for another day before I pull on a tank top and jogging bottoms and go to sit at the window seat with my sketch pad while I let my hair dry naturally.

I start drawing immediately after sitting down. I draw everything I can see outside from the stacks of logs that needed to be chopped, to the birds flying through the sky. It was already dark outside so the only light was provided by the moon and while it wasn't a lot, it cast a lot of shadows over the garden and gave the picture I was drawing a different perspective.

As I added the finishing touches to my drawing, I looked over at  the clock and saw it read half past ten. I put away my sketch book and crawled into bed almost immediately, letting sleep consume me for another night.