The Final Hope

Chapter 5

A few hours later I was walking into the tower elevator. When I got to my floor Nat was waiting for me on the couch. "Where were you" she demanded.

"I went for a morning walk" I crossed my arms, careful not to touch my stitches.

"You've been gone for six hours, where were you" asked again.

"I told you, I went for a walk" I replied.

"You're hurt, let me see it".

"I'm fine".

"If you don't show me, I'll call Steve".

"He doesn't know that I was gone does he" I asked.

"He left an hour ago to go running".

I turned to the side and lifted my shirt so Nat could see my stitches.

"How did this happen" Nat demanded.

"I was in Hell's Kitchen when I was attacked by a ninja" I started.

"A ninja really".

"He was part of some ancient cult that was taking teens off the streets to drain their blood. So he attacked me and Daredevil showed up and took me to the hospital" I said "I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about this".

"Will you need to stop wandering the streets; its like you're looking for trouble" Nat stood back and crossed her arms.

"I'm not looking for trouble, and I go for walks to clear my head" I argued.

"You know if you ever sneak out at night again, I'll have JARVIS lock you in your room".

"Is anyone else up" I tried to change the subject.

"No, but your brother was up all night worrying about you, it's hard to sleep when there's someone stomping on the floor above you" Nat said.

"I'm going to wake James up to let him know that I'm completely fine" I started walking off. Just then the elevator opened and Steve walked in.

"Will, your up" he said.

"Yeah, I've been up for hours" I stated "I'm going to go wake James up".

I went into his room and flipped James off of his bed. I winced, I had just popped one of my stitches.

"Ow" James hissed.

"I told you that I'd be home when you got up. Well I just got home and you're up now".

"Why would you get me up, it's like six AM" he groaned.

"I felt like it" I walked towards my room.

"Wait, what happened to you last night" he got up and followed me" I grabbed his arm and shoved him into my room, closing the door behind me.

"I was attacked, by a ninja" I explained everything while digging through a drawer to find a needle and thread. I started to stitch myself up again.

James looked away. "Are you seriously grossed out by my cut".

"It looks serious" he stated.

"I went to a hospital".

"I cannot believe that you got attacked by a ninja" he muttered.

"I know" I finished my stitches.

"Why don't you have Tony or Cap do that" he asked.

"Because I don't want them to know, Nat does but only because she's a spy".

"What about Clint".

"You realize that if I tell Clint or Tony or Pepper then they'll all tell dad".

"Oh like Natasha wouldn't tell dad".

"She won't, I know she won't".

That's when I heard the yelling. James and I ran to see what was going on.

Tony and Steve were going at it again. "Boys not here, take it outside" Nat said. That's exactly what they did; they took their fight to Central Park.

Nat, Clint, James and I tried to keep civilians away. Steve and Tony exchanged a few punches, nothing too serious. Then I heard Tony fire up his repulsers so I intervened. I ran in between the two men.

"Stop it right now" I yelled holding my hands up and looking down. I couldn't look either of them in the eye.

I could sense that people were taking photos. "Get out of the way Will" Tony said.

"No, you need to stop this now" I said.

"You're going to get yourself hurt" Steve said.

"I'm fine, now stop" I said. Tony dropped his arm and Steve dropped his shield. I dropped my arms. Tony flew away and the rest of us headed back to the tower.

The next day at school dragged on. "So I saw the news last night" Coulson said "I guess there really is a war coming".

"Yup and I'm right in the middle of it" I sighed. The rest of the day dragged on. When Clint and I were walking home from school we stopped at a news stand when I saw the headline.

It read; Gladiator Match of the Century.

Underneath it was a picture of me in between Steve and Tony. "Hey you're that girl from the picture" a man said "you're the mystery girl, and you're the guy with the bow".

Clint looked offended. I was confused. "What do you mean".

"Aren't you the girl that lives with the Avengers, and you're the sidekick that has the arrows" the man asked.

"Yeah" I nodded.

"How can you not know who I am" Clint said "I'm Hawkeye".

The man only nodded and said to me "So are you the one that started this war".

"I'm the one that's trying to stop it" I put the paper down and walked off. Clint rushed after me. From what I got to read of the article, it seemed like it was trying to portray me as the cause of the oncoming war.

"I cannot believe that idiot" I muttered.

"Yeah, he didn't even know who I am".

"Did you not catch the part where he thought that I'm the cause of this war" I asked "and did you not read the article".

"Look Will, you're not the cause of this. This war goes back decades to when Howard Stark gave your old man his powers" Clint reassured me.

"But they always argue about me" I said.

"Sure they do, but it just shows that they care about you".

"I think that Steve and I have to move now" I said.

"You're moving".

"Steve found and apartment in Brooklyn, and now with all the fighting, I think that we have to move out".

"You and Steve can't move out, you hold the team together and Cap leads us" Clint started.

"I'm sorry Clint, look I can still go on missions with you, I just can't live in the tower" I said "and if you don't want to live here anymore, then you always have the farmhouse".

"Fine, move out, I don't care" Clint said as we reached the tower.

"Miss Rogers, Mr. Stark would like to see you in the lab" JARVIS said. I did not want to see Tony, but I went to the lab any way.

"Hey mini Rogers" Tony said.

"What do you want" I scowled.

"Look I know that you and Cap are moving out soon, so I've been working on a way to take your arc reactor out without killing you" he said.

"What do you mean" I sat on one of the stools.

"I found a way to remove the shrapnel from your chest without killing you so you won't need your arc reactor anymore".

"Okay, it's just one less way for people to kill me, so take the arc reactor out" I said. Tony explained the whole procedure to me. Then he gave me a sedative so he could take the arc reactor out of me.