Victoria felt a cold hand on her forehead, causing her to jolt upright. She grabbed the arm of whoever was touching her and twisted it.
"Woah, calm down Vic."
Steve stood above her, smiling softly at the disorientated girl. She let go of his arm, muttering apologies. Her father, upon seeing her move, put the jet on auto-pilot mode and stormed over to her.
"What the hell was that, Victoria?"
"What was what?"
"What in God's name was Ultron speaking about?"
"I—It's nothing, dad," she choked out, stealing a glance at Tony.
"Victoria Selene Barton, I swear to you—"
"—Clint. That's enough," Steve spoke, sternly to the archer.
Clint gave him a glance, before changing the subject, "And you ran after him! He's the enemy!"
"I wanted to see if Wanda was alright! They're not as bad as you think!"
"Not as bad? Victoria, she could have easily killed you!" Clint frowned. "They chose their side, so stop trying to play the middle-man!"
"They are hurt, dad! Have you never been hurt before?"
"You don't understand—"
"—Stop treating me like some kid! I'm an Avenger for heavens sake!"
"You're not an Avenger!"
The jet went silent as Clint's statement weighed in the room. Steve frowned, pulling Clint away from Victoria, who had a hurt expression masking her face.
"You are a child, Victoria, my child. You're seventeen, not twenty-five. You are half as experienced as any of us here, so I suggest you stop—"
"—Cut the bullshit, dad. I've heard the lecture before."
Victoria stood and walked away, sitting closest to the door and ignoring the team's sympathetic glances. Clint sighed, walking back to fly the jet.
"The news is loving you guys," the sound of Maria Hill's voice came via the video-com. "Nobody else is, there is no official call for Banner's arrest but it's in the air."
"Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony asked.
"Already on the scene," Maria confirmed. "How's the team?"
"Everyone's... We took a hit," Tony said, looking around before his eyes landed on Victoria, the girl discretely wiping away a stray tear. "We'll shake it off."
"Well for now, I'd stay in stealth mode and stay away from here."
"So, run and hide?"
"Until we find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."
"Neither do we," He walked to Clint. "Hey, you wanna switch out?"
"No, I'm good," Clint shook his head. "If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time because we're still a few hours out."
"A few hours from where?"
"A safe house."
***
The team made their way off the Quinjet, into the familiar fields of Victoria's home. She hadn't spoken a word to anyone argument between her and her father. They walked up the steps of her home, Victoria lagging behind.
"What is this place?" Thor asked.
"Safe house," Tony shrugged.
"Let's hope," Clint said opening the door. "Honey? I'm home!"
When Laura walked towards them, the team went silent, out of confusion.
"Hi, company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."
"This is an agent of some kind," Tony told the rest of the team.
"Gentlemen," Clint turned to the rest of the team. "This is Laura."
"I know all of your names," Laura smiled awkwardly.
"Incoming."
"Dad!"
"Hi sweetheart, hey buddy! How are you guys doing?"
Cooper pulled away from their father, before looking around for his older sister.
"Where's Victoria?"
Upon hearing her name, Victoria stepped out from behind everyone. Her siblings ran to hug her. She forced a small smile on her face, one her mother immediately saw through. Laura glanced from her husband, then to her daughter – noticing how they both avoided her gaze.
"These are— smaller agents?"
"Did you bring Auntie Nat?"
"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha spoke, causing the children to run over to her.
"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologised.
"Yeah we would've called ahead," Tony started. "But we were busy having no idea that you existed."
"Yeah well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined," Clint shrugged. "He kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figured it's a good place to lay low."
Victoria had enough of pretending everything was all okay and fine, so she stormed up the stairs to her bedroom. She noticed how quiet the group became when she shoved past them, but took no worry to it.
She shut her bedroom door, pulling off her suit and slipping on her pyjamas. She sniffed, trying to keep the tears at bay. But as she crawled into bed, and closed her eyes, the tears flowed from her eyes like waterfalls until she passed out.
Why couldn't she heal her broken heart?
