Copper Feather

9

"Jarvis, send me the coordinates." The AI dinged, then the coordinates popped up on a screen. "Hey, Bruce?" The man walked into the room. "Do you mind watching the lab for a few hours? I've got a house to build." Bruce raised his eyebrows but didn't ask. "Of course, Tony. But just remember, Evie and Peter's clearances were bumped up at midnight. Clint has a conversation that needs to be had." Tony nodded, bringing up another screen. "I'll put it on the schedules." He typed 'Clearance' onto the screen. Bruce nodded as Tony pressed a button and his suit started forming around himself. "Bye." Called the animatronic voice as a door opened. Tony flew into the elevator shaft, then up. He was gone seconds later.

***
Evie and Peter walked into the kitchen moments later, Evie grabbing an apple. Peter sat down on the couch, pulling up the schedule. "Oh, Evie, our clearance was upped last night. We have a meeting at noon with Clint for the briefing. Wanda will be there, too." Evie nodded absentmindedly. "Do you think he'll formally tell us about the thing?" She muttered to herself. "What?" Asked Natasha as she walked into the room. "Nothing," said Evie, biting into her apple. Her mom rolled her eyes, but let it drop. Evie glanced at the clock. 11:30. Evie finished off her apple, then tossed it in the trash on the way out of the door.

She walked to her bedroom, fingering her ring. Peter followed behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "Peter... my birthday is in two months. I'm going to Military School soon." Peter hugged her closer. "I know. I trust you." Evie exhaled. "I've got to change." She said, and Peter left the room. She grabbed her favorite teal shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of cute maroon boots. She walked into the bathroom, then made her hair into a braided bun. She walked across the hall to Clint's room, but he wasn't there. There was a note on his perch, however, that read Boardroom. Evie called it over to Peter but flew towards the elevator alone.

She waited the twenty-three seconds it took to get to the amicable floor, then walked into the room. Clint as there, looking mildly panicked. Wanda was sitting at Clint's right, hands placed on the table folded together. She looked up at Evie, greeting her. She shifted her hands, then Clint looked up, "Oh, Hi, Evie." Evie looked at Wanda questioningly. "Hi, Peter will be right up," Evie spoke slower than usual, looking directly at Clint. She sat down next to him, on his left. She mimicked Wanda's hand positions, picking up on the sign language. Evie had known Clint was deaf for a while but didn't say anything because she wasn't supposed to know.

Evie had found out one day when she was little, about a week before anyone figured out she had wings. Evie had been outside, up in a tree, when Clint had walked outside towards the pool. He'd dived straight in, then shot back up the surface a second later, cursing in French. (Probably not the best choice, seeing as Evie was already fluent in French, as well as four other languages.) Clint reached up to each of his ears, in turn, pulling out tiny black chips. He'd huffed once, then walked into the house they'd been staying at.

"Tony! My hearing-aids short-circuited." Tony turned towards Clint, not noticing Evie darting behind the couch. Clint had left a trail of water behind him. Thus, Clint had gotten new water-proof hearing-aids, and Evie some new information.

Evie, back in New York, waited for a few minutes, making small talk with Wanda and Clint (with a few hand gestures that vaguely resembled really bad sign language.) Peter had walked in a moment later, looked at Clint, then sat down next to Evie.

Clint cleared his throat awkwardly, the older man clearly uncomfortable. Peter caught on to this quickly but clearly hadn't put together the dots. Then again, Evie hadn't told Peter, so there's always that chance that Peter hadn't figured it out (which was getting progressively more possible the more Evie considered the facts.) "So," said Clint, "You've reached level 45 of clearance. You've unlocked new state secrets, blah, blah, blah," Wanda looked to Clint, and he stopped speaking.