Copper Feather

10

The next day, Evie was gone. Evie had hidden down on her personal floor, decorating and re-decorating until she finally got the right look. It eventually ended up as 4 rooms, a library, gym, art room, and a room that she'd dubbed 'Room of Memories.' All she'd done for that one was select a ton of picture frames then Alyssa and she had spent the next few hours searching through the camera footage for the right moving pictures. Jarvis had even selected a few from Tony's footage that Alyssa couldn't access. Eventually, the walls were filled, and bean bags were put into the corners, next to towers of books. The chandelier shone dimly through the still air. The room had a sacred feeling hanging in the air. One wall was dedicated to Evie's childhood, another to Steve, yet another to Pietro, and one to the entire team. The gym's furniture came in the next week, just as Tony finished Evie's house.

The house was gorgeous. Just as Evie had planned, it looked warm and homey. It was practically begging to be filled with racing children, late nights, and, of course, happiness. Tony was really proud of the finished product, but he knew he had to keep it on the very-down-low. Natasha couldn't know, and that would be a challenge in itself.

Evie and Clint had taken to training a lot in preparation for Evie's time in SEREA. Evie had to be fluent in at least 3 languages. (Evie had eight, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Sokovian, German, Mandarin, and Italian.) You had to be able to do a bunch of different exercises. (Which Evie had no trouble with.) What was getting her was the training requirement. Evie already had the right number of hours, but the difficulty points were getting her. Sure, Paris was a ten out of ten. (Both times.) It was the number of missions. You had to have three tens at least. Evie only had two qualifiers. Thus, she and Clint were going on a quick mission to Sokovia for a bit of reconnaissance. They'd looked over the requirements, and entering a recently-battle-prone area automatically guaranteed a ten.

Thus Evie and Clint boarded an international flight three days later. Wanda had denied Natasha's polite offer to attend, though she had kissed Evie on the cheek jokingly, while whispering, "Don't be gone for long, Evie." Evie had caught the underlying message though. Don't die, please. Come home, please. It hurt. The realization, that is. Clint didn't catch it immediately, but he noticed Evie's somber nod. Or, at least, about as somber as a sugar-high adrenaline-pumped 17-year-old with wings can be. Clint rolled his eyes, shut the door, and walked to the seats.

They sat down, and Evie calmed down to review battle strategy should they encounter unwelcoming adversaries. When they landed, Evie braced herself to use her slightly rusty Sokovian. Russian wouldn't be a problem. Evie greeted their guide once they got on the ground. Clint looked at her strange before he remembered. "You're fluent in Sokovian and Russian, aren't you?" Evie nodded as she put on her comms. They crackled to life and her mom's voice rung through the still, chilled air. Evie pulled on her boots and a winter jacket. Clint put in his comms, and he could hear Wanda's slightly accented voice. Okay. Naturally, Clint got the translator, and Evie got someone who would try their hardest to keep Evie alive.

Evie looked to Clint, signing because she didn't want to ask out loud for Wanda to hear. Are you sure she can handle this? Clint nodded. She's ready. Evie nodded then reached into her bag and pulled out her camera earrings that would allow her mom visual intelligence. Her camera hairclip came out a moment later and was clipped to her hair for a rear-view. Her mom gave her the okay when they were feeding live. Clint's comms were built into his hearing aids, but he normally kept them off.

Evie picked up her bow and arrows, strapping her hunting knives to her thighs. Clint grabbed his bow and thumbed through his arrows. Evie pressed her feather, and it glowed gold for a few seconds. "That's new." said her mom's voice in her ear. Evie nodded. She turned to the guide and asked in Sokovian, "So, where are we?" The man replied in Sokovian as well. "We are in the former city center." Evie thanked him, listening as Wanda translated for Clint. Clint said to Evie, in English, "Let's go." A few hours later, they put a final plank into place on a family's new house. "Спасибо," Said the father. "пожалуйста," replied Evie. Wanda's voice rang through the air, but only Evie managed to hear the 'You're Welcome.'