After Infinity War

Part 13

CLINT

It took months for Lila to convince me to let her take the bus to school. After losing Laura and Cooper and Nathanial, I become overly protective of her. I still am.
I wait by the road for the bus to come to a stop. I make them pick her up and drop her off a mile away from our house and I always drop her off and meet her there to walk her back.
The bus doors open and Lila steps off, long blonde hair in two ponytails and her two front teeth missing. She wears a pink dress and jumps down and gives me a hug.
'Hey Daddy.' She says, taking my hand.
'Hi darling, how was school?' I ask, waiting for the bus to disappear before starting the long walk back to our home.
'It was okay. Matty got taken off the playground for kicking a ball at Hannah.' She says.
'Well that was rude of him.' I say in mandatory response.
'He was very on target though, you would have been impressed.' She says and I can't help but laugh a little.
'If he's being mean I'm not impressed.' I say.
'I'm tired. I hate this walk. Why can't the bus just drive up to our house?' She asks.
'Look, here we go.' I say, lifting her up and letting her sit on my shoulders for the rest of the walk. I ignore her question.
We walk for a while longer and my eyes are on the floor.
'Did you buy a plane?' Lila asks and I look up. A small white plane sits beside our house. I pull Lila off my shoulders and drop her on her feet beside me.
'Alright Lila, remember what I taught you?' I say, bending down to her height and taking a gun from my waist holster.
'Find a tree, stay beside it and stay low.' She says, moving to a tree. Her voice is shaking and her tears are welling up. 'Daddy I'm scared.'
'Hey, hey. You trust me?' I ask, looking to the plane and back to Lila.
'Yeah.' She says, wiping her inning nose.
'Then I'm coming right back for you.' I say and set off through the protection of the trees.
I hold the gun out in front of me and adjust the silencer. I shoot one bullet to go through the front two tyres of the landed plane, and another one to take out the back. The door opens and I crouch beside the house, taking aim.
'Steve?' I say as I see his head looking around for the source of the deflating tyres. I step out of hiding and he sees me. 'What the hell are you doing here?'
'It's time to assemble, Clint. You in?' A voice from beside. Tony walks out from beside my door where he was waiting for me to return from wherever I went.
'Give me a second.' I say. I run back to the back of the house, Tony beside me and Steve running a bit behind him.
'Lila?' I shout, 'Lila we're safe, you can come out.'
'Who are the other people?' She shouts back, still in the cover of the trees.
'Daddy's friends. C'mon Lila I promise you're safe.' Something whizzes last me and I hear Steve let out a noise.
'What the hell was that?' Steve asks, looking to the floor and finding a marble.
'Lila, no! Enough. Come out here now.' I shout, walking towards the woods. Another marble goes past me and hits Tony in the shoulder.
'Son of a...' He says, bringing his hand up to inspect the damage.
'Lila, stop it!' I say, finally finding her in a bush with a slingshot and a bag of marbles.
'You said if I'm ever unsure, fire from a distance and see he reaction. Friends will be frustrated, enemies will be angry.' I pick her up and carry her towards Tony and Steve.
'You know them though! They're the guys I work with. They stayed with us a while back, do you remember?' I ask. She shakes her head and looks away from Tony and Steve. 'Apologise, Lila.'
She muffles an apology into my shoulder. 'A proper apology.' I say.
She turns to face Tony and Steve, who stand perplexed at the impromptu attack. 'I'm sorry for hitting you with marbles, I thought you were bad.' She says. 'I like your glow.' She says, pointing to Tony's chest, where the thing keeping him alive sits.
'You telling me she hit us just then?' Steve asks.
'Father daughter bonding gone out of control.' I say, going to put Lila down to stand by herself. 'Don't worry, slingshots are the extent of it.'
'Well,' Tony says, 'you can tell she's yours.'
I smile and ruffle Lola's hair.
'So what are you here for?' I ask, 'I can't assume it's just a friendly catch up; but late for that now hey Cap?' I say. I've seen Tony twice since the war. Once for his wedding, only five other attendees, and a second time when I heard his baby was born. Me and Lila flew over and I gave all I could on parenting advice and got very drunk with him. Steve I haven't seen in over a year.
'Sorry about that.' He says, shrugging. 'We all have our things.'
'We got a chance.' Tony says, 'Fury called this woman down, Captain Marvel, she thinks she can get everyone back.'
'Mummy's coming back? I get my brothers?' Lila asks from beside me.
'Lila go pack your bags okay? Meet me back here when you're done.' I say. She runs into the house and up the stairs. I turn to Steve and Tony, 'It has taken us over a year to get this sorted out, to get Lila to be able to sleep without me by her side, to get Lila to stop having nightmares-for God's sake, to stop me having nightmares. If I find this is a lie, or you're just trying to get the team together again, whatever, I will-'
'We're not lying, Clint.' Tony says. 'We have a chance, it might be nothing more than a chance, but it's there and we're taking it. And we need you. Natasha's next on our list and we won't get her if we don't get you.'
I evaluate the situation for a moment, think of all the outcomes. 'She's in Hawaii. With Bruce.' I say. 'She texts me once a day, to check up on me and Lila, I text her once a day to check up on her and Bruce. I can get her to come.'
'There we go.' Tony says, smiling.
Lila appears at the doorway carrying a bag with a load of clothes and books in it.
'I got you your books.' Lila says, holding one up, 'and I bought your coat too.' She says, lifting my coat up for me.
'Thank you very much Lila.' I say, taking my coat, 'you want to go with Steve and Tony onto the plane? Get us some good seats, I'll be right there.' She runs up to Steve and takes his hand. He looks slightly baffled but goes along with it, following her to the plane.
I go up to my room and pack a bag of clothes. I get all the necessities and fall a photo in the back of my closet. It shows Laura in a bed holding a newly born Nathanial, Lila and Cooper sitting beside her. I hid it away after I found myself looking at it for hours at a time. I haven't seen their faces for over six months. I hold it tightly for a moment, then place it in the bag.
I get on the plane to find Lila sitting beside a cot. Tony's son, Peter is crawling around on the floor in his pyjamas. Lila is playing with him while Tony and Steve watch amused.
'He's grown.' I say, as they both look up to see me.
'That's what they do.' Tony says, 'Lila's changed a lot too.'
'How's parenthood treating you?' I ask, sitting down beside them.
'I think I like it.' He says, watching as Peter falls to one side and rolls onto his stomach.
A voice comes over the system, 'Tony, the plane doesn't seem to be starting. It says the wheels are flat?'
'Oh.' I say, 'that might have been me.'