Lightening's Shadow

Chapter One

Natasha sighed as she turned her sign to open, unlocking the door to her vintage game store. Business boomed for her in the small town, with tons of curious teenagers and a bunch of adults trying to capture nostalgia from their childhoods. She waved at the man opening up his flower shop across the street, like she did every morning. He looked up with a friendly smile as if he'd sensed it, waving back before shuffling into his shop. Natasha sighed, knowing how much he loved his shop, how much care he put into it, and how often he would go through the day barely making enough sales to keep paying the shop's rent.

She hummed to herself as the first batch of customers started coming through her door, and she smiles at them all before moving to sit on the counter, striking up a conversation with a regular of hers. Her eyes drifted through her door to the flower shop, where the owner seemed to be drawing something, hunched over his till and it struck her with an idea to help him out. She excused herself from the conversation and sat down with her laptop in her lap, sending out an email to all of her regular customers.

Artistic Challenge for Spring!
Whoever creates the best advertisement for the flower shop across from mine, wins three games of their choice for free.
Advertisement must be bright and noticeable, something that will draw people's attention to it and make them visit the shop.
The shop is called Wild and Bloom.
You have a week.
Email them to me within 7 days, and I will pick the winner.
Second place gets two games, third place gets one.
Good luck, Gamers

She pressed send with a smile, before putting through the first purchase of the day, racking up to $70.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur, making sales, answering questions about the competition, and getting asked about what she did before opening the store, which she always deflected.

Just as she was about to lock up, a familiar figure came into the store and she quirked up an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, having not seen him since her last job.

"Fury wanted to make sure you were definitely out of the business." He said, before relaxing and grinning, pulling her into a hug. "We miss you, Nat. You were the best."

"Clint, I've told you. I don't do that anymore. I sell vintage games. That's it. Why are you here now? It's been three years." She said, hugging him briefly and pulling away.

"There were some actions that seemed to be directly the same as yours. Perhaps a copycat, or just you, back in the business but on the other side." She bristled at the accusation.

"So you come here, pretending to be my friend again, to accuse me of fighting the wrong fight?" She whispered, a stony glare growing on her face. "Get out. Now."

"Or what? You'll make me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, his hand moving to the gun in his holster.

"Hey, is everything okay?" A friendly voice sounded and she looked up to see the man who ran the flower shop.

"Yes. He was just leaving." Nat said with a smile. Clint glared at her but stormed out, pushing past the much taller man. "Thank you, Mr...?"

"Josh." He lied with a goofy grin. She chuckled and shook his hand.

"Thank you, Josh." She had noticed the lie but wasn't going to question him on it, deciding to just use her old databases to see if he matched anybody's descriptions. "I should, uh, probably finish closing up. I'll see you around." She said with a small smile, and 'Josh' nodded, turning around and leaving, not without one last friendly wave. His hair was to his shoulders and blonde, and she was sure it was unnecessary to have as many muscles as he did.

Thor turned to smile at her one last time as she locked up, overly used to lying. He knew the man who had been there for her, though neither of them knew him. Heimdall had warned him of the agency that went to take down threats to Earth, and Thor assured him he would be under the radar. Although, his shop failing was more under the radar than he had hoped for. He locked up after having only made a handful of sales, sighing. He had grown to love his flowers, taking more of care of them than he had anything else on this planet.

Natasha left through the back exit to her shop, all of her security in place. She only lived five minutes walk away so if anything went off she could be there before anybody could get away. She would usually have put her headphones in, but after the encounter with Clint she kept all senses free, listening for somebody sneaking up on her. She made it home and noticed her door was already unlocked, making her grab the knife from her shoe and enter as quietly as she could, leaving the lights turned off.