Serpent | The Avengers [1]

Chapter 26

We went back inside, and Clint made some hot cocoa. I accepted the mug, wrapping my hands around it. As I drank it, I fiddled with the tags around my neck. "Daddy?" We turned to see Lila standing at the foot of the stairs in her pajamas. "Hey, sweetheart, what's wrong?" He asked.

 "I heard thudding outside," She whimpered. "I'm sure it was just the house settling. Come here. Do you want some hot cocoa?" He asked, and she nodded. He made her a mug and handed it to her. Soon, Cooper appeared in the stairway, and we gave him cocoa. Then Nat appeared, then Laura.

We all stood in the kitchen, sipping hot cocoa because it was cold in the house. I tugged my jacket a little closer, regretting not packing a long-sleeve shirt. "Well, it's obvious that none of us are going to sleep tonight, so...who wants to play Uno?" Clint asked, and we all sat down around the living room. We played Uno for hours, and I won all of the matches. Everyone eventually made a group in an attempt to beat me.

I still won the match. "I give up," Nat said, throwing down her large hand of cards.  "How about we play something other than getting our butts whooped by Ellie in Uno?" Nat asked. "I played Uno against a computer for hours on end every day," I admitted. "Well, no wonder you're so good at it," Clint muttered.

"I heard that," I said. "Of course you did," He sighed. "We can play go fish," I suggested, so we played go fish until the sun rose. Then we ate and went outside. I snuck up behind Nat, then tapped her on the shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" I called, running away. "Oh, I'm going to get you for that," She muttered. "You'll have to catch me first," I took off through the field, eventually doubling back around the house and standing next to Clint. Far in the distance, Nat wandered around looking for me. "I wonder how long it's going to take her to realize I'm not over there," I said.

Eventually, she turned around and spotted me standing there. Cooper, the fool, ran near enough to her for her to tag him. Cooper started chasing Lila around, tagging her. Lila, the smart child, ran up to Clint and tagged him. I was standing nearest, so he went for me.

He managed to grab the back of my jacket, so I slid out of it and took off again, leaving him standing there, holding it. He put the jacket on the picnic table and took off after me. I was tired after running from Nat, and his S.H.I.E.L.D. training didn't help me either. I slid under a low-hanging branch and kept going. I ran to a tall tree and scampered up it.

"Hey, that's cheating!" He claimed from the bottom of the tree. Shrugging, I grabbed the limb above me and swung to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nat recording Clint chasing me. Carefully, I climbed to the patio cover, ran across it, and jumped into a roll on the other end. Clint was far behind me and I turned around so I was running backward.

"Keep up, old man!" I called, then turned around again. But, curse my luck, I hit an interfering rock, my leg falling off and I fell to the ground. Clint ran up to me and helped me up. I hopped over to my leg, grabbed it, and put it back on. I nudged the rock, scowling at it.

"Nuisance,"

a/n So...there are only two updates left for this book, then we're moving onto the sequel. This approached faster than I thought it did.