||BEHIND THE MASK SERIES: BOOK 4||
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"Sometimes you need a second chance
because you weren't ready for your first."
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In which Charlie Barton is pulled
back into the world she left behind
to help a man with a metal ar...
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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄
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It took a while for Charlie to truly settle into her New York apartment and convince everyone that she'd be fine on her own. She didn't necessarily blame them for the way they acted, especially after everything that happened in Sokovia. Most of the Avengers had a hard time believing that she recovered from what she'd gone through, especially Clint and Steve.
Even though he didn't want to leave his daughter completely on her own, the Barton man knew that what she needed was some space and time alone to process everything that had happened. He would come to visit Charlie every now and then and talk to her on the phone daily but he would never push the Barton girl to talk to him about anything. This was how it was when he lost his first wife and his eldest son and he knew she hadn't changed much since then. His daughter would open up to him when she was ready to like she always did when something was bothering her.
That wasn't the same story with the Man Out of Time.
The Rogers man would go to Charlie's apartment on a daily basis to talk to her about what happened in Sokovia. He even had Sam go to see her a few times, thinking the blonde girl would be more comfortable with him due to his experience with victims of PTSD. Even though that helped her get closer to the Falcon, what Charlie really wanted was to be left alone. She wanted to try to move on and have a civilian life. It took a lot of pleading...and a little lie from the Barton girl to finally get Steve and Sam to leave her be.
About a month had passed since Peter Parker convinced her to help him with his superhero training. At first, Charlie only wanted to give him tips on how to survive being a hero, but that didn't last long. For some reason she still couldn't explain even if she tried, the kid grew on her. Ever since then she would help the Parker boy train downstairs in the gym S.H.I.E.L.D. provided when they first gave her the apartment and Charlie never regretted her decision. From the moment she ran into him in front of his high school, the archer knew he had so much potential that he wasn't even close to reaching.
Like every other day since she agreed to get him into hero shape, Charlie and Peter were running around the streets of New York to help him build his endurance. Despite him having certain enhanced senses and abilities, he still somehow managed to struggle with this skill from time to time.
"Slow down, Lottie," the Barton girl heard the boy say from somewhere behind her, "how are you still running this fast after three miles?"
"I've had to do this and a lot more on a daily basis when I trained to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," Charlie responded as she glanced back at the boy to find him struggling to catch up with her, "and I've told you so many times to stop calling me Lottie. I'm not a Disney Princess. I'm very far from that."
