This was going to be the best summer ever. Ever. Your dad was going to let you spend the next few months with him and the Avengers during break. At the tower. In freaking New York. Life was good.

You had grown up not knowing much about your dad's line of work, just that he was away a lot, working for something to with the government but never really sure what. Sure, he would attend career days at your school, but you still never came away with a good understanding. Your barn was full of targets and spent arrows, and he insisted that you practiced with him as much as you could. It wasn't until the whole Ultron fiasco that he let you in on who he and your 'Aunt Nat' really were.

"Dude, you're lying."

"Hey, I'm your Dad, not Dude, and I'm not lying."

You shot up out of your bed, ripping your headphones off. "The Avengers are in our living room?! Right now?" He laughed as you tripped over your own feet trying to see over the railing of the stairs. "Is Thor here?" you whispered.

~~~

You were resting in the guest room at the tower after a long day of sight seeing with the one and only Captain America. It was a great day, but now you were exhausted. He never seemed to get tired and ended up carrying you on his back over the last mile of city streets. Just as you were about to finally fall asleep, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey kiddo, it's your old man, open up."

Yawning, you let him in and crawled back under your warm blankets. "Hey dad, what's going on? It's pretty late."

He sat on the edge of your bed, his hands folded and his head down. "We're gonna have to cut this trip short. I'm sorry. I've got a jet ready to take you back to the farm. We just got a call and the team needs to head out in the morning. We could be gone for a couple of weeks."

"Ok," you paused. "Does that mean I get to come back after you're done?"

Your dad let out a long sigh and looked up at you. "I don't think so, I'm sorry. By that time you'll need to be getting ready for the new school year. But I'll be coming home then too."

'Figures."

"What does that mean?"

You stood up, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a jacket over your pajamas. "I knew this was too good to be true. I just knew it."

He stood to match your posture, straightening to look down at you. "Hey, we have a mission. That's beyond my control, and you know that."

Hastily tying your shoes, you huffed at him. "That's not the point! You're never around and you have no idea what's going on in our lives! Mom has to do everything while you're off playing with your super friends! When you are there all you do is keep secrets from us! Now that I finally feel like you and I can maybe come to an understanding about each other, you bail!" You stomp to the door, looking back at your shocked and hurt father. "I'm going for a walk. Don't follow me."

"Listen here, young lady-"

Breaking into a run, you were out the front door before he could stop you.

~~~

"She is only 16 years old, Clint!"

He had to hold the phone away from his ear as your mother yelled at him. You hadn't brought your phone; you were in too big of a hurry to get away from your dad.

"Laura, I know that! I have the entire team out looking for her! What else do you want me to do?" Clint sat on the edge of your bed, his other hand covering his eyes and crying, where no one else would see him.

~~~

"Little girl, you will give us all you know about the Avengers, or you will live to regret it. I can promise you pain like you have never felt before. Now, tell me, what do you have that I might want?"

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to betray them. I can't.

You sat stoically, staring at your HYDRA captor. If you had to die over this, then so be it. You would never give any information on your father or the other Avengers. Your legacy would not be tainted by betrayal. You couldn't do that to your dad, especially after your behavior when you last saw him.

"Do what you need to do then." You spat at him, unwavering.

The guard glared down at you, cursing you thru clenched teeth. "So be it."

~~~

It had been two months since you disappeared. Clint looked emaciated and weak. He wasn't sleeping. He couldn't go home to face Laura, so he was living fully at the tower. He had become withdrawn and wouldn't even talk to Natasha unless absolutely necessary.

"Clint. This isn't good for you. How do you expect to keep looking for her if you're dead? You have to eat."

His sunken eyes raised to look at Nat. "I'm not hungry." He put his head back down on the table. "Leave me alone."

Natasha let out a long sigh, looking across the lounge to Tony, who was at a loss just as much as she was. She quietly sat next to him and put her hand on his. "Clint, please."

He quickly shot up from his chair, kicking it behind him and knocking it over as he rose. "You do not understand what I am going thru! None of you can comprehend even the slightest-"

FRIDAY broke into his tirade, "Mr. Barton, you are needed emergently at the main door." His eyes wide, he looked around the room before sprinting down the stairs. Nat and Tony chased close behind.

As Clint reached the lobby, he saw you. You laid on the floor, Stark's security guarding over you. You were bloody, beaten, and wearily thin. Your skin was pale and bruised. "(Y/N)! Oh, god, (Y/N)!" He threw himself to the ground next to you, pulling you to his chest. "Nat, I need medics!"

Two Stark guards ran back into the building, panting. "Sir, we lost them in the crowd. There were two of them, they split up and were just...gone." Running up the stairs, Tony reached his suit and was quickly in flight, searching the streets below for anyone suspicious.

Your father was rocking you back and forth in his arms, kissing your head. "I've got you, baby. I've got you."

~~~

"I didn't tell them anything, dad, I swear."

"I know, honey, I know." Your mother had just arrived and was sitting with your father on either side of your bed in the infirmary. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I would never put you in harm's way. This was all my fault." He grabbed your hand, kissing the back.

"Dad, I shouldn't have left like that." Looking between your mom and dad, you continued. "When I woke up in that room, I was terrified that I would never see you guys again. But then I thought that if that was how it was going to end for me, then I couldn't go out knowing that I had let you down. I couldn't let the Avengers down. I wasn't going to give them what they wanted, no matter what they did to me. I think they just finally gave up and dumped me here."

Taking a drink of your water, you sat up straight, looking your father in the eye with a small smirk on your lips.

"So, can we try this again next summer?"

Part 2

"If you step out that door, you are an Avenger."

You stared at your dad, incredulously.

"Dad, seriously? You really need to get a new speech."

Clint looked at you, a small hint of hurt feelings crossing his face. "But...it works! It's a good speech, I swear! I came up with that on the fly!"

Without another word, you smiled and kissed his cheek. Drawing back on your bow, with a deep breath and a nod, you kicked the door open. Together you ran into the tiny village street, turning to rest against the back of the other, skillfully taking out the enemy one at a time with ease.

Clint mumbled under his breath, a pout in his voice, "It's a good speech."

~~~

Everyone on the jet was asleep on the way back to the tower; everyone except you and Steve. Your dad was snoring in the chair next to you, and you could see his muscles twitch every few minutes as he was dreaming, his breathing deep and even. Seeing the team together and so relaxed was a comfort to you.

It had been four years since that first summer visit to the Avengers tower; that terrible summer that led to your abduction by HYDRA for two months of torture and a failed attempt to break you. You had returned to the tower every summer after that, refusing to let fear get the best of you. During the school years you spent every minute of your free time researching HYDRA; their origins, their obsession with global control, the human experimentation, and their current state of dissolution.

Almost every piece of HYDRA information made mention of Captain America, their greatest enemy. Their enemy who had just happened to be in the same building, about 100 feet down the hall from your guest room. You began to spend many late nights sitting on the balcony with Steve, watching the city that truly never slept. He would tell stories of the war and his battles with the Red Skull, and how his life had changed since he woke from the ice. He was so respectful with his recounting of events; the stories never focused on him, rather the pride in his Howling Commandos and some woman named Peggy who made his face look sad whenever he spoke of her. It quickly became an easy friendship with Steve, and once you finally turned 18, you asked Tony if you could move in full time and train with the team.

"Hey, (Y/N), you look lost in thought." Speak of the devil. "You want to talk about something?" Steve raised his hand towards the chair next to you, asking for permission to sit.

You nodded, "yeah, Cap, of course."

Sitting down, he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his legs, hands clasped together. "You fought really well today. Your skills almost match your dad's." Steve sat up and leaned in to whisper in your ear, looking around at the others. "Please don't tell Barton I said that."

"Secret's safe." You whispered back. He sat up straight again, waiting for you to continue. "Just lost in thought, anxious to get back home." Leaning towards him, you nudged his shoulder with yours. "Hey, I don't know if I've ever stopped to thank you for all the work you've done with me. The reason I'm doing so well is really because of you."

"I had a little bit to do with it too, ya know." Clint groaned as he turned over in the chair, pulling the blanket over his head. "But noooo, it was all Steeeeve...." You laughed quietly with Steve as the snoring began again.

~~~

With your friends safely in their rooms, asleep, you had a moment to yourself. Standing on the roof of the tower, you gauged the wind's direction and velocity, preparing yourself. The streets below were as empty as they were going to be again before sunrise, so now was your only shot at this, the only time that no one would see. Steeling your resolve, you raised your arms out to each side, closed your eyes...

...and jumped.

~~~

There really was nothing else in the world quite like the feeling of flying thru the air. It cleared your head. Yes, HYDRA was evil. They needed to be stopped. But you couldn't help but feel thankful for what they had done to you. Once they had decided that getting information from you was useless, they stopped the torture pretty early on in those two months with them. Their focus changed to experimentation. They released you back to your family when they thought that their experiments weren't working; but one night, a year and a half later, you felt the changes happen.

Your bones felt lighter, but stronger somehow. Your vision became sharp and you could see miles away. The urge to be in the sky was overpowering, the need for the freedom of flight was unyielding. You desired a hunt, though fighting against the programmed thoughts of the Avengers as your prey. You were becoming a hawk, developing your new shape-shifting powers. The irony in their choice for metamorphosis wasn't lost on you. They knew exactly who they had and what they were doing.

And your father could never know.

~~~

A few weeks had passed before your next mission, and you were anxious to get back in the field. You had your gear packed and ready to head to the jet when there was a knock on your door.

"Can I come in?" Clint was already opening the door as he asked.

"Looks like you already are." Your father's face was serious, cautiously approaching you. "Ok, dad, what is it?"

He took a deep breath and clasped his hands behind his back. "Would you be mad at me if I asked you to sit this one out? I've got a bad feeling, and I can't seem to shake it."

You dropped your pack on the ground with a heavy thud and stepped forward to match his stance. "You're damn right I would be mad! What the hell is your problem?"

His spine stiffened. "Listen, I don't care if you are legally an adult now; you're still my daughter. Don't speak to me like that."

You hated when he was right. Your respect for him as both your father and your teammate had to take precedents. You were expected to behave like an Avenger now, and you would never speak that way to Bruce or Tony, so you can't speak that way to him either. "I'm sorry, dad." Stepping back, you sat on the edge of your bed. "I trust you. But, when you get back can we talk about it and how I can work harder so this doesn't worry you so much next time? Can I at least have that?"

He stood still for a moment, contemplating. He looked down at you and nodded. "Sure, kid. You got it." Leaning down, your father kissed the top of your head. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Oh, I'm going to know exactly where you are." you said under your breath as he walked from your room.

~~~

Your dad was right. This was bad. Very, very bad. Iron Man had been reduced to just Tony in a metal suit, relying on hand-to-hand combat with the suit disabled. Steve had pulled Nat behind his shield, the barrage of gunfire almost too much to stop. The only one making a dent in the enemy's progress was the Hulk, but even he would never win this alone. They were in over their heads. You couldn't let your friends fail, even if it meant giving away your secret. With your massive, strong talons, you pulled a large oak tree from the ground, it's roots hanging behind you. Swooping down into the crowd of HYDRA thugs, you swung the tree thru, quickly knocking the men down and allowing the other Avengers to overtake them.

"What the hell was that?!" Tony ripped off his helmet, wide-eyed and mouth agape as he watched you fly away.

Where was your dad?

Circling the perimeter for several minutes, you finally saw him. He was cornered near a broken down shack, about 200 yards away from the rest of the team. You hung back, out of his line of view, watching. He was cornered but he was holding his own, and you were so proud of him in that moment. It was then that Clint fell to his knees, taking a hit to his leg.

Diving quickly, you grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him away as the guard fired once more. You were jolted, and the new pain in your side was excruciating, but you weren't about to drop him. After a lifetime of giving him your attitude, scaring him when you stayed out too late, cursing at him out loud and under your breath, and causing him every one of the few gray hairs on his head, you were dammed if you were going to let him down now.

Now wounded, the metamorphosis was beginning to shift, and you could feel yourself coming back to a human form. You lowered to the ground as fast as you could and crashed only a few feet as you fully transformed back. Everything around you was spinning and you were getting cold. Clint was limping towards you when your eyes began to get heavy.

"(Y/N)! Oh, god, what just happened? (Y/N)?" He rolled you to your side, the wound in full view, a large pool of blood forming beneath you. "No, no, no! You stay with me, do you hear? This is not going to happen!"

You could feel your breathing become shallow and strained, and your body was numb. "It's okay, dad. It's my job, remember?"

You began to close your eyes for what you thought to be the final time and whispered, "It is a good speech."

Part 3

Just as you had said the last words to your father, Vision landed next to him, scooping you out of his arms and flying away towards Avengers tower. With no attention to his injured leg, Clint sprinted to the jet to follow him.

"(Y/N) is down! If you aren't on the jet in T minus one minute, you get left behind!"

~~~

It had been two hours since your arrival back at the tower. Clint stood outside of the surgical suite in the infirmary, his hands pressed against the glass, his tears just beginning to dry. The rest of the team was waiting in the nearby lounge; there were no words spoken, and there really didn't need to be. Natasha had retreated back to her own room, unwilling to let her emotions go in front of the others. She had watched you grow up as your 'Auntie Nat', and she refused to watch your life end when she was powerless to help you. Steve was having a hard time understanding what had happened, but knew that now was not the time to ask. He assumed that no one had answers any better than his anyway. He was simply worried for you, and worried about how your father would go on without you if Vision hadn't been fast enough.

Clint felt someone walk up behind him and quickly turned to look. "Hey, I never thanked you for bringing her back here. I only hope that we were...that you got her here..." His voice began to crack and drifted off.

Vision stood next to Clint now, watching you thru the glass. "Mr. Barton, your daughter has a strong will and a strong body. Her chances of survival would appear to be quite favorable."

Your father nodded his head and wouldn't say anything more until he knew that you were okay. He perked up when he saw the doctor remove his gear and walk towards the door to speak to him. Moving to meet him, Clint stood with his eyes wide, wringing his hands in anticipation of what he would say.

"We will know more over the next 24 hours, Mr. Barton. There's some sort of healing process going on here that I've never seen before. I would regret providing a prognosis without knowing more, so now we just need to wait."

~~~

"Yes, ma'am. Yes, I understand. I'll have her call you as soon as she's...feeling better. Yes, ma'am, you're in charge."

Clint knew that he could stall your mother only so long. You had been sedated for a week now, and she was wondering why she hadn't heard from you. He wasn't about to tell her anything when he didn't even understand what was happening himself.

"Mr. Barton, she's awake."

"Honey, something just came up, I gotta go!" Clint threw his phone in his pocket and ran.

As he reached your bedside, he saw Steve sitting next to you and holding your hand. Each member of the team had taken turns sitting with you, telling you about things happening on missions and around the tower. He stood and greeted your father, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder as he walked towards the door, leaving you both alone.

Clint took you in his arms, kissing your head. He began crying again at the mere sight of you, finally awake.

"Dad, I'm so sorry."

"Stop. That's not important right now." His voice was now barely a whisper. "There is nothing more important than this."

~~~

You were finally ready to get back on the mission team after weeks of rest, rehabilitation and training with Steve to get you back at peak performance. Your dad, however, wasn't nearly as ready.

"I don't think you should go yet! It's only been a month! And don't even get me started on this whole shape-shifting thing! It freaks me out that you want to use it in a battle! It freaks me out enough as it is!"

You were clenching your fists, pacing the floor of your room. "Dad, seriously. We've been thru this a million times! Steve says that I'm more than ready! And if I can use this power to help the team, then why shouldn't I?"

Clint moved next to you and grabbed your shoulders to turn you to face him. "I will not watch you get hurt again! I won't! You have no idea what that did to me, do you?"

Suddenly your arms started to tingle, and you shook them as if they were asleep. "Dad, I think your grip is a bit too tight." He quickly let go and stepped back as you pulled up the sleeves of your shirt. Your eyes widened in shock as you quickly pulled them back down and turned away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Clint spun you around, looking at you with concern. "What's going on?" He grabbed your arm and pulled up the sleeve. His expression changed to shock, then a smirk, and now a...laugh?

Was he really laughing at you? "DAD! What the hell?" Pulling your arm away, you lowered your sleeve and crossed your arms in front of you, now defensive. "How can you laugh at me? Rude, dad."

He continued to laugh, as he pulled you into a hug. "Aw, it's cute! Little baby feathers on my little baby hawk."

Slipping from his hold, you looked again, touching the soft, downy feathers as they began to recoil back into your skin. "This never happened before the accident. I don't know why now?" Your face took on a quizzical look. "Maybe the injuries changed me somehow. My metamorphosis must have been affected."

Pulling your sleeves down tight, you grabbed your pack and walked to the door. "Alright, come on, dad. We're going." You stopped and turned, pointing at him. "No speech this time. Promise?"

"Fine." he huffed, following you to the jet where the rest of the team was waiting. "But no getting hurt this time either."

~~~

Your father had gone with Nat, working on hostage rescue while you were left guarding the perimeter with Tony and Steve. With your heightened senses you were able to see a small group of guards approaching from the nearby woods. "Hey, guys, we've got incoming from the south. Looks like about 15 of 'em."

"This hawk thing comes in pretty handy, huh? I didn't even pick up on that with my sensors." Tony slapped you on the back, knocking you into a nearby tree. "Woah, sorry kiddo. My fault."

"Stop calling me kiddo, Tony. I've been an adult for a while now, thank you very much. And as I recall, I had to save your ass last time we were together." As the guards came closer, you pulled your bow into position. "I'm so tired of not being treated like I know what I'm doing."

Oh, shit. Your arms began that tingling feeling again, but you were taking aim and unable to pull down your sleeves to hide the inevitable from Tony and Steve. Please don't see, please don't see.

"Hey, (Y/N), what's up with that?"

"Shut up, Tony."

Tony stepped closer to you, now more interested in your arms than the mission before him. "Are those...feathers?!" Now Steve had turned to look as well.

You sighed, not willing to argue, given the situation at hand. "Yes, they're feathers. Can we focus please?"

"So, like, how does it work? Do you know when they're gonna sprout? Do you have feathers all the time now?! They look really soft. What happens if you pluck them?"

"Dammit, Tony! I'm not a chicken! I don't need to be plucked!"

Being probably the dumbest thing you've ever said, you couldn't help but laugh at yourself. Steve's look of confusion changed to a grin, then joining in on the laughter. Tony, however, wasn't laughing. His face was one of exasperation.

"These are things I need to know! I'm allergic to feathers!