The Assistant and the "Intern"

{1} The Girl Who Can't Hear

  "Kimaya, how are you doing, kiddo? Come to hang out with us?" Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye, ran over and hugged the teen as she stepped into the penthouse. She smiled at him, nodding her head and following him over to the lounge area to sit with him. "I noticed you don't have your hearing aids in, what happened? Did you forget them again?" Clint signed to her, confused concern crossing his eyes while his expression was joking. Kimaya shook her head, a small frown forming on her lips.

"A boy at school ripped them straight out of my ears and smashed them. It seriously hurt. That's why my ears are bandaged." Pulling back the hair that covered both her ears, she showed her father figure the bandages that covered her ears entirely. It seemed like it was done haphazardly, meaning that she did it herself. Clint was furious. Sure, he knew that kids could be pretty brutal, but never did he think they were so heartless. Sitting down on the couch, Clint started taking off the bandages.

"Did you tell anyone about this? Like your teacher or the principal? This kid needs to be punished." The archer gave a fatherly expression of worry. He cringed as he saw the crusted, hardened blood around and in her ears. "No, I didn't. You're the only person I have told about this." She looked down at her lap, not wanting to meet the man's gaze. He got up and walked to the bathroom, rummaging through the cupboard to get the proper medical supplies.

Clint was deep in thought. He was busy making a list of what he needed to do to help Kimaya.

.Clint's List.
•investigate Kimaya's home life (she seems to be neglected at home, malnourished and fragile)
•have Tony make Kimaya new hearing aids plus backups
•find the kid that hurt Kimaya and make sure they never do it again (hasn't decided on threats or a responsible adult way of dealing with it yet)
•if home life is as bad as believed to be, confront family and work it out
•adopt Kimaya if necessary/possible
•bring Kimaya to meet Laura and the kids

If he's honest, Clint doesn't know how he's going to execute a good portion of these tasks. Hell, he doesn't even know in what order these events will happen. All he knows is that he wants to protect this kid whom he considers one of his own. Finishing cleaning and re-bandaging her ears, he turns to face Kimaya. Seeing the exhaustion in her eyes pulls her into a hug. Letting her go, he turns to sign to her.

"I want you to go to your room and rest. You look exhausted, so get some sleep, yeah? Either Natasha or I will come to wake you for dinner. You can even stay here tonight if you want, just ask your parents. Does that sound good?" Kimaya nodded, hugging Clint before heading down the hall to her room.

Next to every door is a plaque with a symbol that represents the person whose room it is. On Kim's plaque- she was given a room by Tony so she would have a place to rest during long work days- is a camera with butterfly wings behind it. It represented the beauty of her photography along with how she moves so silently; the wings were also a subtle nod to her beauty. The girl was notorious in the tower for leaving her drawings around different places as the papers fall out while she was running to wherever she was needed. Her art is that of what you would see in a museum or gallery. Her bedroom at the tower is also covered in her designs. She has sketchbooks filling two shelves on her bookshelf(the other two shelves were filled with books on Norse and Greek mythology, Grimm fairytales, and auto-biographies of her favorite actors) and a desk and bulletin board covered in colored pastel art, paintings, and clothing designs along with a few for the Avengers suits. She had an easel in the corner near the window that looked out over the city and blank canvases leaning up against the wall. On a hanging shelf were photography cameras; a few advanced tech ones and two Polaroid ones. Complete with a private bathroom and walk-in closet, it was a bedroom fit for a princess. The room is decorated in black and gold and was so often used you might think she lived there full-time.