Chapter 3

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.03
THIRD PERSON POV: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
THREE MONTHS AGO

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Tessa ran up to the roof, hoping they wouldn't find her up there. She ran away from HYDRA. She finally escaped and she didn't want to go back. The team of recruits ran on the roof after a guy with bow and arrows. He shot every single one, but one came up behind him.

"Look out, Arrows!" Tessa shouted at him.  She didn't know his name, so she hoped he knew it was him she was talking to. The guy turned, thankfully, looking for the source of the voice, but found a HYDRA recruit, #7, ripping the arrows off his back and the bow out of his hands. 7 threw them away, landing in front of Tessa, who was hiding behind big wooden boxes. She inspected them for a second. Tessa was really good at shooting one, but she never had seen anything like this one before.

The bow had retracted when 7 threw it and she didn't know how to open it back up. So shooting it was out of the question.  There was one arrow left in the quiver and it had a metal thing on the head. Tessa gasped. It was an electric shocker. She took it out of the quiver and looked back at the fight going on in front of her.

Arrows was fighting hard but he was losing.  7 had pulled out a gun and kept shooting at Arrows. The bullets grazed Arrows, and one went into his arm. Tessa had no choice but to try and stop 7. Arrows and Tessa were on the same side: No HYDRA. The two were close to the edge. 7 held Arrows over the end of the roof and asked him, "Where's the girl?" before Tessa came out from her spot and ran towards them.

"Hey, 7!" She said, standing right behind him. 7 turned his head, keeping his grip on Arrows neck over the edge, and looked at her strangely. "Leave him alone! I'm the girl you're looking for." 7's eyes widened. Tessa raised the arrow and stabbed 7 in the forehead, knocking him out, but sending Arrows off the roof. She grabbed Arrows' wrist just in time to catch him. Letting out a burst of air due to her effort, Tessa pulled him up and over the roof's edge and sat him down. She ripped a piece of her black shirt off and started bandaging him up.

"Kid," he started, "you don't have to-"

"Shut up, Arrows," Tessa said. "You steered all the recruits away from their actual mission, ME, and almost died for it, so this is the least I can do for you."

"Arrows?"

"How should I know your name?" Tessa snapped as she wrapped his grazes.

"Clint. Clint Barton," Arrows said, holding out his hand.

"Tessa. Tessa Stark," Tessa replied, shaking his hand back. Clint's eyebrows shot up.

"Stark?"

"Long story short, I got kidnapped and Dad never came after me. I was four. He forgot about me." She finished up her bandaging. "There you go."

"Wait, Tony Stark?" He asked, still not caught up on the fact that he was Tessa's Dad. She nodded.

"Why are you after HYDRA?" Tessa asked, changing the conversation. She started tearing fabric off of the recruit's shirt and wrapped up her own cuts.

"No reason. It's fun to watch them lose," Clint said, looking at her own wounds. "Where'd you get those?" She stopped and stared at him.

"I was kidnapped by HYDRA, Barton," Tessa said. "Do you expect them not to hurt people?" It got awkwardly silent.

"Thanks for saving my life," Clint finally said. Tessa shrugged her shoulders.

"No problem. I just met you, but I kinda feel like you could be my brother or something. Thanks for saving my life, but tell me that you won't fall off any more roofs or die before you save me again," she said silently.

"Again?"

"They're coming up," she stated, looking down off the edge. "They cornered me." Tessa turned to him. "Promise me two things."

"Anything, you saved my life," Clint said, smiling.

"One, that you won't fall off of any more roofs and die when I'm not there to save you." He chuckled, but she was taking this seriously.

"I promise."

"Open the door!" A muffled voice came from the door coming to the roof. Tessa turned to him quickly.

"And two, that you don't tell anyone about me. Just don't tell anyone what you've seen, okay?" She shook his shoulders. "Promise, Clint Barton!" She said quickly.

"I can't promise that, kid," Clint said as the door started to come off its hinges. Tessa shoved Clint behind the boxes where his bow and quiver were. Tessa hugged him tightly.

"Goodbye, Clint," she said, tearing up. "Remember your promises."

"I - I won't," he argued as he hugged her back.

She looked puzzled, but he quickly explained  himself. "I can't keep you a secret from my team-"

"Please, I'm begging you," Tessa pleaded.

Clint let out a large sigh, and said, "Fine, I will. Goodbye for now, kid. Thanks for saving my life." The door popped off its hinges. Tessa let go of Clint and stepped out from behind the boxes as at least 50 HYDRA agents came up on the roof.

"Found you, Tessa," said a voice. Clint quietly turned to see a man step out from the crowd of agents. "You are in serious trouble."

"You think I don't know that, Evan?" She spat at him.

"Go ahead, guys." Clint watched as 5 agents surrounded Tessa and handcuffed her. The guy, 'Evan', stepped in front of Tessa with a metal pole. "Tessa, it's time to go home," Evan whispered in Tessa's ear. He swung it and it collided with her head. She fell to the ground, silent.

Clint drew an arrow back, going to shoot the man. However, he didn't get the chance. Evan glanced quickly at the unconscious agent #7 and almost stumbled over his recruits to get off the roof. The agents dragged her off, leaving Clint alone behind the stack of crates.

Clint let himself relax, angrily jamming the arrow back into his quiver. Grunting in frustration, he stood.

"Clint!" His com screamed in his ear with Natasha's voice. "Where are you? I just saw like 50 HYDRA agents come out of the building. You weren't with them, right?"

Clint let out a snort. "No, Natasha, I'm on the roof."

"Okay, thank god, I'm coming with the helicopter to get you."  After 5 minutes, a helicopter landed on the roof and Clint hopped on. Natasha literally tackled him with a hug. She saw the pieces of Tessa's shirt wrapped around his arms and legs. She gave him a questioning look.

"I got grazed by a couple of bullets, but I used the dead guy's shirt to wrap 'em up," he said.

Don't worry Tessa, Clint thought, I promised and I will find you.

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