ignis | b. barnes

| 40 |

WANDA MAXIMOFF WAS DANGEROUS, BUT BRENDON WASN'T SCARED OF HER. The girl was doing this out of fear, so why should he fear? It was probably the father in him but he could see past Wanda's facade. Whether it was what she saw with the other Avengers or what she saw with Brendon, she became scared of herself. She doesn't know it, but Brendon can see that she's starting to fear herself and he knows it's only going to get worse.

Jamie and Clint had gotten all the lost Avengers, bringing them back to the Quinjet. Tony set out to get Bruce who hulked out because of the female twin.

No one sat next to each other, Brendon was furtherest from everyone. Jamie had gotten him a blanket and it was wrapped tightly around him. His thoughts couldn't leave the dream, no, nightmare he just witnessed. Brendon broke it down repeatedly trying to figure out what it was, but so many different things happened making it hard to.

Eventually, Brendon tried drifting his thoughts to things other than the nightmare, but it kept returning. He couldn't drift away from the thoughts of everyone he loved dying. How could he? The image of everyone dying kept replaying in his head. Was it the future? It couldn't be, Jamie was ten in the nightmare, it doesn't make sense.

But then it dawned on him. That was his worst fear. He's scared of losing everyone. He's scared of being the one to do the killing. He's scared Bucky is truly gone forever. He's terrified of losing his family.

"Donnie?" Steve called crouching down next to Brendon. Brendon's head flinched to the side but quickly looked back up to the Captain. "We're coming to a safe house, get ready to get off the ship."

Brendon nodded his head and sat up, pulling the blanket off his shoulders. He folded the blanket nearly, hand in it to Jamie who came around collecting the ones she passed out.

Brendon examined everyone, he wasn't the only one beaten up. The only one who seemed in good shape were Tony, Clint, Steve and Jamie. Bruce was move to a chair staring blankly staring at nothing. Natasha was doing the same but she was staring at Clint. It almost seemed like she was silently calling for him to help her. Slowly, Brendon made his way over, sitting next to her.

"Natalia," He said softly. She didn't move. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer, but sat up more and leaned into him. Brendon wrapped an arm around her and rubbed small circles into her shoulder, gaving her his comfort.

"It was the red room, wasn't it." He was hesitant saying red room. He wasn't sure it was called the red room, but he was almost positive it was. But he was right, Natasha nodded slightly. Brendon frowned and pulled her closer and whispered softly, "Your past doesn't define you."

"We're here," Clint called out. Brendon looked up and nodded towards Natasha. Clint nodded and and squatted down in front of her. "Ready?" He whispered softly. She forced a small smile and stood up with Clint's help.

They leaded the group off the ship, Tony and Brendon behind them, Thor trailing them, Steve and Jamie after Thor, and Banner trailing the whole group.

"What is this place?" Thor asked Tony as they climbed the steps of the house.

"Safe house," Tony answered.

"Let's hope," Clint told the two as he opened the door. The group walked further into the home. It had a sweet rustic feeling to it. Surprisingly it fit Clint.

"Honey?" Clint called into the house, "I'm home."

A heavily pregnant, but nonetheless beautiful, women stepped into sight. Her face showed concern a she stepped toward Clint, but the further she stepped toward him the bigger the smile became.

"Hi, Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead," Clint told her, taking his own steps closer.

"Hey," She told him softly, kissing him softly.

"This is an agent of some kind." Tony told Thor.

"Gentleman, Jamie, this is Laura." Clint introduces.

"I know all your names, well, except yours." She gestures toward Brendon. He nodded his head down in acknowledgement and stepped forward holding his hand out.

"Brendon Stark," He smiled. She took his hand and shook it smiling at him sweetly.

"Ooh, incoming," Clint mumbled when Brendon stepped back next to Jamie and Steve. Two small children ran out of a hallway. Clint immediately lifted a small girl into his arms and adjusted her on his hip so he could wrap the other around the boy. The group exchanged looks of shock.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" The young girl asked.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha teased stepping past the group. The young girl rushed forward into Natasha's arms.

Clint smiled as he wrapped his arm around his wife. He turned his head to her. "Is. . ."

"Dad?" an older voice called. Clint immediately pulled away from his son and wife. The team looked over and saw a girl in her late teens entering the house. She held a red bow that was soon placed on the kitchen table.

"Cora," Clint smiled opening his arms. The girl smiled brightly and rushed forward hugging her father.

"Natasha here?" Cora asked, looking passed him. "Or Jamie? Can I finally meet Jamie?"

Steve smiled kindly at the teen and turned towards Laura. "Sorry for barging in on you," he apologized.

"Yeah," Tony added, "We would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed."

"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."

"That's a good idea," Brendon thought out loud. "Wish we thought of that."

"Dad," Jamie sighed. "We lived in the middle of nowhere."

"Yet HYDRA still found it, and our house was still on records." Brendon sighed. Jamie shrugged.

Steve and Thor suddenly walked out of the house. Clint left the room, Laura took Bruce to a guest room, and Natasha went to wash off, leaving the Starks alone.

Brendon felt tapping in his leg and looked down to see a small girl staring up at him. "Who are you?" she asked him. Brendon squatted down in front of her.

"My name's Brendon, what's yours?"

"Lila." She answered.

"Beautiful name, darling," Brendon told her. She blushed and looked down. "Want to see something cool?" Lila nodded so Brendon proceeded to ball his fist up. He turned his hand slightly, creating fire. He opened his hand and let the flame hover over his palm. The young girl gasped and stared at the flame intrigued.

"Whoa how'd you do that?" another voice asked. Brendon and Lila looked up to see Clint's son. Brendon smiled and shook his hand the flame extinguishing. He then copied what he showed Lila. The boy had the same reaction, sitting down next to his little sister.

"What's your name, I'm Brendon."

"Cooper." the boy answered. Brendon smiled and nodded.

"Cooper, nice name. If I had a son I would've named him Cooper." Brendon told the boy.

"Well, there's still a chance, right?" Cooper said. Brendon scoffed lightly and nodded.

"I don't know, maybe."

Maybe.