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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑
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Three days of hanging around Avengers Tower and Charlie continuing her training with the additional help of Steve and Thor passed before the day of Tony's party arrived. With an hour left before the party, the young archer found herself sitting in Natasha's room while the redheaded woman dug through her closet in search of something for the blonde girl to wear. After looking through her closet for a good ten minutes, the Romanoff woman turned around to show the younger girl a short, black dress.
"This would look great on you."
"You know I don't like wearing dresses that much, Nat."
Her response caused the Romanoff woman to let out an annoyed sigh before she rolled her eyes at the Bridger girl and hung the dress back in her closet. Charlie did her best to contain her laughter as she watched Natasha continue to dig through her closet. More time flew past them before Charlie found it harder to sit still, causing her to lie down on the bed and let out an annoyed groan.
"Patience, young Sparrow," Natasha said with a smile on her face while keeping her attention glued to the clothes in her closet.
The Bridger girl continued to stare up at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity before she heard Natasha clear her throat. That caused Charlie to sit up and lean back on her elbows as her eyes landed on a nice pair of red pants and a black blouse. The smile on Charlie's face did nothing but grow before she jumped to her feet and took the articles of clothing from the redheaded spy. Natasha watched with amusement in her eyes as the young girl raced into the bathroom to change. As soon as she was finished, Charlie walked back out into the room to join Natasha and Clint, who had come to get them for the party.
After taking the elevator down to the main floor, the three of them walked into the lounge to find a huge crowd of war veterans and others walking around and talking among themselves. Charlie's eyes continued to travel around the room as she took in her surroundings before she caught Clint gesturing over in the opposite direction. The Bridger girl instantly followed his gaze to find Steve walking through the room with Sam Wilson. Charlie just stared at the Falcon in awe before her attention landed on Tony and Thor talking to James Rhodes.
"This is amazing," the Bridger girl muttered under her breath as her eyes continued to dart around the room below her.
"You'll get used to it," Natasha laughed at the younger archer's antics, causing Charlie's body to stiffen a bit before she glanced back at her mentors.
"You heard that?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about it...I'll be sure to judge you," Clint told her with a smug smirk on his face before he wrapped his arm around the Bridger girl's shoulders and led her down the closest set of stairs while Natasha left them to go behind the bar.
Charlie continued to let the Barton man guide her through the crowd of Tony's guests until she caught slight movement out of the corner of her eyes. When she looked over her shoulder in that direction, the blonde girl found Steve and Sam walking toward them. A wave of anxiety washed over the girl as her eyes stayed glued to the two men before they stopped right in front of her and Clint.
"Hey, Clint," Steve greeted the Barton man then his attention turned to the girl standing next to the master archer, "Charlie, I'd like you to meet Sam Wilson."
"Nice to meet you, Charlie," the raven-haired man said with a smile as he shook the Bridger girl's hand, "Steve told me how well you did on their mission in Sokovia. Nice work."
"Thank you. I'm a big fan of yours."
"At least someone is."
After talking with the two men for a few more minutes, Steve and Sam said their goodbyes and walked up the stairs to the balcony to have a private conversation. Charlie's eyes stayed on the duo for a moment longer before she turned around to face the arrogant archer next to her.
"See, I told you I could handle this," the young archer said with a large grin on her face, only to be greeted by her mentor rolling his eyes at her.
"Don't get too confident," Clint told her before he started walking through the room once again with Charlie close behind him, "we still have a whole night left for you to embarrass yourself."
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A few hours passed since the party started and Charlie was having the time of her life. Throughout the night she met a lot of different people who had interesting stories to share with her. That also included Rhodey, who told her one of his War Machine stories about a tank and a general. The Bridger girl was pretty impressed...but she couldn't say the same for the rest of the Avengers. After all of the other guests left, the young archer found herself sitting between Clint and Bruce around a coffee table with the rest of the Avengers, Dr. Cho, and Agent Hill. Charlie listened intently as Thor began to talk about his hammer and how only those worthy would wield it before Clint let out a scoff.
"But it's a trick," the Barton man declared while twirling a drumstick around in his hands.
"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor defended as he stared back at the master archer with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"'Ah, whoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,'" Clint recited while attempting to imitate Thor's accent as he motioned over at Mjolnir with both hands before letting out another scoff, "whatever, man! It's a trick."
"Please, be my guest," the God of Thunder responded with a smirk on his face before he gestured to the hammer that was simply sitting on the table.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodey muttered as Clint made his way over to the Odinson man's prized possession while Charlie attempted to hold back her laughter.
"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony mocked the master archer, who was now standing right in front of Mjolnir.
"You know, I've seen this before, right?" Clint told Thor with a mock-serious look on his face as he wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled on it with as much strength as he could muster. The archer's grunts mixed with the laughter from his friends as Thor sent the Barton man a smug look when the hammer didn't move an inch. The Barton man struggled for another moment before he finally gave up and let out a laugh. "I still don't know how you do it!"
"And you told me not to make a fool of myself," Charlie muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Clint's attention to land on her.
"Think you could do better, Sparrow."
"Oh, I know I can do better, Hawkeye," the Bridger girl responded before she got to her feet and walked toward him.
The Avengers' laughter continued to fill the room as they watched the two archers have a playful glaring contest. It wasn't long after that when Charlie gently pushed past her mentor to stand in front of the mystical hammer. Everyone watched the young girl with anticipation in their eyes as she wrapped her hand around the handle of Mjolnir and pulled as hard as she could. It didn't take long for everyone to realize that the hammer was exactly where Thor left it.
"Guess not this time," Charlie said to Clint as she let go of the Asgardian relic and began walking back to take her seat beside her mentor once again, only for her to stop in her tracks when Tony started speaking.
"Smell the silent judgment, Katniss?"
"Please, Stark," the Bridger girl responded to him as she turned to the billionaire with a small smile on her face and gestured to the hammer, "by all means."
The Stark man quickly accepted the young archer's challenge and stood up with a loud dramatic sigh. As he made his way around the table to take her place, Tony told those around him that he would never shrink away from an honest challenge before he stood right in front of Mjolnir. Everyone watched as he put his hand through the loop at the end of the hammer and wrapped it around his wrist before the brunette man's eyes landed on the God of Thunder. "So, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes. Of course," Thor answered with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I will be reinstituting prima nocta."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tony's attention turned back to the Asgardian relic before using both his hands to tightly grip its handle. All eyes stayed glued to the brunette man as he tried to lift the hammer, only to receive the same results as the two archers. When he finally saw that nothing was happening, Tony let go of the handle and looked at everyone with determination in his eyes.
"Be right back."
The Stark man was only gone for a few minutes before he returned wearing one of his Iron Man hands. Charlie fought the smile that watched to form on her face as she watched Tony approach Mjolnir once again. Once he was satisfied with his grip around the hammer, the brunette man use his metal hand and its thrusters to try to lift the hammer once again but it still didn't move. At the sight of the still hammer, Rhodey left and came back with his War Machine hand before he tried to help Tony lift the object. The two men started to bicker a bit when Mjolnir still wasn't moving before they finally gave up.
Once the two men were back in their seats, Bruce got to his feet to attempt to lift the Asgardian relic, only to fail like everyone else. All eyes then fell on the Man Out of Time, who had been silently sitting next to Thor while the rest of his teammates embarrassed themselves. A small smile formed on Steve's face before he sent a playful look the God of Thunder's way as he stood up to try and lift the hammer.
"No pressure, Steve," the young archer teased the man as everyone watched him roll up his sleeves and grab the hammer.
"Come on, Cap," Clint encouraged while he went back to twirling the drumstick in his hand and almost hitting Charlie in the face.
After the Bridger girl snatched the object from her mentor, the two of them turned their attention back to the Rogers man just in time to watch him attempt to lift Mjolnir. Unlike everyone else, the object moved a little across the table. But no one seemed to notice other than the God of Thunder himself and the Avenger-in-training. Steve continued to tug on the hammer for a moment longer before giving up and turning towards Thor with a smile plastered on his face.
"Nothing," Thor chuckled before taking a sip of the drink in his hands while glancing over at his prized possession.
Everyone's attention soon turned to Natasha when they finally realized she was the only one who hadn't tried. As soon as she noticed her teammates watching her, she took a long sip of her drink after muttering, "oh, no, no. That's not a question I need answered."
"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony told the Gold of Thunder in a mocking tone, only for Clint to playfully roll his eyes at the Stark man.
"You bet your *ss," Clint responded before snatching back the drumstick that Charlie took from him and proceeding to twirl it once again while ignoring the irritated look the girl was sending him.
"Steve," Maria called out to the Man Out of Time as she pointed at the Barton man, "he said a bad language word."
"Did you tell everyone about that?" the Rogers man questioned while looking over at Tony.
"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code," the billionaire said as he turned to face Thor as if Steve never said a word, "'whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation."
The God of Thunder let out a laugh at the Stark man's attempt at an explanation before the former got to his feet and walked over to his hammer. "Yes. It's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one," Thor told him as he picked up Mjolnir with ease before using the object to point at everyone in the room, "you're all not worthy."
Everyone's groans and laughs filled the room once again as a few of the Avengers booed the God of Thunder. That continued for another short moment before a high-pitched noise echoed through the room. The Avengers and their allies flinched when the screeching met their ears as they all looked around for the source of the sound. After exchanging a confused look with Clint, Charlie's attention landed on Tony, who pulled out his high-tech phone to see if there was something wrong with his inventions.
"Worthy," an unknown voice repeated Thor's last word before everyone turned toward the speaker to find a metal man limping toward them. Charlie slowly got to her feet to get a better look at the newcomer as it continued to stalk toward them before stopping on the other side of the room. "No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers. Except for the Little Bird. But she's young, she still has time. It'll be better to stop her before she starts."
The robotic man's threat caused Clint to move to stand in front of Charlie at the same time Steve and Natasha glanced at the young archer. The Bridger girl tried to hide the small wave of fear that washed over her as they all continued at the broken-looking machine.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the robot resumed speaking as it looked around the room as he tried to figure out the right words to say to the heroes standing in front of him, "or I was...a-dream?"
"Clint, what is that thing?" Charlie whispered in the Barton man's ear while her eyes stayed glued to the metal man.
"I don't know."
"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in...in...strings," it continued its explanation as it struggled to stand in one place before almost falling over, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."
"You killed someone?" Steve questioned after the confusion on his face transformed into concern.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."
"Who sent you?" Thor asked.
Instead of a verbal response from the robot man, it tilted its head to the side before making a sound as if it was rewinding a tape. It wasn't long after that when a soft click cut through the air followed by a very familiar voice. I see a suit of armor around the world.
"Ultron," Bruce said in realization after listening to the recording of Tony's voice before he glanced over at the billionaire.
"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."
"What mission?" Natasha questioned as everyone began to prepare for an upcoming battle while Clint looked back at the young girl standing behind him.
"Peace in our time."
As soon as Ultron finished speaking, the Iron Legion smashed through the wall behind the metal man and began attacking everyone in sight. Clint instantly grabbed Charlie's wrist and dragged her over a railing before he continued to pull her along with him. The two archers miraculously avoided getting hit by the flying machines as they slid under a table for cover. When one of the robots found the pair and started blasting at them, the Barton man forced his trainee out from under the table before he used his body to break through a window into the next room. As Charlie tried to wrap her head around what was happening, her mentor picked up Steve's shield and turned around to face her.
"Stay here."
After receiving a nod in response from the girl, Clint rushed out of the room before throwing the patriotic object to its owner. Charlie stayed in her place as she listened to the Avengers fight off the robots for another moment or two before everything went quiet. The young archer didn't move an inch until her mentor came back into the room to grab her then she followed him into the lounge. As soon as they rejoined the rest of the Avengers, they all turned their attention back to the metal man to find Ultron limping around in a circle.
"That was dramatic," he sighed before he turned around to fully face the heroes, "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?"
Ultron paused for a moment as his synthetic eyes stared down at an Iron Legion member before he reached down and grabbed it by the head. "With these? These puppets," he continued speaking before instantly crushing the robot's helmet, "there's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction. And you, Little Bird, you will have to decide whose side you are on."
Irritation flooded through Charlie's veins when the robot singled her out for the second time in less than fifteen minutes. She continued to glare daggers at the metal man before her eyes landed on the shield that Steve was holding tightly in his hand. However, before she could even think of responding to Ultron's comment, Thor hurled Mjolnir at the machine and instantly shattered its broken form.
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