CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When Tony returned to the lounge, he found Bobbi Morse gone and the others mulling about. Natasha stood behind the mini bar, pouring herself more whiskey. With her was Clint and he signed a conversation to her so that no one else could understand. Thor, Pepper, and Bruce were the only ones talking aloud, Steve quiet and sitting contemplatively.. But upon Tony's entrance, they looked over.

"She okay," Steve asked curiously. He sat back against his chair and took a drink from a water bottle.

Tony snorted, plopping himself down next to Pepper unceremoniously. "I really thought she was going to attack your, Thor."

Thor merely laughed. "She wouldn't." But when no one responded, everyone merely looking over to where Natasha and Clint still had their private discussion, he added, "She wouldn't would she?"

"Care to shine a light on that," Tony called over to the agents.

They turned to look at the others, Clint straightening up from where he had been leaning against the bar. Before responding he signed a last thing to Natasha, "Do we have a right to tell them?"

"They have a right to know if she's living here what it is she's capable of."

"But should it come from us, or from her?"

Natasha shrugged. "She's an unknown. She was ready to attack Thor, you saw it too."

"Yeah, but she didn't."

"We need to talk to her about ground rules."

Tony rolled his eyes and called over to them. "You're doing it again. Damn I really hate the super secret spy stuff."

Natasha chuckled behind a sip of her whiskey. She nodded to Clint, and he nodded back after a slight hesitation. The two of them rejoined the group, Clint standing behind Natasha as she took the last spot on the couch beside Tony.

"Yes, I think she was fully prepared to attack you, Thor," she told him a moment later. "She wanted answers."

Pepper frowned. "What exactly is she capable of?"

With a sigh, Clint shifted off his leather jacket and showed them the burn she had caused. "This was on accident. I startled her and she lashed out. Took about point five seconds to cause this kind of damage."

"On accident?" asked Bruce.

Clint nodded. "She's not fully in control of her power. She talks about the magic as if it's sentient, almost how you speak of the Hulk, Bruce. She says it enjoys fighting, and that sometimes she loses control." With a sigh, he put his glass of whiskey down on the coffee table and gestured with his hands. "When she fights, she acts on instinct. I saw the magic protect her during the fight I witnessed."

Bruce squirmed where he sat. "Sounds like the Hulk."

With a shrug and a nod, Clint agreed with him wholeheartedly. He fell quiet, lost in thought. After a moment, he wandered back to the minibar and pretended to pour himself another glass of alcohol. In reality he needed the space to clear his head. Instead, Natasha answered their questions.

"Is she dangerous?" Pepper asked quickly.

Natasha smirked. "That's a relative question, Pepper. We all are. She's not quite... unpredictable. Her powers are unstable to a certain extent. But she tries her best to control them when she wants to."

"Wants to," Thor muttered. "Magic is a dangerous thing. Unless properly trained in it, it can consume the wielder. And even then, it is a powerful tool that not all should wield. I have witnessed many fall to its charms."

"Loki used magic, didn't he," Tony muttered, suddenly growing all too serious. He brushed his finger over the top his glass.

Natasha frowned and went to respond, but Steve beat her to it. "From what I've seen, she's not like him."

"Not yet," Thor mused. "You said she was fully prepared to attack me, her kin. Perhaps the magic is corrupting her."

Natasha shook her head. "No. She's gotten used to using violence as a way to get answers. Just like I did. That doesn't mean she's like Loki." She turned back to Thor. "As for being related, she only just met you."

"Still we need to be careful," Bruce suggested. "If having that magic is anything like me and the Hulk, she's dangerous. A ticking time bomb. And we need to watch to see if she does end up like Loki too. His brain was a bag of cats."

Finally Clint had had enough of the speculation. He turned around from where he'd been standing at the minibar and crossed his arms. "She's not like Loki." He walked back over and avoided eye contact, hiding his jittery right hand behind his arms. "I've seen how Loki acts, up close and personal. This is entirely different." With a frown, he continued, "Half the time her own powers scare her. She may not see a problem with using lethal force at the moment, but we can show her otherwise." He paused. "Trust me. She wouldn't be here if I thought she was like Loki." With that, the room fell silent and Clint muttered, "I need some coffee."

"What does Fury want us to do with her," Tony asked after a quiet moment.

Natasha stood and helped Clint find coffee at the kitchenette on the other side of the lounge. As she walked after him, she replied to Tony. "Training. He wants her for the Avengers, but we have a month to assess her. If it doesn't work out, she goes back to the Triskelion for lab testing."

"That sounds terrible," Pepper muttered.

Clint hummed in agreement. "I wouldn't call it fun. They try to find what makes the enhanced tick. I've heard horror stories."

"We don't know how much of those stories are true, Clint," Natasha warned him. "Sometimes they find cures for them."

Bruce frowned. "Cures? In my experience government organizations would rather weaponize than cure." And Steve agreed with him immediately.

Thor, who had thus far sat uncharacteristically quiet, spoke up. "I will not demand that Paige return to Asgard immediately, but I will stay here until she does. She should return home soon."

"And if she doesn't want to?" Clint reminded him, walking back to the couches with a mug of black coffee in hand. "If you force the issue, she may lash out at this point."

"Then I shall stay here until she is ready!" Thor turned to Tony with a smile.

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, sure, why not. We actually did make a floor for you. So consider it yours."

They split for the night not long after. The only one to stay up was Clint. He faked going to his suite that Tony told him was on level forty, and instead stayed in the lounge with Lucky drinking his coffee until ungodly hours of the morning. It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep, he just couldn't.

Around four thirty in the morning, just as he started to drift off on the couch with Lucky on his stomach, Tony came into the room. At first the billionaire didn't notice him. Instead he made straight for the minibar and poured himself a glass of red wine. Clint forced himself to stay awake despite his exhaustion.

Tony turned when he heard shuffling on the couch. "Why are you up!"

"Was about to ask you the same thing," Clint muttered, pushing Lucky to the other end of the couch as he sat up.

"I was hungry," Tony defended himself, pointing to the tray of crackers he'd picked up from behind the bar.

Clint huffed. As he went to respond, the elevator opened and they both turned to see who it was. Paige stood and walked into the room, freezing in her step when she saw Tony and Clint at the couches.

"Hey," Clint sent a tight smile her way. "Want some coffee?"

Paige glanced from Clint to Tony and back. She pointed to the balcony. "I'm going to go outside."

"Okay," Clint nodded. But he frowned at her white tank top. "It's almost November in New York. Take the coat." He picked up the one she'd let fall earlier off the floor and held it out to her.

Paige made a face but relented, letting her crossed arms fall to her side. She walked over and took the coat. As she walked towards the balcony, she turned back. "If you make coffee, I'll have some." Then she walked outside.

With a yawn, Clint stood from the couch and walked to the kitchenette. "Coffee?" he asked Tony.

Tony shook his head. "No, I'm good." After a pause, he continued, "You trust her, then?"

Clint stopped what he was doing. He closed his eyes as he waited for the coffee to start dripping. Then he turned and looked at Tony, crossing his arms. "Yeah. Yeah I think I do."

"She's dangerous."

"We all are, Tony." He frowned, staring at the ground. When the pot had finished filling up, he grabbed two mugs and filled them. "We need to get her clothes. What she's wearing is all she's got."

Tony nodded. "Right. I'll send Happy down to Midtown to pick some up tomorrow." He took another drink of his wine and sighed. Laying back, he looked out the floor to ceiling windows to the balcony. He watched her just standing there, leaning on the railings in the darkness. Then he turned back to Clint. "What's her deal, beyond the powers?"

"She's not told us much," he admitted. "Based on her reactions when I contacted her, someone or some group has been after her for a while though. She was insisting I was there to kill her."

Tony's eyebrows scrunched in concern. "Like, what?"

"SHIELD isn't the only secret organization," Clint warned him as he moved to the door to the balcony. As he walked out into the cold, a gust of wind made it that much worse. But he had to admit that the view made up for it. "Here," he said to Paige. "Coffee. I put some mocha in yours."

"Thanks," said Paige with a quick smile. She took it gratefully and sipped it. "Pretty good. Clearly Mr. Stark knows where to get the good stuff," she joked half heartedly.

Clint nodded with a smirk. He turned and leaned backwards against the railing. "Thor said he's not going to force you back to Asgard, if you're concerned about that. We still need this month to evaluate your skills and where you'd fit on the team anyways."

"I need to apologize to him," she muttered. "He was just taking so long. I wanted answers."

Clint laughed and sipped his coffee with a smile. "I feel like Thor does that a lot. He likes to talk."

Paige turned around in surprise as the balcony door opened and Tony joined them. He held a mug of coffee as well. With a smirk, Clint sipped his before saying, "I thought you didn't want coffee, Stark?"

"Yeah, well, yours smelled good," Tony replied. "I feel like your caffeine addiction is going to take over this Tower with you moving in, Clint."

"Oh please, you're not already addicted?"

Tony smirked. "Not to coffee."

"So what are you doing out here in the cold," asked Clint humorously.

"This is my Tower," reminded Tony. Then he shrugged. "Figured why not."

Clint chuckled. "Did you feel left out?" He grinned as Paige laughed at the comment. "Most people don't think I'm funny. Maybe you will fit in." He gestured to her and then to Tony. "He's annoying. Just get used to it."

"Again, my Tower," Tony quipped. Then he looked at Paige again. "What kind of SHIELD agent is this guy anyhow. More like a walking human disaster."

"Accurate," Clint muttered behind his mug.

Paige shrugged. "I was just surprised he didn't try to kill me. That puts him higher in my books than most people I meet with weapons and special super suits." She looked over the city and took a drink of her coffee.

Tony glanced at Clint before pushing the issue. "How many people went after you?"

"Somebody, or maybe multiple groups, sent in operatives against me. I remember a couple clearly who got away- guy with a metal arm, woman with blonde hair and way too skilled at hand to hand to not be enhanced. I only escaped the metal guy thanks to another archer." She smiled at Clint. "She was damn good."

Tony smirked. "Whoa whoa, a female version of this guy?" He laughed and pat Clint on the back. "That makes her better."

"You're telling me she used arrows?" Clint looked at her in surprise, ignoring Tony. "What was her name?"

"I only know her first name. Kate." Paige shrugged. "Like I said. She's good."

Clint scoffed. "When was this?"

"About a month after the Battle of New York. When you were all in hiding according to the news. She started gallivanting around here." But Paige shook her head. "I don't know any more. She saved my life, though. Or saved me a lot of pain. Still, I wish I could've killed that agent who they sent after me."

"How many did you kill?" Tony asked cautiously.

Paige shrugged. "I've killed a lot of people. Bad people."

"Well, we're going to try to do things without deadly force," Clint told her quietly. "Think you can handle the challenge?" He smirked at her behind his mug.

Paige narrowed her eyes. "Of course I can."

"Good. Because we start your training tomorrow."

"Not today?"

Clint scoffed. "Please, Pea. Today we get you clothes so you stop stealing my jacket."

With a quick laugh, she looked down at herself. The oversized coat contrasted with her plain clothing which she had worn for two days straight, going on three. He wasn't wrong. She definitely needed clothes.