I'm going back to school Sept. 3 so updates will most likely come slower...sorry in advance but please stick around! And don't forget to check out my one-shots book for some fresh content if you haven't already!! Love you all the most<3

  "Mr. Barton, there seems to be-"

  "Friday, what have i told you about calling me 'Mr. Barton?'"

  "My apologizes, Sir Clint, the better God of archery, but there appears to be an imminent threat reported from your instagram direct messages," Friday corrected herself with only a bit of disgust in her mechanical voice.

Clint frowned and reached for his phone. "More threatening than the ones i usually get?" He asked.

"It appears the perpetrator has access to top secret information about your personal life, Sir Clint, the better God of-"

"I get it. Okay," Clint cut the A.I. off and unlocked his phone, going into his Instagram and swiping over to his dms. One of the most recent ones had a red flag emblem next to the account name, courtesy of Friday. Clint clicked on it.

@fuck_myboh: I know of ur secret life with ur wife and three kids. If u don't leave the Avengers asap I'll post this info to the world and completely reveal ur identity as well as theirs.

Clint's brows furrowed in confusion as he read the message over and over again.

I know of your secret life...

...ur wife and three kids...

...leave the Avengers...

...I'll post this info to the world...

Clint felt his heart stop when he finally processed what was being said. His mind reeled as panic flooded his system. Who is @fuck_myboh? How do they know that? What do they want from me? He clicked on their profile in hopes of getting some answers to his questions just to find that @fuck_myboh didn't exist anymore. The account had been deleted.

"Friday, can you tell Natasha to come to my room?" Clint said, his voice sounding far away as he stood up. The world tilted beneath his feet, the ceiling becoming one with the floor. He walked between them, feeling out of his body as he made his way to his bedroom. He'd never felt this kind of fear before-the kind that not only made it feel like the world was ending, but that you'd be the only one left standing when it was all over.

Clint reaches his bedroom just as Nat comes jogging down the hallway, red hair splashing behind her like a cascade of red paint. The two spies meet eyes, two shades of blue colliding to make a shade so dark the stars didn't even shine in its foreground.

Nat's face fell immediately. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Clint couldn't form the words. He twisted his doorknob and gestured her inside.

Natasha asked again once the door was closed behind them. "Clint, what's wrong?"

Clint showed her the message on his phone. Her eyes scanned the screen, reading and absorbing and hopefully forming a plan. He waited for the same look of panic he felt to come to her face but it never did.

Nat pursed her lips together. "Have you tried tracking the account-?"

"They deleted it," Clint said with a shake of his head. "And you know Instagram with their new privacy terms. @fuck_myboh is gone forever."

The redhead frowned. "So that means you can't reply to them either?"

Clint shook his head again.

"Where do we stand?"

"That's the thing-we don't stand anywhere! I'm trapped, completely stuck. Whoever this is, they've twisted the knife just right. I have to do what they want. I have to protect my family," Clint says with remorse. He met Natasha's eyes, not knowing how to communicate how he felt.

She seemed to get it though. Nat seized his face between her hands, forcing him to maintain eye contact. "I'm coming with you," she says it with such determination Clint knows better than to try and argue. "We'll figure this out together."

Clint chuckles dryly. "At least now i have no choice but to retire."

Natasha doesn't laugh.

***

  The pair walk out into the common room about an hour later, both hauling duffel bags behind them.

  Tony sat up from his spot on the couch. He paused the tv, causing Wanda to protest. He ignores her. "Hey, what's going on?" He asks the assassins. "Where ya going?"

The two exchange a glance, both wearing equally solemn expressions.

"I'm going back to my family," Clint replies.

Tony turns to Natasha. "And let me guess, you're going with him?"

She glares at him but doesn't protest. Tony takes it as a yes.

The billionaire sighed, clearly exasperated. "Really? Right now?" He asks Clint. "With everything going on?"

Clint nodded hurriedly, a panicked persona falling over him. "Now more than ever!" He exclaims. "They need me."

Wanda rolls her eyes, her scarlet magic swirling around her head like water in a fishbowl. "Whatever. I don't blame him for going." She twists in her seat to look at Tony. "Who wouldn't want to leave the Tower at a time like this?"

Natasha nods in agreement while Tony just shakes his head.

"But we shouldn't! We don't, because if we do leave, it shows the people just how broken our team really is!"

"But Tony, we are broken," Wanda insists in a soft tone, like a parent would to appeal to a crying child. Her magic spikes blood red in the air before dissolving along with her harsh attitude. She addresses Clint. "Go," she practically demands. "See your family. Spend time with them. No one will hold it against you."

Clint's eyes flit to Tony's, and the billionaire is surprised to find not only determination but desperation there. But why would he be so desperate to see his children? Had something happened to them? This was all very sudden...

Tony went to voice his concerns when Clint snapped at the young woman seated next to him.

"Wanda, stay out of my head!"

Wanda flinched, shrinking back in her seat. But it appeared the damage had already been done, although she tried her best to conceal it. Her red magic appeared again, bubbling and swirling lazily even though everyone in the room knew it was a threat to be heard, a weapon at her disposal.

  The witch stood abruptly. "Go see your family, Clint," she said again, but this time it wasn't out of concern or understanding. It was a challenge.

  Clint inclined his head, blue eyes staring down and through Wanda. A tense moment was shared between them before Wanda seemingly lost whatever argument they were having and stalked out of the room. Challenge accepted and challenge won.

  "Okay...what was that about?" Tony asked in a quiet voice. Wanda's magic still loomed over all their heads, evident in the way everyone held their breath.

Natasha didn't let whatever emotions she may be feeling break her usual stoic complexion, unlike Clint, who wore remorse on his sleeve.

"She'll be fine," Nat said even though she was also bristling. She probably felt the weight of her magic more than anyone. Spies wear shields to their minds like masks to their face. "This is all very sudden."

Tony cocked an eyebrow, not sure if the words his friend spoke were lies or not. He knew Wanda had seen something when she'd plunged herself into the depths of Clint's brain, but had it been emotions or thoughts? A feeling or a reason?

The genius stood, brushing himself off. "I'll go check on her, once she cools down." He turns to Clint. "Send Laura my love. Be safe."

  Clint musters a smile, though it doesn't quite  reach his eyes. "Of course. Thank you, Tony."

  Tony nods. "And Natasha-"

  "I know," the redhead cut him off.

  They held each other's gaze for a moment, communicating without words like only old friends can do.

  They both knew Natasha had been lying.

***

Destruction followed Wanda as she made her way to the training room. A broken vase here, a book blown to mere shreds there. It was a messy attempt to control her anger, letting it out bit by bit in spurts that only did minimal damage. But it was damage nonetheless.

Once she reached the training room though, did she let it explode. Her magic lurched from her body like a wild animal from a cage, leaving her body feeling riven and drained in the midst of all the chaos that followed as a result of. The mirrors encasing the room shattered, weights and machines tossed against the walls like toys. When Wanda had finally regained her breath and looked around the room, she didn't even recognize her own carnage.

"Wanda, are you okay? Also you're paying for all this."

Wanda sat up. Somewhere in the middle of her episode she'd fallen without realizing it. She turned to face Tony, careful not to look anywhere else.

  "Let me guess, put it on your tab."

  Wanda pursed her lips together. "Tony..."

"I know, i know," Tony said quickly before reaching down and helping the witch to stand. She wobbles slightly on her feet before steadying herself. "But seriously, are you alright?"

Wanda finally lets her eyes wander the destruction of her own doing. To the cracked mirrors and the discarded machines, to the scarlet wisps that still hung in the air like blown-out candle smoke. She feels it too. Although her magic looks light, almost dreamlike in its tore essence, it's bone-crushing heavy. Her emotions had led her powers into their more dangerous stage-where they were most unstable. She pulls her hands from Tony's gently.

"I think so," she sighs breathily. "Just a bit dizzy."

The man cocks an eyebrow, but he can't say he's surprised. Wanda was strong, she always has been, but that might stretches beyond her ability. So, for her to lose control like this after rummaging in Clint's head, she'd have to had seen something very unsettlingly.

"I mean, are you sure you're okay?" Tony asks again, forcing more compassion in his voice to try and get the point across.

Wanda's magic dipped lower, hanging limply around the pair like fog. It crackled like lightning and in the next moment Tony felt prying fingers in his mind, plucking at his thoughts and chopping them up into readable blurbs like a surgeon would in the operating room. But the sensation was gone as soon as it'd come and Wanda's knees buckled as her scarlet magic crashed to the floor and through it. Her fingers still sung with sparks, though.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she gasped, pushing a lock of red hair from her sweaty face. "I didn't mean to."

Tony inclined his head to the quivering witch. "Wanda, what's going on?" He asked quietly, trying to keep his fear at bay. It was no secret what Wanda could do if she was in control, but what she could do when she wasn't was far more scary.

Wanda sucked in a shaky breath, palms flat against the concrete floor of the training room in an attempt to ground herself. A moment ago, she felt like she was being pushed through the floor with her magic, but now she was sure her feet weren't even touching the ground.

"What i saw in Clint's mind...it made me angry. I-I lost control. My magic..," she glanced up at the billionaire before she said the next part. "It worked on its own. I had no control. I wasn't even there."

Her words were quizzical but Tony got the gist of it. Loud emotions=bad. "What did you see in Clint's mind?"

Wanda curled her hands into fists, retracting the lingering sparks into herself. Even the mere thought of it made her hot.

"Let's just say Clint didn't leave of his own free will."

Ahhh, i love writing Wanda! Are you happy i brought her back bc i am. She's such an interesting character and her magic...:0 drop a vote and comment if you feel like!!

9.3.19