It's been a year since Andy left the team.

Clint locked himself in his room for two months and nobody could get him to come out.

Tony and Bruce had been working in the lab, non-stop to try and ignore the grief.

Bucky, Natasha, and Steve have been in the gym, sparing and training to get their anger out.

Thor was trying to learn the midgaurdian ways of grief but trying to ignore the grief at the same time.

They organized a party in memory of Andy, and Clint's birthday.

There was a lot of purple and silver decorations all over the tower.

"Come on Clint, she would want to be happy." Steve said as he walked Clint into the main floor of the tower.

Clint nodded a little and forced a smile on his face. He looked at the decorations and smiled a little.

Everyone was sitting on the couches and talking, drink in hand.

Clint grabbed a beer and sat down next to Natasha.

"Happy Birthday." She said and smiled a little. He nodded a little and took a sip of his drink.

"Hey there birthday boy!" Tony said and sat on the other side of Clint.

Clint smiled and nodded. "Don't make me feel old." He said and laughed a little and Tony just chuckled.

"Now only you will be doing that today because I have organized some games you would play when you are very young. Like duck, duck goose, and all of those games." Tony said and Clint laughed, a real laugh.

He hadn't been able to laugh like that in awhile.

Tony smiled proudly and Natasha smiled at Clint.

"Okay, I'll totally play those games." Clint said and took another drink of his beer. "But I want to wait a little because I mean, I want to see drunk people play duck, duck, goose." Clint said and smiled.

Tony laughed. "No, I'll have Friday video tape it and you're finishing that beer, have another one and then come play the game." Tony said and Clint laughed but nodded.

"Okay, will do." He said and leaned back on the couch. He smiled and finished the beer quickly.

Right as he put down the empty glass, Tony put another one in his hand.

Clint rose an eyebrow and looked at everyone, it was like they wanted to distract him from something, but how could he not think about it.

They may have been celebrating his birthday, but his birthday is the day before Andy died. Usually they don't make a big deal out of birthdays. He knew they were trying to distract him from Andy's death by throwing this party.

Clint shook his head and took another sip of beer. How could he forget the two words that shattered his heart and his world.

She's gone.

Those two words echoed through his head for months, and even a year later, they still do.

Clint shook the words out of his head and downed the rest of his beer.

He pushed past Tony who was offering to play a game and walked to the bar to order something a little stronger than beer.

Tony looked at Natasha and she nodded a little. "He was silent. He was thinking about her again." She said and Tony nodded.

Steve walked over to the bar and ordered a beer as Clint downed his second shot.

"Slow down there birthday boy. You don't want to get totally wasted do you?" He asked and Clint shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe I do." Clint snapped and Steve sat next to Him.

"Listen, I understand you're feeling a lot of pain but you can't let it control you." Steve said and Clint looked down at his drink.

"How'd you get through it?" Clint asked and Steve shrugged.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I just found the right people to help me carry me through it." Steve said and put a hand on Clint's shoulder.

"Your friends want to help you. Let them help." Steve said, he took his beer and walked over to Bucky.

Clint sighed and downed one more shot and stood up.

"Okay who's ready for a game of duck, duck, goose?" Clint asked and Tony cheered.

"That's what I'm talking about!" He exclaimed and led everyone to a space he cleared out for the game.
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Down on the street, in an alley near the tower there was another street fight going on.

There was a girl in the ring, waiting for her opponent.

The girl had auburn hair and dark drown eyes. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and she chin was held up high, she was proud of the fact that she was the one too beat every man that has stepped into the ring.

Instead of a man, a woman stepped in this time.

Her head was down but she had dark red wavy hair but nobody had yet to see her face.

"If you're going to fight me, at least show me your face." The girl with the auburn hair said.

The crowd laughed a little but the girl with the red hair didn't respond or left her head.

"Oh come on rust head. Show me your face." She jabbed and the girl with the red hair lifted her head so just her challenger could see.

"Come on you jealous bitch. Let's just get to the fight." She said and the crowd ooed collectively at the insult.

The auburn haired girl just looked at her opponent.

"Surprised to see me?" The red haired girl asked and walked over to the auburn haired girl.

Without another word the red haired girl punched the auburn haired girl in the stomach.

The auburn haired girl stumbled back a little but lunged at the red head.

The red head smirked and dogged it quickly. She kicked the auburn haired girl's feet out from under her and ran down the alley.

The auburn haired girl stood up and followed her as the crowd booed but the two girls kept running.

The red head stopped in the alley next to the avengers tower and the auburn haired girl smirked.

"Going back to your pathetic little friends?" She asked and the red head laughed a little to hide the longing.

"Nope." The red head said and kicked the auburn haired girl in the shoulder.

The two continued fighting until the auburn haired girl threw the girl out of the alley and right in front of theAvengers tower.

The red head went to run back into the alley but got pushed into the tower by the auburn haired girl. She bent the handles in a way to make it impossible for the red head to get out by using the doors.

She had to ask for help or figure out a way out by herself.

"You've got to be kidding me." The red head muttered as she tried to find a way out.
-----------
Tony was laughing at Clint who was drunkenly chasing after Natasha after she picked him as the goose one duck, duck, goose.

Natasha made it back to Clint's spot and Clint groaned.

Tony held up a finger. "I will be right back. Friday needs me in the lobby." He said and stood up and walked over to the elevators.

Tony rode down the elevator in silence and as the ding of the elevator door opening sounded and the door opened he stepped out and saw a red head trying to get out.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" Tony asked and the girl froze. "I'm sure I can help you with something." Tony added and walked over to her and looked at the door.

The handles were bent in some odd way and he nodded.

"It's okay, we can have that fixed in no time." Tony said and the girl nodded silently.

"Listen either you can talk to me and show me your face or I can make you look at me." Tony said and the girl took a deep breath 

"I'd rather not." The girl whispered and he recognized the voice from somewhere but he couldn't place the voice.

"Okay now you need to turn around because I need to figure out who you are." He said and the girl turned to face him slowly.

Tony's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Friday...get the Avengers down here." Tony whispered.

The red head's eyes widened. "No, please don't do that. They can't know." She said.

"You can't tell me not to tell them. They deserve to know. How are you alive?"Tony asked as the elevator signaled that the elevator was coming back down.

"Tony! Send them back up!" The girl begged but Tony just looked at her and then stepped in front of her.

The Avengers walked out of the elevator and looked at Tony.

"So?" Natasha asked and Tony stepped to his side but so did the red head.

"What?" Clint asked drunkly and Tony looked to the left and groaned.

"You ignored the easy way, now it's the hard way." Tony said as he turned around, grabbed the girl by the arms and pulled her in front of him.

The girl was hitting him, and saying "Stop", "No", "Please don't do this", over and over again. Clint froze at the sound of her voice.

Tony turned the girl around so they could see her face but the girl closed her eyes.

"Open your eyes." Tony instructed and the girl shook her head.

"Thor, some help." Tony said and the girl shook her head.

"Fine." The girl said and slowly opened her eyes.

"Is this some sort of cruel joke? You managed to get the eye color but you didn't even get her hair color right. That's not her. Great job Tony. You just ruined my birthday party." Clint said and pointed at Tony, still very drunk.

"I didn't know it was your birthday..." The girl said softly and Clint froze with his mouth open.

"Am I that drunk or...?" Clint asked and Steve shook his head.

"Nope, I heard and see her too." Steve said and Clint walked over to her as Tony let go of her arms.

"What? How? Andy? How are you here?" Clint asked as he was suddenly sober. 

The red head looked at the floor and took a deep breath before looking back up at Clint.

"Long time no see...we have a lot of catching up to do." The girl said.

A/N:
I am BACK!

I am releasing this prologue and the first chapter!

I am very happy to be back and I have high hopes for this book!

Thank you for joining me through this journey!

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