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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟕
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄

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An unknown amount of time passed before Charlie finally came around from her forced nap, only for her to find herself in a cold dark room with silence as her only source of company. A wave of panic washed over her when she remembered what happened. That caused her to quickly sit up and lean back against the wall behind her to take in her surroundings. As she sat as still as humanly possible, the Barton girl tried her hardest to keep her thoughts in check, only to fail when she thought about her family.

Despite knowing Clint would disagree, Charlie could only blame herself for getting into the mess she found herself in. Her father was probably freaking out and Laura was going to give him an earful after he tells her. Cooper and Lila probably thought she was dead, which was what they worried about the most when she told them she was going to help their father. Maybe she wasn't ready to take on an Avengers-level threat. Maybe Natasha and Clint were right all along and she was in way over her head.

The Barton girl's thoughts were soon cut short when her ears picked up on approaching footsteps. That caused Charlie to look away from her intertwined fingers and toward the source of the sound, only for a small wave of relief to wash over her when just the Maximoff twins appeared. The young archer kept her eyes glued to them as they walked closer to her before letting out a small sigh when it became clear Ultron wasn't joining them quite yet.

"Can I leave now?" the Barton girl questioned in the most unamused tone she could create as she tried to put on the act that she wasn't terrified for her well-being, "or did the big boss send you here to put me out of my misery?"

"He sent us for a different reason," Wanda told her while Pietro watched the young archer with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

"You don't have to do anything he tells you. He's just using you to get what he wants," Charlie responded as a last resort, hoping that they would see that they were simply pawns in the robot's game.

"Like the Avengers are using you?" Pietro questioned without even trying to hide the venom in his voice, only to be greeted by a confused look from Charlie before he continued speaking, "you are fighting for a cause that is not your own."

"If Ultron is planning on hurting innocent people, then it is my cause," the Barton girl responded while trying her best to ignore all the nerves building up inside her, "and since you two are obviously still brainwashed, let's cut to the chase. Why did Ultron send you?"

"He wanted us to see if you would willingly answer our questions," Wanda answered as her eyes scanned every inch of the young archer's face, "but clearly we're going to have to do this another way."

"If you're talking about digging around inside my head, then go ahead. I have nothing to hide," Charlie sighed before adjusting her hair tie and looking back up at the Maximoff girl, "if anything, it'll show you exactly why I am fighting with them."

As the brunette girl approached her, the young archer pushed away all the fear that was bubbling up inside her. Wanda soon crouched down in front of her before her eyes began to glow bright red to match the magic emitting from her fingers. Charlie just stared at the crimson smoke for a moment before unconsciously glancing over at Pietro. The archer stared at the speedster while he returned the gesture with concern in his eyes and a look on his face that made it seem like he didn't want his sister to proceed.

No one was able to say another word as the red mist that surrounded Wanda's hand greeted Charlie's face before she was greeted by darkness once again.

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When the world around her became clear, Charlie found herself standing in her childhood home. She continued to look around the house she hadn't seen in years before her eyes fell on her mother, her older brother, and her fourteen-year-old self sitting on the couch watching TV like any normal Sunday night.

That was until he came.

Abigail heard the glass shattering first and her eyes soon fell on her kids. Before Asher or Charlie could understand what was happening, their mother pulled something out from the couch cushion and told her children to run. Her seventeen-year-old brother didn't hesitate to grab his sister's wrist and pull her along as they ran upstairs. Once the siblings reached the top of the stairs, they heard a few loud bangs before the world around them fell silent.

The Barton siblings stopped in their tracks and looked back to see a man standing at the bottom of the stairs. Charlie's younger self froze like a deer in headlights as he started to climb the stairs, only for Asher to grab her shoulders and quickly guide her toward their panic room. As soon as they reached the giant metal door, her brother removed his hands from her shoulders and pulled on the handle with all his might. The door soon opened; however, they were unaware that their pursuer caught up to them until he grabbed Charlie by her ponytail.

His sister's shouts made Asher spin around to see the man pulling her away from the door and back towards the stairs. Her brother didn't hesitate to lunge at the man, causing him to let go of Charlie before the Barton boy picked her up and practically threw her into the panic room. The girl quickly looked back at the door to see her brother struggling to push it closed before their eyes met and he sent her one last smile.

"Everything will be okay, Char. I promise."

Before her younger self could react, the door slammed shut, followed by the loud clicking of the lock. Charlie rushed to the keypad and tried to punch in the code, but it failed over and over again. Her screams cut through the air as she banged on the door and called out to her brother, only to be greeted by silence.

The Barton girl sat in the middle of the panic room with tears running down her cheeks as her hand fiddled with her necklace. What felt like an eternity passed before she heard someone punching in the code on the other side. Hope filled every inch of her body when she thought Asher was coming to join her, only for that feeling to be crushed when her father rushed into the room and scooped her into his arms.

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The scene before her quickly changed to the living room of the farmhouse three years ago. May 4, 2012, to be exact. Charlie was sitting with Laura in uncomfortable silence as they waited for the phone call. After hearing about the explosion at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base her father was stationed at, she and Laura waited up into the dead of night to hear if he made it out...or if he didn't. When the call finally came, her stepmother rushed to answer it before she put it on speakerphone so they could both hear the news.

The news that her dad was alive...but he had been compromised and taken prisoner by the God of Mischief.

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Charlie's eyes snapped open as soon as the memories faded away before she let out a gasp and sat up so fast that she almost fell over. A wave of panic washed over her as her breathing quickened and her heart pounded at a rate she didn't think was humanly possible. The one thing she desperately wanted to do was call out and go look for Asher, something she hadn't felt the need to do since joining S.H.I.E.L.D.. However, once she finished taking in her surroundings, Charlie knew that would just be a waste of breath.

It only took another moment for the Barton girl to slowly calm down after remembering where she was. A long breath passed over her lips as she turned her attention back to a teary-eyed Wanda. A confused look formed on Pietro's face at the current state of the two girls before he quickly helped his sister to her feet. Charlie watched the siblings for a moment while silently wishing she could share more moments like that with Asher. But after nine years of wanting and wishing for her brother to return, the Barton girl knew it was just a waste of time.

"What did you see?" Pietro finally asked his sister, drawing the archer's attention back to them just in time to see Wanda cross her arms over her chest and look down at her feet.

"It's not my story to tell," the brunette girl muttered under her breath, making the speedster even more confused as his eyes landed on the Barton girl.

"She saw the day I lost my mother and brother to someone who wanted revenge against my dad then she saw the day we got the call that his brain was taken over by Loki," Charlie explained while trying to hold back her own tears from reliving the worst moments of her life.

The young archer sat in silence for a moment longer before she reached up and wrapped her hand around her necklace without thinking. Her fingers ran over the charm at the end of the chain then she glanced down at the silver sparrow shining in the darkness. Like Steve's shield and Thor's hammer, this piece of jewelry was her prized possession that brought her a sense of comfort. It was the last thing she and her brother bought together before that night.

"Your greatest fear...is losing someone you love," Wanda concluded, causing Pietro's eyes to dart between the two girls before they settled back on the blonde girl.

"Guess we have more in common than we thought," the Maximoff boy whispered just loud enough for Charlie to hear, drawing her attention away from her necklace to meet his eyes. The two of them simply stared at the other for a long moment then she watched his eyes drift down a bit. "What does your tattoo mean?"

The archer's immediate response to his question was a smile before her hand left her necklace and landed on the tattoo on her collarbone, letting her fingers trace over the marking a few times. "They're sparrows. I used to watch them fly around with my brother in our backyard. That's why I chose it for my code name. That and because my dad thought it was funny that 'sparrow' has the word 'arrow' in it. I got two of them to represent the two people I've lost."

After Charlie finished her story, Wanda slowly nodded while Pietro continued to stare at the girl with no emotion in his eyes. The Barton girl found herself unconsciously staring at Pietro for a second longer as she studied him before she met his eyes to see nothing but pain and understanding. Just by the look on his face, the young archer knew exactly what was going through his head.

The thought of losing his sister was his worst fear. One that he never wanted to face.

"Those moments in my life terrified me to no end. They made me feel useless and helpless. I had nightmares every night after losing my mother and brother...I still have those nightmares. I'm still terrified that I'll lose my father and my new family," Charlie told the Twins, who were staring back at her with curiosity in their eyes as she continued speaking, "but instead of letting those fears control me, I used them to push myself to become the best version of me. Even though I'm still scared of all the dangers that they might face because of what my father and I do, I'm comforted by the fact that I have the skills and the means to protect them."

As soon as she finished speaking, Charlie's eyes glanced between the Maximoff twins until they settled on the speedster once again. Pietro stared back at her with a blank expression on his face before the archer caught a hint of regret swimming in his eyes. Despite wanting to ask what was going through his head, the Barton girl forced herself to suppress the confusion that began flowing through her veins. It wasn't long after that when they all jumped at the sound of a door being forced open.

"Nice to see you again, Little Bird."

The sound of the soulless robotic voice made the Maximoff twins exchange a look while the Barton girl became as still as a statue. None of them moved for a moment before the three of them turned their attention toward the source of the noise. Charlie fought the urge to back as far away as she could from Ultron as he walked straight toward her with his metallic hands balled into fists.

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