THE FEMININE TEEN sat quietly, a blank and apathetic look on her face. Scratches and bruises all over.

Her hands cuffed tight, though not bothering to give it a thought as mere silence was all her ears could detect.

A single flash of a white illumination had shunned her eyes, the sides of her wrist feeling a freezing sensation as it rested on the cold metal surface.

The Avengers watched the monitor closely and intensively. It was like playing chess, just waiting for the opponent to make their next move.

A sound of a pin drop could probably be the loudest thing you could hear. Other than that, It was total silence.

"So..." Steve starts, breaking the quiet aura that had surrounded them, "What's our play?"

"You're the boss," Clint shrugged before turning to his right, "Are you guys joining?"

"Me and Shrek over here got something to do." Tony vouches as he points at Banner. "Plus, we can't afford a code green."

"I- Yeah, you may never know," Banner murmurs, quirking a brow over at Thor. "How about you?"

"I don't think I am of significant presence in a situation like this," Thor replies, rubbing his arm. "Perhaps we leave it to the professionals?"

Steve nods in agreement. "So we got Hill, Barton, Natasha, and Y/N then?"

"I'm undecided." Everyone's head whipped from the voice, all eyes landing on Y/N. His head laid flat on Natasha's lap, who started to rake his hair at a comforting pace. Air releasing through his nose, a tired one. "I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to handle any mind games for today."

"He's too exhausted," Natasha added, slowly stroking the strands of his hair. A smooth brush of her finger caused him to soothe as it lingered. "Just give him a bit of rest."

"Aw. Thank you for that, sunshine." Y/N cooed, a smug grin plastered on his lips. "It's nice to see someone cares."

"It's not that I care. It's more like... no one really does, I included."

"Oh, so comforting," Y/N replied sarcastically. "And I thought we were having a moment."

Natasha scoffs.

"Were we having a moment?"

"Don't act like you didn't."

Natasha flipped him off.

But ignoring the thought as she continued to play around with his H/C hair.

Everyone else just watched the pair in mere amusement.

'So cute.' Clint thought.

"Right, I'm gonna start it off," Steve announces as he slowly places his earpiece. "You guys can decide how you can play it out after... if I don't get anything."

"You sure you got this, Cap?" Hill inquires, "I didn't know you could interrogate. Do you even have experience?"

"Trust me. I'm just gonna go old school on this one..." He assured.

"Why did you do it?" Steve immediately asks, causing everyone to slap their own foreheads.

The teen quirks an eyebrow, an amused look.

"That was his first question?" Y/N questions, only earning slow nods from the rest. "Well, he wasn't lying when he said he was going old school..."

--

THE DOORS SWUNG OPEN as Clint's presence was known. A vanilla folder squeezed in between his arms as he takes a seat, greeting the teenager with a small smile.

"Sorry for what happened earlier."

No response.

The Barton awkwardly clears his throat, discreetly looking at a small camera up in the corner ceiling. "So, uh- We'll start basic. What's your name, kid?"

"Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia." She answered in a blank tone. Nonchalant and uninterested.

Clint simply blinked, not sure how he could respond to that.

"I- uh, hn." He absent-mindedly flipped through the folder... which was empty. Just looking for a simple distraction. "You know what, forget the name. I bet you want all of this to be forgotten, I understand. So, may I ask who you work for?"

No response.

His jaw clenching-

"Don't go hostile, Clint." Natasha's reminded in his comm. "Be patient."

The archer takes a deep breath, his frustrated look slowly fading away, "Where do you live?"

"Queens."

"There you go."

Clint nods, flipping another page. "May I ask where you learned these... skills?"

No response.

He sucks in the front of his teeth, unknown to how he could continue the process, "Where do you go to school?"

"Midtown."

"That's nice," Clint mused, scribbling a note on a spare piece of paper. "Got good grades?"

She shrugged, yawning as she did so.

This caused a sigh to escape his lips. "Look, kid. We just need you to answer-"

"And what, Lock me up?" The teenager tilts her head, quirking an eyebrow. "You know, lots of kids don't really have an opportunity to meet you guys. One star yelp review for the terrible service, such a shame."

"Funny." Clint huffs, "You'd make a great comedian."

"What can I say? I have a versatile skillset."

"And what is your skillset?"

No response.

"She only answers when it's not related to her work," Steve pointed out. The group had retreated outside the small room's premises after witnessing Clint's attempts,  "Try to ease it in a little."

"I think WE got an idea," Natasha spoke, causing everyone in the room to turn their heads at her. "Me and Hill. Maybe a little... girl talk?"

"That's not a bad idea. She'd probably be more comfortable around the same gender." Y/N shrugged, repeatedly tapping his foot on the tower floors. "Make the connection first. Probably sending in people with who she could relate will earn us her trust. Try to ease her in slowly... I like the plan."

"Can't we just play good cop, bad cop?" Clint suggests, "We don't have to get us in. Just try to get her out. Spill the beans and whatnot."

"It is effective, but we can't play aggressive, just yet anyway. You don't know what she's been through," Y/N interjected, facing Barton. "That's why it's a better idea to send Nat and Hill. Understand her a bit before we could, possibly, play rough."

"Any objections?" Steve asks, earning no response. With that, Rogers sent a nod over at Natasha's way. The captain now gave authorization. "Then it's settled."

--

THE DOORS SWUNG OPEN as Maria and Natasha's presence was known.

"Agent Romanoff." Natasha greeted, giving a slight wave before gesturing to Maria. "This is my associate, Agent Hill. If you wouldn't mind, we'd just like to have a little... chat?"

She merely shrugs.

"Where were you at Thursday, 4:30 PM?" Hill asks, leaning over the table.

"School."

"At 4:30?"

A small amount of silence before the teen spoke, "Detention."

"What for?"

The teen stays silent before her eyes suddenly light up.

"Oh, you know what, it's a pretty funny story. I'm so glad you asked that." She clears her throat, shifting her seated position. "So what happened was, I was with my two friends, pretty chill dudes, by the way. We'd sometimes hang out over at one of them's apartment and just build computers and-"

"Just get to the point." Maria lets out impatiently.

"Geez, can you wait? You gotta chill out, woman." She takes a deep breath before continuing, "So as I was saying, just before Robin over here had to interrupt. My friend bet me ten bucks to wack some pie on this girl's face, super spoiled. Her dad is like a broker or something on Wall Street, and her mom is a fashion model. Oh, my freaking god, she's so annoying. The day prior, she sent out a rumor about me, great timing too. I have this scar on my right arm, had it since I was five-

"Scar?" Natasha intriguingly asked, walking over to the table.

Meanwhile, Y/N perks up from this, pushing himself off the couch from new interest.

"It's not that big of a deal..."

"I was just asking." Natasha replies, "For all we know, there's meaning over it. Just... too afraid to say it."

The girl's jaw tightens. Her once soft eyes had shaped into a glare, right and just directly at Natasha.

"Like I said... It's not. That big. Of a deal."

"Oh, but it could be." Natasha smirks, "Could be from one of those late-night murders in the alley, The penthouse killings, The murders in-"

Maria was about to retort before a voice in her earpiece had told her off, silently walking back.

"You're going nowhere with this."

"Oh, am I?"

"First off, you don't even know my name. What makes you think you deserve any more answers?" The tables had turned with the teen now delivering the smirk. "You don't know who I am. You don't know what I am. You don't know anything about me. All you want are answers and nothing more. But guess what, I may talk, but I am never, NEVER, giving you what you want."

"And why is that?"

"Law number eleventh of power; Learn to keep people dependent on you." Sydney answers. "Great book. Written by Robert Greene. Might learn a few things."

As Natasha was about to speak, a static in her comms buzzed through her ear.

"I got this," Y/N spoke.

Natasha scrunched a confused look, lifting a finger over at the teenager before walking over to the corner.

Maria followed, leaning close to Natasha's ear as her curiosities had risen.

"No, you get some rest. I got this handled," Natasha whispers. "Once I get her to speak, I'm gonna go to you and-"

"No, just trust me on this."

Before Natasha could respond, Y/N's figure had appeared out of literal thin air. Maria had jumped from the sudden appearance. But Natasha did not flinch, as if she was already used to it.

"Go."

Natasha turned to Maria, unknown of what word to utter. She looks back at Y/N before a slow nod of reluctance had motioned through her head.

She lightly pats Y/N's cheek, flashing an endearing smile. But her eyes told a different story. All stern, not a glare but not a soft sight, "You better know what you're doing, L/N."

"Trust me, sunshine."

Her smile widened at that before gesturing over at Maria, giving a quick wave of goodbye to Y/N.

Y/N CLEARS HIS THROAT once he was left with the teenager.  She doesn't even bother to acknowledge his presence, wandering the outcomes of how she could've spent the rest of the day. Her head rested down, eyes on her nails as she brushes them over the skins of her thumb.

The L/N notices her silence, the floors making a sound of rust as he slowly pulls out a chair, releasing a breath once seated.

"You did this to yourself, you know." He starts, eyes darting as he takes the time to analyze her. It was like instinct, from the movement of her lips, the direction of the eyes, a wiggle of an eyebrow, and a fidget of her hand.

"You brought me here."

"Because you tried to attack me," Y/N replies, looking up at the camera just above.

He shakes his head at the small device, making the teen furrow her eyebrows.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving privacy," Once he noticed the blinking red dot fade away, a breath of relief escapes his lips, turning to the girl. "Just trying to make it more... comfortable."

The teen stays silent.

But in a blink of an eye, pressure had settled around her hands before the cuffs had unlocked. The metal dropping down the table as she rubbed her sore wrists.

"Lift it."

"What?"

"Right sleeve," Y/N replies, pointing over at her arm, "I wanna see the scar."

A scoff had made its way out of the teenager, "How is that relevant?"

Y/N stared blankly at the girl as he settles back on the chair. He read those eyes, a look of confusion... mystery. His fingers subconsciously tapping the table as he fades into a trance. A deep trance.

He starts to think and think and think.

Before coming to a conclusion.

He looks up at the girl, a slight grit of his teeth. His chin shivers, a sign of hesitance. Fingers linger and brush over to his right sleeve before slowly, yet surely, lifting it up.

The teenager's eyes suddenly widened.

This gave her an unexpected burst of confidence, rolling up her sleeve.

Matching scars.

"The EIGHT always finds its ways." Y/N mused, taken back when a weak chuckle had escaped from the teenager's lips. "Did your Father deliver it?"

The teen slowly nodded her head with a shaky breath.

"Is that the only scar he gave you?"

She shook her head.

Y/N gulps down a lump on his throat, another look of hesitance before air releases through his nose.

"Whenever my dad had found out I made a friend from school, I'd always come back home with anger just filled in his eyes." He softly spoke, chest rising from the heavy breaths. The teenager in front lifted her chin up. Full attention is now given. "He'd set three things on the table. A beer bottle, a belt, and a wrench. After that, he'd ask me to choose one."

"What would you pick?"

"A wrench."

The teenager tucks her lower lip in between her teeth. A sad yet unfortunately relatable look had grown on her face.

"I'm sorry." She whispers.

And slowly, her walls tear down—brick by brick, layer after layer.

"Don't be," Y/N assured, a small smile somehow peaking his lips. Proud he was able to slowly grab her interests. "It's all in the past."

"You've moved on from it?" Y/N nods in response, leading her to another question, "How?"

Y/N looks back at the teenager, a look of sympathy before another sigh, rubbing the back of his neck before he spoke, "I always tell myself that... You are defined not from what led you to your mistakes, rather from what you do after."

She'll remember that.

"I've lived in a life with two fathers. Yet, both were never really figures to me." She takes a deep breath before slowly releasing it, a bit shaky. "But both had given me the same thing......pain."

"Two?"

She slowly nodded. "When I was seven, I've never heard from my real dad ever again. I felt free. But unfortunately, that didn't last. I never had a mother, which led me to foster care."

"No one else related picked you up?"

"Never knew them, Never seen them. Not even a single picture. In fact, I don't think they knew I existed at all."

"Well, we're just the same then," Y/N crept a weak smile. "Only had a father, never heard from him after a long while. But I was fortunate to have someone take me under their wing."

"Is that what led you here?" She asked, earning a slow nod from the L/N. "Well, luck does play its cards."

"It's not luck. It was merely a silver lining. You have yours too."

"Yeah? what is it then?"

"You have a group that would support you. Friends. I never made my first friend till I was eighteen." A small laugh had escaped his lips, so did the teen. His laughter soon faded to none, face falling as he makes eye contact with the girl. "What's your uh- name?"

"... Sydney." She didn't realize her once stiff shoulder had relaxed, maybe a little too much. "You?"

"Y/N. Y/N L/N." He greets, both simultaneously reaching for their hand with a firm grip, giving it a small and slow shake. "Geez, professional, way too young for that."

Sydney giggled, "I am pretty mature for my age."

"Indeed you are, I mean look," He aimlessly waves around the room, "There's a reason why you're under our radar."

"Yeah, there is a reason for that."

This silenced Y/N, contemplating before he takes a breath, "Would you be able to share it?"

Sydney slowly nods. "Ever since the leaks, I thought I could use my old connection to match the dots. Possibly, do something useful for once-"

"So you decided to take it upon yourself."

"Yep." She replies, popping the 'p', "When I was able to track down some remains, it just kept growing and growing, which led me to do it on a more... often basis."

"You know it's dangerous, right?"

"That hasn't changed anything, has it?"

"Touché," Y/N chuckles. "We've been trying to track something ourselves, in fact."

Her interests suddenly piqued, leaning over the table, "How so?"

"Well, I can't just give Avengers level info to a teenage girl."

"Come on!" She exclaims, only causing giggles to escape their lips. "Just a gist! Like maybe a small fraction?"

"No can do."

She pouts, slowly lifting both of her pointer fingers before slowly tapping the tips, "Pweeassse?"

"I thought you were 'pretty mature for your age', end quote."

"Still doesn't change the fact that I'm young."

A small chuckle had released out of their system before it faded to silence. Y/N takes this time to yet again study the child.

And he was proud of the results.

Those straight lips were curving to smiles, wide enough to show her white teeth. Her once blank eyes were now soft.

"How about we make a trade?" Y/N suggests, causing her to grow eager. "You've made some good progress, I'll tell you that. If you could help us, maybe even use our connections with the EIGHT, we can help you out."

"With what, exactly?"

"Find you a family." Y/N answers, "Once we find what we need, you'll get to live in peace. Of course, you can still study in Midtown. I understand you would want to be around your friends. It's a good deal if you ask me. Nothing to bother you anymore. All we need is a little help with someone of your skills."

Sydney's lips suddenly quivered, making Y/N's eyes widen.

"Of course, you don't have to accept. We can find another deal; that was just a suggestion. We could work it out, negotiate a few deals. I think we'll still be able to find something if your-"

"Actually?" Sydney interrupts. "You'd be able to find me a family?"

"Of course! We got lots of connections. We could probably pull something off-" He stops when he could hear muffled sobs coming from the teen, causing worry to grow from within. "L-Like I said, you don't have to accept. It's fine-"

He was suddenly engulfed in a tight hug. Sydney's sobs only growing louder in volume as her tears dropped down to the crook of Y/N's neck.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you."

Y/N doesn't know how to respond. Instead, he lifts his right hand, slowly patting the teenager's head, "There, there... There... there..." He trailed off when his eyes dart up, the small camera repeatedly blinking a red dot.

'You've gotta be fucking kidding me.'

--

Y/N EXITS THE ROOM, allowing the teen to gather her thoughts. His steps come to a halt when greeted by the shocked looks from everyone in the room, other than Natasha.

"How did you do that?" Clint asked, somehow keeping his mouth gaped.

Y/N simply chuckled, "Law number thirteenth of power; When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy and gratitude." He answers, only earning surprised looks. "What? I read books too. I'm educated too, you know?"

A proud smile had grown on Natasha.

—
A/N: SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. A LOT OF STUFF GOING ON IN MY LIFE RN BUT HERE'S A CHAPTER!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! COMMENTS HIGHLY APPRECIATED!

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? ANYTHING YOU'VE NOTICED OF THE SORT?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SYDNEY AND Y/N'S CONNECTION?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SYDNEY AS A CHARACTER? FUTURE GOALS, ETC.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SEE? SUGGESTIONS, TIPS, ADVICE?

ALSO WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT-OUT TO icantpog , FELLOW AUTHOR, GO CHECK THEM OUT.

ANOTHER TO ThemexicanHulk FOR HELPING ME OUT ON THIS CHAP!

OTHER THAN THAT, HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR DAY!

-FORTI