Imagine If You Assembled the Avengers: Volume 1

Papa Barton (Clint Barton x reader)

Sitting in the kitchen of your childhood home, you held your head in your hands, leaning your elbows on the table and breathing in the steam from your first cup of coffee. The sun hadn't even risen yet, but you were expected to look alive and function at this time of day, despite your body's reluctance to cooperate. You rolled your wrist over to see the time of 3am on your watch and groaned, closing your eyes in the hopes of making the fatigued sting in them go away.

"This is unnatural, dad. Captain Rogers is definitely a sadist."

"I warned you, " he laughed, stopping to kiss the top of your head as he passed by to fill his own cup. "When you said you wanted to join SHIELD, I tried to reason with you, but you're just too damn stubborn to listen. We work on a 24-hour clock."

"No, the Avengers work a 24-hour clock, and thankfully," you paused to take a long drink of your coffee before forcing your body to stand, "I'm just moonlighting with you guys. Two weeks and I'm back to my nice office with a view and no one shooting at me. Well, no one shooting while in the office, at least."

With a long yawn and a slow stretch, you poured the rest of your drink down the drain and headed for the door, giving Clint a quick kiss on the cheek as you passed. "Okay, I'll see you at the tower. I'm sure the Captain has a full day planned for me."

"You wanna just ride in together?" he asked as he stood to gather his own gear, "or have you got big plans after work?"

"I've got a ride, thanks."

"You know I don't like that guy, (Y/N). He gives me the creeps."

"Well then it's a really good thing that you're not the one who's dating him, huh?" you said with a smirk as the door slammed behind you.

~~~

"Good morning, sunshine!" Steve called out loudly as you dragged yourself into the firing range, throwing him a harsh glance and dropping your bags heavily on the floor.

"You know, it's not natural, Steve, how you can jump out of bed at any given moment and be so damn happy. It ain't right." You had noticed that the tower seemed strangely dark when you entered and hadn't thought anything of it, but now that you had made your way further in, you had yet to see anyone else. "Hold on, did you bring me in this early just to work with you?"

"Is that a problem?"

You closed your eyes and shook your head, running your hand through your hair with a small groan. "No, no problem, sir. I'm all yours."

"Great!" he said with a bright smile and a firm slap on your shoulder, nearly knocking you off the bench, "there are benefits to being the Captain, you see. I get the top weapons specialist in all of SHIELD to myself. I need to stay current on anything that's out there."

Steve continued to talk about something that failed to hold your interest, and your attention was pulled away when Wanda walked past the room, looking like she was in a trance and walking much slower than she normally would. You glanced back to Steve, who was busy loading his first weapon, and stuck your head out through the door to try to catch her. "Wanda?"

She didn't turn back and kept on her way, moving silently through the darkened hallway. You reached out and took her arm, turning her towards you, "Wanda, what's wrong?"

Her eyes were glowing a dark red but her expression was blank as she snatched your hand and held it firmly between hers. Your body stiffened at the surge of memories that attacked your mind, and the feeling of fear gripped you at the sight of them. The memories morphed to include you as you were today, living in those experiences again. You could feel the stings of pain in your skin just as you did years ago, and the pounding in your chest as your heart began to race was nearly deafening in your ears. When Steve finally saw you and pulled you away from her grasp, your body was shaking and tears were freely running down your cheeks.