The Daughter

8- An Hour After Brunch

Chapter 8 (picture of Claire)

An Hour After Brunch

Claire's POV

Satisfied with my outfit I walked down the steps to see my parents in the living room. Deciding not to interrupt their conversation, I head into the kitchen to eat brunch considering it was almost noon. I made myself a sandwich with the few sandwich materials we had and took a big bite. I hadn't had anything to eat last night considering I was playing nurse with the first aid kit. My dad needed stitches and my mom needed an ice pack so that took up most of my time.

I finished my breakfast and decided to do the dishes. I heard movement behind me but I wasn't sure if it was my mind playing tricks or one of my parents. I ignored it and continued washing the dishes. I heard another sound and smirked discreetly knowing who it was. I slowly grabbed the hose connected to the sink and turned around spraying my father in the face. I laughed until my mother came into the room immediately ducking for cover. I then realize I probably shouldn't have taken my eyes off of him. He caught be off guard and I gasped when I felt the cool water on my face and my body. He trapped me between himself and counter and there really wasn't anywhere else to go. When he stopped I looked down at myself to see my clothes drenched in water.

"Probably shouldn't have done that" I said smiling sheepishly. I glanced at my mother then looked back towards my father. His hair and shirt were wet but I was soaked from head to toe.

"Yeah, no kidding." He agreed."What were you thinking?" He asked with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"I was thinking you probably shouldn't walk behind me" I answered in a smart way. He sent a glare my way and the doorbell rang. Natasha being closest to the door opened it.

Whoever was there stepped into the room and put a smile on my mothers face. That rarely happens so my guess is that she is either playing her part or someone she knows is actually here. As soon as that person came into view I ran towards them.

"Coulson!" I exclaimed. Before I got the chance to hug him he caught me in mid air.

"I dont know why, but you're wet" He said still holding me a safe distance away from his suit.

"Right. I'll be back" I ran up to my room and changed my clothes and ringed the water out of my hair.

Clint's POV

I can't believe someone actually had the guts to spray be with water. Especially her. She may have saved us from getting even more messed up than we already were but that doesn't change the fact that we're still here on buisness. Natasha, Coulson, and I sat at the table in the kitchen and began with the questions.

"So what brings you here, Coulson?" I asked.

"Well before i get into why i'm really here. I want to know how Valentine is doing?"

"What do you mean?" Natasha asks confused. He looked towards the stairs and sighed.

"She'll probably attempt to kill me if she figures out I told you but, when she was about 13 years old we realized she was a little more than reckless out in the field and she wasn't any better on base. She was more of a danger to herself than others though. She's getting better, but she still doesn't worry about eating"

"Sheate a few minutes ago" Natasha clarified. I was still stuck on the part where he said a danger to herself. She has an attitude that would assure you that she was too strong to be broken. Then again, Natasha was the same way when I met her.

"Wait a minute, can you elaborate a bit?" I asked before we changed the subject.

"Sorry Barton, its not my story to tell," He said. "and maybe you should ask her. She's never good at opening up to anyone else. Maybe you two should give it a try"

"Alright enough about her whats the situation?" I said changing the subject.

"We've had the three of you under surveillance for the past few days now and its come to our attention that someone has hacked into the server. It's been inconsistent though."

"Under surveillance?" I asked incredulously. Natasha's face paled the slightest bit and shifted uncomfortably.

"Of course. Though only a few other agents and I monitor it. Now we've done a thorough search and we've traced it back to the mafia"

"The father is one of their targets right?" Natasha asked to clarify.

"Yes and now since Valentine has made friends with them you two have gone and supposedly messed up their plans they want to keep an eye on your "family". None of the members made it out of that warehouse which only leaves you two as suspects" He explained.

"Great" We heard footsteps coming from the stairs and agent valentine came into view.

"What did I miss?" she asked.

Claire's POV

"Nothing regarding your mission, we've kept a close eye on the two teens and it seems as if they've been making the wrong friends" Coulson announced.

"I don't like where you're going with this" I said warily.

"We've decided to put you into the same afterschool program Kiera Levine goes to whereas you will be in all of Cole Levine's classes" Coulson said.

"Oh no. No, no, no!!" standing from his chair, Coulson made his way over to me.

"Yes. Your schedule will be given to you at the school and the after school information is in this folder" I scoffed as he handed the folder to me. I vowed that the next time I'd go to school it'd be in another lifetime.

"I need to go. Make sure to look over the folder" he said then whispered into my ear. "and don't be afraid to let them in" he said. A part of me wants to know if he told them anything, another just wants him to take me with him. I nod and he lets himself out. I stand by the door until he pulls off in his car. I turn back towards my parents to find them both with their arms crossed on their chest

"We need to have a little talk"

Coulson

~>

"I'm going to bed"

"No! sit down!" My father shouted. Slightly afraid I sat down, obeying his command. "You're gonna tell us what happened whether you like it or not" he said, it's been hours and I had started to get a feeling he wasn't lying either. I started to cry even before I started talking.

"I wasn't always a SHIELD agent. I don't know how or why but I was kidnapped by these people and, they tried to make me an elite soldier, a perfect specimen, They tried to make me a mini assassin. Then SHIELD found me and they stepped in realizing what they were doing was wrong so they stopped the people immediately. The change was too sudden. They made me lock up everything I felt. They made me like this.

"I have friends. Well a friend actually, she doesn't push me to tell her whats wrong, but she does actually try her hardest.

"I don't feel. I do, but I don't. When they stopped something had gone wrong- it was already too late! I had already shut down and they couldn't get through to me anymore! I didn't know what to do anymore. So I let my guard down at the wrong times and kept it up when I didn't need it. When I sleep, I have flashbacks...they took my family away from me when they promised I would get to see them again, they said it was for the best.

"SHIELD isn't a good place for children to be. Its more dangerous than they make it out to be. I would be the first person to know that. Congratulations you broke me" I stood from my seat and started to go up to my room.

Then it hit me, and it hit me hard. Fury could have assigned this mission to anyone. Why is it the three of us? This isn't a mission its a test. Not for them. For me. That's when everything started to make sense.

I looked around and I realized I was on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I could barely make out the two people in front of me, but I had a pretty good idea it was Clint and Natasha. My vision went blurry then clear and it became a pattern. There was ringing in my ear and I couldn't hear anything but the echo of my name. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them and everything was fine again.

"What happened?" I asked. Clint slowly helped me up and sat me on the couch.

"You stopped breathing"

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