The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Three

The jet plane touched down on the long strip of grass that lead up to the Avengers HQ. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it might explode as the door slowly opened and Tony Stark gestured for me to step out.

I tugged on a strand of brown hair nervously. My natural colour was a deep wine-red, but I'd dyed it a shade of dark mahogany to look more different, because both Black Widow and Wanda Maximoff had red hair, and they would probably assume I was a sucker who purposefully went out of my way to look like them. Tony raised his eyebrows at my newly coloured hair and said boldly, "red looks better on you, kid."

I frowned. "I don't want to look like Black Widow," I said.

"You mean Nat?" Tony barked a laugh and began to walk out of the door. "That's a compliment if you look like her, kid, and you do, so you better thank me now, but whatever floats your boat..."

I ran to catch up with him, cold air hitting me in the face as soon as I stepped outside. I could see the massive white Avengers Headquarters looming above me, and I clutched the straps of my small backpack nervously. The sun beamed through the fluffy white clouds above. Tony gave me a small smile, proof that the all-powerful billionaire had a heart. "You'll be fine, kid," he said. "Oh, there they are! Time for you to meet the team!"

I gulped and looked ahead to see eight or so people walking towards me. One of them raised their hand in greeting and I gave a tiny wave back, feeling really stupid when I realised that the greeting was for Tony, not me. I blushed bright red and tugged at my brown hair, feeling half the person I usually was.

"Stark," Captain America said, his voice deep and kind. "I see you've brought the kid." He sauntered up to me and loomed above me, taking me in. "She's not much, I'll assure you that."

I bristled. Tony hadn't told me that Captain America was a jerk! "I'm stronger than I look," I said, my voice tiny. 

Captain America laughed. "I'm sure you are, kid." He winked at me. "Aren't you a little small to be an Avenger?"

I raised my eyebrows and stepped forwards confidently, saying without thinking, "Aren't you a little old to be alive?"

The collective Avengers looked shocked. Captain America looked lost for words as his face coloured, reaching for his shield. My eyes went wide, knowing that in just a few seconds I'd be beaten into a pulp by America's great defender. "I'm sorry," I blurted, biting my lip nervously. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Tony Stark laughed behind me, a nice sound. "I like this kid," he said, clamping a hand protectively over my shoulder. 

Captain America shook his head and smiled at me warmly. He extended a hand to me and said, "for your lack in size you make up for it in spunk, kid," he said. "My name's Steve."

I shook his hand, his firm grip crushing all my hand bones. "I know," I said, wincing. "I'm Kira."

Steve Rogers let go of my hand and turned to introduce me to the rest of the Avengers. "Bruce, your intern has a lot of spunk," he said. "Her name is Okira."

"Kira," I said, bristling. "Not Okira. Also, is spunk your favourite word? You seem to be using it a lot."

"Point proven," Steve said, grinning. "Kira."

I gave a little wave to them, feeling amazing as they came up to introduce themselves to me. Hawkeye gave me a fistbump and Vision inclined his head towards me, which was as good a fistbump as any. Wanda Maximoff smiled at me and told me about her. A tall man at the back with long blonde hair wielding what looked like a giant mallet came up and loomed above me like a mountain of steel. I leaned back and tried to remember his name, coming up with, "Bor?"

"Thor, actually," the man said. He extended a hand. "You are indeed tiny for a mortal."

"A mortal? What are you, a god?" I asked.

"That's exactly what I am," Thor chuckled. "I am Thor Odinsson, the god of thunder, the heir to Asgard, the defender of weaklings and drinker of fine ale."

I smiled warmly up at him. "Well I'm Kira Akiro-Bardasen, the... intern of Bruce, the eater of Coco Pops, the watcher of Stranger Things and big sister of Taiga."

"Your brother is a tiger?" the god asked, concerned. "And what is this Stranger Things you speak of?"

I laughed. "He's called Taiga, not a tiger. Well, technically foster brother, because I'm an orphan, and Stranger Things is the world's greatest show. You should watch it sometime." 

I was about to launch into a lengthy description of how amazing it was, but somebody clamped a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and gawped. "Bruce Banner?" I asked.

Bruce grinned. Thankfully he was in his human form, because if he was hulking out right now, my shoulder bones would probably be crushed into a pulp. "Hey, Kira," he said warmly. "Ready to blow up some stuff?"

I jumped up and down. "Hot diggity dog!" I exclaimed, then looked horrified as I just realised what I'd said. "Did I actually just say that?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, that was strange," he said. 

"Hot diggity dog," Thor mused, walking in the opposite direction. "Hot diggity god! Hehe, that's me. Am I right, Nat?" 

He put up a hand for a woman with short red hair to high-five, but Natasha Romanoff did nothing. She instead sauntered over to Bruce and I and said, "I'm Nat. Stay out of my way, kid, if you know what's best for you."

With that, she walked away again, leaving me feeling hurt and weirded-out. "That was a very confusing interaction," I said to Bruce.

He shrugged. "Don't take it personally," he said. "She's like that to everybody."

"Clearly not Captain America," I grumbled, looking over to where Black Widow and Steve were laughing about something.

Bruce looked at me. "Do me a favour, kid," he said. "Don't go pining after her because she wasn't the most friendly to you. Stick with me... after all, you are my intern."

I nodded and began to move off, clutching my backpack. I couldn't help glancing back at Natasha Romanoff, who, strangely, was looking at me too. Our eyes locked and something, recognition perhaps, flashed across her face.

Then, as soon as the emotion was shown, it disappeared and she turned away.