A New Avenger

Chapter 18

Word count: 1319

Natasha's POV

"Clint. When you're done we gotta head back." I called and watched him hit a H.Y.D.R.A agent over the head with his bow. He had run out of arrows and had been hitting agents with his bow and was doing rather well. "Tony says he wants us to see something." I continued and Clint nodded. I leaned on the wall and waited for him to finish as I had finished about ten minutes ago.

"Let's go." He said out of breath when he finished with the last agent. He looked at me as I leaned against the wall surrounded by knocked out agents. He groaned something about how it's unfair and we left the building. We climbed into the helicopter where Scott was sitting, upset about being benched, then started our journey back to the Avengers tower.

Time Jump

We climbed out of the helicopter to see Steve standing by the roof door. He smiled and greeted us nicely. "Hey, guys. Good mission?" He asked but I could tell he was nervous and that something was wrong.

"Yeah," I said completely disregarding him for the moment. "What did Tony want us to see?" I asked wanting to get straight to the point of Tony's message.

"Come see for yourself." He said and Clint and I followed him all the way to the Hospital Lab. "Tony they're here." He said and Tony turned to look at us. Tony looked like he had seen a ghost as we walked closer to him. 

"What's up?" Clint asked and we sat down next to Tony. Tony handed us a sheet of paper but said nothing which was very unlike him. Clint read it first. "Holy shit." He said and handed it to me.

Full Name: Harper Ivy Romanoff-Barton

Adoptive Name: Harper Ivy Stone

Born: 18/02/2004.

Age: 14 years 11 months and 360 days.

Gender: Female

Blood type: AB

Parents: Miss Natasha Romanoff and Mr Clint Barton.

Birth Hospital: New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital

History:  Father was suspected dead when she was taken by HYDRA. She lived with the Avengers for a month before being put in the foster home of Mr Terry Hogers. She lived there for 10 years and now lives with the Avengers in New York. 

I gasped and held back a gasp of both surprise and joy. "Holy Shit." I re-read the birth certificate then looked up at Clint. She was that Harper. Our Harper. I didn't think we would see her again and definitely not like this.  

"That's what we said." Tony finally spoke and took the paper from my hand. He was surprised but relieved too. "Care to explain?" Tony asked and put the birth certificate on the table. Steve sat next to him and they waited for an answer.

Clint spoke first and just blurted it all out. "Nat and I were in Budapest and got a bit carried away. She got pregnant with Harper and we didn't want her in harm's way but before we did anything HYDRA came and nearly killed me. They took her away and clearly were cruel to her. When we found her and she took a liking to you, Tony, so we just left it. We knew Nick wouldn't be happy about her and so would make us put her somewhere safe." Clint explained but I sat motionlessly. "We never thought we would see her again." Clint looked horrified at what we had done in trying to protect her. 

"Holy shit," I muttered again and grabbed the birth certificate to re-read it again. I couldn't believe it. I knew it was her when she first came here a decade ago but I didn't think that we would see her again after that. 

"You ok Nat?" Clint asked me but all I could do was repeat what I was saying. Wild thoughts and worries filled my head and rushed around like an untameable whirlwind.  

I didn't know what else to say. "Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." I repeated and stood up then began to walk out of the room but stopped then a thought hit me. "Does she know?" I asked ready to pounce if they didn't answer.

"Oh, well umm, we don't know. She's unconscious over there." Tony said and gestured to a bed in the far corner. Anger started to overwhelm my body and I could see Clint getting pissed too. "Before you kill me let me explain." He said sensing the danger he was in and I nodded for him to go on. "Thanos's creatures attacked us and I was surrounded. One of them fired this red stuff at me and she jumped from a roof to save me." Tony admitted trying to make the situation sound better. I didn't work.

I took a threatening step forward but a small knock at the door stopped me from ripping Tony apart. "Excuse me but where is Harper?" Said a small frail and innocent voice. I spin around to see that boy Harper and brought here a few months ago.

"Oh umm." Said Steve but it was too late. The little boy had already run over to Harper and was crying. He put his arms on the edge of the bed and cried, trying to hug her but couldn't as he was to short and couldn't reach around her body.

I looked at Tony. "He's not..." I began asking, concerned and pointed at the boy.

"No don't worry. He's not related to any of us Avengers." He said. "I don't think." He mumbled that bit and I sent a death stare his way. "J.A.R.V.I.S assemble the others. We should probably tell them." He said and J.A.R.V.I.S agreed.

"They will be here in a few minutes." He said. Tony, Clint and I left the room. Steve refused to leave Harper and the crying boy alone. He had grown a great fondness for the little boy and it was sweet to see. 

J.A.R.V.I.S POV

The Avengers all came to the main room. Wanda, Vision, Bruce, Bucky, T'challa, Sam, Scott, Thor, Stephen, Peter and even Loki sat in the main room. They were all talking except for Loki. He had his nose in the pages of a new book. Tony, Clint and Natasha walked in and Tony got their attention. "Everyone, today Thanos attacked New York. We managed to beat him but in the process, Harper got badly hurt." Loki pricked up like a meerkat and he put his book down when he heard her name. For some reason, he trusted Harper and quite liked being in her company. Of course, he would never admit that. "I did some tests and Harper will be alright. The thing is...we found out some shocking news." He said trying to break the news gently.

"Harper is mine and Clint's daughter." Natasha blurted out and the Avengers looked shocked. "She is almost 15 years old and has lived nearly her whole life away from us. She is the same Harper that was here many years ago that liked Tony, for a reason that I will never understand. We are unsure if she knows already but..."

"She does." Vision interrupted. They all looked at him. He just nodded and looked like the Avengers world wasn't just flipped upside down. Of course, he knew. Vision and I had both figured it out the minute she entered the Tower but had been given strict instructions not to tell anyone.

"What?" Was the main response from them all.

"She knows that Nat and Clint are her parents. The first day she came here J.A.R.V.I.S and I figured it out. We were told not to tell unless Harper asked us otherwise." Vision said and everyone started questioning him at once. Everyone sat or stood shocked at this information overload. Natasha left the room along with Clint. They both went to their rooms and stayed there till nightfall.

Published: 11th February 2021