I sit in the bay window, looking over the populated city, and most certainly, this room feels odd. My legs are close to my chest, arms loosely wrap around them as my chin rests on my knee. It's times like this where I really feel alone in the world, even when thousands of people swarm the city, they don't quite understand the internal struggle I'm facing. But I'd rather discuss it with another at a later time and date. The room is completely silent; my heart seeming to beat as loud as a drum and my breathing going with the rhythm.

I should've never came here, it's too risky. Hydra will find me, they always do. My thoughts circle through my head space like a tornado, just waiting for disaster to strike. As the sun begins to rise over the buildings, casting a larger shadow at the ground below, I sigh, realizing that this is the second night in a row where I haven't been able to sleep. It's overwhelming with everything that has happened in the past few weeks. Today, a dark, eerie cloud that hangs over my head, making every melancholy emotion heightened. Across the room, the quiet click of the door opening grabs my attention. The man, who was the only one not at all frightened by me, invites himself in and sits down across from me in the bay window.

"What's on your mind?" the man asks me and he seems very genuine about it.

I shift awkwardly in my place, feeling very uncomfortable in the presence of a stranger. Luckily, he seems to notice the vibe of my awkwardness and cracks a bright smile.

"I'm Clint Barton," he introduces himself, officially. "And I'm just here to check in on you, Avalon, don't be nervous."

"It's dawn. Why would you check in on me at this ungodly hour?" I ask, quietly, refusing to break eye contact with Clint.

"I had a feeling you'd be up," his words are honest and I completely relax, knowing that I put my guard down.

"Some days, I can restrain myself from becoming the assassin, but others, all I can see red and all I want to do is cause mass destruction," the words seem to spill from my mouth like a volcano erupting. "Adjusting to this new lifestyle is screwing with me, but I know that things get better somehow and hopefully, I...I"

Silence creeps back into the room as the rays of the sun seep through the windows. Everything I wanted to say completely vanished out of my head space and for a moment, I believe that my memory has been wiped again; the only difference is that Hydra isn't here. Maybe it's my body's way of coping with things I shouldn't be exposed to quite yet. My attention averts out to the skyline and my hands run through my hair, creating tiny knots as I do so.

"I can't remember what I was going to say... I'm sorry," I apologize to Clint.

"Give it time, kid, it takes time to put all the pieces together. After the pain and torture you've endured in your lifetime, it makes sense," he assures me, but I shoot him a quizzical look, noticing that he knows more about me than I've told him. "Steve told us about you."

I nod my head, understandingly. "Thank you for checking in on me, Clint."

"Anytime. It's important to look after the ones who need it the most."

***

The tower began to come to life as the sun rises into the sky. Sounds of footsteps and light conversation changes the atmosphere, almost making it seem like there's nothing in the world more perfect than this. To me, at least. After Clint left the room, I remained in the same place by the window, distracted by the beauty of the marvelous city below. A roar of laughter echoes through the building and curiosity trembles through my body, aching to know what's going on. Giving into temptation, I get up and walk towards the mirror before I walk out of the room.

I find myself doing this quite often. Gazing at the person in the mirror, trying to figure out what the hell went wrong, but those questions will always seem rhetorical, as they simply don't have an answer. Briefly, my eyes catch the assassin in the reflection, but like a glitch, she disappears, leaving me, Avalon, alone in the mirror. Things have changed with my look. My hair is tossed up into a messy bun on the top of my head rather than two french braids that reached my abdomen. I wear a simple white shirt and loose grey sweatpants instead of my soldier's uniform. And god, it feels good to know that there's something more to my life than just the assassinations that have been placed with my name.

"I can do this," and with those words, I soundlessly open the door and down the stairs, where all the commotion is happening.

Stepping off the final step, I instantly hide behind a wall, debating whether I should make an appearance or cautiously walk back up the stairs. Avalon, stop psyching yourself out! They're not going to hurt you! I groan, knowing that to be the undeniable truth. And without a doubt, I push myself out from behind the grey wall, making my presence known to all. Clint is the first to see me and he directs a smile in my direction. I observe every persona in the room, I receive scared looks due to my appearance, but nonetheless, I won't that bother me because it's not like I'm going to annihilate them.

"Morning, Avalon," Nat's voice chimes as she beams a smile towards me.

A small smile forms on my lips. "Good morning."

"How'd you sleep?" she continues the conversation and I stride confidently to her in the kitchen, sitting down next to her at the table.

"It was okay," I lie through my teeth and my body feels the sensation of someone staring. That person would have to be Clint. "Different environment, I suppose."

She nods, understanding the adjustments I've had to go through these few rough weeks. It still boggles my mind that I actually escaped from the grip that Hydra had on me. Guess that they weren't quick enough to figure out what was really happening when they woke me up on that fateful afternoon.

A groan and a loud beeping noise ring through the large room, causing me to cock an eyebrow to meet the gaze of Tony Stark. God, he's as annoying as I was told he was and he hasn't even said anything.

"Hey, Soldier, can you get the pizza from out of the microwave for me?" he asks me from the couch he lays on.

Utter bewilderment courses through my body, not exactly sure what he's asking. Though, I remain as confident as ever, my face shows otherwise.

"What the fuck is a microwave? Since when did waves become micro sized? Why have you created a killing machine, Mr. Stark?" I begin to rant and all eyes in the room have turned. "I did not ask for this pressure. I will kill you in two and a half seconds if you try and use that device on me!"

Tony sits up on the couch, amused at my rant, leaving me in completely perplexed.

Nat places her hand on my shoulder and my gaze averts to her hand. "Uh, A, a microwave heats up food."

My eyes enlarge with the new knowledge I've obtained and my cheeks heat up in embarrassment because of my lack of a grasp I have on the twenty first century,

"Oh," is the only thing I manage to say. The embarrassment makes me want to run out of sight and lock myself away, but I cannot help that my knowledge of the century isn't as updated as theirs. There was something called a "Radarange" that was invented in 1946. It's similar to the said "Microwave".

Laughter escapes from the man sitting on the couch and I shoot him a dangerous glare.

"I forgot you're from the 1920s. What do you need me to do? Rise FDR from the dead or recreate the Great Depression so you'll understand something?" Tony's voice sounds serious, but his laughter gives it away. His humorous is awful, but I give him the credit to having the knowledge of that era.

Which reminds me, I've only scratched the surface on who this Avalon is from the 1920s and what my actual significance was, but from the brief moments I've gotten to remember, it was pure bliss before everything went downhill. The pain will never go away. It still pulsates through my body.

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "My threat still stands, Stark, don't tempt me. Quite frankly, the 1900s were actually wonderful, on my behalf. At least, the things I've remembered."

"Sucks you can't remember it," his words remind me of someone, but I can't thoroughly pin a name or face to it.

Shrugging my shoulders, I don't mind his snarky comments because I'm the exact same way.
"Mhm, keep saying things like that and you won't get your damn pizza," the words are sarcastic coming off my tongue as I get up and get the pizza out of the said microwave. Isn't this not entirely safe? What have humans done since I've been the Red Ghost? Tony thanks me when I hand him the pizza, only for me to roll my eyes at him and walk back over to sit next to Nat.

***

Sleep deprivation took a toll on my body as the early afternoon came around. After dragging myself up the stairs, the moment I collapsed onto the soft bed, I was out like a light. The sleep is peaceful, yet dreamless and that's something that doesn't occur quite too often. But I can assure you that when I actually have the opportunity to sleep, I jump on the offer because every villain has to sleep eventually. Abruptly, I'm ripped from my unconscious state, my eyes open to find Nat trying to wake me up.

"Какие? (What?)," the foreign language is thick on my tongue, my voice as exhausted as I looked.

She pulls the blanket off my body and I curl up into a ball, trying to keep myself warm with the sudden loss of heat. "Alright, A, time to get up and have a little fun," she states, pulling me off the bed and I fall onto the floor, causing a loud thump to be heard throughout the room.

"Fun isn't in my vocabulary, Romanoff," I say, the sarcasm leaking through my tone.

Pushing myself up off the floor, I stand in front of Nat, waiting for her to explain what her logic behind 'having a little fun'.

"We're going sightseeing," Nat states with a smirk rest upon her lips. I narrow my eyes at her, not entirely believing in her statement, but quickly, I give into her proposal.

I groan. "Don't make me regret this for the rest of my life," and she runs out of the room quickly, coming back with clothing and a box of something in her hands.

"But first, let's make you look presentable"

What have I gotten myself into?

***

I'd be lying if I said I didn't complain throughout the entire process. As the impatient and stubborn person I've come to be, sitting relatively still for a long period of time is not my friend. It might've been fun to watch in Nat's perspective, it was absolute agony on my part. She steps away, taking an overall glance at the masterpiece she's created on my face, she smiles, impressed on how she altered my appearance.

"Ready to see what you're going to wear?" I exhale deeply and nod my head, curious to what she picked out.

With ease, Nat picks up a seemingly skintight vibrant red dress and holds it out in front of her, her eyes trained on my face as she waits for a reaction.

"Are you fucking joking with me?" my voice raises an octave, causing her to raise an eyebrow before she realizes why. Just because I'm known as the Red Ghost doesn't mean I love the color red.

In a fluent motion, she swaps out the red dress with a royal blue one. Tilting my head to the right, I grin in approval and relief washes over her face.

"It'll bring out your eyes," she says with a smile. "And your ass," and after she adds that, I'm being pushed into the bathroom, forcing the dress in my hands, and closes the door.

For a moment, I stand there, puzzled about why I have to look decently presentable for sightseeing. Placing the royal blue dress on the counter, I proceed to change out of my clothes, them slinking to the ground in a mess. I stare at it awkwardly, it not resembling anywhere near the dresses from my century, and especially not my uniform. If I believed in a god, he would be shaking his head at me. With a sigh, I slip into the dress. It's tight. And short. Very scandalous, and as I stare at my reflection in the mirror, I discover parts of my body that I didn't even realize existed.

"My butt does look half decent," I murmur, and when someone knocks on the door I practically jump into the air.

"Are you almost ready?" Nat asks me.

"You better look as slutty as me if this is what you're making me wear," I grumble, opening the door quickly. Nat barely steps out of the way as it almost smacks her in the head, and her eyes widen as she catches a glimpse.

"What is it?"

"I can't even tell you're you," she gushes as she spins me around.

I smile, timidly. "You don't look too bad yourself."

"We should hurry up. The boys are very eager to leave."

After slipping on a pair of black heels Nat hands to me, I follow behind her as we both exit the room. Descending down the stairs in heels is one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do. I hold onto the railing, hoping that I don't tumble down them and take Natasha out with me. The moment we walk into the living area that is populated with four men, their eyes go wide once they see Nat and I. Glancing at each individual, I can feel as if there's holes burning into my dress as they stare at me like they've never seen me before in their lives.

"You look hot," my eyes travel to an arrogant Tony Stark, who stares at me in a starstruck manner.

"That is a very nice dress," Sam says as his eyes travel up and down my figure, making me feel very uncomfortable in my own skin.

Clint clears his throat, attracting everyone's attention. "Calm down, boys. She's about ten years or so younger than you," Clint puts down his authority like a father protecting his daughter from the dangers of men.

"I agree with Clint. Nat, how could you make her wear that? Someone get the girl something else to wear," Steve adds, his lips forming a straight line.

I cross my arms awkwardly, feeling too exposed for my liking. "I wouldn't mind wearing something else. This is definitely something that would be frowned upon back when I was a teenager," I agree with Steve, but Nat smacks my arm and says otherwise.

"We should get going. Wouldn't want to missing out on all the sightseeing"

a/n - hey friends. i really like this chapter because it shows a different aspect of the story and it's very laid back, but you'll just have to wait to see what i have in store for you (: - kenzie