❛ I wanted to be left alone ❜

Andy had been swearing at her laptop for the past sixteen minutes and forty-eight seconds. The screen was mocking her with its familiar green glow of interchanging codes and numbers. To make matters worse, in turn, school was filled with people questioning if she was alright and spreading rumors that she had gotten into a fight. If her own judgment didn't present itself enough, she loathed high school and everyone inside its realm of existence. "Still can't find anything?" Sam asked, his head popping out from behind the refrigerator door where he was snooping for anything sugar-related. "Do you think I would be calling my precious database a 'little shit' if I did?" she snapped back, her fingers rubbing circles on her forehead. She heard a snort from behind, her snippy comment creating an amused reaction from Natasha -who had entered the room in front of the Maximoff teenager.

"Steve doesn't like that kind of language," the red-haired assassin warned playfully, her finger bopping up in down as she waved it at the girl. "Steve can be a little shit, too," mocked Andy. The three Avengers in the kitchen laughed to themselves but quickly muted when Steve entered, his stroll slower than usual. Andy turned back around in her stool and focused again on scanning the two sellers from last night into facial recognition in every server she could pry herself into. She then grew frustrated and opened a new tab in hopes of furthering her research on the license plate of the van she snagged a picture of.

"Any information on our dealers?" he inquired, stepping over to Sam's side. "Sure, let me check the land of no existence. Population: One. Me," Andy sarcastically remarked with a slight roll of her eyes. Wanda turned around to hide her snicker and Steve just sighed, leaning on the counter on his elbows. "Melly, we still haven't talked about what you said to me last night," he said in a serious tone.

Quickly, the girl tensed and changed the subject, clicking out of her previous tab to glance at the information she had collected. "So," she said while looking at the information of the two strangers. "Our sellers are named Adam Hunt and Martin Somers," she continued, rising to her feet and walking around the room in order to preserve her focus. "It took me a while to find the two, but that's because the Land of No Existence is populated by more than me. There is no Adam Hunt or Martin Somers in any region of our world. Their identities are fake, just like mine. When someone wants to go off the grid, it's best you let them. One thing none of you realize. I know what I'm dealing with now, and even so, I can't find out who these guys are. I can find out what their fake identities are linked to, but they're just two mindless souls roaming New York."

"Okay, what does that mean for us?" someone piped in from the staircase. Andy whipped around to see Rhodes interested in the conversation. The teenager let out a sigh and ran her fingers over the marble countertop, staring at the reflection her face was casting. "It means that they have all the resources they need at their disposal. And no question in return because they don't exist. Whoever these people are working for know their way around the system, the legal system, at least. See, the van is licensed to Martin Somers," she elaborated, rushing back to her screen to turn the computer around and show everyone. "Dead end," Wanda added, finally understanding the reality of the situation.

"Exactly," Andy nodded, then folding her arms across her chest. "This mission was a bust. I can't get anything out of their weapons, and I can't get anything out of them," she finished, slumping down into the stool and losing the device. "But you stopped the sale," Sam argued, not understanding the self-shaming she was giving herself for failing the key aspect of the mission. "She doesn't care," Steve jumped in, his tone of voice hinting he was finally understanding instead of hitting she was being implemental. "You didn't fail, Mel. Not the mission, not the team, not me," he debated.

She scoffed and shook her head, "Always the positive thinker, Steve. I'll give it to you. But not everyone thinks like you, some people need to accept that they lost. I'm one of those people, Steve. You can't change that."

"That's not how the world works, Melly," he objected, shaking his head side to side. "The world also doesn't work with people who don't exist, and yet, here I am," she shrugged, a look of no regret in her eyes. "This is why I said, 'No, don't let Melisande leave. I like her attitude.' And you were all, 'Let her do what she wants,'" Nat mimicked, placing her hands on her hips and sticking out her chest to make an impression of Steve. Everyone laughed, aside from Steve, who directed his glare towards the assassin.

Andy had a smile on her face even though she was annoyed with Steve, but it made her think, if I was ever this happy, why did I ever leave? Part of her wanted a life with her friends again, but the other part snapped back into control and refused, and she knew this was all a mission, and nothing more.

•••

"How was your friend?" Steve wondered, his frame leaning on the doorway with his arms folded against his chest. Andy tlited her head to the side and then moved back to staring at the ceiling when she realized who it was. "He was happy. I brought him a whole fruit basket and new clothes," she replied, a slight smile on her lips as she recalled the memories of the early afternoon. She talked with Pappy for hours, and the moment she sat down he engulfed her in a hug and kept questioning her as to when his birthday was. She laughed and smiled, but when she handed him the two packages -one of several shirts and pants and a jacket, and another of a fruit basket filled to the brim with apples and bananas he had clapped his hands like an overjoyed child and hugged her so tight she could hardly breathe. She aspired to see Pappy so cheerful, and it made her content.

"I didn't know you had friends, you know, since you went off the grid. I always assumed you wanted to keep private and never have anything to do with anyone else. That's what you told us all when you decided to take a leave of absence," he said with a sigh, walking over and sitting on the edge of Andy's bed. "I was in distress three years ago. I had just discovered that I was indeed not erased from existence and had to right my mistakes. You all took me from my safe haven--"

"From the streets, Melly. You were on the streets."

"I was safe, Steve. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to find out the truth. But when I was forced to be part of S.H.I.E.L.D - part of the Avengers - ,that choice was stripped away from me. And when I finally had a choice, and I left again, it was really hard to stay gone because there were actually people that cared for me. But then, I decided that there was no harm in telling an old homeless man who was nothing but heart, that my name was Andy. And then it grew, I started to become known on the streets. As Andy. Just... Andy. And then Delmar hired me, and he didn't ask questions. So I had a life, without having a life."

"You're stronger than the best of us," Steve admitted. He swung his legs onto the bed and laid next to Andy's side, looking right up at the blank ceiling just as she was doing. "You wanted to talk about yesterday," Andy interrupted, changing the subject. The soldier let out a huff of air and pursed his lips, "Did you mean it?"

"Did you?" Andy blurted in return, making Steve let out an airy laugh. "I care about you, Mel. You're as much as a sister I can get. Everything I've done, pushing you away, it's all been because I want to keep you safe. I want you away from the damage we bring. Come on, Mel. You left three years ago, and part of me thought it was my fault. Part of me wondered what I did," he explained.

"The reason for the scheduled visits was because I didn't think you wanted us to interfere with your life. Your parents were gone, and so were you."

"So you don't think I'm disposable?" she whispered. He shook his head, "How can someone like you be disposable?" he replied. A smile grew on her face and she turned her head tot he side, meeting eyes with the man out of time. "So if I died, you would go crazy? You know, go all cookoo and such?" she joked, a laugh escaping her lips. Steve smiled and playfully pushed her shoulder, "You've been waiting for that haven't you?"

She chuckled and nodded, "A little bit."

•••

The next couple of days ran on with the same schedule of research for Andy. At the moment she was clicking through dozens of links while nibbling on the eraser of her pencil. "What is my favorite hacker doing right about now?" Natasha wondered as her red-hair bounced on her shoulds after walking down the staircase and into the kitchen. Andy looked up from the lounge chair she was rested in and scoffed, "Hoping to create a dynamic algorithm that can calculate the frequencies of gross income," she replied bitterly before softly closing the computer. Nat raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Steve who just raised his shoulders and let them drop just as fast. "Leaving that highly confusing and just as optimistic technological advancement in the present, I hear Tony is on his way?" she inquired with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

Steve nodded and raised his clear glass as to mock 'cheers', "He heard we recruited an old ally." At the image of Steve smiling with broad carelessness, Andy stood to her feet and waltzed into the kitchen, "In which case you are going to need something much stronger than club soda, Steve," she scolded. She opened the fridge and reached towards the back, appearing again with two dark bottles of Klinskoye Svetloe, one of Russia's strongest beer brands. Nat grinned and held her hand out for one while Andy approached Steve with the other. "No one likes to drink alone," she added, motioning him the liquor.

He finally took it with a soft chuckle and set it in front of him while Natasha was already several sips in. "You know your beers, huh?" Steve asked while watching Nat hold out the bottle to Andy, who immediately took a quick swig before handing it back to the assassin. "I know what tastes good. But I'm more of a Kronenbourg 1664, if I do say so myself," she answered before plopping onto a stool next to Nat. Steve looked at her in surprise and was soon to answer before Nat cut him off with a roll of her eyes, "You didn't think the only thing I taught her was how to kick ass? Come on, Rogers. You don't know me at all," she joked, clicking her tongue in disapproval.

"No, he probably doesn't. Because if I'm right, which I usually am, the legal drinking age is twenty-one. I mean, maybe not in Russia? Right, Nat?" Tony Stark's voice boomed in the building. The three glanced up to see the billionaire strutting into the kitchen and Andy jammed her hand out, taking the beer out of Natasha's hand. She gulped down another sip and didn't even cringe at the strong taste, she instead gave it back to the black widow and sighed, "Damn I wish I was twenty-one."

"Tony, as always, such a pleasure," Steve commented, standing up to give his friend one of their odd hugs. Andy held back a laugh and refrained from making a snarky snip on how they resembled two estranged brothers who were forced to get along for their mother's birthday. "Is everyone drinking here? I'll toast to that," Tony scoffed after making sure Nat and Andy got their hugs.

He settled onto a stool at the far end of the counter, his own beer in hand, before popping the numerous questions as to what brought the prodigal daughter home. "Is this a reunion? It feels like a reunion. You know, the old gang back together. Sure, everyone else is great. But us four, we're the originals, it feels like a reunion," Tony rambled on, his mouth moving faster than Andy's brain could process. "We're not a gang," she muttered, letting her chin fall into her palm.

"No, I guess you're right. Gang isn't the right word for it. You don't like that word," he pointed out. "I guess we're a team, or were a team. And then you left, and I left, and yadda, everyone left! Look at that! But nonetheless, you're home. I'm home. For now, we're home. If we're not toasting to that then I don't know what else to toast for!" he laughed, taking a sip of beer. Andy knew better than to think he was drunk because this was just Tony. Tony didn't get drunk, he got hammered. But he wasn't hammered. He was fine. Dandy all right was he, except for the part of his brain that ever valued sentiment.

"You know why Andy's here, Stark?" Steve blurted out as he grew impatient with the man. "Who's Andy?" he snapped wisely. "You can all call her Melly, Mel, Lis, Andy, call her whatever you want. That's Melisande. You can practically sing her name, it's basically an orchestra waiting to harmonize!" he stalled. "Sure, I know why Melisande's here. Top secret, right?"

"I'm going to be drunk by the end of this conversation," Andy announced, trying to break a barrier in the room. It was almost as if four walls had been built in less than three minutes. The air was dense and honestly, Andy was still wondering how Natasha was keeping her mouth shut. "So am I," Nat sighed while holding the bottle out to Andy again. She let out a fake 'ha' and downed another gulp of the beer, each sip growing sweeter and sweeter.

"It's not top secret, gang. Andy has reclaimed her title as an Avenger, a crime fighter, a hacker! I'm going to call you Piracy. Can I call you Piracy? Anyways, whatever you're doing, trying to stop illegal weapon exchanges, going on heists, this is dangerous stuff, kid! Not to mention that it's also illegal."

"Are you going to stop me, Tony? Because here I was thinking this visit was for you to see how I was doing, trying to see who I've turned out to be in those three years of no existence. Was I wrong?" Andy asked.

Tony sighed and pushed his beer to the edge of the counter, "No," he said, shaking his head. "You've done more with your set of skills than I could ever dream of. You've made yourself up from nothing, and it's great to see your well and successful. I just don't want you to get hurt from being pulled into something you left," he warned.

"I think me giving her a beer is the most of your problems," Nat snickered. Andy grinned and shrugged her shoulders, "It was time to get off my ass and do something. Besides, I'm attending school. An actual, hard-to-get-into, prestigious, school. I think my parents would want me to be living an actual life. Even if it is just a cover from finding one obnoxious prick of a human in a place where ninety percent of the school is posers."

Tony briefly closed his eyes and pursed his lips, "Always seem to charm, don't you?"

"We're protecting her, Stark. Always have, and always will," Steve jumped in.

"Great," Tony smiled, then cracking his knuckles, "Now what have you been working on?"

"Oh! I need your help! I'm trying to balance the inquiries of annual income with the total population of mass bodies in the school setting. But it needs to be dynamic and full functioning," she rushed out while scrambling to grab her laptop from the small sitting area.

Steve and Natasha shared another look before they both dropped their heads back to take a long sip of their beer. "I think I've done one of those!" Tony called back. "It's like an algorithm of specifics, right?"

"Exactly!"

Again, Nat and Steve clinked their bottles to drink, both not letting confusion spoil their evening.

•••

"Now that whatever that was is over," Nat began while tossing an empty beer bottle into the trash, "Let's talk about your school."

Andy looked up just as Nat said that and pushed away the small pile of homework. Her hand went to the bottle in front of her and she held it out to the assassin who grabbed it and admired that it was empty, "You drank that fast," she chuckled. "It was a long conversation," Andy replied.

Steve returned seconds later from walking Tony out and shook his head at the sight of seeing Nat disposing of another beer bottle, "I can't believe you actually let her drink her own bottle of beer," he reprimanded while sliding onto the stool next to the fourteen-year old. "Hey, I, am fine," Andy said, only slightly pausing in between each word.

"Because I know you are vulnerable and will be deceived, Steve and I want you to join the Academic Decathlon Team. They already think you're a great candidate for it and Steve has already signed the papers," Nat summarized. "Yeah, sure, cool. I love decath-thath-lonny-thing," she muttered. "And that's all I had to say. Thank God tomorrow is Saturday!" Nat cheered while pumping a fist in the air for exaggeration. Steve rolled his eyes and always cheered silently that the next day had no school because that meant Andy could sleep off this minor hangover she had and would be able to rest with no interruptions.

"I'm tired," the girl whined, then twisting her body so she could lean back against Steve. He got the idea and sighed, then picking her up like a small child, "All right, let's go. Off to bed."