「12」

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After her fight with Tony, Alyssa resumed her sandwich delivery; checking on Steve, Thor, and Vision first, who all thanked her thoroughly for the food, before gently knocking on Clint's room.

"Hawk? You there? I got some food for you," she stated quietly, waiting for him to open the door. However, her expression saddened when she heard light sobbing coming from the other side. "Clint?" she asked again, slowly opening the door, hearing it creek as she peeked inside.

The room was dark and stuffy, and the only light came from the desk on the left. There, Clint had made himself a station, old tech equipment littering the wooden board. On the chair in front of it sat the archer with his head in his hands as his shoulders shook. His soft crying and heavy breathing sent shivers down Alyssa's spine as she looked at him.

"Oh, Hawk..." she whispered, setting the food aside as she walked up to him, hesitantly laying a hand on his heaving shoulders. He jumped at her touch, quickly wiping his tears away as he looked at her.

"Alyssa, what are... what are you doin' here?" he sniffled, desperately trying to look unbothered. But as she looked at him with sympathy and a sad smile, he broke again. He hung his head as the girl gently wrapped her arms around him, holding him lightly as he cried.

"I... I can't get to her. No one's answering, and she's- she's probably scared, and I don't... I can't find her!" he sobbed, his voice shaking with every breath.

"I know... I know, and I know that you're scared too. But Nat's strong, she'll be fine. And we are going to find her. That's a promise, Hawk," Alyssa said firmly, but still with a soft tone.

Clint eventually calmed down, separating himself from Alyssa as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingers. She smiled at him, taking one of the sandwiches and offering it to him.

"Here. You should eat. You're not you when you're hungry," she smirked, smiling at the laugh that emitted from the superhero.

"Thanks, Ally. You're the best," he answered quietly, taking the food from her. 

She gave him another smile before preparing to leave. She was already at the door when Clint's voice caused her to halt.

"Alyssa?"

"Yeah?"

"Are... are you okay?" he asked timidly.

Alyssa raised a brow, shrugging casually. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Clint pried, but Alyssa batted his question away.

"I'm fine, Clint. I-" 

"No one blames you, ya know. We're all here for you," he interrupted, the soft look in his eyes making her feel queasy. Nodding her head awkwardly she tapped his door once before finally leaving.

Inhaling deeply, she put her hands in her pockets as she absentmindedly walked through the hallways of the Avengers tower- no specific destination in mind. With her watery eyes glued to the ground, she didn't notice the person cheerily strutting up to her, and she bumped into them, trying to steady herself with her hands as she grabbed onto the person's shirt.

"Woah- you didn't see me coming?" Pietro chuckled, grasping Alyssa's arms as he steadied her.

"Y- yeah. Sorry, I was... somewhere else," she responded.

"I could see that. Are you okay?" he asked, his blue eyes scanning her body. Alyssa's eyes in turn narrowed at his question and she let go of his shirt as she stepped back.

"Why the hell are you being nice to me? You basically eradicated me just now," she questioned, raising a brow.

Pietro sighed, running a hand through his silver hair. "My sister yelled at me when I told her what happened between us in the kitchen. Told me that we should start earning trust, and not fists to the face. And no one dare defy Wanda Maximoff," he chuckled, a smirk gracing his lips. "Besides, she thinks you're... different than the rest. More like us."

Alyssa's brow twitched, breaking eye contact as she looked at her hands. "What does that mean?"

"Well, she said she can feel it. Your powers," he said, his demeanor shifting when he saw Alyssa getting uncomfortable.

"Why does literally everyone know more about me than I do," she mumbled, leaning against the wall.

She's scared?

Pietro shot her a questioning look. Alyssa sighed, debating with herself if she should really start this conversation with him of all people.

"I- I didn't even know about them. My powers. I mean, my dad did, that's why I'm so mad, but I... I don't know," she started, "I'm not even sure what they are, all I know is that they hurt. Which is weird, 'cause when you finally pull the lotto in superpowers you'd expect them to not hurt, ya know? And I-"

Pietro laughed, holding out a hand to stop her rambling. "I get it. I didn't get what I thought I signed up for either."

Alyssa pulled her arms in front of her, watching him as he leaned against the wall next to her.

"Wanda and I were all alone when we got locked up by HYDRA. They tortured us every day, and we had no idea what they were even doing to us. I... glitched out a lot of times," he recounted.

Alyssa looked at him with comforting eyes. "How did it feel?" she asked.

"Oh, it hurt like hell," he chuckled, "I was literally giving myself whiplash if I just took a step."

"I'm sorry you went through that," she said as she imagined how it must of been for them, her thoughts wandering off. 

What was it like for her? She wished she could recall her memories. But try as she might, whenever she thought back to her childhood, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. And the more she thought about it the more it made her head hurt.

Twirling the ends of her hair, Alyssa sighed as she looked at the man beside her once more. His sharp edge from earlier was gone, and Alyssa could feel the warmth rolling off of him. 

Her hair is beautiful...

His eyes are gorgeous...

Clearing her throat, she looked at the ground, biting her lip before looking up again. "So you're saying I have a whole lot of pain ahead of me?" she asked, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Maybe. But I also know you're not alone, not like me and Wands were," he stated.

"Yeah..." she sighed. Thinking back to what Clint had said, the idea of actually coming to terms with... well, herself, suddenly didn't seem so repelling.

"My dad, um, said he wanted to... help with control, I guess. Said there was someone who could help me," she explained, still unsure if this was even something Pietro was interested in knowing.

"Go for it, I say. Can't be worse than HYDRA," he shrugged.

Alyssa breathed out a laugh, "maybe you're right."

"I'm always right," he smirked back.

"Don't push it, Speedy Gonzales," Alyssa countered, a smile forming on her face. Pietro laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner.

"Come on, I'll walk you. Where is your father?" he asked, starting to walk down the corridor with Alyssa pushed against his right shoulder.

"Still at the lab, I think," she responded, fighting the grin that was beginning to edge itself onto her face. "Do you even know where that is?"

"Oh, yeah. I did a quick sweep of the tower when everyone was dismissed," Pietro replied, casually pulling his arm around her a bit tighter.

"A quick sweep? How long did that take you? A minute?" Alyssa chuckled.

"About 40 seconds," he winked, resuming his pace as he lead them to the lab.