Chapter 4
The others never caught Blake and Joseph that day. Apparently, Gecko had come close. Word was that she’d locked herself in her room at Avengers’ HQ for the past week. I don’t know if that’s true. I rarely left Clint’s apartment. I can count the amount of times I left on one hand. The first was to confirm identities. It wasn’t the fire that had killed my family; it was the collapsing building. Had the building not collapsed, they probably could have survived. The second time was to meet my grandparents at the airport. They were going to stay at a hotel and originally, I didn’t want to go see them, but Clint said it would be good for me to leave the apartment. The third and fourth times were to arrange the final details of the funeral for my family. My grandparents, despite losing their second son, were more than willing to handle the nitty gritty details so long as I made the final call on funeral songs, flowers and location and that I made a speech. The fifth time I had left the apartment was to attend the funeral itself. It was unfortunate that the day my grandparents had chosen was wet. Maybe it was my fault for choosing to have the service outside. But I didn’t have the money to have anything else. I stood in front of my family and friends of my parents and brother and spoke about how I loved my family. I threw the first flower on their coffins. I heard so many people that I didn’t know or never saw much of offer me their condolences. Once everything had been packed away, my grandparents took Clint and myself out to a restaurant. It was a fancy restaurant – one that I would have never stepped in. My grandparents told me I could have anything I wanted; all I ordered was a glass of coke and their fish and fries kids meal.
“Abigail, I know this has been hard on you, but we need to discuss what happens next,” My grandmother said as she cut her steak.
“As your closest relatives, we have the right to become your guardian,” My grandfather explained “Your grandmother and I would be more than willing to let you come live with us in Dallas. In fact, that’s what you need to do. You cannot stay with Mr Barton any longer than you already have,”
“Actually, Mr and Mrs Jackson,” Clint said, “As her emergency contact and a family friend, I can apply for guardianship,”
“As her family Mr Barton it is important that she comes to live us,” My grandmother said.
“No,” I say, putting down my knife and fork. “I need to stay here in New York. I mean I love you guys but let’s be honest here, I haven’t seen you since I was 10. That was seven years ago. You send me money in a card for my birthday and for Christmas. I don’t get anything else from you. We don’t have the relationship that most of my friends have with their grandparents. If I go to Dallas with you I leave my friends. I leave behind my… internship at Stark Industries. I leave behind the people who have become my family as much as Mum, Dad and Oscar were. I leave everything that is important to me behind for what?”
“I insist that you come back with us Abigail,” my grandfather said, “I will not have my granddaughter live a man I barely know just so she can stay in the state that killed her family,”
“You make it sound like Clint is going to abuse me. He has a wife and three kids who he barely sees. I babysit his children so that he can take his wife to dinner and a movie when he does see his family. I trust Clint with my life. Mum and Dad trusted him enough to let me go on a weekend hiking trip with him to the Rockies. I’m not going to Dallas with you,”
“Young lady how dare you speak to your grandfather like that,” My grandmother said.
“Maybe we should talk about this at my apartment,” Clint suggests, “That way the public doesn’t become involved in private family affairs,” He says the last part with a certain hint of disgust at the people at the table next to us who have been listening in on our conversation since Clint brought up his eligibility for guardianship. My grandparents, knowing that Clint was right, didn’t argue and we all finished our lunch in an uneasy silence.
My grandparents, obviously trying to sway me back to Dallas, took me in their car to Clint’s apartment. On the way there, I texted Clint about the ace in my sleeve. My only chance that my grandparents would consider letting stay was Slingshot. Maybe if they saw what I had to lose, what New York had to lose, then my grandparents may reconsider letting me stay. When we arrived at Clint’s apartment, Clint was there, waiting for us. He stops me by handing me an envelope. It’s addressed to me but has my address as Clint’s. I cautiously open it. The first thing I see is a white piece of paper that’s been folded. I gently take it out and unfold it. At the top of the A4 piece of paper is the Stark Industries logo.
“Dear Miss Jackson,” I read out loud, “I would first like to offer my condolences about the recent passing of your parents and brother. I’m truly sorry that you have lost your family. I would also like to offer $10,000 to go towards covering the cost of the funerals. I know it may not be enough, but I hope you are able to use to lessen your own costs. As I understand it, you have been an intern with Tony Stark for the past three years which I am very thankful for. The work you have done for us has been an amazing. Please know that your position as an intern is still yours if you want to continue working alongside us. I wish you the best of luck with your future. Yours sincerely, Pepper Potts. CEO of Stark Industries,”
“Give us a look,” My grandfather says, taking the letter out of my hand. With my grandfather and grandmother looked at the letter from Pepper, I had a second look in the envelope. There was a folded-up piece of notepad paper. I take it out. The paper had been sealed with a sticker of Fe’s symbol.
“I’m going to get changed,” I say, not caring if my grandparents stopped me. As I passed Clint he gave me a small nod of approval. My room was at the end of the hallway of Clint’s apartment. Closing the door behind me, I opened the letter from Stassia first. It was a quick note hoping that I was okay and that if I ever needed to talk she would be more than willing to provide a shoulder. There was also a quick message from Peter on the same piece of paper. I smiled at my friends’ attempts to make me feel better. It was the first piece of contact I had had with any of my friends in the past week. I folded the note back up and placed it on the large set of drawers by the door. I then reached for my bag and took it over to my bed. I opened it up. On top was my uniform. Like checking my messages from friends, my duties as Slingshot had been put on the back burner. I got out of the black dress my grandparents had forced me wear and into the uniform. Its tight fit was comforting; it made it feel like I could get pass my family’s deaths. To complete the look, I touched my implant and my glasses formed over my eyes. I thought about how I was going to approach the subject. I decided on just casually walking pass Clint and my grandparents, saying that I was going to meet up with Fe and Spiderman.
Walking down the hallway in Clint’s apartment is not like walking the halls of Avengers’ HQ. There’s no grand sense of adventure nor the awe of a teenaged girl who is walking in the same place as the greatest heroes of her generation. I walked casually pass my grandparents, who were sitting down on Clint’s couch, and Clint, who was still leaning against a wall, and start to open the front door.
“I’m just going to meet up Spider Man and Fe. I’ll be back in a few hours,” I feel my grandparents give me a quick glance.
“Just be home by 6 Slingshot. I’m ordering in pizza for tea,” Clint says. I feel the double take and turn around. My grandparents are looking dumfounded. It’s my grandmother who is the first to speak.
“What is going on for goodness sake?”
“Surprise,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“Young lady you better explain why you are in such a get up,” My grandfather says. You could almost feel the fuming anger he’s feeling from the opposite side of the living room.
“I’m Slingshot Grandad. You know, the young hero who’s often seen with Hawkeye,” I say.
“You can’t be,” Grandma says in disbelief, “You’re just a high school student,”
“Why do you think I got a personal letter from Pepper Potts saying she’s going to give me $10,000 to help cover funeral costs? I’m not just some random intern you know,”
“I can’t believe Alex or Nora let you galivant around New York instead of studying all night, so you can get into Harvard!” Grandad says, “It’s just plain irresponsible,”
“Mum and Dad didn’t know I did this,”
“Actually…” Clint speaks up “They did. SHIELD protocol. All agents under the age of 17 in the training project who reach Level 2 clearance have to get permission from their primary caregivers to continue their training. Usually it’s the sponsor of trainee agent who has to get the permission, often without the knowledge of the agent themselves. Nora and Alex knew what they were doing when they said yes. They saw the skill that their daughter had and were than happy letting her to develop that skill and become an agent. Nora and Alex were always proud of Abigail did as Slingshot,”
“And how would you know all this?” Grandad asked.
“I thought it would be obvious – I’m Hawkeye,” Clint sighed “I was her sponsor during her SHIELD training. I was the one who asked her to be my protegee,”
“That’s why I need to stay here in New York. I have responsibilities, not just to myself, but the entire world,” I said, ignoring the fact that Clint never told me that my parents knew “I also know who was responsible for the explosion that killed Mum, Dad and Oscar. The Avengers need my help,” The room fell silent.
“Maybe you should go out, do some patrolling Slingshot. Maybe catch up with Fe and Spider Man,” Clint finally suggested “I’ll talk to your grandparents a bit more about what we do. But I was serious about being home by 6. I’m ordering in pizza,” I nod.
“I’ll go out the back door,” I said, walking away from the front door “I’ll see you in a few hours,”
Fe and Spider Man were more than willing to meet up. They choose a rooftop that would make us invisible to the public eye from the ground and those eye level with the building. Spider Man brought a tub of ice cream while Fe carried enough cupcakes to feed a small army. After setting the cupcakes down on the rooftop, Fe let her helmet reveal her eyes, nose and mouth and hugged me.
“How are you feeling?” She asked, holding me at arm length.
“Better than I did,” I admitted, “I still miss them a lot. But right now, I’m just hopeful that my grandparents will let Clint take custody,”
“Is it that bad?” Fe asked.
“It might be. I don’t know. Clint literally sent me to do something you guys,”
“Ouch,” Spider Man said “I’ve got ice cream we can binge on. It’s not Ben and Jerry’s- “
“Hand over the ice cream Parker – did you bring spoons?” I cut Spider Man off.
“I knew I forgot something,” Spider Man sighed “I’ll go grab some,” Fe and I watched Spider Man shoot a web and swing off the roof.
“Want a cupcake?” Fe asked. I nodded. Fe opened her cupcake carrier and gave me one.
“Vanilla Chocolate Chip is your favourite, right?”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve seen you eat my entire platter on them at the lunch functions,” I laughed a little. I took the cupcake out of its wrapper.
“Is it true that Gecko has locked herself in her room at the base?” I asked, “Or is it just rumour?”
“It’s true,” Fe sighed, “I think I’ve only seen her once, but I’m not always there. How did you know?”
“Sometimes when I sleep my implant turns on if I’m lying a certain way. Scares the crap out of me when it does that,” I explain, “So I’ve heard some stuff in the few moments when I debate turning it off or not,”
“I don’t know if I want to be sorry for you or not. About the whole implant thing,” Stassia said.
“I wanted it. I actually came up with the original idea for it. I just wanted something I could access at any time,” I told Stassia “I want to have something similar for my uniform eventually but for now I’ll be happy to take a while to suit up,”
“You know Tony’s looking into something that may do just that. Actually, I am with his help. I could put in a good word for you and get you to trial it out for me,”
“That would be cool. Thanks,” Spiderman swung back onto the rooftop.
“I’m back – with spoons,”
“Finally,” Stassia smiled “Now pass us that ice cream Pete – we need to drown our feelings in cookies and cream and cupcakes,”