Chapter 5
When I got back, I got out of my uniform before heading into the lounge room. It was 6 o’clock and yet there was no pizza on the coffee table ready for us to eat. My grandparents were sitting on the couch, watching the 6 o’clock news. Clint was just as non-existent as the pizza.
“Where’s Clint?” I asked, slightly worried. The front door opened, and Clint came in, carrying four pizza boxes.
“Damn,” Clint cursed “I hoped to beat you home,”
“You said six, I was home at six,” I said, “Besides Spider Man had to go have dinner and Fe had homework to do for school tomorrow,”
“You have always been punctual,” Clint smiled “Have they told you?”
“Of course, not Mr Barton,” Grandad said, “It’s impolite of us to tell our granddaughter her future in your home when you’ve been so hospitable to us and to her,” I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“I can’t stay, can I?”
“No sweetie,” Grandma said, “We, that is to say your grandfather and I, think it is safer for you to come back. There’s no danger in Dallas. There will be no need for that Sling-whatever business,”
“No!” I yell “You can’t do that!”
“We can, and we will. It’s our legal right,” Grandad said, as calm as ever.
“You won’t even let me stay to protect my city, my friends and everyone else. How could you? This is what I want to do. I want to save people. It’s something I’m good at. I don’t want to go with the grandparents I barely know! I haven’t seen you since I was ten. I’ve only gotten a card with money in it saying happy birthday or merry Christmas and nothing else since I was 15. And don’t think I don’t know why you stopped emailing me regularly or even calling once a month. I sent you an email saying I was bisexual and was seeing a girl at that time. I didn’t even get a reply after I sent that email. Well guess what? I’m not only bisexual, I’m non-binary. I’m not a that little girl you see me as. But at least I’m not one of those trans-whatevers right because that would be the absolute point of no return because you wouldn’t be able to pretend that I’m still your perfect little granddaughter who wanted a puppy for her eighth birthday anymore. Well you know what you can both do? You can both fly back to Dallas and go to your church and do whatever it is you do. But I am not going with you because I do not want to live with people who do not accept me for who I am whether it be as the non-binary bisexual high school student or the superhero saving countless peoples lives!” At this point my face was burning with my tears and I struggled to find my breath. Thankfully, my grandfather was ready to rebuttal, so I could take a quick minute to find my breath.
“This is exactly why you need to come to Dallas. You are a disillusioned young girl whose head has been filled with ridiculous ideas. You need your head to be emptied of those ideas so we can set you back on the right path!”
“You know what? Screw you Grandad!” I spat in the direction of my grandfather “I am not disillusioned. I am who I am and nothing you do will change that,” Grandad came towards me.
“I think you should leave Mr Jackson,” Clint said, his tone icy in comparison to the fiery heat of mine and my grandfather’s “Take you wife and leave. I will be challenging your right to guardianship and I will take this to court if I have to,” Clint’s words, despite being just as angry as my own, gave no other course of action. Knowing that they were no longer welcome in Clint’s apartment, my grandparents left. In one last peace offering, Clint offered them the pizzas he had brought for them, but they both declined. I didn’t bother grabbing my own pizza box. I just went straight to my room.
When I got to my room, tears still falling, I put on my new penguin onesie and crawled under my four blankets. I cried for a while and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep for a bit. I mustn’t have been in a very deep sleep because I heard knocking at my bedroom door.
“Come in,” I said. Clint slowly opened the door.
“Hey Abs,” He said gently.
“Hey” I said in reply, pushing myself up into a sitting position in my bed.
“Do you want to talk about what happened with your grandparents? Or do you want some food. I can reheat your pizza if you want,”
“Can I have both?” I asked. Clint smiled a little.
“Yeah sure,” Clint disappeared from my doorway. I took the time it took to reheat a whole pizza to wake up a little bit more. I remember what I had said during the fight and regretted it a little. I hadn’t wanted to come out like that. Clint returned with the reheated pizza. He turned on the room’s light before sitting down next to me. I grabbed a piece of the cheese pizza first. I realised that I was probably stalling the talk Clint and I needed to have so I quickly ate the slice. But then the room was silent. Neither Clint or I wanted to make the first move.
“I feel like I’ve made a mistake,” I finally said.
“Why’s that?” Clint asked
“Coming out like that. Ruining any chance, I have with the only biological family that I actually care about. Putting you in an uncomfortable position. I didn’t want this happen no matter how much it means to me to stay in New York,” I knew that if I hadn’t cried earlier I probably would be bawling my eyes out at this moment; but I had none left.
“Abigail. What you did was not a mistake. You said it yourself; you are who you are, and nothing will change that,” Clint said, “Nothing you say is going to change the fact that you are basically my fourth child. I love you for who you are. I didn’t care that you were bisexual when you first told me and being non-binary does not change anything unless you want it to,” I grab a second piece of pizza. “I am going to fight for you to stay in New York if that is what you want. I will not let you go and live with people you feel you have to hide a part of yourself away unless that is what you want,”
“Thanks Clint, you’re the best,” I say “I want to stay here. I want to continue being Slingshot,”
“Okay then. I will do my best that you get what you need,” Clint promised.
“I’m going to call Gecko. She knows nearly every law, she’ll be able to give us some helpful hints,”
“Sounds like a good plan. I’m going to leave you to it. And the pizza. I’ll be watching something on tv or taking a nap if you need me,”
“Thanks Clint,”
“No problem Abs,”
I put off calling Gecko until I finished my pizza. With a full stomach I activated my implant.
“Call Gecko,” I instructed my glasses through voice recognition. I waited a while for it to connect.
“Hello Slingshot,” Gecko finally answer. She sounded tired, upset and angry at the same time. It was an odd mixture of tone that I had never heard from the young spy.
“Are you okay Gecko?” I asked, slightly concerned.
“No. I didn’t think you’ll want to talk to me after last week,”
“Why would I not want to talk to you?”
“I thought you would blame me for the death of your family. I… I could have stopped all of this from happening,” Gecko said.
“You couldn’t have stopped all of this. You had no idea it would be a bomb that killed a few hundred people,” I told her, trying to comfort her “I don’t blame you because you did nothing wrong,”
“That’s the problem Slingshot, I did do something wrong.” Gecko said, “I did know that there was going to be a bomb. Blake told me weeks ago. He wanted me to come with him to plant it. He didn’t tell me where or when he was going to do it. I declined, telling him that I probably had plans with my family. I should have taken more notice of his plans, but I… I couldn’t. At first, I really didn’t want to believe Blake had any involvement with HYDRA. I think a part of me still doesn’t believe it. He was perfect Slingshot. He did exactly what I expected a boyfriend to do…” Gecko stopped herself from saying anything else. I remembered the thought I had during the briefing; Gecko had developed feelings for Blake. But it seemed so much worse now.
“The love of his life isn’t some random girlfriend that you didn’t bother mentioning the name of is it? It’s you,” I finally said, “You fell in love with him, and him with you,”
“Yeah,”
“Oh,”
“Do you still not blame me for anything?”
“I don’t blame you for falling in love. We’re both just kids. I blame the bomb and I blame Blake and I blame Joseph, but I do not blame you. Gecko I never blamed you,” I reassured her “That’s why you locked yourself in your room isn’t it? You blame yourself,” Gecko didn’t reply for a while.
“How did you know?”
“I was talking to Fe earlier. That and I remember hearing some chatter about it from the others,”
“Oh,” An awkward silence fell over the conversation. For a while I assumed that Gecko had disconnected the call before she spoke up.
“You called me for a reason Slingshot. What was it?”
“I know you’re an expert on all things law. I have a custody problem that I really want to get solved as soon as possible. What’s the New York law about custody?”
“Well anyone who plays an important role in the child’s life may ask the court for custody and it doesn’t have to be the child’s parent. In your case I’m guessing family member.” Gecko answered, “Since it’s between someone who is family and who is not, then the judge and the court will see if its an extraordinary circumstance. If there is, then the judge will consider what option is the best in the interest of the child. That includes which party has had the most input into the child’s upbringing, the parenting skills of each party, their health, domestic violence in the family, work schedules, the child’s relationships with the rest of the family, what the child wants and the two parties’ ability to cooperate with the other,”
“So Clint would have a good chance at winning?”
“Well… who has had more input into your upbringing?”
“Clint. My grandparents live out of state, I haven’t seen them in person since I was ten and there’s no real regular contact,”
“Parenting skills?”
“Each party has raised kids,”
“Health?”
“Grandparents are elderly, but in good health. Clint is also in good health,”
“Any history of domestic violence?”
“Not that I know of,”
“Jobs?”
“Clint works a nine to five, grandparents are retirees,”
“Family relationships?”
“Strained it putting it lightly with my grandparents and I get along with Clint’s family much better,”
“Who do you want to live with?”
“Clint,”
“And do you know that both parties are like when it comes to cooperating with each other?”
“I think if my grandparents win I’ll never see Clint again, and if Clint wins then I’ll probably see my grandparents, but it will only be one my terms,” Gecko went silent.
“I’m no court, and there will probably be a lot of other evidence that may sway the judge one way or the other, but I think Clint has a good chance,” She finally said, “Thanks for trusting me with that information Slingshot,”
“You trusted me with something that would kill your career were you working with anyone else. I figured it’s the least I could. Thanks so much for the help. I really appreciate it,”
“No problem. Let me know how it turns out,”
“Yeah, sure,”
“I’ve got stuff to do so I’m going to get going. Have a good night Slingshot,”
“You too Gecko,” The call disconnected, and I deactivated my implant. I sat, my back against the wall for about three minutes before I decided that I need some proper sleep, and not just a nap.