CHAPTER ONE:

BLONDES AND BOMBSHELLS

OR IN WHICH THE AVENGERS RETURN TO STARK TOWER AFTER A MISSION AND FIND A SHOCKING GUEST

It was around three in the afternoon when the Avengers finally finished debriefing with Fury, having completed the actual mission about a half hour or so earlier. They had been tasked with rescuing and protecting the Zintonian president from a group of rebel terrorists who had sought to take over the small island nation. It hadn't been too difficult, but it had taken a while to complete.

As they were leaving the debriefing room, Tony had spoken up, suggesting that they all go back to Stark Tower and have a few drinks to celebrate their latest victory. Steve pointed out that it was still a little too early to be drinking, but Tony instantly dismissed his words.

"Oh c'mon Spangles, live a little." the billionaire urged, eventually convincing the reluctant Captain to come along.

And so that's how Tony, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Clint found themselves all standing in the surprisingly spacious elevator at Stark Towers as it lifted them up towards the penthouse area where Tony currently lived.

Now, after everything that had happened, very few things were able to surprise the Avengers team. They had, after all, fought alongside the Norse god of thunder against his evil brother and an entire army of aliens that had come out of a portal above New York City. Once you've been through that much insanity, you tend to not be fazed by much.

But once the elevator doors opened with a telltale ding on the top floor, the sight before them was definitely not what they were expecting.

An unfamiliar girl was lounging comfortably on the couch, a martini glass filled with some sort of presumably alcoholic clear liquid and two olives in it held lazily in one hand. She was extremely beautiful, with gorgeous blue eyes, tempting pink lips, and long golden blonde hair that fell past her shoulder in wavy curls. At the sound of their arrival, she looked up, a playful smirk adorning her features as she took in the startled expressions of the Avengers.

"Hey, you're all back. Finally. I was getting kinda bored waiting." the petite blonde stated casually with a light british accent, setting the glass on the table next to her and standing up, smirk never leaving her face, "Oh, and I hope you don't mind, but I also raided the alcohol cabinet a bit. This place has some good drinks."

"Who the-" Tony's surprised exclamation was cut off abruptly as Clint strode at a furious pace past him, quickly closing the distance between the archer and the unknown girl.

And then, to the utter shock of everyone except Natasha- who had recognized the girl the moment she had seen her- Clint instantly wrapped his arms around the blonde girl, who immediately returned the gesture, both of them embracing tightly.

After a few moments, Clint pulled back, placing his hands on her shoulders, and looking her up and down in an analytical way.

"I'm fine, Clint." the girl assured, lightly rolling her eyes at his protective behavior.

"Okay, sorry to interrupt this touching moment, but what the hell is going on?" Tony demanded, looking flabbergasted by the whole situation.

"I'm thoroughly confused as well." Bruce admitted, moving his gaze between Clint and the girl.

Meanwhile, Steve was still too startled to speak, from both the blonde's unexpected appearance and the causal way that she was acting, as if she hadn't completely broken into the tower. The confident air that seemed to hang around her both shocked and intrigued Steve, and even he couldn't deny that she was incredibly beautiful.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to Lilliana Barton, my younger sister." Clint announced, placing an arm around her shoulders.

"Call me Lilly." the blonde piped in, "Unless you have a death wish, that is."

The rest of them couldn't tell if she was kidding or not, but that wasn't really the main thought in their heads right now as they tried to process the new knowledge of Clint having a sister.

"Hold up, sister?" Tony questioned disbelieving, "You have a sister? How have we never found out until now?"

"Because, I've been living in England for the past two years." Lilly informed, "I only recently decided to come back here for a visit."

"Speaking of, why the hell didn't you tell me you were coming?" Clint questioned, "I could've picked you up at the airport."

"Eh, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Plus, this was way more fun." she smirked playfully, "I mean, your faces were hilarious."

"How did you even get in anyway?" Tony inquired, "This place has beyond state of the art systems. And, Jarvis would have alerted me of any would be intruders."

"Oh, you mean the talking robot thingy?" she tilted her head slightly to the side, "Well, I hacked in and added myself to the recognition systems. After I was in the mainframe as a familiar user, it was pretty easy to get in."

"Wait a minute, you hacked your way into Stark Industries?" Bruce stated disbelievingly while Tony simply stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"Yep." Lilly smirked at their expressions.

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Clint stepped in.

"Look, we can discuss what happened later." he stated, "Right now, I just want to take my sister out and catch up."

Before anyone could argue, he quickly steered Lilly out of the room and into the elevator, the blonde rolling her eyes once more at her brother's behavior before grinning and flashing the group a peace sign as the elevator doors shut.

"What...What just happened?" Tony still looked dumbfounded, most likely struggling with the idea that someone had hacked his systems.

"Lilliana Barton happened." Natasha smirked, patting the frozen billionaire's shoulder in a joking manner as she passed him, "I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more interesting around here."

Her words couldn't have been more true.