A/N: Guess who's back, back, back, back again. Haha it's me, returning with the anticipated sequel to my Avengers story Love and Fire. It's been almost a year since the first story was uploaded and wow, it's definitely been longer than I thought it was, I'm really sorry for the delay, I had trouble with the planning for this, it's been a bit of a hectic year for me, but here it is, finally. Ice and Fire picks up after the events of Captain America the Winter Soldier, and focuses a lot more of Natasha and Clint's relationship as well as Phoenix who you get to see a different side of in this sequel. I'm sure no one bothered to read this anyway but oh well, on with the story. Don't forget to read, review and enjoy.

A hum from her right called to Natasha's attention and she turned to see a black vehicle coming towards her down the airport runway. The car pulled up beside her and the door opened, Clint stepping out in front of Natasha. The minute their eyes met, Natasha ran into his arms and he embraced her tightly.

"Natasha," he breathed her name in relief as he placed a gentle hand on the back of her head and held her close. "I'm so sorry I should've been there."

The news of what had happened travelled quickly to Agent Barton who was far away on the other side of the world at the time. HYDRA inside of SHIELD, all of their information being leaked and Fury supposedly dying, Natasha and Steve's adventure was big news that almost drove Clint into a full scale panic.

"I think I managed it quite alright by myself thank you very much," she chuckled half-heartedly. He kissed her forehead and then released her, but she held onto him, tugging at the corners of his jacket. "It's good to see you," she whispered to him.

"Good doesn't even begin to cut it," Clint sighed and smirked a little as he twirled a strand of her hair.

"You know Fury approached me with something interesting while you were gone," she looked up at him, biting her bottom lip to hold back a devious smile as Clint's eyebrows raised in suspicion. "As it turns out, relationships among SHIELD agents is not exactly forbidden, but seen as unadvisable."

Clint stopped for a minute as he processed the information and then scoffed. "In case you hadn't noticed SHIELD has completely lost its footing Natasha so the rules don't exactly matter anymore," then a pause, before he asked. "Wait a minute why would Fury approach you out of the blue and tell you that?"

"He didn't say, but I have a vague idea of why," she laughed a little at his reaction as his eyes widened.

He seemed to ponder on what Natasha said for a moment before smirking. "Well that means we don't have to hide ourselves in public anymore," Clint leaned forward and tried to kiss Natasha but she put a finger against his lips, stopping him before he could make contact.

"I thought we were being careful about public displays of affection," she teased him as she slowly traced her finger from his lips down to his chest.

"I don't care."

Clint had enough of Natasha's teasing and eliminated all space between them as he pulled Natasha closer, pressing her body into his. The kiss was long and desperate, almost hungry. He traced his fingers down her back and Natasha found herself playfully raking her hands through his hair. Regretfully though, she pushed him off as she remembered where they were, and why they were there.

"The plane will be landing any minute now," she reminded him. "I highly doubt that the first thing they'll want to see is us, sprawled across the runway on top of each other, making out."

"You know that's sounds like a pretty good idea," Clint raised his eyebrows suggestively, which earned him a hit across the shoulder from Natasha. "Ow!" he rubbed his shoulder. "You're gonna pay for that later."

"Clint this is serious," she scolded him in an oddly soft tone, before going back to watching the sky, which she had been doing before he arrived, searching for any sign of the plane. Clint could just tell that Natasha was anxious from the way she kept folding and unfolding her arms.

"Alright I got the message," he let the matter and looked to the east with a hand in front of his face to cast a shadow for him to see past the bright glare of the sun. "When's the plane supposed to get here anyway?"

"10," Natasha replied checking her watch. "And it's 9:58."

She also kept looking to where the plane was expected to appear and for some odd reason it looked like she was counting. Clint sighed and nudged Natasha gently. "You don't have to be worried."

"I haven't seen her for four months Clint," Natasha's voice was soft, as if what she was talking about was some kind of deep official secret. "I don't know if she'll want to see me, I don't know what kind of training she went through and most importantly I have no idea how much she's changed, or if she's even changed at all."

Clint wasn't going to lie, Natasha was completely right. "Phoenix trusts you Natasha, I'm sure no matter how much she has or hasn't changed she'll remember you as the first person who every showed her real kindness."

Natasha gave him a funny look. "That was an oddly poetic sentence for you, congratulations," she remarked. "And I didn't show Phoenix kindness, I showed her the truth."

Soon the sound of a droning buzz reached their ears and the small aircraft in the distance made its way into Natasha's eye line when she saw the speck making its descent. They stepped back as the plane came down onto the runway and came to a stop almost directly in front of the two assassins. Natasha held her breath as they waited for a minute until the door opened and out walked Phoenix herself.

Natasha honestly had no idea what she was expecting.

There was no denying it, Phoenix did look different. When they had first met, Phoenix was nothing but skin and bones, so thin that she stuck out at awkward angles whenever she walked. Her skin was a pasty colour, her cheeks were sunken and hollow and the dark crescents under her eyes had made her look physically ill.

Now you could not see sharp ribs protruding through her chest, her form was stronger. Her skin was still pale but health could be seen in her cheeks, nearly making it possible to overlook the fact that she still had dark lines under her eyes. Her trademark orange hair was contained in a tight bun that sat atop her head, exposing her face and allowing Natasha to see her clearly.

Her dark blue eyes met Natasha's green ones and she began her descent down the stairs. She approached Natasha and Clint at a calm and relaxed pace and when she reached them she looked them both up and down in confusion. Natasha's breath caught for just a mere second at the possibility that Phoenix may have forgotten them.

"Agent Romanoff," at the sound of Phoenix saying her own name Natasha stepped forward and gently hugged her. Phoenix flinched at the display of affection, even if it was an everyday gesture. Natasha released her quickly and smiled at her. Clearly she wasn't used to friendly physical contact, even though the hug only lasted briefly.

Clint decided not to risk it and instead of hugging Phoenix, politely shook her hand. "I didn't think we'd be seeing you so soon," Clint commented as Phoenix was handed her bag by someone working on the airfield.

Apparently in the few months she had been away Phoenix had learned conversational skills, because her time at Stark Tower before leaving was spent mostly in silence and the occasional mumbled sentence. Now that she was talking like an ordinary person Natasha had hope.

"Honestly neither did I," Phoenix swung her bag over her shoulder. "Now can either of you tell me why I received an encrypted message to return here immediately? Whoever sent the message was obviously in distress. I obviously missed some kind of disaster didn't I?"

Natasha and Clint both paused, unsure of what to say. It was a difficult situation to put into simple words. Besides, it wasn't a good place to discuss top secret matters, so Natasha and Clint began leading her towards the car.

"It's a long story," Natasha told her, which sparked curiosity behind Phoenix's confused expression. "Don't worry about that now, tell me about you. How are you, was your training a success?"

Phoenix walked beside them as they moved towards the car. "I'm fine," Phoenix gave a two-worded answer that Natasha wasn't happy about. She was hoping to know if Phoenix had developed a coping strategy to deal with her traumatic past, but she had no intention of pushing her so she let the matter drop.

"The training proved effective," Phoenix continued. "I can't reveal the location of course, but we spent a lot of time using the local terrain. There was about 15 or so other people that I was with, as well as a few trainers. Most of them were Marines doing extra combat and espionage training. We got along well enough."

"Well we have someone who will want to hear that themselves," Clint twirled the car key around his finger. "We're taking to someone who's going to ask you a few questions. I'm pretty sure it's just regulation, nothing for you to worry about too much."

"I already wrote a report," Phoenix swung her duffle back in front of her and zipped it open, pulling out a beige coloured folder and handing it to Clint so she could toss her bag into the boot of the car. "It's just a general summary and not for your eyes." She took it back off him as he was about to open it.

Natasha smirked at Clint who rolled his eyes as they all got into the car. Clint was elected the driver so Natasha could have a conversation with Phoenix. So far she hadn't picked up on anything odd in Phoenix's personality, which was good news. She most likely had not overcome her recent trauma, but so far seemed to be coping.

"So what's going on?" Phoenix was quick to ask the question the minute the car started.

Where were they supposed to begin, how were they supposed to put it into words? Telling Phoenix about Hydra was too much information for her to process, but she needed to know about SHIELD, and the fact that the once great organisation was in ruins.

"I can't reveal too much Phoenix, you don't have high enough clearance to know the full details," lying was second nature to Natasha, Clint knew that giving her an accusing look would not induce a feeling of guilt on the super spy, but that didn't stop him from looking at her, unamused, out of the corner of his eye.

"I understand," Phoenix believed the lie, no problem. She was used to following orders and obeying without question, if she was told she wasn't allowed to know then she accepted it. She was probably the only teenage girl in the world that didn't talk back.

"There was a secret organisation hiding inside of SHIELD for many years," Natasha began her explanation, keeping a close monitor over her speech so she did not say more than she intended to. "Recently they have revealed themselves and attacked SHIELD from the inside, so right now SHIELD is stuck in the middle of a civil war and things are very bad. There's more to it than that, but that's all you need to know for now. We owe no affiliation to SHIELD anymore."

Phoenix stared at Natasha, her face emotionless for a brief second until her lips opened to form a small O shape and she made a funny noise of surprise, sounding slightly like a supressed and near silent gasp. She was then silent for a second more until she sat back in her seat and simply said, "Oh shit."

Clint, at that point, actually had the nerve to chuckle at Phoenix's new vocabulary. Natasha shot him a look and he stifled his laughter by pressing his lips together, but a tight smile was still plastered across his face. After he composed himself, Clint glanced in the rear-view mirror. "I guess you learnt some new sentences off the Marines you trained with huh?"

Phoenix shrugged. "That's nowhere near close to the most descriptive expression those soldiers used."

"Phoenix you're so different," Natasha couldn't help herself from saying what was on her mind as she watched the way Phoenix behaved in marvel. Phoenix narrowed her eyes a little in confusion at Natasha's odd statement, but it was true, Phoenix had definitely changed.

Phoenix's backstory was not a happy one. From what Natasha knew, at some point Phoenix had been experimented on at a young age. Doctor Blake was, in every sense of the term, a mad scientist, he had an obsession with the super soldier serum used on Captain America and was one of the many people that attempted to recreate it. He didn't quite replicate it, but he came close, perfected it in a way. He succeeded with Phoenix, gave her heightened abilities like super strength and agility, similar to Steve Rogers himself, but she gained extra abilities as well.

Phoenix had a rather unique skill. She could create and manipulate fire, bending it to her own uses. She had a remarkable control over her ability, in fact she was only stable in the physical sense, emotionally she was well off from healthy. Doctor Blake hadn't just given his serum to Phoenix, there were five other children as well, however Phoenix had been the one that he kept to himself.

From what Natasha could tell, Phoenix had been trained and brainwashed to follow the orders of Doctor Blake. Several times Natasha had interrogated Phoenix and she had spoken like he was a god. She had called him her 'Master'. When Phoenix had learnt the truth, she had used her abilities to burn Doctor Blake alive in a mad rage that Natasha had personally witnessed.

Natasha didn't find herself scared often, but watching what Phoenix had done, sparked a small amount of fear inside of her. Doctor Blake had tried to create a super soldier, but he had come closer to creating a psychopath.

"I guess I am a little bit different," Phoenix didn't look directly at Natasha when she spoke, instead she stared at an empty space in front of her, like she was fading away, even her voice was slowly becoming more monotone as she spoke. "I suppose it's better really."

Phoenix flinched as Natasha reached into the back seat and grabbed Phoenix's hands gently. "Phoenix you are fine," she reassured her as Phoenix slowly returned to normality and looked Natasha in the eye. Clint kept his eyes on the road, but glanced in the backseat once or twice to confirm that all was well.

Phoenix finally snapped back to normality and pulled her hands from Natasha's grip. "Where exactly are we going?" the subject change was not very subtle, and Natasha could see that Phoenix was in distress about venturing too far into her own mind. At least that answered a few of Natasha's questions.

"Stark Tower," Clint had been silent for a while now, but spoke up to answer Phoenix's questions. "Only it's not called Stark Tower anymore. Tony has finished refurbishing it and he has officially renamed it The Avengers Tower."

"You'll be completing the rest of your training there with us," Natasha clarified. "Tony and Bruce are waiting over there for us now, but first we're taking you to someone who is going to ask you a couple of routine questions. You don't know her, but you can trust her."

Maria Hill waited in the darkened office room, slowly tapping her nails against the clean glass table. She had 'borrowed' a small official looking meeting room on the tenth floor of a law firm; luckily she had someone who owed her a favour. Besides she needed seclusion for this interrogation.

She had not met the girl in person, but she had been informed. She did not in any way shape or form want to be in the room conducting the interrogation, but she worked for Tony now, and she was one of the only people outside of The Avengers that was allowed to know of the girls existence.

The only possible candidate he had said. Maria scoffed to herself out loud, SHIELD was practically gone and yet somehow she was still working for them. She silently cursed her own luck.

The possible risks of what could go wrong took up a list that spread over five pages, the list of things she was to avoid saying to the girl was three pages long. She had never come across such strict rules for an interrogation before. He had called it a questioning, but Maria knew what he wanted her to ask the girl, it was an interrogation no doubt about it.

Soon the door opened, and Natasha and Clint entered. Maria nearly smirked, she wasn't supposed to know, but Fury had told her before the fall of SHIELD that the two spies were romantically involved. Reluctantly she had handed Director Fury 10 dollars as he won their long running bet since Clint had first brought Natasha home. Kind of like a little kid finding a stray puppy and begging his parents to let them keep it.

Behind Barton and Romanoff came the girl, Phoenix.

Maria tensed as she entered the room, she did not trust her, not one bit. She had seen what this teenager could do, and she did not like it. She could only imagine what the girl would be like when she matures. It could be catastrophic, but most were adamant that she would not be a danger.

Maria rose, and strode across the room towards Phoenix, she wanted to get this over and done with. "Maria Hill," she introduced herself as she nodded at Phoenix, she would've shaken her hand, but she hadn't quite earned trust for that yet.

"Phoenix," the girl spoke in what was a very basic accent as she introduced herself, nothing in her voice indicated anything out of the ordinary. Phoenix took a seat at the table as Maria sat down across from her. "I understand you wanted to ask me some questions ma'am. I wrote a report if that helps."

Maria was slightly confused as Phoenix produced a beige coloured folder and slid it across the table to Maria's outstretched hand. She began reading it, her face stoic as her eyes scanned over it quickly. Once she finished she placed it on the table beside her right elbow.

"Surprisingly good for someone of your age, but then again from what I've heard of you I expected nothing less," Maria finally spoke and made a hand motion in Natasha and Clint's direction, signalling for them to leave the room.

Natasha hesitated, looking from Phoenix to Maria and then grudgingly exited, but not before pausing again to glance at Phoenix one last time in concern. Maria didn't like Natasha's behaviour, she knew the woman to be a super spy, and Natasha acting maternal was just weird.

Maria opened a file in front of her and held a pen in her right hand to record Phoenix's answers. "I'm going to ask you some questions Phoenix and you must answer them truthfully and to the best of your ability. Some questions will be directly related to you, and others will be seemingly random and unrelated. If you find you can't answer a question we will move on." Phoenix nodded in acknowledgment. "To start off with, what is your full name?"

"Phoenix," the girl answered simply.

"Is that the only name you have?"

"Yes ma'am, I've only ever been called Phoenix, nothing else."

"Please list your immediate family."

"I have no family."

"How old are you?"

"15."

"How did you escape the secluded island during your encounter with Agents Barton and Romanoff?"

Now they had moved onto the questions related to Phoenix and her time with Doctor Blake. This was the part where Phoenix would be most vulnerable. Maria watched her carefully as she processed the question.

"I managed to get past Agents Barton and Romanoff, jumped off the edge of the island, and swam into a small area where a speedboat was waiting that could get me to the mainland," Phoenix answered, she seemed to think on her answer for a second, as if she wasn't happy with her own answer.

"Why did you feel the need to kill two SHIELD agents as you made your escape?"

"They were in my way."

What really got to Maria about that answer was that Phoenix didn't even hesitate. She sucked in a breath and went onto ask the next question. "How did you convince the four other children; Joshua Smith, Samuel Lidsdale, Isabella Mason and Mark Winters to follow you?"

"They're not children," Phoenix stated before answering the question. "When I approached them I told them that I knew of their abilities and I threatened them into following me. But for some it was more complicated than that."

"I assume you're referring to the incident at Navy Pier."

When Phoenix had tried to capture Mark Winters, several SHIELD agents were sent to intercept her and she killed most of them as well as a large amount of civilians. The press had originally been quick to reveal news coverage of the attack but SHIELD managed to cover it up, with a lot of difficulty. Maria remembered seeing it, and wondering how a child could've done all that.

"Yes. It was an unfortunate incident but I was instructed to gather them all using any means necessary."

"When did you receive these orders? Were they part of a plan that had already been set up?"

"Yes, the plans had been in place for years. There were other plans as well for different circumstances."

Maria paused before her next question. She had been warned that the mention of this person could possibly cause a high emotional reaction from the girl, she placed a hand on the gun in her lap as she sucked in a breath.

"Did Doctor Blake personally train you?"

Sure enough, at the mention of his name, the girl jumped in her seat like she had been slapped across her right cheek. Maria could see something in her eyes, almost like a memory flashed through her mind that brought on a flood of fear into her expression. Maria waited patiently, hand on the trigger of her weapon, the girl slowly came back to her senses and cleared her throat.

"I was educated at a high level from a young age, my physical training was conducted by people that My Ma..." She choked on her words, then found her composure and sat up straight, exhaling to calm herself. "People that Doctor Blake had found who were willing to work with me. Most of my training was conducted in laboratories, with computers and technology. He was however always present during all aspects of my training and behavioural programming."

"What sort of things did they do to you in behavioural programming?"

It was an unscripted question, but it seemed necessary for Maria to ask. She knew she had made a mistake when the girl went rigid and stared at a space in front of her, facial expression blank. Her mouth opened as she searched for words, but she closed it again.

"We can move on if you need."

"Cold," her voice was high pitched, and her words came out in a tight whisper, but loud enough to hear. "Cold and Hot and Smooth and Rough and Up and Down and Left and Right and Turn and Turn and Turn and Turn." She was chanting in what seemed like a sing-song voice as she stared into the distance and kept repeating the word turn.

"Phoenix!"

Maria's sharp tone was enough to snap the girl back to reality, she stop staring off into the distance and looked at Maria like she had been disgraced. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "We can continue with the questioning, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Maria asked hesitantly.

Phoenix gave a no worded answer and simply nodded in response.

She knew that the girl was most certainly not fine, and it would be against all better judgement to continue interrogating her. She also knew that the room they were seated in was not soundproof and that Agent Romanoff had most likely heard Maria call out loudly to Phoenix. The last thing she needed was Natasha bursting into the room. She gave it a few seconds before she continued.

"Heather James mentioned that all of the six children, including yourself, are connected through some kind of mental link. Is this true?"

Phoenix was at a loss for words, but not because of her fractured mental stability, but because she wasn't too sure about the question. "I've not really thought about it too much," she frowned, thinking about it carefully. "I guess so, but honestly I don't know."

"The other teenagers mentioned a safe house you stayed in whilst you were hiding out in New York," Maria continued, nothing that her behaviour was stabilising. It was time to go back to the questions related to the girl. "Could you give us the location of this place and any other locations where information might've been stored?"

Maria saw it happen in Phoenix's eyes before she even said anything. Phoenix made an odd choking sound in the back of her throat as she tried to answer the question and stop herself from answering it at the same time. "I-I-I, no, I," she formed strangled terrified sounds.

"It's ok take your time," Maria treaded carefully.

"I can't, I can't," Phoenix's eyes were wide as she focused on something to the right of Maria, like she had done before, but there was a significant amount more fear in her eyes. Maria Hill's hands found her gun in her lap as she went into alert as she saw that Phoenix was obviously falling into something from her past. "Don't hurt me!" she shrieked and fell off her chair, dragging herself backwards towards the corner of the room and sobbing.

The door to the room burst open as Natasha, obviously hearing Phoenix shriek, ran into the room. She went to run over to Phoenix but Maria stopped her. It sounded cruel, but she needed to be left to get over it by herself. Clint followed Natasha through the door and stood behind her, silently watching Phoenix.

Phoenix sat in the corner, rocking back and forth and begging some invisible person not to hurt her. She then began rambling while she sobbed about how sorry she was, that she would keep her mouth shut, that she wouldn't say anything. They all knew what was going on at that point, and suddenly things became a lot clearer for the former Agent Hill.

"Controlled torture," Maria remarked in a flat tone as she watched Phoenix.

Natasha didn't want to believe it, but Maria saying the words had confirmed it. "That bastard," she spat bitterly.

"I've never seen it before but I've heard of it," Clint's tone of voice nearly matched Natasha's, except he sounded more sorrowful then angry.

"It's a repetitive process," Natasha informed him while shaking her head angrily. "They force them to reveal secrets and then torture them for it until they reach a point when they can't reveal that information because it causes them to break down out of fear. To do it on someone so young makes it even worse."

Phoenix calmed down slightly as she had stopped her begging, and instead buried her face into her knees and muttered to herself as she pulled at her own hair. Natasha had enough of waiting and doing nothing, so she walked forward and pulled Phoenix's arms away from her gently to prevent her from ripping all the hair off her head. Phoenix shook her head and tried to pull her arms back but Natasha tightened her grip.

Maria spoke from her seat at the table where she had remained throughout the entire ordeal. "I would advise you to take her back to the Tower. I'm done with her for now."