Barton And Banner Go To Alaska
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This is the second of several collaborations between Strawberrywaltz and Lou-deadfroggy. It's a repost from Lou's profile on this joint account. Barton and Banner walk into a bar was number one. As always an offer of a beta would be sorely welcomed. :D
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Bruce felt like he was drowning. Piles of papers, files and notes towered over him, threatening to collapse at any moment. He was normally a neat person, keeping the lab Tony had assigned to him nearly spotless. However he had been trying to pack and in doing so had unleashed huge tsunamis of research that now flooded the room, spilling over the tables and boxes.
All he had wanted to find was everything he had written about the radiation anomaly that was the northern lights. He hadn't realized exactly how much work he had done since moving into the Avengers' Tower.
A week before he had received an email inviting him to visit the North Alaska Astronomical Research Plant, an email he had replied to then promptly forgotten about. Now he was expected there in less than forty-eight hours and was in a slight panic. His suitcase was packed, that had been simple enough since he didn't exactly need much to live off of but his notes were taking longer.
All the scene needed was a smashed wall and it would look like the other guy had been in the labs instead of Bruce. The place really was a mess.
Finally, after several hours of sorting through and realizing that he did indeed have scruffy writing (a requirement of being a doctor) he had gathered enough notes together to not look like an idiot when he got to Alaska.
There was only one thing left to do: find a way of getting to Alaska.
Flying was not one of his many skills and any commercial plane would probably not get him to the middle of Gates of the Arctic National Park by the next day. He decided he would have to ask Tony if he could borrow his jet and a pilot.
Bruce stared around at the tidal wave of paper and shrugged. He would sort it out when he came back. Just as he was about to open the door and begin his search for Tony it opened automatically and a slightly harassed Clint ran in, shutting it very quickly behind him. Bruce raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"Do I want to know what just happened or not?"
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Clint looked up, his back still resting against the closed door. He was pretty sure he had lost Tony at some point between the garage and the kitchen, but one could never be too careful.
Short of climbing up into the vents, Bruce's lab seemed like a good place to hide from the billionaire. Thankfully Jarvis was on Clint's side and had promised not to disclose his location to his creator.
"Probably not." Clint told Bruce with a weak smile. "Tony developed some new arrows for me to try out and I'd rather not lose my hand today – or any other day."
It wasn't that Barton had no faith in Tony's scientific abilities, the guy had created his own superhero suit, but Clint preferred making his own trick arrows. The last time SHIELD issued someone else to create a new brand of arrow for Clint's arsenal, he had ended up being electrocuted.
It hadn't been a fun experience.
"I just need a place to hide until Tony loses interest in his new project." Slowly Barton moved from the door with a glance around the disaster of a room.
"Sorry to have to tell you this, Bruce, but it looks like the Hulk played with your lab." He commented with a light chuckle. "What's going on? Spring cleaning?"
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"I was looking for a piece of paper," Bruce said slowly, grinning like an innocent Cheshire cat. "I'm off to a research facility in Alaska for a week and I was just looking for some notes I made. I, uh yeah, guess I found them." He gestured to the mess around him.
"Turns out I'm solely responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon." Moving round the laden desks he picked up a stack of files so that Clint could do more than press himself against the door. He did consider finding the man a chair but he couldn't see them anymore.
"Hey, if you want to get a break from Tony you could always come with me. It's a bit cold but no genius billionaire whatever else he says to blow your hands off," he suggested.
Okay so maybe their last outing together hadn't gone so well but there wasn't much chance of drunken fights in a research facility on the edge of the arctic, was there? Besides, Bruce would rather have the company of someone he knew who could get him out of a potential other guy encounter, something he was sure wouldn't happen yet wasn't willing to risk. It beat spending the plane ride with a random pilot.
"We can do many things but neither the other guy nor I can fly a plane."
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Clint smirked a bit and folded his arms over his chest as he listened to Bruce's explanation of the mess. His ears perked up at the offer to get away from the Tower for a while. It had been a while since he'd left. Fury was still unconvinced that he was mentally ready to return into the field for solo missions.
Honestly Barton wasn't sure he was ready to go out yet either. The idea of someone else's voice talking through the comm. link, someone other than Coulson, still didn't feel right. He hid it well, but the loss of his handler, his best friend, had shaken the archer.
Since Natasha was out on a mission, it most likely meant the archer would be stuck in the city until she returned. The idea of getting away for a bit was very enticing.
Plus with all the trouble the Avengers seemed to get themselves into, Bruce going somewhere alone didn't seem like a smart thing.
"I can deal with the cold." Clint grinned. Sure their last outing had gone to hell, but that didn't mean that a simple trip to the artic would end in disaster. It could be good, relaxing even.
"And you're in luck. Along with my many talents I also have my pilot's license." Clint opened the door and peeked out cautiously as he scanned for any sign of Tony.
"I think you should probably ask Stark for his jet, I don't think he'd appreciate you taking his fun – his fun being me – away. Just tell him you've got a SHIELD pilot taking you. It won't be a lie."
Barton smirked back at Bruce before he stepped towards one of the vents in the room and pulled himself up. No reason to risk being seen. "I'll go grab my bag and meet you at the hanger."
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Bruce rolled his eyes as he spied the Hawk disappearing into the vents. He was slightly jealous of the man's ability to be in small spaces. Picking up the file containing his notes the doctor went off to find Stark, hoping that for once the man would not want him to give a detailed analysis of his latest project.
There was only really one place Tony would be at three in the afternoon: his lab. Bruce wandered towards the larger, and for the first time ever, neater room.
"Hey, Tony?" he called, having learnt that just walking in usually got your head almost blown off. He had to repeat his question several times before Stark heard him.
"Yeah?" came the grunted response. Bruce peeked past the door to see Tony covered in foam and glaring at a robot. He wasn't in a good mood. "I'm busy, Barton did a runner and I tried to track him down but it didn't work." Bruce didn't really want to know how tracking Clint translated into Tony being covered in foam.
"Right. Do you mind if I borrow your jet? I've been asked to look over some research up in Alaska." Tony began to wipe the foam off of his limbs, nodding vaguely.
"Yeah, sure whatever. Get someone to take you or something." Bruce was out of there before Tony could finish talking. Five minutes later he had grabbed his bag and coat and was half-way to the hanger.
"Going somewhere, Doctor Banner?" Pepper asked as he nearly walked into her coming round a corner. Ever the courteous PA she was still uncomfortably formal with the whole team.
"Uh, yes. A research facility in Alaska. You can call me Bruce, you know," he answered, stepping back out of her way.
"Well, see you when you get back, Bruce." She walked off and he was in the hanger before he could run into Steve, who wasn't even in the tower anyway, or Natasha.
When he reached the plane he looked around for Clint, not really sure how to get into the metal thing. He would have preferred driving but Alaska was a bit far to reach in a day.
There was no sign of the Hawk, either in the plane or outside so Bruce put his bag on the ground and tried not to think about the hours in a small metal tube thousands of feet up in the air. At least Clint wouldn't stress him out.
"Okay, either you're here and about to try and make me jump like Stark does or I'm talking to myself," Bruce said out loud.
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The trip to his room didn't take Barton very long. His bags were always packed, ready for last minute departures. That was just how his job worked. Clint had two duffle bags, one packed for warm weather and the other packed for cold.
Though the bags were identical in size and appearance, Clint knew the heavier one was his winter attire. Without checking he grabbed the heaviest bag and slipped the strap on his shoulder and headed for the hanger.
Carefully he made his way. Silently he walked, carefully checking reflective surfaces for any sign of a disgruntled billionaire near him. Thankfully Tony seemed to have given up, or Banner was distracting Stark with the question of the jet.
Once in the hanger Clint inspected the plane, a habit instilled in the SHIELD agent thanks years of obeying protocol. Everything looked good on the plane, but then again Stark spent more time on his machines then interacting with people. They were always in good shape, if not excellent.
Banner still hadn't shown up and Clint was never one to sit still very long, at least not off mission. After discarding his bag inside the plane Barton decided to entertain himself by crawling up into the rafters.
For most people Clint's obsession with heights was odd, but their opinions on the matter didn't mean much to him. He saw things better from a distance and preferred the freedom height gave him.
Once up there Clint practiced a few very simplistic balance techniques, only to stop when Bruce waltzed in. At first Barton was just going to jump down beside the man, but then he considered that startling Bruce might not be the best idea.
"Okay, either you're here and about to try and make me jump like Stark does or I'm talking to myself," Bruce said out loud.
Clint chuckled slightly. "I'm trying to figure out how not to startle you, actually." His voice floated down to his teammate as he swung his body over the ledge and jumped down to meet with Bruce. "Although, I think the other guy likes me, so if you want to go green you can." The archer winked and then waved Banner to follow him to the readied plane.
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Bruce sighed and followed Clint into the aircraft. He hated it when people said that to him, Tony did it all the time. Yes it was true that the other guy had saved Stark's life but they all put too much faith in the other guy's ability to not kill people. For all he knew Tony had been the only exception, besides Betty of course, to the Hulk's immediate response: smash.
"I don't think want is ever the right word. Need to, maybe, but never want," he muttered even though he knew that Clint would almost certainly be able to hear him. 'Going green' as Clint put it wasn't fun, it hurt like hell without even considering the damage he caused. Bruce could only think of two times when he was glad the other guy had been there and both of them involved saving someone special. That still didn't make up for the red on his file though, even if Tony sometimes made it sound like it did.
He put his bag on a seat and poked a curious head into the cockpit.
"Just to warn you, we've already established that flying metal containers don't mix with the other guy to well," he said. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Of course they both knew that the only time the other guy would make an appearance would be to save Bruce's life in which case Clint would be about to die anyway and no green rage monster could make a difference. Bruce realized that he had never been in the cockpit of a plane before and looked around that the buttons with the same uncomprehending gaze that most people often gave his papers.
"Mind if an excited little boy sits in the front like a cool person?" he asked, grinning.
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"Don't worry, Doc, even if we do crash – which is extremely unlikely – I promise it'll be as smooth as possible." Clint grinned at Bruce. "I am happy to report that no one has ever died while I was piloting a craft. The other guy will sleep like a baby." The archer promised with a cocky grin before he flipped a switch and the engines rumbled to life.
At Bruce's question Clint nodded towards the co-pilot's seat. "I'd love the company, kid." Clint snickered at the older man. "Sorry I don't have some plastic wings to give you, but my boss is cheap." Barton tipped his head towards Bruce and smirked. "He's a billionaire, but he's cheap."
After the archer slipped on a headset for communication he flipped a few more switches his hands lightly gripped the controls as the plane backed out of the hanger. "Hold on to your seat, Doc, we'll be in the air shortly."
As promised a few minutes later the plane was up in the air, circling around the city. It was a nice view. Nice and high, Barton loved it. The archer took a deep breath as his muscles relaxed and glanced over at Bruce. "So, I hope you have the coordinates for the research facility? Those might be handy."
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Bruce stared at him for a second before turning around to grab his pile of papers.
"Yes, I do. Um here," he said as he handed Clint the print off of the email. It had a list of numbers that the archer punched into the controls.
The view was great, all of New York stretched out beneath them. The last time Bruce had been in a plane it had been to New York with Betty and he had ended up wrecking Harlem.
Being in handcuffs he hadn't exactly had the best view nor had he appreciated the marvel of engineering that kept a plane up. Of course he had been on the helicarrier but that was more of a flying town than a small metal tube. Plus he really hoped that he would break his streak of jumping out of flying machines.
"So did Natasha put you up to socializing again or did she realize that we need supervision?" he asked, smiling slightly. Their little excursion to the bar hadn't ended too well and he suspected that any further fraternizing would be in strictly controlled conditions where the Black Widow could make sure nothing went wrong. Spontaneity and the other guy didn't really go hand in hand, as Clint had found out.
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"Ha, no, this wasn't a Natasha sanctioned outing. This honestly is barely a Fury sanctioned outing, I of course called for his approval before I met up with you." Clint chuckled lightly, eyes scanning the skies as they moved slowly towards their chilly destination.
"I'm actually surprised you didn't know this, but Nat's out saving the world on a mission." Barton informed his friend. "Perhaps you should wander out of that lab of yours a bit more often." The archer teased.
Clint felt slightly responsible for the doctor's reclusive lifestyle. After all, he was the idiot that took Bruce to a bar and got him involved in a brawl. Not smart. Granted, Bruce was a major loner before the Avengers became a team. Though it was understandable. It's hard to be around other people when you can't trust yourself.
If anyone could relate to that frame of mind, Clint could. After Loki stole Barton's mind, his control, Clint had lost complete trust in himself. One touché and his own will had changed. Every day after the attack, when his ravaged mind had been handed back to him, Clint would check himself in the mirror; check his eyes for that strange blue colour.
At least Barton's nightmare had ended. Bruce would never get rid of the 'other guy.' Although at least now that Banner was part of the pack of misfit super heroes the Hulk had a purpose. A sense of good.
"And don't worry too much, Natasha would rather I get into trouble with a doctor around than by myself." He shrugged. His partner was a bit too protective, but it was her way of showing she cared.
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"That's kind of why I became a doctor, a medical one I mean. Before I was a biophysicist but when I realized how much damage I caused I tried to find a way to at least help with the clean-up." He gave Clint a long look over, a sudden thought coming to him. The archer had just as many problems as he did yet he didn't mention them every time he opened his mouth.
It occurred to Bruce that he didn't even know how Clint was dealing with what had happened with Loki and he hadn't even asked. He didn't really want to ask about something that would upset the archer and ruin the light-hearted banter they had going. Bruce needed to prove to himself that he could have a conversation rather than just warn people off.
"So did you have to wear something along the lines of what Steve does, when you were in the circus? Somehow I can't see you in spangles," he said, grinning slightly. Really Bruce knew next to nothing about Clint's past apart from his dad had been a drunk and he had run away to the circus.
Thinking of Clint trying to entertain people was funny; he wasn't much of an entertainer or showman. Of course everyone liked to show off their talents and the archer was probably no exception.
Bruce couldn't remember ever going to the circus as a child, his Mom had taken him to a funfair once and he recalled spending hours begging her to let him go on the roller coaster despite him being about three inches too short. He hadn't even thought of running away either, it hadn't occurred to him that there would be somewhere else to go.
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Clint's face went blank for a second when Bruce abruptly brought up his past at the circus. It was unexpected and took him completely off guard. Not all his memories at the circus were good ones, in fact most of them were pretty awful, but there was no way for the doctor to know that.
Once his initial shock faded, Barton slipped back into his care free mask. "Uh, not quite like the Cap's uniform." He winked at Bruce. "I would tell you what it looked like, but then I would have to kill you. If Tony were to hear about it I'd never be able to live it down." He chuckled lightly. "Let's just say you'd never be able to guess how embarrassing it was."
Barton hoped silently that Bruce wouldn't read too much into the pause, but the man was a doctor of a bunch of different sciences. It was Banner's job to observe and analysis reactions.
"For the record though." Clint continued, determined to keep the atmosphere light. Bruce had enough angst in his life; Clint didn't need to add any more weight to the doctor's shoulders. "I wasn't the one who picked out my costume. I had little choice in the matter."
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Bruce heard the pause and the catch in Clint's voice and mentally kicked himself for bringing up something that was obviously painful. Could he really not have a conversation with someone without hurting them in some way?
"You don't need to worry; no word will get to Tony. Be careful or he'll want to start dressing you up as Legolas or something." He tried to think of something else to talk about, hoping that he could find something that wouldn't upset Clint. Short of asking for a flying lesson he was stuck.
"Going to amaze me with explanations of what all these buttons do? Where's the big red one we should never press under any circumstances?" He examined all of the switches and screens, wondering how difficult it was to fly the thing. He assumed that it was similar to driving but Clint didn't seem to be doing much. Autopilot or something.
"You know, don't tell me or else I may just have to press it." He grinned and hovered a finger over a large red button, having a Stark moment.
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Clint smirked a bit. "Press it if you want, but I don't think the 'other guy' would like flying. That's the ejection button." The archer chuckled lightly.
Cheerfully Barton went into an explanation of the different buttons, monitors and basic instructions on flying without crashing. Piloting was one of the few things Clint enjoyed besides archery.
By the end of the explanation Clint decided to try and build some happier memories for Bruce and showed him how to grip the controls and stay on course. Once it looked like the scientist had gotten the hang of things, Barton promptly took a nap.
An hour before they were supposed to land Clint took over the controls again and prepared to descend on the research facility. After confirmation from the research labs' airport control – or the smaller equivalent of it, since they were out in the middle of nowhere. The jet dropped altitude smoothly and slowly emerged below the blanket of cold grey clouds that had formed along their journey.
A strong gust of air caused a bit of turbulence, but Clint road it out as smoothly as possible. He didn't obviously check on Bruce, but he kept his senses open in case the Hulk decided to cause a bit of trouble.
As they slowly circled downward Clint glanced out of his window down at the complex. It was secluded, built on a flat area surrounded by snowy hills filled with trees and scattered frozen lakes. Yep, this was definitely not a place Clint would like to vacation in – or live for that matter. Scientists were a crazy, but passionate. They'd have to be to live somewhere like this, in Clint's professional opinion.
Yes, he could deal with the cold, and it was bearable. But Hawkeye had always been a warm-blooded kind of guy.
Whistling lowly Clint grinned over at Bruce. "You weren't kidding about it being cold, were you?" He joked lightly. It was the end of the winter months in the artic, but clearly a 'warm front' hadn't come through, the snow was still solidly there on the ground.
There were a few buildings scattered around the impressive main research building. Log cabins were the researchers and possibly even the families of the researchers lived. It was a bit like a small community.
Barton lined up Tony's jet to the runway and made their final descent downwards. The runway was covered in ice, which probably was doing nothing to calm Bruce's nerves on the landing, but Clint had things under control.
The landing was incredibly smooth, a gentle touch down and a straight slid that ended in a proper stop. "Thank you for flying Hawkeye Air, please remain seated with your seatbelts securely fastened until the plane has come to a complete stop. Thank you." Clint mocked playfully as he pulled the plane to where a man dressed in orange was directing him.
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Bruce rolled his eyes at the announcement but was quite glad that he was firmly on solid ground again. When Clint had decided to doze off he had felt a slight moment of panic but assured himself that the archer wasn't really asleep and he could handle the semi-automatic plane anyway.
Maybe he would go about getting a pilot's license at some point; actually being in control of the craft had been fun. It was just the coming down bit he didn't like so as long as he could stay up in the air, all was well.
"I'm pretty sure most airline captains don't suddenly leave their passengers to fly whilst they catch up on their beauty sleep," he said, grinning. "If you ever decide to get a job that doesn't involve dealing with aliens and Tony Stark you should take up pilot training. I already have a motto for you: fly or fall because I'm not helping."
The doors opened and they stepped out into the biting cold. Bruce pulled on his coat quickly and longed for the warm air on board the plane.
"Arctic, cold, right. Forgot that bit," he muttered as he spied a couple of luminous vests making their way towards him. It really was freezing out there.
"Doctor Banner? We're extremely pleased that you could make it. I'm Edmund Simms and this is my colleague Graham Brent. I suggest we get out of the cold," the older, more rounded man said as he shook Bruce's hand.
They then led their guests into the massive building, picking a way through the half-cleared snow on the path. Bruce frowned slightly as he followed Brent, the name seemed more familiar than just something he had read in a science journal but he couldn't quite place it. He fell into step beside Clint, a few paces behind the other two.
"I don't know what you're going to do for a week since I'm guessing you don't have much of an interest in astrophysics," he said quietly, feeling slightly bad about dragging Clint along. Of course the archer would have nothing to do in the research plant; he could hardly act as an assistant or something.
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"Admit it, you had fun." Clint teased Bruce lightly when the man had commented on his training skills. It wasn't actually a far cry from what he did to new SHIELD recruits when Fury demanded he participate in their training.
Training idiots sucked.
So Clint had deviously found a way to entertain himself while training said idiots.
Powering down the plane, Clint did the post-flight checks and noted the amount of fuel still in the plane. They'd need to refuel before leaving in a week. There would be plenty of time to give Tony's jet a bit of TLC while Banner ran around with his science buddies.
Clint reached around and grabbed his bag and pulled out a SHIELD issued coat. It was thinner than normal winter coats but the technology behind it made it just as warm, if not warmer. It also allowed the archer the needed movement for most of his missions.
After hearing Bruce's complaint of the cold Clint grinned and pulled up his hood. "Aw, come on Doc, it's not all that bad." Sure a beach would be better, but a beach wasn't exactly where scientists tended to hang out. Unless, of course, they were oceanographers.
Barton stayed back from the introductions but stepped forward to follow Banner out into the winter wasteland they came too. The cold bit at Clint's unprotected face, but the jacket fended off the majority of the cold.
When Bruce fell in step beside the archer Clint grinned. "Don't worry about me, Doc, I'm fully capable of entertaining myself for a week. This actually reminds me a bit of field training back in my early days at SHIELD. They'd stick us in remote areas and give us coordinates to a place we were supposed to end up and a time frame. I can always train." He winked at his companion.
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Bruce was glad that Clint had plans for the week and couldn't really be worried about the man going off into the frozen wild alone. If anyone could take care of himself, it was Clint.
The inside of the building was toasty compared with the outside and Bruce was glad when a cloakroom presented itself. Simms left them with Brent who walked off up some stairs without a word, presumably showing them to their rooms. It still nagged at his mind that the name was so familiar but Bruce couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Brent. He had known a guy called Brent back in New Mexico before the accident, he was sure of it. Had his first name been Graham? He wasn't sure.
Brent was a good bit taller than Bruce and towered over Clint so that both men had to look up slightly to see his long, square-ish face. There was something cold about those dark eyes that Bruce didn't think was connected with the snow outside. The man still hadn't said a word as he opened the door to a small but comfortable bedroom. He crossed the hall to an identical door for Clint.
"The main laboratory is down those stairs and to your right, Doctor Simms will be waiting for you," he muttered as if simply forcing the words out was demeaning. Then it clicked in Bruce's head.
The slight lisp over the letter r that had been caused by a baseball injury. It was then that he noticed the way Brent favoured his left leg, the result of a lab accident. Bruce had been the one who caused both, one due to being a terrible batter and the other, well; he didn't really remember that accident all that clearly: it was the first memory tinged with green.
Brent walked off, leaving Bruce to stare at his retreating form and wishing that he had never received that email.
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