Right, so there I am watching "Murder Between Friends" and you know what puzzled me? Francine's crossbow. Ok, so on watching that episode again, it's probably not for shooting bolts but rather, something like tranquilizer darts or so. Still - crossbow? That got me thinking. And you know what happens when a fanfic writer starts to think. ;) This one's set either around the end of season 1 or pretty early in season 2 - quite some time before "Murder Between Friends".

All Done With Crossbows

"What's this?"
Francine picked up a colourful booklet from Amanda's desk and thumbed through the pages.

"Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars?" she read from the cover. "Oh my, I didn't know you're into comics."

"That's Jamie's".
Amanda just smiled at her in her usual Amanda way.
"He hasn't been talking about anything else for weeks, but he's home sick so he couldn't go pick it up himself, so I thought I'd bring it for him. He really loves –"

"Let me guess: Captain America?" Francine cut Amanda off to stop her from getting on a roll.

Amanda shook her head. "Hawkeye."

When Francine frowned, she pointed at one of the super heroes pictured on the cover. "This one here, with the bow."

"A bow..."
Francine raised her eyebrows. "That's... something. A super hero with a bow. Now I've really seen it all."

"Oh, he's not really a super hero. I mean, of course, he is but he's actually human. He grew up in a circus and learned how to do trick shots there. Now, he's... " Amanda thought for a moment. "I think he's working as a spy and assassin for a secret organization called... I really don't remember the name. Sorry. Of course, Jamie knows every little detail." Again, she smiled at Francine.

"Well, I'm sure he's good at it. That Hawkeye, I mean." Francine returned the smile – just to be polite.

"Oh, he is! Well, in the comics. Jamie's been saving up his allowance to get a Hawkeye action figure, but by the time he had enough money, they were all sold out. Which is really odd since Hawkeye's so much less popular than Captain America or Iron Man and they're still in the shops."

Francine nodded.

"I see. Maybe they'll release a new one, soon." She put the comic back on the desk, gave Amanda another smile and turned away.

An assassin with a bow? Ridiculous thought. A sniper rifle, yes, that was what you used for long-distance targets. Or knives, for closer work: either thrown or to stab or slash. Knives were good – you couldn't hear them. If you managed to get really close, of course, you could also snap a target's neck. But using a bow and arrow?

Oh, calm down already, she told herself. It's just a stupid comic. Since when are those supposed to be realistic in any way?

The concept of an "archer assassin", however, wouldn't leave her alone. By the end of the week, Francine had done enough research to know a bow and arrow just wouldn't work, at least not without a lot of training to build up the strength to be able to handle the really heavy bows necessary to hit targets far away.

By the end of the week, she also was really annoyed at herself for even bothering to look into the subject of archery at all. She blamed it on Amanda for bringing that stupid comic to work. And, maybe, also a little on her father for showing her "The Adventures of Robin Hood" when she had been a little girl. Damn, but Errol Flynn had looked hot in those tights. Still did, as a matter of fact, even though that movie was way beyond old.

Still, interesting as it might be, a bow just wouldn't work. Not for her, at least.

Which brought her straight to the question of why she was even considering this. It was a stupid idea. Really.

Only, when she broadened her search – just out of boredom, mind you, there wasn't much going on at the moment and she had to keep herself busy somehow, right? – she stumbled across something that actually might work.

Lee Stetson made his way down to the firing range. Things were really slow – and had been for a while, in fact – so he decided to put in an extra hour of practice, maybe two. Sure couldn't hurt, could it?

His little trip down to the range had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the fact that for the past two weeks Francine had been disappearing down here for an hour a day. He also wasn't curious at all about what she was up to.

Francine was in one of the stands, firing at a target. Lee wasn't close enough yet, to see what she was holding but from her stance it looked like it might be a rifle. Oddly though he heard no shot. Not even the soft pop from a silencer. The sound was rather a barely audible click and swish.

Lee moved closer. Francine fired again and once again, there was that swish. Then she lowered her weapon and stepped back, eyes still on the target.

Lee was sure she must have heard him. He and Francine were the only ones down here and his footsteps were echoing through the large room. But she also most likely had recognized him and didn't bother to turn and see who was approaching.

Now that he was closer, Lee also got a better look at her weapon. It was...

"A crossbow, Francine?" he asked, not even trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Really?"

Francine glanced at him, then returned her attention to the target. She pushed a button to bring it to her so she could exchange it for a new one.

Lee folded his arms across his chest and gave her a broad grin. "So that's what you're up to. You're starting your own gang of Merry Men, huh, Robin Hood?"

This time, Francine gave him a longer look. "I am accepting new recruits. You would have to wear tights of course, but I can't imagine why you would pass up the opportunity to show off your great legs to the ladies upstairs", she said.

She wasn't smiling but there was a certain spark in her eyes.

Lee laughed. "I bet."
He grew serious again. "Seriously though, what's with the crossbow?"

"Well –" Francine glanced at the weapon.
"Something – no, someone, actually, put the thought in my mind and I decided I'd go ahead and try it. It's working better than I thought."

She nodded at several used targets with gaping holes in different vital areas.

"May I take a look?" Lee nodded at the crossbow.

"Sure."
Francine gave it to him.

It was lighter than he had expected. And smaller. And, when he tried, a lot easier to arm than he had thought.

"Yeah, well, it's quiet, I'll give you that. Much quieter than a gun. But you only have, what? One shot before you gotta reload?"

"Two. It's a double shot. If I practice some more, I won't need more than one shot, though."

Lee gave the crossbow back to her.
"Well, it's nice as a hobby," he said. "Or maybe for hunting. But on the job...? "

"If I wanted your opinion, I'd have asked you."
Francine loaded the crossbow with two new bolts and fired twice. Lee looked at the target. Francine had hit it straight in the heart and right eye.

"Ouch," Lee said with a wince.

Francine gave him a small smirk, then began gathering her things.

Of course, Lee kept harassing her during her crossbow practice sessions whenever he could. It was too good an opportunity to miss. Francine either ignored him completely or countered his little jabs with some of her own. By now, he knew her well enough to know how far he could go while keeping everything in good fun.

He stopped laughing at the crossbow when one of his assignments went wrong - dangerously wrong; wrong as in him running the very real danger of ending up dead in a dark, dirty back alley. Three against one: one in front, two to his back. They were armed, he wasn't. They were in a better position since he had been injured during his escape. And he didn't have backup.

At least, he didn't think he did until the guy in front of him suddenly dropped to the ground. He felt a soft swish, then heard one of the guys behind him hit the ground as well. They were dead. Lee knew because he could see the crossbow bolts sticking up from one's back and the other's eye.

The third guy turned and ran for it – and went down too, with a bolt in his back.

Lee looked up and scanned the rooftops. And indeed, there she was: Francine. Looking down at him and giving him a mock salute before she turned and disappeared.

He was too far away and it had been too brief a moment to truly see her face but he just knew she was wearing that 'told you so' expression.

Back at the Agency the next day, he walked up right to her desk.

She ignored him.

Lee cleared his throat.

Francine glanced up at him. She looked awfully smug.

"Alright, alright." Lee sighed. "I'll admit it, your little toy does have its uses. Satisfied now?"

Francine smiled.
"You know, I don't think I'll be using it all that much. I'll save it for special occasions."

"Such as saving my butt, huh?"

"Something like that, yes."

Later that day, Amanda found a new, in-the-box Hawkeye action figure on her desk, with a note taped to it saying "For Jamie". Typed, of course, so as not to give away the noble donor's identity. She did take a sweeping look around the office but no one was even squinting in her direction. Lee wasn't there so she couldn't ask him if he had put the figure on her desk but she spotted Francine, so she went over to her.

"Uh, Francine?"

"Yes?"
Francine turned to her.

"There's a Hawkeye action figure on my desk", Amanda said. "For Jamie."

"Really?"
Francine gave her a bright smile – the one that indicated she was in a good mood. "Well, good for Jamie."

Amanda thought she detected a slight undertone of "And why exactly are you bothering me with that?", so she quickly went on: "You didn't see who put it there, did you?"

"Me?" Francine shook her head. "No."

"Oh. Well. I just was curious."

"Can't help you there, sorry."
Another smile, then Francine turned back to her computer.

Amanda nodded and returned to her own desk. She decided to file this little incident with all the other odd stuff going on, and just go along with it. That usually worked just fine, after all.