DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING

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That empty seat was starting to bother him. Normally an empty seat in debriefing room aboard the Helicarrier meant that one of the Avengers was on a mission somewhere and that the spot would soon be reclaimed by its owner in a matter of days or weeks. Sadly, two months had gone by with no sight of the chair's owner and none of the remaining Avengers would sit in it. It was like the team had assigned seats or something and they would have small arguments whenever someone stole their favorite spot.

Sigh…that empty seat was REALLY starting to bother him.

A moment later the door to conference opened and Agent Maria Hill stepped in. "Director Fury, the Avengers have just arrived," she stated in an even voice. But to those who knew her personally the slight twinge of nervousness in her voice would be evident. It was excusable really. Hill was well aware of the news that was about to be said to incomplete team of superheroes and Fury knew for a fact that the female agent was glad that she wasn't delivering the message.

"Alright, send them in," Fury said, barely suppressing a sigh when he already heard Tony Stark's voice in the distance. Today was going to be a long day.

XxXxX

Tony Stark knew his teammates were staring at him. He also knew that should stop tapping his hand against the table, but right now it was the only small comfort he had after being told information about his missing friend who had left on a mission two months ago.

"Director Fury," starts Steve Rogers while raising his voice slightly to be heard over Tony's excessive tapping. "Why are we just now finding out that Clint's gone missing? Why were we kept in the dark about this for so long?"

"It's not unheard of for an agent to cut off contact with SHIELD when on an undercover mission. Agent Barton has done this many times in the past, but he would always reconnect with us once he deems it safe to do so."

Dr. Banner then spoke up. "How long was he suppose to be gone?"

The one eyed man glanced at Bruce warily. Already he could see a slight flashes of green in the doctor's normally brown eyes. He also knew that all eyes were on him as they waited for him to answer the question. This wasn't going to end well at all. "Two weeks."

The silence was so deafening that it was to the point that the tapping on the desk would've been a welcoming sound. But Fury knew that the silence was the calm before the storm.

"THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOMETHING HAD WENT WRONG ONCE THE TWO WEEKS HAD PASSED?!" shouted Stark, his brown eyes ablaze with untold fury. To hear that Hawkeye had been missing for two months and nobody did a damn thing about it until now made Tony want to repulsor something or somebody. He knew he wasn't the only who felt this way. Thor had a furious look on his face and the sound of thunder could be heard from outside. Steve had a look on his face that was scarier than the disapproving look he usually graced Tony with. Bruce's eyes were now full on green and his skin was starting to get that way too. And even though Natasha's face was carefully blank, the way she was fingering her gun told how truly angry she was.

"Do you have any idea where he is, Director?" Natasha asked. Her voice remained even and calm, but she was gripping her gun so hard the rest of the team thought it would break. "Do you know if he's even…?"

"As of right now, SHIELD has no Intel on Hawkeye's whereabouts, but we do know that he is in fact alive," he paused for a second to hear the collection of relieved sighs. Turning around to a large screen behind him, Fury pushed a button on a remote his was holding. Instantly, the screen lit up and displayed vast amount of information on someone by the name of Dirk Jackson.

Dirk Jackson, a once world renowned scientist that disappeared five years ago after rumors and investigations sprouted up that several of his colleagues and students had started going missing. SHIELD had sent Clint on a mission to track down this mysterious man after sightings of him were reported. But unfortunately, the mission had somehow turned sour and now the team was missing their star archer.

Bruce Banner allowed his eyes to travel over the information that was displayed on the screen. Whoever this Dirk Jackson was, he was definitely into mutating the genetics of animals and people. The pictures shown were of humans that he assumed were the ones that went missing. If Clint's disappearance had anything to do with this guy then he knew it would be serious trouble.

Fury pressed another button on the remote that caused the images on the screen to switch to something else. The whole team couldn't help but gasp at the graphic images.

"This is the area that Hawkeye was sent to investigate, or what's left of it, "explained Fury. The new images consisted of a laboratory that had been completely destroyed. Fires and dead bodies of both mutants and personnel were littered around the site while others who had managed to survive were tied up together.

Despite all the bad news Tony was receiving that day he couldn't help but smirk at the damage. "I take it our hawk is responsible for all of that destruction?"

The Director managed a small smirk as well. "Along with that he managed to download information about the other suspects who were involved with the kidnapping and mutations of the victims. SHIELD has already dispatched a team to round them up. Unfortunately Dirk Jackson managed to escape." Before Nick could say anything else Tony Stark was on his feet.

"So our missing hawk is out there probably searching for this asshole, right? I say we start looking for him and bring him home!" Bruce, Thor, and Steve seemed to agree and were ready to follow the genius out the door, but they stopped when they realized that Natasha wasn't following. Instead she was glaring at the one eyed man in front of her.

"What aren't you telling us, Director?" she hissed. Warning bells soon went off in the other Avengers' heads and all eyes were on Fury once again.

Fury sometimes wished that Natasha wasn't so perceptive, but he knew the truth was bound to come out anyway. With a sigh he pressed one last button the remote. "This is message from Hawkeye that SHIELD had received before we lost contact with him again.

Gasps and quiet mumblings filled the room before a familiar voice was heard.

"This is…Hawkeye reporting in… from Mission: 23453. From what you can already tell…the mission went completely FUBAR." There was long pause in the recording that the others concluded was from the obvious exhaustion in their missing friend. "Dirk Jackson managed to escape, but he left all of his science experiments for SHIELD to have. I'm…I'm gonna try to go after him. Can't let someone as…dangerous as him…run wild." The agent's next words were blurred by static, but finally cleared up in the end. "…late for me…can't return home….tell Avengers m'sorry I can't come home anymore. This… is good-bye. Hawkeye out."

"What does the archer mean that he can't come home?" asked Thor once the recording had ended. "What has happened to our friend?"

"I don't know, Thor," Tony said. "But I'm not going to stand here and wait to find out!" He then motioned for the rest of the team to follow out the door. "We're gonna find Hawkeye no matter what!"

XxXxXxX

Clint let out a pain filled groan when moved his body the wrong way. Every inch of him was covered in bruises, burns, and cuts from his ordeal with Dirk, but he couldn't take it easy until the man was dead. He tried to get up, but weight on his back plus his numerous injuries stopped him cold. He glared angrily at the new edition to his person as rage and frustration began building up in his chest. He couldn't go home now because of what that man did to him. He wasn't sure if he would survive long enough to exact revenge, let alone see his friends again.

With a soft sigh Clint tried to push himself up again. This time he managed to succeed without crying out in agony. He had to redress some of bandaged wounds because they were now stained red with his blood. Afterwards he would use the laptop he somehow managed to snag from the now destroyed lab to track down Dirk's possible locations. He'd find that man no matter what.

Another wave of pain made the archer curl into himself and let out a stream of curses under his breath. Something soft gently brushed against Clint's cheek, causing him to look up. Brown and white feathers were falling before his eyes and the sniper just wanted to scream. He redoubled his efforts and finished changing his bandages quicker. Once he was through he staggered over to the stolen laptop. Broken glass that was once a mirror littered the floor, but Clint couldn't find it in himself to care if they cut into his bare feet.

As long as he didn't see what he had become.

END CHAPTER

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Just an idea that popped into my mind. Decided it would be fun to write. Review and tell me what you think.