"Seriously?" Eliot asked, a smile on his lips as his opponent picked up the previously discarded crowbar and attempted to hit Eliot with it. The guy probably already had a concussion and he almost looked like he was dancing as he waved his arms around trying to hit Eliot.
"Dude, you're done!" Eliot laughed, "give it up!" he finished as he moved forward, ready to go in for the knockout punch, but was shocked when his opponent seemed to follow his advice and dropped the weapon.
Eliot pulled up short, a little confused at winning so easily when he noticed the thug's attention wasn't focused on him, but on the TV on the wall behind him. He stumbled past Eliot to stare at the scenes unfolding in front of him. Eliot turned to see what had him so enthralled and, seeing aliens flying around New York he assumed it was some randomly crap primetime show.
"Wow," he said, "guess I hit you really har….." but he stopped short as the CNN logo appeared on the screen with his favourite anchor looking more than a little rattled.
"This is the scene today in downtown New York," she started obviously trying to keep her composure, "we are unsure at this point where the enemy forces came from but we can confirm that Tony Starke's Iron Man has been spotted fighting alongside several others again of unknown origin."
Eliot joined his foe in dumbfounded silence as he watched a plane he recognised all too well crash land in the middle of the commotion. He just managed to see some old friends run out of it into the heart of the fighting before the cameraman started running in the opposite direction.
"Eliot Spencer," Fury said with a nod in his direction, "Clint Barton," he gestured towards Clint and watched as the two men eyed each other warily.
"You two are the best SHIELD has," Fury began, "you think you can work together?" he asked looking from one to the other, waiting for a reply but both men were stoic, just staring at each other. Fury didn't even try and supress the grin as he continued, "well like it or not you will work together," he started to walk away, before turning back to them, "and guys," his grin widened again, "try not to kill each other, okay?" he finished and walked away chuckling to himself.
"Let's get one thing straight," Eliot said quietly when Fury was out of earshot, "I don't play well with others," he took a few steps forward, getting right into Clint's 'personal space' "get in my way and it'll be the last thing you do," he finished and turned to leave before he smiled to himself and tossed a final little insult over his shoulder, "besides, I don't even know what it is that you do!"
Eliot smiled to himself; he'd learned just what Clint did; the guy saved his life, more than once! There weren't many people whom Eliot could say that about. He'd taught Eliot how to trust again after losing his unit in the worst way possible and helped pave the way for the life he had now.
Standing in the shell of what had been a bar before he and his opponent had started their fight, Eliot watched as the scenes unfolded in front of him and just wished he could be there, could get in the fight and help his friends with whatever it was they were fighting. But he allowed himself a little smile; he knew that with the hawk on their tail, these guys were going down.
