He was hiding out at one of his safe houses the day he was found by the dead man. He had retreated there after everything that had happened in New York. He had been invited to stay at Stark's place and he had gone for a few days, but it was too much. These people he barely knew were worried about him and he couldn't take that. No one was supposed to worry about him. He didn't respond well to the emotion. It was why he was still single. It was why he was divorced.
So he had taken off, collected his dog from Bobbi's place, and had been hiding out in the middle of the woods ever since. He liked it this way. Lucky didn't judge him. Lucky was just there.
He knew they worried about him. Nat called him once every hour for the first couple of weeks. He never picked up, but he sometimes listened to the multiple voicemails she left for him. He eventually stopped, when he realized that only made him feel worse. She still called every day. He still didn't answer. She never bothered to leave a message anymore.
He had gotten back from the store. He'd needed dog food. While he might be able to live on frozen pizza forever, he did realize that Lucky couldn't. He had dumped the food into Lucky's dish and that was what had tipped him off. Lucky didn't eat, and Lucky always ate. Instead, he stayed alert and began growling.
Clint's hand had inched toward his ever present firearm. He motioned for Lucky to show him what was wrong. Lucky inched down the hallway, a low growl emanating from the back of his throat. Lucky turned the corner into the living room, lunging forward snapping his teeth. Clint drew his gun and followed.
As he turns the corner, Clint's eyes land on Lucky's pinned victim. The man is young, unrecognized by Clint. He points the firearm at the mans head, level and ready to discharge a bullet into his skull.
"Who are you?" He spits through his teeth, while scanning the room for further threats. He'd been expecting someone to come for him, eventually they always did. And for the most part, they had learned to never come alone.
"My name is Fittz." The man sounds terrified, he stumbles over his words. "Leo, Leopold Fittz. I'm a scientist, a scientist for SHIELD."
Clint doesn't like that answer, so he cocks the gun. "What does SHIELD want from me? Haven't they taken enough?"
"Right now, they'd like you to put down the gun." A female voice comes from behind Clint. He tenses as he feels the barrel of a gun press against the back of his neck. Lucky turns ready to pounce on his new attacker, but Clint waves him off leaving him on the man.
Clint sighs and pretends as if he's going to drop the gun, slowly lowering himself to the ground. And he would have dropped the gun, but as he's about to he feels the girl's gun leave his skin for a millisecond. It gives him the chance to flip around and send the girl's weapon flying to the other side of the room. With little effort he puts the girl into a choke hold "Who's your buddy?" He directs the question to the man on the ground.
"Her name is Skye, she's a field agent."
Clint scoffs. "Apparently, not a very good one. Who sent you? How many more of you are coming?"
"The director sent us. We're part of a specialized team."
Clint scoffs, seeing through the lie. "Fury would have sent better agents. He thinks I'm a hostile now. I've seen my file. And, I guess I've given him probable cause to think that. Who do you actually work for?" He presses the man by placing his gun against the girls temple. But he still doesn't answer.
"I sent them." Clint turns to the new familiar voice. He loosens his grip around the girl's neck out of pure shock allowing her to get free. He stares dumbfoundead, at a man he thought to be dead. A man that he thought he had buried. "They're my team Agent Barton, and I'd appreciate it if you'd call Lucky off Agent Fittz. You and I both know that dog wouldn't hurt a fly."
"You'd be surprised. Lucky's changed a lot." Still he calls Lucky off. The dog comes over and lays protective at his feet.
"It's good to see you Clint." Phil Coulson takes a step forward, but stops when Lucky growls and snaps at him. He furrows his brow confused."What's wrong with Lucky?" Clint doesn't reply. "I'm here to make peace, Clint."
Clint scoffs. "Yeah fucking right Coulson, you're here cause you need something from me. You only ever come when you need something from me. I don't think that's changed, even if you are coming from beyond the grave.
"When were you gonna tell me you were alive?" Clint challenges. Phil doesn't answer but that's enough for Clint to assume that the answer was never. "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." His tone is cold and calculating. This isn't the Clint that Coulson remembers from recent years but it is a Clint he once knew.
"Come on, Lucky." Clint leaves the room, heading around the corner. He goes back toward the kitchen only to come face to face with Agent Melinda May. The one SHIELD agent, next to Nat, he would say is a match for him.
"Barton." She says casually leaning against his wall.
"May." He says eyeing the bag she has in her hand.
"We wouldn't want Nat to find out about this bag would we, Clint?" Clint eyes the bag knowing that if Nat ever saw the contents he'd be institutionalized faster than he could spell the word.
"What do you want, May?"
"For you to hear out, Coulson. Beyond that, I don't judge."
"Do I get the bag back?"
"That'll be for Coulson to decide."
"So that's a no."
"Most likely. Unless he's feeling nice. I can tell you the longer you make him wait the grumpier he's going to be."
"You're an ass, May."
"So are you Barton. But just so you know, I told him not too."
"You're still an ass." Clint calls over his shoulder as he heads back into the living room. He takes a seat on the couch, Lucky curls up in his lap.
"I see May convinced you to hear me out."
"More like blackmailed me, but I understand SHIELD thinks that's the same thing."
"What's in the bag?" Coulson addresses May but she doesn't answer. He had told her to find anything she could to convince Barton to hear them out, but he hadn't been hopeful she'd find dirt. Barton was good at burying his secrets.
She surprises both of them by tossing it back to Clint. "He'll tell you if he wants too."
Clint rummages through the bag and pulls out a tourniquet and a syringe. He ties off a vein in his arm, after a few seconds he inserts the syringe.
"You're not back into that are you?" Coulson asks vividly remembering pulling Clint out of the rabbit hole more than once.
"That was medicine." Clint shudders as the liquid releases into his veins. He then pulls out a pipe that's stuffed with ground up green cloves. "This is medicine too."
Coulson decides to ignore Clint's casual drug use.
"We need you for a job." Coulson sighs, knowing that he's about to bring up a touchy subject. "And we can't do it without you."
"Everyone knows that I work alone now. I made that painfully clear to SHIELD. I no longer make exceptions to that rule. I also no longer work for you."
"Well, I'm not acting on SHIELD authority bringing you in. This is my call. I want to make good on a promise I made to you years ago. This mission is personal."
"You told me not to take personal missions anymore. Remember? And, now I agree. They always end up bad for me. In fact I don't do much personal anymore for that reason."
"I can tell." Fittz comes back into the room with a box of stale crackers. "Why do your grocery bags only contain dog food?"
Clint shrugs. "Lucky eats a lot, I don't."
Coulson huffs annoyed. "Clint, we found Barney," He decides to stop beating around the bush. "And we want to lay to rest this feud once and for all."
Clint takes a long drag off his pipe. Coulson notes that his eyes are starting to haze over. Slowly, Clint moves Lucky off of his lap. The dog jumps, offended, to the floor. Clint stands up. Unsure of what is about to happen, May and the girl Skye move closer to Coulson. But so does Clint.
Clint stares at him a moment before punching Phil straight in the jaw. He then snaps his fingers at the dog. Before Phil can recover, and May can react, Lucky has brought Clint his bow and he has it drawn.
"Get out my house, Coulson. You have no right to be in my personal life anymore. You died" Clint hisses. A new hard set look in his eyes. He's no longer playing like he was before. "Get out, or I swear to god I'm gonna put this arrow through your heart. We'll see if Fury can bring you back to life twice."
Coulson slowly straightens himself. He's unable to hid his expression of pure shock. He thought he was bringing Clint good news. Never in a million years would he have thought Clint would react so violently. He feels a warmth make its way down his face. He reaches up and wipes away the blood that is dripping from his nose. Clint always has packed one hell of a punch.
"Clint," He cautiously raises his hands in the air in an attempt to show he is no threat. "I don't-"
"Get the fuck out Coulson."
"I don't under…"
May steps between the two of them. She blocks Coulson from Clint, her hands also raised in a defensive gesture. "I told you he wouldn't go for it Coulson." May reaches over and grabs Clint's bag, she's back to him, but she hears Clint draw his bow string. "You're going to let us leave, Clint." She says slinging the bag over her shoulder. "You're going to let us all leave. We won't go after Barney. We'll leave you alone."
"No, you won't." He says his fingers tensing on the bow. "You never leave me alone." He groans, relaxing his hold on the string.
"We'll go Clint." She promises. "We'll go, and tell no one that we were ever here."
"I don't believe you." He mumbles, confused. "SHIELD never leaves me alone…"
May takes advantage of the situation and lunges. She wraps her arms around Clint's knees bringing him to the ground. As she struggles to keep him down, she feels teeth clamp around her arm. She grunts in pain, but continues her attack. She pulls out a syringe and injects it into Clint's neck. She holds him down until he goes still. By then Skye has managed to pull the dog off of her. She stands up and glares at Coulson.
"I thought you said the damn dog was harmless." She touches her wound and winces. He had bitten deep.
"He used to be." Coulson says, getting down to be at the same level as Lucky. He reaches out to pat Lucky, but gets snapped at. By now Skye is struggling continue holding him.
Fitz, thinking on his feet looks around the room and finds a muzzle. With a little bit of a struggle, he and Skye are able to get it around Lucky's mouth. They then clip a leash to his collar.
"We need to get Clint back to the Bus." May says, placing one of his arms around her shoulders. Coulson grabs the other side. "That drug will only work for a half hour, and I don't exactly want to fight Barton again today. He's going to be pissed when he wakes up."
"Fitz, grab his bow and quiver," Coulson orders. Then looking at Lucky he adds. "And some dog food."
"I'll get a bag." Fitz walks out of the room for a minute and comes back with a fully packed tactical bag. It had been all packed in Clint's bedroom. He has another grocery bag full of dog food. He grabs the bow and quiver last. He and Skye then lead the way out of the house. Coulson and May trail behind.
It's a good ¼ mile walk to where they left the car. Coulson had known that if they got closer, Lucky would have alerted Clint that they were approaching. Even now, Lucky still fights them as they attempt to put him in the car. Skye suggest sedating the dog, but May had only brought one dose of the drug.
"How are we going to control him then?" She snaps, as Lucky attempts to jump at them from the back of the SUV. Luckily there are bars preventing him from reaching them.
"He won't stop until Clint calls him off." Coulson says with a shrug. "We'll just have to deal with it. When we get back to the base, we can lock him in one of the rooms there until Clint decides to cooperate."
"You really think using his dog as leverage is a good idea?" May asks, her voice full of disapproval. She and Coulson had been fighting over recruiting Clint for days now.
"It won't be as leverage, there's just nothing else we can do. Lucky is extremely loyal, he won't stop unless Clint tells him too."